Database blues
So, I know I'm generally a nattering nabob of negativism, because it is human nature to be better able to see what needs excoriation than what needs praise. And I complained both last fall and the fall before about how the AO3 is organized (or, not organized), but I knew it was in the context of Yuletide, and absolutely nobody was going to give a shit about disorganization when the roof was falling off. So I thought to myself, Self, stop being a nabob! I tried to visit the AO3 over the course of the year, learn its "quirks", and over the summer I uploaded a handful of stories to see how the uploader worked and discover whether it was worth my time.
And, you know, it did okay. The older stories, on LJ, couldn't auto-upload, but I copied/pasted code wholesale and it worked. I couldn't put chapter numbers out of order -- so if you want to avoid Chapter 13, you are SOL -- but that's the kind of thing that plug-and-play databases do. Annoying, but not any more annoying that ordinary software constraints. The freeform tagging thing has gotten stupider, or possibly its users have become drunk with the power of freedom, but there's a tickybox to invisibleize the worst of the general public's excesses so at least I don't have to see it. In the back of my head I am always aware that the database has an unsustainable design centered around the desperately mistaken idea that the customer is always right, but what the hell, I also used to return books I'd bought from Amazon to Borders. I can work with organizations that don't have their heads on straight if there's a benefit in it for me.
But then Yuletide season rolls around, and things go south. It would appear that Something can't happen for Yuletide without Updates, but the Updates come out late, and without documentation; the Updates weren't tested thoroughly (WTF?) and are riddled with bugs; accessibility becomes poorer by accident; Support has no script for how to deal with irritated users and struggles to communicate in lay terms. Support members start to (indirectly) bitch back at their user-base for complaining, rather than consider why they've been put in an untenable situation by their own organization. One of the code-y people resigns in a huff because people are so mean! Personality and emotion are substituted for a plan or a best-practices manual! Suddenly the archive looks like a vanity project, not anything stable or meant to last. The AO3 looks like a support structure for Yuletide, and nothing but support structure, and more fool I for, back in July, thinking that I could use it as an ordinary archive.
(And it appears to be all linked into OTW elections, about which I know nothing except to hope that such embarrassing interpersonal nonsense is normal for a young nonprofit.)
Is it just me, or would the AO3 be a better place -- a more stable place, a less wanky place, a place with a better and more consistent user-experience -- if Yuletide didn't happen there? By what right except legacy right does one challenge get to bend a whole archive into odd and uncomfortable shapes every year?
Two years ago, I would not have said that I would choose AO3 over Yuletide. But despite AO3's chronic problems, it is Yuletide, and the insanity, hare-brained "improvements," and schedule-fucking that Yuletide inspires, that cause unpleasantness in my AO3 experience.
This entry was originally posted at http://vehemently.dreamwidth.org/25734.html. Comment wherever you like.
And, you know, it did okay. The older stories, on LJ, couldn't auto-upload, but I copied/pasted code wholesale and it worked. I couldn't put chapter numbers out of order -- so if you want to avoid Chapter 13, you are SOL -- but that's the kind of thing that plug-and-play databases do. Annoying, but not any more annoying that ordinary software constraints. The freeform tagging thing has gotten stupider, or possibly its users have become drunk with the power of freedom, but there's a tickybox to invisibleize the worst of the general public's excesses so at least I don't have to see it. In the back of my head I am always aware that the database has an unsustainable design centered around the desperately mistaken idea that the customer is always right, but what the hell, I also used to return books I'd bought from Amazon to Borders. I can work with organizations that don't have their heads on straight if there's a benefit in it for me.
But then Yuletide season rolls around, and things go south. It would appear that Something can't happen for Yuletide without Updates, but the Updates come out late, and without documentation; the Updates weren't tested thoroughly (WTF?) and are riddled with bugs; accessibility becomes poorer by accident; Support has no script for how to deal with irritated users and struggles to communicate in lay terms. Support members start to (indirectly) bitch back at their user-base for complaining, rather than consider why they've been put in an untenable situation by their own organization. One of the code-y people resigns in a huff because people are so mean! Personality and emotion are substituted for a plan or a best-practices manual! Suddenly the archive looks like a vanity project, not anything stable or meant to last. The AO3 looks like a support structure for Yuletide, and nothing but support structure, and more fool I for, back in July, thinking that I could use it as an ordinary archive.
(And it appears to be all linked into OTW elections, about which I know nothing except to hope that such embarrassing interpersonal nonsense is normal for a young nonprofit.)
Is it just me, or would the AO3 be a better place -- a more stable place, a less wanky place, a place with a better and more consistent user-experience -- if Yuletide didn't happen there? By what right except legacy right does one challenge get to bend a whole archive into odd and uncomfortable shapes every year?
Two years ago, I would not have said that I would choose AO3 over Yuletide. But despite AO3's chronic problems, it is Yuletide, and the insanity, hare-brained "improvements," and schedule-fucking that Yuletide inspires, that cause unpleasantness in my AO3 experience.
This entry was originally posted at http://vehemently.dreamwidth.org/25734.html. Comment wherever you like.