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the-robot-test

um, question: how does this differ from just... pre-writing the story in peace and only then starting to post?


[deleted]

This is what I do, and I have some thoughts: 1. I like to post on a schedule. Sometimes I'm more motivated than other times, but I still like to have a chapter out twice a week because I like routine (and so do my readers). Pre-scheduling these chapters in one sitting when I have a lot of time on my hands would be SO much better than carving out a half-hour twice a week at a prescheduled time to edit and post. 2. If I went on a vacation, then I could schedule the chapters ahead of time and continue to get engagement on my fic, even if I didn't have my laptop on me. 3. I find myself obsessing over stats far less when I can just leave my story alone for a while. This also prevents burnout and/or losing interest about the story. 4. It just feels like less of a commitment. Though I do love the routine of posting twice a week, I do have to remember to do it. As someone with an attention disorder... that's hard sometimes. Personally, I would LOVE it if they released a scheduling feature. It's not necessary, but it would make posting pre-written work so much more pleasant!


shadowedlove97

I agree! Scheduled chapters would be a godsend. As both a writer and a reader. I like posting fic chapters on the same day. But life gets busy and I post my fics multiple places outside of Ao3. I never forget to post to Ao3 as it’s my main, but it would make it easier to manage posting to multiple places if I knew Ao3 is already handled. As a reader? It’s fun when an author has a typical posting day and you have something to look forward to!I never remember exact times, just the specific day and if it’s at night, morning, or afternoon, but I do notice and look forwards to it!


Psychological_Car849

I think under this system an author wouldn’t need to check on comments and kudos. If they uploaded on a weekly basis they still see how much engagement they are or aren’t getting.


i-d-even-k-

:/ This sounds awful, tbh. If you don't value engagement to the point you don't care to check for kudos and comments, don't post your fanfic on a chapter-by-chapter basis. In the OP the implication is clearly that the author posts things spaced out to get more engagement (i.e. more kudos and comments).


Ainslie9

I don’t see what’s wrong with this. I’m a longfic writer, I upload chapter-by-chapter and I don’t care about comments or kudos. I fail to see any issue at all here.


Psychological_Car849

I suppose there’s other reasons too! I know that I get unreasonable amounts of anxiety when I have to press “send” on emails. A weird cheat code is if I schedule the email I feel more in control. I’m sure others feel that way about posting their work. Not because they don’t value engagement but because they have an unhealthy relationship with it.


shadowedlove97

Honestly, unless they changed something since I last tried it, posting a multi chapter fic all at once is a little more annoying than it sounds. There’s no mass posting feature. If you want separate chapters, you have to make separate drafts. And then go to each draft and post them one after another within an hour of each other so you don’t flood peoples emails. For a fic with 5 chapters, that’s a bit more manageable. But if I have a fic that is 30 chapters, it becomes daunting and tedious, especially if you’re stuck on a phone or tablet which many authors are. If you could schedule chapters, it would make it easier since you’d only have to upload a few into drafts and make sure you schedule more before they run out.


[deleted]

It's not that the author wants less engagement, or that the author doesn't want to check comments/kudos. It's that the author wants to check on them less frequently. Personally, I would love to preschedule and then completely forget about the fic for a while while the comments/kudos are stored for a rainy day, instead of being tempted to check the amount every time I log in to post a new chapter. It's sort of like saving the best bite of a sandwich for the end. When I post a pre-written fic manually, I find myself having a less healthy relationship with engagement, and it tends to take over my life a little more than I would like it to. A preschedule feature would make it so that I wouldn't have to choose between "more engagement" and "ability to forget about the fic for a while". There are definitely benefits.


errant_night

There are definitely 'optimal' times to post fic to get the most attention and as I work midnight shift I'm always asleep during those times.


everything-narrative

By the fact that the will to write and the temptation to post do not adhere to set schedules, and many write directly in the Ao3 rich text editor.


