I was so surprised to see the TOC of my story There's Always Something suddenly appear in the TOC topic at Zoom's mbs. After all, I'd written and posted that story in 2003. (sigh... I'm having some fond memories!)

I'd forgotten that I hadn't completed the TOC. And now that darling Dawn of the Index Crew has done that for me. Thanks Dawn - you're the best!

Now I find myself wondering about the meaning of a TOC after a story is finished and has been oploaded in the LC fanfic archive. So, I have a few questions:

Isn't it handier to read at the Archive? I just assumed that the TOC would be deleted as soon as a story becomes available in the archive.

Are there writers who prefer to leave their stories in the TOC section of the mbs and don't upload? And maybe there are readers too, who prefer to read through TOCs?

So how long are the TOCs kept - aren't they deleted after a certain time? What's the use of keeping hundreds and hundreds of stories in there?

I know, a lot a silly questions. Just hope someone has the answers!

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

That makes sense! The comments, after all, aren't uploaded in the archive.

Thanks, Labby!

Hey Ursie!

Personally, I prefer reading TOCs if it's a really long story, just because I'm not a disciplined person *at all*, and I'd probably not eat or sleep and just keep reading if the story wasn't cut up in defined chunks for me to work on. Of course, if a section ends in a cliffhanger, I'd just have to read the next section too, but it's just easier to pull myself away from it to do all the ten million other things that I'm supposed to be doing (like studying ).

Mirage

P.S. I'm still waiting for baby #2!

Not such a bad idea, Mirage! I'm a read-till-you-drop kind of person myself, so thanks for the tip. For very long stories this might just work out better.

Baby #2? Which baby #2? Shush! Or José might send his Nagging Brigade my way!

Ursie

(seriously? it's on its way.... takes nine months, right?)