Why is it that 80-90% of the fics being recommended are Yaoi?  Nothing against it, but if you want this site to have a broader appeal to fanfiction readers, it needs to offer recommendations for non-yaoi fics as well.  I've posted a few of my own favorite fics to help with this.

I think it depends on the fandoms you're looking at. There have been a lot of Kakashi/Sakura and Draco/Hermione in the past. Of course, most anime fandoms are saturated with yaoi at the moment, so the vast majority of fics recced are going to reflect the fandom.

Another reason is because the moderators for each section are slash fans. For example, the video games section that I moderate, has mostly yaoi because that is what I read and beyond me reccing things a lot of people don't rec in that section (unlike Naruto, Harry Potter etc).

It's not that we're discriminating against het, we just don't have that many people reccing het here yet, for whatever reason that may be.

I agree that there is a lot of slash in the rec's, but as neko says, it depends on the fandom. But that's why we need more recs!--to expand the variety of great fics.

I usually tend to hang out in the Naruto or Inuyasha section, however, if I see one that strikes my fancy elsewhere when I look at the recent topics list--and I really like it--I head for other stuff in that particular section.

If you're looking for more recommendations, you can try the Site's Archive as well!

When I joined the site, I saw that most of it was het, so I decided to contribute yaoi/slash. I also do het and gen, when I have recs for it. If you want to see more het/gen, do it yourself or find like-minded people to do it. 

The point of this site is to be for the readers by the readers.  So if you want more het pairings, then jump in and start reccing stories with them; and get people who like het to rec as well.  It's the easiest way to see more of it.

I too don't see much diversity here other than by fandom.  Actually, I noticed that not only are the majority of the recs M/M relationship focused but almost all of the stories in the archive have high ratings and should have warnings for kinks.  For that reason, I have recc'd several very well written stories with subjects and ratings that haven't been archived here yet.  It's not that I don't read p0rn or stories about non-canon couples but that I enjoy a wide range of genres.  And if you propose to represent the Best of Fanfiction, then that should include stories in a full range of ratings.  Not just empty subsections where the ficcage could go!

I have several collections of "favorite" fics at different sites and a good memory for what I've read.  If you want to tell me more about what you'd like to see recommended, I'll gladly pick out a few goodies and add them to the monthly recs. 

I was with you until I saw the above. What do you mean exactly? We created the subsections to prompt rec'age.

Supernatural
All recs Dean/Sam
All rated M
No Gen, No other pairings

Torchwood
Only Jack/Ianto
Only rated M

Harry Potter
All T or M
One Gen
Scary lack of variety in pairings.  Despite a cast of hundreds, almost all stories star Hermoine and/or Draco!

PotC, Star Wars, DC
Only M rated

Crossovers
only T and M

You've been operational for a while but there's no variety here.     I have nominated several excellent Gen stories with lower ratings to hopefully add to the range in your archive.  I hope there is an audience for something other than smutty romance.....

Currently, the archives are organized by rating and popular pairings. New sections are made when there are at least three of the same pairings in the same fandom. If there were sections for each pairing when there aren't any recs for them, the archives would have a ton of empty boards. The only empty ones at the moment are rating, but that's to keep the fandoms with the most recs organized for the members. I do comb through the general lists every couple of months and count the fanfics' pairings in those sections for the categories I have to make (or if a fandom has accumulated a lot of fanfics that would require dividing them into pairing sections), but there would be too many unused sections to create if we made all of them now. When the need for them comes up, they will be there.  

It would be nice to separate by genre as well, but the problem is that I don't think everyone reads every recommendation (from every fandom) that is posted. So it would be hard for the staff who move the recs from the Monthly Nominations Lists to the archives to categorize them in the proper places. Especially since there are PWP stories where authors don't exactly mention it in their summaries.

The recs we receive come only from our members. Keep up the recc'ing, we appreciate it! Hopefully, we'll get more to add to the archive's variety.  

Yes, the recs are all user-based. So if you want to see more of a pairing or type of story, it's up to you (and the army of rec'ers you raise) to find them and share them. That's the whole purpose of the site.

As an advocate for good 'smutty romance' -sniff- I'm offended! Offended I say!.... not really..

Actually, I love this site because I can find good M rated stuff. It's really hard to find as a whole. Much of the M rated stories, at large, are terribly written, pwp (I don't enjoy), one-shots, unfinished, have terrible grammar, ...the list goes on. So, this is just my opinion, but, I find it easier to find a lot of good lower rated good fics than M rated ones. Mind you, that's good by my standard.

Blade,
I think my first clue here is that you say "M" rated rather than NC-17.  So your probably trolling ff.net or adultfanfiction.net otherwise known as "the pit of voles" and the site "no one admits to" using!  While there are worthy stories at ff.net, they deserve their poor reputation as well more than half of the stories in their archive are craptastic.  And I've never read a plausible or well written story at adultfanfiction.net yet no matter how recommended they were so I'm really reluctant to waste my time with them.

There are many news and recs letters on LJ for various fandoms and I troll del.icio.us to find popular tales.  After a while, you know what writers and reccers that you like.
 
