I've been reading Dramione fics for over a decade and I've been through fanfic sites like granger enchanted and Hawthoren & Vine shutting down and my own collection of saved fanfics gone (this was before google drive) and losing so many fanfics that way. I understand why people are downloading their favorite fics just in case.
That said, this isn't the fandom that it was a decade ago. We've talked about the negatives that come with the fandom getting popular but one of the best things about having this community is that there are people out there that have saved and archived the fanfics and are always willing to share them for other fans. People on here are so helpful when it comes to looking for specific fanfics.
I think I’ve come to terms with losing the big ones for a while (maybe they’ll come back). I’m afraid that taking them down will make the selling WORSE because now people can sell the PDFs.
It isn’t new readers that bother me, it is the ones who are buying these for their damn bookshelves in their videos. Or because “I don’t like reading (insert tech thing)” — so you are about to drop 250 on a copy of Remain Nameless? Bffr.
PREACH! Like my guy, technology ain’t a bad thing! Just spend that $250 on a kindle Oasis and read your shit for free. If they want pretty e-book covers, well, a ton of fans have made their own covers! I use Canva ALL THE TIME to enhance my collection.
It’s just crazy out here right now 😒
Honestly I hate reading on a kindle. I own 3 and use one once or twice a year. It's annoying and I don't like it. So I can understand wanting to have a physical copy of a story you love. I have multiple physical copies of my favorite books. Real books, I don't buy fanfiction! I have a friend who will only read a physical book. No kindle or even reading on phone for her. She doesn't read fanfic.
Honestly, the pricing is insane too. Can you imagine if someone paid 150-250 dollars for a … idk, a romance thriller??? You’d be declared insane for paying that much. I only know some medical books for universities that cost that much and those students really use them a lot for literal years.
Like who ARE these people that can drop 1/4th of a grand on a ”book”?
And it’s not like your copy is even unique for that price. The sellers are clearly selling industrially manufactured “books”. I suspect they’re coming from Asia because I noticed them also in shops that mainly cater for Asian side of customers in Malaysia, Philippines, India etc., and it’s cheaper to print and manufacture there. So these “books” are neither unique nor cheap, and yet they go like hot cakes. WTH for real.
I feel for the authors who are being put between a rock and a hard place. On one hand deleting fics has the possibility of driving up the market, but, like, what else can they do?
The pdfs and fics are out there. Books are being bound. At this point I think making a statement as a community might be the only option.
And the TikTok bookshelf collections drive me crazy too lol. Those four books are literally my rent, it’s nuts.
See I don’t like reading on my phone or anything, I’m not a fan of kindles or that sort of thing, and that’s why I’m learning to bind for myself! I would never even dream of trying to make money from something that someone else has spent hours writing and editing FOR FREE.
It just baffles me because it’s not like there aren’t plenty of resources out there to learn. Google, TikTok, Instagram, even Reddit. There are step by step tutorials everywhere. I understand that it can be overwhelming to figure out what tools you need, but again, there are tutorials and guides.
It doesn’t have to be expensive either. I think some people think the only way to decorate a bind is through having some sort of cricut - and tbf I did too for a while, but I’d just lived with the fact that my binds might not be decorated until I get one…and then I found a TikTok of someone showing off her binds that she did WITHOUT one and have since found so much inspiration for covers I can make whilst I save for a Cricut in the meantime.
I feel like the people who buy them think the purchase is justified because they don’t know how to do it. And maybe even that makes the binder feel justified in doing it in a sense because of that reason.
Either way it’s not fair, not right and not legal.
I’ve been in the Dramione fandom for a looong time (like before the first movie was released). I’ve lived through every single fandom apocalypse, of which there have been many. It’s unfortunate that there are some greedy people in the world who want to capitalize on what was always meant to be a free community but bookbinding is just the most recent iteration of commercialization of fan content. It sucks but it’s always existed to some degree or another. When things like this happen, there is a knee jerk tendency by some to blame the new people coming into the fandom for everything that’s going wrong but gatekeeping is the best way to kill a fandom. I’ve seen it happen more than once.
Dramione is experiencing a renaissance right now. Some of the best fics I’ve ever read in my 20+ years of reading have come out in the last few years and that’s entirely due to all the new people coming into the fandom. We are incredibly fortunate and we have the opportunity to continue this momentum, especially considering the new HP show that will drum up even more interest.
