Fanlore's Journal

New Help documentation: Non-English Language Content on Fanlore

2023-04-22T22:46:28Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Fanlore aims to document fandoms, fanworks and fan communities regardless of the language they are in. This is why we're pleased to announce our newest help page, Help:Non-English Language Content on Fanlore! Read it to learn:

Why we welcome and encourage non-native English-language speakers and members of international fan communities to contribute to Fanlore
How to quote and link to non-English language sources
How to title a page about source media with a non-English language name
Lots more!

If you have any questions that are not answered by the new Help page, please do comment on the Talk page, leave a comment below this entry or reach out to our contact form.

Happy editing!

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The IFD Fanlore Challenge is back!

2023-02-14T00:27:58Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Banner by Airy

Come celebrate International Fanworks Day with us by taking part in our annual IFD Fanlore challenge!

From the 13th to 19th February, we're running an editing challenge with a different task to complete every day of the week. Each one comes with an awesome badge that you can add to your Fanlore User page or DW profile (or anywhere!) There's also a bonus challenge for anyone who wants to push their editing skills that bit more - you can complete either the regular or bonus task, or both, for a badge!

Never edited Fanlore before? That's okay - the first day's task is just to create an account! You can also check out our New Visitor Portal and Introductory Pages category for some help with getting your bearings.

Visit the challenge Help page for more pointers on taking part, or check out the list of editing tasks below:

Day 1 (Feb 13)

Challenge: Create a Fanlore account!

Bonus: Add some information to your user page (tip: check out examples from other Fanlore users if you’re stuck for what to write about).

Day 2 (Feb 14)

Challenge (Valentine's Day!): Add to any ship page.

Bonus: Add to a femslash ship page, or you can always create a new femslash page!

Day 3 (Feb 15)

Challenge: For International Fanworks Day, add to a page for a fan community.

Bonus: Create a page for a fan community, such as a Discord server or Dreamwidth/Livejournal community you're part of.

Day 4 (Feb 16)

Challenge: Add to any podcast-related page (such as one of the pages in the Fannish Podcast category).

Bonus: Create a podcast-related page.

Day 5 (Feb 17)

Challenge: Add to any comic, manga, or webcomic page.

Bonus: Add to the page for a character from any comic, manga, or webcomic.

Day 6 (Feb 18)

Challenge: Expand either a stub or a short page.

Bonus: Make a page from a redlink, which is an internal link pointing to a page that doesn't exist yet. You can check out our Wanted Pages list for loads of ideas!

Day 7 (Feb 19)

Challenge: In honour of the IFD 2023 theme, When Fandoms Collide, add to any crossover-related page!

Bonus: Add to any crossover fanwork or crossover zine page.

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We're back!

2022-10-04T03:26:09Z

Posted by: fanloremod

And we're back! We want to give a huge hand to Wyatt, who has been tirelessly working all day to make this update possible and fixing bugs on the fly!

There's lots of new things that we're excited to show you over the next few days, but for now, feel free to explore the site and reacquaint yourself.

You'll notice an "Edit" and an "Edit source" tab at the top of most pages - the "Edit" tab is for our new Visual Editor mode! More information on how to use that can be found on our updated Editing pages Help page. For those of you who prefer wiki markup, "Edit source" should be more familiar!

We're still working to bring all our documentation up to date, so thanks for bearing with us while we do. Our search is also still indexing, so results might be incomplete until this finishes. As always, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to send us a message or leave your thoughts in a comment!

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Fanlore is getting an upgrade!

2022-09-24T22:57:50Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Big news! On Monday 3rd October, Fanlore will be undergoing some maintenance to upgrade our version of MediaWiki, the software behind Fanlore. This is a significant upgrade that has been in the works for some time, and we're really excited that it's almost here!

What will this mean for Fanlore?

Beginning at 1pm UTC on Monday 3rd October (what time is that for me?), Fanlore will go into read-only mode. This will mean you can still browse the site, but you won't be able to log in or make any edits.

We're expecting this to last for about 10 hours while the upgrade completes and everything is tested, and we'll let everyone know once the new and improved Fanlore is ready to use!

What's changing about the wiki?

One of the big changes that this upgrade will bring to Fanlore is a Visual Editor mode - rather than formatting things with wiki markup, there will be lots of buttons and options that format things for you (though for the dedicated markup-lovers, don't worry - you'll still be able to use markup in the Source Editor mode!)

