Snape/OFC?

[Guest lenore]

So, I happen to be like... a complete Snape/OFC whore, but I can't seem to find said fanfics with all the changingaroundness. Is this like a temporary thing? or am I like... doomed X_X

[DemonGoddess]

*sighs*

This is all the beginnings of the reworking and cleaning up the entire archive, subdomain by subdomain. These particular fics you'll find in the het category, as that is where they were moved to.

[Trickie Woo]

So, I happen to be like... a complete Snape/OFC whore, but I can't seem to find said fanfics with all the changingaroundness. Is this like a temporary thing? or am I like... doomed X_X

With the way they've changed the Harry Potter category, and particularly Snape/OFC (my favorite too and the only one I read here) it looks to me that they are not part of the Potter fandom, care less about Snape than Rowling does, and that our needs don't matter at all.

Are you familiar with Sycophant Hex and what happened when they tried to change to a new system called Mage? The new system was so f--ked up with new bugs and glitches appearing every day and Their members were very unhappy and leaving in droves. After 6 months the Mage system was FUBB (F--ked Up Beyond Belief) that they had to admit defeat and go back to the old system. I won't be surprised if that happens here unless they give into the needs the readers (and the writers) have.

In the meantime Occlumency, the Snape archive at Sycophant Hex, is where all the Snape/OFC stories are kept. You will find Snape centric non romance stories ans Snape/any canon female except Hermione there too. I only read Snape stories and I lothe the SS/HG pairing. If you want story recommendations or have some to give let me know, I'll be glad to swap recs with you. The are still some archives where it's easy to find SS/OFC and I know most of them.

Trickie Woo

[BrucesGirl]

Ok, my dear pretties. This is a little bit of a wake up call for those of you who aren't aware how this site technically works. We have a certain amount of bandwidth we are allowed every month from Nexcess for the 500$ that we pay them. A month. This archive is not free for the administrators to run. That's why the require donations.

Every time you click on a page, it uses a certain amount of bandwidth. Each chapter in each story runs about an average of 6mb every time you click on it. So a ten chapter story, of which there are plenty, is an average of 60 mb or more. Imagine a ten chapter story that updates every week to more and more chapters. Say, 2500 hits slam that story every time it updates. So, for every 2500 hundred people, let's say a 1000 of them read all the chapters over again as it updates. That's SIX Gigabytes of bandwidth every time someone updates. This can be remedied to lesser amounts if the topics are compressed with in one another, making the stores sub-domains and using up less bandwidth.

How does this work? Every time you bring up a page, and it has FIFTY GAZILLION links on it, it generates a query (a request to the domain to retrieve those links) and that takes up data usages. (A lot of it.) So ontop of having 6GB of usage on reading alone, we're also using up massive amounts of data because the site is not running efficiently.

Basically, it makes the files smaller and take up less space. It's like putting a box inside of a box, so to speak.

Let me make this crystal clear.

AFF techies are doing their absolute best to keep this site running on the load it carries AND be affordable for the runners to maintain without flooding us with advertisements and popups. We have a unique viewing of 25,000 people PER DAY, and that's just the people who sign in. So let's give DemonGoddess a break and work with her. There won't be some mass exodus from AFF and no one is going to quit the site because they don't like what they see. Everything is still THERE. It's just organized better.

So this is great for all you OCD people. It means tighter control. Tighter categories on your stories. They'll be going RIGHT to the fan base that they need to be going to.

As for the rest of you that have an issue with the organization... Try running a server as big as AFF with 600$ overages AND a 500$ bill on top of that... and then we'll talk.

Have a nice one.

[hanyou-elf]

With the way they've changed the Harry Potter category, and particularly Snape/OFC (my favorite too and the only one I read here) it looks to me that they are not part of the Potter fandom, care less about Snape than Rowling does, and that our needs don't matter at all.

Are you familiar with Sycophant Hex and what happened when they tried to change to a new system called Mage? The new system was so f--ked up with new bugs and glitches appearing every day and Their members were very unhappy and leaving in droves. After 6 months the Mage system was FUBB (F--ked Up Beyond Belief) that they had to admit defeat and go back to the old system. I won't be surprised if that happens here unless they give into the needs the readers (and the writers) have.

In the meantime Occlumency, the Snape archive at Sycophant Hex, is where all the Snape/OFC stories are kept. You will find Snape centric non romance stories ans Snape/any canon female except Hermione there too. I only read Snape stories and I lothe the SS/HG pairing. If you want story recommendations or have some to give let me know, I'll be glad to swap recs with you. The are still some archives where it's easy to find SS/OFC and I know most of them.