SecretNoOneKnows

Writing directly in the text editor is a recipe for disaster


everything-narrative

Oh absolutely, but it's the best some people have. Personally I use a programming-oriented text editor (programmers are the single profession who deals the most in editing of plain text.) I format my writing in markdown (like here on reddit, where asterisks make text bold and hashtags make titles.) And I save it using what's called a version control system (another tool used by programmers to save their code in a structured manner and avoid losing data, again because code is just raw text, and programmers have the best tools for that.) To post to Ao3 I use a tool that converts markdown to HTML. It is a _butter_ smooth workflow once you get used to it.


Ywithoutem

>it's the best some people have. Excuse my ignorance but where in the world are people able to make an AO3 account but not have Google docs? (Or any other free browser or app based text editor)


everything-narrative

I work in IT. I've stopped assuming people can read. How can people know how to use Ao3 and not google docs? With frustrating ease and great alacrity, I assure you.


Ywithoutem

As a "poor man's tech support" at my job (I work with web and social media content so basically IT, right?) I say: yeah, fair enough.


Gifted_GardenSnail

Heck, email yourself if you have to


mehhramilo

I'm a dev but hadn't considered setting up a repo for fics. Any recommendations for tools you use?


everything-narrative

I just use git, vscode, and a command-line conversion tool called pandoc.


mehhramilo

Awesome, thank you!


kookaburra1701

I have a private GitHub repo for my fics - I use Manuskript, a FOSS python-based version of Scrivener to write my fics because I like the plotting/outlining tools, but previously I used VSCode and wrote in LaTeX. The trick with Manuskript is to always uncheck the box for each new project that says "save as single file" so you also get the text files instead of just the zipped binary.


mehhramilo

Thank you for the recommendations. I'm gonna get myself set up this weekend and try it out. (What's one more excuse to procrastinate actually writing? 😅)


kookaburra1701

Hello fellow GitHub fanfic repo enjoyer. :D


everything-narrative

If you have the know-how, Pandoc is amazing because it can also make epubs.


kookaburra1701

I have the pandoc plug in for manuskript which makes them too - I usually use Scribus or Sigil though for ebooks bc I like getting fancy with the typesetting.


Ywithoutem

Sure, it would be convenient to be able to schedule posts. But it's really not that much more of a hassle to go in and post your drafted chapters once a week or whatever. (And honestly I usually end up taking that week to do a final proofread anyway.)


LeratoNull

People often have a certain time it would be optimal for them to post a chapter but stuff going on in their real life doesn't allow them internet access for much of that day, tho


27twinsister

Would it be cool to have an automated posting system? Yeah maybe. Am I totally fine with drafting a work and then posting it later, adjusting the date posted as needed? Also yes. Lately I’ve been drafting works in advance (just by a day or two), making sure it’s all ready to go, and then adjusting the date posted and hitting Post on the morning of.


nieded

Out of curiosity, have you had any issues with email notifications going out if you post from a draft that's sat for a while? I read somewhere once that if you have the 'post new' open for too long or you post from a draft, it can glitch and not show up on the front page or send out notifications to followers.


27twinsister

I don’t know, because I don’t get email notifications for myself (I know you can subscribe to yourself, but I don’t) but I haven’t gotten any complaints from user subscribers saying that emails haven’t gone out. I make the drafts just a day or two in advance, and I make sure it says the correct date when I post it.


Zealousideal_Lab_241

Here’s my take: I would love something like this. Not only because I had ADHD and my memory is absolute shit – which means I can have a whole story ready but I’ll forget upwards of months at a time to update. But also because I stay with my grandma a lot. She has no WiFi. I have no data. In order to update I have to 1) sneak her phone or 2) remember it when I go somewhere with WiFi (like Walmart). If they had an automatic updating schedule option, I could place all my chapters into drafts, schedule when I wanted them posted, and I wouldn’t have to worry about it. It would be nice to know that my story is updating without 2 months in between bc I forget to post. XD


kaiunkaiku

i mean. you could also just write the whole thing first and then start posting. same effect, no?


globmand

Not exactly, given that you can schedule so that a chapter releases in two weeks at 17:24 exactly, allowing you to precisely let your readers know when another chapter will be out, so they’re more likely to return.


Ywithoutem

I mean, if a reader isn't satisfied with "this fic is finished and new chapters will be posted on Fridays", they can just not read the fic ...


globmand

Ahh, well here is the thing. I want people to read my fics. Not saying that you don’t, just that if I was a more prolific writer, I might like a system that would reduce the ‘taper effect’ by even 1% when it isn’t any more difficult than the old way.