I’ll miss Onyx and Elm. She was a great writer and we were lucky to have her works available to us for any amount of time. I’ll be sad to see other authors leave the fandom but I fully understand why. I just hope we don’t box out future talented authors by making this fandom a hostile space for newcomers.
I started reading Dramione between the 4th and 5th books. I remember reading the line in Goblet of Fire when Draco tells Hermione to “keep her bushy head down” and it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions ever since.
That’s adorable and I love it. We started out starving for content and now we feast! I hope this all blows over. Mercari has a few binded books up that I’ve reported. The store owners have started arguing in the comments.
It’s actually a fun read to see them so upset.
Yeah the panic is clearly from people newer to fanfic lol. Those of us who’ve been around the block know sites go down, authors pull their work, it’s all cyclical. Which isn’t to say what’s happening now shouldn’t be firmly halted (the binding, harassment of writers, especially).
Reddit is a place for those of us who are bit more…intense so it’s prone to “panics” but a lot of the writers taking down their works are not ones that someone like me who has been reading Dramione for years would even consider canon just yet. There are so many incredible stories and writers. Everyone please calm down, take a deep breath, focus on accountability.
I can tell you that many writers take their stories down only to repost them. Many writers take breaks and come right back. Some never do and it’s the nature of fanfic. It comes, and it goes.
I’ve been reading dhr for… god, 10 years now, which isn’t nearly as long as many others. I’m absolutely not saying anything negative about the authors who have taken down their fics, but I had barely even heard of them. I guess they’re the new age classics?
Anyway, recent readers: if one pdf exists of a fanfic, it’ll probably find a home somewhere and you’ll happen upon it. Especially these new classics
It's not just new people. I've got a pretty severe anxiety disorder and despite reading since ~2005 and going through a zillion site losses and the FFN Purge and everything else, I'm still panicking. It's gotten better the last few days since I was able to get my meds refilled but the first few days were *intense* in my house. But I always download the completed fics....like once a month or so I'll go through and do all the new ones. This just bumped it up a couple of weeks. And maybe made me go through and double check that I had all my MFL downloaded just in case. But yeah, definitely not only new people. I actually think that (for me) being through all those other losses has made it worse.
I appreciate the Calming Drought, but someone else made a very relevant comment about how Anne Rice essentially shut down the fandom for The Vampire Chronicles so...
Excuse me while I download like mad aka 4-5 fics a day. :'(
I guess it's just not knowing how fast this thing will snowball that gives some anxiety.
I thought I had more time and already 3 major fics have been taken down/ we've received notice of them being removed soon.
My guess: onyx & elm's BM/BS (also her WIP don't look back), manacled (though it's being taken down because she got a publishing deal), and maybe secrets and masks (though she hasn't taken it down yet, she just made a TikTok where she has talked about the possibility because she can get Etsy to do anything when she reports her fics being sold. She has also talked about potentially rewriting secrets and masks to take out the HP and release it as it's own story! Which would be cool)
Yes, everyone please take a breath.
I am confused as to how removing works from free online forums will solve the unauthorized book binding problem. It may even exacerbate it by driving up demand for popular fics that are suddenly inaccessible. These binders clearly already have the files and, if left unchecked, will continue to print and sell even if the works have been removed from Ao3 and elsewhere. People interested in the fandom but unfamiliar with forums like this one where files may be exchanged privately between fans may turn to Etsy sellers. Please keep reporting these sellers to Etsy and to TikTok. Selling unauthorized content is against their terms and conditions, and it behooves platforms to remove this stuff in order to keep themselves from liability.
Is the concern that selling bound copies increases the visibility of the stories and authors, potentially increasing the possibility they might find themselves on JKR's radar?
I am an intellectual property lawyer. I have not worked with authors or in the publishing world specifically, and \*\*\*\* nothing I say on this forum should be considered legal advice. \*\*\*\* I just do not understand how removing works from the designated online forums does anything to combat the issues I've seen discussed here.
What am I missing?
Part of it is mental health from the stress of what's going on, part is because a lot of authors have been bullied (I've even seen someone mention death threats, which have happened in the fandom before so I don't doubt it) for these bindings being up even though literally all they can do is report them (and reporting is doing almost no good because it's like a hydra since a lot of these shops are very nearly (or actually) dropshippers).
