Updates

This is a update of for the General category.

I am currently working on some server issues. There may be some wonky stuff, but I’m on it :)

This is a update of for the Anime/Manga: Fanstuff, General category.

There has been an ongoing debate about whether or not to discontinue/continue to split Fanfiction into genres. In the end, I have decided to continue with genres despite the underwhelming response. I believe this would be best for the Fanstuff category in general and for organizational purposes. In addition, genres are important to those who happen to be interested in or are a part of the fanfiction community. So genres are staying.

A/M: Fanstuff: Fanfiction Genre Rule

These new rules also appear on the A/M: Fanstuff application page.

** All applications for fanlistings in the A/M: Fanstuff – Fanfiction subcategory _must_ include a genre. You may choose from the following: Gen, Het, Yaoi, Yuri or All. If you are confused by these terms there are plenty of anime/manga and fanfic resources each with suitable definitions.

** Applying for combinations of genres are not allowed, for example Inu Yasha Fanfiction (Yaoi & Gen). You must apply for each genre separately. In this example, if you are approved for both, then the fanlistings would be listed separately in the database as “Inu Yasha Fanfiction (Yaoi)” and “Inu Yasha Fanfiction (Gen).”

** If a fanlisting for “FL Subject (All)” is approved, example Gensomaden Saiyuki Fanfiction (All), then the fanlistings for that subject in the remaining genres are no longer available for application. This makes sense since that particular fanlisting intends to cover all genres. If you are approved for an (All) fanlisting, make sure it is clear on your finished fanlisting that this is the case. Do not apply for an (All) fanlisting as a sneaky way to create a (Yaoi) fanlisting that already exists in the database. Your finished form will not be processed if this is the case and the (All) fanlisting will be reopened for application. In the case of pairings, (All) would cover what would make sense for that pairing. For example, Chobits: Chii & Motosuwa Hideki, (All) would cover Gen and Het, since obviously that pairing cannot fit the definitions of Yaoi or Yuri.

** The option to apply for an (All) fanlisting is no longer available once a fanlisting of the same subject with a different genre exists. For example, you would like to apply for Gundam Wing Fanfiction: Chang Wufei & Duo Maxwell (All), however a fanlisting already exists for Gundam Wing Fanfiction: Chang Wufei x Duo Maxwell (Yaoi). Because the Yaoi fanlisting already exists, the All fanlisting is no longer available because it would overlap.

Fanfiction applications that do not contain genre information will _not_ be processed. Instead an email will be sent requesting you resubmit a complete application – including a genre. Not only will this slow me down, but it may hinder your chances of getting the fanlisting you want if another individual submits a complete application since I will not have to email them about missing information.

This is important so please read futher. This will affect current and upcoming fanlistings in the following ways:

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This is a update of for the General, Relationships: Book/Movie, Relationships: Real Life, Relationships: TV category.

The Rivalries category has now been merged into the appropriate Relationships categories. All owners of both relationship and rivalry fanlistings should have received an email containing information. If anyone did not receive the email, they are free to contact the Senior Staff at seniorstaff [at] thefanlistings.org and request a copy. (Please remember to state which email you need – rivalry or main relationship.) The troubles list from the Rivalries category has been split up accordingly, so all Rivalries troubles are now on the Relationships troubles lists.

All references to the Rivalries category are being removed from the network, and all updates made in the Rivalries category are being moved to the Relationships: Book/Movie updates archive.

If anyone has any questions, we do encourage you to use the message board at http://board.thefanlistings.org/! :)

Thanks everyone.

This is a update of for the General category.

Since merging the friendship, family, and romantic relationships categories over a year ago, we have accepted two kinds of relationship fanlistings: platonic/romantic, and antagonistic. Fanlistings for platonic/romantic relationships have been approved under the three Relationships categories (book/movie, TV, and real life) and are required to be “neutral” (meaning they must not say “you must be a fan of the romantic relationship”, and likewise with use of the word “platonic”) while fanlistings for antagonistic relationships have been approved under the Rivalries category.

We have come to realise that by giving the title of “rivalry” to an antagonistic relationship, and using the term “relationship” to describe only a positive relationship, we have distorted the meaning of the term “relationship”, which is: “A particular type of connection existing between people related to or having dealings with each other.” A rivalry is indeed a relationship, just one with a negative aspect to it.

