Alright.
So I hear through the grapevine that apparently some people are upset that
lotr_sesa is moving platforms, from the LJ comm to AO3. It is understandable to be uncomfortable with change. I get that. But the rumours I'm hearing are...surprisingly odd, and nothing we would have anticipated, because they're simply not true. I don't know where it's all going down, I don't know who is saying what, but what I will say, is that if what I'm hearing is true, that people are claiming that moving to the AO3 is somehow unfair to hobbit writers... that's... that's ridiculous.
If you have issues, here's a thought: Come to the mods and talk to us about them, and we will try to smooth the transition the best we can.
lotr_sesa has become
more inclusive every year it's run, and if there's an under-representation of a particular group of writers/artists, it certainly isn't for lack of trying to get more people involved. (And FYI, we haven't posted any advertisements anywhere outside of the comm and
middleearthnews right now, which has always been more prominent in Hobbit parts of fandom than Elves, Men, etc.)
The reasons for the move are
exactly what we said in the announcement, but I'll put it even blunter here:
LJ is becoming a smaller and smaller platform. We're losing more participants than we're gaining. And we've had a ton of difficulties breaking into Tumblr culture, where more activity is happening, partially because those newer fans aren't all that interested in using old platforms, partially because Tolkien-based fandoms don't have a lot of new high profile media coming out, and partially because we're just not that high profile over there. Moving to the AO3 gives us a chance to harness the AO3, which has become a hub for multiplatform users. That is the simple fact of things. That is the lay of the land.
Also: Organizing the exchange every year is
exhausting. It takes a ton of time, a ton of work, and comes with a rather skewed ratio of work to thanks. That is the reality of
any exchange. We do it because despite the work, the actual exchange is lots of fun, we enjoy doing it, it's tradition, and at the very, very least, we can tell people are having fun when they interact with each other on the comments to their stories and art.
Now. There are some major hurdles to the exchange every year, the chief amongst them being matching. If I told you that one or both of the mods ends up in tears every year trying to give everyone the best match we can manage,
I would not be lying. And after matching? We are forever on tenterhooks waiting for the other shoe to drop. I cannot recall an exchange in the last few years that hasn't required last minute scrabbling to fix something that broke.
And that, more than the slipping numbers, more than anything else, is why we are moving to AO3:
Because the mods want to cry less and cut down the workload. The AO3's automated matching system gives us the opportunity to change matching from a week's worth of angst to a couple hours of nudging things around. It has
zero to do with manufactured divisions in our shared Tolkien fandom. It has
zero to do with not caring about or actively trying to cut out any particular subsection of fans. We
want you involved. I am as livid as I am right now because insisting that
lotr_sesa's move to the AO3 is all about cutting out those fans virtually guarantees that there will be less hobbit fans involved. It is cutting off one's nose to spite one's face, and I cannot understand it. At all.
So, you know... Thanks for that, I guess?
We love having every single person involved. We really, really do. We love your submissions, we love your enthusiasm, we are totally willing to do all the scut work so we can all be part of a multi-year holiday tradition. But I gotta say this: The choices now are to take advantage of the AO3 and keep the exchange running (on what is its
third platform, btw, so we're not even setting a precedent), or retire the whole thing. It no longer makes sense to do all the behind-the-scenes work by hand when we can cut our workload in half (or even more than that).
Earlier today,
empy and I even had a conversation where we were
really pleased that everyone seemed to be taking to the move comfortably, that people were helping each other out with invite codes in the comments on our posts, that people were sharing the news that we were open... In short, that everyone was taking it well, taking what we said at face value (because that's it, folks, the reasons listed are it; there's no secret, hidden persecution going on, not from either of your mods, who, btw, have individually written
across the spectrum of pairings and M-E Peoples
throughout SeSa), and seemed to understand where we were coming from.
And thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone who is supporting the move. You reinforce why we do this each year, why we enjoy it, and why we love seeing you back (or participating for the first time)!
Hearing now, that instead of talking to us or bringing up concerns, people are seeking reasons to be upset and breaking away is pretty disappointing. I don't know what to say or do about it, I really don't. People will get upset about anything, I suppose, and we can only do our best to be clear about why things need to happen, even if they're not what everyone wants.
And you know, I'm really sorry if you're breaking away from SeSa specifically because of the changeover. That's really disappointing, because it just divides a shrinking fandom even more. If you change your mind, if later in the signup period, or next year, or down the road you want to participate again, then you are more than welcome. We will be thrilled to have you back. (The only proviso being that we're still operating, of course.) And if you decide this year you want to participate in SeSa
and whatever other new alternative is out there, then we will love you all the more. ♥
And if that's not the case, if you're done with us because... because of something that has absolutely nothing to do with the shift in platforms, or the (more or less successful) efforts we've put in to be inclusive, or anything that is based on something we, as mods, haven't outright stated, then I can only wish you luck out there, and say I'm sorry to see you go.
It definitely makes me feel as if once I'm able to post announcements in a day or so in the hobbit spaces of LJ that I won't be welcome, and SeSa won't either, and that seems to be completely contrary to what the complaint is in the meantime, don't you think?
ETA: So it's starting to sound like it's not the move, per se, that's got up people's noses, it's just a chance to air grievances that the mods were unaware were at issue and that we haven't been directly made aware of (and thus couldn't fix). That's a shame, and it's still really damn disheartening, especially since we've done our best, this entire time, to make sure everyone enjoyed the exchange.
But you know, as I'm being reminded, the important part is that more people enjoy SeSa than don't, and that's what matters. For everyone who reminded me of that, and everyone who has ever been understanding/kind/tactful/patient when they've encountered hiccups, or has just been an enthusiastic and positive participant, thank you. ♥ You're the reason why SeSa keeps on keeping on.
ETA2: So I've actually read the comments in question now, and they're fewer in number and milder than I expected, which is nice (and goes to show that it's better to take a step back and not necessarily trust second-hand accounts about the severity or number of something until you've checked it out yourself), although I note that we don't have a record of one of those complaints ever actually happening -- and I suspect that they're thinking of another exchange, since the person in question signed up once two years ago and never returned, and their issue was with last year; and another person complained about something that was definitely for an entirely different exchange, given that they linked directly to the fic, and it said right on it what exchange it was for, so... yeah. And like I said, we have only ever been able to work with what we are given by participants. If there's an issue and you don't bring it up with the mods, there is literally nothing we can do about it. We're not mind-readers, we don't own a time machine, and we can't actually control other participants outside of the very mild threat of being banned in future years. ...And on the mind-reading thing, we certainly can't know that when you say you'll write X, you didn't mean X-1 if you didn't say "No X-1" and then don't tell us, even after the fact, that you didn't mean X-1.
(And just an FYI for folks out there: When you link to an entry in a post, whether it's a personal LJ or a comm, unless that person/comm has specifically turned off those kind of notifications, they get a notice that that entry has been mentioned. And that means that when you then do a 180 and start complaining in comments, there's a better than average chance that the people you're complaining about know. So, you know, probably best for everyone if you're aware of that. Saves headaches and hurt feelings all around.)
So I'm done with this now. Good luck on your new ficathon, and know that you're still welcome in our spaces, but do me a favour next time, and if it's an actual issue that can be solved by the mods? Bring it directly to us. We have always tried to work in good faith, and it's really disappointing to not have that good faith returned.
