I was going through the favorites on the
hd_readers survey and found myself going "!!" over the top 5 favorites lists. Ultimately, I had kinda thought there would have been more classics on the lists. But I guess there's a sort of fandom divide now for Before HBP and After - there are those peeps who don't seem to have really connected with the older fics since their interest in H/D was probably sparked by the events in book 6. And in some cases you could tell when a person got into a fandom based on their faves- the classics? Probably an old timer. New and not quite established authors? Perhaps the person is newer to fandom? And quite often when I scrolled up and checked their dates, they did match.
My Classic!fave was A Thousand Beautiful Things, but for others it was more likely to be Bond or Starts With A Spin or Secrets or in some few cases...The Sacrifices Arc *shudder*
I admit, I wasn't particularly in *love* with the earliest classics. Irresistable Poison was one of the few that worked, as did the Lodger and Transfigurations. Underwater light? Was a hit and miss. Same with Love Under Will. Till today I can't read Beautiful World and I've forgotten Windfallen. So I guess, just like newer shippers I was shaped by the time/period I really got into H/D.
About a year ago, I recall
silentauror's and 
jennaverre's fics appearing a lot on faves lists. Now? Hmm. Fandom seems to be constantly changing. I have a bad memory when it comes to these things but I remember when emmagrant01 was huge and beren_writes too. And now today, we're far more likely to see mentions of libby_drew, calanthe_fics, frayach, lomonaaeren and jordangrant instead. And then there are peeps like
rurounihime, furiosity et all who feel like they've always been there. Perhaps peeps who were active in fandom pre-2004 will disagree with me and point to bookshop and rhyssen and sarahtales instead - a lot of the oldies have moved on but in some cases - like Maya - they're still pretty active. Though even that is coming to an end. By fall, Maya will be done with fanfic writing. It feels a bit weird really because I can't seem to think of any of the really old big authors from her time that still write H/D. I've probably just forgotten some peeps though. When did
amanuensis1 start writing H/D?I don't know why but it feels like the end of an era - the books are over, the last big bang is almost here, the first worldcup ended and who knows what'll happen in future? Still, I know I'm still very much the same and just as in love with my OTP as I was in past years. I don't think that's going to change for a long time. So here's to more H/D to squee over and new opportunities to celebrate the OTP love.
