Copyright wank in FMA colors: 232nd verse, same as the first
Fullmetal Alchemist has been quiet lately. Is the fandom dead? No -- just out of practice. Well, we'll soon fix that!

It all starts, in this case, with a post on fanficrants. yuuo, brought to you by previous wanks like this one, opens up with an irate diatribe, properly punctuated with caps, against unscrupulous ficcers who sell their works for money.


YOU DO NOT MAKE MONEY OFF OF FANFIC.

EVER.

Do you realize the trouble you could bring down on the fanfic 'industry', such as it is, if you did? No, of course you don't, 'cause you're special and copyright laws apparently don't apply to you, or something.

So repeat after me until this is through your thick, fangirl skull.

YOU DO NOT MAKE MONEY OFF OF FANFIC.


Well, that's pretty basic, isn't it? Don't scalp derivative works for profit. That's something every fan can agree on, and many do. There's much "word" ing, much "I can't believe some idiot fangirl would try that!" and much "What? Are we all gonna get sued?" from the galley. "I'm gonna be pissed if this screws things up!" ironically exclaims evil_rem, professional troll. Comparisons are made with Lori Jaero, and with the girl who tried to sell a CD of her work on ebay for $300. "This is how things get ruined for the rest of us," Yuuo remarks in disgust.

All is well, or at least in a harmonious chorus of condemnation. But starting with this thread, it stops being so much a generalized, scalping-is-evil! and starts being a little more specific. A Certain Someone is alluded to, but mysteriously Not Named. This Mysterious Someone has been printing out copies of her fanfic and selling them at cons. This is just the worst thing ever... and I mean worst. Like, worse than selling bootleg copies of tickets to Steve Irwin's funeral.


Shit, I just saw somebody posting pictures of her fanfic she was selling. I'm just appalled. Maybe she thought if she threw in some illustrations and a pretty cover that it won't matter if she made some cash off somebody else's property.


Comments start to get nastier. Defense is pre-empted with the self-consoling observation that only her sheep, I mean, "followers," would possibly defend this unknown woman. In conclusion, we all had a Very Narrow Escape.


This particular case will probably go unnoticed, thankfully, all things considered, but really, all it takes is one case for things to get really nasty for the fanficcing community. She's just very damn lucky it probably won't attract trouble. 'Cause I think there's a number of fans who would be Very Very Angry with her if it did.


Then cereta (a sheep?) puts out a "wait, hang on."


So she was selling a printed version of her fiction, with covers and an illustration. Was it bound? How much was she charging?

Because depending on the answers to these questions, I'd invite folks to look up the word "zine."


Now look what you've done, woman. You've turned this from a nice, clean hatefest into a messy, muddled debate over zines, fanfic, doujinshi, distribution, and copyright. Don't forget: it's not possible to have your own opinion on fanficrants! You're only allowed to defend friends and slaver after BNFs!

In answer to her question, a few people who apparently knows this Unnamed Personage (more sheep?) chip in, to say that the fanfic was being sold for the cost of printing and distribution, and only eight copies were made. Someone (another sheep?) points out that the printing and distribution of zines has been going on for forty-odd years. But that's still wrong, isn't it? Isn't it?!

My personal favorite comments in this thread are made by cereta:


Because yeah, people selling printed, bound fanfiction for the cost of production can kill fandom!

Oh, wait...

and ceru_see:

Those who do not remember the past are doomed to look like fucking morons whenever they open their mouths.

Would you like to borrow my copy of Textual Poachers so you can hit people in the head with it?


Someone else asks the difference between selling a print of a fanart at a con and selling a print of a fanfic at a con. (More on this later!) Comparisons of both are made with doujinshi.

The talk turns from moralities to legalities. As the argument goes on, minutae of copyright law and past precendents gets trotted out. But just in case you were worried that things were getting too dry for wank, don't be! The Unnamed Personage is finally named -- it's Sky Dark, a popular Roy/Ed author in the FMA fandom, previously seen in such wanks as the one on brotherselric which I can't be bothered to find. yuuo is accused of having a grudge against Sky Dark; but that's okay, because as jchaos kindly reminds us, only sheep can disagree with them.

The wank continues even as I type, since apparently nobody in this debate is willing to sit back and let anyone else have the last word. Also don't miss the appearance of anax, which, as anyone who has seen him in action before knows, is a guaranteed wank fest all on its own.

Of course, a wank can't be a wank if it's confined to a single post in a single community, no matter how virulent. But meanwhile, cryogenia makes a post in her personal LJ, wondering about the seeming double-standard in fandom between fanart and fanfic. Fanart is considered okay to sell, but fanfic is not: discuss. Some discussion ensues, then yuuo shows up, well armed with the Fap of Righteous Justification.

I never once said it was right or fair or anything of the sort. I said until the law figures out what the hell it's going to say about it, it's not a smart idea. That's all I said, and I can pull text right from the damn post to prove it, and I will continue to stand by what I said.

The ever-legal midnightbanshee responds, and in yuuo's own words, kicks her ass and takes her lunch money. And it looks like this thread, too, may dissolve into acrimony. More.