We used to be called 'Burned by Fandom', but I changed it. Why? We're not really 'Burned by Fandom'. Fandom, as accurately pointed out to me by Fox, are those people getting burned. Fandom is the fans. We're really 'Burned FOR Fandom'. We were attacked for showing our support for the things we liked.

What is 'Burned for Fandom/Fan Fiction?'

Well, I'm trying to figure that out myself, really. Basically, this is a support group for anyone who's been emotionally hurt or scarred by being an active, public Fan of a fictional world owned by someone else. We are (I hope) coming together to give each other the love and understanding that can only come from having your heart broken and your creative work cast out or ruined by a fan-fiction organization or owner.

I'm just putting out the call and I'll see who responds, or if I get sued again. :)

What is Fandom?
Special thanks to rec.arts.sf.fandom for helping with this definition! :)

FANDOM: The word is used for a lot of things. Generally, though -- fandom is a group of people brought to together by a similar interest at some time. Sometimes the groups evolve and the object or interest (sports team, etc) doesn't even play into their interactions anymore... they're just naturally friendly and open to discussions with each other, but they identify themselves as a fandom perhaps long after the object of interest has faded from view. It's as if the original interest was used as a common thread to bring people together who might naturally be friends, but would never otherwise meet.

Another definition of Fandom (Media Fandom is sometimes used) is the shared appreciation of your favorite books, movies, TV, comics, etc. This can be expressed either through talking with other fans at conventions or via the Internet, or phone, or by whatever means -- or not at all. You can of course be a fan in the privacy of your own home. Fandom takes a wide variety of forms, many of which are creative, like costuming, art and writing, or don't require much creativity at all, like buying a book.

This group is not actually for fandom overall, but for a subset of us who participate in sharing derivative works of fan fiction, fan artwork or by playing in roleplaying games or games based on our favorite works, and who have been hurt in this process. We'll call this kind of fandom Derivative Creative Fandom for the sake of giving it a name, because I have yet to find one exactly.

Our subset of Fandom is where is where people (fans) create their own stories, artwork, or materials derivative of their favorite TV Show, Book, Comic, Movie or what-have-you. Creating these works in the privacy of your own home and never showing them to anyone is completely legal -- However, it's not fun. It's really fun when you get together with other fans and share your stuff, and talk about your favorite stories/episodes/movies, etc. From the start of fandom's history to today, this happens at Conventions. And, thanks to the 'net, fans tend to congregate at websites. Now, fan materials are easy to find everywhere for certain genres (Xena:Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc.)

Problem is, fandom is both a copyright and trademark violation if not done with the permission of the owner of the original work, and most people don't know the law. Now, to their defense, these property owners have created their work to feed their families. They have every right to do this -- it's the way America works. Some authors/creators are very generous, allowing clubs to form around their works. Others allow no fan activity at all. The owners can be downright cruel, or wonderfully permissive. In the case of TV and movies, these owners are generally profit-driven corporate types who (to their defense) are actually required by law to shut down or at least notify unauthorized use of their trademarks. They also often use lawyers and something referred to as 'Bigfoot Letters' to shut down unauthorized fans. These letters tend to be very brash and threatening, warning of dire consequences. It's like swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. This creates a betrayal on a most basic emotional level for the fan, who usually only has love in his or her heart for their favorite show and doesn't understand the corporate mindset.

Authors/Owners, please read my note on Treating Fans Like Humans

Fandom is fun, but it often comes with a high price. Fans are almost always not permitted to ever make a profit on their work or to even have any money change hands - even to recoup just production costs of materials or club resources. So, you often run your activities at a loss.

Only a lucky few get official permission for clubs -- in some cases people get exclusive rights to run a club -- so if you have an idea that those club leaders don't like, you're out of luck. So, basically you have to kiss some serious butt and expect to lose lots of money to run most fan clubs within the guidelines allowed by most rightsholders. And, you often have to follow back-asswards rules and limitations to work in the officially sanctioned clubs. In the case where the number of sanctioned clubs is limited, you have to deal with abuses from the club owners and operators, in addition to any rules or problems the rightsholder might create too. The possibilities for abuse of players are mind-boggling.

And, if you break the rules of these rightsholders, the penalties can be steep. Trademark and copyright violation cases often have fines in the thousands of dollars, and just to take a case to court requires an intellectual property lawyer at between $200 and $500 an hour. Worst of all, fans who get into trouble may be permanently blacklisted or cast out of their fandom, and lose an important part of their life.

Who is this group for?

There is a sad but growing collection of people (myself included) who have been contacted by lawyers and forced to destroy our fan materials, halt our club activities, or who have been misused, abused or excluded from clubs for whatever reason. Fandom is a political monster -- there's a lot of infighting, favoritism and abuse. This group is for anyone who's been hurt by an organized group around a shared fiction (either an original theme, or based on a popular TV, Book, Movie, etc), but I'll give some examples to give you an idea if you've had an experience that might qualify you for this group.

