How Fandom Has Changed

[paraka]

So, I've spoken to people about this in various places in various ways, but I kind of wanted to put this out there, and get people's opinions.

Maybe it's just the fandoms I've been in, or it could just be me, but it seems like fandom has changed how they present themselves a lot since I joined. The area that I notice this the most is with vidding.

I remember making my first vid, and then having no idea how to go about sharing it. I was a poor student! I couldn't afford to buy webspace! I also was stuck using WMM (Version 1!) because you couldn't get downloads of better programs, and that was all that was available to me. It took me *months* to get my hands on all the aired episodes of QaF, because there weren't all the communities available, and while there was probably bit torrent, I certainly didn't know about it. I used Kazaa to get all my eps. :P I remember, even as I got started, there was meta going around saying that vidding was beginning to lose some of it's quality because what with WMM being on most new computers, and episode downloads more readily available everyone was trying vidding now, even if they hadn't any talent for it. I took exception to such meta, mostly because I was one of those talentless n00bs taking advantage of the new fangled technology suddenly on my computer (I still don't really agree with that idea, because for all the less than stellar vidders, there are a lot of amazing vidders who wouldn't have tried in the old days, and even if you're not an amazing vidder, I still think your work has merit if you enjoyed yourself. Hell, if I was that kind of elitist, I could never have made anymore vids, and I'd like to think that I've moved beyond the mediocre vidder I started as).

Despite it giving me problems when I first started out, I think the thing about vidding today that annoys me the most is the fact that people don't have personal webpages for their vids anymore. They just post them to Youtube or Imeem, and so, so many don't even offer a download link anymore, or if they do, they're often hosted on temporary sites such as sendspace or megaupload. I'm one of those people that always downloads vids, I watch them as I do other things on my computer, I hate streaming vids. I won't watch them if there is only a streaming option, and I like being able to go to a vidders website and downloading more of their vids if I find something I like. Half the time if I want to do that now, I end up having to root someone's LJs tags or memories, only to find that the download link has expired.

And it's not just vidders that I've noticed giving up on personal websites, it seems like so many author's have decided that their LJs are the only place they need to post fic. I had a big long discussion with paradise_city about this, she was wondering why anyone would need more than LJ in fandom, and no offense to her, but that idea really... worries me and drives me crazy. Because LJ? Not really the best archive. Unless the author takes the time to maintain a master fic list, I find it so frustrating trying to find their other fics. Tags just... aren't really enough for me, and people can be really bad at keeping them updated (I know *I* am). Do people even *use* the memory feature any more? I've been lucky in SGA, that it has enough fic appearing on my flist, that I never really have to search any out, but it's not so with all fandoms. I've pretty much given up on reading Numb3rs fic, because it's always so much effort finding it. That's really the reason why I wanted to start an archive for Numb3rs, to help centralize it, but for reasons having to do with stupid eFiction those idea have been put on hold.

I know that when I started in fandom, it was literally *months* before I even found LJ, I happily did all my reading initially from personal webpages of authors, and then later from archives. Even once I was on LJ I did most of my reading off it. I really miss that. For one thing, as someone who doesn't bookmark fic as I read it, it was a lot easier for me to go back and find the fics that I had read previously, because it's a lot easier to remember a webpage than it is to remember someone's LJ.
I find myself missing the days when more fic was stored off of LJ, and not just because I feel that LJ isn't a reliable place for fandom. It's funny how fandom moves, I wonder where we'll be next.

