March Meta Matters Challenge, Check-in No. 2

[yourlibrarian]

Hello everyone! It's check-in time to see how we're all getting along with our meta importing.

Comment below with any of the following:

1) Anything unexpected you've discovered as you got started?

2) If you have a lot to archive/copy over, have you figured out how you'll organize it?

Remember, this account accepts anonymous comments, so if you don't have a Dreamwidth account we still want to hear from you and have you take part.

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Not unexpected, though I gather anyone planning to work with AO3 is having issues.

I am excited to note I have finished copying over my 2024 and 2025 works to Squidge already! Will now do January and February to be up to date, but have finished this far earlier than expected.

(Looks like they've been busy with lots of new users, as well).

[cornerofmadness]

Nothing unexpected because I've not had time to start and I don't have a lot to organize. I mostly just need a TARDIS

[yourlibrarian]

Even not being a Who fan, I too could use a TARDIS!

[osteophage]

The main things I've accomplished so far, copied over from Pillowfort:

• SQW/AO3 versions of Reading Halloween (1978) Through the Lens of Labor
  
• Neocities version of AO3 Comments and Why People Aren't Leaving More of Them
  
• Neocities version of Sympathy for Anton Ego: An Antifan Manifesto 
  

The AO3 comments essay needed an update about Tumblr's addition of threaded replies in August 2024, and that essay also had a bunch of broken Tumblr links, so I had to check for archived copies and then update them across all four versions. Kind of annoying, but I'm glad that's taken care of.

[yourlibrarian]

Copying over your comment from Pillowfort "There are also folks who'd be happy to help with making your own website (ex. on Neocities or Nekoweb) as a potential destination, as well!"

[atamascolily]

Took at stab at archiving this week and have about ~12 posts in AO3 drafts rn. Sorting by subject is proving harder than I thought because the posts often cover multiple themes. Have decided to fall back on "do my best and don't worry about it".

Once I'm satisfied with everything, I'll post them all but in the meantime, this allows me to check for mistakes and make any changes before I commit to any particular arrangement.

As in previous years, I'm struggling with doubts like "oh, I would write it differently now" and "will anyone care?" but re-reading old meta always makes me want to add onto it or write new stuff and I have to work hard to avoid distractions.

Once I get into it, it's easy to keep going, but starting is usually the hardest part.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, so many things can cross over in a piece! I actually have a few layers of Series that I use. Some are self-explanatory standalones (i.e. Meta About Specific Canons) but a lot of others are nestled under the general Reviews series. So I have Concert Reviews, Bits About Books, Short Takes, Movie Talk, etc.

Those last three are actually their own series as I have multiple ones. I did this mostly to avoid a block of tags each time someone searched on an item. So I tried to limit them to 25-30 chapters (since each is for a different canon). I now have 6 Short Takes, 3 Bits About Books, etc. And all of those series are part of the general Reviews series.

So I think one could definitely create a post that was a part of more than one Series, depending on how you choose to organize things.

I totally agree with your tips! Getting started is definitely the hardest thing. Once one is making progress you want to keep going.

Now that I'm on year 6 of this, I have fewer hesitations about whether or not to copy something over, or whether or not to stop and add something. (A lot of my content is very short so there are fewer things to fix, but of the longer ones I read through there is almost always something I edit!) I just want to get things done.

I am now completely current, and chances are I will archive as I go this year because I don't have to worry about confusing myself regarding where I left off. That will give me plenty of time to edit and add!