Archives and Awards in Fandom

[ubiquirk]

TPP’s successful move to a zippy new server coupled with SH’s current return to the older site format has made me think about the role of archives and awards in a fandom.

So, yes - I’m discussing Buffy, Firefly, and HP, but this is actually applies to any fandom that has a large fanfic contingent.

Comments

[shiv5468]

I've never thought much of awards... I've won some, come second in some, and seen my stories alongside the most appalling pap imaginable. Usually they come down to who has the biggest flist, and who gets their vote out.

I think personal recs work better. There are people I know and trust, who I'd clicky a link from. And then there's the rest.... Too many people have too divergent tastes from me to trust their links. I'll still go and see, just in case, but after a while you start to notice whether they are 'reliable' indicators of whether you're going to like something.

[ubiquirk]

I'm biased towards awards because they're the only thing that makes it possible to navigate Buffy, which may be even larger than HP. [No matter what - these seem to be the two largest fanficdoms in existence.]

I was a newbie to HP, but not a newbie to fanfic, so the first thing I did was Google "Harry Potter fanfiction awards." Without Multifaceted, I might not have stuck around.

But I can also understand that voting often happens based on friendships intead of strictly quality. I have no answer but to say that it's still better than not having awards.

I didn't know to search for rec sites, but I do now. As for digging for recs - a newbie might be unwilling to do so.

[shiv5468]

The Multifaceted awards were relative newcomers to HP fandom, so the basic bones of that were well established before it came into being. Wiktt, for all its faults, is the backbone of HGSS. That's the way to navigate, and that's where you get the recs, the updates, and all that's cool and groovy in the fandom.

First there was witchfics, and then there was wiktt, and ffnet and affnet and LJ and Whispers Mark I, and lo, there was wank, and the wank was hot....

[ubiquirk]

Thanks for the advice - wiktt for hg/ss. But what about other ships and gen fic? (Your own lovely Lucius, for example.)

ffnet is there for all the fandoms - the Buffy and HP sections are huge - but it's very hard to navagate without help, whether awards or recs.

You have inestimably more knowledge of HPdom. I can only offer a view of how multiple fandoms handle things as well as what a newbie can find upon entering HPdom now.

[scatteredlogic]

Awards do tend to go to who gets the vote out, but you're right, they also serve to help the newbies navigate the daunting waters of a large fandom. I think the most helpful thing is when, after the votes are taken and the awards are announced, the awards site keeps all the nominated stories posted and not just the winners. I believe the Multi-faceted did this, and the X-Files fandom held a couple of different genre or pairing-specific awards annually, but the overall awards site was the Spookys. One of my favorite X-Files stories was nominated, but didn't win. However, without that link, I might not have ever found it.

[ubiquirk]

You're right - I think Multifaceted does keep up lists of nominees (even though I only give the winners link above). Like you, I found some great fics and authors that way.

I think most fandoms use awards as a way to keep track of what's going on - and you're right - they do help newbies quite a bit.

[soul_bound_8686]

That is so true. I was disappointed -- very much so -- that Multifaceted shut down. I got some of the best links there and not just for SS/HG. The fic that drew my into the Snarry world was a wonderful piece called 'Parseltongue-tied,' which I found the link for through Multi.

I agree with you that awards play a huge role in informing people of what's out there, getting people excited. I've actually though about starting a new awards site, but haven't done it for a number of reasons.

Large archives, like you say, are crucial to this fandom. Without them, readers would just float around from site to site, relying on Google search and word of mouth for new recs. With an archive, you have a home, a base, so to speak

[ubiquirk]

It's strange that Buffy is humongous yet doesn't have large archives - that's one thing HP really has going for it (probably because it started a bit later and the internet savvy was in place). And you're right - it's something that keeps this fandom cohesive.

I miss Multifaceted as well - it would be wonderful if someone were to start another such independent award site.

Again, drawing on Buffy, the series ended in 2003 and the fandom keeps going. Writers come in and out, but people still participate - only without archives some stories are lost. For HP, individual writers may leave, but I believe that this fandom is, like Buffy, too strong to fold. Especially with the archives providing centralized spaces for writers and readers, I posit that things will change after Book 7, but continue nonetheless.

[soul_bound_8686]

Hmm, don't know about your reasoning. The X-Files, my very first fandom, has had a huge fanfic archive (Gossamer) for ages (since 1995, I think). That's before Buffy even aired.

Then again, most of the early X-Philes were nerds. *g*

[ubiquirk]

Maybe so - it could have been a lack of geeks in Buffydom, but us swots were Willow lovers way back, so I don't know. I was taking a guess at why Buffy doesn't have archives - I'm not really sure.

[septentrion1970]

I love when you go swotty!

I found out about the existence of fanfiction long before I knew there were awards. I believe moderated archives are a great way to go through a fandom as a beginning (fond memories of hours lost in Ashwinder). At least, that's the way I began reading. The yahoo groups can help too. When people ask for rec', there's always a bunch of people to answer. I've also found some very good fics that way. Awards have never been important to me to find out good fics. But then, I'm only in the HP fandom, and hardly ever read something that's not HGSS.

[ubiquirk]

You're right - the very fact that these are moderated archives helps with quality issues (notice my comment about ff.net above - it's called The Pit of Voles - and I had nothing to do with coining that phrase!).

As I commented to Shiv above, Buffy wouldn't work without awards. But it does seem as if recs are bigger in HP than other fandoms.

How did you find the Yahoo groups as a newbie? I'm curious.

[septentrion1970]

Wiktt was a mystery at first. What were all those people talking about the WIKTT marriage law challenge? I eventually found my way there, but how? My memory is hazy about it, it was probably through a link in a fic or an author profile. I've found WIKTT first, then Potter Place (I'm a fan of Southern) and ladyofthemasque MotITW, just to read her fics before they were archived. Links or advertisements have always led me to fics.

About the fandom after DH, it'll probably be different, especially if Severus dies, but I agree it will go on. Lord of the Rings was published in what? the 60's, and people still write fanfiction about them, no?

[ubiquirk]

I still haven't fully got into the Yahoo groups, but I'm trying. And that's all because of Southern - similar to how it was for you.

I agree - I think HPdom is robust!

[firefly124]

That's one of the reasons I've read so much less Buffy fic - the lack of archives. Even Vorkosific is easier to track down by way of either dendarii.co.uk or bujold_fic. There is some Buffy smut on adultfanfiction.net, but you run into the same problems there as you do on regular fanfiction.net.

Heh, I was about to ask for the award sites, but see you have now added links. Cool, thanks!

[ubiquirk]

I've been reading Buffy for 7 years, so I fully understand the frustration with finding good fic!

And I have to admit that I'm glad I copied some of my favorite stories into Word. Glad you liked the link!

[firefly124]

And I have to admit that I'm glad I copied some of my favorite stories into Word.

That is becoming a habit for me. If I like a story enough I think I'll want to read it again someday, into Word it goes lest I never find it again.

[ubiquirk]

Exactly - less likely to happen on an HP archive - but Buffy taught me that lesson.