Comments

[paraka]

Just a random person cruising in
Hi! :)

I am a serial monogamist when it comes to fandoms so I am often NOT following as the vids are announced and by the time I find them, they are long gone.
I'm stretching a bit when if comes to my fandoms, but I'm also pretty much a monogamist too, so even if there are other fandoms I'm currently interested in, it's pretty much just one that gets my attention, I would like to think though, that I could go back and enjoy those fandoms later if I decide to, I'd hate to think that my chance is gone.
Also, word on vid links going up. In my first fandom, one of my favourite vidders didn't have a webpage, so I'd constantly want to rec her works, but she wouldn't have working links! It drove me crazy, because people were missing out on how awesome she was (well, she still is :)

Even if the vid is still there, tags really aren't sufficient when it comes to hunting them down.
God, I know my own tags aren't sufficient. I started on LJ before there were tags, I think all but two of my vids were posted before there were tags. I have a "My Vids" tag, but I don't think it actually has all my vids on it. I figure since I have a link of my webpage with each vid, and in my user info that people can just go there, others though, don't have either.

Because of these two issues, I don't watch many vids anymore unless someone recs one to me, even though I love them.
Me too, and it makes me so sad to see that.

as long as the author creates a master post and updates it, LJ works rather well. The problem is that many don't do that.
Word. And also, it helps if their fic list is somewhere prominent, like the webpage link in their info, or the first post on their LJs.

I hate how archives have gotten a bad rap.
It really is bad. I mean, the more people that think that way, the more likely it is to *be* that way. If most people won't post their fics there, well, then we're not going to be getting the variety that makes fandom fun.

I honestly would rather search through an archive of badfic for one good story than try to find it on LJ. Why? Because I can find exactly what I'm looking for without having to search Google, del.icio.us, storyfinders and everything else I can think of with a ton of variations in spelling, pairing etc. and still not find what I'm looking for.
Yes! That's the thing! A lot of archives are easier to search, especially if you're not completely sure of your facts. If all you remember is that someone is turned into a penguin, well, pop penguin into the archive search engine and you're good to go. Even if the archives search engine isn't that awesome, get Google to search that page (god I almost cried with joy when I found the "search term site:www.whatever.com" ability on Google.) A lot of people have their journals set to block search engines. Also, with the way LJ URLs are now username.livejournal.com it's not really possible to search all of LJ that way. And LJseek kind of sucks.
You know, after making this post, I realized, I had never seen a storyfinders comm before I came over to LJ. Sure on some of the fic comms I'd occasionally see a fic search, but sgastoryfinders gets updated multiple times a day and is actually one of the busiest SGA comms on my flist, what does that say about the search ability of things?

[kronos999.livejournal.com]

You know, after making this post, I realized, I had never seen a storyfinders comm before I came over to LJ. Sure on some of the fic comms I'd occasionally see a fic search, but sgastoryfinders gets updated multiple times a day and is actually one of the busiest SGA comms on my flist, what does that say about the search ability of things?

This is it exactly. I actually use busy storyfinder comms in order to find fic I missed more often than to search for fic that I've read since if someone asks for it, it must have been memorable. But, this wouldn't be necessary if things were easy to find.

[paraka]

I actually use busy storyfinder comms in order to find fic I missed more often than to search for fic
Heh, you should see my To-Read list, it's all summaries taken from storyfinder comms, with descriptions like "The one where they get amnesia and go to Texas, but then fall in love" or whatever, the descriptions in those comms always tend to be ridiculous, but interesting.

I really wish someone was crazy enough to create that archive. Sometimes I wish I was crazy enough/had enough time and money to do it.
When I was confused about what I wanted to do as a career, and actually went to school for programming because I kept thinking about how useful it would be for fandom, too bad I wasn't any good at it, because I would totally love to be able to make some huge awesome fandom site.

I was thinking of del.icio.us more for tagging toread fic
I've actually worked out a system of organizing my To-Read list that I quite like. I just have a list going in an email draft, that I add and take away from. I find it slightly easier than del.icio.us, just because I can do it on any computer easily (I know you can tag from any computer, but the buttons may not be there, so it's more manual, but if I've been on a computer long enough to come across fic, I definitely have my email up, because I'm a junkie like that :P). *shrugs* To each their own.

And I'll definitely keep an eye on ottawa_slashers. I promised a friend I'd go see Indiana Jones with her tomorrow, but if the movie is good, I'll see it again.