Example 1: Ignorance of the Law:

Many people have started clubs without knowing that the original author or creator of the material has to give them permission for their page to exist publicly. They were then unable to get permission and had to shut down or completely change their page and essentially lose the purpose of their fan-gathering. Or, some people charged a fee without permission to recoup losses for fan-activity, which was mistaken for "profit" and therefore the individual was shut down. (This is me.)

Example 2: Character Mangling:

There are those who have been mistreated by fanclubs that hold exclusive permissions (and therefore exclusive controls) over fan materials and some fan-created characters. For example: have you played in an online group that ordered your beloved character to die? I've seen it happen. I've seen people forced to mate with people they wouldn't choose themselves, or else lose their character. It was like virtual rape!

Example 3: Exclusivity/Editorial Blackouts/Lack of Venue:

Have you ever been told "We don't like your story, so we won't publish it, and we're the only official club", so you're stuck? I'll use a specific example, one of my least favorite experiences: a person was given exclusive rights by an author to do THE ONLY interactive online roleplaying text game based on a particular book saga. A disgruntled player from his game logged into my multi-theme, free-building educational text game and started building a version of this theme on his own. The owner of the original game (not the author -- just another fan who had gotten the rights, mind you) tracked him down and then threatened to sue me if I didn't destroy him and his works. I had to do it -- I couldn't afford a lawsuit then either. Anyone who wanted to do a different version of this game world was completely screwed. If you didn't get along with that one text-based game "god", you couldn't play happily in any text based online game based on that fan-world. Period. This guy had the whole enchilada. The author probably knew nothing of the way the 'net works, and didn't realize he was cutting off thousands of fans from having a quality interactive text-game experience; but that's the way it goes.

Another example from my personal experience relates to a fan-based text-world as well. Only a certain number of these games are allowed to exist officially. The permissions for these games seem to be given randomly, or through some process of favoritism. I know of one game that was in development that asked for permission from the owner of this theme and was told 'You can't get permission...we're not giving it out anymore', and then other games were allowed to start *AFTER* that game was shut down. Some rights holders are capricious and confusing in their management of their fan-bases. Some clubs are allowed to do certain activities, while others aren't.

Example 4: Controlling People as a Hobby

There are even some original themed MU* games, RPGs and writing groups out there that exist solely for the enjoyment of the head wizard or club owner. They feel that if players come onto their game/club, they dang well better be ready to completely subjugate themselves to the will of whoever runs the game or owns the club. Problem is, people are joining these groups to be creative and have fun -- not to fall prey to some person's need for mind-control. When powerhungry groups unnecessarily edit members or abuse them, the users get hurt. This group is for them too.

Note, I said 'Unnecessarily'. There are times when a player just doesn't 'get' the jist of what the game-maker or club owner is trying to do, both in the case of fan clubs and original themed groups, and the club owner has to say 'no'. There's nothing wrong with this, but there's also nothing wrong with the person who was censured being hurt. Being hurt just happens -- whether you're 'right' or 'wrong'. If you're hurt, we're here to support you, even if you may have been the one who screwed up. Heck, in my case, I screwed up... I still need help. Believe me...I understand if you do.

How does the Group Work?

Support for Members

This group will use a moderated confidential mailing list and file system. Because of the legalistic nature of many of our experiences, we cannot publicly post our archives without risking more legal trouble from our detractors. And, I don't want members to feel the need to censor themselves in any way. When you can't feel safe to say what you really feel, how can a support group be supportive?

Members can create a bio for themselves for me to post off this page, either their real names or a fake name to protect themselves. They can say whatever they'd like in their public bios, providing it's factual and won't get anyone sued. :) Members can also send their Tales of Woe to the list and we can all commiserate. These can be as vitriolic and over the top as you might like. :) Get it out of your system...that's why the group's confidential!

Protection for Others

The second purpose of this group is to further education on the legal aspects of fandom. As members, if we see someone making a mistake or heading for trouble, we can warn that person before they get in trouble too. We also can create documents to help people with fan-bases or user groups to understand how best to handle situations. I've already written my own little treatise on how to deal with fans regarding legal issues. I encourage members, and even non-members to submit articles and links too!

How do I join?

To join, you need to contact Dee directly with your reason for wanting to join. Pretty simple. :) If you fear that your true identity will be found out and you want to be sure that there will be no negative repercussions for you joining this group, please use one of the zillions of free email sites to create an alternate address for yourself. I'm going to do my best to keep all documents confidential, but the more precautions you take, the better.

NEW - Tracking!

Just like a good convention, fandom itself is split into dozens of different tracks. Right now, we only have one fan-track going (related to DragonR-ders of P-rn *cough cough*) but if I get any two members of a certain fandom (Anime, Furry, etc), I will gladly start an entirely new and separate list for that track. If you'd like to be the leader of a particular list, I'd love to have you come on board and start one.

Who is Dee, and why did she make this group? Oooh! Dee reveals her hidden agenda. Not. I'm actually a bit embarrassed about the truth of my situation, but it will come out sooner or later, so I'd rather be the one controlling the spin on it. :)