We'll have more information on the new mode after the upgrade completes, including lots of updated documentation! Additionally, our MediaWiki software will be running on the latest version, which will mean fewer bugs, and new features and capabilities we can introduce with wiki extensions. (We may have a few bugs as the new version settles in, and you can always write to us and report any issues!)

If you have any questions about what to expect from the upgrade - or anything related to Fanlore - just leave a comment below and we'll reply as soon as we can!

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Stub September: come and join the party! 🎉

2022-09-15T22:54:07Z

Posted by: fanloremod

This month is Stub September, and you’re invited! From September 12th through 25th, you can expand short articles on Fanlore to earn party-themed badges in honor of the OTW’s 15th birthday.

But what IS a “stub”? It’s a term we - and other wikis - use to describe a very short page with little to no information on it. Many stubs contain only an introductory sentence or two - but they’re still hugely valuable to Fanlore, as they can all be added to and built on!

Adding a few words is enough to expand a stub - and earn you a badge in Stub September! You can even browse our handy stub category to find pages to add to.

Want to help make more Fanlore pages, but can’t think of a lot to say? You can make a stub and give other editors something to add to! Anyone with a Fanlore account that’s at least four hours old can create a page - check out our Starting a new page Help page to learn more!

There’s five party-themed badges to collect in Stub September; can you earn them all? Learn more about how to participate in our guide to Stub September! If this is your first time editing Fanlore, you can also check out our New Visitor Portal and tutorial pages to learn how to get started.

Happy editing, and if you have any questions, leave a comment and we'll get right back to you!

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We're setting sail for Fanlore Bingo!

2022-06-07T22:29:33Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Banner by memorizingthedigitsofpi

All hands on deck—Fanlore Bingo is officially here! From June 6th to June 19th, come complete fun editing challenges to earn some shiny loot and check off your Bingo card!

Whether ye be a beginner editor or a seasoned veteran, rest assured there’s enough treasure for everyone—all you need is a Fanlore account.

Stop by the Captain’s cabin to learn more about the challenge, and get ready to set sail!

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Help:Accessibility

2021-12-18T19:39:40Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Fanlore is happy to present a new Help page, Help:Accessibility! This new page outlines several key ways that editors can improve the accessibility of content on Fanlore. Here, you can find information and resources about the following and more:

* Writing alternative text for images
* Formatting accessible embedded links
* Formatting text in an accessible way

We’ve also updated Help:Images to link to the new section on alternative text where relevant.

Do you have a suggestion for another accessibility-related topic or resource that we should include? Contact the Fanlore Committee to let us know!

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Photographs of fans: An addition to Fanlore's Image Policy

2021-10-17T22:45:25Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Thank you to everyone who has submitted feedback on the proposed addition to our Image Policy regarding photographs of fans on Fanlore.

Because we have already received a great deal of feedback on the draft policy, we have taken the decision to close the comments in order to get to work on revising this policy.

We realise that the original proposed text of the policy would not have been at all sufficient to protect fans' privacy and identity in the online world that we live in, and that this disappointed and alarmed many people. We fully acknowledge that it was not in line with what fandom would have expected from Fanlore and our commitment to protecting fans' identities, and we sincerely apologise for this. We will take all of the concerns expressed on board and work to produce a policy that is much more robust in protecting fans as we carry out our mission of documenting fandom.

Thank you again to everyone who took the time to respond to this proposal.

Original policy text:

Can I upload photos of fans to Fanlore?

Please be thoughtful when uploading photos of fans. Is this your own photo or one you found online or in a magazine? If you know the person in the photo, check with them about how they feel about their photo being used, or how they feel about a photo of themselves being uploaded. If a fan has passed on, reach out to their family or friends.

If you do not know them personally, then consider the context where the photo was taken and how widely it was distributed. Has it already been posted online? Was this a large public convention or small private event? Was this published in a fanzine, newsletter, newspaper or magazine? Consider whether the photo is being used to document a group activity or being used to identify a specific person.

If you are concerned about identifying individuals, one option is to upload a smaller or lower-resolution photo, or elect to not identify specific people (refer to them as "a fan" or "fans") unless it is necessary for the photo's purpose. Also, please keep Fanlore's Fair Use Policy in mind when uploading images you do not own.

If you would like to get more guidance on a photo you are planning to upload, please contact the Fanlore Committee, selecting the subject 'Editing help' from the menu. If you are concerned about a photograph on Fanlore that features you, please use the contact form to get in touch, selecting the subject 'Identity Protection' from the menu.

