Lavender Eyes
| Website | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Lavender Eyes |
| Owner/Maintainer: | Rivka, grumpie1 |
| Dates: | 2001-2017[note 1] |
| Type: | Fansite, Archive |
| Fandom: | Forgotten Realms |
| URL: | http://www.lavendereyes.net/[note 2], http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com[note 3] |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Lavender Eyes was a fansite dedicated to Drizzt Do'Urden, and the wider universe of R.A. Salvatore's dark elf books, which hosted an archive of Fanfiction and Fanart, a collaborative encyclopedia, store, forums, a chatroom, and a link directory. Though now defunct, the site was active from 2002 to 2011, and taken down sometime after 2017.
History
The original site was created in 2001[note 4] by Rivka[note 5], the webmaster and owner, who massively updated it throughout the beginning of 2002, adding a variety of fanworks to the archives.
Never fear, folks, I haven't forgotten about this site. I am currently revamping it, and will unveil the new site within a couple of weeks. The new site will be all database driven and it will be a lot easier to submit stories and images. If you've sent me something (images, e-mail, whatever) I haven't forgotten it :)An update from Rivka on April 13, 2002[1]
By July, the revamp was largely finished, and included a new site layout, account creation, encyclopedia, new forums, an organized links page, and news feed;
As you can see, the site has been completely revamped to allow for more user interaction. If you become a member, you can submit fanfics, fan art, make comments in the gallery, post in the forum, submit links, and all kinds of other stuff. So become a member and participate!Also, we're looking for folks to help us flesh out the Encyclopedia--we need people to write brief (or not so brief) entries for the various people and places of Forgotten Realms that relate to the Dark Elf books. If you're interested, pop us a note in the forum.
Finally, I'd like to thank Steve Smith for his help in seeking out new fanfics and art to add to the site, and his huge amount of effort in getting them physically added. He's agreed to stay on and help with the site, so thanks, Steve!An update from Rivka on July 31, 2002[2]
The account feature allowed users to private message other members, talk in the forums, comment on posts, and submit fanworks to the archives. As of 2017, there were 105,604 registered members[3], though this number did not reflect the number of unique users; as it was impossible to change a username once registered, any member wishing to change theirs would simply create a new account.[4]
How can I change my username? Do I have to have the first account deleted? If so, how do I do that? You can't actually change a user-name. To get a new name, simply re-register with the site, choosing a different name.Lavender Eyes FAQ
Though not mentioned in any official updates, community polls were added around this time, with two separate polls recorded as of October 6[5]. After the revamp, Smith[note 6] took over updating the homepage feed, posting both regular news about the book series and related media, and monthly recaps of any new fanworks added to the site. It seemed members could also post messages to the homepage concerning similar topics. No major events occurred throughout 2003, except a server move in August.[6]
A site member named Eladriewen began hosting monthly theme-based fanfiction/fanart challenges in August of 2004[7], though the full version of the announcement post was not archived and remains unreadable. A large amount of blog posts also have no accessible web-archive, with only the home feed summaries remaining. Due to this, a number of fanworks and details of site activities are lost, including;
- The L.E. Times, a member-made fan newspaper from March, 2007[8]
- All monthly challenge posts
- A post by member grumpie1, referencing an ambiguous incident in which the front page feed was broken, and subsequently repaired[9]
On June 26, 2007, Rivka made an announcement introducing donations to the site.[10] Though the full post, and related forum thread are unarchived, the homefeed summary is still accessible;
Do you wish you had more themes to choose from on this site? Have you always wanted to try making your own? Do you want your own avatar pool so you don't have to share your avatar with other people? Do you wish you had a way to help your favorite Drizzt site?Lavender Eyes is implementing a special donation policy, in which those who donate $15 for the year will be given special privileges including the ability to make their own themes, and the site rank of Harper. To learn more about this, please click here.
If you have any questions about the new policy, please feel free to ask in this forum thread.Donate to the site, and make your own themes!
In June of 2008, the site experienced downtime due to a fire in the center where the servers were hosted.[11] Later, in 2009, the site servers would experience issues related to the image gallery, though no detailed records of the issues survived.[12]
Domain Change
On January 5, 2008, Rivka announced the launch of lavendereyes.net, a new version of the site, hosted at a separate URL.[13] Around March 2010, the original site was no longer accessible, instead redirecting to the new url.[14] A year later, the redirect was broken, displaying a 404 error when attempting to access the original site.[15]
A November 2009 news post spotlighted the site store, which utilized affiliate links on Amazon;
Are you someone who tends to do a lot of their book shopping via Amazon.com? If so, I'd like to direct your attention to a frequently forgotten resource right here on LE: the Store.The LE Store connects right to Amazon.com and contains books, video games and other odds and ends that might interest you, but the real magic is in the url. Go to any book in the store and click on the Amazon link, then look up at the address bar. Do you see that part on the end that says "/councilofelro-20"? Every book, every video game bought from a link containing that bit contributes money to help defray server costs for this site. With server costs running around $300 US a month, every little bit helps!
Using the LE Store to do your Forgotten Realms book shopping enables you to contribute to the upkeep of this site without costing a penny extra. Magical indeed, no?Articles: SpotLight On: The Lavender Eyes Store[16]
Admin Change
On November 19, 2009, Rivka handed over administration of the site to user grumpie1[17], who brainstormed new ideas for the site in a forum post, which was not archived. Rivka would stay on as a technical advisor for the site.
