A lot depends on what you want to do. Will you be rec'ing in one or two fandoms or in dozens? How much time do you have for the project? (I haven't updated my recs site in about a year because I haven't had time or energy.) Are you rec'ing mostly for people who know you and your tastes or for anyone who happens by? What aspects of stories appeal to you?
Delicious is relatively quick for posting and pretty flexible, and a lot of people use it, both rec'ers and readers. It has downsides, too, however. You can tag links, but you don't have much of a way to comment on them. I only go to Delicious, as a reader, too look at links from people I already know and trust or when I'm utterly desperate. (I'm usually interested in searching for a particular type of fic and not a particular fandom and get hugely frustrated wading through results that are 95% things I won't read.)
LJ has drawbacks and advantages, too. You can use tags for sorting and be as verbose as you want/need. If you're doing a lot of recs, though, things will still get buried. Also, some readers who aren't on LJ (assuming you care about them) may have trouble with navigation. If you do use LJ, I recommend setting up a separate LJ, possibly a community with closed membership. It will help readers if all the content in the LJ is related to recs. Using a community will let you post without logging in and out and will have flexibility later if you want to let someone else post recs, too.
Using an off LJ website (what I do), also has drawbacks and advantages. It's more work because you have to come up with your own format and have to find hosting. The advantage is that the space is completely and thoroughly yours. If you choose to use your own website, I recommend-- strongly-- keeping it simple. Avoid frames as they can mask the urls of the fics you've rec'd. It's frustrating for readers to find stories they like and be unable to bookmark them. If you have time and web composition skills, you can do a lot of neat things with your own site, but even if you don't have amazing web skills, it's still possible to make it work. I use SeaMonkey for web composition because I can keep things simple, just a step up from a word processor.
Whatever way you end up going, if you want readers outside your circle of acquaintances, I strongly suggest notifying recsrainbow when you update. Following links there is also a way to see a lot of different ways that other people have done recs.
If you're rec'ing in a large number of fandoms, the most important sort mechanism will be by fandom. The next most important will be by the date of rec (so that readers can figure out what's new since they last looked). If you have the time and patience for a 'What's New' section that you keep updating as you add new recs,
If you're rec'ing in a small number of fandoms, sorting by things like pairing (if applicable) or gen/het/slash or story type or main character may matter more. That will depend on what you're rec'ing. Tell people up front what you're rec'ing. If you're only rec'ing certain pairings, certain types of fics, etc., you can avoid having to label everything simply by making a blanket statement someplace obvious that all your recs are pairing X/Y or about time travel or that none of them are het (or slash or gen) because you don't read that.
Personally, I like having blurbs and information about what the rec'er liked about the fic. I also appreciate warnings for weak points in stories. That is, if the plot is great but the grammar and spelling aren't or if everything's great except that one or two characters get bashed, I'd like to know.
A lot depends on what you want to do. Will you be rec'ing in one or two fandoms or in dozens? How much time do you have for the project? (I haven't updated my recs site in about a year because I haven't had time or energy.) Are you rec'ing mostly for people who know you and your tastes or for anyone who happens by? What aspects of stories appeal to you?
Delicious is relatively quick for posting and pretty flexible, and a lot of people use it, both rec'ers and readers. It has downsides, too, however. You can tag links, but you don't have much of a way to comment on them. I only go to Delicious, as a reader, too look at links from people I already know and trust or when I'm utterly desperate. (I'm usually interested in searching for a particular type of fic and not a particular fandom and get hugely frustrated wading through results that are 95% things I won't read.)
LJ has drawbacks and advantages, too. You can use tags for sorting and be as verbose as you want/need. If you're doing a lot of recs, though, things will still get buried. Also, some readers who aren't on LJ (assuming you care about them) may have trouble with navigation. If you do use LJ, I recommend setting up a separate LJ, possibly a community with closed membership. It will help readers if all the content in the LJ is related to recs. Using a community will let you post without logging in and out and will have flexibility later if you want to let someone else post recs, too.
Using an off LJ website (what I do), also has drawbacks and advantages. It's more work because you have to come up with your own format and have to find hosting. The advantage is that the space is completely and thoroughly yours. If you choose to use your own website, I recommend-- strongly-- keeping it simple. Avoid frames as they can mask the urls of the fics you've rec'd. It's frustrating for readers to find stories they like and be unable to bookmark them. If you have time and web composition skills, you can do a lot of neat things with your own site, but even if you don't have amazing web skills, it's still possible to make it work. I use SeaMonkey for web composition because I can keep things simple, just a step up from a word processor.
Whatever way you end up going, if you want readers outside your circle of acquaintances, I strongly suggest notifying recsrainbow when you update. Following links there is also a way to see a lot of different ways that other people have done recs.
If you're rec'ing in a large number of fandoms, the most important sort mechanism will be by fandom. The next most important will be by the date of rec (so that readers can figure out what's new since they last looked). If you have the time and patience for a 'What's New' section that you keep updating as you add new recs,
If you're rec'ing in a small number of fandoms, sorting by things like pairing (if applicable) or gen/het/slash or story type or main character may matter more. That will depend on what you're rec'ing. Tell people up front what you're rec'ing. If you're only rec'ing certain pairings, certain types of fics, etc., you can avoid having to label everything simply by making a blanket statement someplace obvious that all your recs are pairing X/Y or about time travel or that none of them are het (or slash or gen) because you don't read that.
Personally, I like having blurbs and information about what the rec'er liked about the fic. I also appreciate warnings for weak points in stories. That is, if the plot is great but the grammar and spelling aren't or if everything's great except that one or two characters get bashed, I'd like to know.
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