Why I think the FanFictionNetBot is a Bad Idea

[rodo]

Some of you may have heard of it, some may not. The Fan History Wiki now uses a bot to integrate ff.net user data into their database. Some people approve, some don't. I don't approve, but not because it collects the information of people who are totally clueless. It's free information after all.

I have a problem with it because it appears that I actually managed to learn a bit during my studies. I study journalism, in case you don't know, and I am not very attentive most of the time, but the concept of News values still stuck somehow. I know a Wiki is not journalism, but AFAIK it's supposed to be an encyclopedia, which should only include information that is in some way relevant to a number of people.

The bot, on the other hand, clutters the Wiki with a lot of information, most of which is irrelevant. An example: Author A wrote five fanfictions, has a profile on ff.net and never participated in any fandom discussion or was in any way involved in a scandal (plagiarism, wanking, etc.). Information on Author A does not become relevant, at least in my opinion, until A is involved in anything that might be of interest to a larger number of people. I know that the Wiki argues that the inclusion of these articles is meant to be preventive (in case A ever gets involved in a newsworthy event) but the chances of this are rather slim, which means the wiki is full of information nobody needs.

This sheer amount of information might also lead to a lot of confusion. For example, I tried to look up my user names, and it came up with a match. I used to be called "Doro-chan" not so long ago, and I suppose people might go looking for me using that name. But the Doro-chan listed there is not me. We've been confused before, because we're both German, both active in the Harry Potter fandom, and of course, because we both had the same name. On some sites, I was Doro-chan, on others, it was her. Consequently, people got confused, because they assumed "Doro-chan" was the same person on all sites. I assume that mine is not the only case of more than one person using the same alias. And if living people confuse us, what about a programmed bot? It does not provide any other information but username and stories, plus links, and I think the information thus collected cannot be trusted. It doesn't even know the German umlauts, for starters.

The Wiki also states that it wants to create "the first comprehensive fandom directory that anyone can edit"^[1], which is an awesome idea. I just don't think it should be part of the wiki. Linked? Sure. But I think the Wiki should not be used as a fandom directory. The two would benefit more if they were seperate.

Comments

[blktauna.insanejournal.com]

Well if nothing else, it's spurred people into looking to see if they were there or not.

[rood.insanejournal.com]

Sure. I bet it did wonders for their traffic.

[(Anonymous)]

Personally, I think having written 5 fics makes someone more relevant to fandom than having participated in wank. Any idiot can get five seconds of fame in a flame war.

No IJ account, but I'm Neneithel@aol.com

[rood.insanejournal.com]

Sure, I don't think wank has to be particularly newsworthy either (unless it's MsScribe-epic), but neither are five fics. Because writing a number of fics is not necessarily "special" enough to warrant an entry in a wiki.

[zvi (from insanejournal.com)]

No, but a person might be significant if they ran a newsletter or a popular challenge or an archive or wrote a lot of meta or wrote a lot of fic. While I don't have a clear picture in my head of a notheworthy number of fics, it's a very small fandom indeed where five is such a number.

[rachel_martin64.insanejournal.com]

I don't like this bot.

As you say, there is a difference between a fan directory and a fan history. It is hardly a history-making act to post a story to ff.net. There is no news value in the mere posting a story, and thus, no justification to record the author in a "fan history."

It just comes across as someone aggregating content for possible profit.

But what really bothers me is that this bot is ignoring the desire of many fans to maintain a low profile. I don't expect to be treated this way by fellow fans.

Fans shouldn't have to actively take steps to opt out of FH. Opt out should be the default.

[rood.insanejournal.com]

Fans shouldn't have to actively take steps to opt out of FH. Opt out should be the default.

Thanks for your comment! This didn't even occur to me, probably because I have no reason to maintain a low profile (yet). A centralized directory would also make the work of TPTB much easier, should they ever try to ban fanfic of a certain type. And I can really understand people who would like to avoid such a situation.

[elf]

Fans have also had their legal names tied to their fan names; the owner justifies this by claiming that, since OTW is a nonprofit org, anyone on its committees has no right to a non-public fannish ID.

And they've banned people for correcting erroneous information.

So, umm, yeah. There are several reasons people would like to be able to opt out.

[ataniell93.insanejournal.com]

Dude, I would opt-out in a heart beat. I have on every page I own anywhere that I want Michela/Laura/Partly Bitchy to staythefuckoffit.

[ataniell93.insanejournal.com]

Dude, I would opt-out in a heart beat. I have on every page I own anywhere that I want Michela/Laura/Partly Bitchy to staythefuckoffit.

[ataniell93.insanejournal.com]

Dude, I would opt-out in a heart beat. I have on every page I own anywhere that I want Michela/Laura/Partly Bitchy to staythefuckoffit.

[ataniell93.insanejournal.com]

Dude, I would opt-out in a heart beat. I have on every page I own anywhere that I want Michela/Laura/Partly Bitchy to staythefuckoffit.

[(Anonymous)]

If you want to maintain a low profile, don't post your work online. Don't you realise that there are far more sinister people than FH archiving all manner of information about you?

Neneithel@aol.com

[(Anonymous)]

You're confusing the matter. Certain authors do not wish their work to be found via google. That doesn't mean they don't want their work to be read by anyone anywhere; it simply means that they don't want some non-fannish person to google, say, "Orlando Bloom hawt", and get a link to their BDSM Orlando Bloom/Johnny Depp/Ioan Gruffudd kinkfest. However, if someone were looking through fannish channels, such as a recs list or a post on a comm, and were exposed to the fic through the proper warnings and so forth, then they want their fic to be found.

You're missing the difference between "post something online" and "promote something online".

[(Anonymous)]

Grabbing profiles from FF.N also leads to the problem of pseudonyms. It was weird when I looked myself up on the wiki and discovered two profiles for myself, taken from two different fandom names. It was educational in how incorrect something could be while being basically correct.

[(Anonymous)]

The Wiki also states that it wants to create "the first comprehensive fandom directory that anyone can edit"[1], which is an awesome idea.

Isn't that what the Directorium is, more or less? Except it's opt-in.

-Carmarthen

[rood.insanejournal.com]

Kind of, yeah. except that the Directorium seems to be for archives only, while the directory the Wiki wants is more about the users and less about the sites.

[(Anonymous)]

The main page is misleading, but it's not at all for archives only.

Here's my out of date page (http://directorium.org/Carmarthen). It also allows fans to network their author pages by location and other categories.

I haven't looked at the Directorium in a long time, but I thought it was a kind of neat setup for a wiki.

-Carmarthen