Beta - Fanlore

The word "beta" comes from the world of software design, in which an unfinished version of the software (the beta version) is released to a limited audience outside of the programming team. The metaphor was applied to fanfiction, fanart^[1] and vids; a story, piece of art or vid is tested by outsiders to see if it's working.

Beta is both a noun ("a beta") and a verb ("to beta"). This leads to the awkward but necessary constructs, "betaed", "betaing", and the antonym (for a story unchecked by anyone else), "unbetaed".

Beta services can range from simple proofreading and compatibility testing to editorial feedback to nearly collaborating with the original creator on the fanwork. To avoid conflict, creators should explain what they want from the experience.

In many fandoms and fan communities, special infrastructure exists to help authors and artists find betas. Archives sometimes maintain lists of beta readers ^[2][3]. Some mailing lists also have lists of betas.

Some fandoms also maintain lists of resources or betas with special areas of expertise. For instance, in a fandom based on a medical drama, a fan who works in the medical field might volunteer to beta the story for medical plausibility, or in a fandom based on a Western, fans with expertise on horses or guns might make themselves available as a "horse beta" or "gun beta" to review just those aspects of the story for accuracy. (On Senad or maybe Senfic there was such a directory?), On Livejournal, many communities exist for this purpose, some multifandom and others fandom-specific ^[4][5][6] There are also non-English beta communities.^[7]

Types

fanart beta by xenakis for an image by Yue KX, art is for the Merlin story On the Knob Training

In fanfiction, a beta, or "beta reader," is someone who looks over a story before the author posts it publicly, checking it for some combination of spelling, grammar, cohesiveness, flow, plot holes, characterization, etc. The lightest form of beta-reading (betaing) is basically a quick check for spelling and grammar errors. From there, the beta process may run through a full spectrum of editorial assistance, all the way up to helping restructure a story or suggesting major rewrites. ^[8] (There's a pre-beta level that consists mainly of cheerleading, as well. This is sometimes referred to as 'alpha', but the term has not been widely adopted.) A more critical approach to editing is referred to by some as Machete Beta.

In vidding, the beta process can range from giving a general impression of a vid (to let the vidder know if she succeeded in communicating her message successfully), to going through the vid almost frame-by-frame looking for technical issues, to helping restructure the vid or suggesting major changes in approach or clip choice.

X-Pick: Specialized Editorial Help

It's easy for fanwork creators to make basic mistakes about cultures other than their own. This was a particular problem in Harry Potter fandom, because Americans and others don't know much about British (much less Wizarding) culture. This led, in 2003 or so, to the concept of Brit-pick (rhymes with "nitpick") to deal with issues such as which is the first floor and what "bum" means.

This step of the process is often separate from straight-up betaing, and has its own set of communities and resources. ^[9]

References

1. ↑ Art beta community on LJ (accessed 17 November 2008)
2. ↑ Beta Readers directory on ff.net (accessed 17 November 2008)
3. ↑ Beta Readers list of the Cascade Library Sentinel archive (accessed 17 November 2008)
4. ↑ Find Me a Beta (accessed 17 November 2008)
5. ↑ HP Beta-Readers Community (accessed 17 November 2008)
6. ↑ Stargate Atlantis Beta Readers (accessed 17 November 2008)
7. ↑ Betaleser (accessed 17 November 2008)
8. ↑ OokamiKasumi. "MY Beta-Reader's Questionnaire". Posted 3 November 2008. (accessed 17 November 2008)
9. ↑ Britpickery LJ Community (accessed 17 November 2008)