Trickie Woo

wow. first of all, just wow. so, the admins are purposefully targeting all the snape/ofc fan-girls/-boys out there because they have some personal vendetta against them all? all of the site improvements have targeted snape/ofc's to maliciously remove that fandom completely from aff? do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? how utterly childish and borderline retarded that makes you appear to be?

the techies are doing as much work as they can possibly do to make the site easier to access, easier to navigate, and at the end of the day, a much more enjoyable foray into fanfiction for each reader and author. now in doing so, it means that things are going to have to change. the unorganized chaos that was the old aff is no more. now there is organization, now there is order. things are easier to navigate. and when things are sorted out and made that much more easier, it makes for an overall enjoyable reading experience. i know that i have yet to find anything to complain about with the new organizing. it looks better, it's easier to navigate. the pages don't appear inundated with crap as they used to. the site moves much quicker.

if that's horrible to you, or if you think they the techies are separating you from everyone else, please, burst the damn ego and get a grip. while realistically nobody can please everybody and somebody's bound to be hurt in the end, the thing to remember about everything that's going on, is that in the end, the site will be that much more enjoyable. it will be a much nicer place to play and enjoy all of the fandoms you so choose, no matter what they happen to be.

so, get over yourself, both of you, and be grateful the techies care enough to even attempt to make it a nicer place to be. that they are trying everything they know how to keep us from being swamped with pop-ups. just be grateful they even care. period. if changes, for the better i might add, are going to offend you, or upset you, then what the hell? how old are you really to be so immaturely hurt? i could almost guarantee you if you actually utilized the 'search' feature while things are being moved to their new homes, you'd find what you wanted. as you can't seem to grasp the use of helpful tools like that, how are you going to learn to run on another site?

Edited April 21, 2008 by hanyou-elf

[Trickie Woo]

Ok, my dear pretties. This is a little bit of a wake up call for those of you who aren't aware how this site technically works. We have a certain amount of bandwidth we are allowed every month from Nexcess for the 500$ that we pay them. A month. This archive is not free for the administrators to run. That's why the require donations.

Every time you click on a page, it uses a certain amount of bandwidth. Each chapter in each story runs about an average of 6mb every time you click on it. So a ten chapter story, of which there are plenty, is an average of 60 mb or more. Imagine a ten chapter story that updates every week to more and more chapters. Say, 2500 hits slam that story every time it updates. So, for every 2500 hundred people, let's say a 1000 of them read all the chapters over again as it updates. That's SIX Gigabytes of bandwidth every time someone updates. This can be remedied to lesser amounts if the topics are compressed with in one another, making the stores sub-domains and using up less bandwidth.

How does this work? Every time you bring up a page, and it has FIFTY GAZILLION links on it, it generates a query (a request to the domain to retrieve those links) and that takes up data usages. (A lot of it.) So ontop of having 6GB of usage on reading alone, we're also using up massive amounts of data because the site is not running efficiently.

Basically, it makes the files smaller and take up less space. It's like putting a box inside of a box, so to speak.

Let me make this crystal clear.

AFF techies are doing their absolute best to keep this site running on the load it carries AND be affordable for the runners to maintain without flooding us with advertisements and popups. We have a unique viewing of 25,000 people PER DAY, and that's just the people who sign in. So let's give DemonGoddess a break and work with her. There won't be some mass exodus from AFF and no one is going to quit the site because they don't like what they see. Everything is still THERE. It's just organized better.

So this is great for all you OCD people. It means tighter control. Tighter categories on your stories. They'll be going RIGHT to the fan base that they need to be going to.

As for the rest of you that have an issue with the organization... Try running a server as big as AFF with 600$ overages AND a 500$ bill on top of that... and then we'll talk.

Have a nice one.

I have made anonymous donations to many archives, this one included, but I will not continue my donations unless an archive gives me what I need, that is an easy way to find the stories I am reading and new strories I want to read. I'd even be willing to pay monthly dues to a Website that gives me what I need and what I want, but you haven't offered that as an option. It works for Public TV, if the public gets what they want they will give money to continue getting those programs.

If I can't find anything I was reading and there is no way to search for it and no option offered to bring story search or the OFC/OMC categories back or at least make it easier for me to find them why should I continue coming to AFF to read fan fic? I am not the only person who feels this way, one author I beta for has already switched her story to Occlumency and the group of Snape/OFC fans I know, both readers and writers, are seriously talking about leaving AFF. There are greener pastures out there that feature easy to use story search functions, email alerts, and a place to list your favorites so you can find them. I'm willing to pay for that.

[BrucesGirl]

I have made anonymous donations to many archives, this one included, but I will not continue my donations unless an archive gives me what I need, that is an easy way to find the stories I am reading and new strories I want to read. I'd even be willing to pay monthly dues to a Website that gives me what I need and what I want, but you haven't offered that as an option. It works for Public TV, if the public gets what they want they will give money to continue getting those programs.

If I can't find anything I was reading and there is no way to search for it and no option offered to bring story search or the OFC/OMC categories back or at least make it easier for me to find them why should I continue coming to AFF to read fan fic? I am not the only person who feels this way, one author I beta for has already switched her story to Occlumency and the group of Snape/OFC fans I know, both readers and writers, are seriously talking about leaving AFF. There are greener pastures out there that feature easy to use story search functions, email alerts, and a place to list your favorites so you can find them. I'm willing to pay for that.