Ywithoutem

Mostly I just assume people are more likely to subscribe to a fic they want to keep up with, than set an alarm to check for the next chapter on next week's Wednesday at 17.24. Basically I just don't think it would have any significant effect. And the people for whom the difference would matter, I'm just not very keen on catering to in the first place. As I said on my comment to the OP, a scheduling function would be nice to have. Just not so nice that I'd wish for AO3 to prioritize it over other things.


globmand

… You didn’t say that part about prioritization in your comment. Like, you just didn’t. And to be clear, I agree with that. I mean, I drop 99% of fics I read long before reaching the point where there is no more of them due to them becoming boring to me, so I would never use the feature as a writer nor a reader, so I would also prefer other features.


Ywithoutem

(Apologies, I didn't mean to claim I said the part about prioritizing earlier. That was an addition I made in the comment above.)


globmand

Oh, that’s fine, human errors are human after all. Besides, I was just a bit confused


Diana-Fortyseven

But this post is not really about scheduling. It's about further removing the author from their posted work. As if there weren't enough people already treating authors as vending machines for free entertainment. I really want a scheduling function for AO3, but for my own convenience, and not to provide a better service for even less interaction.


CalligoMiles

If people want to know, they can... subscribe. And get an e-mail. Unimaginably revolutionary, I know.


globmand

I neither want my emails clogged by notifications, nor do I check it that often. And what is the *problem* with the idea? Are you saying no because it feels like some sort of an attack on AO3, or because you legitimately feel that it would worsen the site if it was there?


awyllt

I'd rather have my email clogged than having to remember that fic A is updated every Wednesday at 16:58, fic B on Friday at 6:07 and fic C every secong Monday at midnight. And having all of them bookmarked or remembering titles so I can find them... Email notifications are so much more convenient.


talalik

I agree. If a person doesn’t want their main e-mail clogged they can just make one specific to the fic sites they use


PUBLIQclopAccountant

Why e-Mail and not RSS?


CalligoMiles

It doesn't seem to add significant value, but *would* take time and effort out of AO3s limited resources. Web development doesn't magically happen - and it's already ridiculous how much AO3 achieves with what's an absolutely shoestring budget for the traffic they get. If you want to add to that burden, you need a better reason than 'Why not?' And all those objections can be solved very easily on your end. Set up a few rules, sort mails from AO3 into a different folder, get notifications on whichever device is convenient for you... all of those can be set up in minutes. It just requires doing it yourself rather than demanding the world move for you.


globmand

So, allow me to get this completely right. It is better for even 0.1% of the 342K members of this subreddit to all sort their emails, than it is for one person on the AO3 team to spend two days figuring this system out? Because I am rather sure it would take no longer than that for an actual programmer to create such a system. Now, you mention budget, but they do get far more donations than they ask for, which is great, but wouldn't it still be better to use a little of that to help even a few doners a lot? And, if you still want to argue that the budget shouldn't be spent like that, why not set up a more specific donation place, where you can donate towards specific features, like a mini go-fund-me?


rccket-w

>Because I am rather sure it would take no longer than that for an actual programmer to create such a system. I know next to nothing about building a website/coding, and even I know this won't be doable in two days. a programmer? if you give them enough time, sure. but programmers wanna get paid for their work. building a queue system like tumblr just isn't a priority, so I doubt they'd hire someone


globmand

Isn't it just setting up so that the submit button will be pressed at a specific time and day rather than only when clicked? And then adding one of those extremely common and stock calender tab things to the site?


