Zine Scanning - An Ethical Question
Feb. 2nd, 2023 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amado1So, if you're like me, you've got a stack of physical zines from the 70s-90s gathering dust on top of your bookshelf. Last night I pulled out a 1993 TNG zine and read through it in one sitting -- I'm saving the detailed review for my next Fannish Fifty post, but my god, it was SO GOOD! Novella-length, Riker-centric, hurt/comfort and whump, this was 100% the kind of fic I'd love to stumble across on AO3. And I'd download it immediately and forward it to all my friends.
Actually, here's the thing. In the year of our Lord 2020-Part-3, I do actually have lots of friends who still simp for Riker, who love hurt/comfort, who would adore this fic specifically. A fic which isn't available anywhere online. I'm close enough to one of these friends that I could just send her the physical zine in the mail, but the rest...
That brings me to a general question. Is it ethical to scan old, out-of-print zines and post them for free access? If not, why not? I can definitely say it gives me some qualms.
Most zines were published at cost to the editors. They were sold for low prices, usually just to cover printing, not for profit. It's fanfiction, after all. But it's not like these are ancient relics. Most of the people who made them are still around, still active. So it's at least possible that many of them chose not to post their fics online. It's also possible some of them did, back in the late 90s/early 2000s, only for those sites to go down or for content to be purged. And it's possible that many of them don't have the computer skills -- my dad definitely doesn't (but then again he's not active in fandom; maybe he just doesn't have the motivation to learn).
So! As an archivist, what do you do? You could research these people, try to track them down, ask them individually if they consent to a scan. Of course this will take a long time and might result in incomplete zine scans, if certain authors say yes and others say no. How long do you wait before, with no response, you give yourself the go-ahead? For a more controversial question, do these fan-writers have any right to say no? My instinct is "Yes, absolutely they do" -- as a writer. From a historian's POV, though...
There are practical, not just ethical, concerns as well. The zine community is small and interconnected. Let's say you do your due diligence. You track down every author involved in a zine and get the go-ahead. One writer does not respond during your reasonable time limit, so you go ahead and publish the scanned zine. Shortly after, that single hold-out contacts you and reveals they do NOT consent. This person undoubtedly has friends in the zine community, and if they spread the news that their story was "stolen" (and maybe it really does count as stealing) and posted without their permission ... suddenly, your zine connections are going to dry up, and you might find it extra-hard to even find zines in the first place.
The etiquette for contemporary zines seems more clear-cut. Most of us wouldn't dream of scanning a 2023 Obikin zine without permission. Uploading those stories and artpieces would certainly qualify as a breach of etiquette. Often these zines are published for profit (if it's original work) or with proceeds going to a charity, but even if the zine is published for no profit at all, it's not nice to take someone's hard work and publish it outside of their chosen sphere. It's the same etiquette that guides fanfic-posting -- you don't take a fic from AO3 and publish it on Wattpad, certainly not if it's someone else's, certainly not if you didn't ask.
...I'm a fan author, like I said. I post exclusively to AO3. If I discovered my work had been reposted to FFNet or Wattpad without notice, I would be a little irked, but also a little flattered. Irked because I might be getting reviews I didn't know about. Flattered that the reposter enjoyed it that much! (And after all, there's nothing stopping me from checking the reviews once I know about it). But to do so myself would definitely chafe against my personal etiquette, and it's tough to reconcile that with the historical value of preserving zines by posting digital scans.
Does anyone here scan zines, or collect them? What are your thoughts? Do you go by any particular guidelines for reviewing, archiving, sharing?
Actually, here's the thing. In the year of our Lord 2020-Part-3, I do actually have lots of friends who still simp for Riker, who love hurt/comfort, who would adore this fic specifically. A fic which isn't available anywhere online. I'm close enough to one of these friends that I could just send her the physical zine in the mail, but the rest...
That brings me to a general question. Is it ethical to scan old, out-of-print zines and post them for free access? If not, why not? I can definitely say it gives me some qualms.
Most zines were published at cost to the editors. They were sold for low prices, usually just to cover printing, not for profit. It's fanfiction, after all. But it's not like these are ancient relics. Most of the people who made them are still around, still active. So it's at least possible that many of them chose not to post their fics online. It's also possible some of them did, back in the late 90s/early 2000s, only for those sites to go down or for content to be purged. And it's possible that many of them don't have the computer skills -- my dad definitely doesn't (but then again he's not active in fandom; maybe he just doesn't have the motivation to learn).
So! As an archivist, what do you do? You could research these people, try to track them down, ask them individually if they consent to a scan. Of course this will take a long time and might result in incomplete zine scans, if certain authors say yes and others say no. How long do you wait before, with no response, you give yourself the go-ahead? For a more controversial question, do these fan-writers have any right to say no? My instinct is "Yes, absolutely they do" -- as a writer. From a historian's POV, though...
There are practical, not just ethical, concerns as well. The zine community is small and interconnected. Let's say you do your due diligence. You track down every author involved in a zine and get the go-ahead. One writer does not respond during your reasonable time limit, so you go ahead and publish the scanned zine. Shortly after, that single hold-out contacts you and reveals they do NOT consent. This person undoubtedly has friends in the zine community, and if they spread the news that their story was "stolen" (and maybe it really does count as stealing) and posted without their permission ... suddenly, your zine connections are going to dry up, and you might find it extra-hard to even find zines in the first place.
The etiquette for contemporary zines seems more clear-cut. Most of us wouldn't dream of scanning a 2023 Obikin zine without permission. Uploading those stories and artpieces would certainly qualify as a breach of etiquette. Often these zines are published for profit (if it's original work) or with proceeds going to a charity, but even if the zine is published for no profit at all, it's not nice to take someone's hard work and publish it outside of their chosen sphere. It's the same etiquette that guides fanfic-posting -- you don't take a fic from AO3 and publish it on Wattpad, certainly not if it's someone else's, certainly not if you didn't ask.
...I'm a fan author, like I said. I post exclusively to AO3. If I discovered my work had been reposted to FFNet or Wattpad without notice, I would be a little irked, but also a little flattered. Irked because I might be getting reviews I didn't know about. Flattered that the reposter enjoyed it that much! (And after all, there's nothing stopping me from checking the reviews once I know about it). But to do so myself would definitely chafe against my personal etiquette, and it's tough to reconcile that with the historical value of preserving zines by posting digital scans.
Does anyone here scan zines, or collect them? What are your thoughts? Do you go by any particular guidelines for reviewing, archiving, sharing?
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