Categories ff.net

The Current fanfiction.net Problem

So since from about December 29-31, 2015 (the dates people give as start date vary a bit) new reviews don’t show up on the review pages on http://www.fanfiction.net At this point it’s unclear whether the  ff.net admin are aware of the problem or not – it’s been reported lots of times but nobody’s gotten a reaction back, nor is there an update on the front page that yes they’re aware of the problem and working on it. Just… silence.

Most people are worried about people not bothering to review anymore because of it but I’m more worried that http://www.fanfiction.net has been abandoned and soon it’ll bye bye for all those stories only up there, the first time there’s a huge glitch or when the domain expires the latest. That’s how little I have faith in the ff.net admin based on their past actions – that they’re likely to just decide it’s not worth the hassle anymore. I’m not sure how many people are actually working on it these days or if it’s just one. It’s not the first time a problem goes unacknowledged for a long time, and when you own a hugely popular site like this one I think that’s the minimum requirement – to stay up to what’s going on with it every day (read those support e-mails!) and to post a quick note saying you’re aware of the problem (and preferably are working on it, but even if you’re not) when there is one. Not days of silence after your users report a problem that affects one of the main functions of your site.

I wish there was a way to back up entire sections of ff.net, instead of individual stories. Like the entire The Mummy section, as an example. There are a lot of fics on ff.net that it’d be a shame to lose if it really breaks for good.

Categories ff.net

Fanfiction.net Is Actually Alive!

Hell has frozen over – the management of fanfiction.net is actually alive! They have setup a blog and twitter and are actually answering and fixing some things users have reported broken! http://blog.fictionpress.com

It never occurred to me they’d ever do that! It’s been 10 years of silence. And no – I don’t count the notices on the front page which were always posted after something was broken and it had been fixed hours/days/weeks/months after the breakage. They never posted to say “yes, we know X is broken, we’re working on it” even if it took days or weeks to fix it 🙁 So I don’t (didn’t?) count the front page.

Although it remains to be seen whether they’ll really listen to their users and roll back changes we don’t like (like the new review box and ready-ticked-favorite-story-author-boxes) or add things we do want like bring back the MA-rating.

Oh, and I hope this new age of communication between fanfiction.net and their users will be a lasting feature, not an anomaly that lasts for a month or two.