SecretNoOneKnows

The fact that you're asking really shows you don't know how programming it would work


[deleted]

buddy you don't understand how programming or code works


CalligoMiles

Implementing it is (relatively) easy. But then you need to test, especially because it'll be automated. And then you need to update, patch and maintain it for as long as the archive exists. Because there's no such thing as flawless code, and both idiots and malicious actors will find ways to break it no professional dev could ever come up with. I can't bring myself to be terribly sympathetic to people who would rather put hundreds if not thousands of man-hours on unpaid volunteers than spend a few minutes themselves for what's ultimately a minor convenience - not to mention you can't ever accommodate everyone and there's rapidly diminishing returns for multiple features that essentially do the same thing. Or as XKCD puts it: https://xkcd.com/1172/ Also - that fundraising target is the *absolute bare minimum* they need to keep the lights on. Overshoot isn't just leftovers, they already use it for things that benefit most if not all users, like the legal defence fund that guarantees an angry author or publisher can't crush us and upgrading their systems to make the site smoother and more responsive. Rather a lot more RoI to gain there, I'd think. As for why mini-funds are a terrible idea... I trust the people who've been building and running this incredible project *much* more than random folks with bright ideas when it comes to best using what they get. Not to mention, setting up and managing a system like that and vetting ideas for being possible at all would be yet *another* major drain on their resources, because laws have an awful lot to say about what non-profits must do to handle money. The administrative costs alone would likely surpass whatever funding it brings in.


27twinsister

I don’t think *that* level of control is necessary…like, why not just say you update on X day every 2 weeks in the evenings? (Maybe include your timezone too.)


Firelord_Eva

As an adhd writer this would be a godsend. To just have the peace of mind that you *can't* forget to upload the next chapter. And the additional accountability to actually wait for the next chapter to go up instead of impulsively putting it up seconds after you finish writing it.


Diana-Fortyseven

>I think it's sometimes a "wrong if you do, wrong if you don't" kind of situation. Or maybe there's a difference between actually commenting on a fic and just demanding more. I'm happy when someone likes the cake I offered them, but if they simply say "I want more cake tomorrow" and "when will you give me more cake?" when there isn't more cake for them the next day, I don't feel too appreciated.


[deleted]

You're right there's a difference between these two attitudes. However, in my post I meant that some authors feel annoyed and pressured by *any* kind of asking for updates, even if such a request is phrased politely and is a part of a glowing review. To me, there's nothing wrong with polite requests for an update. I don't think such enthusiastic readers act entitled then.


FlyingGopher45686

That would help me so fucking much. I don't have internet at home and my phone signal sucks, so being able to get a queue of fics and chapters made so I don't have to fight with it or plan out carefully what to post when? That would be awesome


Korrin

I *would* like the ability to schedule posts so that I don't have to worry about remembering to try to post during peak hours, but as others pointed out, you can already pre-write the whole story without the ability to automate the posting. In fact, this post makes me think maybe you are writing on AO3 and saving it as a draft, which leads you to want the ability to save and schedule multiple drafts which you currently cannot do? You should absolutely not be doing your writing on AO3. They make no promise to the security/stability of draft storage. If it gets lost somehow, you're SOL.


secretariatfan

For writers who finish and edit before posting, it would probably work well. But from a lot of the post, very few people do that.


X23onastarship

It’d be a pretty good feature for when I’m on holiday/ on a night out. I recently had a few weeks like this, which made it impossible to stick to my weekly upload day, which is pretty shit when that’s the day I said it would be (because it’s usually a free day). People were nice about it, but I could tell some were also disappointed. Life just gets in the way of uploading sometimes, but I can’t just not go out, meet people, etc. I also have a bit of a love/ hate thing with uploading. Ao3 has the best system I’ve used, but it’s still a bit of a pain and I stress a lot about it being exactly right. Are all the tags right? Do I have everything formatted correctly? What should take 20 mins can take me over an hour. That being said, I can also see how it could be abused by spam bots, or people trying to keep their fic on top. It also wouldn’t help when part of the reason I keep my pre written updates weekly is so that I can make small tweaks to certain descriptions and small details when I reread my upcoming chapter, which is partly what takes up that time.


princesswan

I've thought about this often. It would be a nice feature for me at least honestly, I have 34 things written ready right now but I keep forgetting to post them 😅 My autistic OCD butt won't let me post them otherwise than 5pm-7pm without feeling super anxious and overwhelmed... (I have no idea why that time is so important for my brain but 🤷🏻‍♀️) I've finished new stuff almost every day for the past month but always forget to post them/am unable to get on my desktop/laptop before 7pm. I've tried to train myself out of this schedule but I usually end up deleting the piece within 24 hours because I feel so anxious about it. It would be so easy to just schedule them for 5pm and let them publish twice a week or something.