Well, I won't go into how much work I've put into this site, nor how much time and effort I've put in to chasing off minors, or the copius amounts of money that I've spent on it. So basically, what you're saying is that since the archive doesn't cater specifically to you, you don't want to have anything to do with it. That rather annoys me and it makes you look arrogant.

Don't let the AFF door hit you on your way out.

[Trickie Woo]

wow. first of all, just wow. so, the admins are purposefully targeting all the snape/ofc fan-girls/-boys out there because they have some personal vendetta against them all? all of the site improvements have targeted snape/ofc's to maliciously remove that fandom completely from aff? do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? how utterly childish and borderline retarded that makes you appear to be?

the techies are doing as much work as they can possibly do to make the site easier to access, easier to navigate, and at the end of the day, a much more enjoyable foray into fanfiction for each reader and author. now in doing so, it means that things are going to have to change. the unorganized chaos that was the old aff is no more. now there is organization, now there is order. things are easier to navigate. and when things are sorted out and made that much more easier, it makes for an overall enjoyable reading experience. i know that i have yet to find anything to complain about with the new organizing. it looks better, it's easier to navigate. the pages don't appear inundated with crap as they used to. the site moves much quicker.

if that's horrible to you, or if you think they the techies are separating you from everyone else, please, burst the damn ego and get a grip. while realistically nobody can please everybody and somebody's bound to be hurt in the end, the thing to remember about everything that's going on, is that in the end, the site will be that much more enjoyable. it will be a much nicer place to play and enjoy all of the fandoms you so choose, no matter what they happen to be.

so, get over yourself, both of you, and be grateful the techies care enough to even attempt to make it a nicer place to be. that they are trying everything they know how to keep us from being swamped with pop-ups. just be grateful they even care. period. if changes, for the better i might add, are going to offend you, or upset you, then what the hell? how old are you really to be so immaturely hurt? i could almost guarantee you if you actually utilized the 'search' feature while things are being moved to their new homes, you'd find what you wanted. as you can't seem to grasp the use of helpful tools like that, how are you going to learn to run on another site?

How old are you anyway to so immaturely think that you are totally right and anyone who protests what you do is wrong? Most of this sounds like a Marxist spouting communist dogma. Do you act that way about everything?

I wrote to Jaxxy when I discovered the category list I had on my Favorites was gone. She told me to go to the Forum and express my complaints. I had never registered for the forum so I did that Friday after I got her email and started posting Saturday night. Here is the text of the email Jaxxy sent me Friday:

It's so wonderful to speak to a more mature helpful, and understanding

Member such as yourself. I don't think I could easily be anyone's

grandmother around the site, but being in my middle thirties, it is

sometimes tiring to try to keep up with the teenagers (cherished as our

Membership is).

We won't be making a single change that is not necessary. Also, none of

the core philosophies that AFF was built upon or has upheld for these five

and a half years are going to change. I have made sure that our new lot

of Staff has got the "AFF Spirit", as I (cheesily) like to call it.

So, things will be shuffled and regrouped as the coding dictates we must

(to stay alive), but nothing, as far as allowable Story content or

quality, will be lost. I really *do* hope it doesn't become too hard for

people such as yourself to find their favorite things here -- if it does,

I imagine we will find a way around it. Nothing we do is carved in stone;

I will keep this site flexible so it can bend with any winds of change

that come and remain intact.

Here is the response I've gotten so far from the category-shuffling Staff

Member I mentioned I'd forward your letter to:

"I merged the OFC/OMC categories because they make no real sense. The

stories are in het. It's also in interest of keeping those sub subs from

exploding all over the place."

So, apparently, what our technical team sees at this point is just a need

to simplify and condense things so the coding is happy. I'm guessing,

once that is squared away, we'll be able to adjust things so that everyone

can get at least a little of what they'd like. Though I know you can't

always please everyone, I like to try.

In the meantime, it might be a fine idea to go on over to the Forum and

start some discussions about it -- if many people desire things to be a

certain way, and Staff can see that, it gives us more inspiration to try

to find a way to get things done for them. Not that we are uninspired!

It's only that AFF is a bear to run, pay for, and maintain; this keeps us

extremely busy.

I sure hope it's not a "no way, the coding can't handle it" thing, for

your sake... but neither can I guarantee that. I am not a technical

expert such as some of the the lovely ladies and gentlemen that donate

themselves to AFF are, and I must trust their judgment.

See you around the site.

-- Jaxxy

I have done what she advised and you have done your best to insult me. I am old enough to collect Social Security, strong enough and mature enough to overcome some of the worst that can happen to a human being, for example I lost my son 11 days before his second birthday when he died a few days after having open heart surgery to correct a heart defect he was born with and my father was killed in action in WW2 when I was an infant. I'm also smart enough to be a survivor, your insults can't hurt me.

