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

[missdeanna]

Here via metafandom.

A lot of people have brought up things that I can relate to. But specifically:

As a reader:

AO3 is pretty easy to navigate. With fic comms on sites like LJ and DW, not everyone posts to the same comms so you sometimes have to follow several to find new fic. And sometimes it can be hard to spot fic in busy comms. And unlike fanfiction.net, AO3 provides a lot more criteria to find stuff you're interesting.

As others have pointed out, other sites don't always hold up to the test of time. Some older personal or fandom-specific archives have disappeared because, for example, they were hosted on something like Geocities. And having recently gotten into an older fandom, I've been frustrated with how many LJ fic posts have been deleted or changed to friends only. AO3 is still pretty new, so there's no way of knowing what will happen to it five years from now, but it seems like the maintainers are keeping this stuff in mind.

As a writer:

I find it really easy to upload to AO3 for the most part, which I love.

It's also nice to have places that I can just post my fic. My LJ used to be entirely for fic, but over time I've gotten to know people somewhat and I've used it for more personal things, as well.

But mainly, anything that puts my fic out there for people to see is a good thing, I think. I want my fic to get read, and AO3 provides more opportunities for that. I still post my stuff on my journals and use comms, but AO3 is a nice addition.

[dani_the_girl]

Yeah, I take your point. I used to have an obsession with only having feedback in one place but now that I'm cross posting to LJ anyway, I've got over that, so I might as well reach more people.

[missdeanna]

To be honest, I kind of like keeping feedback in one place, too. Though, I've participated in fic challenges that require you to post in the comm, so I've gotten over it a lot. Also, I figure I've probably gotten more feedback that way, so I can't complain.

But I haven't gotten any comments over on AO3 yet. Maybe I will eventually? *shrugs* I'm not too worried about it.