That's kind of sucky that AO3 doesn't make it easier to reveal one story at a time. It was confusing at first when a story header showed up on LJ but the link hadn't been released on AO3 yet. But once I was aware of the reason for it, it was okay. I just came back and checked a few hours later. :) Maybe one way to avoid that -- assuming that AO3 isn't going to change their system -- is not to queue the posts on LJ, but to put them up manually. I realize that would mean a little more work for the mods, but on the other hand you can still prepare all of the posts ahead of time, just save them in a file and copy-paste when you are ready to go. I mean, you have to get online anyway to reveal the AO3 post.
I like having the stories archived on AO3 from the start and much prefer it over having the mods post the stories on LJ. It's neater and easier to manage as an author.
We'd gotten so spoiled in the queuing on LJ. Man. We'd have the entirety of Holmestice up and ready to go like 2 days into post and then we'd sit back and just relax! The ability to queue arrived sometime within the last few years because it wasn't there at first. Our original posting format of a couple of times a day came out of necessity to work with the mod's schedules.
We'll probably go to posting just once per day on LJ if we stick with AO3. That way we can reveal all stories for the day just once sometime before the post goes up on LJ. If someone gets to them early on AO3, more power to them. Or, we might put a call out for help with posting. A lots changed in the years we've been running this including my own availability to handle things as they come up.
System can adapt though, and that's what will happen.
I liked using the AO3 format, but when I do the next round I'll post my story first on my AO3 page sometime before a deadline. Then post it to Holmestice. This way I know I have the story where I know it should be.
That would break the anonymity of Holmestice and not be allowed per our rules. Holmestice is an anonymous gift exchange. Everyone gets gift and then the gift creators are all revealed at once after posting is over on our reveal date.
If you'd prefer to use AO3, why not post it to the Holmestice collection on AO3 in the first place? As long as you're logged in there, you can still view and edit it, but it's hidden from readers until the mods reveal it.
I wasn't a huge fan overall - it's obviously more convenient in many ways, but I felt the community element was a bit quieter as a result. I've no stats to back this up of course, and it could be a mistaken impression but I felt like there were less comments, and also having to click on to go to AO3 mean you could see at a glance where conversations were happening/where fics were being a bit neglected. I enjoyed being able to easily keep an eye on what was happening last time round and this was a lot more laborious for me.
I did appreciate the various ways in which AO3 makes life easier for writers but for me the community element is more important! However, I understand many others will feel differently.
I think a lot of that comes down to AO3. I couldn't force AO3 to display the most currently revealed stories first, which meant that if you were browsing, you saw what AO3 wanted you to see, not what we necessarily did. I think that's because AO3's coding is set up for exchanges like Yuletide, one big reveal, one big de-anon.
But yes, the community aspect is certainly something that seems to be affected. And that was a bit disappointing this round. I'd check the numbers of the hits, kudos, and comments and be a little frustrated at times. I, quite frankly, expected more with the move to AO3 and anecdotally it appeared to be less. But I'm not sure how to address that. LJ and AO3 are two different platforms designed to do two different things. We're gonna lose things either way - but as you pointed out, is it worth it?
I had a fic that was posted primarily on LJ with a more major BBC pairing and a fic that was posted on AO3 with a minor BBC pairing. The fic here on LJ got one comment, and so did the fanmix that went with it. I'm used to the Sherlock/Molly fics I write getting more comments during a round (last round I wrote a nine part fic and it got seven comments in all). I have no clue how many people read the stories or downloaded the fanmix, and it really sucked because I felt it was being ignored. The story on AO3, though, even though it didn't get a lot of reads, I could see exactly how many people read it. Four people liked it enough to give it kudos. I got comments. And that made me feel really happy
( ... )
I saw that and I wondered if the silence on LJ contributed to the lack of feedback on the fic hosted here. All the fics posted to LJ got very few comments. At least compared to previous rounds.
But I do understand, and I'm very sorry because yes, it does suck.
It was my first Holmestice in a while, and I was happily confused by just about everything. I don't know why. I liked the AO3 format (even though I missed send in the header, it was really convenient), but I agree with cherrytide that a bit of the community feel was lost through it. Over all, I prefer the AO3 way, though.
AO3 is obviously very convenient for us writers. However I agree with cherrytide the community feel was lost and also I think we can't expect the mods, who have their own RL's to live as well, to go such a long way just for a few chance comments and kudos on our stories. I'm not such a great fan of the kudo system anyhow. So to add to the community feeling and to relieve the mods I suggest we return to the old system.
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It was confusing at first when a story header showed up on LJ but the link hadn't been released on AO3 yet. But once I was aware of the reason for it, it was okay. I just came back and checked a few hours later. :)
Maybe one way to avoid that -- assuming that AO3 isn't going to change their system -- is not to queue the posts on LJ, but to put them up manually. I realize that would mean a little more work for the mods, but on the other hand you can still prepare all of the posts ahead of time, just save them in a file and copy-paste when you are ready to go. I mean, you have to get online anyway to reveal the AO3 post.
I like having the stories archived on AO3 from the start and much prefer it over having the mods post the stories on LJ. It's neater and easier to manage as an author.
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We'll probably go to posting just once per day on LJ if we stick with AO3. That way we can reveal all stories for the day just once sometime before the post goes up on LJ. If someone gets to them early on AO3, more power to them. Or, we might put a call out for help with posting. A lots changed in the years we've been running this including my own availability to handle things as they come up.
System can adapt though, and that's what will happen.
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I did appreciate the various ways in which AO3 makes life easier for writers but for me the community element is more important! However, I understand many others will feel differently.
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But yes, the community aspect is certainly something that seems to be affected. And that was a bit disappointing this round. I'd check the numbers of the hits, kudos, and comments and be a little frustrated at times. I, quite frankly, expected more with the move to AO3 and anecdotally it appeared to be less. But I'm not sure how to address that. LJ and AO3 are two different platforms designed to do two different things. We're gonna lose things either way - but as you pointed out, is it worth it?
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But I do understand, and I'm very sorry because yes, it does suck.
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