We have therefore decided (after much discussion between us, and with the rest of the staff) to merge the existing Rivalries category into the existing three Relationships categories, and to dissolve the Rivalries category entirely. All pending forms in the Rivalries category will be transferred to the appropriate staff members.

Fanlistings in the Relationships categories are already required to be neutral, so this shouldn’t pose any problems for those of you who own relationship fanlistings at present. Your fanlistings will still be fanlistings for “the relationship between X and X”, just as they were before. You will not be required to make any changes to your layouts, codes, or rules, unless they are already in violation of our existing rules regarding relationship fanlistings (ie. the “must stay neutral” rule).

Fanlistings that are currently listed in the Rivalries category will be moved into the appropriate Relationships categories. This will obviously result in some duplicates, therefore fanlistings will be labelled as follows:

Spike and Buffy Summers
Spike and Buffy Summers (rivalry)

The existing fanlistings will not be required to change anything at all as a result of these changes, as they were approved before this change came into effect. The only time you might be asked to change something is if your fanlisting currently violates one of the existing rules, as stated above.

If a fanlisting for a rivalry exists where there is no fanlisting for the same pairing/group in one of the Relationships categories, the owner will have the option to choose whether to keep the fanlisting as it is and allow the possibility of someone else applying for the fanlisting for the main relationship, or to cover all aspects and become the only fanlisting for the pairing/group. If the owner chooses the latter option, no rivalry fanlisting will be approved at a later date. Owners will have one week to ask for their rivalry fanlisting to cover the entire relationship before other applications for the main relationship will be approved. They may still request the main relationship after a week has passed if it is still available.

The offer of staying as only a rivalry fanlisting is retroactive, meaning that it doesn’t work the other way around – it only applies to current rivalry fanlistings, and no further rivalry fanlistings will be approved. If a rivalry-only fanlisting is removed, it will not be open for applications.

Similarly, if a main relationship fanlisting is removed where a fanlisting for the rivalry-only aspect exists, the owner of the rivalry-only fanlisting may apply to cover all aspects of the relationship. This is, however, entirely the responsibility of the fanlisting owner, as with our cross-listing policy. If the owner of the rivalry-only fanlisting fails to apply for the main relationship, another fanlisting for it may be approved.

The changes have not yet been implemented, but we are going to start changing things over immediately after posting this thread. Everyone who owns a fanlisting in the Rivalries category should receive an email informing them of the changes once their fanlistings have been moved into the Relationships categories.

This will not only affect the existing Rivalries category and the three Relationships categories, but it will also affect any other categories which include fanlistings for types of relationships. These categories include Animation and Games, among others. The Anime/Manga categories will not be affected by these changes as these categories will soon be moving away from the network.

We hope that you will all adjust to these new changes. We invite you to discuss the new rules in the General Network Discussion forum, or if you have any questions for the Senior Staff, please post in the Questions for the Senior Staff forum.

Thanks for reading! :)

This is a update of for the General category.

As many of you have already noticed, TFL has unveiled a new look. We hope you like it as much as we do. This new design was created by our lovely Sasha (plug! plug!). The site is XHTML-compliant and uses extensive CSS — including the new drop-out menu!

We felt it was time for a new layout that was original, fresh, grown-up, and web standards compliant. We hope you all like it.

If you are having trouble with the new layout (especially the menu), please check out the Site FAQs – the five question deal with the new layout.

There are still a few pages that need to be changed over but we should be done very soon.

This is a update of for the General category.

As you can see we open again. We are still going through to make sure that everything works. If anything is wonky, please let us know (contact form to Abby or via the Technical Support forum).

Staff is going to slowly get back to work and access e-mails. I’m pretty sure we were able to save all if not most of the e-mails, but staffers will post in their respective category forums if you need to resubmit anything prior to June 13, 2004. E-mail went down at approximately 3:52am Central Time, so anything after that time must be resubmitted.

Updated will start as soon as staffers get their bearings. Anything currently on the troubles list will have until June 26, 2004 to fix their problems or they will be removed on or after that date.

This is a update of for the General category.

Just to let you all know, the TFL email system is down. No email forms are being received and you’re probably getting bounce backs. We’ll let you know when things are up and running again. We’ll also let you know the approximate window that email was down once I find out. You’ll have to resend anything you sent within that time (email, forms, etc.)

E-mail went down sometime in the middle of the night (EST) and is still not operational. For more information go to News and Announcements post on the TFL Forums. I’ll keep you informed there.

