This is a complete back-up of the community crack_van, which ran on LiveJournal from September 2003 to January 2014. You can find more about our decision to close the community here.

Fandom Overviews can still best be browsed on LJ, where the Memories function allows them to be sorted alphabetically; you will find links in the sidebar. Alternatively, you can use the DW tags.

We hope this fandom resource provides enjoyment for many years to come. ♥

After 10 years and nearly 25,000 recs, it is with mixed feelings that I announce crack_van's permanent closure in January 2014.

I know that this community has different meaning and purpose for many of our members, but I have always tried to stay true to its original purpose, of providing an easy introduction to new fandoms. This has become increasingly challenging with the migration of fandom to other platforms: many of the largest and most active new fandoms have limited visibility on LJ, and a good number of even our longest running fandoms have empty or near empty sign up sheets month after month.

This has not been an easy decision; over the past couple of years I've considered revamping the community in various ways, moving to another platform, etc., but ultimately I think any such change would only result in more fragmentation.

I want to thank everyone who has participated in any way over the past decade, especially those who have recced again and again, and pimped this community to others in their fandoms. There are too many of you to try to name individually, but your dedication has not gone unnoticed by anyone who frequents this community.

I would also like to thank my co-mods, past and present, stopawhile and arsenicjade. I could not have asked for better partners and friends.

December is Small Fandom Month on crack_van!

Sign up below if you want to make recs. First priority will go to fandoms that have never been featured here, followed by fandoms that have been featured a few times, followed by fandoms that were previously full-time but are now retired.

Note #1: a fandom doesn't actually have to be small to be recced -- there are still lots of big fandoms that have never been featured on the community!

Note #2: If you are signing up a fandom that has never been recced here, a fandom overview will be required. Overviews should include pics and biographies of main characters, story arcs, and links to fandom archives and communities, at minimum. Permanent picture hosting is available on my webspace - just ask.

Thanks!

Just a heads up for our members that arsenicjade and I will be taking a breather for the month of January. crack_van will resume its regular service in February 2011!

Please enjoy the remainder of December Small Fandom Month and Happy Holidays!

December is Small Fandom Month on crack_van!

Sign up below if you want to make recs. First priority will go to fandoms that have never been featured here, followed by fandoms that have been featured a few times, followed by fandoms that were previously full-time but are now retired.

Note #1: a fandom doesn't actually have to be small to be recced -- there are still lots of big fandoms that have never been featured on the community!

Note #2: If you are signing up a fandom that has never been recced here, a fandom overview will be required. Overviews should include pics and biographies of main characters, story arcs, and links to fandom archives and communities, at minimum. Picture hosting is available on my webspace.

Thanks!

As you may already be aware, LJ has been failing to deliver comment notifications to lots of users over the past month or two; I personally haven't received any notifications in weeks.

Be aware that June reccers have been tapped. If you've signed up to rec somewhere and want to make sure you don't miss your turn, you might want to double check the sign-up sheets. And if you can't play this month or have any other questions/requests, shoot me an email or a PM instead of replying to my comment. Arsenic is traveling over the next couple weeks so feel free to email me for her fandoms, too. My contact info is in my profile.

Interrupting your regularly scheduled Small Fandom Month to let you all know that effective January 1st, the lovely arsenicjade will be joining the crack_van mod team. Please welcome her!

Happy holidays!

December is Small Fandom Month on crack_van!

Sign up below if you want to make recs. First priority goes to fandoms that have never been featured here, followed by fandoms that have been featured a few times, followed by fandoms that were previously full-time but are now retired.

Note #1: a fandom doesn't actually have to be small to be recced -- there are still lots of big fandoms that have never been featured on the community!

Note #2: If you are signing up a fandom that has never been recced here, a fandom overview will be required. Overviews should include pics and biographies of main characters, story arcs, and links to fandom archives and communities, at minimum. Picture hosting is available on my webspace.

Thanks!

It's with much sadness that I announce the departure of stopawhile as my co-mod. Phil helped shape this community from my first brainstorming post back in 2003, and she hasn't missed a day of work since, even after leaving LJ fandom for all intents and purposes back in 2006. She stuck around a lot longer than could have been reasonably expected of her, was always enthusiastic about being part of crack_van, and I feel really fortunate to have had her partnering with me for so long. Please join me in wishing Phil all the best in her real life endeavors! ♥


I've cleaned out old comment threads from the sign-up sheets so it's easier to tell at a glance how many future reccers are signed up. Instead of seeing 3-4 pages of comments on an old full-time fandom, you may only see half a dozen or fewer comments now. Hopefully this will encourage more new sign-ups, since many of our full-time fandoms have been running low.