This is what I told hanyouelf and i will repeat it for your benefit:

I have made anonymous donations to many archives, this one included, but I will not continue my donations unless an archive gives me what I need, that is an easy way to find the stories I am reading and new strories I want to read. I'd even be willing to pay monthly dues to a Website that gives me what I need and what I want, but you haven't offered that as an option. It works for Public TV, if the public gets what they want they will give money to continue getting those programs.

If I can't find anything I was reading and there is no way to search for it and no option offered to bring story search or the OFC/OMC categories back or at least make it easier for me to find them why should I continue coming to AFF to read fan fic? I am not the only person who feels this way, one author I beta for has already switched her story to Occlumency and the group of Snape/OFC fans I know, both readers and writers, are seriously talking about leaving AFF. There are greener pastures out there that feature easy to use story search functions, email alerts, and a place to list your favorites so you can find them. I'm willing to pay for that

[DemonGoddess]

That's enough of that here in the Searching forum. By all means, continue your discussion in forum, but do it in the parts set up for it. I'm moving this to where it actually should go.

---

Now that this is moved....

What I am seeing from you is an extreme LACK of patience. If you read any of what has been posted about this at all, you'll see that this is ongoing, and that there are many things being done. There's only one of us actually moving the stuff around (me), and the other two are very busy with rewriting the code itself. In order to bring in improvements like a search engine that actually works, for example? The old code has to be brought up to latest language version standards. Period. Or this thing will crash. What the recategorizing and then further resorting is doing is STABILIZING this database, which is huge, by the way. By stabilizing the database, this means that the techs here are then able to have the time to actually do the even more important coding replacements. I have had to babysit the database for the archive DAILY for MONTHS, in order to keep it from crashing. I'm not the only one who does this, by the way. So you see, stabilization of the database was and is critical. On a great number of levels.

[Guest Jaxxy]

How old are you anyway to so immaturely think that you are totally right and anyone who protests what you do is wrong? Most of this sounds like a Marxist spouting communist dogma. Do you act that way about everything?

I wrote to Jaxxy when I discovered the category list I had on my Favorites was gone. She told me to go to the Forum and express my complaints. I had never registered for the forum so I did that Friday after I got her email and started posting Saturday night. Here is the text of the email Jaxxy sent me Friday:

It's so wonderful to speak to a more mature helpful, and understanding

Member such as yourself. I don't think I could easily be anyone's

grandmother around the site, but being in my middle thirties, it is

sometimes tiring to try to keep up with the teenagers (cherished as our

Membership is).

We won't be making a single change that is not necessary. Also, none of

the core philosophies that AFF was built upon or has upheld for these five

and a half years are going to change. I have made sure that our new lot

of Staff has got the "AFF Spirit", as I (cheesily) like to call it.

So, things will be shuffled and regrouped as the coding dictates we must

(to stay alive), but nothing, as far as allowable Story content or

quality, will be lost. I really *do* hope it doesn't become too hard for

people such as yourself to find their favorite things here -- if it does,

I imagine we will find a way around it. Nothing we do is carved in stone;

I will keep this site flexible so it can bend with any winds of change

that come and remain intact.

Here is the response I've gotten so far from the category-shuffling Staff

Member I mentioned I'd forward your letter to:

"I merged the OFC/OMC categories because they make no real sense. The

stories are in het. It's also in interest of keeping those sub subs from

exploding all over the place."

So, apparently, what our technical team sees at this point is just a need

to simplify and condense things so the coding is happy. I'm guessing,

once that is squared away, we'll be able to adjust things so that everyone

can get at least a little of what they'd like. Though I know you can't

always please everyone, I like to try.

In the meantime, it might be a fine idea to go on over to the Forum and

start some discussions about it -- if many people desire things to be a

certain way, and Staff can see that, it gives us more inspiration to try

to find a way to get things done for them. Not that we are uninspired!

It's only that AFF is a bear to run, pay for, and maintain; this keeps us

extremely busy.

I sure hope it's not a "no way, the coding can't handle it" thing, for

your sake... but neither can I guarantee that. I am not a technical

expert such as some of the the lovely ladies and gentlemen that donate

themselves to AFF are, and I must trust their judgment.

See you around the site.

-- Jaxxy

I have done what she advised and you have done your best to insult me. I am old enough to collect Social Security, strong enough and mature enough to overcome some of the worst that can happen to a human being, for example I lost my son 11 days before his second birthday when he died a few days after having open heart surgery to correct a heart defect he was born with and my father was killed in action in WW2 when I was an infant. I'm also smart enough to be a survivor, your insults can't hurt me.

This is what I told hanyouelf and i will repeat it for your benefit:

I have made anonymous donations to many archives, this one included, but I will not continue my donations unless an archive gives me what I need, that is an easy way to find the stories I am reading and new strories I want to read. I'd even be willing to pay monthly dues to a Website that gives me what I need and what I want, but you haven't offered that as an option. It works for Public TV, if the public gets what they want they will give money to continue getting those programs.

