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

[boogieshoes]

yes, and also, i happen to severely dislike LJ/DW/whatever as a reading format for fanfic. it's ok for shorter pieces, but to me, 10k words is 'short' - and at that point, i def. want it on some kind of website/ webpage instead of as an LJ or DW journal entry.

so, to the OP, some of your readers have different style preferences, inherited from being 'round a while, or because of disabilities or bandwidth issues or whatever. it's not that you *shouldn't* use your DW to post your fic, just be aware that some of your potential audience won't actually read it there... hence, posting on an archive could - and probably will - reach more people. AO3 has the advantages listed in one of the comments below, although it's obviously not the only choice or style out there.

coming at it as an author, i really dislike LJ being the final format for my stories. it's always struck me that the best use for LJ/DW are for comments on draft pieces, especially if you don't have a, uh, full-time beta volunteer for your stuff. this has been a quite successfull usage for me. but i prefer to see the final piece on an archive. or several.

-bs