I'm six-and-half-dozen, actually, despite haveing been a strong proponent for moving to AO3.
I am still as twitchy as I ever was about not having control over my words (yes, it'a absolutely a control thing, very much so), and I greatly enjoyed the anticipation in knowing the fandom names and counts, spiced with the surprise of the occasional non-AO3 work. (Or, as it turned out, mis-wrangled fandom!) There is stuff I like about being on AO3.
However, I dislike that this method was so much more work and stress for the mods. (Modding anything is a heavy workload; the primary reward is often the satisfaction of work gone well and smoothly; mod burn-out is a thing that happens. Plus, we have a great mod team and I want nice things for them.)
And, much to my surprise, I think AO3 negatively impacted the community aspects of the exchange. I agree with cherrytide's points about it being difficult to scan comment counts for active/neglected works (although it is possible to sort the collection's Works page by kudos/comment counts). Additionally, I
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I think if we go back to the way it was before, you end up going back to the old issues -- authors/creators not being able to add to AO3/FFnet/Tumblr/wherever until after Holmestice is finished, which leads to having to track comments (or likes/reblogs/favourites) in multiple places, not being able to respond to LJ Holmestice comments until after the author reveals, and all the rest of it -- which led to this change of format in the first place.
It seems to me the problems with this round stem more from the backend, because you're not used to running the exchange on AO3. So it's a learning curve for you.
The "lack of community" aspect... I'm not so sure if I agree with that so much? I mean, one could have commented on the LJ entry announcing the work, if they wanted, and that would give more incentive to others who'd prefer to do that over commenting on AO3? I dunno. Just thinking out loud.
I have the same mixed feelings that others have expressed; when stories were posted on LJ first, they seemed to get many more comments, and I agree that something of the community feeling is lost. That having been said, I greatly appreciated being able to go back and tinker with my fic after sending it in; the first time I participated, last round, I kept finding mistakes and infelicities in my posted fic and it niggled at me that I wasn't presenting my work, such as it is, at its best. And I do like having comments all in one place.
Ultimately, though, perhaps this should come down to what works best for you, mods? Because it's you doing so much work to run this wonderful fest, and I would vote first and foremost for Preserving the Mods' Sanity. I intend to keep participating regardless, because I just love the whole premise of Holmestice so much and because it's good for me as a writer to try to make a story that's mine yet whose direction is laid by another person's tastes.
I'm sorry that AO3 caused more work for the mods - if you haven't sent in the idea for scheduling reveals as a feature request, you might do that.
I'd also be okay with everything going live the same day, but I know I'm in the minority on that. In that context I was also pleased with the shorter posting schedule but again sorry that it caused stress for mods.
I'll repeat here how much I LOVED having the AO3 option, both as a writer and a commenter. for me the benefits outweighed the weaknesses others have pointed out (though I don't disagree with any of them).
This is only my second - third? - Holmestice, but I have to admit I kind of missed having comments here. Which isn't to say that didn't happen, just that I got used to it.
Does that even make any sense? It's been a long day.
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I am still as twitchy as I ever was about not having control over my words (yes, it'a absolutely a control thing, very much so), and I greatly enjoyed the anticipation in knowing the fandom names and counts, spiced with the surprise of the occasional non-AO3 work. (Or, as it turned out, mis-wrangled fandom!) There is stuff I like about being on AO3.
However, I dislike that this method was so much more work and stress for the mods. (Modding anything is a heavy workload; the primary reward is often the satisfaction of work gone well and smoothly; mod burn-out is a thing that happens. Plus, we have a great mod team and I want nice things for them.)
And, much to my surprise, I think AO3 negatively impacted the community aspects of the exchange. I agree with cherrytide's points about it being difficult to scan comment counts for active/neglected works (although it is possible to sort the collection's Works page by kudos/comment counts). Additionally, I ( ... )
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It seems to me the problems with this round stem more from the backend, because you're not used to running the exchange on AO3. So it's a learning curve for you.
The "lack of community" aspect... I'm not so sure if I agree with that so much? I mean, one could have commented on the LJ entry announcing the work, if they wanted, and that would give more incentive to others who'd prefer to do that over commenting on AO3? I dunno. Just thinking out loud.
TL;DR: I'd rather leave it the way it is.
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I have the same mixed feelings that others have expressed; when stories were posted on LJ first, they seemed to get many more comments, and I agree that something of the community feeling is lost. That having been said, I greatly appreciated being able to go back and tinker with my fic after sending it in; the first time I participated, last round, I kept finding mistakes and infelicities in my posted fic and it niggled at me that I wasn't presenting my work, such as it is, at its best. And I do like having comments all in one place.
Ultimately, though, perhaps this should come down to what works best for you, mods? Because it's you doing so much work to run this wonderful fest, and I would vote first and foremost for Preserving the Mods' Sanity. I intend to keep participating regardless, because I just love the whole premise of Holmestice so much and because it's good for me as a writer to try to make a story that's mine yet whose direction is laid by another person's tastes.
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I'd also be okay with everything going live the same day, but I know I'm in the minority on that. In that context I was also pleased with the shorter posting schedule but again sorry that it caused stress for mods.
I'll repeat here how much I LOVED having the AO3 option, both as a writer and a commenter. for me the benefits outweighed the weaknesses others have pointed out (though I don't disagree with any of them).
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Does that even make any sense? It's been a long day.
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