If I can't find anything I was reading and there is no way to search for it and no option offered to bring story search or the OFC/OMC categories back or at least make it easier for me to find them why should I continue coming to AFF to read fan fic? I am not the only person who feels this way, one author I beta for has already switched her story to Occlumency and the group of Snape/OFC fans I know, both readers and writers, are seriously talking about leaving AFF. There are greener pastures out there that feature easy to use story search functions, email alerts, and a place to list your favorites so you can find them. I'm willing to pay for that

(goodness, that's my email up there!)

Let me begin by saying that this post is directed at absolutely no one in particular. It is meant to address the general situation at hand.

Problem here is, everyone's right! Nearly everything I've seen that's been said on this subject is correct; the only thing that sours me is that the tone of the discussion is tilting towards the realm of the too-personal, and wherever there is unnecessary discord, I admit I get a nasty thrill.

The people who continually work to preserve and improve AFF are doing a bang-up job, and are only barely beginning this new project. When it is said that it is wrong to herald the woesome future of the site and its Members before seeing anything like a final product, that is correct.

When it is said that there are other sites out there which are able to more personally cater to certain needs, this is dead-on as well; we have multiple hundreds of thousands of people to care for each month. Nor can we "change our program", as has been suggested here or elsewhere -- of course we've thought about it (we think AFF all day and night, long after others have moved on to watching TV), and have already ascertained that the data loss would be tremendous.

There is certainly some lack of respect on most sides of this conversation, so when I am told by multiple people that this thread verges on a flame war, that is not so wrong as to be called an untruth, either -- and so, neither is that wrong.

The fact that donors of money should have a chance to speak their minds is valid.

The fact that any person alive should have a chance to speak their mind is valid, too.

The concept that those with the (daunting) responsibility of maintaining and repairing this site have the right to be appreciated for what they do is undeniable.

It's very true that I want nothing more than to make the majority of our members smile, if I can implement it at all. If I can implement it at all.

I have said that I will do my utter best to get as many people as possible what they want from this site, and this also remains true. When the chips have all fallen, we will see what we can do about the odd Sub-Categories that our necessary re-structure does not strictly have room for. I'm rather sure we have no ideas to give you at this time, but this particular Staff is very, very good at coming up with creative solutions to sticky situations. I hope this has been observed; I stand by our record.

This team has been at work for eight months so far, and simply, has been responsible for the most golden period in AFF's five-and-a-half year history. I'm not tooting our horns -- research shows it. Utterly non-egotistically, what I am saying is that the workers here deserve your trust and patience. They have earned it, if one would just think about it.

The site must stay afloat for anyone to even have a chance to see their favorite Sub-Categories return. Give it time. Commune with your fellow fanfiction lovers, enjoy the Stories you can (even if it is temporarily elsewhere that you must do so), go play some of the games we provide for you for free, and relax. Considering the fact that this site provides your entertainment and not your air-supply, things are well, well in-hand.

To me, the most apparent truth of all here is that you can please all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but that you can never, ever please everyone all the time. I'm just fool enough to try. ;p

Give it time! And, ultimately, do what makes you happiest. In every minute.

[Solaris]

Tricky Woo, name calling the techs and the admins is childish behavior and flaming.

And you call yourself an adult, when you are acting like a child.

You have noticed that all OFC/OMC catagories are now gone. They were not removed carelessly, they were merged into the het catagory male/female cats.

We have been working extremely hard to keep the databases running smoothly and there is no crashes to the site, if that meant removing the OFC/OMC catagories and putting them in the Het <male/female> cat then that is the site owner and the techs decision.

And we get this from you. Well, EXCUSE ME, for caring about the database and the site itself.

I'm sorry that the OFC/OMC cats are gone.

Guess what? I am sad to see them go myself as I loved them as well as I was the one who got them up on the site the first time around.

Be aware that we do not tolerate people flaming others or calling them names.

Beth

[xax]

Just putting my two cents in here as site tech: There's not any technical reason to remove the */OMC or */OFC categories. Like the quote in Jaxxy's email says:

"I merged the OFC/OMC categories because they make no real sense. The

stories are in het. It's also in interest of keeping those sub subs from

exploding all over the place."

(I am assuming that's DemonGoddess061 speaking there, as she is the one doing all the reorganization)

On the one hand, yeah, I can see how those categories don't fit in with the rest of the canon character pairings because it's very broad, but on the other hand it does appear that the userbase enjoyed having those categories and there are already a whole ton of Harry Potter pairing subcategories-- I don't think adding a few more would make that much of a difference.

I'd suggest adding categories like "Snape/other female character" for any canon character who has many pairings with either minor characters or fan characters.

[Trickie Woo]

Tricky Woo, name calling the techs and the admins is childish behavior and flaming.

