I just finished reading the Renegade Series by Shezza and got to thinking - would it be possible to create a new subsection of the library for stories that transcend fanfiction and become actual works? Shezza's Renegade Series is incredibly well though out and actually complete which makes it a joy to read. I know I've read other stories that have had the same allure. However, many are few and far between and it takes a lot of looking around to find them. It'd be incredibly useful if we could utilize the collective on this site and vote in stories that have become near independent works of literature.

Thoughts?

Edit: Actually, leafing through the library I'm starting to think it might be better if a section was made with completed stories. Those seem to be difficult to come by.

 

Not to mention that we might get into some copyright trouble.

 

It would be an interesting idea to have a section for "the best of the best" of fanfiction though. I think that's what he's meaning more, instead of "transcending" really.

Requirements of must be complete, and at a 5-star rating with over 20 or 30 votes, or something of the like.

Interesting idea, I guess. Biggest problem would be, not everyone agrees that everything is amazing, personal opinion would make or break this.

 

That's exactly what i mean. Transcend was probably the wrong word to use. But still, there are some stories out there that effectively create a universe of their own linked only by characters and wands to the original Harry Potter.

 

That's what the AU section is for.

 

Otherwise, we'd have to add Flarigold's Rakesh!Harry to the category.

 

The complete button - does it rely on the thread title saying completed or is it updated by moderators like yourself? Because just going through a few different sections and hitting it, I came up with about five stories. I feel like there are more than that.

 

The prefixes are a relatively new feature. Members are supposed to use it when they're submitting new threads; some forget, but we usually fix that when we move the threads out of For Review. Old threads aren't prefixed unless the mods do so -- we had a sort of prefixing frenzy a few months back, but we haven't got all the Library threads...

About the idea of creating a separate category for stories 'transcending' fanfiction: not a fan. Whether a story transcends fanfiction is a very subjective matter, for one thing. Secondly, I don't see what's useful or even good about setting apart some stories as "the best of the best" or "the most original of all" or "professional-author quality" etc. Recommendations (in intro threads, for instance), ratings and the authors' reputations work well enough on these forums. Everyone knows how to find the stories everyone likes; so it wouldn't be of much use to add another feature. Plus, I feel it would set up a hierarchy among authors, and that's an idea I really and truly hate.

 

Isn't the whole idea of the DLP library that it's the best of the best anyway?

 

I mean, yeah, I've always thought that was the idea. But we all know that there's still plenty of shit to be found in the library if you look, for one reason or another.

 

Instead of a subsection, I think a better idea would be to have a stickied DLP recommended reading list thread.

 

We do. It's called the library.

And we already do have a system to distinguish between the good and the best: the star-rating system.

 

^^^ This.

The library is minuscule compared to the fandom at large, and the star system gives a pretty good idea of where members stand on a story (as does actually reading the thread).

I'd say that's enough of a discriminating system to filter out crap. Stories that would make 'best of best' are going to be read by newbies looking through the library readily enough - faster if they engage the community and get recommendations. It's not as if the searching the library is some overtaxing feat that requires further pruning.

And for those who really, really want it, is there anything stopping you from creating a 'Absolutely recommended: from better-than-good to almost perfect' thread to throw ideas about in?

 

This. Frankly, what you want would degenerate into a list of favourite 'fics, and couldn't really work any better than the Library does at present. Given enough time, it would degenerate into what the Library is now, the Library would turn into the Recycling Bin, and the Recycling Bin would turn into the various threads at different stages of fail lurking around DLP.

 

One day there will have to be a massive clean up of the Library. As it is now the Library is huge, and instead of being the best of the best, it's just another ff.net, only with a better search engine and just links instead of the full stories. Like someone else said, what was good in 2005 is not necessarily good now, and at some point someone will have to start deleting those fics.

I sincerely pity the man chosen for that job.

 

A couple of members whom have been extremely inactive as of late actually sat down and reviewed a lot of the old shit recommending that it be deleted, so it's no where near as bad as it once was.

I remember DarkLordMike and was it Scrittore doing this?

Feel free to do it yourself.

 

I'm surprised at the amount of attention this has received. Admittedly, using the word transcend was improper to what I'd really like to see. More or less, I rarely read fanfiction because the vast majority of it is incomplete in some form or another. This is understandable as it is a hobby and not a profession. I'd just enjoy being able to find completely storied that have been recently vetted for quality by DLP. I think that the Library's general schematic has been unchanged for quite a while and it could use a slight facelift whether it comes in the form of prefixes or new sections.

I remember back in 2005 when I was a lurker and there were sections that don't even exist nowadays. The For Review and Recycling Bin sections are moderately new as well, if I remember correctly. This just goes to say that the Library design has been improved before to good reception and could be done so again.

I apologize for proposing supporting a hierarchy of authors and applaud Tinn for her defense against that. That was not my intention.

It is nice to see some discussion though.

 

I myself wouldn't mind a "Completed Stories" section in the Library section. But that honestly doesn't really look like it'll happen. Oh well.