)No Longer Shall I Lurk · 12:39am May 12th, 2017
I used to feel more in touch with the other members of this site, like a part of the community. I'm no author, so I'll never truly be part of that most central group, but I used to edit, and comment, and otherwise interact with other people. I miss that.
I spent the last couple days trawling the site for new reading material. For me, that involves looking at author's pages and seeing what they read. If I like their recommendations, I look at what the new-to-me authors read, and so on, until I've cast my net wide enough to rake in enough new fiction to sate me for some time. This last expedition was incredibly bountiful, swelling my read-it-later bookshelf and the list of authors I track.
Several of these new-to-me authors haven't written a thing in years. I found myself looking back on the history of the site, and how I relate to it. I read the comments on old accounts, on the oldest stories on the site, and I found so many faces that have come and gone. I visited the user pages of dead accounts, like I was visiting the grave of old friends. On some, there was little to mark the account as inactive beyond the small note at the top of their page, "OFFLINE for 210w, 6d." On others, people left comments on the page, wondering where that person had gone, hoping that they would come back, and wishing them well wherever they are now.
No one would visit my page if I left the site. I'm a ghost. I'll read a story, rate it, add it to a bookshelf or two, and then move on. Who would even know I was there?
Does it matter? No. But I love this fandom, and I love this site. And seeing so many old friendships on this site between now-dead accounts makes me sad. Is the dwindling community a result of me no longer being a part of it, or is the community itself gone? Whether one, the other, or both, there's only one person whose actions I can change. And so, it's time to come out of my shell. I can't start writing stories (I don't feel any inside me waiting to be told), and I don't have the time to spend on so much proofreading, but at the very least, I can leave a comment when I like a story. Or when I don't. Or when I read the story, but wasn't very affected by it. Other people on this site have left a mark on my mind, it's time for me to do the same.
And yes, I'm aware that it's likely that no one will ever read this blog post, and that the time spent writing and editing it means little and nothing to anyone else. It means something to me.
All of my old heroes seem either smaller now or gone. I used to dream of being in circles, and now I'm where I wanted to be and there's still circles but I'm not in them. It's like that old Lewis essay, the "Inner Circle".
Nothing gold can stay! But there's more around the bend.
I feel much the same way, which is why lately I follow whoever's left whose work looks interesting. But two things are worth keeping in mind.
First: Out of all fandoms, this one is probably the best at archiving its stuff. As a proportion of its output, very little has been lost for good, and such cases are usually due to creators deliberately removing their work. Even then, backups often exist somewhere. If all output ceased tomorrow (god forbid) we would still be left with enough pony to last for decades, provided we made our own backups.
Second: A lot of the people who started watching the show as kids are now teenagers, and they're still interested in pony. They like fan fiction, but they don't usually come here for it; they listen to audiobooks on YouTube.
How many of these, you may ask, are there? Well, my story Holder's Boulder has 3,717 views on Fimfic--not too shabby. But Scribbler's audio production has 40,815, and judging by the comments, I can tell a lot of them are teenagers. With luck, they'll find their way here eventually... once they're mature enough.
4529287 Well what do you know, someone read it.
I wasn't familiar with that essay, so I had to seek it out. I don't think I'm a fan of Lewis in general, but the essay rings true.
Maybe I am pursuing some inner ring, though I hope that's not my primary motivation. I can't deny the drive is always present. I've had friends that hop from circle to circle, and I've been in the inner circle myself. This was years ago, and thankfully I haven't dealt with the drama and strife of such groups since then. Staying in the inner circle requires constant work, and a willingness to bow to the group, something that I am not good at.
When I think about what I want out of more interaction on this site, I think that maybe that's all I want: more interaction and more familiarity. I suppose that is just another way of joining a circle, but the circle I want to join is simply the FimFiction community as a whole. Right now I feel that no one on this site knows me, even as I feel that I know them (in some small way). I just want to be able to comment on things not as a complete stranger, but as a friendly face.