And you call yourself an adult, when you are acting like a child.

You have noticed that all OFC/OMC catagories are now gone. They were not removed carelessly, they were merged into the het catagory male/female cats.

We have been working extremely hard to keep the databases running smoothly and there is no crashes to the site, if that meant removing the OFC/OMC catagories and putting them in the Het <male/female> cat then that is the site owner and the techs decision.

And we get this from you. Well, EXCUSE ME, for caring about the database and the site itself.

I'm sorry that the OFC/OMC cats are gone.

Guess what? I am sad to see them go myself as I loved them as well as I was the one who got them up on the site the first time around.

Be aware that we do not tolerate people flaming others or calling them names.

Beth

First, I did not call her a name, I said that she sounded like a Marxist spouting Communist dogma. That is what is called condemming the sin and not the sinner. If I wrote a flame to anyone it would be much more caustic and nasty than that .

Second, I was called immature by DemonGoddess061 and talked down to by both persons for expressing how I felt and I replied to what they had to say to me. I thought that was permitted under the First Amendment, but possibly this Forum is located in some other English speaking country that doesn't grant me that right. But it does seem to me that you don't like getting complaints or criticism on this forum.

Third, I could deal with the category changes if the techs had left me a way to do a story search, but that was eliminated too. I've asked why that specific function was eliminated but no one has deigned to answer that question. I have a life to get on with, I don't have time to slog through 106 pages listing 5174 stories so I needed to find a way to find stories that is less cumbersome and time consuming. I don't see anyone offering to give me any help in finding a new way to do that.

Fourth, I am old enough to be the mother and possibly even the grandmother of any of your techs and I am far from immature. I have had to deal with the the things I mentioned in my reply plus much, much more. I had a childhood very similar to the one Snape endured and I am proud to say that I've dealt with that and all the other issues in my life without ever succumbing to drugs or becoming an alcoholic or smoking. I have maintained a marriage to the same man for 44 years through good time and bad, that takes a lot of work and effort and would never be achieved by anyone who is immature. I am strong and tenacious and I have weathered more in my life than most people and this is a very tiny tempest in a teapot to me.

I am accountable for myself and I am sorry if I have offended anyone, but I don't see anyone saying they are sorry for offending me and I don't see anyone giving anymore than knee jerk replies to my questions or anyone else's questions about how to use the new system of categories without a search function for stories and not have to slog through an endless amount of story lists using up what is very finite time for me and for everyone else. I started reading stories about Snape at AFF a little over three years ago and I had noticed a real improvement in the quality of the stories that have been posted during that time, but an improvement in quality doesn't mean anything if I can't find those stories so that I can read them.

Trickie Woo

[hanyou-elf]

if you find that there are other sites out there that cater to your specific needs, than by all means, play there. if, while this site is undergoing work you find it hard to continue to read here, then leave. nobody's stopping you. seriously. you have a fandom you prefer to read in, and now that it's been moved around, you can't dally there and it's pissed you off. well, that's great. you're allowed to be pissed off, but don't come on here and insult the techies, don't assume they are attacking a single fandom when everything that they've been doing is for the better of the site.

now, when jaxxy sent you that email in response to your bitching and complaining, she said to start a discussion, not a bitch fest, which this quickly progressed into because of the first post you made. correct me if i'm wrong, but this is the first post on this discussion, is it not: With the way they've changed the Harry Potter category, and particularly Snape/OFC (my favorite too and the only one I read here) it looks to me that they are not part of the Potter fandom, care less about Snape than Rowling does, and that our needs don't matter at all.? in your first response to this, before hearing out what the techies had to say, you insulted them, accused them of not caring, and then proceeded to try to pull the originating poster away from aff. why shouldn't somebody step up and attack you for your presumptuous behavior?

now, you claim to be an adult, that you've weathered many a storm and this is nothing, however your behavior would indicate otherwise. good for you for having a marriage that lasted that long. good for you for making it through a lot of hard times that many others wouldn't be able to handle. but just because you've managed to do that does not excuse you from the rules of polite society. you, as an adult, have the responsibility to behave like an adult, regardless of the situation.

again, like i said before, the site's changing, but they are changing it for the better. things are going to be different, that means you have to learn to use a new system, well that's really too bad. you are an adult, handle it like an adult would. suck it up, and learn to scroll through posts looking for the tag, or just go somewhere else. you can use the search function for snape/ofc, it's really not that hard. if you want to search, look in the member tools. search is perfectly obvious right there. if you want to use search, its the same as always. it hasn't changed. because i went there and did a search for snape/ofc and got a nice long page of suggestions.

the site's going to look different. it's on the front page of all the archives on the site, and it's in several prominent locations on the forum. if you are too lazy to look into subjects that would be relevant to your concern, then please don't voice your own opinions and concerns. you're not being responsible enough to look into the updates of the site. don't be pissy and childish because you don't want to do the extra work that it's going to require while the site undergoes it's facelift.

