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A few days ago the wiki committee posted an Intro to Fanlore FAQ draft for comments. In response to some of the feedback received on that post, the committee and the Board collaborated on revising one of the extant questions into two. (What was formerly question 10 is now Q10 and Q11; the previous question 11 will now become Q12, and so on.) Here's the revised material; let us know what you think!
10. I just discovered that there’s something about me on Fanlore and I feel ambivalent about it. Help?
First of all, we want you to know that everything on Fanlore is there because someone thought it was awesome, interesting, and worth mentioning. If someone wrote something about you, or about something you participated in, that’s generally a compliment.
It may feel strange to see your fannish name or your fannish history chronicled in this way. Many of us first came to fandom in an era when it was customary to “fly under the radar” — we’re used to a certain presumption of invisibility. But on today’s internet, fandom is no longer invisible. The history of fandom is already being written — often by outsiders to our communities. Our goal is to make sure that our version of our history is preserved. We believe that telling our story together is the best way to celebrate who we are and the awesome things we’ve created.
If an article has your legal name or something else that outs you or puts you into any danger, let us know immediately and we’ll fix it.
If you’d like to talk about any of this, drop us a line — we’re happy to chat with anyone about this any time, and we hope we can help you feel more at-ease. We’re here to serve both the fans who passionately want to preserve our history, and also the fans who may be startled by the idea of creating this multi-authored fannish history in a publicly-visible way.
11. There’s an article about me (or something I participated in) on Fanlore and it’s wrong! / biased! / incomplete! Can I delete it?
You can’t delete it, but you can edit it. Wikis improve through collaboration, so the way to deal with an inaccurate or incomplete entry is to add more details and perspectives to it.
If the information is just factually wrong—e.g. someone said you started writing Highlander in 1997 and it was actually 1998—you can go in and fix it. (Let us know if you need help creating an account on Fanlore; once you have an account, you can edit the page in question, and you’re welcome to also add other material to the wiki as well!)
If the information seems biased or written from a perspective you don’t agree with, you can add a countering viewpoint. Bracket the information you don’t agree with with a phrase like, “Some fans say,” and then add something like, “But others say,” or “But MY_NAME argues,” and make your own point or add a different perspective.
Remember, most people create pages on Fanlore about people and works they think are interesting and important. If you or your work show up, it’s typically a compliment.
And remember, too, that if an article outs you or puts you in any danger, you can let us know and we’ll take care of it right away.
10. I just discovered that there’s something about me on Fanlore and I feel ambivalent about it. Help?
First of all, we want you to know that everything on Fanlore is there because someone thought it was awesome, interesting, and worth mentioning. If someone wrote something about you, or about something you participated in, that’s generally a compliment.
It may feel strange to see your fannish name or your fannish history chronicled in this way. Many of us first came to fandom in an era when it was customary to “fly under the radar” — we’re used to a certain presumption of invisibility. But on today’s internet, fandom is no longer invisible. The history of fandom is already being written — often by outsiders to our communities. Our goal is to make sure that our version of our history is preserved. We believe that telling our story together is the best way to celebrate who we are and the awesome things we’ve created.
If an article has your legal name or something else that outs you or puts you into any danger, let us know immediately and we’ll fix it.
If you’d like to talk about any of this, drop us a line — we’re happy to chat with anyone about this any time, and we hope we can help you feel more at-ease. We’re here to serve both the fans who passionately want to preserve our history, and also the fans who may be startled by the idea of creating this multi-authored fannish history in a publicly-visible way.
11. There’s an article about me (or something I participated in) on Fanlore and it’s wrong! / biased! / incomplete! Can I delete it?
You can’t delete it, but you can edit it. Wikis improve through collaboration, so the way to deal with an inaccurate or incomplete entry is to add more details and perspectives to it.
If the information is just factually wrong—e.g. someone said you started writing Highlander in 1997 and it was actually 1998—you can go in and fix it. (Let us know if you need help creating an account on Fanlore; once you have an account, you can edit the page in question, and you’re welcome to also add other material to the wiki as well!)
If the information seems biased or written from a perspective you don’t agree with, you can add a countering viewpoint. Bracket the information you don’t agree with with a phrase like, “Some fans say,” and then add something like, “But others say,” or “But MY_NAME argues,” and make your own point or add a different perspective.
Remember, most people create pages on Fanlore about people and works they think are interesting and important. If you or your work show up, it’s typically a compliment.
And remember, too, that if an article outs you or puts you in any danger, you can let us know and we’ll take care of it right away.
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