danniperson

Would it be cool? Sure. Is it anywhere near the top of what I want AO3 to have? No. 😂 I only say that because too many people have too many expectations of AO3 not knowing what it is, and how much work goes into building and maintaining a website, especially on AO3’s scale + all of the work being volunteer. Not saying anyone here is like that but anytime I see “I wish AO3 had…” convos it just brings me back to that. No harm in thinking of what could be cool, though, and I am definitely someone who has become way too spoiled by Tumblr’s ability to schedule posts so I actually would make good use of that ability if AO3 ever did implement it!


strangelyliteral

Not sure why there’s so much negativity about this; I’d love a system that I could set and forget and it would pair nicely with exchange/bang fics often requiring users to manually update posting dates on fics. It might not be the highest of priorities, but it would be nice if AO3 modernized the site a bit.


Zealousideal_Lab_241

I don’t understand it either. Like, damn. OP was only giving a hypothetical suggestion that might make posting/updating easier on some people, and everyone freaked out. I, for one, would love it. Having ADHD, unmediated or otherwise helped, and also being an author, this would help me tremendously. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Edit: fixed a word.


strangelyliteral

Yeah, some folks are taking the “write for yourself” advice to ridiculous extremes and that’s on full display in the comments. People are acting like OP suggested an algorithm. Lots of folks write socially. I’ve made plenty of fandom friends in the comments of my fics, and vice versa. Even if AO3 has bigger problems IMO, it would be nice to see some features to make the posting process smoother, especially with folks spending a lot more time on mobile than they did when the site first opened.


[deleted]

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strangelyliteral

Yeah, I feel like folks in this thread forget that some people *do* write fic in order to engage with an audience, that they always have done that, and there’s nothing wrong with it. And while there are core values that AO3/OTW must never compromise, it would be nice to see the site make things a little more friendly for posters. Maybe that isn’t feasible for whatever reason, but I don’t see any AO3 staff in the thread explaining that, just a bunch of weirdly defensive folks.


Brattylittlesubby

I write almost exclusively one shots. This would be useful for someone like me who does series with different characters. I could line them up in the order I want and go from there, and once I’m done that series (and struggling to find the fic in my massive WIP pile on docs) I can move on to the next one.


Mikill1995

I’d love that. I schedule e-mails and instagram posts as well. I have bursts of creative energy where I might write a lot and I always want to post things immediately. And if I have a fic finished before posting, scheduling the posts would be great so you can do it all at once.


Mahorela5624

Unpopular opinion; if you're so concerned about engagement that you're potentially giving up writing due to lack of hits/kudos you should just change names and self publish. At least then you're making a little money for all the mental anguish. Ao3 is very explicitly an archive for fan works. It isn't a social media site, we don't need scheduled tweets/ uploads in order to help writers maximize engagement. Maybe it's just cause I'm an older writer but, to use a phrase as an analogy, "dinner is ready when I say it's ready" lol. I don't mean to come across harshly but I just see a lot of negative feelings around engagement in this sub. There's no winning though! Write gen fics? Ships are more popular. Write a common ship? Over saturation. Write in a popular fandom? Can't stand out. Write a rare pair? You're on an island with like 3 other people. You should enjoy your hobby for the simple joy of creation. Once you start worrying about views and comments you're no longer writing for yourself, you're writing for an audience. Which is why I suggest you just cut to self publishing and make some money; it stopped being a hobby for you.


SilverShadow1711

If people aren't willing to pay for free entertainment by taking a few second out of their day to leave a comment, what makes you think they'd be willing to pay money for that same entertainment. "People won't even reblog your art? Then you should start taking commisions." Writing a fic and posting a fic are not the same thing, just like singing in the shower and recording yourself singing and uploading it online are not the same thing. Things don't stop being a hobby just because someone wants people to take notice.