get off of the damned high horse you're riding and enjoy the site as it is at the moment. if you can't do that, drop using the title adult and go back to being a child. i don't care if you've suffered heavily during life, because so have i. the more you suffer doesn't make you more of an adult. adulthood is rite of passage, not a gathering of trials. you've suffered, so have i. so has everyone else here. we've all suffered different pains and injustices, nobody will ever suffer the same thing as another. so that, in and of itself, is no way to measure adulthood. and if you must know, i'm old enough to collect ssi, old enough to maintain a career, a family life, and a social life.

if you find that working and playing on this site is too difficult for you, that you don't want to do this anymore, then you are more than welcome to leave the site. you aren't being held hostage to stay here. the admins are all thrilled that you are here, that you enjoy the site. but at the same time, while its undergoing this change, you have to have some patience. you have to wait for things to settle down again so that they can find where they need more work, where they need some special attention. the techies are doing their best. they can't please everyone. they do the best they can, and we have to let them do their work.

now, i apologize if this offends you, but understand that i'm defending myself, and my opinion, and my right to say that.

[DemonGoddess]

Good god. Can't I even go to work??

ANYWAY.....

This is really enough on this. The horse is dead, quit beating it already. I have said REPEATEDLY patience is needed. If no one wants to be patient and wait for the work to be done, subdomain by subomain, fine. Be impatient.

No, I don't think those OMC/OFC cats really made sense, however, we (the ones helping me sort through all this) haven't even GOTTEN there yet. Until we GET there, REALLY see exactly what is what, then a determination can and will be made as to further categories added, and/or the death of small pair specific categories. There is only so much that can be done in any given 24 hour period, and there are only a FEW of us who are doing this work. And it is WORK.

Something that is apparent, is that some are not wanting to be aware that not only do I have a full time plus job away from the site, so do all my volunteers. You know, we need time to eat, sleep and do other things BESIDES this. So, while we're certainly moving as fast as we can, it's not an instantaneous process. It never WAS an instantaneous process. It IRKS me that I see people who apparently think that we (the volunteers and I) are not deserving of having a LIFE aside from this task. I could be irresponsible and immature about all this and just walk away. But, that's not my nature. So, if some people can't wait while we do our work, I really don't know what else to tell you. No, I'm not moving up the schedule and doing things out of the order I've set up either. If I were to do that, there would be subdomains which are are my personal favorites which would've been attended to first. As that's not how it's set up, all of you can wait, just like I have to wait to get to my personal favorites. Since HP is sequentially in the menu before any of them? Guess what? I get to wait longer than you do.

Now, I'm done ranting. It's time for me to get to work. Again. As always.

[Trickie Woo]

All right this is my last on the topic. I've enjoyed it all, though I'm sure none of the Mods have from the feed back I saw. I'm sorry that you all got so upset but if you didn't have so many buttons to push and make yourselves so vulnerable by keeping them right in my face I would have stopped after the first two posts I made, the one on category reordering and the one here. I still have no specific answers to my questions, I also see that I'm flogging a dead horse because you have no intention of answering them specifically. I asked for specifics, in reply I got only generalities that told me nothing.

I would like to make note of one thing, I never used any swear words and, while I was snarky, I kept my language civil and clean. I like to argue and I like to keep it civil, clean, and logical. At least one of you used a swear word or words in the replies I got and most of you were so distraught that you heaped abuse on me. You all take things personally that are meant to be general complaints and statements. I don't know any of you from Adam so how can I be personal in what I complained about?

I'll leave you alone now, I'd rather debate with people who will stick to the subject and keep up their own side of the debate or arguement. That can be both intellectually stimulating and a lot of fun, this is neither one anymore.

Trickie Woo

[DemonGoddess]

So, if you're doing restructuring category by category perhaps it would be possible to post in advance which categories are being worked on and what the projected time frames would be until they are complete.

A little more information in the beginning may save a lot of trouble later.

There are four of us going through this whole thing. Only ONE of us is actually doing the db fixes for what is found. We're working as fast as we can, however. It's a good thing we're all speed readers. As to time frame, that gets a little tricky, because that will depend on what is found in each and every subdomain. We're only, what, four days into it so far, and have almost completed the first subdomain. So, a good approximation would be 1 to 3 weeks per subdomain, depending upon how many stories that particular subdomain has. There is much more to what we are doing, than simply recategorizing you know. My post to this topic actually outlines a bit more what it is we're doing, exactly. Of course, I've already outlined that elsewhere as well.

