People, tag your fandoms right.
Mar. 24th, 2019 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auroracloudA regular pet peeve: why do people write New Who fic with only New Who characters etc. tagged on AO3, with no sign in the summary or the tags that there are in fact any Classic Who elements present, and then tag it both with Doctor Who (2005) and Doctor Who (1963) (ie. Classic Who)?
There's a reason those fandom tags are separate on the archive. If it's truly a crossover fic for both the new and classic series, by all means tag it with both. But trust me, when I'm looking in the Classic Who fandom tag, it's not because I want to read Ten/Rose or Twelve/Clara. It's really, really NOT.
It's pretty ridiculous that Ten/Rose is actually in the top ten relationship tags for Classic Who. Some of them might be legitimately there, for some crossover reasons, but based on the samples I've seen when I'm just trying to find new Classic Who content, the majority is most likely not.
I know I can filter tags to exclude things I don't want, but I shouldn't have to start my browsing by filtering out stuff that belong in the fandom tag in the first place.
Maybe I'll soon start leaving peeved comments in those fics, except that a) I don't want to increase their hit and comment count, and b) the sort of people who tag in the wrong fandoms probably aren't people I want to get into an argument with. So I'll just continue fuming on my own.
This is where I like the way Teaspoon is organized by era. People don't tend to stick random Twelve/Clara into the Second Doctor or Fifth Doctor categories unless it's really and truly a crossover.
There's a reason those fandom tags are separate on the archive. If it's truly a crossover fic for both the new and classic series, by all means tag it with both. But trust me, when I'm looking in the Classic Who fandom tag, it's not because I want to read Ten/Rose or Twelve/Clara. It's really, really NOT.
It's pretty ridiculous that Ten/Rose is actually in the top ten relationship tags for Classic Who. Some of them might be legitimately there, for some crossover reasons, but based on the samples I've seen when I'm just trying to find new Classic Who content, the majority is most likely not.
I know I can filter tags to exclude things I don't want, but I shouldn't have to start my browsing by filtering out stuff that belong in the fandom tag in the first place.
Maybe I'll soon start leaving peeved comments in those fics, except that a) I don't want to increase their hit and comment count, and b) the sort of people who tag in the wrong fandoms probably aren't people I want to get into an argument with. So I'll just continue fuming on my own.
This is where I like the way Teaspoon is organized by era. People don't tend to stick random Twelve/Clara into the Second Doctor or Fifth Doctor categories unless it's really and truly a crossover.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 05:01 am (UTC)I can't remember how I *used* to use the tags, but I think I've always tended to use (2005) for things that are solely Nu Who and (1963) for things that are solely old. A joke or two doesn't count, though. For me the difficult one is what to tag Doctor/Master, because sometimes the (2005) stuff relies on/gets into (1963) stuff even if it's set in the Nu Who days and doesn't feature the older regenerations. Some of my Twelve/Missy uses both tags because they felt like the stories that were based on them being old old old old friends who have known each other forever.
A thing that really bugs me about AO3 tagging is when a character (or ship) gets tagged and then they're barely mentioned in the story. Like it's Ten/Rose but there's one line about Martha so she's tagged as a character and NO.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 07:17 pm (UTC)I've always tended to use (2005) for things that are solely Nu Who and (1963) for things that are solely old. A joke or two doesn't count, though.
*nods* That's how I try to do it, too, and how I prefer it in fics I read! Makes it clear and easy, as clear and easy as things can ever be in the world of Doctor Who and fanfic archives.
With Doctor/Master stories I totally get the line being hard to draw! Even if it's just the New Who versions of the characters, you can still dig a lot into stuff that happened in the Classic Who canon as well. If I see the characters are the Doctor and the Master, I don't tend to blink at both fandoms being included in the tags, because often it makes sense.
A bit similarly, I have trouble drawing the line when I'm writing something about Jack Harkness taking place in the Torchwood years, but interacting only with Doctor Who characters (okay, Martha being a character in both makes things even more complicated!). Sometimes the Torchwood elements may still feature into the plot or the character interactions or just what's going on in Jack's head (if I'm in his head), so in that sense I'm bringing in the Torchwood Jack, not just the Jack we see in the Doctor Who episodes he's in, and I may be using the Torchwood canon as much as the Doctor Who canon to write it. But if I tag Torchwood as well, it can also feel like I'm needlessly tagging the Torchwood fandom, since no other actual Torchwood characters than Jack appear in the story. Well, I haven't written Torchwood era stuff lately, so that's one problem less. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-26 08:47 am (UTC)