Updated Collections & Challenges Help Documentation

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2020-11-29 20:03:50 UTC

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We're excited to announce that the AO3 Documentation committee is replacing the current Collections & Challenges FAQ with a suite of FAQs and tutorials. 🎉

The Collections FAQ will answer several common questions about how to put together and maintain a collection, and the Gift Exchange FAQ and Prompt Meme FAQ are full of information you'll need if running or participating in a challenge on AO3.

Making a collection for the first time, or just unsure of the process? Try starting with our Tutorial: Creating a Collection for step-by-step instructions. You'll be able to group your own works according to themes or collect your favorites as neatly curated bookmarks in no time!

Want to encourage fellow fans to create more works for your favorite ship or trope? Check out our tutorials on Running a Gift Exchange on AO3 or Running a Prompt Meme on AO3 for guidance on setting up and running a challenge!

And if your heart just beats for a well-organized help section, there's a lot more in our collection of AO3 FAQs, which aim to cover all the tools and features available to you on the site. You might be interested in Formatting Content on AO3, which will guide you through using HTML to format your works, comments, notes, and summaries. Or you could check out the Unofficial Browser Tools FAQ, which lists several useful userscripts and browser plugins for commonly requested features we can't provide at the AO3 at this time.

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indyana Sun 29 Nov 2020 08:56PM UTC

Great work, doc committee! Gotta love clear walk-throughs.

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1. Nightcandle Mon 30 Nov 2020 08:46PM UTC
  
  You took the words right out of my mouth :D ... ehm...keyboard :)
  Big thanks to the Documentation committee!
  
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sagedaisies Sun 29 Nov 2020 08:56PM UTC

Thank you so much for everything you guys do 😁

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Account Deleted Sun 29 Nov 2020 11:33PM UTC

Awesome! Thank you!!

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honilee Mon 30 Nov 2020 01:27AM UTC

Thanks for the update!

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Morbane Mon 30 Nov 2020 02:06AM UTC

That is very encouraging to hear - thank you to to everyone working on it!
If you are updating the information about tag sets, I'd be very grateful if you'd update the information about the batch loading tool, as the current text obscures one of its helpful features.
Currently, this explanation of the Batch Load tool [https://archiveofourown.org/faq/tag-sets?language_id=en#batchload] claims it only works on canonical tags. This is not true.
In case it's helpful, I've drafted some additional text that clarifies another thing you can do with Batch Load, including some examples. Please don't feel any obligation to use it - edits are of course welcome - but if you could cover this feature, it would save future mods much scrolling.

suggested text:
Although the Batch Load tool only allows you to add tags to the tag set if they are canonical, it can be used to efficiently associate any tags that are in your tag set, canonical or not. To create associations between multiple tags at once, first use the Edit page to add fandoms, characters, and relationships (possibly using a comma-delimited list to add several at once), then, in the Batch Load screen, input the tags you want to associate with their fandoms as if you were adding them to the tag set for the first time.

For example, to quickly add and associate noncanonical characters to the canonical fandoms "Oz - L. Frank Baum" and "Marvel Cinematic Universe", you could go to the Edit page and add to Fandoms:
Oz - L. Frank Baum,Marvel Cinematic Universe
and add to Characters:
Chaotic Neutral Witch of the Northeast,Changeable Witch of the West-Northwest,Stovetop Rogers,Toaster Oven Rogers
This will cause the two Witch and Rogers characters to appear in Unassociated Characters and Relationships at the bottom of your tag set.
Then, in the Batch Load screen, enter one fandom per line, as so:
Oz - L. Frank Baum,Chaotic Neutral Witch of the Northeast,Changeable Witch of the West Northwest
Marvel Cinematic Universe,Stovetop Rogers,Toaster Oven Rogers
and submit in order to associate four noncanonical characters at once with their desired fandoms.

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1. AO3_Docs (Official) Mon 30 Nov 2020 10:53PM UTC
  
  Hi Morbane,
  Thanks for taking the time to provide such specific feedback! We appreciate it, and will ensure this use of the Batch Tool feature is covered in our next revision of the Tag Sets FAQ.
  Morgan
  AO3 Docs
  
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2. 1. Morbane Mon 30 Nov 2020 10:58PM UTC
    
    Thank you so much! I'm really happy to hear that.
    
