Thoughts and questions about the 852 Prospect move
And I hear you saying, "Mab, why don't you address those to the OTW people?" And I'd agree, and I already have, but these are an entirely different set of thoughts.
Cut for confusion, naked neediness and one or two genuine thoughts and questions on fannish history and protocol. If you don't want to read those things, you know what not to do.
If you import following the instructions from the OTW, you get all the extra layout from 852 Prospect, which looks ugly as sin, but I must admit that I have a sentimental attachment to it. (Also, the work of stripping it in the editing process looks awfully fatiguing from the pov of 9.35 pm of a hot, tiring day.)
This is the point where I'm emotionally acknowledging that 852 as I've known it for more or less ten years is going to change, and while the stories will still be there, the website as I know it won't be, and I'm having a moment here. I am nothing if not good at hanging on to things - if over nine years writing the same characters wasn't a big fat giveaway - and I am incredibly grateful to all the people who are making the transfer possible. But still. Change. I am not necessarily good with it.
So, question. Will leaving the original formatting in my imported stories be a gesture of laziness, or a desire to display the original setting of the stories, for both 'historical' and sentimental reasons? And just how bloody annoying will new readers find it? There's been a notable move towards the importance of presentation in fanfic in the last ten years, as people have grown accustomed to customisable platforms with editing and html capability.
The importing process doesn't backdate, which leads to a question that I have asked the OTW people, namely that when they import does that mean the whole damn archive will show on the TS works page and RSS feeds? I presume they have a plan. But on a more personal note, I have some forty stories that I haven't already posted to AO3, and I'm thinking 'to backdate or not to backdate?' I have to admit, I'm inclined to not backdate, because, yes, dammit, I like seeing the hit counts, and you get more if you don't backdate. Equally, I don't want to smother the TS fandom list with my old fic. Also, if I drip feed I am more likely to get hits. Yeah, I know. Let's just acknowledge that part of my personality and move on along.
So, just how many people have already uploaded their entire TS oeuvre to AO3? I know I left some of my old stuff where it was because it was just that, my old stuff, and then the question of transferring the archive began to be raised, and has of course taken a wee bit of time to come to fruition. Now, if I transfer my old stuff, my understanding is that I won't have to fluff around deleting copies when the full transfer takes place and won't have to worry about any loss of hit counts or kudos as a result. (And that would have course be a terrible thing. See earlier remarks.)
Thoughts of your own, answers, opinions that I'm a bit of a sentimental clot? Have at it.
This entry was originally posted at http://mab-browne.dreamwidth.org/282743.html. Comments are welcome there too. :-)
Cut for confusion, naked neediness and one or two genuine thoughts and questions on fannish history and protocol. If you don't want to read those things, you know what not to do.
If you import following the instructions from the OTW, you get all the extra layout from 852 Prospect, which looks ugly as sin, but I must admit that I have a sentimental attachment to it. (Also, the work of stripping it in the editing process looks awfully fatiguing from the pov of 9.35 pm of a hot, tiring day.)
This is the point where I'm emotionally acknowledging that 852 as I've known it for more or less ten years is going to change, and while the stories will still be there, the website as I know it won't be, and I'm having a moment here. I am nothing if not good at hanging on to things - if over nine years writing the same characters wasn't a big fat giveaway - and I am incredibly grateful to all the people who are making the transfer possible. But still. Change. I am not necessarily good with it.
So, question. Will leaving the original formatting in my imported stories be a gesture of laziness, or a desire to display the original setting of the stories, for both 'historical' and sentimental reasons? And just how bloody annoying will new readers find it? There's been a notable move towards the importance of presentation in fanfic in the last ten years, as people have grown accustomed to customisable platforms with editing and html capability.
The importing process doesn't backdate, which leads to a question that I have asked the OTW people, namely that when they import does that mean the whole damn archive will show on the TS works page and RSS feeds? I presume they have a plan. But on a more personal note, I have some forty stories that I haven't already posted to AO3, and I'm thinking 'to backdate or not to backdate?' I have to admit, I'm inclined to not backdate, because, yes, dammit, I like seeing the hit counts, and you get more if you don't backdate. Equally, I don't want to smother the TS fandom list with my old fic. Also, if I drip feed I am more likely to get hits. Yeah, I know. Let's just acknowledge that part of my personality and move on along.
So, just how many people have already uploaded their entire TS oeuvre to AO3? I know I left some of my old stuff where it was because it was just that, my old stuff, and then the question of transferring the archive began to be raised, and has of course taken a wee bit of time to come to fruition. Now, if I transfer my old stuff, my understanding is that I won't have to fluff around deleting copies when the full transfer takes place and won't have to worry about any loss of hit counts or kudos as a result. (And that would have course be a terrible thing. See earlier remarks.)
Thoughts of your own, answers, opinions that I'm a bit of a sentimental clot? Have at it.
This entry was originally posted at http://mab-browne.dreamwidth.org/282743.html. Comments are welcome there too. :-)