So as part of the new administration, one of our major goals was to make the archive easier and more user friendly. While we're in the process of instituting preliminary order into the archive as we speak, we'd like your thoughts on the matter.

The idea at the moment is to have a non-exclusive archive. Fics will be added to the main repository by users and from there further sorted into categorized folders for easier access by the community. We want to compliment the site's current system and make it easier for you all to find specific types of fiction your looking for.

The currently planned categories are;

Friend-Shipping: Fics that explore the friendship between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in-depth.

Contested: Fics that feature Flutterdash in competetion with other Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy ships and could end up either way.

Polyamory: Fics that feature Flutterdash as part of a larger relationship, involving additional ponies.

Flutterdash as a Secondary Ship: Fics that feature Flutterdash, just not as a central point in the story.

Adventure: Adventure fics featuring Flutterdash.

Humans: Flutterdash fics featuring humans in any way.

Mature: As per the tag, Flutterdash fics featuring adult themes, mostly of the sexual variety.

Sensual: Fics with strong themes of romance and physical intimacy.

Multi-Ship Projects: Larger project style stories that feature Flutterdash in a single chapter.

You'll notice some of these are pretty close to the site tags, we're putting these up primarily as a matter of convenience, we know from experience sometimes it can be difficult to be sure you're getting what you want in cases like this, so we wanted to set up an unambiguous collection of fics that you know feature Flutterdash in certain contexts.

Right now we don't want too many people working on the archive and tripping over each other in the process so we've disabled adding to any folders other than the main one. Later on we're either planning to recruit some people to help us maintain the archive or throw it open again, that really isn't decided just yet.

So what do you guys think? Have you got a suggestion for a category?

Oh, and we're sorry about the notifications.

Lol I like the idea for Polyamory and Contested since right now my Fic would fall under both of those categories.

646564
Dunno if could make a suggestion for having a folder for fics involving Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash that may be Sad/Tragic from Sad/Tragedy tags, even if the purpose of this group I imagine is to support mostly positive fics with the two pegasi of the Mane Six. Or don't HAVE to even be a Romance (or could have a Bittersweet folder for Flutterdash romance that doesn't end up working out by the story's end for whatever reason), unless should go in Main folder in that case or Friend-Shipping, if it's that even if it's also sad; lemme give some examples I was looking for before posting this since am late as it is, due to stuff in the last week.

Forever yours, never mine. (Sad romance with Dash having feelings for Fluttershy, but doesn't return them cause she USED to have them but got tired of waiting around. Could also be example of bittersweet, possibly?)
Forever mine, never yours. (Sequel to above, also sad romance (that could be bittersweet?) with Fluttershy regaining her feelings seemingly and then attempts to return Dash's previously rejected feelings, but Dash turns her down this time, for the same reason as previous one. Kinda short for both of them, but still are Flutterdash fics.)
Friendship (Sad/Dark/Slice-of-Life fic with Fluttershy's friends () and other ponies hurtful words finally getting to her and attempts to end it all, but Rainbow Dash stops her (with assistance from Twilight, so maybe not entirely Flutterdash, but close enough sorta, since Dash shows the most concern before it almost happens) and reinforce the bond with her sort of, even if ends on a bit of bittersweet note and could fit into a folder of that type as well, if one was made maybe. But could also be a Friend-Shipping one, by the sounds of it.)
That Is A Friend Who Cares (Labeled Sad, but mostly is more Friend-Shipping, but could still go under a Sad/Tragedy folder, if one was made.)
Failure (Not labeled Sad/Tragedy, but it could be considered Sad in its premise, even if it gets better by the end as it's a Slice-of-Life fic. Has Rainbow Dash tagged only, but Fluttershy does have a brief appearance that pushes Dash in the right direction, sorta.)
Best Friends... Forever (Has Fluttershy out in a storm searching for animals as I recall and Rainbow Dash tries to search for her fillyhood friend, but can't find her until it's already too late and she got battered or drowned and is dead. Not sure if has implications of Flutterdash, as I didn't read it in its entirety, but it is a tragic and I think touching story involving Dash and Shy.)

