Admin Post: AO3 collection

[lilly_c]

I'm not sure how many of you are using our AO3 collection, if at all, it was set up by a previous mod so I can't actually do anything with it. I'm vaguely aware of a lot of the issues with both AO3 and OTW from seeing content around my f-list and network recently and I'm also aware a lot of people are also considering their options for where they post their fic and other fannish content now. I do have an account on Squidge World and it looks straightforward enough to set up a collection on there.

Would having a collection on Squidge World be useful at all for anyone?

Any input in general is fine.

Comments

[frogfarm]

Didn't even know Squidge was a thing until now. While I'm still generally in favor of decentralization, personally so far I haven't yet found any other site that feels like a good investment. Belatedly realized I never should have bothered with FFN; never got any engagement when I tried Tumblr. Used to post to LJ and then Dreamwidth and eventually mirrored posts to AO3, but with the exception of Buffy crossovers that can go on Twisting the Hellmouth, I now just post to AO3 and keep personal backups. Any Squidge users who can tell us their experience? What kind of engagement level, community etc., have you seen? And did anything ever happen with Pillowfort?

[thefruitbat]

Just signed up to Squidgeworld and posted most of my stories which are already on AO3 there. Just as a "backup" should something unfortunate happen to AO3. I also keep several backups on hard drives. Since Squidge is made up of the same code as AO3 it's not a change at all. There aren't that many stories up there yet, so engagement is pretty low. But I think that will change when it grows.
Never tried Pillowfort.

[pebbleinalake]

I've actually just recently started migrating my fics over to Squidgeworld! I've never been very comfortable with posting on AO3 even before all the controversy (due to personal reasons) so I've only ended up posting maybe a couple dozen fics over there. I was happy to find a similar fanfic archive that's separate and so far Squidgeworld seems perfect for what I was looking for. So, yeah, if you end up making a collection over there I'd definitely use it. Though I don't know how often, since one of my reasons for joining the community is my inability to finish projects lol.

[mistressofmuses]

I've also set up a Squidgeworld account, though I haven't personally ported anything over there just yet. I do plan to!

It seems like engagement there is fairly minimal, just because it is a much smaller archive, and has fewer fandoms or authors represented. But it looks pretty easy to do things there, since it uses AO3's base code, and it seems like a lot of people are at least interested in finding alternative hosting options. (So there's the potential that more people will be using it.)

Upshot really being... yeah, I'd use it when I port my previous fics that I wrote with this comm over, and for anything relevant I post there in the future.

[linaewen]

I believe I posted the one WIP I finished to the AO3 Collection. I haven't finished anything else since! I have not been on AO3 much lately, but it is the place I have all my stuff, so for now I intend to keep using it. I am not familiar with Squidge Word, but if a collection gets set up there, I would probably use it for anything I complete. I like having my things in multiple places!

[derien]

Is there something going on which will threaten the collection, or other things previously posted? I have heard something about racism and people being harassed, but only today and very tangentially from posts on Dreamwidth. I have no idea what is really going on, and don't want to see the good people deserting and only the pains in the asses staying and being able to be jerks unimpeded. I feel like an idiot in that I don't even know how all this interaction is happening. I'm the perpetually out-of-the-loop person. I'm also that dork at work going "Oh, who slept with who? Nope, didn't hear about it at the time."