Linking to photos, as long as the photograph is public, is permitted and can be an alternative if you are unsure about uploading a photograph to Fanlore.

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Stub September is back on September 13!

2021-09-06T21:50:42Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Get ready to explore the final frontier during Stub September, which is officially taking place from September 13-26! Check out this participation guide to find out how to earn badges by expanding short articles on Fanlore!

Still have questions about how to participate? Not to worry! As always, you can look at our tutorial pages or read up on the event's history on Fanlore, but better yet, feel free to join the Fanlore Discord! We'll be talking about the challenge before, during, and after, and there are Fanlore editors and users of all levels who can answer questions you have at any time!

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We've updated Fanlore's Wish List page!

2021-09-05T23:33:25Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Fanlore is pleased to announce that we've made a number of changes to our Wish List! You can use this page to list topics or specific pages that you would like to see on Fanlore, whether they don't exist yet, are stubs, or otherwise need to be expanded. New editors (and anyone else) who want to add content to the wiki, but don't know where to start, can also check this list and start on anything that tickles their fancy.

Here are some of the changes that have been made to the Wish List in this update:

Cleaned up outdated suggestions (e.g., suggestions to create a page that has already been created)
Added specific tasks for editors to take on in Maintenance section
Included links to relevant FanloreProjects
Added links to new editor tutorials and Help pages to introduction

We've also added a Pages that need more international focus section where editors can add any pages that are lacking in a worldwide range of perspectives. For instance, if you know that fans in one part of the world have a specific take on a trope or genre, or that a ship is popular or controversial among fans from a particular country, and this isn't documented on Fanlore, this is the place to come for help, advice and input! This is also a good place to add pages containing material that needs to be translated into English. Contributions from international fans are welcome and encouraged!

Do you have any ideas for pages that don't exist yet? Have you come across any topics that you'd like to see expanded? Visit the Wish List and add them!

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What do you wish Fanlore had a page for?

2021-08-29T21:25:54Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Hi, everyone! We thought it would be fun to start a discussion about the pages, or topics, that you wish Fanlore had. Many of us who edit Fanlore have those projects we keep meaning to get around to - or maybe it's an area that you think would be perfect for Fanlore, but don't feel like you know enough about. Maybe it's an area that you just wish Fanlore had more pages on.

What pages do you wish you could see on Fanlore? And is there anything else on Fanlore that you'd like to see? Leave your thoughts in a comment!

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An Update to Fanlore's Identity Protection Policy

2021-07-13T21:53:51Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Fanlore's Identity Protection policy is designed to make sure that fans will be protected from potential "outings" - links being drawn between their fannish and real life identities - by empowering them to report any exposures of their identity on Fanlore, which the Fanlore Policy & Admin team can then take steps to address.

However, at present our Identity Protection policy, as written, is only designed to prevent links being drawn between one or more fannish identities and a real life identity, and does not allow for links to be removed between fannish identities if no real name is involved.

We would like to take steps to address this, as there are many situations in which fans may not wish for different fannish identities to be connected to one another - for example, if they use a particular identity to publish sexually explicit or dark fanworks - and the possibility of them being connected can be just as problematic and unwanted as a connection to their real-life identity. On this basis, we have drafted an update to our Identity Protection policy that would allow fans to also request the removal of a link between fannish identities.

Below is the proposed amended text of the policy, which will come into effect in two weeks' time, on Tuesday 27th July. Changes have been highlighted and bolded (the current text of the policy can also be found on Fanlore). During this time, you are invited to voice any concerns you have with the policy wording (e.g. if something is unclear or has been overlooked) by leaving a comment or by contacting the Fanlore Committee (select "Fanlore Policies", "Identity Protection" or "Other" to reach the Policy & Admin team). The content of the policy will not change, but we are happy to receive feedback on the specific phrasing.

---

Fanlore:Identity Protection

We know and understand that many fans are very careful to keep their pseudonymous fan identity(ies) separate from their real names, for a variety of reasons. We do not intend for Fanlore to become a vehicle for unwanted outings, which might cause personal or professional embarrassment, or even real physical danger.
This is why:

Our default assumption is that identity exposure is unwanted. If we discover that someone's identity has been exposed, the page will be reverted, and the history removed. However, should you wish to make a connection between your fannish and real-life identities, you may do so by:
- Linking to evidence that the person concerned is not bothered by a connection being made between identities. Good evidence would be a statement made by them, on an account which they control.
We reserve the right to treat exposure as malicious, and ban users who expose the identity of others.

