>> That's very helpful about what Wayback does well and doesn't.<<
I'm happy I could help. If folks are serious about saving meta, I suggest experimenting with a variety of archive sites to see which ones do what better, then write up a comparison so users can decide which to pick for a given item.
>> I think that Fanlore ends up being a good storage spot for things like intros to characters, pairings and fandoms but it's far from comprehensive and is meant more for pointing to things than hosting them.<<
That makes sense.
>> Since some of the original locations are gone, so having those original items archived is valuable, but it doesn't really create a means of having conversations about the topic.<<
Well, what about a database and a forum within the same organization? We did that with Torn World, which also had ... LiveJournal, I think it was. For meta, we already have several communities in Dreamwidth.
>> I agree that having a location for meta that is easily searchable would be ideal, because more structural formats like bulletin boards or wikis are likely to be too broad, especially for a multifandom site.<<
They each have their own uses. An advantage of databases is you can stack things any way you want. Frex, the Torn World database had ways to view things in chronological order overall, or follow entries in a specific storyline. You could search by creator, or by character. There were thematic sets too.
So with meta, someone might want to search character manifestos, ship manifestos, etc. Or they might want to look at different types of entry within one fandom. With multifandom meta, we need that ability to change the dimension of a search. Something else to track would be layers of meta. If fans write directly about canon, that's one layer. But then if they start collating information across meta -- Which series have more femslash, which run to acefic? -- based on meta entries rather than canon or fanfic, that's another layer. And if academics get involved, it's another yet again, so we might want to consider whether we want to include or exclude that particular layer. Some people like academia because they feel it makes fandom get taken more seriously as cultural constructs; others dislike it because they find it intrusive or laughably wrong.
>>Just like SquidgeWorld, other groups could use AO3's code to create a site exclusively for fandom meta. <<
That's not a bad idea if it's customizable.
>>However I do feel there's a lot of benefit to have them woven together (as they used to be in places like LJ or DW) with creative works since that means you can have a fanwork and its attached commentary, a fandom resource alongside fanworks that use it, or episode reviews along with fanworks they've inspired.<<
People are talking about more ways to connect sites. If that works out, great. If not, there are always excerpts and links. I do like the idea of being able to connect things easily as you described. We wouldn't need to host everything, but it'd be nice to have the meta-relevant material available in the same place as the meta. A challenge with that would be getting permission to reprint things, because a lot of folks have gotten very touchy about that after some violations of author rights.
Re: Thoughts
I'm happy I could help. If folks are serious about saving meta, I suggest experimenting with a variety of archive sites to see which ones do what better, then write up a comparison so users can decide which to pick for a given item.
>> I think that Fanlore ends up being a good storage spot for things like intros to characters, pairings and fandoms but it's far from comprehensive and is meant more for pointing to things than hosting them.<<
That makes sense.
>> Since some of the original locations are gone, so having those original items archived is valuable, but it doesn't really create a means of having conversations about the topic.<<
Well, what about a database and a forum within the same organization? We did that with Torn World, which also had ... LiveJournal, I think it was. For meta, we already have several communities in Dreamwidth.
>> I agree that having a location for meta that is easily searchable would be ideal, because more structural formats like bulletin boards or wikis are likely to be too broad, especially for a multifandom site.<<
They each have their own uses. An advantage of databases is you can stack things any way you want. Frex, the Torn World database had ways to view things in chronological order overall, or follow entries in a specific storyline. You could search by creator, or by character. There were thematic sets too.
So with meta, someone might want to search character manifestos, ship manifestos, etc. Or they might want to look at different types of entry within one fandom. With multifandom meta, we need that ability to change the dimension of a search. Something else to track would be layers of meta. If fans write directly about canon, that's one layer. But then if they start collating information across meta -- Which series have more femslash, which run to acefic? -- based on meta entries rather than canon or fanfic, that's another layer. And if academics get involved, it's another yet again, so we might want to consider whether we want to include or exclude that particular layer. Some people like academia because they feel it makes fandom get taken more seriously as cultural constructs; others dislike it because they find it intrusive or laughably wrong.
>>Just like SquidgeWorld, other groups could use AO3's code to create a site exclusively for fandom meta. <<
That's not a bad idea if it's customizable.
>>However I do feel there's a lot of benefit to have them woven together (as they used to be in places like LJ or DW) with creative works since that means you can have a fanwork and its attached commentary, a fandom resource alongside fanworks that use it, or episode reviews along with fanworks they've inspired.<<
People are talking about more ways to connect sites. If that works out, great. If not, there are always excerpts and links. I do like the idea of being able to connect things easily as you described. We wouldn't need to host everything, but it'd be nice to have the meta-relevant material available in the same place as the meta. A challenge with that would be getting permission to reprint things, because a lot of folks have gotten very touchy about that after some violations of author rights.