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FanFiction.Net
Screenshot of homepage 2008-06-17.
URL	http://www.fanfiction.net/
Commercial?	Yes
Type of site	Fanfiction archive
Registration	Optional
Owner	Xing Li
Created by	Xing Li
Launched	October 15, 1998
Current status	Live

FanFiction.Net (often abbreviated as FF.Net or FFN) is an automated fan fiction archive site. It was founded on October 15, 1998 by Los Angeles computer programmer Xing Li, who also runs the site. The first fics to be written were a few stories about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As of 2005, FanFiction.Net is the largest and most popular fan fiction website in the world. It has nearly 1.3 million users, and hosts stories in over 30 languages.^[1] Image File history File links Merge-arrow. ... Fan fiction (also spelled fanfiction and commonly abbreviated to fanfic) is fiction written by people who enjoy a film, novel, television show or other media work, using the characters and situations developed in it and developing new plots in which to use these characters. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 168th day of the year (169th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... // Uniform Resource Locator (URL) formerly known as Universal Resource Locator, is a technical, Web-related term used in two distinct meanings: In popular usage and many technical documents, it is a synonym for Uniform Resource Identifier (URI); Strictly, the idea of a uniform syntax for global identifiers of network-retrievable... Fan fiction (also spelled fanfiction and commonly abbreviated to fanfic) is fiction written by people who enjoy a film, novel, television show or other media work, using the characters and situations developed in it and developing new plots in which to use these characters. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Fan fiction (also spelled fanfiction and commonly abbreviated to fanfic) is fiction written by people who enjoy a film, novel, television show or other media work, using the characters and situations developed in it and developing new plots in which to use these characters. ... is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... A programmer or software developer is someone who programs computers, that is, one who writes computer software. ... For other uses, see Buffy the Vampire Slayer (disambiguation). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The site is split into eight main categories: Anime/Manga, Books, Cartoons, Miscellaneous, Games, Comics, Movies, and TV Shows. Users who complete the free registration process can submit their fan fiction, maintain a user profile, review other stories, contact each other via email or private messages, and maintain a list of favorite stories and authors. There are also centralized communities and forums. Animé redirects here. ... This article is about the comics created in Japan. ... For other uses, see Book (disambiguation). ... Cartoons started in the 1930s and 40s. ... For other uses, see Game (disambiguation). ... Comics (or, less commonly, sequential art) is a form of visual art consisting of images which are commonly combined with text, often in the form of speech balloons or image captions. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... A television program (US), television programme (UK) or simply television show is a segment of programming in television broadcasting. ... Look up profile in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Review in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

[edit] Creation

The site was created in late 1998 by student Xing Li as a repository for fan-created stories that revolved around characters from popular literature, television, or comics, or real-world celebrities. Unlike other fan-fiction sites, FanFiction.Net allowed stories about any characters rather than revolve around a specific set of characters, such as those from Harry Potter or Kingdom Hearts . Registration was open to all people who claimed to be over 18, and by 2002 over 118,000 people were registered. At that time, one-third of the registrants self-identified as 18 or younger, and 80% of all registrants were female.^[2] This article is about the Harry Potter series of novels. ... This article contains information on the first Kingdom Hearts video game. ...

[edit] Site structure

Writers may upload their stories to the site and assign them a category and a rating (such as K, K+, and T). The ratings are no longer done on the MPAA system and a list of explanations for the rating system currently employed is available from the dropdown rating menu in each of the individual archives on the official FFN website.^{[citation needed]}

There is no screening or editorial board, but readers are able to leave reviews of the stories.^[2] While reviews can be made by those without accounts on FFN it is an option for all writers on the site to not allow "unsigned reviews," meaning reviews made by those who are not signed into a FFN account.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Evolution

[edit] Trademark issues

This section does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

FanFiction.Net instituted several policy changes as it grew in size and popularity. These policies frequently led to the deletion of fan fiction that was based on the copyrighted works of certain published authors or contained specifically targeted content.

Since the site's founding, several professional authors and producers have asked that stories based on their copyrighted or trademarked works be removed. As of 2007, uploading fan fiction based on works by the following authors is forbidden on FanFiction.Net: Not to be confused with copywriting. ... “(TM)” redirects here. ...

• P. N. Elrod
• Raymond Feist
• Terry Goodkind
• Laurell K. Hamilton
• Robin Hobb (a.k.a. Megan Lindholm)
• Dennis L. McKiernan
• Robin McKinley
• Irene Radford
• Anne Rice
• Nora Roberts (a.k.a. J.D. Robb)
• Archie Comics
• George R.R. Martin

Patricia Nead Elrod is an American fantasy writer specializing in novels about vampires. ... Raymond E. Feist (born 1945) is an American author, mostly specialising in fantasy fiction. ... Terry Goodkind (born 1948) is a contemporary American writer and author of the best-selling epic fantasy series, The Sword of Truth, which according to his publisher TOR in an August, 2006 press release[1] has more than 10 million copies in print and has been translated into 20 different... Laurell Kaye Hamilton (born February 19, 1963) is an American supernatural erotica writer. ... At the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, August 2005 Robin Hobb is the pen name of Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden (born 1952 in California). ... Dennis L. McKiernan is an American writer best known for his fantasy novel The Iron Tower. ... Robin McKinley (born November 16, 1952 as Jennifer Carolyn Robin Turrell McKinley) is a fantasy author especially known for her Newbery Medal-winning novel The Hero and the Crown. ... Anne Rice (born on October 4, 1941) is a best-selling American author of gothic and later religious themed books. ... Eleanor Marie Robertson (b. ... Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher known for its many series featuring the fictional teenage Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Forsythe Jughead Jones characters created by Bob Montana. ... George R. R. Martin, circa 1986 George Raymond Richard Martin (born September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey) is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, and also a screenwriter and producer. ...

