I was just wondering if you all would ever consider having an official collection list on Ao3 for all of your officially recommended fics. I'd basically just live in that collection, reading for years. Thanks for all the fic recs.
Thank you so much for your kind words!! Yes, we have noticed that AO3 collections are getting more popular and are almost like a badge of honor on a fic. However, a DestielFanFic AO3 collection at this point would be incomplete and would severely misrepresent our blog.
During past five years the criteria to review a fic has changed several times. DFF went from the blog that rates and rec any fic a mod has read to a blog that seeks out new authors and rec fics relevant to fandom trends. On top of that, official reviews are written by four mods and several followers + guest reviewers. There’s no continuity / connecting thread between these reviews except that they are all posted on this blog. All reviews are tagged with reviewer’s url to help readers to chose the fic.
Here are a few other reasons there isn’t a DFF AO3 Collection
DFF is more than a list of fics. While reviews are our most recognizable feature, we also post a lot of asks and thematic rec lists. We review fics, tag them and tell you why we liked them. We use reviews to tell more about the fic if the summary is unclear. We warn about difficult themes and squicks. Our blog is here to help readers to find a fic that fits their needs. That’s why we always encourage followers to visit our blog and explore all features. A collection would do none of this.
We have a lot of fic recs that are only hosted on LiveJournal, DreamWidth and FanFiction Net. We also keep reviews when a fic is deleted by the author. Without seeing all titles, fans may construct a false understanding of what kind a fic rec blog we are.
We have Masterlist in four parts with the title, author, rating, length and primary tags. Check them out! With ≈700 reviews, you are welcome to live there! [Part One A-C], [Part Two D-K], [Part Three L-R] [Part Four S-Z]
Last but not least. AO3 collections are not without their fault (see this post) and a lot of authors may decline our request to add the fic to the collection. That would only further the incomplete status of such a collection. Not to mention the time we would have to spend on managing an AO3 collection and keeping track of deleted works in addition to doing regular maintenance on the blog itself!
Our sidebar says, “A blog dedicated to collecting, reviewing, and organizing destiel fanfiction” and that is what we are doing here. We hope to preserve a slice of destiel fic fandom history on this blog.