Honestly, I've been here since around 2012 I think (LOL too lazy to check my profile). I agree that there seems to be less of a community here. I used to have so many friends here T_T they all disappeared and never logged on again. It's also super hard to keep conversations going. I think I'm also at fault for that, since I'm busy now and don't have time to check as regularly as I used to. The blog section also used to be a lot more active tbh--I used to find something to comment on all of the time. Now, it's usually advertisements for something.

As for why there is a lot of girl x girl and boy x boy on the site: I'm actually quite surprised by the outburst of these fics. I remember back in 2012-2014ish they weren't as prominent as they were now. I do write more LGBTQ+ ships now more so than I did back then because I realized there were many stories I wanted to convey with this marginalized group of people (i.e. their hardships) but I still plan to write more kpopidolxoc stories when I get the chance. I think part of the shift we see in seeing more /yuri now is because it is so much more "acceptable" nowadays. I remember homophobic undertones were everywhere in society, in classrooms, etc. and I even spotted them in fics too around ten years back. That's just my hypothesis anyway. There's probably other reasons.

I also don't really like filtering here tbh. I find it SO difficult to find a new fic with a certain number of words (I really don't like reading drabbles unless it's from an author I'm following) and the ship I need to read at the time. Other thing I get irked about is people writing a fic with no MATURE TAG. LIKE WHAT THE HECKERS. I'm trying to find fluffy stuff... that's like... T at most.... I just scroll and scroll and find nothing. I like supporting growing/new authors, but I can never seem to find stories that suit my taste either (unless I DIG). None of the filters that are given to me give me the chance to support new authors who WRITE SO MUCH, have wonderful writing, and no one comments on their story. I really want to push for a word count filter if possible. If it exists and I don't know, someone please enlighten me. I did dig during my break, and found 4 new authors I follow. Ironically, I'm not a big fan of any of those groups. But yea, I was searching. I have a particular style I like reading, I don't like certain plotlines (ESPECIALLY OC fangirl x idol; sorry, that doesn't cut it for me; and it's quite popular) and I can admit I'm also picky with spelling/grammar. I don't really care much for WHO is in it. I literally read anything and everything. The issue is that I find a lot of people write in particular tags now, which makes it difficult to dig and find stories when they're posted in the popular tags. I literally have no time to dig anymore LOL. I might have been once the more uh happy-camper but I really don't have time for it. I've been browsing DAY6/MonstaX tags recently to look for something completed to read (sans the , cause I can't read it if the entire plot is and I can't even skip it) and I can go back literally two years within the first 4-6 pages.

YEA end of my long rant. Can someone send me recommendations in any tag? I read anything, any genre, don't care for which idols are in it, don't care for who you ship as long as it builds and makes sense, so long as the story is interesting. If you need someone to critique your story, send me and I shall deliver LOL. :')

i agree with what you're saying, hence why old AFFers decided to migrate over to either wattpad or ao3. i grew up readin/writin on winglin.net (it's like AFF but via dif layout & admin) & had to transfer over here in late mid o9 when the site first came out after my original writin/readin site decided to crash & shut down unannounced. Back then, AFF writers & readers were pretty active unlike now where we see some users fighting over reps,upvotes, & subs to see who's more 'relevant' on AFF. I miss the good ol days where popularized groups & artist x oc stories were on the same lvl & peeps would check out both unlike now where its mostly /yuri (i mostly write artist x oc fics when it comes to kpop-related fics). i wish AFF goes back to the way it used to be during AFF's fetus days.

Totally true. It does look like MAMA here everyday.

Well I guess the community changes because the target changes as well. I am sad too because there are only and yuri stuff in here. I miss the time when people were eager resding my stories (only straight shipper) today you are lucky if you have gotten 10 subscribers and 1 comment on thr complet3 story. But see the authors which write yuri and they are like eaten up by the readers. I am nit against gays and lesbies but i just miss the time where there comments my motivation guess thats why many dont write staight anymore

To me it does indeed seem to be the case; authors and readers are slowly dwindling and the community on this site definitely isn't anything like it was a couple years ago.

I think for one, it's because AFF has become more like a social media platform rather than a place for people to write and post stories. There /are/ stories, but there's also blog posts, feeds, wall messaging, private messaging, discussions, roleplays, etc, and in combination with all that stories just aren't really the top priority for a lot of people (let's not even elaborate on the wild amount of graphics/ad/layout/trailer/review shops that dominate a good chunk of the community). People are battling to keep a comment streak or reputation, or make friendships or whatever-- anyway my point was there's a lot more for users to focus on than just stories, hence why I think AFF has just become a social media platform.

Another point to be made is that AFF really isn't the most efficient place for posting or reading fics, so many users have migrated to AO3 (or elsewhere) and I don't blame them. The filtering system on AO3 is much more efficient and straightforward so it's incredibly easy to find fanfics that suit your taste, and it also doesn't stray from the initial purpose which is to just provide a place for people to read/write stories. There's /nothing else/ but stories on there, no other distractions. On AFF though, oof. I could rant about the ads for a WHILE. This isn't to say AFF isn't a really good site because it is, it's just that if anyone were to judge based on the fanfic aspect alone, it would lose to AO3 by a lot. Like, a /lot/.

Bottom line is: I agree with you and I'm not trying to bash nor get bashed either. I just wanted to say why I think this is the case. And also, I really miss the old community this site had :') sigh. Those were the good old days.

well some moved to AO3 or wattpad