Identity Protection in General

This policy is intended to protect fans whose need for pseudonymity has changed, in addition to fans who have never publicly associated their fan name with their legal name. If you had previously used your full legal name in fandom or made a public connection between your legal name and fan name, but for whatever reason you need to lower your online profile, the Fanlore committee can help you do so. This policy is also designed to allow fans to separate any fannish pseudonyms that they do not want linked, even if the pseudonyms in question do not contain the fan's legal name.

Sexually Explicit Fanworks and Identity Protection

In some cases, a fan who may be otherwise comfortable with the association between their legal name and their fan activities may feel the need to draw a veil between their legal name and their fanworks — for instance, a fan who created sexually explicit fanworks under their legal name and who is now concerned about the accessibility of those fanworks online. Fans can also separate a fannish pseudonym used for NSFW content from other, non-NSFW pseudonyms; this includes instances where the pseudonyms do not contain the fan's legal name.

If you fit into this category, contact the Fanlore committee; we can help you separate your sexually explicit material from your legal name or non-NSFW pseudonym(s), either through editing the pages which describe your fanworks so that they reflect either your first name and last initial, your initials, or a different pseudonym/other placeholder, or through “orphaning” the fanworks so that they remain on the wiki anonymously.

See also our Image Policy.

Separating Fannish Pseudonyms

If a fan's two different fannish identities are linked together on Fanlore, and the fan does not want these identities associated with each other, the Fanlore Committee can help to remove these links where they appear together on Fanlore. For example, if a fan has a separate identity that they use to create mature or dark content, and they don't want this associated with their main fannish identity, we can remove the link to the dark content identity from the fan page of the main identity.

Fanlore Policy & Admin may delay in carrying out, or query, a request of this nature if: the fan has publicly linked their fannish identities; or the fan has not made any attempt to remove existing links between their fannish identities in spaces that they control (e.g. a social media account, a personal blog).

Pre-2000 Fan Name Use

In the days prior to the Internet, some fans who wrote in zines (or contributed to other fanworks) used their real names as opposed to a fan name. The expectation at that time was that fanworks would remain within the fairly closed community of fandom, and it would have been difficult to imagine that 20 or 30 years later, everything a fan ever did would be searchable on the Internet by anyone, anywhere in the world.
In the interests of protecting fan identity and to prevent unwanted outings, we encourage any fan who was active in fandom prior to the year 2000 to contact the Fanlore committee if they are worried about their full name being used on Fanlore. We can act to replace that name with a pseudonym, with a first name and last initial, with initials or with another substitute if it is present on Fanlore, and if it is not, ensure that it is redacted should it appear at a later date.

Criteria and Procedures for Responding to an Alleged Outing

Minimum criteria for immediate action on grounds of privacy:

The wiki content in question draws a link, or increases the visibility of a link between their fannish activity, and their personal or professional life. (This link hereafter referred to as "outing".)
The fan has no recorded history of publicly connecting their real name and fannish activities.

These two criteria should be considered grounds for immediate action.

Criteria which should not be used to delay:

Whether the outing is brought to our attention by the person affected, or a friend.

Rationale: As the wiki expands its historical archives, we will be documenting fans who are deceased. We should take the word of those who knew them and their wishes.

Whether the link is already on the internet.

Rationale: As the wiki gains fan currency, Google will start giving more and more weight to linkages made on the wiki. A fan whose name was previously only connected on one or two old archived usenet newsgroups or mailing lists might reasonably object to their fanworks suddenly rising in the google search results.

In cases where there is legitimate doubt that the fan's desires are as represented:

We will:

Remove the outing immediately.
Attempt to contact the fan through the email address associated with their fanworks, or through other means to confirm that they in fact made the request or that the request is in line with their wishes.

Cases where we may reasonably delay in removing the material:

If the fan outed themself on the wiki (e.g., edited their name in)
OR the fan has outed themself in a space they still control, and has not taken steps to remove that outing.
AND if the request to remove the outing does not come from that fan, or cannot be demonstrated to come from that fan.

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Fanlore Bingo is Back!

2021-05-31T22:23:06Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Our ever-popular Bingo Challenge returns this year from Tuesday 1st June to Monday 14th June, and new and expert editors alike are invited to take part!

In Fanlore Bingo, editors fill out a 3x3 square bingo card by completing editing tasks, and there are two cards to complete! Check out the Challenge Help page to learn more about taking part, and then grab your Beginner Bingo card or your Expert Bingo card to start the challenge! Each card has more details below it about how to complete the editing tasks. If you're feeling ambitious, you can complete both cards for a Total Blackout...