I don't know a thing about Naruto so I don't know where to find the "best of" for anime fandoms.  I'm sure that I can find some smutty Buffy-verse that's well written to rec for you though.  Just tell me more about what you like, characters or pairing, genres, ect.

I actually prefer one shots in fanfiction because I'm pretty much a canon hore.  I expect their personalities to be as they are in canon or you have to "sell" me on your take but that's hard unless your tale is pre-series, post series or AU.  Then I can see reasons for longer fics..... Or case file.

But what I said stands.  I've been through the archives and there is almost no gen fic, what so ever, no low rated stories and little variety in pairings even in the Potterverse with it's enormous cast.  It's for the sake of variety that I've offered primarily gen fics of lower ratings so far.  Not because I don't know where the "excellent" smut is!  LOL!

I don't surf AFF.net. Not because I don't think their might be good adult fics, M rated or NC-17 (however you wish to classify it), but, because I don't like their site set up. Artistically, it's terrible and surfably it sucks big time. It's just not fun to look for stories or read them on it.

I like NC-17 rated fics not because they're full of sex; I prefer them because they are certain emotions and feelings that I feel are overlooked during such a physical process without it in the fic. I'll fully admit that aside from certain authors, I won't read fics with a rating less than M or NC-17. That's not to say I don't like lower rated fics... I just don't enjoy reading a lot of them because I read fanfiction to satisfy the craving of seeing certain pairings happen. I have no problem admitting that. I know some people do. On the same token, I'm very picky about my fics, even smutty ones. I prefer my characters to remain in character, withstanding growth later in their age and personal experience in the fic. If the author can't explain why the character did a certain something in way that I feel makes sense, it'll bother me like a bad blister and I won't be able to read it. So, I understand your cannon rule. It makes sense. You're reading a story about a character or characters you enjoy because of how they are in the original story. Why read about them if they don't make sense or aren't true to who they are? (Crack fics aside).

I think I do somewhat agree with you about aff.net. Of the fics I've read there, I've not liked one. I'm sure good fics may exist on the site.... but, so far not for me. -shrugs- I say somewhat because I haven't read many on the site, so my opinion is flawed.

As far as fics on this site, I have to agree with the others before me. It all comes down to what people recommend and what people vote on. It's not just one person's decision, it's everyone's.

I like Adultfanfiction.net, mostly because I remember when Fanfiction.net went on its censoring spree and when 'shunned' authors made the migration. Also, the chats I've had with the administrator have always been nice and friendly. I guess I'm used to it, and the sorting doesn't really bother me. Now, if you were to tell me about Mediaminer.org....but that's another story.   I've read a lot of great fanfiction on Aff.net, including one of my all-time favorite Inuyasha authors. But it's really about personal preference.

I don't mind saying that I like the 'smut stories'/PWP fics--though within reason. It's like buying a dime-store romance at a supermarket. The stories themselves are kinda cheesy and sappy, but sometimes I'm in the mood for that. But for me, I look mostly for Rated M stories because they're exactly that--for mature readers. Usually no adolescent, teenage situations (unless it's a high school fic, or depending on the characters' initial ages), but grown-up circumstances and standpoints. I only really go below M if I'm familiar with the author's writing style or if I look at an favored author's Favorites List and the summary catches my eye.

I agree with you Blade, I usually read romance stories because I'm interested in reading about a fandom's pairing or see what authors can come up with in terms of alternate pairings. That's why I myself don't usually look for general fics.

And I definitely agree with both of you about canon and staying in character. For me, very rarely will I read a flat out OOC story, unless the setting is interesting enough. Otherwise, what's the point of making it fanfiction? The whole point is to use preset characters and put them in new settings or plots. If you strip them of their personalities, they aren't really them anymore. Taking characters like Sesshoumaru, Snape, Vegeta, or Itachi and making them prance or sing happily in a springtime meadow under a rainbow is a HUGE no-no for me...

Edited because I had a lapse and forgot BBC tags =/= HTML tags.

Ratings have nothing to do with whether a fic is sophisticated, dramatic, sappy, sweet, humorous, crack!fic or dreadful!  They are strictly about things like whether there is cursing, smoking (you'd be surprised at how many people expect a warning for this), violence and how explicit the sex is.
I could point out great stories with low ratings in many fandoms of various genres that are "mature" and have low ratings but they will have either little or no sex or it will be discrete and off-screen like vintage films.  But by and large, the "popular" stories all have an explicit sex scene!

And actually, the "M" rating at ff.net is actually supposed to be only about as illicit as an "R" rated film.  That's the reason for the sibling site, adultfanfiction.net.  And the fact that ff.net is huge, is also why the quality is poor overall.  There is virtually no moderation.  Every 12 year old can post their first stories there along side of those who are looking to eventually write for publication.  When the HP fandom was in it's heyday, there were several other sites where you had to submit your stories for review before they could be archived and this resulted in higher quality stories.

Somewhere along the line, livejournal became fandom central and despite strike through and migration to other sites, it still is.  All of the rec sites, newsletters, fests, and awards maintain a presence there no matter where they archive.  But NC-17 at livejournal, insanejournal and many outside archives is often used on stories and art that are much more explicit than even current NC-17 rated films.  That's another reason why I'm careful about ratings and warnings when I do rec things with explicit content.