The curious case of the game show neuroscientists, or how NOT to research an online community. Two researchers wade into fanfic community without due consideration, create shitstorm. More here.
posted by chorltonmeateater on Sep 6, 2009 - 93 comments

Art Binninger was a sci-fi buff in the 1970s with the resources of the audiovisual squad at Vandenberg Air Force Base at his disposal. The result was Star Trix, a claymation Star Trek parody, that spawned three short films and Star Trix: The Flick (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5). Art Binninger himself explains the whole saga on his web site.
posted by jonp72 on Dec 15, 2007 - 3 comments

The geekiest thing you will see this month is this fan-made comic called The Ten Doctors. Unexpectedly awesome, though!
posted by JHarris on Dec 6, 2007 - 34 comments

FanLib's mission is "to bring fan fiction out of the shadows and into the limelight." But mostly FanLib is just a multi-fandom fanfiction archive seeking to make money off of the fans through ad space. Not all fans are happy about this. Does this matter? Henry Jenkins, Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program thinks so.
posted by FunkyHelix on May 22, 2007 - 58 comments

When the usual fanfiction fare just doesn't cut it ... there's shipping and then there's slash, with coined terms such as squick and mpreg. The usual suspects are Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and the Phantom of the Opera - and then there's Kirk/Spock, Hermione/Ginny, Cloud/Sephiroth, and lots more. And it's not limited to recent works - there's also some Jesus/Judas Biblical action going on. (Mostly text, with the occasional NSFW jpg.)
posted by Xere on Apr 11, 2007 - 50 comments

Journal-Based RPG's. They range from Buffy to X-Men, and everything in between. Some are short lived, some have gone on for years and spawned fan-communities of their very own. This is the Livejournal RPG. Not all of these are on Livejournal, many are on LJ-clone sites, but the name has stuck. Want to find one? There's even sites designed to advertise the games. Want to complain about a really awful one? Or a bad player? Or a bad mod? Or a bad ANYTHING? There's a place for that too. A note of my lack of bias - I play in one of these, but the one I'm in is not represented in this post. That would be Bad.
posted by FritoKAL on Apr 4, 2007 - 56 comments

Prepare yourselves, teenaged Trollope fans! You have just four months remaining in which to send your Barchester Towers fanfiction to the Anthony Trollope Society's annual £1000 Short Story Competion. Previous champions have been feted at luxurious club dinners by titans like Andrew Davies and P.D. James. Could you be next to join their august ranks?
posted by Iridic on Sep 7, 2006 - 7 comments

"... Everyone needs an escape. It just amazes me that for 1,200 people this involves sitting in darkened rooms listening to presentations on Harry Potter and the Sanctity of Everyday Life: JK Rowling's Complex Treatment of the Trope of Normalcy." Carole Cadwalladr covers Lumos 2006 for the Guardian. [via]
posted by anjamu on Aug 12, 2006 - 27 comments

McGriddle Fan Fiction [via]
posted by rxrfrx on Apr 14, 2006 - 15 comments

Fandom is, at the core, neither good or bad. It simply is. [+]
posted by FunkyHelix on Feb 16, 2005 - 17 comments

Steve Perry Fan Fiction "11:30 Halloween night and Steve Perry pulled up to the very dark and deserted pumpkin patch in his Toyota Land Cruiser and when he came to a stop he looked out through the gloom to see if anyone else was here and in his own way he was hoping, hoping that some of his old band mates would show but with the reaction he got he really didn’t expect them to be here but he could hope couldn’t he."
posted by Swampjazz! on Dec 29, 2004 - 58 comments

"The key to the Avengers' defeat was a bunch of nonsensical, random bullshit!"
posted by yerfatma on Sep 29, 2004 - 12 comments

Scientology Fan Fiction! Curious about the mystery behind the one, true "religion?" SomethingAwful.com shares their knowledge of scientology through a great fictional piece, complete with illustrations.
posted by valerie on Nov 12, 2001 - 4 comments

Gap model fan fiction: I don't care what any of you think. I found this amusing. Fan fiction takes on many bizarre forms. From Thundercats (example) to the Lion King (example), the web opens up a level of fan-to-fan community that gives new life to things that would probably be better off left dead. What's the wierdest piece of fan fiction cheese you have ever come across?
posted by hidely on May 18, 2001 - 15 comments