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."
Yeah, this sums up my thoughts on the archive as a whole. I keep using it because of the tools - it seriously has fixed every other problem I've had with other fanfiction archives. But it's never with the expectation of getting any sort of feedback or love for my fics. I just shrug and throw them up there to have a place to put them, and secretly wish that I had another space with AO3's tools but also with more people to be fannish with.
I try to do what I can to help, you know? Not with the workings of the OTW, because honestly I still don't really understand the workings of the OTW; I've tried to read up on it, but I can't get anywhere. But I try to help with the archive, at least as far as promoting it and increasing interaction. I post there almost exclusively, because I like its tools. I go out of my way to leave comments there whenever I have a spare moment, even if they are fics I've read and commented on before elsewhere, because I want the comments to be there. I know I could be doing more, but it's more exhausting than it should be - probably because, as Rina said, there's very little visible return on investment.
I really have to agree with gamera's statement, a few posts below this:
The org honestly does think we have a place at the table? Then they (they as a whole, not you specifically) should actually set a place and send an invitation to dinner rather than relying on us to assume we're invited when so many of the other guests are treating us like a gatecrasher it would be impolite to openly turn away.
Because, to continue the analogy, I can keep inviting my fandom friends to this dinner party all I want. But when my friends show up only to see that they (and I) are being ignored or snubbed by the other guests, they're not going to want to stick around. And then their discouragement and displeasure makes me more inclined to give up, because that's what discouragement does. Some actual direct help from the hosts, I think, would do a lot to stop that vicious cycle.
So, yes. Thank you, Ira, for giving us this insight - I do appreciate it. And as I've said, I really like AO3. Just hoping that we can find an answer to this issue so that I can share it with more people.
(P.S. Sorry for the edit spam. I keep finding that I have more to say.)
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Yeah, this sums up my thoughts on the archive as a whole. I keep using it because of the tools - it seriously has fixed every other problem I've had with other fanfiction archives. But it's never with the expectation of getting any sort of feedback or love for my fics. I just shrug and throw them up there to have a place to put them, and secretly wish that I had another space with AO3's tools but also with more people to be fannish with.
I try to do what I can to help, you know? Not with the workings of the OTW, because honestly I still don't really understand the workings of the OTW; I've tried to read up on it, but I can't get anywhere. But I try to help with the archive, at least as far as promoting it and increasing interaction. I post there almost exclusively, because I like its tools. I go out of my way to leave comments there whenever I have a spare moment, even if they are fics I've read and commented on before elsewhere, because I want the comments to be there. I know I could be doing more, but it's more exhausting than it should be - probably because, as Rina said, there's very little visible return on investment.
I really have to agree with
Because, to continue the analogy, I can keep inviting my fandom friends to this dinner party all I want. But when my friends show up only to see that they (and I) are being ignored or snubbed by the other guests, they're not going to want to stick around. And then their discouragement and displeasure makes me more inclined to give up, because that's what discouragement does. Some actual direct help from the hosts, I think, would do a lot to stop that vicious cycle.
So, yes. Thank you, Ira, for giving us this insight - I do appreciate it. And as I've said, I really like AO3. Just hoping that we can find an answer to this issue so that I can share it with more people.
(P.S. Sorry for the edit spam. I keep finding that I have more to say.)