Elfwood

Elfwood is a popular Web site devoted to science fiction and fantasy art. It was started in 1st of May 1996 by a Swede named Thomas Abrahamsson. It is divided into three main parts:
 * SF&F Art (short for Science Fiction and Fantasy Art) is the main section (it was formerly divided in two sections, Lothlorien for Fantasy and Zone 47 for Science Fiction)
 * Wyvern's Library is reserved for the sci-fi and fantasy writing community of the woods
 * Fanquarter is devoted to fan art, specifically based on visual media such as movies, cartoons or tv-shows.

Related sites are :
 * Woodworks, the Elfwood Ezine
 * Elftown, the Elfwood community site - includes Bulletin Boards and wiki.

History
Elfwood is one of the very first art communities to appear on the Internet when graphical browsers began, and thus its progress to the current day is laden with many incidents and controversies. Abrahamsson founded the ERB - Elfwood Review Board - whose task was to ensure that rules were followed and rule-breaking works of art were removed. In June 2001, Elfwood was closed when Abrahamsson received death threats from a disgruntled member who threatened to set several members of the ERB on fire. The move was controversial - many deemed him irresponsible for conducting a drastic act which would affect users (then in the number of thousands), while others believed he was legally allowed to do so as he does own the website.

After the person making the death threats announced that he was not being serious, Elfwood was reopened, with some changes.

The result was the founding of the Moderators group in 2002. There were strict rules on what could fit in the fantasy section, which was reserved for Abrahamsson's personal view on High Fantasy (based on the concept in Lord of the Rings; urban fantasy, steampunk, and horror and anything vaguely modern would go in the Sci-Fi section. Some users were frustrated by the ambiguity of the rules (such as whether fantasy-based characters were allowed to wear platform shoes), and some came to see the Sci-Fi section as a place to dump rejected artwork. Several members began to edge towards other websites like deviantART and Epilogue).

In 2004 that the Fantasy and Sci-Fi sections were merged, reducing such problems.

Sub-communities
The Ezine Woodworks was started in January 2002 by user Georgette Tan, which featured articles, reviews, artwork and tutorials by Elfwood members. The content is considered by many as high quality and some of the best that can be found in Elfwood. It is also miraculously controversy-free. Tan later retired as Editor and Megan Larson took the position, and led the Ezine to its final issue in December 2004. Ironically, a sizable number of the staff on Woodworks left Elfwood, either during or after the conclusion of the Ezine.

Elftown was begun in 2002 by the user Hedda. It served as the "primary community" of Elfwood, featuring message boards, instant-messaging and chatting systems. However, some users were put off by its clunky graphical interface.

In December 2004, a member of Elftown was convicted of luring and raping an underaged member; an Elfwood member immediately began a rumour that Elftown was in fact a paedophile ring on the Internet. The rumour would not have spread as well, if it were not for the fact that Abrahamsson banned her and publicly posted both the member's name and message on the front page of Elfwood.

External link

 * Main Site
 * Woodworks
 * Elftown