As I've said before, you all have to realize that not only is this a time consuming task, all four of us work full time plus jobs. I'll give you an example of just what exactly it is that I personally do, on a daily basis, just to get this done as quick as possible. On my work days, both before and after I come home, I tend to work on this for anywhere from 6 to 10 hours in a day. Mind you, I'm usually scheduled 10 hour shifts where I work. Somewhere in between this and work, I sleep, get some household chores done, and other normal day to day life activities. The next couple of days, I'm off work. I expect (as this has been my habit on my off days) that I'll put in an average of 12 hours each day to this task. In the meantime, the ladies helping me, are going through their selected subcategories and whatnot, generally after work. I can tell you from observation, not ONE of them has spent less than four hours a day on this task, every day, since we started this part. Of the four of us, I'm the only one without small children at home. Mine are all grown. So, you have to factor in as well that they must take care of their families and familial responsiblities, ASIDE from so graciously donating their time to assisting me, and getting this done for the archive. You can believe that no one will be happier than I to have this finished and done. It'll be NICE to be able to actually read for once, get back to my art which I've neglected, and a host of other things I'm ignoring in favor of getting this whole thing done as quickly as is possible.

[NutsAboutHarry]

I know my reply will be slightly off the original thread topis but I think what has happened to the Harry Potter section is absoloute bullshit. I understand all you techies and site managers have to operate the site more efficiently but the way you did it was crap. There was no warning whatsoever and now I can't find any of my favourite fics even if I enter the EXACT title in the search facility (If anyone can help me find Contrast and Helping, Hurting, Healing with a direct link I would be really appreciative....please email me!). I realise there are hundreds and thosands of people who are registered on this site with a panname/forum handle but would it have killed you to send out one mass email? I'm no computer expert but surely there was some way to forewarn us?' It would've even been better to have the top half dozen sections (Ron/Hermione, Harry/Ginny Snape/Draco/Hermione etc ) there then eerything else coralled into a collective category.

I might be sounding selfish but it's the shock of the suddenes that's gotten me!

Sorry for semi-hijacking the thread!

[DemonGoddess]

It's not possible to generate a broadcast email for the archive. The software does NOT support the function. If you look, the categories you mentioned weren't deleted, they were MOVED. They became subcategories of their parent type category.

Should you actually bother to take the time to read the MULTIPLE posts on this topic, and what exactly is going on, you might not be so damn impatient, and as you said, selfish.

[NutsAboutHarry]

It's not possible to generate a broadcast email for the archive. The software does NOT support the function. If you look, the categories you mentioned weren't deleted, they were MOVED. They became subcategories of their parent type category.

Should you actually bother to take the time to read the MULTIPLE posts on this topic, and what exactly is going on, you might not be so damn impatient, and as you said, selfish.

Well sooooooooooooooooooooooooorry! I do apologise!

As I said in my post it was just a bit of a shock to see the section change so suddenly. Maybe if a mass email wasn't possible a pre-warning in the little 'Latest Happenings' section on the Harry Potter page would've been better.

A warning may have been there but I surf AFF several times a day and I'm 99.9% sure I didn't see anything. I apologise humbly to the relevant people if I am mistaken

[DemonGoddess]

Well sooooooooooooooooooooooooorry! I do apologise!

As I said in my post it was just a bit of a shock to see the section change so suddenly. Maybe if a mass email wasn't possible a pre-warning in the little 'Latest Happenings' section on the Harry Potter page would've been better.

A warning may have been there but I surf AFF several times a day and I'm 99.9% sure I didn't see anything. I apologise humbly to the relevant people if I am mistaken

Before I ever got to the HP section for the initial first step of all this, it was noted in the Site News block. That's where anything like this would've been and was announced. When the site news was updated, I was still working in the left hand menu for this part of the cleanup.

All parties involved in this cleanup, and reprogramming (which is being done OFF site) are well aware of why it is this is being done. I dunno, I think I'd rather have a program that's actually working, than one where the database had a severe crash (again), and any all story data was scrambled. You might want to have a look at the work forums, and see just what exactly we're up against, particularly when it comes to the repair end. Bearing in mind we've only just started the hardest part of all this. Maybe THEN that could inspire some patience and forbearance.

All of what is now ongoing, SHOULD have been done immediately following the subdivide of the database across the different subdomains. That is wasn't, means that there is that much more of a mess to deal with now.

[greenwizard]

I just read the whole thread and... wow... I didn't see any questions, only bitching by one person because she wasn't being held by the hand and catered to, and then other people jumping on her.

I was a little surprised at the changes myself. I'm a creature of habbit and I don't like change. But it isn't my site, and I know next to nothing about programming and stuff. I think it just might take a little getting used to.

I think the OMC/OFC categories should be kept if at all possible. Or at least the OFC. That is my opinion on the matter.

As for being unhappy with something, there is a major difference between bitching and expressing displeasure. This thread is full of bitching. Dear sweet Trickie Woo could've said something along the libes of 'I'm upset that I can't find any Snape/OFC fics. Does anyone know where they've been moved to?' There is also a suggestion thread where she could have asked to have the category back.

I understand that the techs are working hard. Everyone just needs to be patient. I would offer to help, but I'm technilogically incompatable and would probably be pretty useless.