Well, I think the theory is that there will always be new members joining the mbs. And therefore the TOCs are useful for them in finding a story and all its parts when they want to catch up. Saves them trawling through dozens of pages to find all the parts.
Not all members of these mbs will be aware of the Archive or have read the story there. Others may prefer to read the story on the mbs, along with its comments folders. See what others thought of the story at the time and perhaps even add a comment of their own, no matter how much time has elapsed after the story has been written. Authors always welcome feedback, no matter how late. Which is why I always include links to the comments within the TOC.
Of course, it isn't compulsory for an author to have a TOC made for their stories - as the person who updates 99% of TOCs these days, I never mind having less work to do
- any author who doesn't want one, just has to email me and I'll make sure they're not included.
LabRat
