When I first saw the OTW via AO3 once I got my user account, I was like, "THIS IS REALLY COOL. HOLY SHIT." At the same time, like any board and/or project, it's just gotta be full of cluster fucks.
I know little about the board, so from an outside point of view, I can say that I was relieved when AO3 popped up. I DESPISE ff.net. Talk about horrifying search system...the number one I love about AO3 is the pairing tag. THE PAIRING TAG. Then again, I am a ship person. I mostly search by ships...(sometimes I remember that there is an entire FANDOM OF THINGS for the fandoms I'm in, but when I get fixated with a ship, often that's All That Exists for me).
Anyway, in theory, I think it's really cool. And it's funny, because fandom, like everything IN THE ENTIRE WORLD EVER, goes through overhaul after overhaul of organizing information. How do you sort it, how do you access it, how does it work? And also, WHO IN THE EVER LOVING GOD HAS THE SKILLS AND TIME TO SEE IT THROUGH? (Whatever "it" is.) I remember before LJ existed, when there were webrings and MLs and all that...and then I remember when I first signed up for LJ and it was like, "OH FUCK WHAT IS THIS." And then with AO3 I was like, HOLY FUCK WHAT IS THIS, as you do with anything different.
I'm a big one on the organizing info. I could rate what I think are the best and most useless inventions in fandom when it comes to that...like, I thought LJ was BRILLIANT. I mean, I guess that was also the advent of blogs, so yeah. WAIT YOU CAN TAG THINGS?! HOLY CRAP. IT'S INDEXED SOMEHOW?!! Then there was DW, etc. etc. etc. Archives devoted to pairings with e-mail submissions back ca. like, late 90s (GEOCITIES HOLLA)...even better, the fucking HUGE ONES. I remember Icy Brian like it was the goddamn bible. RPGamer with their weekly posts, and if you got on it was like, "LOLOL OH MAN I IZ FAMUS." (I mean, you know, when you're like 13.)
Being new to tumblr, I think the tags are fabulous. I can see every damn post that someone tags with "Grell Sutcliff" in one go...that's cool. I see all kinds of new things; and I see all kinds of fucking garbage...AND I SEE WAY TOO MANY GODDAMN RP BLOGS. No offense to RP blogs...but that's when the system starts getting fucked up, because what I'm looking for is about 20% of what's popping up. And that's when you get into the muck of what the most efficient system is to access information. Thing is, I know tumblr also doesn't exist TO MEET MY NEEDS, so I go out and seek out something that I feel does.
AO3 works for me because of the tags and the way I seek out fic.
However, I think we've all been at that place late at night, desperately googling all variations of a pairing phrase to find that ONE FIC YOU MISSED because you've read EVERYTHING ELSE.
So all in all, I just found this post really interesting, because I find the entire evolution of the Internet and how it organizes and present access to information interesting. And I experience it directly through fandom. That, and I am rabidly desperate and obsessive once I find a ship...so I spend A LOT OF TIME trawling through about 60 BAJILLION different databases of information...whether it be ff.net, AO3, LJ, DW, Insanejournal (HOW MANY VARIATIONS ARE THERE?!), tumblr, comm tags, ship comms, recs, even old ... wait for it... "PAIRING SHRINES." (lol)
It's just such a goddamn huge job. O_O As far as AO3 goes, behind the scenes aside (a whole OTHER kettle of fish I know nothing about but ohgod from your post), I am grateful it exists. I hope more people post on it. I LOVE IT. I also despise ff.net from the depths of my soul and any passion I possess...because it is so awful in so many ways (I respect the mission, but holy god...just the upload system...WHAT IS THAT. GOD ALMIGHTY ON HIGH WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT). My frustration with it leads me to be so relieved there's other modes of gaining access to the content I WANT that I think proportionally it's just like, "AO3 HOLD ME. THANKS." But like I said...behind the scenes...a whole other story, as with any project. O_O
no subject
I know little about the board, so from an outside point of view, I can say that I was relieved when AO3 popped up. I DESPISE ff.net. Talk about horrifying search system...the number one I love about AO3 is the pairing tag. THE PAIRING TAG. Then again, I am a ship person. I mostly search by ships...(sometimes I remember that there is an entire FANDOM OF THINGS for the fandoms I'm in, but when I get fixated with a ship, often that's All That Exists for me).
Anyway, in theory, I think it's really cool. And it's funny, because fandom, like everything IN THE ENTIRE WORLD EVER, goes through overhaul after overhaul of organizing information. How do you sort it, how do you access it, how does it work? And also, WHO IN THE EVER LOVING GOD HAS THE SKILLS AND TIME TO SEE IT THROUGH? (Whatever "it" is.) I remember before LJ existed, when there were webrings and MLs and all that...and then I remember when I first signed up for LJ and it was like, "OH FUCK WHAT IS THIS." And then with AO3 I was like, HOLY FUCK WHAT IS THIS, as you do with anything different.
I'm a big one on the organizing info. I could rate what I think are the best and most useless inventions in fandom when it comes to that...like, I thought LJ was BRILLIANT. I mean, I guess that was also the advent of blogs, so yeah. WAIT YOU CAN TAG THINGS?! HOLY CRAP. IT'S INDEXED SOMEHOW?!! Then there was DW, etc. etc. etc. Archives devoted to pairings with e-mail submissions back ca. like, late 90s (GEOCITIES HOLLA)...even better, the fucking HUGE ONES. I remember Icy Brian like it was the goddamn bible. RPGamer with their weekly posts, and if you got on it was like, "LOLOL OH MAN I IZ FAMUS." (I mean, you know, when you're like 13.)
Being new to tumblr, I think the tags are fabulous. I can see every damn post that someone tags with "Grell Sutcliff" in one go...that's cool. I see all kinds of new things; and I see all kinds of fucking garbage...AND I SEE WAY TOO MANY GODDAMN RP BLOGS. No offense to RP blogs...but that's when the system starts getting fucked up, because what I'm looking for is about 20% of what's popping up. And that's when you get into the muck of what the most efficient system is to access information. Thing is, I know tumblr also doesn't exist TO MEET MY NEEDS, so I go out and seek out something that I feel does.
AO3 works for me because of the tags and the way I seek out fic.
However, I think we've all been at that place late at night, desperately googling all variations of a pairing phrase to find that ONE FIC YOU MISSED because you've read EVERYTHING ELSE.
So all in all, I just found this post really interesting, because I find the entire evolution of the Internet and how it organizes and present access to information interesting. And I experience it directly through fandom. That, and I am rabidly desperate and obsessive once I find a ship...so I spend A LOT OF TIME trawling through about 60 BAJILLION different databases of information...whether it be ff.net, AO3, LJ, DW, Insanejournal (HOW MANY VARIATIONS ARE THERE?!), tumblr, comm tags, ship comms, recs, even old ... wait for it... "PAIRING SHRINES." (lol)
It's just such a goddamn huge job. O_O As far as AO3 goes, behind the scenes aside (a whole OTHER kettle of fish I know nothing about but ohgod from your post), I am grateful it exists. I hope more people post on it. I LOVE IT. I also despise ff.net from the depths of my soul and any passion I possess...because it is so awful in so many ways (I respect the mission, but holy god...just the upload system...WHAT IS THAT. GOD ALMIGHTY ON HIGH WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT). My frustration with it leads me to be so relieved there's other modes of gaining access to the content I WANT that I think proportionally it's just like, "AO3 HOLD ME. THANKS." But like I said...behind the scenes...a whole other story, as with any project. O_O
tl;dr