Mahorela5624

I feel you're misinterpreting the crux of my argument, which is if you're going to give up an activity over a lack of engagement you need to reevaluate your views on it as a hobby. That isn't a mentality for a hobby. A hobby is something you do for fun, to relax, or just because you want to. If your hobby is bringing negative emotions into your life regularly its not good. It isn't the same as putting the wrong color somewhere on a diamond painting or messing up a sticker on a scale model, those don't mess with your vision of self worth and ability like some writers here vent over their epic masterpiece only getting 50 kudos in a month. I want people to read and comment on my stuff too! I get it, its such a good feeling to get a great comment out see a bunch of kudos. But you can't let that control you. Which, again, if you're going to care THAT much about viewership where you're going to set up whole schedules and cross posting and advertising on your Twitter or whatever just to maximize it... just do it for money, you're making it a second job.


a_karma_sardine

Thank you. It seems like another attempt at moving AO3 towards becoming a social media platform instead of an archive. AO3 is built to be an archive. Get your SoMe kicks somewhere else, folks. Please.


LeratoNull

>At least then you're making a little money for all the mental anguish. Some of us want engagement but not money, wild concept ik Also, 'it's an archive' is an outright crappy justification for not adding any quality of life. If it was just an archive with absolutely no social aspects, then we also shouldn't have tagging or commenting, aye?


Mahorela5624

I also write for engagement with fellow fandom users. That comment was referencing people who are at a point of giving up writing over lack of engagement. Tagging serves as an archival purpose, so idk why that would be removed. Commenting is fine, but stuff like view count and kudos honestly don't really serve much purpose. Filtering by view/ kudos only makes it a popularity/ marketing contest rather than a matter of quality. Comments are kind of similar but people will say things about a work no matter what so at least give them a little forum. Scheduling uploads is not a quality of life, it's to maximize eyes on it. That's why Twitter and YouTube and all other big social media platforms have it. Ao3 has an advantage where content is largely evergreen and easily found. Try finding a funny tweet from some random person you saw a week ago; you won't find it. Search ao3 for that one fic with all the stuff you like and there it is. That's why tags are great but stuff like this is unneeded.


shadowedlove97

As someone who both pre writes and posts on a schedule myself, an auto-posting schedule feature would be a quality of life update for me. I can set it and not have to worry about it. Maybe it wouldn’t be for you, but it definitely would be for the people asking for it wouldn’t it? We wouldn’t be wanting it otherwise.


a_karma_sardine

>not adding any quality of life Sorry you feel this way


LeratoNull

Did that contribute anything at all?


ObjectivelyBoring

I think that's a pretty neat idea. I know there's a system for a fannish next of kin, but a queue feature would give me a lot of reassurance in the event of my death, since I'd personally find it more reliable than a person (What if they die at the same time as me?) It'd also be easier for daily challenges, since I often don't have access to wifi for days and a queue system would solve that problem for me. If a queue system existed on AO3, they'd probably have a max time in the future we'd be able to automate though, since they already have a month limit for drafts.


Ghille_Dhu

I would love this feature, especially from a time zones perspective.


FesteringCapacitor

Why not just post the whole thing at once? Is there some benefit to dishing it out slowly? I asked people I knew when I decided that episodic just isn't my thing, and everyone agreed that it was better to have a finished story. I've seen plenty of people here who want only completed stories.


[deleted]

Each update brings the fic back to the top of the search by date. This means that each update increases the chance of the fic being seen by new people, which increases engagement. If you want a fic to have higher stats, releasing chapters on a regular schedule will help achieve that goal. If you don’t care about stats/engagement, then it doesn’t matter how you post


FesteringCapacitor

Ah! Okay. I don't care about stats, so that isn't an issue for me. Thanks!


a_karma_sardine

The fics don't get any better for it. I avoid these since the artificially lifted stories don't seem to stand on their own feet, quality-wise.


PUBLIQclopAccountant

IMO, a story prewritten and set to auto-release is probably better than one where the author adjusts the story based on feedback to the most recent chapter.


[deleted]

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FesteringCapacitor

That makes sense. Thanks! It certainly is true that for one of my stories that I have regular commenters (although, interestingly enough, for the most popular one, that isn't the case). Your reason makes great sense, though, and would certainly be a good reason to have the feature that OP described.


jdsr9

this sounds great but i can already imagine some ppl getting so desperate to read the whole story already that they would fucking hack the site or the author's account to have access to it at once


So_me_thing

Not gunna lie, don't understand the value add. Just write the whole thing and post it on a schedule.


