In this post:
- A bit of background explanation
- What this means for creators who have work on GSSU
- And what to do if you still have questions
Bettina, the GSSU (German Speaking Slashers United) moderator, created the archive in 2000 to complement the Querstrich mailing list. While this mailing list still exists, the German-speaking fannish contingent it serves has migrated to other channels like LiveJournal/Dreamwidth, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. Due to this and low posting activity in the last few years, Bettina announced in 2012 that she would be closing the archive. Realising this was a difficult decision for her, and wanting to help preserve an important part of German-Speaking Fandom’s history, Open Doors readily agreed to preserve the works on the Archive of Our Own.
In its new home, GSSU will be a separate, searchable collection with its own identity for all of the fan fiction housed on the original archive. We will begin importing works from the GSSU to the AO3 collection in November 2013.
What does this mean for creators who have work on GSSU?
This is the part where we ask for your help!
1. If you already have an AO3 account and have posted your GSSU works there yourself (or would like to do so!), please contact Open Doors or gssuarchivist at gmail dot com with your GSSU pseud(s) and e-mail address(es), so that we won’t import your stories. (We can also e-mail you instructions for bulk-adding stories to the new collection on the AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/collections/GSSU.)
2. If you don’t have an AO3 account but would like one to import your stories yourself, please contact Open Doors or gssuarchivist at gmail dot com with your GSSU pseud(s), and the preferred e-mail address to send the AO3 invite to. (We can e-mail further instructions for importing stories and adding them to the new collection on the AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/collections/GSSU.)
3. If you would NOT like your works moved, please contact Open Doors or gssuarchivist at gmail dot com with your GSSU pseud(s) and e-mail address(es) so that we will not add them. (If you would not mind them being preserved but do not want your name attached to them any longer, please let us know that too; we can orphan your works instead of leaving them behind to be deleted.)
All works imported on a creator’s behalf will be attributed with their name in the summary of the work. As we import works, we will e-mail notifications to the address associated with the work.
All imported works will initially be set to be viewable only by logged-in AO3 users. (Once you claim your works, you can make them publicly-viewable if you choose.) After 3 months, unclaimed imported works will be made visible to all visitors.
If you no longer have access to the email account associated with your works on GSSU, please contact Open Doors and we’ll help you out. (If you’ve posted the stories elsewhere, or have an easy way to verify that they’re yours, that’s great; if not, we will work with the GSSU archivist to confirm your claims.)
If you have further questions, visit the Open Doors FAQ page, contact the Open Doors committee, or leave a comment on this post and we’ll respond as soon as we can.
We’re also planning to hold two public chats on Campfire (the online chat platform the OTW uses): 19 October 2013 at 10:00:00 UTC, and 26 October 2013 at 16:00:00 UTC (click the links to see when the chats are held in your timezone). You can access OTW’s public discussion chatroom using this link.
Anyone who has questions about the process is welcome to join the Open Doors team at those chats, and we’ll do our best to answer you. We’d also love it if fans could stop by to reminisce and help us preserve the story of GSSU and the history of German-Speaking Fandom on Fanlore–no wiki editing skills needed! Of course, if you would like to edit on your own, your contributions would be very welcome. <3 (New to wiki editing? No worries, just visit this page.)
We’re delighted to help preserve this slice of German-speaking fandom history, and proudly welcome the German Speaking Slashers United archive to the AO3!
– The Open Doors team