What media category does Web Literature (Web Serial Novels, Web Short Stories, Web Prose, etc) fall under?

I've tried my hardest to find a similar thread using the search, but I couldn't seem to find one on the first few pages of various searches in multiple forums, so hopefully this is okay to post here (long-time troper, first-time poster).

Under Administrivia/Namespace it lists that Literature/ "(Includes eBooks and Web Serial Novels.)", and that Web Original/ is "mostly deprecated."

Similarly, on Web Original it lists "Note that Web Serial Novels are now placed in the Literature namespace, and not here.", and under Web Serial Novel it lists that "Please note that these works go in the Literature/ namespace, and not Web Original."

Based on the Administrative entry, it feels like all ebooks and Web Serial Novels should be re-indexed under Literature, listed as such under trope entries, and be listed as such at the start of their page summaries, rather than being indexed, listed under, and referred to as Web Original, Web Original Fiction, or Web Serial Novels.

Is this something that has been decided upon (as the Administrative page suggests) and just needs acting upon, or is this matter still officially unclear? If it just needs acting upon, then I'm more than happy to change web novel-type pages to the right index and adjust the summaries in my travels across the website, but I thought it would be best to check what the official stance is before I actually act on it (lest I come across as a well-intentioned vandal or worse).

Namespaces, Media Categories on trope pages, and indexes are all separate things.

It is possible for namespaces and media categories to not line up exactly. For example, western animated films go in the WesternAnimation/ namespace but under the "Film — Animated" media category.

It is common for indexes to be more specific than either namespaces or media categories. American Films is an index, but we don't have an AmericanFilm/ namespace. Likewise, we can have an index for Web Serial Novels without having a dedicated namespace for the works listed on it.

The question of what media category web original literature should go under on trope pages has come up before, but I don't believe there is consensus on the matter. Ebooks go under the Literature category.

Edited by Twiddler on Nov 27th 2022 at 5:47:43 AM

Thank you for clearing up the matter of namespaces and categories; that is a really big help!

I am a bit confused, however, on what is the distinction between an Ebook and Web Original Literature/Web Original Fiction. Does an Ebook need to be published/listed on a storefront (such as Amazon)? Or does it follow the dictionary definition of an Ebook literally just being a book or novel that is distributed digitally as a single file (IE, as a PDF or EPUB file, but not released in parts or posted directly as text on a webpage)?

Regarding the file format, I think that's right. Regarding "released in parts", that shouldn't be relevant — it's not something that's exclusive to web fiction.

The trope page is Serial Novel.

I'm honestly not sure if this matter was ever generally agreed upon, but I'm usually just following the FAQ that classifies Web Serial Novels as going under the Literature category/folder.

Hmm, it doesn't look like there was much discussion behind that addition to Media Categories FAQ. It was based on this thread. Two people were of the opinion they should go in the Literature folder.

I think we might have to agree on a general consensus and arguments on where they should go before I go through with my "move examples from a trope's Web Original subpage" project.

On the arguments I've seen in favor it being in Web Original was this comment from the Web Serial Novel discussion page:

What do you think?

Sounds to me like "I personally don't find them important enough", which is not and has never been a criterium in, well, anything.

Besides, most namespaces work by format. Numerous images form films, strings of text form literature. Going by that logic, the fact that something is online rather than on paper doesn't seem particularly relevant.

Ebooks, there's absolutely no controversy. These are essentially "physical books, but in a digital format", so they fall cleanly into the Literature category.

Web novels are a bit different, but the recent namespace simplification leaves them with no better place. (To be clear, my long association with putting Worm examples in Literature wasn't technically limited to Worm itself; it was just that I wasn't in any other major web novel fandoms at the time.)

For what it's worth, I very much agree with you; I think web serial novels do belong in the Literature category.

It's just that, well, there were debates about where to put Western Animated films, Western Animated shows, Live-Action films, Live-Action shows. It was so heated that we decided to give all 4 of them their own media categories. (And that's without throwing Anime shows/films and other forms of animation into the mix)

I didn't want to start another potential debate amongst categorists before I started doing my "moving web serial novels to the lit category" project.

Again, consensus for the FAQ apparently just two people, and while support for it going under the Lit/ category is increasing, I just wanted to find the general consensus amongst the site as a whole.

Edited by AudioSpeaks2 on Oct 24th 2023 at 5:22:08 PM

Possible categories I can think of:

• Web Original
• Literature
• new category (Web Literature?)

Choices work for me. Though when making the crowner please try to emphasize/remind "NOT the namespace". Just to not cause any confusion.

Edited by AudioSpeaks2 on Oct 24th 2023 at 5:24:53 PM

I don't think we're ready for a crowner; because this is effectively a new thread given the circumstances, we should wait until Friday.

On second thought, yeah, let's keep this discussion up for a while.

Well, not much discussion here. But do you guys think navigation will take time/while to get used to if we go through with the change? And will that be an issue?

Many Tropers here are very much accustomed to looking to the Web Original folders/categories to find a Web Novel/web story in a trope list.

Edited by AudioSpeaks2 on Oct 29th 2023 at 6:29:40 PM

And prior to my spoiler-avoidance period, I was very much accustomed to moving those examples to Literature, as I previously stated.

Edited by bwburke94 on Oct 27th 2023 at 5:57:29 AM

(x4) Seems past Friday to me, in most other timezones too.

So in theory, we can do the crowner now that it's Saturday everywhere.

Yup

Crowner's hooked.

I honestly considered this a settled issue. If it's an original work, it's Literature, if not, it's Fan Works.

On top of everything else, it's not like stuff serialised on the web first couldn't be subsequently edited and published for whatever reason (hell, that's enough of a thing with Light Novels in Japan that I think I can name four examples off the top of my head†) and then it would have all its stuff in the Literature folder anyway and that's where people would expect to find the examples. Fairly simple as a consequence.

† Overlord (2012), I'm In Love With the Villainess, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess, Youjo Senki