The last homefeed article was posted on October 20, 2011.[18][note 7] The site was taken offline sometime between May and November of 2017, though the specific date of deletion is unknown.[19]
Site Gallery
The gallery hosted a total of 2,197 images,[20] which were organized into three categories; an submission gallery, a fan art gallery, and book and game gallery. All images would be initially uploaded to the submission gallery, where admins would approve them. Once accepted, they would be sorted into the appropriate gallery or sub-gallery.[21]
Submission GalleryPlease put your submitted art in here. We will create a gallery for you if your work is deemed suitable. PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAME IN THE TITLE OF THE WORK SO THAT WE KNOW WHO THE WORK BELONGS TO. EXAMPLE: Rivka_picture1.jpg . All artwork submitted without a name will be deleted after one week
1) Please do not submit fan art as your own if you did not actually create it.
2) Please only submit .jpg images. If you submit a .gif or a .bmp, they will be deleted.
3) No pictures that contain only original characters, please. This is a Drizzt and friends fan site, and as such, has no place for images or stories about original characters/Mary Sues.Submissions Gallery Guidelines circa 2017
Once sorted into a gallery, images were organized into sub-galleries,[22] and if necessary, into specific sub-albums.
Fan Art Sub-Galleries and Sub-Albums (circa 2008)[23]
- Lavender Eyes Theme Contest; no sub-albums, 11 images
- Guest Art; 56 sub-albums (organized by artist), 238 images
- Lavender Eyes Coloring Book; no sub-albums, 26 images
- Member Art; 101 sub-albums (organized by year/artist), 1591 images
- Lavender Eyes T-shirt Designs; no sub-albums, 7 images
Book and Game Sub-Galleries (circa 2017)[24]
- Artwork from the Devils Due Publishing adaptation of The Legend of Drizzt; 2 sub-albums, 94 images
- Wallpapers; no sub-albums, 21 images
- Screencaps; no sub-albums, 34 images
- Maps; no sub-albums, 3 images
- Todd Lockwood; no sub-albums, 40 images
- Book Art; 13 sub-albums, 100 images
- Forgotten Realms Game Covers; 1 sub-album, 7 images
Archive
Fanfiction
The site used Rivka's Fanfiction Module 1.0, an early predecessor to eFiction, as the basis of it's archive. Only site members could submit fics to be hosted onsite, but any user, including guests, could access them. The main page included a basic search/navigation bar, and functioned as a gateway to the archive, which was split into two categories; Drizzt & Co and Adult/Slash. Both categories were separately linked on the main page, functioning as sub-archives.[25]
Archive pages had search and filter bars at the top, where users could filter by MPAA rating, character(s), and genre. Pages listed fanfictions with their title, author, link to reviews, summary and metadata (characters, genre, chapter count, category, date added, and date updated). After clicking on an NC-17 fic, a pop-up would appear;
This story is not suitable for children. If you are under 18, please go read something else.Lavender Eyes Pop-Up Warning
Guidelines
Our submission rules aren't too stringent:1) Please check your stories for grammar and spelling errors. Any stories with multiple errors will not be accepted.
2) Please don't submit Mary Sues. They suck.
3) Please be sure to put any adult or slash fics in the correct category.Submission Guidelines circa 2003[26]
1) Please check your stories for grammar and spelling errors. Any stories with multiple errors will not be validated.2) Please be sure to put any adult or slash fics in the correct category.
4)Your story must contain characters from the Drizzt Do'Urden novels, or characters based on R.A. Salvatore's creations.Submission Guidelines circa 2007[27]
Fan Art
Notes
- ^ the latest web archive of the site is dated May 16, 2017, though it stopped updating before then
- ^ Now defunct, archived at http://web.archive.org/web/20120615052506/http://www.lavendereyes.net/index.php
- ^ The original URL of the site, archived at http://web.archive.org/web/20081221141655/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com/index.php
- ^ See bottom of the website in the earliest web archive
- ^ username: Rivka AKA Rebecca Smallwood
- ^ username: smith
- ^ The archive of homefeed posts can be found at http://web.archive.org/web/20170517082430/http://www.lavendereyes.net/index.php?module=News&func=archives
References
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20020728234800/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com:80/
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20021004073849/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com:80/
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20170205095442/http://lavendereyes.net/index.php?module=Profile&func=viewmembers
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20170205135229/http://lavendereyes.net/index.php?module=FAQ&func=display&faqid=22
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20021006062541/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com:80/modules.php?op=modload&name=NS-Polls&file=index
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20030919091436/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=36&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20040901044105/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com:80/index.php see second post from the bottom
- ^ http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com/index.php?name=News&startnum=11
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20070702062345/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com/index.php?name=News&startnum=91
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20070702061717/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com/index.php
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20081029233041/http://www.lavendereyes.net/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=352
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20090331205716/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com/
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20080509131718/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com/index.php
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20100322221552/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com:80/
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20111022122024/http://www.lavendereyes.net/index.php?module=News&func=display&sid=390
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20170205142142/http://lavendereyes.net/index.php?module=News&page=3
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20170205142142/http://lavendereyes.net/index.php?module=News&page=3 see sixth post from the top
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20170516194550/http://www.lavendereyes.net/index.php?module=News&func=display&sid=395
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20171127051625/http://lavendereyes.net/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20170515183622/http://www.lavendereyes.net/index.php?module=mGallery2
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20170205080550/http://lavendereyes.net/index.php?module=mGallery2&g2_itemId=19
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20170205070813/http://lavendereyes.net/index.php?module=mGallery2&g2_itemId=66
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20080405162713/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com/index.php?set_albumName=album01&name=gallery&include=view_album.php
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20170205142311/http://lavendereyes.net/index.php?module=mGallery2&g2_itemId=244836
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20160201120929/http://lavendereyes.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Fanfiction&file=index
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20030906122908/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Fanfiction&file=index&options=ViewRules
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20070722141441/http://lavendereyes.rivkashome.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Fanfiction&file=index&options=ViewRules