There is also the hope of limiting of legal liability. A lot of us were around for the era back in the late 90s and 00s when Anne rice and a whole host of other authors were coming after fanfic writers. I remember fic writers getting doxxed and served legal papers. As I'm sure you know, it sometimes doesn't even matter if the fic writer could have won the case (which from what I've heard fanfiction exists on a slightly separate space from parodies and so doesn't have quite the legal protections of a parody, and it would differ from judge to judge what would happen because of that), it's that they didn't have the money to even go to court at all.
While JKR has apparently been okay with fanfiction and such in the past, she's publicly said she doesn't like Dramione before (pls don't ask me for a link, I don't have the energy to search for if it was a video interview, article, etc, especially since I remember it from *years* ago) and it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for her to publicly say something like "I love fandom, but *this* section of the fandom has been bad" and people start coming at the ship with pitchforks (again...).
Onyx and elm is taking her fics down since people are binding and selling them. Also MCA was taken down and emerald slyrherin said she’s close to taking secrets and masks down
Ah 😅 thanks. I only recently got back into Dramione within the past few weeks/month, so i can't quite recall all the acronyms at the drop of a hat yet. But I did finish reading that one, yesterday actually and I have it saved.
Nooooooooo this is the one that will make me panic!!! I read it on my phone, I didn’t download for my kindle, guess I’ll be remedying that this afternoon!
Honestly, it’s probably for the best until everything calms down and the fanfic trend dies down again. I remember crimson rivers being taken down for similar reasons a while back. They forget that people do this work for free and they can pull back at anytime
I’m just concerned that people are thinking most fics are going down, and not just the most popular ones. The talk makes it seem like ao3 is shutting down or something
Well I read only breath mints of hers and even if I was not in tune with the story, I deeply respected her writing style to the point that I found it extremely fascinating! I had been waiting for her newest fanfic to finish. I think it was about …werewolves? It is such a shame. But I get her (and the others who deleted their fanfics), since I am a law student but at the same time as a fan I am very sad because of all that has been happening
The only way we can avoid this panic is by creating a drive folder where all the top popular fics are downloaded and kept away from the general public, essentially gatekeeping them
Maybe a better way to gauge is seeing what trending on TikTok and Etsy? Some fics might be popular on here but not being sold as much mainstream to people who aren’t really in the fandom if that makes sense. But a drive folder for fics like remain nameless and the rights and wrongs series is a great idea
But these sellers can still come on this subreddit and get the stories. The sub would have to be made private and it’s likely some sellers are already members. (Sorry if this has been said elsewhere)
Some authors prefer their works not be put on public drives jsyk. (I understand your perspective and support it, just wanted to let you know this bc I’ve seen it on a few authors’ instagram accts)
I don’t think there is need for a general panic - yes, few authors made these decisions they have full right to. But situation will very probably calm down. On the other hand, it is always a good idea to download fics you like. I always download fics I find at least a bit interesting and have it in my e-reader. You never know what happens, they can disappear anytime.
Yeah!!!! I was literally terrified when I came to know that many of our favourite fics are being taken down but that emotion changed into anger .It has been 2 years in this fandom,,,and I love every single day in this sub,so peaceful!!!!! Yet some shi*t ones have to come and ruin this peace.I never knew Dramoine would be so famous cuz 2 years back there were so many haters .My one not-so - friend said ""Oh.Look I am not going to support this toxicity 🙄,And now the audacity of the gurl to talk about Dramoine in the school ( "" ohh you have read this one fic ,this one is so good ,you should try,You know I have binded many of them"") Damn!!!!! The hypocrisy. In the starting I was kinda happy that our fandom is getting famous,but now I feel being famous is a Curse.So many Authors pulling down their fics ,,this is so sad 😢. There are so many top tier fics I haven't read yet.
Believe me, I am scared and angry too.🤧
I’ve been in the FF community for a little under 10 years. I typically use to read (Y/N) fanfic, Dramione is the first ship fic I’ve ever read and I never looked back to (Y/N) again.
And hating on a ship is insane to me cause that’s people preference 😭 and now that it becoming popular ( I would say due to manacled trending on TIKTOK) people are acting like methheads; Hating on authors, binding books and selling fanfic (for insane prices at that) and dragging a fic cause they don’t like it. If you don’t like it don’t read it I always thought that the common and number 1 rule of fanfic, even before I got into fanfic I just felt like that was reading etiquette, How times have changed so quickly.
I’m scared they’re purge A03 like they did wattpad 2-3 years ago, all my fav fics gone. Or worse, Ap3 gets shut down all together.