This is a update of for the Adult, Food/Drinks, General, Miscellaneous category.

There have been some changes in the Adult category, which have affected a few other categories too. We have decided that the Adult category should be for sex-related subjects only, as that is the usual understanding of the term “adult”. When referring to adult models, for example, you don’t think of models who are not children, you think of adults who pose nude. The same applies for adult movies, adult magazines, etc.

This means that all alcoholic drinks, tobacco-, cutting- and drug-related subjects, and some grown-up games such as drinking games and truth or dare, have been moved out of the Adult category and into the appropriate categories as shown below.

————————————-

Food/Drinks
ALL ALCOHOLIC DRINKS, Marijuana/Pot Brownies

Games
Drinking Games, Leisure Suit Larry, Truth or Dare

History/Royalty
Oiran

Miscellaneous
Amsterdam Coffee Shops, Bongs, Cocaine*, Ecstasy*, Glass Pipes, Heroin*, LSD/Acid*, Marijuana/Pot, Speed/Meth*, Tobacco

————————————-

* – We have decided to place a ban on fanlistings for narcotics, which means that if any of the current fanlistings for narcotics (marked with an asterisk *) are ever removed from the network, they will not open up for application.

In future, please apply for alcoholic beverages under Food/Drinks, any tobacco/marijuana-related fanlistings under Miscellaneous (unless you are applying for a food containing marijuana, in which case you would apply under Food/Drinks), and use the Adult category only to apply for sexual activities, pornstars/models, porn movies, adult websites, and other sex-related subjects.

Any questions and comments are welcomed, and should be directed to the Senior Staff via the contact us page. :)

This is a update of for the Characters: Book/Movie, Characters: TV, General category.

Since early 2003, a “no character groups” rule has been in place in the Characters: Book/Movie and Characters: TV categories. It was implemented to make things easier and more clear-cut for both staffers and fans, but it has ultimately caused more confusion than it’s worth.

After a great deal of discussion, we have decided that it would be best to abolish the rule entirely and allow Characters of, Females of, Males of, Teachers of, Vampires of, Students of, etc. fanlistings in addition to the character group fanlistings that have always been accepted, the ones for fictional bands, groups, clubs, races and species. Gender-specific character groups are limited to “male” or “female”. Male includes men and boys, and female includes women and girls. Also, you are not able to “stack” descriptors. This means that “Male Characters of” is okay. “Vampires of” is okay. “Male Vampires of” is not okay.

Staffers will be able to use some degree of discretion when it comes to approving fanlistings like this. If a character group you apply for only has one member, it is unlikely that it will be approved.

This is a update of for the General category.

Thanks to our programmer Angela, we have a new feature here at TFL which allows fanlisting owners to input their email address and have a list of all of their registered fanlistings emailed to them. It includes the category, subcategory (if applicable), URL, registered name/email and approval date for every fanlisting listed under your email address.

We hope that this will be useful when people want to find out if their details are up-to-date. :)

Please check out the new Your FL List page at http://www.thefanlistings.org/yourfls.php – thanks Angela! :)

This is a update of for the General category.

The Franchises category has been discontinued and all fanlistings listed under the category have been moved to different categories. Additionally, all applications, finished, moved and closed forms have been forwarded to the appropriate new categories. There is no need to resubmit any forms!

The existing fanlistings have been divided up as follows:

Animation
Winnie the Pooh.

Anime/Manga
Barunson; Sanrio.

Arts
Flower Fairies.

Books
Flower Fairies; Winnie the Pooh.

Computers/Internet/Appliances
Macromedia; Pippo (Linux Company).

Directors/Producers
Weta Ltd.

Fanstuff (under new Franchises subcategory)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Harry Potter; Lord of the Rings; Muppets, The; Star Trek; Star Wars; X-Men.

Fashion/Cosmetics
Adio Footwear; Billabong; Dorothy Perkins; Emily Strange; GUESS?; Harrods; Independent Trucks; Lee; Macy*s; Mary-Kate and Ashley; New Look; River Island; Sass and Bide; TJ Maxx; Topshop.

Food/Drinks
Dairy Queen; Dunkin’ Donuts; Hard Rock Café; Mongolian Barbeque; Taco Bell.

Miscellaneous (under new Stores subcategory)
Blockbuster; Borders; Ikea; Indigo; Target; Waldenbooks; Wal-Mart.

