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This is one of Fanhistory's pages on the fanartist Sockii, Sockii Press, and some of the 'zines produced by Sockii. Sockii in all their forms gave Fanhistory express permission to use these 'zine covers on Fanhistory.

This is Fanlore's page on the same work of Sockii's. As you can see, it was lifted directly from FH--art and all.

Clicking through Sockii Press's links shows that this isn't the only case--and that I am in no way linking to the only two examples. Wiki-lifting aside, keep in mind that OTW's people are lifting fanart they don't have the rights to or permissions for, and are claiming it for their site.

Sockii knows; Sockii is the one who found the stolen artwork. Sockii and FH aren't currently doing anything because of OTW's response to the Yuletide debacle--where if you don't want your fanworks moved to another hosting area or location outside of your control, they don't want anything to do with you and don't want you to be a part of their exchange--and how their response to fanzine creators who don't want their 'zines to be part of OTW's archive is pretty much "Sucks to be you!" with an added, especially unbelievable side of "We won't scan it or post it online without your permission!"


In short, Sockii doesn't expect a site with no DMCA takedown procedures (and with this sort of response to fannish concerns over artistic rights) to give two shits about their feelings and rights as an artist.


Yup. This is what OTW, parent of An Archive Of Our Own & the Fanlore wiki, absorbers of both the Yuletide fic exchange and previous Yuletide fanworks (no matter artists' wishes to control the locations of their own work), and self-proclaimed defender of fandom rights and the proverbial fannish little guy gal, is up to.


I . . . find myself not at all surprised.




Where is the outrage? Is it because these people are supposedly fans? Fanlib said they might copy parts of &/or a work to a different location and people flipped the fuck out. These people lift artwork without permission and run roughshod over the 'zinemakers, the people who helped really get this fannish boat sailing to begin with, and I only hear about it from a friend of Sockii's? How do any of us know that our fanworks, in any format, won't be lifted for their site/archive under the guise of some sort of historical importance?

We don't. Not anymore.

How the hell does this work?

Comments

Nov. 16th, 2009 09:18 pm (UTC)
Where is the outrage?

OTW is run by [info]astolat, who also runs Yuletide. In my fannish writer identity, I just had an interaction with [info]astolat, which culminated in my revoking my Yuletide signup and [info]astolat informing me sternly that she didn't care for my "entitled" attitude. (I invoked the rule that if you let the mods know before deadline that you won't be able to complete your Yuletide story, you can still sign up again next year if you write a story for the New Year Resolutions between 1st January and the beginning of November.)

There is no outrage because people don't want to get into the bad books of a BNF who runs a big fannish event, and writes books people love, etc. [info]astolat doesn't have to flame you; she just has to express her annoyance/disgust at you in private to a few friends, watch it percolate outwards, and pretty soon you're crisped like Laura.

Oddly enough, I do in fact intend to complete my Yuletide assignment - I got a lovely idea for a story and I'm going to enjoy putting it together. I'm just not going to post it on the Yuletide archive.
Nov. 16th, 2009 10:35 pm (UTC)
Maybe I'm openly offended because I've got a sense of right & wrong that overrides my giving a fuck about who any of them are . . . though I'm still amused that she's running fairly major aspects of OTW both as herself and as her fan self.

I'm also sure the mess that went down with Laura had much more fuel and momentum than could be caused by one BNF flipping her nose at her.
Nov. 18th, 2009 07:22 am (UTC)

I'm also sure the mess that went down with Laura had much more fuel and momentum than could be caused by one BNF flipping her nose at her.


Well, yeah. Not that I'm a BNF. ;-)

Maybe I'm openly offended because I've got a sense of right & wrong that overrides my giving a fuck about who any of them are . . . though I'm still amused that she's running fairly major aspects of OTW both as herself and as her fan self.

I think they all - the cluster of fans running OTW - began by running it as their real selves, and then had to add on their fan selves when a bunch of people reacted with "Who the hell are these academics and writers trying to tell us how to run fandom!" But I may have got that wrong: almost everything I know about OTW I got by second-hand report from my f-list.

The last e-mail I got from Astolat, in response to the one where I cited the rules of Yuletide at her, accused me of having "a sense of entitlement", and I thought: well yes, I do feel entitled, both to feel that I have been a part of Yuletide - I wrote stories for it from 2003-2008 - and to know what the Yuletide rules are and to require Astolat/Elyn to play by them. Fannish institutions are never immortal because they're always dependent on fans doing them because they're fun. When they stop being fun, they stop happening.
Dec. 17th, 2009 02:07 pm (UTC)
Just as an update, they finally did take action on this. I believe they deleted the images in question. (Not sure who did that, just told that it was done.)

Fan History also changed its license... so they can technically use our content so long as they cite us appropriately.
Dec. 17th, 2009 04:42 pm (UTC)
That reeks a little of rolling over for them, dude.
Dec. 17th, 2009 04:50 pm (UTC)
Umm. Maybe they capitulated a tiny bit.

http://blktauna.insanejournal.com/111465.html I got anon trolled there after mentioning this incident.
Dec. 17th, 2009 05:01 pm (UTC)
Of course you did--after all, it can't ever be on them to monitor their site, or to not steal works, or to not be hypocrites. They can't just shut up and realize they've fucked up--but you, on the other hand, are evil in a little bespectacled package, and are thus easier to blame things on.
Dec. 17th, 2009 05:22 pm (UTC)
I'm easy to blame things on because I'm nice enough to my friends (or don't have enough in the right places) to not demand they mob people that disagree with me. They can attack me because there are no negative social consequences for it.

On the issue of Yuletide, I'm more than happy to say that the Organization for Transformative Works is worse than FanLib ever was... because while FanLib may have brought the threat of others usurping fan fiction writer's content with out their consent, the Organization for Tranformative Works actually did it. And they'll never get that but they will write self congratulating papers about how they brought down the ebil FanLib.
Dec. 17th, 2009 05:40 pm (UTC)
The way they refuse to see their actions as anything but altruistic and good would be funny if, you know, any of this was amusing.

But Fanlib was out to make monnneeeyyyyysss, omg! And they were stupid enough to admit they were wrong when people started to get upset. That must be what it was--they were awful flip-floppers, like those silly politicians who might've changed their minds over something. Because recognizing that something's not right is a sign of weakness and means one must be exterminated.
Dec. 17th, 2009 05:45 pm (UTC)
I'm just terribly cranky today at fandom. In the it isn't healthy for me to be online and I should go do something else way.

It isn't funny at all. Seriously, unfunny. It should be on unfunny_business it is so unfunny, with a link round up of your posts and blktaun's and the links inside yuletide.

FanLib is evil because of all that you said... but they can turn around and do the opposite and no worries mate! We're the good guys. Yeah, uh huh. Right. Couple that with the shit after Race!Fail and basically saying that the only way you won't get attacked by their group is if you sit down, shut up and take it up the ass, no one really can have a calm discussion about it. The great uniters are like George Bush coming into office.
Jan. 8th, 2010 10:16 am (UTC)
It isn't funny at all. Seriously, unfunny. It should be on unfunny_business it is so unfunny, with a link round up of your posts and blktaun's and the links inside yuletide.

I was thinking of doing a post with a links-roundup on the storyblog...