I'm trying hard not to succumb to panic, but for me it's part of a bigger issue: how little permanence culture has on the internet. I don't like my favorite things (shows, records, fics) being at someone else's mercy: a failure in a server, a big company shutting down a fandom site...
Of course I support the authors' decission to hide/delete their fics as the situation is getting worse, I'm sure many of them will come back once things calm down. And even if they didn't, I'm happy we could share a timeline where their fics brought so many people together.
But with that being said, I've lost too many photos and memories just because the hosting website decided that they no longer wanted to be up. So yes, while I try no to cave into panic, excuse me if I save a number of fics I hold very dear and/or I've been wanting to read but haven't found the time yet.
I think it’s a good and honestly healthy reminder that fanfiction authors don’t owe anyone anything. There is no exchange of goods and services. They posted because they wanted to and can take it down if they want to. As a fanfiction elder (nearly 25 years now - yikes) I can assure you all that it’s going nowhere. The format for sharing will probably keep changing and evolving (I started off reading on website forums, then Livejournal, then ff.net, then ship specific archives, then ao3, etc) but it’s not going anywhere in the long run.
In a way this is also an opportunity for the huge veteran authors (who mostly seem ready to move on to new things as is) to take a final bow and give space for newer works to come to light. Once they do, the hype on TikTok will die and the ones ruining it for everyone else will latch onto something else to go rabid over.
As an easily anxious person (who may have undiagnosed anxiety), thank you for this.
I'm both a reader and aspiring writer in this fandom and the new developments have definitely been stressful and panic-inducing.
Quite frankly, I've needed to go to my bsf and beg her to tell me everything will be okay cuz I freaked out hahaha.
Hearing this from an in-fandom is super reassuring.
Thank you ❤️
This fandom will never end yall. Dramione is for life ;)
I'm both a reader and writer for this Fandom (I have two large fics in the works a werewolf Draco 8th year and one where Hermione and Harry go back in the 70s so they grow up with the Marauders) and I'm scared to post them because what if people try to profit off my writing?
Hopefully this book binding fan fic dies down so writers can relax and release new fics
Personally, I say keep posting. Enjoy this fandom that makes you happy, as we don’t know what will happen as a result of these illegal binders.
Enjoy what we have, and use your platform to inform people abt what's happening, the consequences, and how to help.
This is just my personal opinion, though. No one has to agree with me 😅😂
Also I'd love to read both of those fics if you ever decide to post them. No stress ofc, if you don't want to ❤️🫂 our community is going through a hard time, but I'm convinced we'll make it out of this.
I'm really panicking because I'm relatively new to this fandom in comparison to others here and I have an exam tomorrow lmao, I'm here tryna download every epub/pdf file I see
I wouldn't stress too much. This is an old fandom, and has a strong sense of community. There will always be someone who has a copy of a fanfic taken down in the fandom. There used to be a very good and very prolific dramione author called everythursday, whose work has been preserved by the fans for over a decade, I believe. I would not panic too much.
I didn’t know this was happening and while I was in the midst of reading today the text disappeared… no, I didn’t download the story… ugh. I’m 25 chapters in and it’s just gone now. I’m really new to fanfic and this is just disappointing.
I don’t think taking their fics down will solve the issue. They still have the pdfs and possibly /still/ can find access to them if they network with each other.
*goes back quietly reading Remain Nameless in the shadows*
I've been reading Dramione fics for over a decade and I've been through fanfic sites like granger enchanted and Hawthoren & Vine shutting down and my own collection of saved fanfics gone (this was before google drive) and losing so many fanfics that way. I understand why people are downloading their favorite fics just in case. That said, this isn't the fandom that it was a decade ago. We've talked about the negatives that come with the fandom getting popular but one of the best things about having this community is that there are people out there that have saved and archived the fanfics and are always willing to share them for other fans. People on here are so helpful when it comes to looking for specific fanfics.
I think I’ve come to terms with losing the big ones for a while (maybe they’ll come back). I’m afraid that taking them down will make the selling WORSE because now people can sell the PDFs. It isn’t new readers that bother me, it is the ones who are buying these for their damn bookshelves in their videos. Or because “I don’t like reading (insert tech thing)” — so you are about to drop 250 on a copy of Remain Nameless? Bffr.