Toys/Collectibles
Diddl; Forever Friends; Happy Bunny; Morning Glory; Nici; Tatty Teddy.

Transportation
Conoco.

TV Shows
Teletubbies.

From now on, there are some new rules about applying for fanlistings previously listed in this category.

- You should apply for computer companies, brands and computer/electronic-specific stores in the Computers/Internet/Appliances category.

- You should apply for production companies under the Directors/Producers category.

- You should apply for clothing stores, brands, labels and designers in the Fashion/Cosmetics category.

- You should apply for restaurant chains/franchises and food brands in the Food/Drinks category.

- You should apply for bookstores, stationery/office supplies stores and “various products” stores (such as Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) in the Miscellaneous category, under the Stores subcategory.

- You should apply for brands of musical instruments under the Music category.

- You should apply for gift/toy franchises such as Forever Friends, Diddl, etc. under the Toys/Collectibles category.

- You should apply for gas stations (ie. Conoco) under the Transportation category.

- Entertainment franchises such as Harry Potter, LotR, BtVS, etc. are no longer accepted. The existing entertainment franchises are listed under Fanstuff (Franchises subcategory) at present but that is subject to change. They will remain part of the network until they close/are removed.

I hope this makes sense to everyone! If anyone has any questions, please use the contact form and direct your questions to Bonnie. :)

This is a update of for the General category.

First and foremost, we would like to apologise for the lack of updates in the Franchises category since the start of the year. This is not Mitu’s fault (our most recent staffer for the catgeory), in fact it’s not anyone’s fault. We senior staffers just needed time to discuss the future of this category and make a decision about the fanlistings listed here.

After much discussion, we decided to dissolve and discontinue the category entirely. It has always been a fairly confusing, messy, un-loved little category and, after toying with the idea of renaming and revamping it, we came to the conclusion that it really isn’t necessary. We have discussed what to do with the fanlistings currently listed under this category and decided on places for all of them.

Over the course of the next few days, I will do the following:

1.) Go through the list of currently-approved fanlistings and move them all to the appropriate new categories. Send a “category change” email to all owners to inform them of the new location of their fanlistings. Email all staffers of the affected categories with a list of fanlistings that have been moved into their categories.

2.) Sort through all applications, finished/moved/closed forms and trouble reports sent to the Franchises category since January. Forward all forms to the appropriate new staffers.

3.) Delete the category entirely and update any category rules referring people to the Franchises category.

I hope that everyone is okay with this decision. If anyone has any questions, please post here and ask. I would be happy to answer any enquiries you may have.

Thank you all for your patience! I hope to start work on the category tomorrow and I will hopefully get it finished within the next couple of days. :)

This is a update of for the General category.

Apologies to anyone who applied for a fanlisting in the Songs category before it was split into four categories, and has not yet received a response. Many of these older applications have been forwarded on to the four new categories: Bands/Groups, Female Solo, Male Solo and Various and will be processed shortly.

Unfortunately, some applications (the ones that weren’t forwarded) have been lost. I am not sure of exactly how many, but put it this way – it wasn’t just a couple. I am prepared to take full responsibility for this as it was, for the most part, due to an error on my part. We won’t know for sure exactly which applications have been lost until after a full applications update has been completed in all four categories.

I have advised all of the Songs staffers (with the exception of the Songs: Female Solo staffer, as she has already caught up) to do a full applications update as soon as possible so that applicants will know whether or not their applications were lost. I have also informed the Songs staffers that they should start threads in their category forums where people can ask if their applications have been received.

I know that this must be very frustrating for those of you who have been waiting patiently for your applications to be processed. I am very upset about losing the forms and I hope that I won’t get too many tomatoes thrown at me. Again, major apologies to everyone waiting for their applications to be processed.

This is a update of for the Anime/Manga, General category.

Due to an overwhelming interest in the Anime/Manga categories at The Fanlistings Network, the Anime/Manga categories will be branching out into a separate network in the very near future. The new network will remain closely affiliated with The Fanlistings Network; however the network will be separately staffed, with its own Senior Staff, host and domain. Ownership of this new network has been given to Danielle by the TFL Senior Staff.

Danielle has written this announcement:

This is a update of for the General, Relationships: Real Life category.

