Me and archives.
Errr, me on the feedback meme.
Speaking of fanfiction, I'm awfully tempted to delete trans_literate. I know that would be a bit evil of me. (I have the same temptation with trans_graphical, but I've linked that far, far fewer places and would feel less guilty. Also, tinheart's icons!) I'm generally sad when I come across broken fic links, especially in my own bookmarks and such, so I know inflicting that on anyone else wouldn't be nice. But I'm so very tempted.
I keep having all these thoughts about tagging in regards to:
- Stat-tracking: Tagging for pairings, wordcount, etc. and tracking which tags get used most often. Like, sometimes I go look at my Heroes tags and giggle about how Mohinder is the most often used character. I have abused this feature quite often in the past. It's a tendency I'm trying to curb because I don't think tagging *should* be used as a way of stat-tracking, but it's so often my first impulse.
- One-click accessibility: When does a taglist becomes so long that the one-click accessibility convenience is outweighed by the enormous length of the tags? (Mainly on LJ where collapsing bundles/sub-categories is impossible.)
- Content indicators: Specifically about how much or how little content there needs to be to merit a certain tag. Like, does one sentence of content about a Star Trek episode warrant a "star trek" tag? I wonder about these things a lot.
- Hierarchical structures: I constantly find myself trying to impose hierarchy into my tags because I'm a categoric thinker. For instance, because I *like* to use tags as stat trackers, I like have one singular tag on LJ that will pull up *all* my writing. But as to the overall functionality of this tag? Not too high, I don't think, if I also break it down further into fanfiction/original/etc. At a place like del.icio.us that kind of hierarchy actually makes a lot more sense to me, because then I can combine a "writing" tag with things like location/date/pairing/whatever.
I'm not really sure why I typed that out. Sometimes I just type because I like to see myself think! I guess I'm just having thoughts about, how, for the most part, the majority of my tags don't need the levels of specialization that I've used at trans_literate. I was setting it up like an archive, really, an archive that had a built-in highly controlled vocabulary that made it great for seeing how many different fandoms/characters/pairings/'fests/etc. I've written, and also had great one-click accessibility. But for the majority of fandoms I've written/discuss in this LJ/create graphics for, I could tag "fandom, fanwork type, fanwork type: subset" and that would be more than sufficient, because most of them have 10 posts or under. Hmmm. I think I'm deciding that only upwards of 40 posts or so warrants any sort of real specialization. Because at least with del.icio.us, when I over-tag, there *can* be a benefit to it. Someone, somewhere might do a global search on that fandom I only have one bookmark for.
But I'm having a hard time justifying such a high level of organization on LJ. It's not social. It's over-tagging for some stuff that I'm not even sure if I care is accessible, at least at the moment. I guess I'm feeling kind of meh about people reading my fiction right now. If someone wants to read, in all likelihood, they'll figure out how to read. I don't know. I want posting fiction to be fun again. I want to be able to backdate my fic posts whenever I feel like it, which lately has been pretty frequently. I'm not even sure what I'm whining about right now. I've been reading meta about content control, about how LiveJournal is frustrating in that it encourages the mixing and blurring of content and it has me thinking about these issues, particularly in regards to how LiveJournal has eroded at centralization and accessibility of fannish content/discussion.
Like, at first, I was all about "omg, community! must make my content accessible to the community and be a part of archiving the experience of fandom" etc. But I think there's a reason that the most successful archives I've come across are a) archives that *also* serve as communities/community bases (generally that have associated forums, or some such), or b) are run by an archivist/a team of archivists. There has to be some kind of drive behind archiving, I think, some sort of *payoff* to archiving stuff.
For instance, I would happily offer up my fiction to be archived all sorts of different places, but only *if an archivist did it for me*. (Especially if this archivist did proofreading, ahahaha. God, I suck so hard at proofing.) Like, I remember a post going by on my flist where someone was talking about starting up a Heroes archive. And I'd have no issues with my stuff going in a Heroes archive. But that's just another place for me to go and learn the rules and figure out the quirks of uploading and formatting and I think I'm pretty much overloaded with all the different systems out there, between LJ and del.icio.us and trying to learn Flickr and blah blah blah.