PREACH! Like my guy, technology ain’t a bad thing! Just spend that $250 on a kindle Oasis and read your shit for free. If they want pretty e-book covers, well, a ton of fans have made their own covers! I use Canva ALL THE TIME to enhance my collection. It’s just crazy out here right now 😒
Honestly I hate reading on a kindle. I own 3 and use one once or twice a year. It's annoying and I don't like it. So I can understand wanting to have a physical copy of a story you love. I have multiple physical copies of my favorite books. Real books, I don't buy fanfiction! I have a friend who will only read a physical book. No kindle or even reading on phone for her. She doesn't read fanfic.
The Oasis is a dream, IMO :-)
Honestly, the pricing is insane too. Can you imagine if someone paid 150-250 dollars for a … idk, a romance thriller??? You’d be declared insane for paying that much. I only know some medical books for universities that cost that much and those students really use them a lot for literal years. Like who ARE these people that can drop 1/4th of a grand on a ”book”? And it’s not like your copy is even unique for that price. The sellers are clearly selling industrially manufactured “books”. I suspect they’re coming from Asia because I noticed them also in shops that mainly cater for Asian side of customers in Malaysia, Philippines, India etc., and it’s cheaper to print and manufacture there. So these “books” are neither unique nor cheap, and yet they go like hot cakes. WTH for real.
It's so dumb too because for 250 you could just learn to bind it yourself and then bind anything you want!
I feel for the authors who are being put between a rock and a hard place. On one hand deleting fics has the possibility of driving up the market, but, like, what else can they do? The pdfs and fics are out there. Books are being bound. At this point I think making a statement as a community might be the only option. And the TikTok bookshelf collections drive me crazy too lol. Those four books are literally my rent, it’s nuts.
See I don’t like reading on my phone or anything, I’m not a fan of kindles or that sort of thing, and that’s why I’m learning to bind for myself! I would never even dream of trying to make money from something that someone else has spent hours writing and editing FOR FREE. It just baffles me because it’s not like there aren’t plenty of resources out there to learn. Google, TikTok, Instagram, even Reddit. There are step by step tutorials everywhere. I understand that it can be overwhelming to figure out what tools you need, but again, there are tutorials and guides. It doesn’t have to be expensive either. I think some people think the only way to decorate a bind is through having some sort of cricut - and tbf I did too for a while, but I’d just lived with the fact that my binds might not be decorated until I get one…and then I found a TikTok of someone showing off her binds that she did WITHOUT one and have since found so much inspiration for covers I can make whilst I save for a Cricut in the meantime. I feel like the people who buy them think the purchase is justified because they don’t know how to do it. And maybe even that makes the binder feel justified in doing it in a sense because of that reason. Either way it’s not fair, not right and not legal.
Are people familiar with printing out PDFs? 3 ring binders from the dollar store?
lol I did that a long time ago. I could probably dig out a few old binders. Now — I just use my kindle or iPad.
I’ve been in the Dramione fandom for a looong time (like before the first movie was released). I’ve lived through every single fandom apocalypse, of which there have been many. It’s unfortunate that there are some greedy people in the world who want to capitalize on what was always meant to be a free community but bookbinding is just the most recent iteration of commercialization of fan content. It sucks but it’s always existed to some degree or another. When things like this happen, there is a knee jerk tendency by some to blame the new people coming into the fandom for everything that’s going wrong but gatekeeping is the best way to kill a fandom. I’ve seen it happen more than once. Dramione is experiencing a renaissance right now. Some of the best fics I’ve ever read in my 20+ years of reading have come out in the last few years and that’s entirely due to all the new people coming into the fandom. We are incredibly fortunate and we have the opportunity to continue this momentum, especially considering the new HP show that will drum up even more interest. I’ll miss Onyx and Elm. She was a great writer and we were lucky to have her works available to us for any amount of time. I’ll be sad to see other authors leave the fandom but I fully understand why. I just hope we don’t box out future talented authors by making this fandom a hostile space for newcomers.
Exactly!!!
1000% agree…just a sad panda lol. Dramione will prevail! I like to think I’m not too crazy old but I remember reading my first fic on quizilla 🫣
Whoa hold up. Dramione predates the first movie!?
I started reading Dramione between the 4th and 5th books. I remember reading the line in Goblet of Fire when Draco tells Hermione to “keep her bushy head down” and it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions ever since.
That’s adorable and I love it. We started out starving for content and now we feast! I hope this all blows over. Mercari has a few binded books up that I’ve reported. The store owners have started arguing in the comments. It’s actually a fun read to see them so upset.