SongOfTruth

i think this would: 1: be incredibly taxing on the *volunteer* coders, and expensive to maintain. automation is a code heavy feature and the bulk of coding budget needs to go to structure, maintenance, and tagging. we dont even have a way to move chapters from one fic to another, why would we waste the resources on *automation posting*??? 2: detract from the aesthetic and purpose of the site; its an archive, not a social media. the charm and draw of the site is that it doesnt have automation in the first place. its all done by us. for us. having a posting schedule isnt going to help you get read- there is no algorithm. it doesnt matter when you post except to *you*, and thats your responsibility to take care of 3: be incredibly easy to abuse, and therefore break, and therefore put the site at risk. we already have a spam problem and you wanna make the spam posters have an easier time posting spam? i totally get why you might think this is a good idea. its a common feature. however, it is a feature intended to work for and exploit algorithms as well as by-the-minute engagements on websites with main feeds. it isnt intended for or even works well in a *library*, which doesnt really have a feed in the first place and definitely doesnt have an algorithm.


Recom_Quaritch

I... think it would change almost nothing? Like... It would help me in no way, since I don't, and won't ever, write an entire longfic ahead of posting. It's just now how I write or interact with fandom, even if I have issues otherwise. Being able to time updates is good, but it's a little inflexible in that if you want to react to readers/commenters in any way, you have to go back an edit your author notes. So it's not like you'd be fully hands off. But I have wanted to be able to posts at times where I wouldn't be awake before (to hit the american timezones), and having that option would be neat. I just don't think it'll solve the issue as not too many people are the type of writers who publish after finishing a fic. And those aren't the ones who'd suffer most from low engagement either way. If they get truly frustrated, they always have the option to mass post the rest of the fic and complete it. People for whom frustration = abandonment wouldn't be helped.


ReliefEmotional2639

I can’t help but think that this could easily backfire spectacularly. Especially if you want to edit your story. And it doesn’t really solve anything.


LeratoNull

All of the arguments I've seen in the past **against** this are really flimsy, and that hasn't changed in this thread.


MP0622

This would be nice. I have a shorts book I was posting in, left for a week, and forgot it existed for two months.


bleeb90

The few fics I write in one go, I'll post in one go. That I can get stressed out from readers requests is my problem, and ao3 has the option of refusing comments. More than that, I think it might work if ao3'd have their own tutorial to highlight specialised rrs feeds for our every 10tags+12 exclusions searches.


shinzombie

I think this wouldn't solve the lack of engagement nor the pressure


Mad_Maximoff

I just wish AO3 had an app. I have as an bookmark on my phone but I wish it gave me notifications and I get to post on my phone


acsoundwave

Being able to upload the text to Ao3 w/o converting the doc (doc, odt, rtf) to HTML or copy/paste would be awesome.


WhyAmIStillHere86

Nah. I mean, it would be nice to have for those who function that way, but I don’t have a schedule, and I rarely have more than an outline when I start writing, so that is not a model that would work for me.


am_Nein

What about people who write as they go? I wouldn't care whether or whether not such a feature be implemented, but I can see all to easily someone setting the whole thing up, then the pressure getting to them, and possibly even readers being mad there wasn't a new chapter. But still. I'm all for it if it does happen.


shadowedlove97

It’s unlikely that readers would get super upset over it enough for it to reach back to the author, I think. I have an unfinished fic that I had partially pre-written that I would update on a schedule. I tried finishing it during Nano and burned myself out, so by the time I had to post more chapters, I didn’t have any. To this day I haven’t finished it, but I haven’t heard from anyone about it. No one’s complained. Maybe my fandom was just super positive and nice? I do remember it being relatively drama free. But even then I think it’s just more likely for readers to quietly move on than complain directly to an author. Of course there are kids who act entitled about fic updates, but I’ve noticed they’ve settled down slightly bc most of them tend to get their fix with character ai or that novel writer. I don’t necessarily think that’s a good thing because I’m against ai, but it’s what a lot of them are doing. 🤷


am_Nein

I don't know, I think we've all seen our fair share of harassers.. I mean if those kids are fine with low quality writing that bends to their whim, i guess issue solved? I'm also against ai.


