Henneth-Annun Story Archive Closing at the End of 2014

[dawn_felagund]

I am sad to report that HASA announced earlier today that they will be closing down the site at the end of 2014. HASA is one of the oldest and most respected Tolkien fanfic archives. They helped to shape the fandom, and many wonderful stories are archived there. The closing of their site will be a huge loss to the Tolkien fanfic community.

The admins are presently advising HASA members to begin saving their stories and moving them to other archives or platforms. Of course, we all know that it is not that simple. The site is 12 years old. Many of the authors are not active anymore, and even with more than three months of warning, many will not find out that the site is closing or have time to move their work until it is too late.

It goes without saying that any Silmarillion-based writing is welcome on our archive. But that does not address orphaned stories or authors who simply do not have the time to transfer their work before HASA closes. To that end, I would like to encourage people to recommend authors (including themselves!) for our Library of Tirion project. LofT was started several years ago as a way to archive and preserve stories that were written prior to the opening of the SWG archive in 2007. The link above will take you to a form where you can request authors you'd like us to contact for the Library of Tirion. You can also email us or use any other means of contact (like commenting here! :) to make your recommendations. Given that HASA is closing, we will archive HASA stories posted after 2007 in order to save those stories.

Likewise, if you are a HASA author and you are having trouble getting your stories archived before the closing of the site, please contact us so that we can help. We do not want to see stories and fandom history lost. Please don't be shy or that your work isn't important or think it doesn't matter--it is and it does, and we are here to help!

Of course, I realize that only a small percentage of the stories archived on HASA are eligible for the SWG. For Tolkien-based stories inspired by LotR and TH, please contact me personally (either comment here or email me at DawnFelagund@gmail.com). I also work as a moderator on the Many Paths to Tread archive and would be happy to help people archive their stories there.

I want to close by thanking Anglachel, Nath, and the HASA admins and volunteers. When most of fandom is writing and creating and squeeing and sharing their stories, these are the people who work tirelessly and often thanklessly to make that possible. You all have given so much to this community. Thank you.

Comments

[ladybrooke]

No recommendations (no time, at the moment, to go looking through) but if there's anything I can do to help, Dawn, let me know. I've seen too many stories disappear because of websites closing to want that to happen to anyone's stories. I'm busy, but there's always time I can chip out to do something useful.

Thanks to everyone who has put in time and effort to keep HASA (and other archives) open! You all do a lot of work in the fandom, far more than most of us even think about. :D

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you, Brooke! I really appreciate that. I'm hoping we get a flood of LofT requests (or just general requests for help). I don't want to see stories and fandom history lost.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Dawn. HASA was my first fandom home (before I became completely possessed by The Silmarillion). It's making me feel sad. That's my history and my first public venue for my first anxious steps of showing someone fiction I had written.

I endorse all of your comments and suggestions above. Especially the last paragraph:

I want to close by thanking Anglachel, Nath, and the HASA admins and volunteers. When most of fandom is writing and creating and squeeing and sharing their stories, these are the people who work tirelessly and often thanklessly to make that possible. You all have given so much to this community. Thank you.

[dawn_felagund]

As I noted on Pandë's entry about it, HASA was the first archive other than ff.net that I was aware of and the first I joined. I was never active there like many people were--I was too busy launching the SWG--but I did hang out there a lot and participate when I could. It was a group I always looked up to, even if I decided to take my own group and site in a different direction. I am very sad to see them go. It's a huge loss to the fandom.

[dreamflower]

Hi Dawn! I'm sad to hear about this. But hopefully many HASA authors will make use of MPTT and the SWG.

I'm wondering if HASA might be a good fit for the OTW's Open Doors projects I'm sure they could be of help in rescuing fics that might be in danger of being lost.

Also, I wonder if the HASA people would be in favor of doing something like West of the Moon did: raising funds to keep what's there open, but freezing it from any future posting?

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I was thinking the same about Open Doors. It would be a tragedy if some of the stories were lost. There are works there and nowhere else like "A Bit of Rope" , true works of thought provoking art.

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

We'll look into Open Doors, but I don't like the idea of reposting without authors' permissions.

I doubt a freeze would solve the technical issues:-\

[moetushie]

Oh no! There's so many gems in that archive -- I hope they can be preserved somehow. Open Doors sounds like a good idea.

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

Hi all,

*sigh*

For the Open Doors suggestion, I'm a bit leery about just reposting stories by authors who can no longer be contacted. We'll certainly look into it, though.

