(no subject)

[niko]

Well, I think MediaWest is a bit of a bust for me.

I ran into similar problems as what I ran into last year - just not a lot of intersect between my particular niches of fandom and the rest of the attendees in most of the panels I attended, and not having any idea how to go about trying to connect with anyone outside of panels.  (Example of the former: the one anime panel - one of the reasons I've switched from going to anime cons to media cons was that I feel like the folks here are a bit more of my peers.  Anime cons are dominated by teenagers and men, not adult women.  So this panel caught my eye for a chance to talk anime with my peers for a change.  The other people who attended the panel?  Two adult men, and a teenage girl.  All my grand dreams of discussing anime from an adult woman's perspective, yaoi vs. slash, anime through the lens of media fandom, etc. went *right* down the drain. :P

I was also made of *fail* in trying to participate in Mag7 panels.  If I had more chutzpah, I'd show up at the Mag7 party they're having tonight, but with how everyone else in the panels seemed to be on a first-name basis and clearly had known each other for years and years, I just can't picture showing up (solo) as the only stranger in a room full of old friends.  I don't have the cajones for it right now.  It was cool to put faces to names of people whose work I've read on blackraptor, though. :)

On a more meta-y, less whiny note: One thing I found interesting/frustrating is how dismissive some folks seemed to be of the fandom presence on LiveJournal.  I can't say I've ever been thrilled with how decentralized and loosey-goosey LJ allows fandom to be, and I always look back at the heyday of The Sentinel as an ideal fannish situation - *ONE* primary discussion list, *ONE* primary fic-posting list, and *everything* posted to the fic list automatically gets grabbed for a single comprehensive archive (on the gen side, anyway... I think TS's slash fandom had a similar situation with 852 Prospect).  And yes, I've certainly thought about nagging LJ-writers to put their stuff up on Blackraptor, because the 'single comprehensive archive' thing, in particular, is pretty attractive to me.

But I feel like to ignore LJ at this point is just cutting off your nose to spite your face.  Especially knowing how abso-freaking-lutely *AMAZING* the Mag7 community here is, I can't imagine missing out just because I have qualms about the format or whatever.  There were a couple times where something on LJ was mentioned, and there were at least a few people in each panel where you could practically hear their eye-rolls.  *eye-roll*  ;)

Comments

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

This is very interesting to me, being involved in a handful of fandoms almost entirely through and on LJ. I don't blame you for not wanting to "crash" an old-pals party, although it's a shame - they should be reeling you in *g* Must admit that although I too like the idea of a single comprehensive archive, one of the reasons (aside from idleness of course) that I haven't submitted my stuff to Blackraptor is because of their guideline "do not submit stories that are already available at another website." It's quite right if they want to maintain it as THE Mag7 archive, but on the other hand I like AO3 or wherever because I can put up (if I wasn't idle of course) all my stuff from various fandoms. And then again, looking at the fandoms I know, Mag7 does seem to be particularly decentralized ... existing very busily in lots of little pockets with their own character. Inevitable maybe ... but seems the fan presence at something like Media West should be working against that ... they should be actively seeking you out to come to their darn party. OK, I'm done. Back to my pocket :)

[nikojen.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. I knew Blackraptor has issues as an archive, but I didn't realize that it treated stuff posted elsewhere differently. I see that she'll link to it from the character page, but doesn't seem to mention it on the main page, which is where I usually look for new additions. That is just odd.

A while ago, I had this grand scheme to create a more useful, searchable "archive" by just linking to *EVERY* Mag7 story I could find in a giant delicious list, with keyword tags, etc. Kinda makes me want to revisit that. :P

I'm also *really* rooting for AO3 to take over the universe. I've been in love with it since astolat's original post for *exactly* this same reason. The thrill of having someplace to go that groups everything together but *also* gives you the tools to find the particular kind of story you're looking for on this particular day... very cool.

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

A while ago, I had this grand scheme to create a more useful, searchable "archive" by just linking to *EVERY* Mag7 story I could find in a giant delicious list, with keyword tags, etc. Kinda makes me want to revisit that. :P That sounds like an awesome project. Like I said above, the one thing I want most when it comes to Blackraptor is a searchable archive. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like that is going to happen.

AO3 is fantastic. I can search through it within seconds to find something I want, and then fine tune my search if I change my mind about what I'd like to read. I'm looking forward to the day when they start accepting other types of fanworks - I think I remember that being mentioned somewhere. Right now fanartists and vidders have very limited options for their work: either LJ or setting up our own sites, which is not a viable option for some (vidders especially due to the large size of their creations and their legality which is questioned by some). Yahoo groups are horrible when it comes to anything graphics related.

[nikojen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, with how the site seems to be done with straight html, I don't know how she'd be able to make it searchable without a load of work. Unless the "google" search that I've seen some sites use would do it... but to make it really useful, I think it would need to have summaries added, which would definitely be a *load* of work.

When I started trying to do the delicious index, I got partly through the A's and ran out of steam, because I was trying to actually read and/or skim every story and put at least a basic summary and keyword tags. It was all good when it was stories that I liked, but got tricky when I hit stories in universes that didn't appeal to me, or just... weren't very good. :)

I'm definitely looking forward to AO3 doing something for vids & art, too.

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

I'm also involved with fandom through LJ mostly, though I do have my own (rarely updated, sorry to say) website. I tried Yahoo groups, but it's very difficult reading posts there, especially for someone like me who's on digest because I don't have a lot of time to devote to cleaning up all the extraneous info. LJ's friends page is perfect for me.

...one of the reasons (aside from idleness of course) that I haven't submitted my stuff to Blackraptor is because of their guideline "do not submit stories that are already available at another website."
I forgot about that part, and yes, I'm sorry that guideline exists. What happens if that story then gets pulled down, or a website goes bust (as was the case with Geocities )? Not everyone stays active in a fandom years after they've submitted a fic, so there's no way to contact them to ask about archiving it.

How does one centralize a fandom? What is the incentive for fans to start posting all their creations because there's more to fandom than just fics - in one place? In Mag7, there's Clarion News, whose purpose is to serve as a news central - how does one convince people to start using it more when, like nikojen say, there are those who scoff at LiveJournal?

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

Right now fanartists and vidders have very limited options for their work ... which is a real shame. One of the nicest things about livejournal is that it's a place for all kinds of creations. I wish the scoffers wouldn't scoff :(