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

[birdsofshore]

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]

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)

[besamislabios]

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]

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.

[frnklymrshnkly.livejournal.com]

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.

[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.

the quidditch pitch

[(Anonymous)]

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.

[noblekorhedron.livejournal.com]

"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....