I am currently looking for a new applications/troubles staffer for the Real Life Relationships category. None of our current staffers are able to take it over at present, and there is a serious lack of interest on the volunteers list too. As this category requires a certain kind of knowledge/interest, I thought the best thing to do would be to make an official announcement and ask for applications from interested parties.

In order to run this category, you really do need to have an interest in relationships (friendships/family/romantic) between celebrities. You should have some knowledge of celebrity relationships as you will be dealing with applications. In addition to these requirements, you must meet all of the requirements as detailed on the application form to become a staffer.

If you are interested, please do not fill out the application form. I would like for you to email me directly at bonnie@thefanlistings.org with your application – please put “RL Relationships staffer” in the subject line. You can copy and paste the following and just fill out your details.

This is a update of for the General, Songs: Bands/Groups, Songs: Female Solo, Songs: Male Solo, Songs: Various category.

As you are probably aware, the Songs category was getting rather huge and it has been difficult for the staffers to keep up. The category has now been split into four individual categories:

Songs: Bands/Groups
Songs: Female Solo
Songs: Male Solo
Songs: Various

For a more detailed description of the categories, please see the Categories page on the menu. As far as update archives go, all previous updates for the Songs category as a whole are listed under Songs: Bands/Groups, since this is the largest of the four new categories.

We are still in the process of sorting out staffing duties for the four new categories, but updates should recommence in the near future. I would like to ask for your continued patience while our staffers are getting used to the changes. :)

Please remember to apply in the correct category from now on. It shouldn’t be too difficult to remember!

Thanks!

This is a update of for the General category.

ANNOUNCEMENT – Troubles Policy Update

After many months of discussion among the staff and based on input from our visitors, we are making changes to our Troubles policy.

Fanlistings that are ‘in trouble’ are either upcoming fanlistings that haven’t been completed in the alotted time, or current fanlistings that are a dead link, have an incorrect or no link back to The Fanlistings, haven’t been updated for a long time or other miscellaneous problems. These fanlistings are in danger of being removed from the Network.
Previously, when a fanlisting was put on Troubles, the owner had three weeks to respond to the staff member and either fix the problems or apply for an extension (however, it is recommended that you apply for an extension BEFORE your fanlisting is put on troubles!). No response or a failure to fix the problems in question would result in the fanlisting being removed from the Network.

Under our new policy, the fanlisting owner will now have seven days to respond to the staff member. The decision to reduce the amount of time before a fanlisting is removed was not taken lightly. Experience has shown that if the fanlisting owner doesn’t respond in the first couple of days following being put on Troubles, they won’t respond at all.

Thank you

The Senior Staff

This is a update of for the General category.

BOOK & MOVIE CHARACTERS: Applications & Troubles Announcement

I am temporarily managing the applications and troubles for the B&M Characters category. Anna is currently unable to work on the category, so I am helping out and getting things caught up. Please do NOT resubmit any forms. I have everything and am going to be going through them as quickly as I can.

This is a update of for the General category.

Okay I think the staff database has been restored fully now. Unfortunately we have gone back in time and ALL updates made from 10:30am ET on Friday until the server went down have been lost.

I know there were some pretty big updates done on some categories. Some of the staffers can recreate their updates pretty easily but some might not be able to. If you were approved for a fanlisting in that time window, please forward a copy of your acceptance email (WITH FULL HEADERS) to the appropriate staffer.

If you sent a form for anything before the server went down, please do not resend your forms until I tell you to. I receive backups of all emails and when I get home from work this afternoon, I’ll check to see what time on Sunday the forms stopped coming in, and I’ll announce here what should be resent. I will be sending the backup emails to the appropriate staffers once I figure out what people have or haven’t received.

And to let you all know, this attack wasn’t targetted at TFL we just got caught in the cross-fire. There are still a few issues to be hammered out but I think they are mainly in the background so it effects staff not visitors.

Thank you all for your support and happy holidays.

This is a update of for the General category.

As those of you who own radio-related fanlistings will already know, we have a new category called Radio. This category will contain fanlistings for radio personalities, radio stations and also radio shows/programmes. If there’s anything else radio-related that people apply for in the future (such as companies) then they will be listed there too. So please, if applying for anything to do with radio in future, apply in the Radio category.

The TV, Radio & Stage Personalities category has also been renamed to just TV & Stage Personalities.

All radio fanlistings have been moved to the new category, which is now visible at the site, however, I may have missed some. If you spot anything, please let me know at bonnie@thefanlistings.org :)

Enjoy the new category!