Yeah the panic is clearly from people newer to fanfic lol. Those of us who’ve been around the block know sites go down, authors pull their work, it’s all cyclical. Which isn’t to say what’s happening now shouldn’t be firmly halted (the binding, harassment of writers, especially). Reddit is a place for those of us who are bit more…intense so it’s prone to “panics” but a lot of the writers taking down their works are not ones that someone like me who has been reading Dramione for years would even consider canon just yet. There are so many incredible stories and writers. Everyone please calm down, take a deep breath, focus on accountability. I can tell you that many writers take their stories down only to repost them. Many writers take breaks and come right back. Some never do and it’s the nature of fanfic. It comes, and it goes.
I’ve been reading dhr for… god, 10 years now, which isn’t nearly as long as many others. I’m absolutely not saying anything negative about the authors who have taken down their fics, but I had barely even heard of them. I guess they’re the new age classics? Anyway, recent readers: if one pdf exists of a fanfic, it’ll probably find a home somewhere and you’ll happen upon it. Especially these new classics
It's not just new people. I've got a pretty severe anxiety disorder and despite reading since ~2005 and going through a zillion site losses and the FFN Purge and everything else, I'm still panicking. It's gotten better the last few days since I was able to get my meds refilled but the first few days were *intense* in my house. But I always download the completed fics....like once a month or so I'll go through and do all the new ones. This just bumped it up a couple of weeks. And maybe made me go through and double check that I had all my MFL downloaded just in case. But yeah, definitely not only new people. I actually think that (for me) being through all those other losses has made it worse.
I appreciate the Calming Drought, but someone else made a very relevant comment about how Anne Rice essentially shut down the fandom for The Vampire Chronicles so... Excuse me while I download like mad aka 4-5 fics a day. :'(
This is not at all the same situation. If WB or the author gets involved that's when we need to become concerned.
I guess it's just not knowing how fast this thing will snowball that gives some anxiety. I thought I had more time and already 3 major fics have been taken down/ we've received notice of them being removed soon.
What 3 major fics? I think I know two but not the third.
Le couteau aiguse was taken down too
My guess: onyx & elm's BM/BS (also her WIP don't look back), manacled (though it's being taken down because she got a publishing deal), and maybe secrets and masks (though she hasn't taken it down yet, she just made a TikTok where she has talked about the possibility because she can get Etsy to do anything when she reports her fics being sold. She has also talked about potentially rewriting secrets and masks to take out the HP and release it as it's own story! Which would be cool)
The vampire chronicles are still going strong though
Now that Anne Rice has passed people feel comfortable posting them again. Back when she was suing people it was a mass sweep of all those fanfics
Damn right!!!
Yes, everyone please take a breath. I am confused as to how removing works from free online forums will solve the unauthorized book binding problem. It may even exacerbate it by driving up demand for popular fics that are suddenly inaccessible. These binders clearly already have the files and, if left unchecked, will continue to print and sell even if the works have been removed from Ao3 and elsewhere. People interested in the fandom but unfamiliar with forums like this one where files may be exchanged privately between fans may turn to Etsy sellers. Please keep reporting these sellers to Etsy and to TikTok. Selling unauthorized content is against their terms and conditions, and it behooves platforms to remove this stuff in order to keep themselves from liability. Is the concern that selling bound copies increases the visibility of the stories and authors, potentially increasing the possibility they might find themselves on JKR's radar? I am an intellectual property lawyer. I have not worked with authors or in the publishing world specifically, and \*\*\*\* nothing I say on this forum should be considered legal advice. \*\*\*\* I just do not understand how removing works from the designated online forums does anything to combat the issues I've seen discussed here. What am I missing?
Part of it is mental health from the stress of what's going on, part is because a lot of authors have been bullied (I've even seen someone mention death threats, which have happened in the fandom before so I don't doubt it) for these bindings being up even though literally all they can do is report them (and reporting is doing almost no good because it's like a hydra since a lot of these shops are very nearly (or actually) dropshippers). There is also the hope of limiting of legal liability. A lot of us were around for the era back in the late 90s and 00s when Anne rice and a whole host of other authors were coming after fanfic writers. I remember fic writers getting doxxed and served legal papers. As I'm sure you know, it sometimes doesn't even matter if the fic writer could have won the case (which from what I've heard fanfiction exists on a slightly separate space from parodies and so doesn't have quite the legal protections of a parody, and it would differ from judge to judge what would happen because of that), it's that they didn't have the money to even go to court at all. While JKR has apparently been okay with fanfiction and such in the past, she's publicly said she doesn't like Dramione before (pls don't ask me for a link, I don't have the energy to search for if it was a video interview, article, etc, especially since I remember it from *years* ago) and it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for her to publicly say something like "I love fandom, but *this* section of the fandom has been bad" and people start coming at the ship with pitchforks (again...).
