Our Work
The Fanlore Committee is responsible for maintaining and promoting Fanlore, a wiki about fan history and fan activities.
Most of the work Fanlore does is performed by its many editors who create, revise, and add content to Fanlore pages! Anyone can join Fanlore as an editor – check out the “How to Get Involved” section further down for more information about how to sign up, and how to get started with editing once you’ve made an account.
The Fanlore Committee is responsible for developing and revising policies for wiki editors to follow, as well as enforcing those policies by assisting editors and other users with related queries. Fanlore Committee members can help with anything from identity protection (obscuring users’ legal names where they are referenced on Fanlore pages) to hostile editing (ensuring that Fanlore pages are not vandalized and that they represent multiple viewpoints).
Committee members also conduct outreach in a number of ways to promote Fanlore, attract new editors to the wiki, and engage Fanlore’s user community. This can involve creating posts, graphics, and other content to publish on social media as well as designing and running several editing challenges each year that encourage users to register for Fanlore and take part to earn badges.
Who We Are
Several groups of volunteers make up the Fanlore Committee:
- Social Media & Outreach volunteers make plans for how best to promote Fanlore and help it reach new potential users. They are responsible for planning and running Fanlore’s editing challenges, maintaining Fanlore’s social media channels, and thinking of ways to reach out to and engage with new corners of fandom.
- Graphic Designers create graphics for outreach initiatives such as social media features, editing challenges, infographics, and visual tutorials.
- Policy & Admin volunteers are responsible for managing and developing both the technical aspects and the policies of Fanlore, and maintaining related documentation. They also shape Fanlore’s Help documentation, keep an eye out for needed updates, and make and communicate decisions about any policy violations that occur.
- Gardeners track edits made to different Fanlore pages, ensuring that changes made to the wiki are coherent, appropriate, and properly organized. They also assist and communicate with other editors, keep an eye out for spam, and liaise with Fanlore Policy & Admin about inappropriate edits or policy issues.
How to Get Involved
The easiest and best way to get started with Fanlore is to register an account and start editing! Our New Visitor Portal is a good place to start for basic information about how to create or add to pages.
For more information about how Fanlore works and editing advice, visit our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Our editing Cheatsheet is a quick reference sheet to help editors (both new and experienced!) with common types of wiki formatting. If you’re unsure where to start, try consulting our Wish List (pages that other users have specifically requested), Wanted Pages (pages that have been linked to but not yet created), or Orphaned Pages (pages that are not linked to from other pages in Fanlore).
If you become a prolific editor, Fanlore volunteers may contact you with an offer to become an Advanced Editor. Advanced Editors are not official Fanlore volunteers, but instead are editors who are granted the ability to move and delete pages on Fanlore. Advanced Editors who would like to take a more active role in the running of the wiki, and have a voice in the development of Fanlore and Fanlore policy, are welcome to apply for Gardener status.
On the other hand, if you are interested in the work that Policy & Admin volunteers, Social Media & Outreach volunteers, or Graphic Designers do, you can periodically check the Volunteer page on the OTW website for Fanlore recruitment postings, or contact the Fanlore Committee.
Contact Us
To get in touch with the Fanlore Committee, use the OTW’s contact form, selecting Fanlore as the committee you want to reach. Selecting the subject “Correction,” “Editing help,” or “Feedback” will direct your query to the Gardeners, while “Fanlore Policies,” “Identity Protection,” “Technical Support,” or “Other” will go to Policy & Admin.