4529331 That's very true about the archiving. I have a few of the site archive torrents downloaded, and I regularly use Fimfetch to find deleted stories. (Of course one of my favorite old stories, Finding Sweetie, is almost impossible to find online.) As for the fact that there are still many gems already written, I just added almost 50 stories to my read later that were written before 2015, all appearing to be of excellent quality. Maybe this supply of high-quality stories won't last forever, but it will last for awhile.
I do wonder how many more remain for me to discover. The site statistics says there are 108k stories approved on the site right now, and I've read just over 1% of them. How many of those 108,000 stories is really worth reading? One in ten? One in a hundred? I don't know, but I suppose someday I'll probably have figured it out.
I never realized that the audiobook versions of stories were that big. Hopefully you're right, and we'll keep getting new authors and readers for as long as the show lasts. Once the show is over, I don't expect the output to continue at more than a fraction of its current rate, but that's why I'm excited for this moment right now. This fandom might not last forever, at least not in its current form, which is why I want to experience the most of it while it's here.
That's why I make a point of going to BronyCan every year. I'm hoping to actually have a panel this year, too!
4529350 I certainly recognize you when I see you in a thread :)
4529359 That actually means a lot.
4529357
Disregarding bad ones, abandoned ones, and genres that don't interest you, there's still a lot, especially when you consider how many are novels. In the unlikely event that you're ever stumped, there are always the Pony Fiction Vault and Royal Canterlot Library. (And I ain't just saying that 'cause I'm an alumnus of both.
)
Scribbler's are, because she got in on it early and has been consistently prolific. Others might get a few hundred or few thousand views, depending on those factors. But yes, it is a "happenin'" scene.
Oh, and good luck with the panel.
They're really a lot of fun to do, so long as you're prepared.
I think this is a good decision
I think I spotted you in the comments for Worst Patient Ever, if I remember rightly.
By the way, I'm sorry to say your graph pictures don't seem to be working, since Photobucket are being funny about 3rd party hosting stuff now.
4615117
Thanks for letting me know about the pictures not working. I need to look into alternatives to Photoshop, or maybe just finally get a premium account there.
4616598 No problem, I recently had the same thing. I found photobucket to be a terrible website, hopeless to load and covered in obnoxious adverts. I tried imgur for their one-month trial and found it way, way better - if you do end up deciding to pay for one, I must say that's the one I'd recommend.
I'm trying Google Photos, but it doesn't seem good for 3rd party hosting.
4616791
I seem to remember people having issues using imgur to host pictures for this site in the past. That was a few years ago though, so maybe they've loosened up their third party postures since then.
Either way, I'm going to be on the road for a month here, so I probably won't be fixing it for awhile, unfortunately.
4617607 Sorry, I think you're completely correct. I must have been thinking of Image Shack, I guess.
Ah, saw your blog about road trip but figured if you were reading and posting it must have wound down, good to hear it's still ongoing, have a lovely time
Oh, so you were involved with the "old" fandom writing community? Nice!
Out of curiosity, did you ever interact with someone who went by "Absolute Anonymous"?
4695466
I don't know that I ever really interacted with them. It looks like I've read a number of their stories, and might have left a comment, but no, I don't think that I ever actually interacted with them.
4696337
Aw, well thanks anyway!
I joined the fandom just three years ago so I missed out on the epic beginnings of ponyfiction here. Sometimes I feel like an archaeologist digging through grand, ancient ruins.
Sometimes I find that a civilization isn't quite dead yet, like Cloudyskies and Kits returning to writing, but then ill try to track down authors only to find that they really aren't interested in pony anymore, like when I found Donny's Boy.
Anyway you should write something! I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with after all your experiences with the old school fandom!
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It is fun playing archeologist, isn't it? There are definitely some fads that have come and gone over the years. I can't remember the last time that I encountered a story where Rainbow Dash breaks a wing and requires nursing back to health by her eventual lover, yet it felt like they were dime a dozen a few years ago!
I'm actually working on my first story right now! I don't think it's really informed much by my history on Fimfiction, but hopefully I can at least make it mildly entertaining.