Altissimus
Irreverently Piquant
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2007
- Posts
- 782
I guess starting a debate with this title may be an exercise in futile optimism, as the chances of general accord are about as small as the chances of affecting change, but... in the hope that both the previous presumptions are wrong, here's something to consider.
The categories in Lit are designed to facilitate ease of finding a story for the random visitors that come to the site. That is, to my mind, their sole purpose. It's a purpose that can be achieved in a myriad of other ways - AO3, for example, almost-exclusively uses tags - and Lit already has this capability. So, if the categories are there for a purpose that can be achieved in other ways, ways that already exist, why have them?
That's not a reason to do away with them, just an observation that they're not necessary.
The reason, to my mind, to do away with categories is that they've evolved into something they are not meant to be. Expectations are set in the categories with readers going to them for specific tropes, and that's not good for anyone, let alone creativity and diversity. (We don't want to stifle creativity and diversity, do we?)
Here's a broad example of what I'm talking about:
In conclusion, there's no real reason to keep the categories (other than 'tradition', the nemesis of all positive change) and there's plenty of reasons to remove them.
Thoughts?
The categories in Lit are designed to facilitate ease of finding a story for the random visitors that come to the site. That is, to my mind, their sole purpose. It's a purpose that can be achieved in a myriad of other ways - AO3, for example, almost-exclusively uses tags - and Lit already has this capability. So, if the categories are there for a purpose that can be achieved in other ways, ways that already exist, why have them?
That's not a reason to do away with them, just an observation that they're not necessary.
The reason, to my mind, to do away with categories is that they've evolved into something they are not meant to be. Expectations are set in the categories with readers going to them for specific tropes, and that's not good for anyone, let alone creativity and diversity. (We don't want to stifle creativity and diversity, do we?)
Here's a broad example of what I'm talking about:
- LW - BTB only.
- Romance - HEA only.
- BDSM - D/s relationships only.
- EC - no one knows what goes here
- Fetish - too broad to be meaningful
- Incest/Taboo - use of 'step' is instantly harmful
- Anal - why?
- NC/R - two separate things
- Scifi/fantasy - very little traffic, relatively speaking
- Mind Control - basically Noncon
- ...etc
In conclusion, there's no real reason to keep the categories (other than 'tradition', the nemesis of all positive change) and there's plenty of reasons to remove them.
Thoughts?