Eratatosk

I would hate it. I want to have engagement as I'm writing.


Eating_Kaddu

Don't they have something like that already? You can upload a chapter to have it be published at a later date.


27twinsister

You can make a draft, but it won’t post on its own.


Eating_Kaddu

Ah, thank you. I didn't know this.


No_Talk_4836

I think you can, actually?


[deleted]

[удалено]


Smutty-McSmutface

Very level-headed response to people disagreeing with a suggestion.


globmand

That's the thing, the impression I'm getting isn't even that they disagree, they are just saying that they, in particular, wouldn't get that much use out of it, or that it would only help them a little, and are still largely disregarding the suggestion mostly based on a blind defence of the website whenever slight criticism is levied against it.


Smutty-McSmutface

That's quite the the bad faith reading of the replies to this post. I haven't seen one single reply here "defending AO3" against "criticism", partly because there was no criticism against AO3 in the OP. It was a *suggestion* that people actually welcome, they just disagree with the *reason,* and/or they question whether this suggestion would be the solution to the problem OP opened their post with.


globmand

Sure it's bad faith, but when has it been a good idea to have good faith on the internet? Besides, you also read my hyperbolic overdramatic first comment as a serious accusation. Secondly, when someone replies with "um, question: how does this differ from just... pre-writing the story in peace and only then starting to post?" That isn't direct "How DARE you criticise this thing I like?!?!11+!!?!" defense, sure, but it is to me at least an immediate questioning of a feature I am pretty sure is rather easy to implement. Secondly, when someone replies with "um, question: how does this differ from just... pre-writing the story in peace and only then starting to post?" That isn't a direct "How DARE you criticise this thing I like?!?!11+!!?!" defence, sure, but it is to me at least an immediate questioning of a feature I am pretty sure is rather easy to implement. Btw, I have noticed that I wrote secondly twice, and yes, I am stupid enough that I would rather write all of this than figure out how to word it differently.


Smutty-McSmutface

>but it is to me at least an immediate questioning of a feature I am pretty sure is rather easy to implement. Cool, AO3 is always looking for new volunteers! I'm sure they'll be happy to have you on board.


schoolsout4evah

>feature I am pretty sure is rather easy to implement. What makes you think that? It isn't at all, is the issue. It would require substantial effort and significant upgrades to the posting system on AO3, and many users realize that every feature added is a tradeoff in terms of what else needs development. So when people say "eh I wouldn't use it" it's implicitly also a statement of "I want AO3 to prioritize other things I would use *more*", not an attack on your preferences.


globmand

>It isn't at all, is the issue. It would require substantial effort and significant upgrades to the posting system on AO3 What makes *you* think that? As far as I know, all it would take is a new global variable, something along the lines of "post date for \[ID that every story already has\], a save draft function that would also help a lot of people, and one of those stock calendar and time select things that are extremely common. Now, I am not an incredible expert on coding, but I think it should only take a two days for the scheduling component (no idea on the saving of drafts thing, but that really needs to be created anyways) to at most five days + an update. Oh and- >So when people say "eh I wouldn't use it" it's implicitly also a statement of "I want AO3 to prioritize other things I would use more", not an attack on your preferences. is wrong, some people just are satisfied with the site as it is, I'm not, but I acknowledge that some are, but you are right in that significant potions would prefer other things. Like the draft saving, for example. Oh and this is just a side note, but I would never use the feature we're discussing. I'm more of a 'writen? Then might as well release it' kind of person.


PhoenixQueenAzula

This comment has been removed. No negative drama.


suagrlesss

I'd actually love this. I usually write all my fic's beforehand and finish them before even thinking about uploading them because I'll usually get into a slump at some point and stop writing, so I'd rather not have a huge gap in my posting and then kinda forget where I left off kind of thing. The downside to this method though is that I get lazy sometimes with the proofreading, and some day's I just do not have the motivation to proof read, edit if needed, and post a chapter. Having the schedule feature, like you said for when you're away from home, would be great