a reminder that ao3 was created as an archive. not a social media.
ao3 is run on fans’ donations. it’s a nonprofit organization, run by fans, for fans. it has no ads. no capitalism or algorithm bullshit.
ao3 allows works that depict all kind of taboo, morally questionable, disgusting, socially unacceptable subjects, no matter how graphic, how explicit it is being portrayed (that’s what tags, warnings and ratings are for!).
ao3 does not have censorship, nor does ao3 allow censorship.
Friendly reminder that AO3 is fighting AI data scrapers on behalf of all fanfic writers!
According to the post below, AO3 issued a DMCA takedown after finding out that all works before March 2025 were scraped and uploaded as a dataset to potentially train AI. The ability to take legal action against scum like this is the direct result of people donating to AO3 so they can keep functioning and they don't pocket any of it because they are a non-profit organization.
So when you see the AO3 donation drives, please remember that this is what the money is going toward and support it when you can!
No, no, and NO.
AO3 does not live in “the cloud” because that is other people’s computers, and other people’s computers are vulnerable to censorship.
AO3 is on its own computers. It does still have to be housed somewhere, and I suppose a determined enough hater could try to find that place and go after it, but it’s a lot harder than sending spurious complaints to Amazon or whomever going “BadWrong things are hosted on your cloud service!”
Owning the servers is a core tenet of OTW/AO3.
Warming up a new database server….
When people involved with AO3 talk about “the cost of servers” they don’t mean “the cost to pay Amazon for space on their servers.” They mean, like, the cost to physically own them, and eventually replace them with new ones. And the operating costs to run them.
AO3 is not “in the cloud.” AO3 is stored on physical machines that the OTW owns.
While this is not a solution that can work for everyone who wants to deal with controversial content, it is why AO3ple sneer at alt-righters who complain about getting thrown off hosting platforms.
Hi, it's me again, the person who wrote that viral post about fanfiction plagiarism! Today I'm here to warn you about abuse perpetrated by bots who have stolen AO3 usernames.
There's currently an epidemic of bots going around leaving (apparently random) horrible, hateful comments on people's fics. This isn't the first time bots have invaded AO3, but the big problem with this wave is that they're using real AO3 usernames to do it.
I learned about this when another writer contacted me after receiving the following comment on their story:
Now, while that is my username, I DEFINITELY did not leave this comment (and anyone who would leave something like that on a fic should be slapped! What an awful thing to post). This fic is in a completely unrelated fandom that I have never participated in, nor has that author participated in any of my fandoms, so the probability of it being some intentional fandom drama thing to make me look bad is also low.
The writer whose fic the comment was left on enlisted the aid of some friends and tracked down other guest comments with unrelated usernames attached, which is pretty strong evidence that they are being left by bots at random.
The TL;DR: If you receive a cruel comment from a (Guest) with an actual AO3 username attached, it's most likely from a bot. Please do not lash out at or dogpile the AO3 user who owns that name, and who in all likelihood has no idea that their name has been hijacked for evil.
If finding this kind of comment on a fic, even left by a bot, is likely to upset you, I would recommend changing your comment settings so that only users who are logged in can leave comments. To do this, edit your story settings, and under "Privacy," select the radio button that says "Only registered users can comment," as shown below.
Please spread the word to other AO3 users! And if you see mean guest comments on other fics, maybe let the author know that it's probably from a bot and not a real person who thinks their writing is bad.
Looks like we are in for another wave of bot nonsense, so I thought this was very solid advice for all who post on A03.
Sharing again cause I got my first hate bot comment, and two of my readers pointed out that it was a bot using a real ao3 users account name. I searched the name up and it’s literally using the account name of a writer who is so sweet and writes such good quality work.
So DONT dogpile the account that the bot is using. It’s not them!! Fuck these ai bots and spam. They’re ruining ao3.
They're *trying* to ruin AO3. They won't succeed.
THIS IS NOT REAL. If you get this comment, they’re just trying to get you to delete your fic.
1) I would have gotten some kind of email from Ao3 if this was true
2) this comment is formatted to be perfect to tack onto any fic they choose
3) ALSO why on earth would Ao3 get rid of entire fandoms off the site? Even if they WERE inactive? Who knows if others will be ‘late’ to the fandom and want some fic to read. Who knows if someone wants to come back to their 6 year old account only to find most of their fics deleted.
I’m lucky to be a reasonable adult who has seen tricks like these who also had a very kind person comment their own doubts.
Please let your Ao3 friends know <3
How am I only just learning this!?
[ID: a cropped screenshot of the AO3 Exclude filter section, reading "Other tags to exclude". "*/reader" and "*/you" have been selected. End ID.]
[ID: cropped screenshot of the ao3 include filter, reading "Other tags to include:" with "*/James "Bucky" Barnes" selected. /end ID]
Is this new???? I've been wanting wildcard relationship search for YEARS 😍😍😍
My multishipping ass is about to go ham...
helpful info for those who need it
Explanation of what this does for anyone confused!
Fanart of Rin: Cursed by Blood, an excellent Laika fanfic written by Coyote on a Moped. From left to right: Pebble (returning from the original game), Laika’s granddaughter Rin, and Seethree, Hectist’s firebrand daughter. Go read the fic on AO3!