My post last month failed to generate enough interest in any of the named fandoms to add them on a full-time basis. We'll try again after the first of the year!


Just a reminder that we do not warn before retiring fandoms from full-time rotation. If you want to see your fandom rec'd here on an ongoing basis, then don't just sign up yourself -- pimp to your fandom's general info communities and newsletters, and to your friendslist. The fandoms with the most longevity have been those with one or two people making sure we have a steady stream of reccers. Apply this same advice when trying to add a new fandom to full-time rotation!


December will once again be Small Fandom Month on crack_van. A sign-up post will go up in a couple of weeks!

Thank you for signing up to play in crack_van! You'll be granted posting access to the community on the 1st of the month after being notified your turn behind the wheel has arrived, and you can start making recs then. PLEASE NOTE: If you have not joined the community as a member, you must do so before we can give you posting access. If you find you don't have access on the 1st because you didn't join the comm, check your Manage Invites page, and you'll be all set.

Getting started…

Check out what's already been recced in your fandom to avoid duplicating recs if possible.

If you are reccing a Monthly Featured Fandom, does your fandom already have a fandom overview completed? If not, you are encouraged but not required to provide one. Your overview should include, at minimum:

Pics & Bios - thumbnails and a brief introduction to the main characters
Overview - including major plot points/story arcs
Fandom Resources - major archives, recs lists, live journal communities, etc. People are always welcome to leave links for additional archives or personal recs pages in the comments of your overview.

Picture hosting is available through the comm's moderators, and is preferred if you cannot provide permanent hosting of your overview pics.

Posting to the community…

Post a minimum of 1 rec per week, and no more than 12 recs during the month. 2-3 recs per week is ideal. Note that the 12 rec limit applies only to our full-time fandoms; it does not apply to Monthly Featured Fandoms, or to December's Small Fandom Month.

Recs should be posted in the following format (in HTML for your cut-and-paste convenience!):

Title by Author (Rating) <-- This goes in the subject line, and there is no need to include the same info in the body of the post.

<b>Fandom:</b> YOUR FANDOM IN ALL CAPS
<b>Pairing:</b> (no abbreviations, please)
<b>Length:</b> (10k, 20k, drabble, one-shot, novel-length; any indication of approximate length is great)
<b>Author on LJ:</b>
<b>Author Website:</b> (or a link to where more of their fic is archived)
<b>Why this <i>must</i> be read:</b>

If your review is longer than a few paragraphs, or if you're including excerpts from the fic, please consider using cut-tags for the sake of friends-list spammage. Instructions on using cut-tags are found here.

Link the fic at the bottom of your recommendation, outside of any cut-tags:

<a href="http://www.fanfic-url.com">Name of Fic</a>

Emphasis should be on fics that you feel are especially outstanding and accessible examples of your fandom, e.g. it plays on a repeated theme in the show, it's a fandom or a personal favourite, it was a controversial fic, it's good smut. Whatever.

Only one fic rec per post. Exceptions to this rule: fic series, or collections meant to be read together.

WiP's and self-reccing are things not allowed.

Rating info in the subject line is important. If you are unsure of the author's assigned rating, use your best judgement.

Warnings for content are not required beyond what the author has posted on their own stories.

Podfic recs are welcome, but please include a text link along with your podfic link for those who prefer to read.

The 15th of every month is Crack Van Collisions, a.k.a Cross-over day, and the last Friday of every month is Friday Night Drive-In, a.k.a. Fanvid day. These recs do not count towards the 12-rec limit. Watch for mod posts in advance of these days with the required posting formats.

Don't save your final rec to the very last minute or you might find that your posting access has already been blocked. We cannot accommodate every timezone in the world and you will not be allowed back in to post "just one more". We try to switch users at midnight CST, but if it's midnight anywhere in the U.S., it's fair game.

Tagging entries…
Members of the community have tagging privileges; however, only moderators can create new tags or edit mis-tagged entries. All entries should be tagged by category (fanfic, fanvid, crossover, or fandom overview) and fandom(s). If you are reccing in a fandom without an existing tag, a mod will tag your first post for you.


Let us know if you have any questions! Thanks for playing!!