Comment on Call for Feedback on Category Change Proposal

  1. Irene (Guest) Wed 18 Sep 2013 06:00PM UTC

    The comics category is also missing, well, comics. There are comics that aren't DC or Marvel. But maybe Mickey Mouse now falls under Marvel after the Big Mouse bought them and ElfQuest under DC for the cooperation they did a few years back. But then I wonder were The Darkness and Fix and Foxy go.

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    1. dizmo Wed 18 Sep 2013 06:28PM UTC

      The AO3 logo in steampunk copper with a cog-head.

      'Fandoms may also belong to a category but none of its subcategories. That subset of fandoms that belong to a specific category but none of its subcategories will be viewable.'

      So they would probably just be under 'Animation, Comics, Manga & Other Sequential Art' without actually being in one of the subcategories.

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      1. teaberryblue Wed 18 Sep 2013 07:23PM UTC

        Which is problematic because now you'll have Futurama, Archie Comics, Mutts, R. Crumb, and The Lion King all in the same subcategory with no further filtering.

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        1. dizmo Wed 18 Sep 2013 07:29PM UTC

          The AO3 logo in steampunk copper with a cog-head.

          But right now they're just all in the huge top-category with no subcategories at all, which is even more unwieldy.

          And there's not really much point in making a subcategory for, just tossing a number out there, three fandoms that actually exist on the archive. The proposal says that they aren't fixed and as more fandoms get added, more subcats can too, but having too many overcomplicates thing.

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          1. teaberryblue Wed 18 Sep 2013 07:36PM UTC

            Oh, no, if it's something with, like, two fandoms, that makes perfect sense, but animated movies and television shows should definitely be split out, and I don't really see why we're giving Marvel and DC (both commercial brand names) top billing when we could have "comic books" or "comic serials." which would satisfy a lot of things that do belong in the same category without giving a privileged place to a commercial brand. (I say this as someone who writes Marvel fic, BTW)

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            1. Account Deleted Wed 18 Sep 2013 08:33PM UTC

              Yeah, why wouldn't the tree be more like (Ridiculously long top-level media category) > Comic Books > Marvel Comics? And Cartoons > Movies + Cartoons > TV? This doesn't seem well-planned at all.

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              1. teaberryblue Wed 18 Sep 2013 09:05PM UTC

                I think it took a lot of work and the team did a great job; I'd just like to see that category reconfigured a bit.

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                1. Account Deleted Wed 18 Sep 2013 10:16PM UTC

                  You're right, I was a bit unfair there; I just have this real pet peeve about weirdly-organized things, and the second image with the Jenga-like clutter made me so irritated I wasn't thinking about my language.

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            3. musikurt Thu 19 Sep 2013 03:23AM UTC

              Completely agree about the commercial brand/publisher sub categories, especially as it doesn't seem consistent with the rest of the structure. Plus it seems a bit US-centric for an Archive that claims to be committed to being open and welcoming to international audiences.

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            4. LadyOscar (Category_Change_Workgroup) Thu 19 Sep 2013 04:40PM UTC

              Hi teaberryblue,

              A concern we ran into with these types of submedia is that it’s difficult to come up with a name that unambiguously describes what’s in them. For example, to be useful as a submedium, “comic books” should exclude manga, manhwa, and any other existing submedia, but depending on a user’s language, region, etc., that’s not necessarily going to be obvious from the name. We’re definitely open to suggestions for ways around the issue.

              Best,
              Lady Oscar
              AO3 Category Change Workgroup

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              1. teaberryblue Thu 19 Sep 2013 06:10PM UTC

                Thanks for your response!

                I see the issue with something as vague as "comic books" being misleading. I totally think manga/manwha are valid subcategories from a format perspective. Someone suggested breaking out "superhero comics," which aren't a format per se, but which handles the problem of the Big Two as massive fandoms and makes it clear what doesn't belong in that category. Since the vast majority of floppies would end up there, that would be cool. There would be limited crossover with manga/manwha and graphic novels. It might solve the problem of just having a giant soup in the main category-- the number of comic books that would end up in the main category would be significantly smaller.

                I work in comics, and the way to distinguish is usually to refer to periodical comics as floppies, but I don't know how ubiquitous that term is.

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              2. (4 more comments in this thread)

    3. LadyOscar (Category_Change_Workgroup) Thu 19 Sep 2013 04:40PM UTC

      Hi Irene,

      Thank you for your feedback. Currently those fandoms would fall directly under the top category with no submedium. However, we’re open to changing that and welcome input on what such a submedium should contain and be named.

      Best,
      Lady Oscar
      AO3 Category Change Workgroup

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