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DschingisKhan Mon 30 Nov 2020 08:35AM UTC

Will they ever get to one on tagging? Because that really needs more guidance.

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1. . (Guest) Mon 30 Nov 2020 04:22PM UTC
  
  At the top of the page, click "About". In that drop down menu click "FAQ" and then "Tags". In the "About" menu you can also click "Wrangling Guidelines".
  
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2. 1. DschingisKhan Tue 01 Dec 2020 06:07AM UTC
    
    The key word is "more". The stuff in the FAQ is... a foundation. It's fine for the surface level "what even is this?" questions. In terms of praxis, however, the continued proliferation of tags expressing confusion over how to tag (among other things) makes it pretty explicit there are unaddressed shortcomings.
    
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  2. 1. . (Guest) Tue 01 Dec 2020 02:13PM UTC
      
      Give an example, please? Is there something in particular you struggle with or see others struggle with that could use further clarification?
      Tags like "how do i tag" may exist because people are being facetious.
      
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3. AO3_Docs (Official) Mon 30 Nov 2020 11:01PM UTC
  
  Hi DschingisKhan,
  Thanks for the question! As another commenter already noted, we do have a FAQ for this. You can find it here: Tags FAQ.
  Morgan
  AO3 Docs
  
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4. 1. DschingisKhan Tue 01 Dec 2020 06:16AM UTC
    
    Right, I'm saying it could use a good comprehensive user-focused update as well. Ontology management begins at the source!
    
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  2. 1. Sammie (AO3_Docs) (Official) Wed 02 Dec 2020 12:57AM UTC
      
      Hi again,
      Given that tagging culture varies from fandom to fandom, as well as other variables, AO3 doesn't instruct users on how to tag their works. The exception to this being the categories enforced under the TOS, which are fandom, language, and warnings. The "How do I tag my works to make them easy to find?" question in the Tags FAQ is the closest we are likely to get to this.
      Sammie,
      AO3 Docs
      
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    2. 1. DschingisKhan Wed 02 Dec 2020 01:18PM UTC
        
        Why do you think tagging culture makes it impossible to enable people to do better? That culture doesn't go away in the event AO3 makes clearer, better-reasoned suggestions (with detailed examples) about good practices and puts them front and centre, ESPECIALLY for first time posters.
        At the moment, the doc link in the additional tags help Modal on the new work page doesn't even RESOLVE properly, so I hope you'll forgive me if I don't believe this aspect of the UX has received a lot of care and attention.
        
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WhisperedLace Mon 30 Nov 2020 10:27AM UTC

wooo! Thnx for the help! I've been thinking about using collections recently.

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Kalloway Mon 30 Nov 2020 04:01PM UTC

Definitely looking forward to more complete documentation on Prompt Memes!
I ran one for curiousity's sake during a lockdown earlier this year and it was a group learning process. Here's the information about what we tried to do, for anybody curious, as well as thoughts on AO3 prompt memes and the amazing amount of things that went wrong:
https://fictional-fans.dreamwidth.org/57427.html
https://fictional-fans.dreamwidth.org/71824.html

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1. . (Guest) Mon 30 Nov 2020 04:18PM UTC
  
  How does the new documentation linked above compare with your experience? Anything you would change/add to the new how to article?
  
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2. 1. Kalloway Tue 01 Dec 2020 04:04AM UTC
    
