I've been debating the pros and cons of setting up a separate community for my fic. For those who have done so, what advantages do you see? Any disadvantages? How do you handle archiving old stuff (without losing comments/threads)?
Most people seem to use a single-authorized-poster comm for that purpose these days, to avoid having to log in and out. I suppose it helps compartmentalize things, but you'd have to come up with a whole new name and everything :).
If you repost all your fic, I'm going to re-read it and find any remaining typos. I think that may be under "disadvantages."
If you repost all your fic, I'm going to re-read it and find any remaining typos. I think that may be under "disadvantages."
Hmm. I wouldn't mind, because it irritates the crap out of me to find a typo, but it seems that the older a post is, the more LJ tries to riddle it with bad HTML.
It's actually kind of a pain having a separate fic journal. I set mine up because I was worried about everyone I knew in RL reading my fic all the time and I didn't want to start locking them.
Advantages: It *is* nice having all your fic in one place.
Disadvantages: Having two journals.
How do you handle archiving old stuff (without losing comments/threads)?
I left all the old stuff where it was and set up a fic master list. Anything I posted in 2006 is in my personal journal. Reposting everything seemed like WAY too much effort. :D
I just set mine up like a week ago. The pros...well, for me, I didn't post fic in my own journal, so it would mean posting the actual fic in each community I wanted to see it. So it's convenient for me to do the fake-cut thing and have all the comments in one place. But since you post in your own journal, I don't much see the point. Unless you want to cut that out of your journal.
I just posted all my fics in one day... losing all the comments, of course, but I still have the original posts (at least the time_and_chips versions in my memories for the time being. I suppose I could have done fake cuts from my fic journal to the community posts. Which you could do, back to your own journal, I guess.
Mind, mine is just a separate journal, not a comm. Not sure how much difference that makes, ultimately. Except that when I respond to comments with my regular username, I get comment notices for my own replies, obviously.
ETA: platypus brings up a good point about comm vs. journal, not having to log in and out. But I just use a different browser for each...
But since you post in your own journal, I don't much see the point. Unless you want to cut that out of your journal.
Yeah ... and I don't share LJ with anyone in RL, nor is my name associated with it. I suspect someone could find me, but they'd have to be looking. I'm really not interesting enough for anyone to bother.
Advantages: It's neater, people don't have to friend a personal journal if all they want is fic, being able to set a different comment level for the journal.
True. I guess it's a matter of whether it's worth the bother. Probably not.
I like having a comm of my own for fic/icons/whatever. I made it mainly because I post a lot of personal stuff in my journal and I was getting folks signing on for friending when all they wanted were the things I made. A comm is easier than a separate journal for the reason previously stated. You don't have to log in and out.
As far as re-archiving, I only re-archived mine because... well, I'm paranoid. My sister found my journal because she obsessively checks her website referrals and discovered it when I linked to her site in a locked post. D'oh! I re-archived just in case the paranoia overwhelms me and I feel the need to lock everything. Heh. For now, though, the fic and graphics remain unlocked. Unless you're worried about something similar, I would do as airelin suggests and just make a post with your master list.
As seems to be fairly common, I set up the fic journal to keep my fic side and my 'RL' side separate. The edges have kind of blurred, but the important thing is that my parents won't stumble across the racier chapters of my fic unsuspectingly. Having the two separate means it's also easier for the readers--if they've no interest in my random ramblings, they can just friend the fic journal, no muss no fuss.
An unexpected advantage, however, is that my e-mail notifications go to a separate place, as I tied a different address in to the fic journal. It eases the load on my inbox when things get lively, and it makes it much much easier to archive and file things away.
An unexpected advantage, however, is that my e-mail notifications go to a separate place, as I tied a different address in to the fic journal. It eases the load on my inbox when things get lively, and it makes it much much easier to archive and file things away.
I didn't think of that. I actually don't get updates via email; I use the LJ inbox.
I moved to a separate fic journal when I realised I was all over Google and I wanted a little privacy. In fact, I don't really use my regular journal enough to make the extra cost worthwhile, so I don't know whether I'll keep up with the two.
Advantages - having a separate fic journal makes it easier to find tags quickly.
Disadvantages - the icons I want to illustrate particular stories always seem to be in the wrong LJ. Also you need to keep track of which communities you're a member of on each.
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If you repost all your fic, I'm going to re-read it and find any remaining typos. I think that may be under "disadvantages."
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Hmm. I wouldn't mind, because it irritates the crap out of me to find a typo, but it seems that the older a post is, the more LJ tries to riddle it with bad HTML.
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Advantages: It *is* nice having all your fic in one place.
Disadvantages: Having two journals.
How do you handle archiving old stuff (without losing comments/threads)?
I left all the old stuff where it was and set up a fic master list. Anything I posted in 2006 is in my personal journal. Reposting everything seemed like WAY too much effort. :D
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Good point.
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I just posted all my fics in one day... losing all the comments, of course, but I still have the original posts (at least the
Mind, mine is just a separate journal, not a comm. Not sure how much difference that makes, ultimately. Except that when I respond to comments with my regular username, I get comment notices for my own replies, obviously.
ETA:
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Yeah ... and I don't share LJ with anyone in RL, nor is my name associated with it. I suspect someone could find me, but they'd have to be looking. I'm really not interesting enough for anyone to bother.
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True. I guess it's a matter of whether it's worth the bother. Probably not.
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As far as re-archiving, I only re-archived mine because... well, I'm paranoid. My sister found my journal because she obsessively checks her website referrals and discovered it when I linked to her site in a locked post. D'oh! I re-archived just in case the paranoia overwhelms me and I feel the need to lock everything. Heh. For now, though, the fic and graphics remain unlocked. Unless you're worried about something similar, I would do as
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RL meets LJ is one of my greater fears, so that's a consideration.
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An unexpected advantage, however, is that my e-mail notifications go to a separate place, as I tied a different address in to the fic journal. It eases the load on my inbox when things get lively, and it makes it much much easier to archive and file things away.
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I didn't think of that. I actually don't get updates via email; I use the LJ inbox.
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Advantages - having a separate fic journal makes it easier to find tags quickly.
Disadvantages - the icons I want to illustrate particular stories always seem to be in the wrong LJ. Also you need to keep track of which communities you're a member of on each.
But on the whole, I do like having both.
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That's my primary consideration, too, but I don't think I'm as out there as you are. Not a bad thing.