Actually, let's see if I can do a temperature check on this.
Is it okay to link to lost or deleted fanfics on the Wayback Machine?
Yes, always
Yes, but not if the author deleted it/their account on purpose
Yes, but only if it seems lost 'accidentally' e.g. hosting website got deleted
No, never
Nuance (explain in the tags)
chickenshit button (see results)
ah shit I probably should have said "using the Wayback Machine" but now i've hit post and can't edit the poll
for context: i've been thinking about making reclists for some older fandoms that predate AO3, where many works may have been lost as their archive sites stopped existing or their authors left a platform. to me, it seems unproblematic to find them in the Wayback Machine -- indeed, there are some fics that I first read because I was looking at a defunct archive in the WM. however, i've recently been in a fandom where authors seem to delete/get bullied out unusually frequently and it feels ethically dubious to distribute WM links (or saved files) of these authors' works, and i've left such works off reclists before. what do we think, folks?
please reblog for greater reach!
