Web 1.0, fanfic archives, redundancy

[firecat]

I was sufficiently motivated by melannen's post How to Make Your Own Fanfiction Archive, In Just 10 Easy Steps (https://melannen.dreamwidth.org/534629.html) and delighted that some folks seem to be working on recreating Web 1.0 (or maybe 1.5) that I went and squatted on my username at Neocities (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neocities "The service's expressed goal is to revive the support of free web hosting of the now-defunct GeoCities."). It's also got at least one fanfic webring. I haven't archived any of my fic there and don't know if I will. I should either do that or make backup epubs from AO3 though. Nothing lasts forever.

Comments

[inametaphor]

I am so very charmed to see the skills we honed in the 90s become useful again. Writing html! Webrings! I mean this completely sincerely - it makes me feel like a proud internet aunt

[firecat]

Exactly!

And this time it seems to be some of us olds driving it, not youngsters who think it’s retro and want to use it ironically. (*shakes stick*)

[kore]

I squat on my IRL semi-pseud EVERYWHERE, lol.

I did get accounts with my AO3 pseud at Neocities and Squidge and one other place. Friends are industriously moving nd backing up their fics and exclaiming nostalgiclaly. I have zero energy anyway, and the thought of moving everything makes me sad. I should at least make backups, though.

[firecat]

I get it about the sad. I don’t want AO3 to go the way of LiveJournal.

[kore]

Yeah, EXACTLY. I don't think it's going to blow up (unless there are further really nasty revelations, please God no) and I don't even think most people will leave, but I can see it just becoming more and more irrelevant. I don't think it'll ever be sold like Livejournal (or Twitter, or Blogger, or Tumblr, or....) but the performance issues and spaghetti code are deeply concerning, as is how they just keep keeping on with chewing gum and tinfoil without any real fixes.

It's also a bummer because I've been through the fandom rinse and repeat cycle like a lot of people, from Usenet to blogs to Livejournal/DW to Tumblr to AO3 to....now what? and every time there's a big readjustment and then later, a big hole. (Except Discord. Jamais Discord. Je ne refusarai Discord!)

[firecat]

The fandom rinse and repeat cycle, yeah. So discouraging. I mean it gives me hope to watch people leap into action to find new spaces for their fanfic, but something is absolutely lost each time

[silveradept]

I think having a backup is a sensible idea, and Neocities is a good place to have it and to practice all of those handy skills or to make things that are interesting in their own way.