Fanhistory Outs Fans Personal Information

[skinscript]

FOr those folks who don't know, FanHistory is a wiki that contains lots of information about various fandoms and the people active in them. It has lists of fanfiction writers, description of fandoms, cross referenced information, etc. Much of it has been generated through simple bot actions (ie - running through all of the information on fanfiction.net to generate Biography, story, fandom, etc information for a writer. It has also been generated through people searching places like livejournal and related sites, doing in effect investigative work to link different usernames together into a single entitity (like, for example, Infie=infiticus=skinscript). Overall, a good thought that would actually be nice for folks to build self esteem and promote fandom.

But they went too far.

Several people have been listed with their *real life names* on the site, as well as real life contact information. I surfed it briefly - the links between my online personas haven't been made as yet, but following a couple of links led me to at least two author posts with real life information on them. For a while, the site was refusing to remove this information, and in at least one case, actually compounded the issue by posting a writer's private information onto an LJ community as well. (see references) Right this moment, the site has been locked down and the adminstrator "is working to delete all of the people" who have demanded it. But it took several days to get there. I haven't gone back to actually look at the timeline, but the history here of refusing to remove private information is unforgiveable, whether it was ultimately addressed or not. The fact that ultimately the site is intended for moneymaking makes it all worse.

It got me thinking.

What privacy are we ultimately entitled to? In my own personal case, I have always been a proponent of never being ashamed of any part of my life, but that doesn't necessarily extend to wanting people in my day to day life to be reading explicit sex I've written. I know this was exactly the kind of thing that has led others to leave fandom behind entirely. I'm wondering if they aren't right.

The thing that bothers me even more is the argument that was made - that if someone has revealed their true life name at some point during their fandom, that makes it OK to post it publicly for the rest of the world to see.

Fact is, there are tens of people who know who I really am, thanks to Nunswithpens, conventions, and chatting etc. I'm not hard to find for someone who tries hard enough. BUT I EXPECT TO BE ASKED. There is a process of trust building online that over time brings me to tell someone my name or my address. The simple fact of owning an internet-capable device does not give someone that trust, and I am totally offended that there is anyone out there who equates the years of time I've put into *knowing my flist* with being available to anyone.

That the site owner refused to take down someone's private information when asked is inexcusable. That she seems to feel (heresay) that all of this behaviour is acceptable in the face of getting publicity is even worse.

The more I think about it the angrier I get.

Thoughts welcome.

Some references:
http://dejana.livejournal.com/152580.html
http://ithiliana.livejournal.com/922604.html

Both of these posts have additional resources listed.

ETA: FanHistory posts apology and describes actions to address issue. Text can be found HERE. Thanks to slwatson for the update, and to nestra for posting the text.

Comments

[danniisupernova.livejournal.com]

I'm on there. I mean, no personal stuff and a lot left out, but I'm there.

[fergus80.livejournal.com]

First, thank you for telling me about it. At least they only have my DOOL, DA, and Smallville stuff from just FanFic.net. But that did scare me for a minute.

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Luckily I haven't ever written any fan fiction at FF.net (or anywhere), so only Ashiva in FH is someone else using same pseudonym. :\

[melodyclark.livejournal.com]

I write explicit fan fic under my own name and have for twenty years. I don't have a problem with people knowing who I am and I am up at fanhistory. That said, if you want to stay covert, you should be allowed to without having to beg for it.

[dejana.livejournal.com]

You need an L on the end of ithiliana's link, there.

[twasadark.livejournal.com]

Hi there! I hope you don't mind me leaving you a message here ... someone recc'd your Dark Angel fic to me and I'm really jonesin' to read the NC-17 version of "Equal Opportunity" that you reference on ff.net, but I'm unable to find it at the NWP board. Do you, perhaps, have a link you can give me?

Via metafandom...

[sl_walker]

Her 'Apology' was damned amusing too. You can find the full text of it here: http://nestra.livejournal.com/269268.html

[arhh.livejournal.com]

I follow a simple golden rule....never write anything I wouldn't care if the whole world saw and knew that I was the writer.

As far as people 'outing' others. It just goes to show what kind of scum they are, but does anyone really believe there is true privacy in today's world? There isn't.

With the right tools and know how anyone can find out who anyone is. Scary? Yes, but there is nothing one can do about it.

[(Anonymous)]

Hrmn... I'm not actually listed on the site as far as I can tell, however, one of the fanfic archives I've contributed to in the looooooooong and distant past is. Checking that fanfic archive (a collection of posts that were categorised from the originating newsgroup -- yes, I said *newsgroup*) I actually managed to find my contributions preserved for posterity. I guess this means that FanHistory will eventually get to cataloguing it as well.

Quickly checking my stories on the site, I didn't manage to find any mention of my actual name, though I did leave an e-mail address (mental note -- if I ever get a time machine I will hit my 1990's self on the head for being stupid). Fortunately the mail server with the account didn't list my actual name either and just had a pseudonym listed. *phew* I suppose if an adversary were
really motivated, they could attach the address to some billing records lost on some corporate datastore somewhere. Then again, the only adversary interested would probably be the production companies behind the TV series featured in the fanfics.

So, in the end, the situation is the same as before, and I just killed an hour with frantic web searches and a rifling of my own files. As far as I can tell, my anonymity is still intact. Still, it was a good exercise and lesson about putting things in the public domain.

I wonder if this is how superheroes feel?

Ash.

Fanhistory privacy policy

[likos64.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I know I am late, but only when reading your article did I realize that I might have an article on Fanhistory and low and behold I did. I would not have searched the site if you hadn't informed us of the bots at fanfiction.net and livejournal. Thank you most sincerely.