In my imagination, where I roam free...

So I posted this to Pillowfort a couple days ago, and it was mostly in response to just one person asking about other spaces, but the post is by far the most reblogged and liked post I've ever made on PF, so... Yeah, I should probably post about it here too for anyone who might see it.

There ARE independently run (as in owned and operated by a single human person) fanfic sites using Ao3's opensource code. My personal goal, once I can afford to do it, is to build one of these for the Transformers fandom.

Ao3, right now, has some better board members than they did in the past and I've heard good things through the grape vine, but, well, it's still a mess from who some of those decent people replaced, and it's big enough to be a slow-turning wheel as well as being short-staffed enough to cause issues too. I've been told some definitely support decentralizing fandom too. I mean, think about it. I'f you're a fic writer, where can you go? Ao3. It's the ONLY place. Twitter/X/wtfever it's called, is no good anyhow, much less for posting fics. Tumblr? pff. Ffn? How many times have they fucked over the fanbase for the sake of ultra-conservative "Christians"? Here on DW? I mean, yeah, this is actually a pretty decent site, but who's even here? I'm fairly certain I'm babbling into the void right now. Pillowfort? I don't hate it at all, but they need pagination to be any kind of useful and every month they're begging for more money to keep the lights on for a few more months. I like the site and I like what they are doing, but can we trust it to be longterm?

So we, fan authors, have Ao3. The good news is, we now also have:

SquidgeWorld - This is a multifandom site. This was the pioneer, y'all. The owner of the site worked out Ao3's (from what I have heard lol) wonky code, and he was generous and amazing in assisting others in building their sites.

AdAstra is a Star Trek (and crossover with Star Trek) specific site. Lots of fun! There are events in their discord weekly, and to encourage community engagement.

CFAArchive - which stands for Comic Fanfiction Author's Archive and is specific to any fanworks based of comic books.

Superlove - Also appears to be a multifandom site. I know that Melo, the owner/operator, has been very helpful networking and assisting with the other sites' owners too, and has a strong focus on building community over simply archiving.

Honestly, a group of really amazing, kind people who love fandom and fanworks. Please do check out their sites, read their rules, read their About pages, peruse the works posted there, and see if any of these would fit as additional homes for your works and you. But please keep in mind that these sites are NOT Ao3. They were build and are being paid to maintain by ONE PERSON. Their rules are stricter to protect them legally. They have EVERY right to banhammer you for breaking the TOS or just being an asshole who causes them unnecessary stress. NONE of them would just be a dick to be a dick, like I said, these are good folks who CARE about fandom, but also, those sites are THEIR houses. They're trying to build COMMUNITY like we once had, not just be archives to dump fic.

I just want to FYI everyone that there is a person reaching out to authors in the fandom using subterfuge to get in with them, then turning it into a 'how dare you write about Native Americans!' (Even if we really aren't). They implied to me they were white, told another person they're Native American themselves, and told a Person of Color in our community that they wanted to highlight POCs in fandom before whipping around and making it about their agenda, which sure looks to me like a vendetta against one particular author who already went toe to toe with this nonsense and received RESOUNDING support against the actual racism of the original poster harassing her.

What you choose to do if they contact you,is entirely up to you, but do please be aware that they aren't interested in a discussion, they are an anti/pro-censorship person who told me that I have no right to write stories about my own genetic history and the culture I descend from because they decided I was writing about Native Americans instead. I don't want to feed the troll, but given the underhanded way they're coming at some of us and then just planning to use others' fics and works without even contacting them made me feel like I need to say SOMETHING. So, just be alert.

Happy Holidays, sorry to interrupt an already rough year with needless drama.