Archiving

[dani_the_girl]

I remember way back when I was young and green in the ways of web design, I wanted to re-do my website and learn from it at the same time, I started looking at web design blogs and they were all talking about the importance of creating table free designs. I had come in half way through and missed out on the establishing discussion so I was somewhat mystified and I ended up posting to my LJ saying "What is it about table-free design? Why is it good?" People linked me to a couple of posts and I got started from there and was converted pretty quickly.

I feel like I'm in a similar place when I ask the question "What is the point of fanfic archives?" If I've got a DW account with all my fic on it tagged under fic, do I need an AO3 account? What's the motivation behind building AO3. I feel like there are historical reasons for this stuff that I, so far, don't get. Anyone suggest where I can get started finding out? I am asking from a genuine desire to learn - I like the design and I've uploaded a couple of stories, but I'm not sure I have figured out the reasoning behind it yet.

Comments

[pensnest]

Here via Metafandom, too.

I think the best thing about an archive like AO3 is that it enables readers to find fic even though they don't know the authors exist. I mean, most of my own stories were posted either in my LJ or in a suitable community. I have them effectively archived as a collection on my own website. From a starting point of Me, my stories are easy to find.

But what about the reader who's just stumbled into my fandom and doesn't know I exist, or that I've written stories? Once you've got an idea where to look, you can follow links and comms and so forth, but when you're starting out in a fandom, it can take a while to get going. Or, if the fandom's old, there may not be much in the way of active community. AO3 is easy to explore.

[glasshouseslive.livejournal.com]

But what about the reader who's just stumbled into my fandom and doesn't know I exist, or that I've written stories

Amen to this. I agree with all of the other remarks in the thread, and must say I was spoiled by masterapprentice.org.

So when I came into SPN fandom - 4 years late - I had no idea where to find anything. It is a terribly decentralized fandom.

While not everyone is going to go jump to centrally archive their fic, I'm hoping enough people do so to allow newbies a good entry into multiple fandoms.

[dani_the_girl]

That's true. I've tended to use delicious for that myself in the past, but no-one could accuse that of being easy to search :)

Because I started writing after tagging came in, I've been able to easily maintain a collection of my stuff here, but that doesn't necessarily make it easy for other people to find them.