I post to AO3, but I don't read there unless it's for an exchange I'm already participating in (NG+, Yuletide, FFEX.) I know AO3 does stuff, because at least three people on my dwircle are heavily involved in it. And yet, I feel more welcomed at FF.net than I do on AO3; granted, FFN has the weight of history and inertia on its side, but I remember when Ficwad started, and I remember that I would post FF fics there and at least one person who didn't usually follow me would comment or rate. I think I've had exactly one instance of that on AO3--and things I've posted there have been in comparatively monstrous video game fandoms (FF7 and FF12.)
Could I do more to create fannish interaction in non-Western fandoms on AO3? I totally could. Do I want to? I don't know, because I weigh the time and effort against the return and it's not remotely worth it right now. Will it be worth it in a year? Do I want to put that kind of effort in now with no promise of payoff later?
....and that, in a nutshell, is why I think of DW as my posting/reading home. I think AO3 could do lots of really really neat things--like cypher said, I love the tools the AO3 makes available, and I love the potential of the space, at the same time that it's exhausting to have to keep saying "what about us? please include us too."
In short, Ira, I really appreciate what you're doing and that you took the time to write all of this up. But I think this whole post serves as a reminder of why I am so ambivalent about the AO3--sometimes I think I only go back there because my friends work on it so hard.
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I post to AO3, but I don't read there unless it's for an exchange I'm already participating in (NG+, Yuletide, FFEX.) I know AO3 does stuff, because at least three people on my dwircle are heavily involved in it. And yet, I feel more welcomed at FF.net than I do on AO3; granted, FFN has the weight of history and inertia on its side, but I remember when Ficwad started, and I remember that I would post FF fics there and at least one person who didn't usually follow me would comment or rate. I think I've had exactly one instance of that on AO3--and things I've posted there have been in comparatively monstrous video game fandoms (FF7 and FF12.)
Could I do more to create fannish interaction in non-Western fandoms on AO3? I totally could. Do I want to? I don't know, because I weigh the time and effort against the return and it's not remotely worth it right now. Will it be worth it in a year? Do I want to put that kind of effort in now with no promise of payoff later?
....and that, in a nutshell, is why I think of DW as my posting/reading home. I think AO3 could do lots of really really neat things--like
In short, Ira, I really appreciate what you're doing and that you took the time to write all of this up. But I think this whole post serves as a reminder of why I am so ambivalent about the AO3--sometimes I think I only go back there because my friends work on it so hard.