So I suppose the Yuletide deadline is close?

[ratcreature]

Because right now the AO3 doesn't respond with anything but 502 errors when I'm trying to look there for Sanctuary fic...

Comments

[some_stars]

I'd try searching Delicious--I've found some good stuff there, especially fic about the Five. AO3's Sanctuary category is mostly crap.

[ratcreature]

Hmm, right now I've been looking for Henry fic or Henry/Will though, but I guess I could still try delicious.

[some_stars]

Oh, I haven't found much of that, sadly. Well, a little of the latter, but it's all been really bad. I did find but haven't yet read three Henry-related fics by Penknife, who is great.

[sholio]

Yeah, the deadline's on Monday (USian time). I was actually surprised the archive was moving at more-or-less normal speed this past week ...

I do understand that they have limitations of hardware and that Yuletide would put a huge strain on any privately run server ... but, man, I just don't know about the entire archive being basically brought to its knees for two months out of the year. I've been treating AO3 as my go-to archive site this past year, both as a place to put my own fic and to look for fic, and I really hate the way that Yuletide takes it down.

On the other hand, I'm kind of boggled at how many people waited until the last minute to write their Yuletide fics, even after SEEING what happened to the archive when everyone signed up. There were only about 500 fics uploaded yesterday, out of, what, close to 2000 people who signed up? I mean, what does everyone THINK is going to happen?! I wrote mine back at the beginning of December because I didn't want to deal with the frustration and uncertainty of trying to upload it in the last few days. It's not like it's any easier to crank out 1000 words at the end of December versus doing it in November, after all. I wonder if there is any way that future Yuletides could help alleviate the server load by having staggered deadlines (like, say, an earlier deadline for new writers, as some fests do) or some kind of incentive for early uploading.

[penknife.livejournal.com]

Yuletide deadline is tomorrow. So probably no love until Tuesday, at least not while the Americans are awake.

crack_van is doing Sanctuary recs this month, which might be a place to start.

[ratcreature]

Yes. At least in the past when Yuletide took down its server it was contained. :/ Well, maybe next year they'll have more powerful servers. Little consolation as that is *this* year.

I vaguely remember that in the old archive there were gold stars for early uploading? But I don't know how much of an incentive that really was.

[ratcreature]

*grumbles at the hordes of last minute uploaders* Not that I'd likely be different, were I to participate, what with my procrastination habit...

But thanks for the crack_van tip.

[sholio]

Yeah, I seem to recall reading somewhere that they're upgrading their servers next year? Anyway, I do hope they're able to work it out; I feel kind of guilty because I know I'm being impatient and it's so much easier to offer suggestions from the sidelines than to actually do something to help. But it's frustrating to have the archive basically driven by Yuletide as it is ...

And ... I guess I probably came across kind of self-righteous with the deadline stuff, and I didn't mean to. I'm currently struggling with my sheppard-hc santa fic, so I know how easy it is to get totally stuck and not be able to write anything until you have a deadline staring you in the face.

[ratcreature]

I've never participated in Yuletide, but from watching the flailing on my flist for many years now, it seems to me that with it, there also seems to be a certain deadline crunch and franticness by design, that is part of the fun for many. The deadline is very close before opening, especially with pinch hits and treats thrown in, and the whole timeline is far more compressed than for example in the usual HP Christmas ficathons you see, which start organizing in August.