fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3259 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3259 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 085 secrets from Secret Submission Post #466.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well AO3 is a dumping ground, I'll give you that.

oh, word?

Still higher quality than FF. And better looking.

I know it used to be trendy to bag on FF.net, but AO3's problems are a lot more serious and systemic than The Pit's. AO3 is determined to be inclusive to the point of uselessness. Sometimes a little segregation helps the process along, and FF.net understands this a lot better. It's general appearance is just a matter of taste though, personally I like the look of the old pit a lot better than the carefully contrived "cute" look of AO3.

I find the tagging and search capabilities of AO3 a million, trillion times better than FF, so that's the main advantage for me. I also like the general appearance of it more but that's entirely preference.

I find them a lot worse. Too much dross returned in AO3, such desperation and arrogance in assuming if I'm thrown their works then even though I'm clearly looking for something else that I'll still read and love it anyway. If AO3 limited its tags to a couple of main characters, and allowed me to exclude with the same ease as including then maybe it'd be functional. It'd have to create a separate crossovers section too, I love FF.net for that alone. I shouldn't have to muck about with search strings in order to not read how Supernatural is crossed over with the fandom I'm trying to search for. Not everybody wants to read about their favorite characters fucking with Dean and that other one whose name starts with a C.

I agree that they should have a separate crossovers section, although I imagine it'd be hard to implement.

I also agree that in usage AO3 probably errs too much on the side of including too many tags. But I've gotten very good at fucking around with search strings, so it's not a big issue for me - and the flexibility that provides in searching is really fantastic. Also the stuff I'm looking for is usually specific enough that I can separate out the dumbass megaships.

I really wish there was a way to exclude crossovers.

Search within results: -Crossover
Doesn't do anything for the untagged ones, but oh well. You can also filter out more common fandoms individually (-"teen wolf", -sherlock, -supernatural, etc.)

This!

I think both tagging systems are far from perfect. A site with a really, honestly good tagging system for fics doesn't seem to exist (at least not a widely-used site).

This. I mean, let's be honest, both are dumping grounds for fics, but AO3 just llows you to filter so much better.

And by better, you mean worse. AO3 doesn't filter, it does the opposite. It seeks to return as many search returns as possible and thinks that false positives are a good thing.

AO3 also gives you a way to remove those false positives, though.

Get some basic search skills: http://archiveofourown.org/faq/search-and-browse?language_id=en#howtosearch

And there is the problem weeding out false positives should be integral to the first level of searching, not something you have to fanny about doing yourself. That they have to throw together some sort of advice on the user having to fix it is an admission that their search is broken on a fundamental level.

I agree that it's imperfect. But I don't think FF is any better - they don't even get to the level of being able to provide that.

I mean, I get you apparently have an irreconcilable philosophical objection to false positives in searching, but I'm really hard pressed to see how the FF search system is a particularly good model either.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2015-12-06 22:13 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2015-12-06 22:15 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2015-12-07 00:09 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2015-12-07 07:16 (UTC) - Expand

No, your view is too naive. Maybe if every person though alike it could work like that, but the archive is too big and the people posting to it too different ( <3! ).

It's not that different from the Internet or any big library. You can let yourself be pleased by what's immediately visible. Or you can educate yourself a tiny little bit and draw on vast resources. Your choice.

(Anonymous) - 2015-12-06 22:14 (UTC) - Expand

You can combine search terms, though. And that narrows it down. I could say, search for explicit modern day war veteran AU's for the Steve/Bucky pairing and get a fairly select amount of fics.

Sure, there might be crossovers or other stories I don't want to read, but t's pretty good at getting you what you want.

Both have their pros and cons, etc. Personally I still prefer the way the fics actually look on FF; something about the font bugs me on AO3.

I'm the opposite; I prefer the AO3 look and feel.

Does FF.net allow you to view the entire story instead of chapter by chapter? Because I usually do that.

FF is clunky and not in a fun retro way.

Forgive me for being bored to death by this repetition of what everyone knows is the prevailing opinion. I think AO3 looks ugly.

You can change the look of AO3 with skins. I don't even know what the default AO3 look is any longer as I've used a skin for years.

It is true that most authors on it give no thought to their stories. It is all OOC fucking or cuddling. In drabble form usually, too.