this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2024
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As a very inexperienced AO3 user, tha tags are a nightmare. There's like millions of them and no real rhyme or reason to them it feels like. Plus, people use tags as a joke the same way people did on Tumblr. So it's hard to know which tags are jokey one-off tags and which are tags you should actually sort by.
But, I also understand that for the true users of AO3 (I only ever go there to read stuff people send me) it works good enough and I'm not suggesting they should change it.
Ehh, I'd say it depends on what you're looking for. I definitely get it being overwhelming starting out.
Tagging quality varies a lot, but most weird tags that are fandom, character, or content get consolidated under a broader parent tag. If you're looking for a specific trope or vibe, it might be easier to view works under that parent tag, then filter down by fandom/characters/ship, etc. Also helps to sort by bookmarks or kudos (likes); there's usually a pretty good overlap of popularity & quality.
But I'm a browser & pretty content to just see what comes up, so YMMV. For more specific stuff, the advanced search is also very robust, especially using search operators. There's guides out there on how to get the most out of it.
There's also bookmarks and collections, if you're wanting stuff vetted by another person. I tend to figure if someone wrote fics I like, they probably read other fics I'd like, so it's usually worth a look.
Ahhhh, okay. I didn't know that was a thing. That's exactly the sort of thing that would help though. Tha is for telling me. In Stack Overflow (not that I'm suggesting a technology Q&A site and fan fiction site need similar functions) tagging is much more strict. They can even change tags and combine them thus affecting all related questions. But it sounds like AO3 has something somewhat similar but I wasn't aware.
Haha, yeah it's a neverending process. There's a bunch of volunteer positions behind the scenes; tags are managed by 'tag wranglers', so it can take a while for some of the odder ones to get classified as it's human people doing the classifying. It's a tricky balance of functionality & maintaining the community culture/flavor. I think they do alright, but I've also been using the site for years, so definitely biased.