Arduinna

In the wake of some of the "meta on AO3" discussions that veered off into talking about finding things on the archive, I decided to poke more intently at the search and filter features.

Like pretty much everyone else, I think things will be easier and more organized once there are media categories to sort on, and I'm very much hoping that the posting forms pick up a radio button for "nonfiction" to make all sorts of nonfic things filterable. I also really hope that a crossover button gets added, and that crossovers become something that can be filtered in or out.

My own ideal filter sidebar would include options to include/exclude terms from each section, with sections added for Source Media Type and Fanwork Media Type (based on the media categories I suggested in the Category Change post, which I'm still very keen on), and checkboxes for complete/wips, crossovers/no-crossovers, and creative/nonfiction.

( It would look something like this )

But we don't have that yet, so I figured I would try to make the existing filters/search do what I wanted them to.

There are three basic ways to search.

• The general search box at the top of every page, where you just type in a string of search terms, whatever you're looking for.


• The filters sidebar on any tag-based landing page -- fandom, pairing, trope, etc. These let you see the most common tags in use on that landing page, so you have a starting point to work from.


• The Advanced Search, available via link at the top of every page, or directly at http://archiveofourown.org/works/search. This is a form that provides structure for your search, with a lot of detail.

All three of these default to AND searches: every term you type in is considered a requirement, so the more terms you add, the narrower your search.

All three also have a box that does allow you to search for options (OR) or exclude things (NOT), across all of the fields associated with a work in the database, including title, author, summary, notes, and tags. That means this is a text search box. It doesn't search for tags specifically, it searches for the text inside the tags.

In the general search box, you can do OR or NOT directly in the box. In the filters sidebar, this is the Search within results box. In the Advanced Search form, this is the Any Field box.

( Using that single-box search no matter where you find it. )

( Things to keep in mind using the search box )

So those are the things they all have in common. They all have some differences and specific strengths, as well.

The general search box does everything listed under the "single box" explanation, and has the huge advantage of being right there on every page, and very fast to use.

( Using the general search box )

The filters let you see what you're dealing with, so you can easily adjust things on the fly. You can use filters on a fandom page, bookmarks page, tag page, and individual people's Works and Bookmarks pages.

( Using the filters sidebar )

( Filtering crossovers in or out )

The advanced search lets you search not just fanworks, but also bookmarks, tags, and people. It also lets you specify date ranges for you results, which neither of the other two search options do.

( Using Advanced Search )

There are still a few things I'm hoping will be added to search on AO3: crossover filters, source media types, fanwork media types, excludes right within the filter options and advanced search fields.

But the search as it stands is miles ahead of where it was three months ago, and it's possible to do some pretty refined searching now.

Tips:

• You can use the general search box as a shortcut to your fandom, pairing, character, or trope of choice. Type the term in, and click on the first appropriate tag in the results to get to the Filters page for that term.


• If you only check your fandom, pairing, or favorite trope once every week or two and only want to see the most recent works, use Advanced Search to set up what you want.


Specify your fandom and/or pairing and/or tag, and put in a duration such as <7 days or < 2 weeks in the Date field. Bookmark your search results in your browser, and you can just click that bookmark any time you want to catch up on the last week or two.


• If you never want crossovers for your fandom, go to your fandom page and filter out all the crossovers, then bookmark your results. You can use that bookmark as your landing page for your fandom, and just start filtering/searching from there every time.


• You may need to update your bookmark as more crossovers are created in your fandom, by adding more fandoms to your "search within results" box.


• Don't just default to excludes; sometimes OR searches will be better.


• If you want all ratings but Explicit, searching for -explicit is the way to go.


• But if you want only General and Teen ratings, searching for ("general audiences" OR "teen and up audiences") may be easier than excluding all other ratings.

At the Muskrat Jamboree (muskratjamboree) in late March, I offered to give a couple people a tutorial in using del.icio.us, which came up as a way to find things in small/rare fandoms (although it's also great for big fandoms). We didn't really have time at the con, so I figured I'd write something up.

If you're reading this and wondering what all the del.icio.us fuss is about, here's very fast overview, before I get into the tutorial part.

The basics

At it's most basic, del.icio.us is... bookmarks. *g*

The bookmarks are spiffy, mind you -- they sit on the del.icio.us servers, not on your computer, so they're available to you anywhere, if you have a browser and a connection; no more worries about "oh, crap, I bookmarked that at work. At my last job. CRAP."

There's also a section to add notes or a description to any bookmark, which is really cool (you can put a quote from a story, for example, to remind yourself about it). And best of all, there are tags, which make finding things so freaking much easier than trying to scroll through 800 random bookmarks that you forgot to stick in folders, or figuring out which folder you stuck something into. Personally, I think it's cool just on that level, but trust me: there's more.

The cool stuff

Okay, now on to the real reasons for fans to use del.icio.us: it will bring you stories and vids and suchlike that you might not find on your own. There are two main ways to do this: the Network, and the Subscriptions.

Network

The network is sort of like a Friends list. You find people whose bookmarks interest you, and you add them to your network, and then any time you go look at your network page, you see all the bookmarks from all the people in your network.

Subscriptions

The subscriptions are... not like anything on LJ, I don't think. *g* They're how you track different subjects across the entire del.icio.us network, by subscribing to tags. I use these for pretty much all my fandoms, but they're crucial for small fandoms, so you don't miss anything. You can subscribe to any tag you can think of; if someone uses that tag on a bookmark, you'll see it show up on your subscriptions page.

This is really the strongest feature for fans, because it gives you access to everyone's tags, regardless of whether you know them, or whether they're really in the fandom or just doing a flyby one-shot bookmark on something.

The extras

There are some other cool features, too.

search

del.icio.us comes with a search, which lets you search either all of del.icio.us, just your own bookmarks, or the web. I don't use this often, but when I need it, it's a lifesaver (usually when I remember a keyword in a story that I neglected to use as a tag, but stuck in the description somewhere).

Links for...

del.icio.us lets you send links to specific people, as long as they also have a del.icio.us account. You just tag something for:username and it shows up in a private section called "links for you" in their account. No one else (not even the person you tagged) can see that you used that tag; the for: tag is only visible to the person who actually uses it.

privacy

del.icio.us allows you to save things privately, so that only you can see them, and it gives you a little indicator on any privately saved link so you know it's safe. This is fabulous.

Checking things out

If you want to see what someone's bookmarks look like, mine are here:

http://del.icio.us/arduinna

and you can see my network and subscriptions here:

http://del.icio.us/network/arduinna

http://del.icio.us/subscriptions/arduinna

If all of that sounds good and you're an intrepid sort who likes to figure things out completely on your own, go get an account at del.icio.us, and start bookmarking and tagging. Yay!

More info

If you want a more info, read on below for a basic tutorial, or go to my website for a far more detailed version.

( On to the tutorial )

( Getting an account )

( Bookmarks )

( Tags )

( Subscriptions )

( Network )

( Privacy )

( Egoboo )

( Advanced stuff )

And again, if that wasn't enough information, I put a far more detailed version up on my website, covering more features, and with step-by-step instructions on a lot of things, including screencaps.