[edit] Ratings

This section does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

On September 12, 2002, FanFiction.Net banned material that was rated NC-17. Stories categorized as NC-17, or advertised as potentially such were removed. Since then, the site has relied on its users to report stories that are inappropriately rated. is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... The MPAA film rating system is a system used in the United States and territories and instituted by the Motion Picture Association of America to rate a movie based on its content. ...

Prior to the new policy, the site would use a pop-up to prompt readers to say whether they were over 17 or not, a measure which proved to be largely ineffective.

While some protested at the NC-17 ban and others edited their work to be suitable for an M rating, most simply moved their work to personal sites, fan fiction mailing lists, online blogs, archives which allowed or specifically catered to writers and readers of adult fan fiction material, or journals (particularly LiveJournals). Much NC-17 material was moved to a site under the name of Adultfanfiction.net, a similar site which was created to serve those adults who write R and NC-17 rated fan fiction. The NC-17 ban prompted many authors to abandon the site completely for other sites that allowed R and NC-17 stories. Despite this ban, a large amount of fan fiction with pornographic content can still be found, particularly in the M and T ratings. Anyone can report this material, even if they do not have an account on fanfiction.net. Story titles and summaries have to be rated G. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... LiveJournal (often abbreviated LJ) is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. ...

[edit] Songfic ban

In 2005, FanFiction.net banned songfics from being posted on the site due to potential legal action from copyright holders of lyrics. Public domain lyrics such as those to "Amazing Grace" or lyrics written by the author of the fan fiction are not directly addressed. Songfics are a genre of fan-work, similar to fanfiction and filks. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... For other uses, see Amazing Grace (disambiguation). ...

Despite this, as of July 02 2008, there are currently 49,500+ stories containing the word "song" in either title or summary. An additional 37,200+ can be found by searching the word "songfic". While some of these fics contain parodies of songs, many contain the original, unedited lyrics to songs, and have not been adressed with regard to possible copyright/rule violations.

Since the search function of FanFiction.net does not search for words of three letters or less, or quotes, the words "song fic" and "song-fic" are not searched for accurately.

[edit] FictionPress

FanFiction.net has a sister site, FictionPress.com, which contains over 1,000,000 original stories, poems, and plays. The site has a similar format and similar rules to FanFiction.net. Original fiction was initially hosted on FanFiction.net but eventually moved to the newly created FictionPress.com due to the fact that one site could not hold both archives and run efficiently.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Globalization

Previously, FanFiction.net's server was accessible mainly only in the west and worked poorly if at all in other parts of the world. In late 2006, announcements were made of special web links designed for Europe and Asia. These would give other areas of the world a significant boost in server speed on the website.

This site has a range of many genres in both poetry and prose, from action to spiritual. It also has over half a million writers/readers, and is home to over 900,000 original works.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, all three web links were combined under one world-wide link. In an announcement on the home page, it was stated that the site will go global in 2007.

According to Hitwise, as of August 2007 FanFiction.Net comprised 34.7% of all traffic directed to sites in the Entertainment, Books and Writing category. For the week ending August 25, 2007, the site was ranked 159 out of over 1 million websites on terms of hits.^[3] Hitwise provides insights into the performance of websites within the selected industry. ... is the 237th day of the year (238th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ...

[edit] Criticism

Quality control is one of the many issues associated with the archive. Stories can be posted regardless of editing or proofreading, and the quality of the work is dependent entirely upon the individual writer. For the Jurassic 5 album, see Quality Control (album) In engineering and manufacturing, quality control and quality engineering are involved in developing systems to ensure products or services are designed and produced to meet or exceed customer requirements. ...

There had also been criticism towards the management of reviews; up until recently, there was no way to delete or hide spam or 'flames' from logged-in users, nor was there any type of moderation for reviews. However, on November 28, 2007, FanFiction.Net introduced the ability to report offensive reviews to the administrators of the site. Proponents of flaming being banned entirely, however, criticize the system, describing it as "hollow and of no use at all to anyone". The site's creators stated that everyone has the right to say what they want in a review and review a story they see as fit. They also went on to state that banning some flamers would be violating the rights of many.^[4] This article is about electronic spam. ... Flaming is the hostile and insulting interaction between Internet users. ... is the 332nd day of the year (333rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ...

Spam and flaming can be prevented through use of the block feature which prevents private messages, signed-reviews, and use of personal forums from registered users. An option to disable anonymous reviews exists as well. Recently a new feature was added which enabled the user to toggle swearing in reviews and forums on and off. This was going to be implemented for stories as well for the lower ratings but, due to reactions from users, the attempt was abandoned.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

is the 63rd day of the year (64th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... (Clockwise from upper left) Time magazine covers from May 7, 1945; July 25, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ... is the 242nd day of the year (243rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... (Clockwise from upper left) Time magazine covers from May 7, 1945; July 25, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ...

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Adult FanFiction site
• FictionPress