Questions? Head to the Bingo Challenge talk page and a friendly editor will assist you, leave a comment below this post, or drop a line to the Fanlore Committee!

Good luck and happy editing!

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Celebrate International Fanworks Day with our 4th annual IFD Fanlore Challenge!

2021-02-15T01:10:31Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Come celebrate International Fanworks Day with Fanlore this week by participating in our IFD 2021 Fanlore Challenge!

Fanlore is pleased to announce that our week-long editing challenge for International Fanworks Day is back for a fourth year! Every day from 15-21 February, you can take part by completing the editing task of the day – and be rewarded with an awesome 80s-themed badge for your user page.

Day 1, February 15th: Happy International Fanworks Day! Get started by creating a Fanlore account!

Day 2, February 16th: Add an internal link to any page on Fanlore.

Day 3, February 17th: Add to any Glossary page.

Day 4, February 18th: Add a fanwork example to any character page.

Day 5, February 19th: Add something to any fanzine-related page.

Day 6, February 20th: Add three lines to any stub. The three lines do not need to be in the same section.

Day 7, February 21st: For our final challenge, create a page for any fanwork that doesn't yet have a page on Fanlore.

If these tasks seem too easy for you, there are bonus tasks for more experienced editors on the IFD 2021 Fanlore Challenge Help page, so give those a go! You can qualify for a badge by doing either one of the day’s tasks – or both.

Happy editing, and happy IFD week! Feel free to ask any questions about the challenge in the comments of this post, or contact us on Tumblr or Twitter.

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Come take part in our 1 million edit scavenger hunt!

2021-01-18T00:46:28Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Banner by memorizingthedigitsofpi

We just reached a huge milestone on Fanlore: one million edits! And to celebrate, we're running a scavenger hunt contest all week that anyone can enter to win a very special Citrus Scale-themed sticker set and some exclusive badges!

The Citrus Scale sticker set was previously available as an OTW donor premium at the $40 level (as seen in this tweet), but has since been discontinued - now is your chance to get your hands on one! The first person to send in correct answers to all of the scavenger hunt questions below will win the sticker set (this will require you to send us your address, but we won't retain it for any purposes beyond sending you your prize! We can ship to anywhere in the world). The answers to these are found all over Fanlore, so prepare to get hunting!

Every person who sends in a fully correct set of answers will also win an exclusive badge to post to their Fanlore user page, website or profile page, as will everyone who takes part in the hunt (regardless of whether you get all the answers correct)! Do you think you're up to the challenge? Here are the scavenger hunt questions:

1) What year did Fanlore come out of beta?

2) List two tropes that are similar to "Smarm".

3) Name a piece of Anime & Manga meta with a page on Fanlore - if you want, you can create a page yourself to qualify for this answer (it can be a page of any length, as long as the subject is anime/manga meta).

4) What pairing were the first Alpha/Beta/Omega fanworks written for?

5) Which of these questions is NOT in the Fanlore FAQ?

"Why does this wiki exist?"

"Why should I care about fandom history?"

"What is the best way to get started with editing Fanlore?"

6) What is anthropomorfic known as in Japanese fandom?

7) What fandom does "Hanfic" originate from?

8) Name a fandom content purge that took place prior to Strikethrough/Boldthrough.

9) Name an example of Filing Off the Serial Numbers.

10) Why might fans disagree over the definition of a "drabble"?

11) What is the difference between a metavid and vidding meta?

12) My naym is cow

Award I wyn

With AO3

Get rocket pyn

What event in fandom is this meme describing, and who is the author of the poem?

13) Find a doujinshi page on Fanlore that is more than six months old.

Send in your completed answers to wiki@transformativeworks.org, and we will send you back your badge(s) – and contact you if you're the winner of the Citrus Scale sticker set! If you have any questions about the scavenger hunt, feel free to comment below.

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Updated FAQ

2020-10-24T18:39:20Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Fanlore is excited to present a redesigned version of our Fanlore:Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)! This major update incorporates questions formerly found on the Fanlore:Intro to Fanlore FAQ into this page to create one consolidated FAQ. We've removed or combined duplicate questions from the two FAQs, and have also updated and reorganized much of the language in the updated FAQ.

