Your experience using the website/app of fanfiction.net and the pros and cons you guys have encoutered

[OP1000]

Hello!!!!
For all the fanfic readers on this site that have used/are also using the website/app for fanfiction.net, what were/are your experiences while using fanfiction.net? What were the pros and cons for you while using their website/app?

 

[Vongrak]

I guess for the website (fanfic.net)

Pro-Lots of stories.

Con-literally everything else.

Let me explain.
First, you can't really tag your stories. Second, it's barely possible to search for things. Third, the editor for stories is pretty bad. Fourth, the comment section doesn't let you respond to people unless you're willing to go into a private message chain. Five, what few tags they let you add... are really limited. It's like... 2 main tags, a fandom (or two of it's a crossover) and like... 8 characters? I think it's 8.

I suppose the reading experience isn't bad... but it's just a basic textbox really. It does it no better then any other site certainly.

Really, I think the biggest "con" is that most other fanfiction or original fiction websites are just better (except maybe webnovel) in every way shape and form. If I could use Ao3 and never fanfiction.net I'd be pretty happy.

 

[The_3rd_Book]

The websites design is hard to look at.

 

[yurinium]

It's pretty outdated and the traffic's declining.

I prefer AO3 (archive of our own) instead, for fanfics. I always have fewer views and comments on FF in comparison to AO3

 

[Syringe]

I used to love it eons ago for certain minecraft-related stories, but searching for something specific was pure torture. Navigation required quantum knowledge.

But as bad as it is, if you're looking for something niche, it'll probably be there.

 

[Le_ther]

Hello!!!!
For all the fanfic readers on this site that have used/are also using the website/app for fanfiction.net, what were/are your experiences while using fanfiction.net? What were the pros and cons for you while using their website/app?

Pros: some authors have promising fan stories and writing skills.

Cons: some stories are as great as one of the 7 forbidden kr novels or even worse.

 

[Pujimaki]

Tried it once, never did it again. I can't search well, besides I'm not into fanfic, I visited it because of curiosity and I can say that other websites are far better.

 

[RavenRunes]

Used to be on it 10+ years ago, liked it. Stories are still up so I'm ripping them off to rewrite.
It's easy enough to use but looks fairly uninspiring. It hasn't been updated in that respect since...well, ever.
Can't write smut on it.

 

[ChrisLensman]

I've used fanfiction.net some fifteen years ago and the issue is that, as far as I can tell, there hasn't been a single improvement to the UI since then.

The first thing I noticed when using Scribble Hub was how shockingly good the UI is in comparison. They're worlds apart. But then again, Fanfiction does have all the stories that made me fall in love with fanfiction as a concept so I can't hate on the site too much. Still, even if I were to write a piece of fanfiction again I would be uploading it here rather than over there.

 

[OP1000]

I've used fanfiction.net some fifteen years ago and the issue is that, as far as I can tell, there hasn't been a single improvement to the UI since then.

The first thing I noticed when using Scribble Hub was how shockingly good the UI is in comparison. They're worlds apart. But then again, Fanfiction does have all the stories that made me fall in love with fanfiction as a concept so I can't hate on the site too much. Still, even if I were to write a piece of fanfiction again I would be uploading it here rather than over there.

I agree that the user interface of fanfiction.net is outdated compared to the user interface of scribblehub.com. But I still visit it from time to time because I have managed to find some crossover fanfics on fanfiction.net that have really caught my eye.

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

Only use it to find specific fanfic stories of Anime I watched. The bigger the fandom, the more good stuff, and even more shitty stories there.

Kinda sad to see stories with good premise and high quality writing getting abandoned, since fanfic is free and it's just unsustainable for mere amaetur writers to spend more on the story.

I always cringed when reading Crossover stories. When you're having quite deep understanding of both part of stories (ex Naruto and Bleach), most stories will just look like heap of trash since they're just like kids playing Barbie doll fight against transformers robot while each doll use either Kamehameha or hadoken.

It's definitely not that obviously chaotic for most people, but it is for me since I'm rather perfectionist and sensitive with bad plot development and lore breaking story. Especially when character start goes out of character to fulfill author's biased opinion and shitty agendas, ugh. Not to mention the appearance of Fanon that probably destroy everything that makes the story good and realistic.

I don't really like to suffer 10 bad stories just to read 1 or 2 good ones, much less 100 to 1000 shit ones.

So yeah, I stop reading on FF.net and move to reading stories on AO3 for better tagging system.

 

[TotallyHuman]

I like their UI, because of how simple it is. Some sites have a billion stupid widgets that pop up and take up prime real estate on the screen for no reason.
That site has just text and some customisation of theme and font size and nothing unnecessary - just the way I like it.

Searching for stories is a pain.

 

[OP1000]

I always cringed when reading Crossover stories. When you're having quite deep understanding of both part of stories (ex Naruto and Bleach), most stories will just look like heap of trash since they're just like kids playing Barbie doll fight against transformers robot while each doll use either Kamehameha or hadoken.

Your reason for disliking crossover fanfics is valid. But, I personally enjoy crossover fanfics as long as the connection made between the characters of the different fandoms make sense and the setting of the story is not ruined by the presence of the characters that are not part of the canon story.

I like their UI, because of how simple it is. Some sites have a billion stupid widgets that pop up and take up prime real estate on the screen for no reason.
That site has just text and some customisation of theme and font size and nothing unnecessary - just the way I like it.

Searching for stories is a pain.

Their UI is simple to use, so that could be seen as a positive feature of the site.

Yes, it truly can be a tiring task to search for a story on fanfiction.net.

 

[K5Rakitan]

I have a lot of nostalgia for the site because I've been enjoying it ever since high school, but it's pretty quiet now tbh.

 

[Sabruness]

I guess for the website (fanfic.net)

Pro-Lots of stories.

Con-literally everything else.

Let me explain.
First, you can't really tag your stories. Second, it's barely possible to search for things. Third, the editor for stories is pretty bad. Fourth, the comment section doesn't let you respond to people unless you're willing to go into a private message chain. Five, what few tags they let you add... are really limited. It's like... 2 main tags, a fandom (or two of it's a crossover) and like... 8 characters? I think it's 8.

I suppose the reading experience isn't bad... but it's just a basic textbox really. It does it no better then any other site certainly.

Really, I think the biggest "con" is that most other fanfiction or original fiction websites are just better (except maybe webnovel) in every way shape and form. If I could use Ao3 and never fanfiction.net I'd be pretty happy.

all of this. tl;dr: the design is early 00s super basic and clunky.

 

[georgelee5786]

ff.net has a problem with lack of author-reader interaction
ritoria has a small community and its forums aren't as well made as SH's