AO3 question

[shivver]

Since some of you understand how this stuff works better than I do...

I just got an email from AO3 saying that someone is requesting to include one of my stories in a collection. I had no idea people could do this. It sounds like the "community" feature on ffnet.

I looked at the collection (which is called "why sleep when you can read?"), and so far, it contains about twenty items, all of them anime fanfic except one Last Airbender/Stargate SG-1 crossover (strangely enough), one Bleach/Harry Potter crossover (also strange), and one Hobbit fanfic. Also the collection was created today. So, uh, what's the purpose of asking for one of my fics? I'm thoroughly confused.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

It sounds as if the author is making a collection of fic they like and wanted to include one of yours? Anyone can make a collection on AO3 and add fic to it, not just people who run exchanges and things. Why is presumably either for their own means of finding it again, given that bookmarks aren't always easy to sort through on AO3 or for reccing it to others, I suppose, but who knows?

[shivver]

I figured you'd have the best insight into this since you're a tag-wrangler and have some knowledge of how AO3 works. I thought long and hard about this and watched to see what other stories were added to the collection (all of them anima fics), and finally decided that yes, there really isn't any harm to approving it. I feel alternately honored and bemused by the whole thing. Thanks for your response! :)

[thisbluespirit]

I don't know much about the mysteries of collections, but, yeah, I don't see much harm in it, really! Take it as a compliment, I think - and well deserved, too.

[purplecat]

Like thisbluespirit says it's probably just someone curating a load of fic they like. Even if your story feels a bit like the odd one out, it's difficult to see the harm in agreeing to be included.

[shivver]

Yes, I came to that conclusion as well. I think my apprehension comes from my experiences on ffnet, where the majority of direct contact from unknown people seems to be either malicious or decidedly creepy.

A friend on LJ suggested that this might be someone trying to steal my work, but I can't really see how that would be possible, at least from the software engineering perspective - this isn't giving the requester any access to the fic on the administrative side, and I think AO3 is far more secure than ffnet and Teaspoon. Not to mention, if someone wanted to steal my fic, copy/paste is far easier. :)

[purplecat]

Yeah, if someone is trying to steal your stuff, there's not a lot you can do to stop it and I don't really see how bookmarking it in a collection would make it significantly easier.

I guess this could be bad if it was supposed to be some kind of collection of badfic with the intention that people should go and mock the authors - but that doesn't really look like its the case here.

[arcanetrivia]

What thisbluespirit and purplecat said.