Another archive down?

[snowgall]

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?

Comments

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

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.

[snowgall]

Yeah, I don't believe HP fandom is dying either. Many fans are simply multi-fandom, and it's a natural progression to use an archive like AO3 which is more all-encompassing. And it's a much better interface all around. So just because fewer fans are using THF and HPF, it doesn't mean that the fandom is dying.

The problem is that although these fics *can* be uploaded to AO3, I am very much afraid that they *won't* be. Without the site owner's cooperation, I don't think the fans can do anything themselves, and it would be up to all the individual authors, many of whom are no longer active.

I don't know the owner of THF and HPF personally, but I wish that someone could convince her to let the fans go ahead and help with a transfer to AO3.

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

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.

[snowgall]

Well I'm confused, because I volunteered to help with the transfer of files from THF to AO3, but then the next I had heard she had changed her mind.

See this post.

And then this one.

That's why I'm frustrated :/

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

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.

[noblekorhedron.livejournal.com]

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!!