Almost Out Of Tigers. :( I Hope One Waves Goodbye Before They Go.

I’d like to introduce everyone to my new theme song

when a film or tv show takes place somewhere where you have been, it is your sacred duty as viewer to say “i’ve been there” every time you recognize a place

@pickulohsmash Eylsa? Is that you?

"I hate you the second least out of anyone in the party!" -the Bard's attempt at giving inspiration

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You keep talking about the origins of AO3 as this group effort by an actual group of people who were friends and who spent time discussing this with each other in person. It's kind of blowing my mind. Is there a post or a journal somewhere that specifically keeps record of this?

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I'm dying.

Nonnie, seriously?

No, that's mean, I know you're serious. It's just flabbergasting how much fandom has expanded and how much there isn't a direct link to the past.

Astolat and Cesperanza floated the idea at Vividcon and various places, I think, though I wasn't going to cons in that era. We were all on LJ in those days, and Astolat made a big post nailing her theses to the door. Discussion in the comments was instant and prolonged.

A LJ com was set up to discuss. It was later renamed to otw_news, but if you go all the way back to the beginning, you can see brainstorming mess instead of official news posts.

Fanlore page linking to Astolat's post and giving a little context.

Early brainstorming: https://otw-news.livejournal.com/2007/05/

For example, here I am collecting links to older archives to look at for research when designing AO3.

Fun fact, we never intended to call it AO3. There was a whole call for name suggestions, but nothing was as evocative as astolat's original post title referencing Virginia Woolf. (For those who haven't thought about it, AO3's name is a reference to A Room of One's Own.)

Here's the name discussion

Here's the poll that came out of it

But also notice how many people voted: 562.

That's how many people cared at the time: a few hundred. Maybe a thousand if you count lurkers, but frankly, that community was not as lurkery as now. It wasn't just ten friends. It was a community effort. But what "our" community looked like at the time was vastly different. It was six degrees of Kevin Bacon astolat, not a vast sea of strangers like fic fandom on AO3 is now.

Here's an early post suggesting we ban the under 18s from the site entirely. Pity we didn't do so, given the rise of antis.

Here's the invite to a fundraising party at astolat's in NYC that following Halloween. I dressed as Amanda from Highlander, not very well.

You can tell we knew each other by looking at those comments on astolat's initial post. You can also tell how discussion-based that part of fandom was back in 2007.

The way my tumblr is now with a ton of text, back and forth, and hopping around between threads of conversation, all featuring a consistent set of faces, is very much like LJ. Most of tumblr is not.

but mom, i don’t wanna be an adult anymore. i wanna be the goblin king. the glitter?? the drama?? that collar?? those eyebrows?? making it impossible for guests to get to my house by putting it in the middle of an actual labyrinth?? i’m perfect for the job

I got the chance to commission the amazing @anzka. She was wonderful to work with and look at how stunning my babies came out! Thank you so much!

Mirat is (rightfully) a little concerned about what Nissa is planning. Sometimes, the Underdark seems safer than what his half-elf gf can get him into, up on the surface.

I got the chance to comission the fantastic @000nullvoid for the girls. Look at my darling rogue!

Lol. Or not, because that's not a playable option.

I don't know exactly who my V is going to be yet, but she is definitely going to be a Rockerboy.

Love you, Marisha. Big fan!

"I have lost control of this game."

Matt’s reactions during the “magic poo” conversation (AKA the best ones) Requested by anon.