Nostalgia for things I'm glad are gone

[crantz]

When I joined fandom you had to submit your fics to an archive if you didn't run one yourself, or hope someone contacted you wanting to archive your fic from a mailing list. Or you had to, gasp, use fanfiction dot net which had a habit of deleting your fics at the random and coded like a cow but I think also had the sting of not having met some sort of editorial approval.

I'm glad fanfiction dot net is still among us, but I'm also glad archive of our own has become a hub. It's so useful! It has so many options! And no shame in uploading to it!

(that said, I really do want to use my webspace to make a fic archive for myself. I've got one for my original fiction but what if the worst happens? How then will people see my fic about Howl and Chrestomanci on vacation??)

Comments

[jaiden_s]

It was my first intro to slash. Do you know Azzy or Tallulah? They're both still around. Azzy still acts as mod for the archive. Every now and then, maybe once a year, I'll get a random comment on one of my old fics.

[crantz]

I've known multiple Azzys! It's a popular online nick. I dunno if any of them are the Moria one tho'. Like I had no idea you had fics on there at all! Or if mine is even still there.

My first intro was... god. It was 1999? 1998? I was looking up x-men midis on alta vista because the cartoon was in purgatory and there was no way of me ever seeing it again (because dvd collections weren't even a THING in anyone's eye at that point) and so I was listening to the clips and I came across this place that had a clip in its fanworks area! Something called Suri's X-Men Slash Archive or similar. It was Gambit and Wolverine fighting in the Danger Room and Rogue walking in surprised.

Well!

It turns out they weren't fighting and it was edited. I didn't realize though. I also saw a piece of art on the page where Gambit was literally in Wolverine's lap and I thought 'gosh, they're standing awfully close. That's an art choice'

(I was twelve?)

Anyway so my mom monitored my internet use and came and was like 'JOHN THAT WAS SLASH NEVER GO THERE THE LIGHT DOESN'T TOUCH THERE' because she had been on a Due South mailing list that had imploded into glorious flames over The Phantom Menace slash and was traumatized by the experience.

So of course I refound the website and read everything. I had to make up an 'older sister' to get onto the slash mailing lists though... and accidentally catfished some poor guy. Or maybe he was screwing with me and knew 'she' was a sockpuppet. I dunno! Mysteries for the ages.

[jaiden_s]

Most of my early Elf-centric fics are there. Some of them are truly vile. Awful. Embarrassing. We all have to start somewhere, though.

That is hilarious about 12 year old you!

[crantz]

Agree (not about your fics being bad, just about starting somewhere). I'm finally at a point where I'm fairly confident in my stories.

I got up to so many shenanigans in my teen years! You met me after I'd chilled a little. There was a period of my life where it was like 'okay it's been a year since we talked, here's the dossier on the confessions'