When I joined DC fandom, I wondered why there were so little fics from earlier times. Well, it must've been not as popular as it is now, I thought. Then I thought better. Well surely there were more fanworks than that, they were just using other sites back then. So I went to other sites. There weren't much there too. So I wanted to go even earlier, there must be some cool twentieth century fic on some little private websites or early archives or forums or something. And there were. I found a lot of links. To personal websites, to archives for individual pairings, to other posts on LJ or works on FFnet. But they all led to one page — 404 error. And then I learned about the purges. And then I realized that some websites just… stopped working; and all the works on them were just… gone. Forever. Yes, some were archived, but not all. Not even the majority. Yes, some things were crossposted/reposted to other platforms. But not all. That fanart of a fic the author's friend made that they were excitedly rambling about in the comments? Does not exist anymore. That fic the author was inspired by to write their own exploration of the concept? Gone forever. Brocken links; so, so many dead ends and false hopes. Where once was life was now thimbleweed. This is my library of Alexandria. I think about this everyday. What if the fic that would have changed my life just… didn't live long enough for me to find and read it? What if the art that would've made me realize something important or made me fall in love with a character I normally wouldn't glance at was just… erased by a soulless machine? Or worse. By a soulless human. How many fanworks were there? What did fandom think about this storyline when it was just coming out? How did fandom see this character back then? Was this now forgotten character ever popular? They must've been, right? Before the retcon that erased them. Right? RIGHT?! I don't know. I'll never know. I get the glimpses, but never the whole picture. I'll never know. That video the author put their soul and time and joy and thoughts in? No one will ever be able to see it again. Soon even the memory of it will cease to exist too. All the people who've seen it will die eventually. It will be lost forever. All we'll have in the end are gonna be just indecipherable texts referencing something long forgotten. We will be long forgotten. The things and people who created and shaped the culture, the movement, it's traditions? Will be forgotten.
So thank you, for preserving as much as you can. For moving the moment it all disappears just a little bit farther away into the future.
Valcha, thank you so so much for sharing your virtual travels through DC fandom and your awareness of what has been lost along the way. I remember being warned that nothing would ever be lost if it was on the internet! Working in Open Doors has given me a rather different view on that...
Your kind words are appreciated, too. We love doing this work, but it's good to be reminded of why it's important within the wider community.
Thanks again. I hope that you manage to find some buried DC treasure along the way. ♥
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Valcha Thu 06 Nov 2025 07:37AM UTC
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OTW_Open_Doors (Official) Fri 07 Nov 2025 11:25AM UTC
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