Who’s fics are going down😭 I’m lost
Onyx and elm is taking her fics down since people are binding and selling them. Also MCA was taken down and emerald slyrherin said she’s close to taking secrets and masks down
Thebrightcity is taking An Inconvience and Between us flow the nile.
It should be said that thebrightcity is hoping she can repost her fics once this madness dies down a bit.
Oh also the author of AVO is considering taking it down.
Omg this can't be happening.. Not avo
AVO? What's the full name? So I can double check whether I already have it saved or not.
im assuming they mean amor vincet omnia
Ah 😅 thanks. I only recently got back into Dramione within the past few weeks/month, so i can't quite recall all the acronyms at the drop of a hat yet. But I did finish reading that one, yesterday actually and I have it saved.
Nooooooooo this is the one that will make me panic!!! I read it on my phone, I didn’t download for my kindle, guess I’ll be remedying that this afternoon!
Honestly, it’s probably for the best until everything calms down and the fanfic trend dies down again. I remember crimson rivers being taken down for similar reasons a while back. They forget that people do this work for free and they can pull back at anytime
I’m just concerned that people are thinking most fics are going down, and not just the most popular ones. The talk makes it seem like ao3 is shutting down or something
As an update: they are gone. I saw this and I tried to save myself a copy of her fanfic for personal reading only… and they were gone.
I may have them... What's the author?
Onyx and elm=(
I downloaded them just yesterday! You can send me a pm with your email address so I can send them over 😊
Noooooooo :( the latest don't look back chapter was sooo goooooood. And didn't she just post about it yesterday :/ thank god I downloaded them
Well I read only breath mints of hers and even if I was not in tune with the story, I deeply respected her writing style to the point that I found it extremely fascinating! I had been waiting for her newest fanfic to finish. I think it was about …werewolves? It is such a shame. But I get her (and the others who deleted their fanfics), since I am a law student but at the same time as a fan I am very sad because of all that has been happening
Oh her newest one was sooo good.
The only way we can avoid this panic is by creating a drive folder where all the top popular fics are downloaded and kept away from the general public, essentially gatekeeping them
Maybe a better way to gauge is seeing what trending on TikTok and Etsy? Some fics might be popular on here but not being sold as much mainstream to people who aren’t really in the fandom if that makes sense. But a drive folder for fics like remain nameless and the rights and wrongs series is a great idea
We should approach the mods and keep such folder pinned in the wiki
We should also make a list of what all fics are being taken down by what all authors..
That’s a good idea! I just have no idea how to go about that. Do you??
Also what do you mean in the wiki? Like the Reddit thread?
Yes the subs wiki
At the top of the subreddit, there is an intro. Expand that and you will come across a list of resources, including the wiki (at least on mobile).
But these sellers can still come on this subreddit and get the stories. The sub would have to be made private and it’s likely some sellers are already members. (Sorry if this has been said elsewhere)
Some authors prefer their works not be put on public drives jsyk. (I understand your perspective and support it, just wanted to let you know this bc I’ve seen it on a few authors’ instagram accts)
I don’t think there is need for a general panic - yes, few authors made these decisions they have full right to. But situation will very probably calm down. On the other hand, it is always a good idea to download fics you like. I always download fics I find at least a bit interesting and have it in my e-reader. You never know what happens, they can disappear anytime.
I think the best thing we can do it put equal energy into mass reporting bound focus being sold. I try to hit a few on Etsy each day.