I stopped posting at FF.net because the payoff (one index page for my fic, hitcounts/reviews, etc.) were not comparing to the level of effort it took to go to the site and upload stuff, as my motivation to do so waned. I still get reviews from FF.net, occasionally, even though I'm pretty sure I haven't posted anything new there in over a year. So if feedback were what I needed as payoff, well, I'd have it. Seems like that isn't the issue. I'm generally attached to feedback for the first day after I post something, but not long after. I mean, it's lovely to receive at *any* time, and I always smile when I get reviews on older stuff, but it's not the same level of immediacy, I suppose. At least not in the sense that it would motivate me to post to as many archives as possible.
But I do have the same issue with *all archives* and my motivation waning to keep up with them. I tried posting my Brokeback and Superman stuff a few places but it wasn't long before I just forgot about them completely.
As a completist, as an organizer, I appreciate the aesthetic of archives. I appreciate their function, I love browsing them when they have nicely searchable interfaces, and I'm very grateful to people who keep them up. I mean, I LOVE CENTRALIZATION. I cannot ever repeat this loudly enough. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I'm very happy when fandoms are well centralized. When I'm in the mood for something, like some really good fic about fandom x, I love being able to go to one place and have lots and lots of stuff to peruse and sate my appetite.
Hmmm. Maybe I'm just realizing that *I* am not an archivist. I love *setting up* archives, but I do not love maintaining them. Once that initial rush of beautifully crafted organization fades, so does my interest. In fact, I can't think of one archive I have ever had the motivation to maintain for more than sixth months or so? Except for keeping a LiveJournal.
Now I am really curious what it is about LiveJournal that has been enough of a motivation to keep returning here. I'm thinking it's the social aspect. I know the social aspect is what kept me at Dave Cullen (Brokeback forum) even awhile after I had lost some interest in the topics being discussed. The same thing with the Blue Tongue Forum I used to go to; what I miss about that forum isn't talking about lizards as much as all the friends I made there. What I think is interesting about both of those forums is that they have a primary topic focus, and once I lost interest in the primary topic focus, I did drift away from them. But with LiveJournal, I always have that social aspect to fall back on. Technically, I'm always able to make a post saying "HIIIII FRIENDS" and I'm not required to offer up anything more than that.
So it would seem that LiveJournal has kept me hooked *because* of its inherent capability for a diversity of content. Iiiinteresting.
Speaking of fanfiction, I'm awfully tempted to delete trans_literate. I know that would be a bit evil of me. (I have the same temptation with trans_graphical, but I've linked that far, far fewer places and would feel less guilty. Also, tinheart's icons!) I'm generally sad when I come across broken fic links, especially in my own bookmarks and such, so I know inflicting that on anyone else wouldn't be nice. But I'm so very tempted.
I keep having all these thoughts about tagging in regards to:
- Stat-tracking: Tagging for pairings, wordcount, etc. and tracking which tags get used most often. Like, sometimes I go look at my Heroes tags and giggle about how Mohinder is the most often used character. I have abused this feature quite often in the past. It's a tendency I'm trying to curb because I don't think tagging *should* be used as a way of stat-tracking, but it's so often my first impulse.
- One-click accessibility: When does a taglist becomes so long that the one-click accessibility convenience is outweighed by the enormous length of the tags? (Mainly on LJ where collapsing bundles/sub-categories is impossible.)
- Content indicators: Specifically about how much or how little content there needs to be to merit a certain tag. Like, does one sentence of content about a Star Trek episode warrant a "star trek" tag? I wonder about these things a lot.
- Hierarchical structures: I constantly find myself trying to impose hierarchy into my tags because I'm a categoric thinker. For instance, because I *like* to use tags as stat trackers, I like have one singular tag on LJ that will pull up *all* my writing. But as to the overall functionality of this tag? Not too high, I don't think, if I also break it down further into fanfiction/original/etc. At a place like del.icio.us that kind of hierarchy actually makes a lot more sense to me, because then I can combine a "writing" tag with things like location/date/pairing/whatever.
I'm not really sure why I typed that out. Sometimes I just type because I like to see myself think! I guess I'm just having thoughts about, how, for the most part, the majority of my tags don't need the levels of specialization that I've used at trans_literate. I was setting it up like an archive, really, an archive that had a built-in highly controlled vocabulary that made it great for seeing how many different fandoms/characters/pairings/'fests/etc. I've written, and also had great one-click accessibility. But for the majority of fandoms I've written/discuss in this LJ/create graphics for, I could tag "fandom, fanwork type, fanwork type: subset" and that would be more than sufficient, because most of them have 10 posts or under. Hmmm. I think I'm deciding that only upwards of 40 posts or so warrants any sort of real specialization. Because at least with del.icio.us, when I over-tag, there *can* be a benefit to it. Someone, somewhere might do a global search on that fandom I only have one bookmark for.
