Author Contact Project

The primary function of this Archive is a preservation project, as P/C sites continue to dwindle and render themselves defunct, stories may be lost to the Internet Nether. However, another purpose of the Archive is to provide a "one-stop shopping" venue in terms of finding P/C fanfics. Those of you who are (or have been) part of The X-Files fandom, myself included, and are also P/Cers, probably have experienced the large amount of jealousy in terms of their nice, pretty, large Gossamer archive.

Stories can be submitted in a few ways — direct submission by the author, stumbling on a story by anyone and including as much contact information as possible so we can post it to the Author Contact Project, reporting dead P/C site links to the Editors (whereupon the site will be researched using the Wayback Machine) or submitting files of stories, where the stories will be reviewed and then the author and author's contact information will be sent to the Author Contact Project.

As for the Author Contact Project, this is how it works:

A list of authors who need to be contacted will be maintained in the Author Contact Project Board here: Author Contact Project Operations.

Every author has an individual thread set up in this manner:

Subject of Thread: Author: Author Name (status)

First Post of Thread:
  • Author: Author's Name
  • Story(s): Story(s) Name
  • Contact given: Contact Info, such as email
  • Notes: Any notes pertinent to contacting the author, such as archiving permission stated within story, if author has a website and that address, etc.
  • Status: (uncontacted) or (waiting for response) or (contacted)

Then any additional comments.

The volunteer who wants to attempt to contact the author (or whoever might have additional contact information) can post on the thread and keep the thread updated whenever the status changes. The thread title will also be changed periodically to reflect contact status.

Contacts efforts will be maintained in earnest for thirty days before a story will be placed in the archive queue (a story that gives permission within the story's file will be placed in the queue right away, but contact will still be attempted). But even if no contact occurs within those thirty days, the volunteer will still be on the lookout for an author's reply.

If an author replies and asks that the story(s) not be archived, it will be noted in the thread and the story will not be placed in the archiving queue.

If at any time an author finds their story(s) on the archive and wishes it to be removed, the author may email the Editor and the story(s) will be removed as soon as possible.

Signed
—The Author Contact Project Team