I see people took an unsubstantiated tumblr post as ~proof~ FFN was about to go down for good. Sheesh. Some thoughts:
- Yes, you can copy text from FFN and from every other site that tries to block c&p. If your browser can display it, you can copy it.
- OTW/AO3 only import archives with archivist permission. FFN will never grant this. Don’t count on OTW to save FFN if and when it eventually goes down.
- No, you cannot post other people’s work to AO3 without permission. If you save copies of things, you’re looking at sitting on a private personal collection and maybe sending out individual fics to people who ask or donating the lot to a library in 30 years.
- Add links to the Wayback machine.
- Write up your fandom and its greatest hits on Fanlore so later people know what to even look for.
- The time for preservation is now because that’s always true. Don’t wait for an emergency. That day will come even if not right now.
- FFN hasn’t been good about communicating with users in twenty years. Radio silence is nothing new.
- “FFN is dying” hysteria happens at least once a year.
OTW/AO3 only import archives with archivist permission. FFN will never grant this.Not in the least: FF.N has been actively blocking connection requests from the AO3 to import even the creator’s own work since, like, 2014. Copy Paste your own works, and download the rest into Calibre.
No, you cannot post other people’s work to AO3 without permission.Just adding on that posting someone else’s works on AO3 without their permission is plagiarism and against TOS. Yes, even if you credit the original author.
Downloading a personal copy is fine. Uploading is not.
Please explain how to copy paste text on FFN; I would love to be able to quote bits of a fic in reviews to say how certain lines specifically affected me. Also how do you add links to the Wayback Machine?
Browser add-ons or bookmarklets, generally. Or, even simpler, change the www.fanfiction.net to m.fanfiction.net in your fic URL.
Here’s a whole post about various methods. Some of the add-ons work for Wattpad and other sites with copy protection too.
FFN has decided to block the Wayback machine, so we can no longer add links.
They also updated their Twitter today after a year-long radio silence.
Apparently, the most recent glitches were caused by network, software, and hardware issues. They even provided a roadmap for the site’s ongoing maintenance.
I think they saw people preparing for a mass exodus and realized they needed to say something before they lost a good chunk of ad revenue. If they do finally update and fix the site, I’ll be pleasantly surprised, but I’d also advise that people continue to back up their fics and cross-post to other platforms to mitigate losses.
(via silkward)
