What is going on with the Fandomentals situation?
So now are they playing for time because they’re worried about your site being a competitor before they’ve built up their new following? Perhaps you should just get a new domain name?\
Let’s just say I’m not the only one displeased by the direction certain former associates have gone in? And that there is a lot of intellectual/creative property tied up in the old domain? That complicates things a bit.
From the beginning when I announced the true nature of how the fandomentals thing went down, I told people NOT to boycott the new site because there are a lot of great writers I love that were absorbed into the exposure in the first place; who deserved the continued exposure of having their work hosted on a platform like that, regardless of what it is called and who is behind it. I STILL stand by that, and that’s why I’ve avoided telling people to boycott fandomentals even from the beginning. Because regardless of what SOME people may wish you to believe (and I’m not even talking about my former partners here, but even some people who were critics of fandomfollowing long before the “rebranding”), fandomfollowing was ultimately about giving great writers I admired a bigger platform, and that INCLUDES people who transferred over to fandomentals. But, there are/were people who chose not to do so given the way things went down. But there are people on fandomentals who are TOTALLY worthy of your viewership who transferred in some part due to not knowing the nature of the transfer. Those people STILL DESERVE YOUR READERSHIP AND ATTENTION, even if it benefits, in some small part, the people who are and were not as decent as they can/could have been before.
The cruel things about the nature of matters like this is how often people who deserve better are often the ones who are hit first and hardest in the crossfire. And, as the person who recruited nearly the entire staff that ultimately built both fandomentals AND fandomfollowing, and a fan of many, MANY of the writers there, I can not encourage people to punish these people for the actions of others. Unfortunately, due to a bunch of varying circumstance, certain writers for fandomfollowing, both those who chose to move onto fandomentals and those who didn’t, have a LOT of material and work tied up in the former domain. And that matters to me. But also complicates things a bit. BUt the people who agreed to contribute to our site (without payment!) deserve to have me fight for the preservation of their work, regardless of what has been done with it since.
Pure and simple, there is a lot of intellectual effort directly tied to the old domain name which I feel obligated to reclaim and, eventually, republish in the manner it was originally intended, that is hanging upon the fandomfollowing.com domain. This matters to me. And I don’t want to repay ANYONE’S effort or loyalty by leaving it to people I no longer can trust, through a portal they weren’t able to control or understand. I won’t do it.
It’s very possible that I MAY start my own domain, but 1) Not until I’m sure I can re-publish the work of those who trusted me under circumstances they agree to and 2) ON the proper foundation to protect EVERYONE, not just myself, but everyone connected with me and the old site, on legal grounds. It’s not just my determination to assure people that I won’t screw anyone over, but my determination to make sure I CAN’T abuse anyone’s trust, even if I eventually decide I wanted to. That’s the lesson I want to take from this.
A lot of people are reducing this to myself @gotgifsandmusings, and @theculturalvacuum, myself, @gotgifsandmusings, @theculturalvacuum, and @nncharlesz,or whatever. But it isn’t. It’s always going to be about all the other talented and dedicated people that contributed to fandomfollowing.com and yes, that includes those who now write for fandomentals. ALL of them deserve better than to have their work affected by whatever the hell is going on between the 3 or 4 of us. THEY DESERVE BETTER. THEY DESERVE TO HAVE THEIR WORK AND JOURNEYS AS ARTISTS CELEBRATED.
Unfortunately, in some cases, that’s hard to ensure unless I regain the domain name. And, also unfortunately, that’s not entirely possible unless I fix things. I’m not claiming to be selfless this about this either. There are tons of personal reasons I want to regain control of the fandomfollowing domain. But there’s still enough collateral damage if I don’t. And I want to minimize that however I can. There are people I’ve been personal friends with for years caught in the crossfire of this who will be personally affected if their work (as it was originally intended) is not preserved. I feel responsibility for that.
So, FandomFollowing fans, I’m sorry if everything isn’t going the way any of us wanted. Please know that I’ve only ever acted/operated based on the information I had/could release in interest of myself and the writers of the site. And I’m really sorry. I truly thought at the time that I would be able to bring the site back by February based on the “information” I was given.
That being said, I’m 100% to blame for this. I was stupid from the very beginning; I trusted, and assumed I’d be trust, people without any sort of assurance. Basically, I was naive and arrogant about my own judgment, and also lazy, when I began this. I screwed up. And I am doing my best now to clean up the mess I am responsible for creating. I’m sorry.
But the first people I owe are the ones who worked for and stuck with me, and they’re the ones I’m trying to protect first. Please understand.
I’m sorry. I’m doing my best. I hope to have better news for you soon.