In the updated FAQ, you can find the answers to these common issues and more:

* What type of content belongs on Fanlore

* The best ways to get started as an editor

* What stubs are and whether you can make them

* What to do if you disagree with content someone else published on Fanlore

* The difference between a User page and a People page

* How much control you have over what is said about you outside of your User page

Do you have a question that isn't addressed in the revamped FAQ? Submit your question to the Fanlore Committee or comment here with your suggestion!

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Fanlore Featured Article: HPForGrownups

2020-09-23T20:08:40Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Banner by memorizingthedigitsofpi

For years, the one way to make sure you were on top of all the Harry Potter fandom news—from BNF gossip to the latest canon theories—was to be a member of HPforGrownups.

This mailing list, established in 1999, is one of the oldest around and is still technically active.

Learn more about the history of this mailing list and the role it played in shaping Harry Potter fandom in this week’s featured article, and add your memories of HP4GU in the comments!

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We've updated the Fanlore Cheatsheet!

2020-09-02T21:02:38Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Fanlore is pleased to announce that we've made some updates to our Cheatsheet for editors!

The Fanlore Cheatsheet is a quick reference sheet to help editors (both new and experienced!) with common types of wiki formatting. In the interest of making the Cheatsheet as useful and applicable as possible to editors, we've replaced some less frequently used formatting types with more common types of wiki formatting that weren't previously listed.

Some of the new additions to the Cheatsheet include:

How to offset quotations inside of boxes
How to format a series of images as a gallery
How to add footnoted asides with additional information in a dedicated 'Notes' section
How to use Displaytitle to change the capitalization of a page from title case (capitalized words) to lowercase
How to use Defaultsort to alphabetically sort a page by a letter other than the first letter of its title

We've also made the descriptions of what each listed type of formatting does more informative, with links out to additional Help pages for more information.

What types of formatting do you find yourself looking up most often? Is there a formatting type you wish was listed on the cheatsheet? Let us know and we'll consider adding it to the list!

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Coming Soon... Stub September!

2020-08-31T22:41:50Z

Posted by: fanloremod

The carnival is coming to town! Next month is our annual Stub September event, where the goal is to add content to short pages on Fanlore.

From September 7th to September 20th you can earn badges for expanding different kinds of articles. Check out the below resources to learn more about how to do that, or read up on the history of Stub September here!

Enjoy your time at the Fanlore Fairground!

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Policy on stories that have been pulled from archives?

2020-08-28T16:01:27Z

Posted by: ffutures

In several entries I've linked to works by an author who seems to have abruptly dropped out of the fanfic scene, with their accounts on Fanfiction.net and AO3 suddenly vanished some time in the last few weeks. I have no idea why.

What's the policy on this - find another work that covers the same sort of ground, or link to the original work on archive.org if they have it? I'm guessing find another work, but in some cases that won't be easy so I wanted to check.

Now sorted - I've linked to webarchive.org and added a note that they've been deleted, and added a new example in one case.

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Come play Bingo with us on Fanlore!

2020-05-26T09:30:50Z

Posted by: fanloremod

From Monday 1st June until Sunday 14th June, we're inviting all Fanlore visitors and editors, old and new alike, to play the Fanlore Bingo Challenge.

Challenges are presented on 3x3 bingo cards, with each square containing a different editing challenge. Complete the editing tasks, achieve Bingo! or even Blackout, and win unique badges (made by the talented CarnwennanB312!) to show off and display on your User page.

There are both Beginner and Expert level challenges for newbie editors and seasoned pros. Find out more about how you can participate, by reading the Fanlore Bingo Challenge page on Fanlore.

Happy editing!

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Upcoming Changes to Fanlore's Pre-1995 Fan Name Use Policy

2020-03-03T14:03:30Z

Posted by: fanloremod

On 10 March, Fanlore will be making some changes to its policy on Pre-1995 Fan Name Use in order to bring it in line with our broader Identity Protection policy.

In the days prior to the Internet, some fans who wrote in zines (or contributed to other fanworks) used their real names as opposed to a fan name. The expectation at that time was that fanworks would remain within the fairly closed community of fandom. With respect to this different environment and in order to protect the identity of fans, Fanlore created a policy stating that fanwork authors credited in zines and other fannish publications prior to 1995 should be identified with a first name and last initial (e.g. Mary R. as opposed to Mary Richards).

However, as time went by, it became apparent that a great deal of zine content containing fans’ full names and/or preferred names had already been online for many years, and on many established websites. Additionally, many fans writing prior to 1995 used "real" sounding pseudonyms that did not need to be abbreviated. The policy of abbreviating fans' last names has also caused a great deal of confusion over fan authors who share a first name and last initial. Different early print communities (such as science fiction zines) would often use a first initial and last full name to attribute authors, adding to the confusion.

