i have noticed a lot of people recently looking for older fics they love only to find that they've been deleted or put into private collections by the author to hide them! i think it's a symptom of the fandom getting smaller :( it seems like when fic authors leave a fandom now, frequently they will delete or private all of their fics. while i recognize authors have a right to do whatever they want with their fics and digital footprint, it does make me sad, because those fics and the conversation around them and the comments on them are part of the history and culture of this fandom, and it's sad to feel like that's being lost so quickly.