Pseudo events

[gwyn]

I will be the first person to admit that the structure of AO3 baffles me--my brain doesn't really work that way, and a lot of the ins and out mystify me to the point of wanting to tear my hair out, and I feel really stupid when I use it sometimes because I just don't think that way or connect like that, there's some kind of process that makes searching and stuff opaque and confusing for me. And I was an idiot when I first signed up, because I just used the name I use on lots of things, gwyneth, rather than the pseud I'd always used for writing, gwyneth rhys.

It was too late to change it when I realized that I hadn't used my actual full writing name, so I added a pseudonym with the full name. I hate that it's always "gwyneth rhys (gwyneth)" when I share new uploads and stuff, but that's my punishment for being a moron and having a stupid brain. But now I find myself in a really confusing situation and I don't know the answer so I turn to you, oh flist.

I went in to check my Yuletide assignment once we got the notice that the assignments had been restored from the snafu the other day, and I noticed that I still had seven fanworks that were only showing up in my default pseud, gwyneth, and not in my gwyneth rhys list of fanworks--I was probably asleep at the wheel and didn't choose the alternate pseud when I posted them. So I fixed that, and then…realized that under my default gwyneth pseud, I had 0 fanworks listed. The only things showing up on the Dashboard page were my bookmarks.

Yikes, says I, does that mean that if someone searches on my main pseud name, all they'll see is a page listing 0 Works? That if, say, someone read one of the comments I'd left on their fic, and decided to check me out (I know, but I'm being hypothetical here), all they'd see is a listing of my bookmarks and 0 Works? So the 145 Works I have currently up there are not visible unless they actually pulled down the list of pseuds?

I don't actually understand how this works, and that's what I see when I tested it out--that it looks as if I had 0 Works now listed on my default pseud Dashboard, which it goes to if I follow a link from that name. But I don't know if that's because I'm logged in, so I'm seeing all my available information, but a person who's not me would see something different. I fear I've cocked this up by re-pseudifying all my existing works on AO3.

I mean, I'm assuming that if someone just follows a link to a vid or story, they'd be able to get to the main page of my Works by clicking on the "by" link there. But if they were coming in from some different link, does it just end up looking like I have nothing there?

I hate my stupid brain sometimes--I'm driving an old model that you can't get parts for anymore and it doesn't work well in this modern age.

(My subject line refers to a class I took in college, a higher level public relations and advertising course where we were studying propaganda and things like that, and one of the students asked the prof one day, "I wanted to know what a puh-swaydo event was," and the whole class just face-palmed.)

Comments

[sholio]

I think maybe it's just 'cause you're logged in? I just checked your main page and it shows 145 works for gwyneth, so I think you're good. :)

[gwyn]

If I jump from something where I use the default pseud, like a comment, it apparently only goes to the 0 Works page, so…yeah. I might be a weird outlier, though, in that I often use comments as a way to jump to a person's page if I don't have it in autofill or something. It's not a huge resource, but I definitely do do that. Sometimes I despair of my stupidity.

[sineala]

If I click on your username in a comment reply, it goes to your default "gwyneth" pseud -- which shows only the bookmarks, yeah.

It ought to be possible to either swap which pseud is default, or to rename your default pseud/account name to something like gwyneth_rhys and then give them all the works from your secondary pseud? (This is the AO3 FAQ on pseuds.)

[gwyn]

Ugh, sigh. I know I'm probably an outlier in that I often use comments as a way to jump to someone's page, but it bugs me that I did that in case other people are doing the same thing.

It warns me that if I were to rename my default pseud, any links would be broken, and I have so few readers as it is I don't really want to make it harder to find me, you know? Plus I still have tons of old rotten links to my old personal page from back in the day, and I figure I ought to at least make it easier for people to track me down.

I can't, according to them change the name on the original account user name. I could swap the default, I think, but that would still have the same problem in terms of responses from the account, I think. I really bollixed this up.

[sineala]

I have seen people change their username so I think it ought to be possible.

The only links that would break are the links going to your profile by name -- the /users/gwyneth stuff -- if anyone ever linked you that way, but every link to your work by URL would remain intact, just with a new name on top, and IIRC your name in previous comments would change automatically, but I'd have to check that.

[musesfool]

Your dashboard shows all works: http://archiveofourown.org/users/gwyneth as does http://archiveofourown.org/users/gwyneth/works, so you should probably be okay?

[gwyn]

I'm glad that it's showing up okay for other people.

I guess that all my comments link to the default pseud, which shows 0 works, though. I'm probably a weirdo in that I often use people's comments to check out their pages or to find someone's account when I can't remember exactly how to spell a name, or something like that. Maybe I don't have to worry about that happening because no one else ever does that but me. I wish there was a way to link all the fics to both pseuds. It doesn't make sense to me that you have to only choose one or the other, you can't have both.

[musesfool]

You could change to using the other pseud for comments. It's probably easier than anything else. Or list both pseuds as author? I know I've seen works that did that, though it is probably a lot more work to redo it for 145 stories.

[ratcreature]

For me it shows 0 works when I go to the pseud's "gwyneth" works page:
http://archiveofourown.org/users/gwyneth/pseuds/gwyneth

but all your works if I go to the full account "gwyneth" works page:
http://archiveofourown.org/users/gwyneth

FWIW I've had that situation with other authors, that I landed on a pseud page that had no works when I expected them to have written things, and I tend to check out the main profile next. So it's an extra click, but not buried that deeply, compared to say finding a story again on Tumblr or something.

[gwyn]

thanks for this...yeah, I definitely messed that up, but hopefully if people are interested they'll find it.

[ann1962]

Mine was apartheid. I said a-part-he-id.

No shame in not knowing pronunciation. It means you are reading (potentially beyond friends and family) and reading is always better than not reading.

[silk-knickers.livejournal.com]

Here's what it looks like when someone not-you does the search...

I just did a "people search" for "gwyneth" and found separate entries for gwyneth rhys (gwyneth) which lists all your works, and then just gwyneth, which lists just your bookmarks. And then a third person as well, unrelated.

I clicked on one of your own works and found the comment section, where you'd replied to someone. When I clicked on the link for your username on one of that kind of comment, it brought up the profile page with just the bookmarks. But then I noticed: On the upper left below "Dashboard" and "Profile" it says "gwyneth" with a down arrow, and if you click on that it expands to a "pseud switcher" which lists both your pseudonyms, so I can toggle which one I'm looking at. This was the first I'd ever seen that sort of thing, though it could easily have been in front of me the whole time.

SO I think you are correct that someone casually clicking on your comments will not *easily* find your works, but if they poke around a little they are find-able.

Hope that helps.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. I definitely messed this up. If I didn't have nearly 150 works I'd probably try to fix it, but it just seems like that would end up messing things up further. I'm an idiot!