Mod-ly Announcement: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, hpthemes!

[hpthemes_mods]

Hello, all you fine reccers!

We've had some staffing changes here at hpthemes, and want to let you know about them.

Sadly, purpledodah and werewolfsfan are no longer able to serve as Moderators for this community. We thank them mightily for their work to keep the community up and running in the immediate aftermath of jamie27's "retirement", and wish them much luck and love

Comments

[hogwartshussy]

I'd really like to see major holidays as themes. Like New Year's, Valentine's Day, and Christmas.

But one thing stands out for me MUCH more than new themes. I'd really, really like to see "new" pairings. Your recs are very overwhelmingly Harry/Draco, Harry/Severus. Besides that, much more than half m/m. Where are the het pairs? And canon pairs in general?

The lists just don't feel encompassing to me because of the lack of variety in the pairings. When I look at a community like crack_broom, the majority of pairings are het but there is a wide variety of pairings/characters every month. The idea of this community is great. But the lists don't feel encompassing to me because every time I click a new theme, I see the same pairings, over and over.

[lost_stray_cat]

This is great feedback! I was actually thinking about promoting the community and was just beginning to wonder about *where* to advertise it. Then comes in your comment, and I suddenly realize the enormity of the HP fandom...

As you say, if we mean to include *everything* (het, slash, femslash, and gen) then we really should make an effort to have wider range of pairings (and gen).

And I am now just beginning to appreciate what a huge task it will be to figure out where are the best places to promote the community. I think I'll start making a list of characters and pairings and...try to find out what are the most active communities to post in... Do you have any suggestions??

I will appreciate any help in this direction! (Given that normally I move only in Harry/Snape parts of the world...and an occasional Albus Severus/Scorpius fic...)

[hogwartshussy]

First, ask the newsletters to cover your theme. The biggest of course is the daily_snitch but there is the quibbler_report for gen and rare pairings. There is a Snape centric news and many pairings have newsletters.
There is one, obhwf_weekly that hits the majority of major canon pairings but because they publish on the weekend usually, they probably wouldn't be of much help with weekly themes. You could how ever, ask about affiliating with them and see if they will mention the comm once a month or so.

I would either post each week asking for recs for your theme in the search communities and/or affiliate.
hpgenreficfind, recmehp, hp_ficsearch and accio_marauders. Plus there are pairing specific fic search communities. I've used the very active accio_rs_fics with success.

To invite recs from more fans, you should probably affiliate or post banners/requests from time to time in communities. For figuring out which, your resource is hp_directory. Every profile page has a date at the top as to the last time there was a post which should tell you how active the community is at a glance.

[lost_stray_cat]

Thanks for that, I appreciate it. And thanks for the explanation about the availability of various types of holiday-fics. :-)

[lost_stray_cat]

Oh, and a question for you: Are there many New Year's fics? And Valentine's Day fics? Are they better being themes on their own, or subthemes of holiday!fic theme in general? 'Cause I only read a few Valentine's Day fics and no New Year's ones at all.

[hogwartshussy]

I'd say there is a HUGE number of Christmas fics. New Year's Eve rarer but exists. It's harder still but there are some fics about Jewish holidays and solstice, ect.
Valentine's fics exist for sure.
And there is a good number of Halloween (my favorite holiday) fanworks! I personally know of art and a great vid as well as stories.

[songquake]

Hi, hogwartshoneyThanks so much for raising this issue. You're right; the pairings are overwhelmingly slashtastic. That's most probably because the social circles most of the mods move in are slashy - if I post something in my personal LJ about my work here, it's likely that other slashers, but not het-shippers, will read and go off to look at the community. I know that when Jaime set up the comm, she really did make an effort to spread the word, but since then... Well, I know that I haven't done much to promote the community since I started modding in May