Library of Tirion looks like a good idea, and if there's anything the HASA admins can do to help with that, let me know; even if we can't endorse one archive over another, it'll certainly help to let people know of some of the places they can go.
As well as that I've been thinking about taking the HASA author list and for as many as I can collect information about where else they are or will be posting (probably putting it on LJ and Blogspot), but that's no more than an idea yet, and will take some time to put together.

Update/edit: there's a discussion/info thread now on HASA : HASA Shutdown discussion (http://www.henneth-annun.net/forums/messages.cfm?confID=0&forumID=915&messageID=55476) and we're looking into the Open Doors thing (so thank you to everyone who suggested that!.

[dawn_felagund]

Please do let people know that we're willing to help archive stories on the SWG (for Silmfic) and MPTT (for just about everything else). All they'd need to do is give their permission; we'd do the rest and send them their login so that they could add/edit/delete if they ever decided to do so.

And please let us on both groups know if we can do anything to help in the months to come with saving content. I know you all will have a lot on your plates. We're here if you need anything. :)

I understand the decision to close HASA, but I am so sorry to see you all go. I was never active there like many people were, but I loved the site and was always glad to support it. And as an archivist myself, I certainly looked up to what you all had done there. All of you who worked on the site are truly a gift to the fandom! Thank you!

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

Thank you, also - especially - on behalf of my fellow admins.

I'm going to do a post on sites and ways to migrate, probably over the week or next weekend, and I'll certainly be including the SWG and MPTT offer:)

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

If you would like to add Faerie (http://efiction.esteliel.de/index.php) to your list, Mrowe, please do.

When we moved there from LOTRFF.com, Esteliel said we could also upload our reviews, which can never be replaced. So any-one who has to move stories can also upload their reviews to it, if they want.

Thank-you.

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Yeps, that can be easily done.

[spiced-wine.livejournal.com]

Thank-you, Rhapsody! :)

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

I hope to post the list tomorrow, and Faerie will be on it:-)

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

What Dawn said Nath, the SWG can host Silm stories if the author says yes (we do have a contact and permission procedure for that) and us MPTT mods are currently discussing if we want to offer the same for that site, but then it could also include LOTR oldies.

I also understand feeling leery about Open Doors. When we admins decided to shut down Q&I months ago, we also felt unsure of moving material there without the permission of the author's even though we have their e-mails. Having them is not a guarantee that these addys are still in use and we did feel the time pressure for sure.

[pandemonium-213.livejournal.com]

Nath, just wanted to pop in here and thank you, Anglachel, and the rest of the HASA admins for all you have done for the Tolkien fan fiction community. To be honest, HASA was never my primary archive for posting my own work, but it was among the first I found in late 2006/early 2007 when I ventured (my inner hipster kicking and screaming) into Tolkien fan fiction, and it is where I found so many many superb stories as well an excellent research library with proper citations even! What you all accomplished is nothing short of magnificent.

It's sad to see the demise of what binkaslibrary called (aptly) a pillar of our fandom.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Thanks much for everything! And for the update. I am not concerned about my own stories (I have secure backups of everything), but about the ones that for me are among the fandom classics and whose authors are pretty much history. I am sure the permission question, the ethics and practicalities surrounding it, must have been addressed by the Open Doors people. The Organization for Transformative Works which sponsors Open Doors is particularly concerned with exactly these kinds of issues.

I have been thinking about this since yesterday and we will begin some initial work tomorrow trying to track people down.

[ysilme]

Thank you for spreading the word! I realised only now my account had become inactive, so I was not getting any news. I discovered HASA as one of the first archives when I came into Tolkien fandom two years ago, but was baffled at first by the review system, and them mostly read elsewhere for the simple reason I'm reading all fanfic on an e-reader and usually choose archives which provide easy html files for making ebooks. And then, coming very late into the fandom means you're really overwhelmed with archives, stories, people... so I never gave it the attention it deserved, which I now really regret. I liked it from the start for some of the practical features and the resources sections and so on. I am sad to see it gone, too, and will gladly join in helping in any way I can to keep as much content as possible.

I also would like to express my thanks to all who contributed to keeping this archive up and running in whatever way.

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Owww, so when your account was inactive, you didn't get the news? That explains a whole lot.

[periantari.livejournal.com]

I love Henneth Annun and so sorry to hear this news. I applaud those that have worked at HA and have made it to what it is. It really truly is one of the best place for canonical, really well written Tolkien fanfic so i really applaud the group of people who made it possible. I started reading that archive and fanfic.net first so thank you for helping me know about Tolkien fanfic in the first place. :claps: (sad also....)
best of luck.