Fanfiction.Net vs. Archive of Our Own

Fanfiction.Net vs. Archive of Our Own is an 2012 article by sockii published at "Hobby Lark." The article was "updated" in 2013 and 2017. 
Note: The author of this article was very active in Fan History Wiki, a project that was often very critical of The Organization for Transformative Works and its projects, one of which is Archive of Our Own.
See also Archive of our Own vs. FanLib: Why they are not succeeding.
==Contents of the Article==
* Are You Familiar With These Fan Fiction Archives?
* Books on Fandom and Fan Fiction History and Culture
* FanFiction.Net
* Criticisms of FanFiction.Net
* FanFiction.Net content purge update
* FanFiction.Net on Twitter
* Archive of Our Own
* News from Archive of Our Own
* Archive of Our Own on Twitter
* Criticisms of Archive of Our Own
* Make Your Choice: Which Archive Do You Think Is Better?
* Other Multi-Fandom Archives on the Internet
==The Article's Highlights Regarding Archive of Our Own==
Note: The article does not include a similar section for FanFiction.Net.
* Open to all kinds of fandoms, including Real Person Fiction
* Open to all ratings of fan-fiction, from general audiences to adult.
* As of February 2013, the archive now allows users to host meta fandom writings as well as fiction.
* Ability to lock story visibility to other AO3 members only, to minimize search engine inclusion (some authors don’t want their stories showing up in general Google searches.)
* Allowance of certain fandoms (include Anne Rice’s “Vampire Chronicles”) and story types (including songfic) which have been banned from FanFiction.Net.
* Ability to link various pseodonyms [sic] and names under one account, and to also “orphan” stories to remove your name from them
* A complex tagging system so that stories can be searched by theme (romance, hurt/comfort), trope (Steampunk AU, Aliens made them do it) or whatever an author may choose
* Backdating system, useful if one is trying to organize all of her fanfiction chronologically
* Ability to import stories from other URLs
* Collections and challenges
* A “Kudos” button to show that you read a story and enjoyed it, without having to leave written feedback
* Ability to add new fandoms if not already listed, without having to wait for a site administrator to add them
* A warning system for common fannish triggers and controversial subjects – which an author can choose or choose not to use
==The Article Had Criticisms of Both Archives==
One thing to keep in mind is that this article was written shortly after the Fanfiction.net Fiction Purge, something that caused many fans to leave that site and go to Archive of Our Own. One of the results of this exodus was a sudden overload of interest and traffic at AO3, and it caused a number of temporary technical problems.See , June 11, 2012.See , June 14, 2012.See , June 16, 2012
The article's criticisms of FanFiction.net:
* Difficulty finding quality fiction amidst all of the dreck.
* Limitations on allowed content.
* Sorting multiple-character/relationship fiction is difficult.
* Annoying advertising.
* Disinterest in punishing/banning plagiarist authors and plagiarism.
The article's criticisms of Archive of Our Own:
* Too heavily focused on media fandom.
* No ability to sort out crossovers from non-crossover stories.
* Frequent downtime/slow server response.
* The tagging system is a mess.
* Lack of community/readers don't comment and review.
* Hard to keep up with what's new in a particular fandom.
* No filter "out" options, period and too much adult content/no way to filter out adult summaries and titles. As of 2018, an exclusion and inclusion filter for crossovers has been available. 
* Increasingly long wait for an invite code.
* Coding problems from the ground up/three years and the site is still in beta.
==Some 2012 Fan Comments: Imbedded in the Article==
==Some Fan Comments: Regarding the Article Itself==
==References==
Category:Archives
Category:Organization for Transformative Works Meta
Category:2012 Meta
Category:Meta on Fansites