But I'm having a hard time justifying such a high level of organization on LJ. It's not social. It's over-tagging for some stuff that I'm not even sure if I care is accessible, at least at the moment. I guess I'm feeling kind of meh about people reading my fiction right now. If someone wants to read, in all likelihood, they'll figure out how to read. I don't know. I want posting fiction to be fun again. I want to be able to backdate my fic posts whenever I feel like it, which lately has been pretty frequently. I'm not even sure what I'm whining about right now. I've been reading meta about content control, about how LiveJournal is frustrating in that it encourages the mixing and blurring of content and it has me thinking about these issues, particularly in regards to how LiveJournal has eroded at centralization and accessibility of fannish content/discussion.
Like, at first, I was all about "omg, community! must make my content accessible to the community and be a part of archiving the experience of fandom" etc. But I think there's a reason that the most successful archives I've come across are a) archives that *also* serve as communities/community bases (generally that have associated forums, or some such), or b) are run by an archivist/a team of archivists. There has to be some kind of drive behind archiving, I think, some sort of *payoff* to archiving stuff.
For instance, I would happily offer up my fiction to be archived all sorts of different places, but only *if an archivist did it for me*. (Especially if this archivist did proofreading, ahahaha. God, I suck so hard at proofing.) Like, I remember a post going by on my flist where someone was talking about starting up a Heroes archive. And I'd have no issues with my stuff going in a Heroes archive. But that's just another place for me to go and learn the rules and figure out the quirks of uploading and formatting and I think I'm pretty much overloaded with all the different systems out there, between LJ and del.icio.us and trying to learn Flickr and blah blah blah.
I stopped posting at FF.net because the payoff (one index page for my fic, hitcounts/reviews, etc.) were not comparing to the level of effort it took to go to the site and upload stuff, as my motivation to do so waned. I still get reviews from FF.net, occasionally, even though I'm pretty sure I haven't posted anything new there in over a year. So if feedback were what I needed as payoff, well, I'd have it. Seems like that isn't the issue. I'm generally attached to feedback for the first day after I post something, but not long after. I mean, it's lovely to receive at *any* time, and I always smile when I get reviews on older stuff, but it's not the same level of immediacy, I suppose. At least not in the sense that it would motivate me to post to as many archives as possible.
But I do have the same issue with *all archives* and my motivation waning to keep up with them. I tried posting my Brokeback and Superman stuff a few places but it wasn't long before I just forgot about them completely.
As a completist, as an organizer, I appreciate the aesthetic of archives. I appreciate their function, I love browsing them when they have nicely searchable interfaces, and I'm very grateful to people who keep them up. I mean, I LOVE CENTRALIZATION. I cannot ever repeat this loudly enough. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I'm very happy when fandoms are well centralized. When I'm in the mood for something, like some really good fic about fandom x, I love being able to go to one place and have lots and lots of stuff to peruse and sate my appetite.
Hmmm. Maybe I'm just realizing that *I* am not an archivist. I love *setting up* archives, but I do not love maintaining them. Once that initial rush of beautifully crafted organization fades, so does my interest. In fact, I can't think of one archive I have ever had the motivation to maintain for more than sixth months or so? Except for keeping a LiveJournal.
Now I am really curious what it is about LiveJournal that has been enough of a motivation to keep returning here. I'm thinking it's the social aspect. I know the social aspect is what kept me at Dave Cullen (Brokeback forum) even awhile after I had lost some interest in the topics being discussed. The same thing with the Blue Tongue Forum I used to go to; what I miss about that forum isn't talking about lizards as much as all the friends I made there. What I think is interesting about both of those forums is that they have a primary topic focus, and once I lost interest in the primary topic focus, I did drift away from them. But with LiveJournal, I always have that social aspect to fall back on. Technically, I'm always able to make a post saying "HIIIII FRIENDS" and I'm not required to offer up anything more than that.
So it would seem that LiveJournal has kept me hooked *because* of its inherent capability for a diversity of content. Iiiinteresting.