![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morgandawnHow Archive of Our Own Revolutionized Fandom #AO3 #History #FanLore
A brief snapshot of fandom in early 2007: The first Naruto series had wrapped, and Naruto Shippuden had just started airing. Supernatural was wrapping up its second season with a shocking finale in “All Hell Breaks Loose.” Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy XII came out only the year before, and Final Fantasy 7 fandom was back with a vengeance with the release of Advent Children. The world The world waited breathlessly for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.And fandom on LiveJournal was on fire.
The article is definitely worth the read. I loved this last bit:
“It’s a place by fans, for fans, where fans can gather and archive their work without concern for legality or censorship. It was born from a desire not to be beholden to original content creators or advertisers, and it has always been true to that goal, staying afloat primarily through charitable donations from users. Fandom has fragmented across social media—some users remained on LiveJournal, while others migrated to Dreamwidth or Tumblr or JournalFen.
For many though, AO3 was the advent of fandom coming together to defend their hobby and preserve their history, a place where the principles of fannish creativity would outweigh watchdog and advertiser concerns about controversial content. Six years and over a million fan works later, they’re still going strong.”