Because of this, the Fanlore Committee has decided to bring the Pre-1995 Fan Name Use policy in line with the wider Fanlore policy on Identity Protection. Author names on fanworks made prior to 1995 will be recorded on Fanlore as they appeared at the time, but if the fan in question wishes to protect their identity, the Fanlore Committee will replace their name with a first name and last initial (e.g. Mary R.), with initials only (e.g. M.R.), or with a pseudonym of the fan’s choice (e.g. Unnamed Fan X). We are happy to work with fans to find an arrangement that they are comfortable with and that sufficiently protects their identity.

We encourage any fans who created fanworks prior to 1995 (and also fans writing in our "grey area" of 1996-1999) to get in touch if they are concerned about their full name appearing on Fanlore: we will take steps to either redact it, or ensure it is redacted if it is added to the wiki at a later date.

From 10 March onwards, the Pre-1995 Fan Name Use policy will be referred to as Pre-2000 Fan Name Use, in order to better encompass the period before the web was more "open", and will appear as a sub-section on the Identity Policy page.

Any fans who have already requested to have their identity protected on Fanlore do not need to do anything: the Fanlore Committee has kept a record of these requests and will continue to honour them to protect fans' privacy.

For more information on identity protection on Fanlore, please review our Identity Protection policy. If you have any questions about this announcement, or want to make an identity protection request, please reach out to the Fanlore Committee via this link and select "Identity Protection" as the message subject.

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Spotlight on... FanloreProjects!

2020-02-26T09:48:23Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Thanks to everyone who took part in our recent International Fanworks Day (IFD) Fanlore Challenge - we had a great event with lots of awesome edits made to Fanlore pages.

On Day 7 of the Fanlore Challenge, we challenged event participants to make edits to pages that are part of a FanloreProject, or to join a FanloreProject themselves and edit multiple pages. But just what are FanloreProjects, anyway?

If you're passionate about a specific fandom topic you would like to see more of, you can join a team of Fanlore contributors to help bring your project to life!

Want more examples of meta about the portrayal of disability in fanfic? Interested in exploring the use of tropes in all 11 seasons of X-Files? Then FanloreProjects are for you!

We already have ten active FanloreProjects that you can join, started up by intrepid Fanlore editors, on topics ranging from sci-fi fandom to Naruto, Tumblr archiving to IT.

If your own fannish interest doesn't feature on the list, consider starting your own! Some advice and guidelines can be found on our About page, and our Help page Starting a FanloreProject contains more detailed step-by-step guidance.

All FanloreProject creators will be awarded a badge that they can display on their profile, and participants will also be awarded a badge for every project that they take part in. To qualify for a Creator badge, simply create your FanloreProject and add it to the list of active FanloreProjects. To qualify for a Participant badge, add yourself to the member list on any FanloreProject and make some edits!

Also, keep an eye on our Tumblr and Twitter accounts, where for the next nine days we'll be spotlighting different pages from our three earliest FanloreProjects: Sci-fi Fandom, X-Files and Meta.

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Celebrate International Fanworks Day with our 3rd annual IFD Fanlore Challenge!

2020-02-10T09:56:15Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Come celebrate International Fanworks Day with Fanlore this week by participating in our IFD 2020 Fanlore Challenge!

Fanlore is pleased to announce that our week-long editing challenge for International Fanworks Day is back for a third year! Every day from 10-16 February, you can take part by completing the editing task of the day – and be rewarded with an awesome badge for your user page.

Day 1, February 10th: Get started by creating a Fanlore account!

Day 2, February 11th: Add some fanwork examples to any fandom page on Fanlore.

Day 3, February 12th: Add some fan reactions or responses (e.g. comments or reviews) to the page for any fanwork.

Day 4, February 13th: It's all about the memes! Add an example to any fannish meme page.

Day 5, February 14th: For Valentine's Day, we're celebrating relationships of every kind. Add some fandom information to any relationship page - including family or platonic relationships.

Day 6, February 15th: Happy International Fanworks Day! Celebrate fandom by adding to the page for a fan community that is meaningful to you.

Day 7, February 16th: For our final challenge, edit any page that is part of a FanloreProject. If you’re unsure about what counts, feel free to ask on that project's Talk page or comment below this post.

If these tasks seem too easy for you, there are bonus tasks for more experienced editors on the IFD 2020 Fanlore Challenge Help page, so give those a go! You can qualify for a badge by doing either one of the day’s tasks – or both.