Anyway, if these aren't types of fics that should go in this group, feel free to ignore pretty much at least the ones that aren't even romantic in their premise or go under any of the other folders that aren't default Main one. Hope you understand what all I meant by types of folders suggesting you guys create or could go under, assuming you add these to the group, since I don't think I should (mis)add them, if don't go under any of the current ones. And also, is the Sensual folder for mainly the ones that are just romance without being smutty or explicitly so (like Mature folder)? Just so I'm clear, if find some others that fit there, once you allow again the ability for anypony to add to the folders that're currently up.

671140
Opening the folders for everypony wasn´t exactly what we planned. The idea was that all members can add to the main folder, wich should act as collection of all the stories this group has.
Then we as admins and later some archivists (users who get contributor status to be able to fulfill this role) would sort them into the right folder(s).
Everhopefull has written a quick summary/definition of what belongs in each of them.

But there are still problems to solve:
1. The system described above would cause more than one notification per story quite often (one for the mainfolder and another for every other folder there is)
2. The folder system is meant to be non-exclusive, wich means a story can be in more than one folder.
The problem here is while some folders may work as a guide (I want to read an Adventure story) others can make more sense as a warning sign (I want pure Flutterdash, nothing contested or with a sad ending please).
Since there is no way (that I know) to view in wich folders a story is the latter is impossible if a story is in more than one folder.
A possible solution could be: make some exclusive. We can ignore mature or others clearly indetified by tags, since the site itself provides warning signs before reading a story (It is in the sensual folder but has also a 'Human' tag).
This is not true for Contested, Flutterdash as a Secondary Pairing (therefore maybe also friendshipping since romance could apply to another pairing),Multi-Ship Projects and Polyamory.
That could also be true for the folder you suggested, hence it could add even more complications but we´ll be shore to consider it.
(Originaly I had forseen the folder now named contested for it (all stories that have some kind of impure flutterdash, like rejection or contested) (thats why 'In Rainfall, Irrevocable Secrets' is there at the moment) but it could make sense splitting it in two)

It´s obvious that we have to decide on clear definitions how to handle this.
Like with all things we do, the above is open for suggestions and discussion!

671265
Okaaaaaaaaaaaay... That was a lot more than I expected my response to get. I mean, wasn't COMPLAINING about being unable to add except to one folder (if I should), but was just saying since it was stated as such here. Well, I just suggested it as one folder, because they're kind of the same thing, sadness and tragedy, but in some ways, they ARE different as well. Since Tragedy implies something where somepony dies (usually) or something otherwise scarring/tragic happens, while Sad just means it has sadness elements in it. And dunno if also saw suggesting a Bittersweet for those romance stories that end awful, like the first two I suggested (or possibly the third one with Flutters attempting to commit suicide).

Though I'm sure most people coming here to the official(?) Flutterdash group don't want stories like that, can't pretend (thanks to some of the examples I gave that focus on Fluttershy and/or Rainbow Dash, mostly) that they DON'T exist. And heck, sure there's a lot more that I'm not even recalling or aware of! Plus, can't deny that sometimes, stories like that are good if you want to FEEL something other than happiness, even if it makes you feel awful for anypony who actually likes Flutterdash as a couple (myself being one of them, even if it's not sort of my primary ship for either of those pegasi, but I do like it nonetheless) or as the best friends they supposedly are (since in canon, there are moments where Dash is kinda cold to Shy).

I'd help with sorting or whatever, but somehow these days, I'm ALWAYS distracted, and doesn't help that on top of that, I wanna write a buncha stories with various pony shippings (not saying whether Flutterdash is one or not) and other material. And to find whether a story is in a folder if not looking for a specific aspect in particular (even though in my case, I'm not entirely picky, if a story sounds interesting, I will pile it on to Read Later, even though I have ENOUGH to last me quite some time on top of various fics still being worked on in faves/tracks), I guess the easiest way would be to open each folder and do a search for the fic title in question, to see if it's there or not (if hasn't been oversighted in being added to said folder or said folder doesn't exist). Of course, this only works if there's not a TON of folders to sort through to begin with, but best way I can think of right now. Hope this helps! ........And man, was this longer than I wanted to be, but I have you to kinda thank for that, lol.