AO3 Update

[lolmac]

I have been living up to my pledge and getting more stuff up on my AO3 page.  Aren't you proud of me?

I am not, however, simply importing everything.  You see, the 'definitive' version of any of my longer works isn't usually what's posted on ff.net, or anywhere else.  The ff.net's shite interface guarantees that.  In most cases, I've caught typos,

Comments

[campylobacter]

I, too, have been frustrated at (and a little confounded by) FFN's text filters. Had certain formatting markup tags been abused by wankers to the point FFN admins sacrificed stories in which they were used properly? So weird. Plus, looking for older stories to re-read/rec on FFN is nearly impossible to search for because of the lack of tags and advanced sortation.

So stoked you're availing yourself of AO3's power & flexibility! It makes crossovers, pairings, themes, kinks, graphics, and ratings effortless for the author/artist, and searchable for readers/viewers. I can't wait to see how The Cat Came Back Again looks like on AO3, because specifying MULTIPLE authors is extremely easy there.

PS: By not using the "Angus MacGyver" tag, will your stories get overlooked by readers who are looking for the character?

[lolmac]

Re the tag: not when the fandom is also 'MacGyver'. If you can envision a scenario in which someone looking for a MacGyver story would look for a character tag only and not look for the fandom at all -- ? It makes the character tag essentially redundant; but it would be a little silly not to include the character tag at all.

I'm toying with the notion of using 'macgyverisms' as an additional tag as well. There's a regrettable stratum of Macfic that doesn't have any. (They're hard to write, apparently.)

As for ff.net: I have yet to see any signs that the site owners give a rat's ass about wankers or abuse, or ever have, so I can't see that as a motivation. "Easier/cheaper for us to maintain" and "Easier to sell ads" are, as to my mind, the only likely reasons for pretty much anything. (Cynical? Moi?)

And the multiple authorship is a big reason why I want to get TCCBA up ASAP, PDQ! There's also a Man from Uncle story that Lothi and I co-wrote.

[campylobacter]

I can envision looking for Stargate or Sanctuary fic where "Angus MacGyver" is a crossover character, because I've come across a couple smutbiscuits stories like that.

If you can get a few other AO3 authors to use "macgyverisms" as a tag, then it becomes officially clickable. :D

FFN Truth! Although I don't know why filtering "--------" as a section separator would be profitable (or cheaper in maintenance), it makes more sense than assuming FFN gives a fark about improving the "user experience".

[lolmac]

I basically assumed it was a side-effect of some other change that they made for their own convenience. It sure as hell had nothing to do with 'user experience'.

[thothmes]

I just always assumed that with a site that massive, that finding ways to eliminate section separators would save server space, slow the need to buy new space, and thus save $$$, especially since over time I keep hearing people say "I spent hours putting back section breaks in a form it would allow, and now they're gone again!"

Edited. "Breaks." "Breaks." Not "brakes". *sigh*

if it ain't brakeded, don't fix it

[lolmac]

Well, they are an attempt to briefly pause the reading, so I guess they're brakes as well.

[justice_turtle]

'By not using the "Angus MacGyver" tag, will your stories get overlooked by readers who are looking for the character?'

No. AO3 has a fantastic feature behind-the-scenes called "tag bundling", done by real live human beings; I don't understand all the specifics (I'm not actually a computer geek, I just pretend to be one in my spare time :lol:), but the result is this:

Author: tags fic "Mac" in the Characters field
Bundler: works behind-the-scenes magic
Reader: clicks "Angus MacGyver" tag
Screen: shows all stories tagged with "MacGyver (character)", "Angus MacGyver", "Mac", etc.

It's not foolproof, because there are people who have to decide what the writers were aiming for, but it's pretty darn spiffy as a concept. :-)

(I have spent far too much time reading the AO3 FAQs. *g*)

[campylobacter]

OMG that is freaken GOLD.

[lolmac]

I had noticed that, when the tags present on the right-hand menu, the tags I'm actually using have been joined by additional tags that make obvious sense. Specifically, I saw 'Episode tag' joined by "Episode related', and 'Post-series' joined by 'Post-canon', all of which was very cool. I hadn't known it was the result of hands-on volunteer activity, but I'm not surprised (given that it's AO3).

ETA: time spent reading FAQs is rarely wasted.