Happy editing, and happy IFD week! Feel free to ask any questions about the challenge in the comments of this post, or contact us on Tumblr or Twitter.

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PSA: 8tracks is shutting down

2019-12-30T11:32:20Z

Posted by: fanloremod

Popular fanmix and fan soundtrack website 8tracks recently announced that it will be shutting down on December 31, 2019. While the site might be available after this date, there's no guarantee it will stay up - so if you're a fanmix or fan soundtrack creator (or have created any type of playlist on 8tracks), now is a very good time to save the data from your playlists or make them available on another site.

What can I do to save my playlists?

If you've used 8tracks at any point, the site will be sending you an email with the playlist name, art, description and track list from your playlist(s), to help you recreate it/them on another site. It's a good idea to make sure that you can still access the email address you used to sign up to 8tracks. Be sure to also check your spam folder for the email if you can’t find it in your inbox.

You can also use the Download Tracklist button in the notes of any playlist to copy all of the information from that playlist, and the "Save playlist to Spotify" button on top of the mix art to save a playlist to Spotify. Note that some of the tracks may be unavailable or not matched to Spotify's catalog, particularly if they are older songs. Please also be aware that if you are saving someone else's playlist, the playlist will not be attributed to the correct author when saving to Spotify - it will be saved under your name.

Other sites that can be used to create and share playlists of songs include Playmoss (a popular alternative to 8tracks) and YouTube.

Archiving links to fanmixes and fan soundtracks

Another very important thing to do is to use the Wayback Machine to archive the links to your favourite fanmixes and fan soundtracks. This can be done even if you don't want to or aren't able to republish the mix on another site.

To do this, enter the URL of the mix in the box next to "Browse History" and select the button to see if it's already archived. If not, you can select "Save this url in the Wayback Machine" to add it to the archive. Be aware that saving playlists in the Wayback Machine will preserve the creator’s name, the description and the cover art, but not the track list - this can only be saved by downloading the text file.

Link your playlists on Fanlore!

Have you made a fanmix or fan soundtrack that you're really proud of? Do you want other fans to be able to enjoy the links to your favourite mixes and soundtracks? Please add the links to Fanlore! You can do this by finding the page for the fandom, ship, character, trope, fic, etc. that you made the mix for and adding it as an example fanwork. Anyone who has an account on Fanlore can edit the wiki - and it's completely free! Follow this link to sign up to Fanlore, and check out our New Visitor Portal to find out how to get started with editing.

Some examples of Fanlore pages that feature playlists and mixes:

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Fanlore's Journal

New Help documentation: Non-English Language Content on Fanlore

The IFD Fanlore Challenge is back!

Day 1 (Feb 13)

Day 2 (Feb 14)

Day 3 (Feb 15)

Day 4 (Feb 16)

Day 5 (Feb 17)

Day 6 (Feb 18)

Day 7 (Feb 19)

We're back!

Fanlore is getting an upgrade!

Stub September: come and join the party! 🎉

We're setting sail for Fanlore Bingo!

Help:Accessibility

Photographs of fans: An addition to Fanlore's Image Policy

Stub September is back on September 13!

We've updated Fanlore's Wish List page!

What do you wish Fanlore had a page for?

An Update to Fanlore's Identity Protection Policy

Fanlore:Identity Protection

Identity Protection in General

Sexually Explicit Fanworks and Identity Protection

Separating Fannish Pseudonyms

Pre-2000 Fan Name Use

Criteria and Procedures for Responding to an Alleged Outing

Minimum criteria for immediate action on grounds of privacy:

Criteria which should *not* be used to delay:

In cases where there is legitimate doubt that the fan's desires are as represented:

Cases where we may reasonably delay in removing the material:

Fanlore Bingo is Back!

Celebrate International Fanworks Day with our 4th annual IFD Fanlore Challenge!

Come take part in our 1 million edit scavenger hunt!

Updated FAQ

Fanlore Featured Article: HPForGrownups

We've updated the Fanlore Cheatsheet!

Coming Soon... Stub September!

Policy on stories that have been pulled from archives?

Come play Bingo with us on Fanlore!

Upcoming Changes to Fanlore's Pre-1995 Fan Name Use Policy

Spotlight on... FanloreProjects!

Celebrate International Fanworks Day with our 3rd annual IFD Fanlore Challenge!

PSA: 8tracks is shutting down

Criteria which should not be used to delay: