Seekers unite
For those in the know, The Silver Snitch site is no longer up and running. It sucks so epically that as soon as anyone tries to go to the site for the first time in a while, they immediately go to the well of knowledge that is Google and will try to figure out where it could have gone…
It isn’t just a joke to say that there are thousands of seekers for The Silver Snitch.
For those who aren’t in the know, The Silver Snitch is a site that was (and is) devoted to Harry Potter fanfiction, but is a bit more specific than fanfiction.net in that it caters to the fans who know terms such as ‘yaoi’ and ‘slash’ fiction.
They also recognize the fact that a great deal of the people who write this kind of fanfiction write straight PWP straight out, and while that’s nice occasionally, some plot would be nice, and so many people were flocking to the awesomeness that is The Silver Snitch…
On of my favourite authors there is Vorabiza, who you can find on Google from a number of writing sites… My favourite story by her is ‘Secrets’, and you can go to the link on her name to see the Google options for where you can read her stories, and you can go HERE for my favourite story by her. Happens after Half-Blood Prince, and is extremely addicting to read.
For those who try fafiction.net, it seems as though they have suspended her account for a little while, likely from the people who decide that a certain type of fanfiction shouldn’t be on fanfiction.net. It’s not out to get the yaoi and slash writers, but against the poorly written and hack edited things, and they have somehow decided to abuse their power to also go out for any writer who hints at something M rated or beyond.
But, to the creator of The Silver Snitch, she has sent out a message HERE about what has happened. More updates HERE, in addition to the original message
As most should know, sites that are run privately are run on money… money ran out for the creator of this site, and so when the date came for when she needed to renew her claim on the site called thesilversnitch.net came, she had to choose between the site and the bills on her home.
But on the site above (or HERE if you don’t feel like going up a few lines) you can donate.
If you don’t particularly care, I can’t do much about that except put it into your heads the possibility of slash fiction (not violent as it sounds… book and non anime version of yaoi though some HP fiction writers call it yaoi (anime fans)), but if you know of the site and were wondering what happened, well there it is, and there’s a solution… go ahead, look at it.
Gaze at the solution…
Donate to bring the site back up, will ya? Even a few dollars or insert-form-of-money-here will help.
Thanks!
*EDIT* Read comments below for info about donations problems. Apparently she has not replied to any comments or questions as to how much money was raised. I live in hope, though, so simply stop giving huge sums of money. Stick to small change. Or, if you can spend that much, buy the site (maybe). I can’t do it, but….
Stay Optimistic!
I have never heard of the Silver Snitch, though i do know what you mean when it comes to fanfiction.net. Those admins there suck. LOL.
I like the amount and variety that can be found at ffn.net, but the admin certainly does suck if they are deciding it’s a good idea to take down stories and suspend accounts because of spelling and grammar and something that is generally agreed on as PWP. Plot, what plot? No really… But some people are testing out their writing skills when they post their stories, and are looking for feedback. You can’t always get a good beta, so… yeah. I would suggest you check out TSS.net, but as it’s currently down… seems kind of a moot point…
I don’t know much about fanfiction.net but I do know about adultfanfiction.net… go there to get your yaoi fix
And I’m disappointed… an author there referred to a story on the silver snitch and now it’s not here
It was probably a story by Vorabiza that was suggested… There is a link above to go to a site with her stories
I do know of adult ffn.net, but TSS was nice, and had some amazing stories posted.
Thank you so much for linking to another archive that has Vorabizas’ work! I wanted to re-read one of my favourite fics by her and couldn’t find Silver Snitch, and being unable to find that put a black in my head and I couldn’t even remember enough to try and start googling to see if I could find her work anywhere else.
Also, it’s great that you’re trying to raise awareness for the work that goes on behind the scenes for these sights! I think a lot of people don’t realize the costs and work that some dedicated people commit themselves to so that we can enjoy reading these wonderful fics.
I don’t like asking for money (unless it’s from my parents… I’m a poor student
Wow that may or may not have made sense
I love Voribaiza’s work, so it’s no problem for me
I offered to take over the finances of the site if she would tell me what they were and if I could afford it. I never heard back from her. I assume that she is not serious about reviving the site but actually just collecting the money.
fleetzz (fleetzz@yahoo.com)
Well I’m going to hope that is not the case
It could be that she has honestly been busy with other things, could be because she wants to take responsibility for the site herself…
I really don’t know, but another possibility is that she wants to keep it all to herself… like if your dog needed surgery, and you put up that people could donate to help… and omeone said they could just take the dog off her hands… but then, you aren’t suggesting that you take it over (right?) so it might again be for other reasons.
I’m not trying to make up excuses, I’m just hoping that I’m not encouraging people to donate to a person rather than to the site.
I’m sure she’s nice, but when you donate to a site, you’re donating to a site.
I live in hope, and I hope that she will get back to you….
It would certainly help if she gave a goal as to what she is hoping to reach, money wise, rather than just asking for money that will eventually reach $x. I do see your point.
Thanks for the comment
I do not have the technical expertise to run the site, I was just offering to pay for the site directly while collecting (and PUBLICLY) posting any funds donated. If I could afford it. Unfortunately I have no clue how much it costs to run a web site/archive, it may be out of my reach or it may not. In any case if I could afford it I would pay for it, and publicly post each donation received with appropriate credit for each person who donated. At least people would know that their money is being collected then used for the site, how much is available to pay for the costs of the web site, and how much of a surplus or deficit there is at any particular time. I noticed she didn’t post my comment on her request for funding either. She never posts how much she collected nor how much the site costs. I just get suspicious at this (just like my local church just pushes people to donate more but never published how much is collected and how it is spent, unlike my previous churches). I tend to not want to donate when I don’t see accountability.
I literally have not purchased a book in nearly a year because I have read so much from public HP archives, so I might have the funds. Unfortunately I remain in ignorance until somebody fills me in.
fleetzz
fleetzz@yahoo.com
Hm, makes me think that I should change this post then. Or else petition everyone to spam her messages with ‘how much does it cost? How much has been collected?” until she answers.
Still, I hope things will turn out.
In an early post on the original request thread she stated that it cost $40 a month domain fees and $15-$20 a year for something else (I can’t remember what). Back in November someone stated that they had just donated $50 and various others posted that they had just donated $20 and $25 amounts. That’s not including the numerous random posts stating ‘Just donated, hope the site is back up soon’. One person offered half of their $220 a month SSI (I think) cheque and various experienced people have offered their services to get the site back up and running. Yet here we are near the end of February and the site is still down. People aren’t getting replies to their messages on her thread anymore either. I seriously think people should stop giving her money (the last ‘I just donated’ post was on the 13th of this month) until the site is back up and running. I’m not saying she’s ripping people off but she’s been getting donations since the beginning of November, that’s nearly 4 month and the site still isn’t back up. Honestly, it’s really not looking good.
I know! It’s very hard to be optimistic about this when it seems as though she’s not doing anything
Though I have to give props for the number of people giving such large amounts… I was imagining dollars and change, not substantial bills :S
But, I am going to try to be optimistic. Perhaps she has not been able to get to a computer. Lame, yes, but I like it better than someone swindling for money…
If someone else bought the site, and just hasn’t done anything with it, too… That would be horrible
In any case, I hope the site eventually goes back up
Thanks for commenting
Are we not able users of the Internet I say we make a call to arms and find her search for blogs facebook ffnet everything to try to find somewhere she is active and ask what the hell
True, and all the power to you if you decide to try and find her, but one of the issues raised was that she’s refusing to respond. Or unable to respond (Remember: OPTIMISM!). I really do hope she is not being an a-hole, but with the site being down for longer and longer… :S
I’d love to help find her, but as a student, I waste enough of my time even here on my blog, and I can stand waiting for a bit longer 
If you DO find anywhere we can bug her for information at, please share a link
Luck!
She did reply to you, on the twelfth. I think before then both our posts were supposedly “screened”. which is weird since no other posts were screened. It seemed to me that before then they were BLOCKED. but what do I know?
I remain faithful that she isn’t some evil person. Maybe she did use the money or herself, but it was a situation where she would be out on the streets if she didn’t. If that were the case, people would hate her, but I’d still want to know. She could always transfer ownership of it to someone else who has experience with websites, is willing to pay OR try to do what she did to get donations, and wants to take on the site.
What I am worried about is how long the old providers will keep the websites archive information, before deleting it.
That is true :\
I wonder if they even still have everything… Well, maybe someone with more funds than I could petition for it, I don’t know how it works. I don’t think tat they require any real personal information, other than where to bill the site to, but perhaps it’s more copyright and whatnot.
Oh! nevermind! she did reply! There is an update on her site that my comp didn’t load to.
LAST COMMENT
D: I HAS FAITH. the update is positive. At the very least, we will know if she decides to give up on that website. All hail Deirdra, for putting up with all us hp fangirls and guys crap! XD
Ah
Good then ^_^ And I hope that if she ever sees this post she’ll see that in between the speculations of hidden evils there is a consistent amount of hope and confidence 
Also, to the comment before this, I say ‘ah, I see’ 
I think this is the most comments I’ve gotten on a post ever 
(not including my replies, which generally doubles the number, which I think is kind of silly)
Props, btw, for the number of comments
I can’t believe people are still so interested in getting the site back up in running. I keep giving it a google to see if it’s up. Given up hope
I really loved The Silver Snitch I want it back soooo much!
I think pretty much everyone who has checked out the site wants it to be backup… Her latest update said that it was going to be put back up as soon as she could get a credit card and arrange things with the people who actually arrange all the sites, but they aren’t getting back to her about it.
I’m assuming it’s a lot of automated answering machines, with a “Press one if you are looking for generic section A, Press two if you are looking for generic section B” kind of things.
All we can do is be patient, so don’t give up hope quite yet.
A lot of the wait is due to her moving, so hopefully now that she’s been moved in and whatnot, maybe she’ll get it up sooner rather than later.
In any case, keep up hope!
True. I am worried about this, because if I were her I would give up by now, and we can’t expect her to keep trying to do this if they keep stonewalling her. But, I doubt she would want to drop it now, seeing as how she has put in so much effort.
about your “if she ever sees this”- I do feel a bit ashamed, as she seemed to be very stressed in those updates. I know she referred to YOU personally as one of the people who had misconceptions about the way this was done (I believe you were called “the book guy”), but I don’t think either of us said anything malicious. If she has a problem with me I think my opinion of her will go down for it.
lol, I don’t think I really thought that was referring to myself
I’m a girl, I don’t think I’ve hidden that. I have posted a number of pictures of myself in posts against my roommates, so yeah… Book guy? That kind of confuses me…
Aaand I’m not finding it :S
Well, I agree with you about if she actually takes offence, and I think it should say something that it took someone giving me real reasons to actually think about the more nefarious possibilities as to the site not being up for me to actually worry.
I just thought maybe people weren’t giving money, which was why I was so excited to (finally find) see the post about what had happened to the site. Also the reason why I even wrote this post
And, slight backtrack, I am still confused about book guy.
Hmm.
I hope people who read this post actually read these comments, so that they can make an informed decision as to whether or not to donate, or to find out about what exactly has been happening with the site.
I think a lot of her stress is due to the people not getting in contact with her about the credit card and about the site it self… Stressful things in itself, as well as internet popularity. I personally don’t think it’s much important, but some people do. Then again, I have x amount of people giving me notifications, not xxx people
I will obtain a credit card for her in her name hell any name if you know the right people look it is not hard to get means to pay over the internet. Don’t kid yourself at this point. If she told me anything that she needed I would get it to her with in two three nights at top five if its a passport.
If she would just give us the domain information, we could all do a polite group spam to the provider saying “hi! so I hurd u wuz stallin’”
XD jkjkjk
True,,, I hadn’t actually realized that the site had been down for so little time before everyone started speculating about money being stolen. I mentioned that paypal will give back their money if they contact her and they can prove she signed in but ignored them, but it was only after someone assured me that they had added up the numbers people had donated and claimed that it was enough for months. Once again though, that wasn’t really malicious, and I don’t think the majority of the comments were malicious more than they were frantic. People ARE obsessed with the site.
I think it was a matter of people feeding off the fears of others, so everyone in the community got worked up about it. That, as well as the initial silence following the donations, which she put down to both a lack of internet and procrastination on her part.
I remember emailing the site years ago asking why they didn’t try to get money through advertising, and being told they were worried about x rated advertisements for gay sex sites.
Well that explains the lack of advertisements… i just thought that there was a place on the site that you could donate money at, and I just wasn’t seeing it.
It sucks when fear feeds fear
What really sucks is unless I have missed my guess no one has heard anything. This means that any money taken as a donation was essentially stolen as she had at least enough to open the site back up or post to stop donations and give the money back has she done so? I have posted on any place I can find her online and not gotten a response has anyone else had better luck?
Read the whole slew of comments in this post. There’s a huge debate about if the money was being used for the site or not, and apparently she’s paid off the debts that built up on the site, but now apparently needs to get a credit card of some sort due to the new paying-format that’s developed in order to hold onto a site.
I have been checking in very rarely now, have not quite given up on her getting the site up and running. If the cost is 40 per month that is easily within my budget. However, after posting that I would be willing to cover the costs if they were affordable, I just got insults from her response, because she is upset that she is not trusted!!!! How dare I ask for private information!
In actuality, I was just asking for accountability.
Sorry, just because my church asks for money doesn’t mean I give it without knowing why it is needed and how it is spent. Just look at the US government, they demand our taxes and waste it, despite the public having access to how it is used.
I have not seen progress on getting the Silver Snitch up to date, and so far am glad I have not “donated” to this person.
Good luck to all getting their money back.
Apparently she’s used a great deal of the money to pay off debts that built up from the site from before, and is saying that the new format for owning a site requires a credit card of some sort. That’s last I heard.
Is baffling and understandable that she got upset. She’s probably gotten a great deal of e-mails and whatnot accusing her of stealing the money, or for using it for something non-silver-snitch related…
But she obviously is having trouble with the site, and it’s not ‘not trusting’ her if someone offers to take the problem off her hands.
I’m actually impressed that you got a response though… From what I’ve been hearing, people have been complaining about her not getting back to them about anything :S
I still live in hope, and I hope that no one donated a ridiculously large amount on the off hand that she’s actually a fraud… or I hope that they at least used something other than paypal, because you can’t cancel a transaction with paypal… :\
:<
I know :C