Alternative History:Online Alternative History

An online alternate history is typically a series of webpages, or more recently a wiki, or a group project found on the internet. These webpages, wikis and groups either seek to expand one topic in depth or to explore a number of Points-of-Divergence. Some are open to public participation, others, semi-restricted in their membership, and still others holding exclusive creative rein in the hands of one or more author.

Among the more notable projects include Alternate History.com, This Day in Alternate History, Changing The Times, and Ill Bethisad. Those groups that are based on more than one author's work often invoque a peer review process, where comments, questions and critiques are given by other members of the group. A good example of this is the Alternate History Wikia.

Effects of the Internet
Until the Internet age alternate histories were the sole creation of one author without input of other like-minded individuals, unless this was later published. Once the internet became ubiquitous many similarly interested individuals were able to congregate, first in USEnets, later newsgroups and wikis. This has led to an explosion of creative content in the last decade, giving strength to the literary alternative-history market.

In online alternate history, the timeline is usually referred to by the abbreviation ATL (Alternate Time Line), as contrasted with OTL (Our Time Line) which refers to real history. Others develop their own terminology, Ill Bethisad using the terms *here* and *there* to distinguish between our world and the conworld, respectively.