I'm talking about people on both sides of the problem, because I've been on both sides. This isn't something that occasionally happens. I confront dead links constantly, and I try to change them when I can, but usually the person has no copies left on the internet. There are some very good reasons for people to take fic down, but when it's just an attack of "I'm no good; I used to suck as a writer," I think the writers should consider something besides their own feelings. Van Gogh, at least, had mental illness to explain burning his paintings. What's their problem?
I just move on to the next thing, no harm done. It's not going to harm me personally, of course not. It's just fanfic. But I think there's a real harm to history. Look at how many pore over Farmer Joe Blow's letters home to the folks to find out about life on the prairie in 1819 or whatever. We have to stop treating internet culture as disposable. It's the record we're making of our time period.
Because if YOU are reccing a fic and have a copy on your HD, this solves your problem... if the fic is gone, you just email it out to people who are interested in seeing it. It's honestly never occured to me to give out copies of other people's stories. It seems like a breech of trust to pass people's work around without their permission, even if I don't agree with their reasons for making it unavailable. What's the difference between that and archiving something without the author's permission?
As far as not being able to find a fic that's been recced to you, it's well and dandy to "just move on" to the next thing, if there is a next thing. But I've been on the internet now for over 12 years. For some of my older fandoms so much fic has been taken down that it's almost impossible to find a single story, even though there used to be hundreds. Neither I nor anyone else could possibly be responsible for archiving an entire fandom.
It's not that I think that people who take their fic down are bad somehow, but I do think it's a real problem with consequences that can't just be shrugged off.
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There are some very good reasons for people to take fic down, but when it's just an attack of "I'm no good; I used to suck as a writer," I think the writers should consider something besides their own feelings. Van Gogh, at least, had mental illness to explain burning his paintings. What's their problem?
I just move on to the next thing, no harm done.
It's not going to harm me personally, of course not. It's just fanfic. But I think there's a real harm to history. Look at how many pore over Farmer Joe Blow's letters home to the folks to find out about life on the prairie in 1819 or whatever. We have to stop treating internet culture as disposable. It's the record we're making of our time period.
Because if YOU are reccing a fic and have a copy on your HD, this solves your problem... if the fic is gone, you just email it out to people who are interested in seeing it.
It's honestly never occured to me to give out copies of other people's stories. It seems like a breech of trust to pass people's work around without their permission, even if I don't agree with their reasons for making it unavailable. What's the difference between that and archiving something without the author's permission?
As far as not being able to find a fic that's been recced to you, it's well and dandy to "just move on" to the next thing, if there is a next thing. But I've been on the internet now for over 12 years. For some of my older fandoms so much fic has been taken down that it's almost impossible to find a single story, even though there used to be hundreds. Neither I nor anyone else could possibly be responsible for archiving an entire fandom.
It's not that I think that people who take their fic down are bad somehow, but I do think it's a real problem with consequences that can't just be shrugged off.