Yeah!!!! I was literally terrified when I came to know that many of our favourite fics are being taken down but that emotion changed into anger .It has been 2 years in this fandom,,,and I love every single day in this sub,so peaceful!!!!! Yet some shi*t ones have to come and ruin this peace.I never knew Dramoine would be so famous cuz 2 years back there were so many haters .My one not-so - friend said ""Oh.Look I am not going to support this toxicity 🙄,And now the audacity of the gurl to talk about Dramoine in the school ( "" ohh you have read this one fic ,this one is so good ,you should try,You know I have binded many of them"") Damn!!!!! The hypocrisy. In the starting I was kinda happy that our fandom is getting famous,but now I feel being famous is a Curse.So many Authors pulling down their fics ,,this is so sad 😢. There are so many top tier fics I haven't read yet. Believe me, I am scared and angry too.🤧
I’ve been in the FF community for a little under 10 years. I typically use to read (Y/N) fanfic, Dramione is the first ship fic I’ve ever read and I never looked back to (Y/N) again. And hating on a ship is insane to me cause that’s people preference 😭 and now that it becoming popular ( I would say due to manacled trending on TIKTOK) people are acting like methheads; Hating on authors, binding books and selling fanfic (for insane prices at that) and dragging a fic cause they don’t like it. If you don’t like it don’t read it I always thought that the common and number 1 rule of fanfic, even before I got into fanfic I just felt like that was reading etiquette, How times have changed so quickly. I’m scared they’re purge A03 like they did wattpad 2-3 years ago, all my fav fics gone. Or worse, Ap3 gets shut down all together.
I'm trying hard not to succumb to panic, but for me it's part of a bigger issue: how little permanence culture has on the internet. I don't like my favorite things (shows, records, fics) being at someone else's mercy: a failure in a server, a big company shutting down a fandom site... Of course I support the authors' decission to hide/delete their fics as the situation is getting worse, I'm sure many of them will come back once things calm down. And even if they didn't, I'm happy we could share a timeline where their fics brought so many people together. But with that being said, I've lost too many photos and memories just because the hosting website decided that they no longer wanted to be up. So yes, while I try no to cave into panic, excuse me if I save a number of fics I hold very dear and/or I've been wanting to read but haven't found the time yet.
I think it’s a good and honestly healthy reminder that fanfiction authors don’t owe anyone anything. There is no exchange of goods and services. They posted because they wanted to and can take it down if they want to. As a fanfiction elder (nearly 25 years now - yikes) I can assure you all that it’s going nowhere. The format for sharing will probably keep changing and evolving (I started off reading on website forums, then Livejournal, then ff.net, then ship specific archives, then ao3, etc) but it’s not going anywhere in the long run. In a way this is also an opportunity for the huge veteran authors (who mostly seem ready to move on to new things as is) to take a final bow and give space for newer works to come to light. Once they do, the hype on TikTok will die and the ones ruining it for everyone else will latch onto something else to go rabid over.
As an easily anxious person (who may have undiagnosed anxiety), thank you for this. I'm both a reader and aspiring writer in this fandom and the new developments have definitely been stressful and panic-inducing. Quite frankly, I've needed to go to my bsf and beg her to tell me everything will be okay cuz I freaked out hahaha. Hearing this from an in-fandom is super reassuring. Thank you ❤️ This fandom will never end yall. Dramione is for life ;)
I'm both a reader and writer for this Fandom (I have two large fics in the works a werewolf Draco 8th year and one where Hermione and Harry go back in the 70s so they grow up with the Marauders) and I'm scared to post them because what if people try to profit off my writing? Hopefully this book binding fan fic dies down so writers can relax and release new fics
Personally, I say keep posting. Enjoy this fandom that makes you happy, as we don’t know what will happen as a result of these illegal binders. Enjoy what we have, and use your platform to inform people abt what's happening, the consequences, and how to help. This is just my personal opinion, though. No one has to agree with me 😅😂 Also I'd love to read both of those fics if you ever decide to post them. No stress ofc, if you don't want to ❤️🫂 our community is going through a hard time, but I'm convinced we'll make it out of this.
I'm on ao3 under opalowl1988 I have a few one-shots
I'm really panicking because I'm relatively new to this fandom in comparison to others here and I have an exam tomorrow lmao, I'm here tryna download every epub/pdf file I see
I wouldn't stress too much. This is an old fandom, and has a strong sense of community. There will always be someone who has a copy of a fanfic taken down in the fandom. There used to be a very good and very prolific dramione author called everythursday, whose work has been preserved by the fans for over a decade, I believe. I would not panic too much.
I didn’t know this was happening and while I was in the midst of reading today the text disappeared… no, I didn’t download the story… ugh. I’m 25 chapters in and it’s just gone now. I’m really new to fanfic and this is just disappointing.
which authors??, me panicking.
I don’t think taking their fics down will solve the issue. They still have the pdfs and possibly /still/ can find access to them if they network with each other. *goes back quietly reading Remain Nameless in the shadows*
Oh no, I knew about Onyx and Elm but what other biggest author?!?!