snowgall: (close-up)
snowgall ([personal profile] snowgall) wrote2015-06-23 01:31 pm

Another archive down?

Anybody know what's happened to www.thequidditchpitch.org?

It seems like every few months another classic fanfic archive is in danger of closing. I know that these archives have nostalgic value (and indeed, as someone who's very concerned about accurate dating and records, I prefer having the original places of publication still available online) but it really seems to me that it would be prudent to try to get the owners of these sites to allow transfer to AO3 through the Open Doors project. Short term solutions like funding drives are just that - short term, and I worry about the long term availability of these fics.

But I'm pretty new here, so what do I know?
birdsofshore: (Default)

[personal profile] birdsofshore 2015-06-23 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
It seems clear to me that you're right, unfortunately. I think the idea of losing all of the old archives is pretty tragic, but what can you do? Moving forward, AO3 seems like the least bad solution. Unless we're both missing something.
eidheann_writes: (Default)

[personal profile] eidheann_writes 2015-06-23 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
I believe the quidditch pitch was a sister site also owned by the same person as hpfandom, so the loss of QP may be related to the current difficulties with hexfiles/hpfandom?

(disclaimer, I know it was a sister site to ANOTHER fanfic site, and my brain is saying hpfandom, but I could be mistaken as to that)

It may be a bit late now for tqp but...

[identity profile] dawnfireangel.livejournal.com 2015-10-03 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
I haven't found any mention on line yet as to why tqp failed but I know that hexfiles and its sister hp fandom have been mentioned as related and were deeply infected sites that are now trying to migrate the data to a safer and less expensive option. The project can be found here, the owner might know about tqp so worth asking (also worth helping)

HPFandom and TheHexFiles are looking for volunteers!

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The fanfiction archives HPFandom (http://hpfandom.net) and TheHexFiles (http://www.thehexfiles.net) are both looking for volunteers to help move fics over to Archive Of Our Own (http://archiveofourown.org) (AO3) using the Open Doors (http://transformativeworks.org/projects/opendoors) project.

[livejournal.com profile] separatrix, HPF & THF's owner, will not be able to take on this project herself due to health issues so it's up to us fans to come together and move as much as we can in only 3 months before both sites close permanently.

If you are seriously interested in helping out please drop a comment at either [livejournal.com profile] hpfdotnet or [livejournal.com profile] hex_companion and let us know.


Useful links for someone thinking about volunteering:
The Open Doors Special Collections Gallery (http://opendoors.transformativeworks.org/collections/special-collections-gallery) - Archives saved with Open Doors, where the archives will end up, hopefully.
Importing Works with an Archivist Account (http://opendoors.transformativeworks.org/node/66) - A tutorial of what we'll be doing.
The archives use an early version of eFiction so each chapter has a different ID number so chaptered fics will need to be imported differently than oneshots.
- How do I import a chaptered work? (http://archiveofourown.org/faq/importing-and-mass-editing?language_id=en#importchaptered) (Up to 100 chapters at a time.)
- How do I import multiple works in one go? (http://archiveofourown.org/faq/importing-and-mass-editing?language_id=en#importmultipleworks) (Up to 10 oneshots at a time.)

[personal profile] besamislabios 2015-06-23 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know anything about that archive but to allow transfer to ao3 would be the best solution.
I love ao3, I pretty much only read there, except for lj of course, and I love when fests post their fics there, not just the long ones. I love the collections, it's so easy to look for something to read. :)
kitty_fic: (Default)

[personal profile] kitty_fic 2015-06-23 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I totally agree that transferring to AO3 would be the best solution. I hope they will do that before allowing the fics to be lost.
kitty_fic: (Default)

[personal profile] kitty_fic 2015-06-24 05:05 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah :/

Do you know what the reasoning for changing their mind? It seems with the help offered it would have been a good time to do the transfer.

[identity profile] frnklymrshnkly.livejournal.com 2015-06-23 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I couldn't agree with you more.

I find it genuinely upsetting when I go to read an older fic only to find out it's just gone, perhaps forever. Whether it's a personal fave or something I've never read before, it's such a loss. I'm getting to the point where I'm tempted to copy/paste/save everything I come across and enjoy for fear that it might be gone soon.

[identity profile] frnklymrshnkly.livejournal.com 2015-06-24 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure if this represents an obscene sense of entitlement, but I feel like I shouldn't have to read fic in fear that it could disappear at any moment.

[identity profile] celestlyn.livejournal.com 2015-06-23 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, the Hex and HPF have struggled for the last few years. In all honesty, I didn't know The Quidditch Pitch was still up and running. So many sites have fallen by the wayside. Most of them have been pairing oriented, or at least specific to one fandom. As we move further from when the last book was published, there are fewer people in fandom. I don't believe HP fandom is dying, but some of the sites are bound to do so.

With the presence of AO3 and how awesome it all is, I think people are looking to simplify their archiving and going for maximum readerage (that's soo not a word). Years ago ff dot net was big and it still is, but since they have gotten less friendly to authors and readers wishing to read on ereaders, many folks have migrated away from there and AO3 has done a spectacular job of picking up the slack. I'm just thankful that the fics on these sites can be uploaded to AO3 and archived there. It would be a shame to lose them all.

[identity profile] celestlyn.livejournal.com 2015-06-24 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
I have no idea who owns the Quidditch Pitch, but it would be worth asking. I believe that the same person owns The Hex and HPF and she is very amenable to having the files moved to AO3, but she cannot do it herself, so I think a bunch of folks are trying to help move them over the next 3 months. Or so I heard.

[identity profile] celestlyn.livejournal.com 2015-06-24 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, I didn't realize she had changed her mind. Well, that's too bad. I have half a dozen little fics on The Hex, but I'm pretty sure I also have them on AO3. Darn! I hate it when archives shut down.

[identity profile] noblekorhedron.livejournal.com 2017-02-10 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Some VERY good points there; and yeah, AO3 has taken up a lot of that slack, to the point where you can download as ePub files, MOBI files, AND PDF files, all of the same fic!!

the quidditch pitch

(Anonymous) 2015-06-29 03:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Fanfiction sites can and do disappear without warning. I saved some of my favorite stories but lost many more when the Quidditch Pitch, Checkmated, and Simply Undeniable went down. Re/the Quidditch Pitch, I thought maybe the site had become too expensive to maintain.

Re: the quidditch pitch

(Anonymous) 2015-07-22 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
I visited the QP site a week before it disappeared and there was nothing.

[identity profile] noblekorhedron.livejournal.com 2017-02-10 06:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"But I'm pretty new here, so what do I know?"
Respectfully, this doesn't matter; if we all had that kind of attitude, we'd never save/rescue anything; we need to just say "Screw it!" and jump in with both feet, if we're ever going to get anything done....