    First- that project was in May and 2020 has been like three decades long so I'm honestly going off of frazzled memories and what's in the comments of those links. I had meant to write up a Support request with more information but frazzled-essential-worker-2020-augh and all that. (Besides, I have a Support request outstanding from, like, three years ago and I'd kinda figure the Prompt Meme feature was kind of dead in the water/low priority and didn't want to lump more on them.)
    Anyway-- and in no order-
    in the second post, when I went to delete the experiment, I found that I couldn't. I had found no documentation (and I still see none?) that a prompt meme has to be empty to be deleted (unless that has been altered since then- I haven't tried again, because the whole thing just hit "ludicrous failure funny" and all of the above frazzled-ness) which was not intuitive. Another person had to point this out and they'd only discovered it by accident. The "help" message of "We couldn't delete that right now, sorry! Please try again later." certainly didn't point to anything I could change in order to delete the whole thing. Documentation seems to mostly focus on deleting individual prompts.
    "[AO3-4634] - It used to be possible for all logged in users to access the "Unposted Claims" page of a prompt meme challenge. Now this list of all claims is restricted to the challenge mods." - remains a very new fix and I still see constant misinformation that everybody can see claims. I'd probably add a line at the end of https://archiveofourown.org/faq/tutorial-running-a-prompt-meme-on-ao3?language_id=en#promptclaims mentioning that non-mod participants cannot view claims that are not their own or something.
    Honestly I'm not sure if there is any way to document this: https://fictional-fans.dreamwidth.org/57427.html?thread=695635#cmt695635 entire set of errors, but they did seem to be repeatable. That's likely more something to be documented as a bug?
    But just skimming thru, overall, the documentation seems pretty clear. I don't have the previous information at hand to compare it to. I'd probably add further clarification to the section involving tag sets, basically because both options (tag set or no) impose some hefty limitation on a prompt meme and can feel like fighting uphill.
    And, the thought nobody asked for:
    I think if there was anything I'd change about the actual parameters on the feature, I'd give the meme's creator a far higher number of prompts. As I'd mentioned somewhere, I had wanted to bring over old prompts from a LiveJournal community and there are far more than fifty prompts. I can see limiting member prompts, and where a cap might be a code limitation, but it's frustrating from the viewpoint of someone wishing to preserve those prompts and maybe get them some new attention.
    
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PrettyArbitrary Mon 30 Nov 2020 06:18PM UTC

Big thanks to the Documentation committee! You are unsung heroes!

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hxney_hazza Tue 01 Dec 2020 12:36AM UTC

Hello! Could we make AO3 have book covers and maybe make the site look newer? Thanks.

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1. Account Deleted Tue 01 Dec 2020 03:04AM UTC
  
  What would make the site look newer?
  
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2. Lady_Bellatrix Tue 01 Dec 2020 06:14AM UTC
  
  Well, currently AO3 hasn't had the capability to host images yet, since it's related to server space and day to day operational cost. This is why AO3 hasn't hosted fanarts yet.
  Oh, and by they way, what do you mean by making the site look newer?
  
  Last Edited Tue 01 Dec 2020 06:14AM UTC
  
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3. 1. Account Deleted Tue 01 Dec 2020 10:07PM UTC
    
    I think they mean they want AO3 to look like FF.Net along with a site facelift. Which is kinda ew imo (about FFNET).
    
    Last Edited Tue 01 Dec 2020 10:08PM UTC
    
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  2. 1. Seeking_Chaos Tue 01 Dec 2020 10:55PM UTC
      
      I don’t think that would make it look newer at all. FFN is permanently stuck looking like it did twelve years ago.
      
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4. Qem Wed 02 Dec 2020 04:35AM UTC
  
  (I do volunteer for org but not in this area).
  For what it's worth, the ao3 website is pretty easy to restyle if you want to modify it to better suit your needs. There's the inbuilt skins you can use to set up dark mode and similar as a user FAQ here: https://archiveofourown.org/faq/skins-and-archive-interface?language_id=en#change
  For non-logged in users you can use a script or a program to change how it looks on your computer and then use a userscript. Some of the userscripts that have been designed by other people are here: https://userstyles.org/styles/browse?search_terms=archiveofourown.org&type=false (You can use this with Stylus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylus_(browser_extension) )
  You can also use the skins to hide certain types of tags and similar.
  
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ExpatGirl Thu 03 Dec 2020 12:19PM UTC

Yay! I really liked being part of the docs team, and I'm proud to see your hard work go live. 💕

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Sakon Fri 04 Dec 2020 08:33PM UTC

Thank you!

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quothhh Sat 05 Dec 2020 06:37PM UTC

I've really enjoyed the Untamed Kink Meme here on ao3 - I hope these updates encourage more fandoms to host kink memes here on ao3 :)

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menecio Mon 07 Dec 2020 02:44AM UTC

Thank you for all your hard work!

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