I want to thank @singy3 for introducing me to Barry x Anish
A friendly PSA for everyone migrating from Wattpad to AO3!
Commenting Etiquette
- No Unsolicited Concrit:Â Authors post fanworks for free as a hobby. Unless an author explicitly asks for constructive criticism in their notes, keep comments positive and critique-free.
- Don't Like, Don't Read (DLDR):Â If a story, relationship, or trope bothers you, hit the back button. Leaving negative comments over subjective preferences breaks core fandom norms.
- Phrase Update Requests Politely: Demanding "Update soon!" can feel transactional. Pair your excitement with appreciation for the current chapter (e.g., "Loved this chapter, can't wait to see where the story goes!").
- Short Comments & Emojis Are Welcomed:Â You don't need to write an essay! Leaving a kudos or a single heart emoji in the comment section is a totally valid and appreciated form of comment.
Tagging & Relationships
- Accurate Warning Tags: Always select the appropriate Major Archive Warnings or explicitly mark "Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings."
- Distinguish / vs &: Use / strictly for romantic or sexual pairings (Character A/Character B). Use & exclusively for platonic or familial relationships (Character A & Character B).
Site Rules & Features
- No Monetization:Â AO3 is a non-profit archive run entirely on donations. Selling physical copies anywhere on your profile or story text violates TOS and risks account suspension.
- Public vs. Private Bookmarks: Bookmarks are public by default, and authors can see everything written in them. If you use bookmarks for personal ratings, critical notes, or reading progress, remember to check the Private box.
AND DON´T USE AI.
Edit: if you do use ai... tag it
This! And AO3 allows original works as well as fanfiction, meta, essays, fanart, podfic and other fanworks, but not recommendation lists. It's an archive not a social network.
I'll add:
- When posting, there's an option to link a fic or off-site work that inspired the thing you're posting!
- Re: recommendation lists, remember how bookmarks are public? Find a fic you like, then check the bookmarks of that author or other people who bookmarked it. Chances are there'll be something to your taste in there.
- You can (and should, if you need to) delete comments off your fic and freeze+unfreeze comment threads. (If an author has deleted or frozen your comments, your job is to consider why they felt that was necessary, NOT to demand answers in a new comment.) Same for blocking.
- Lots of scam chatbot comments have been going around - AO3 admin will NEVER contact you through fic comments, they will contact the email address you signed up with. Some scams want you to delete or orphan fics so they can scrape it without fear of consequences.
- Per above: You can change fic settings so that the only people who can comment are logged-in users, and can set it so a comment never appears publically until yoi approve it. You can also lock fics so only logged-in users can see them (cuts datascraping a bit). Don't feel bad about using these tools, they're here for a reason.
- You can 'orphan' a fic, or an account, as well as post fics as having an 'anonymous' author. I recommend using these options over deleting fic whenever possible.
- There is no algorithm. Deleting and reposting fic will not get more engagement (it will in fact make the people who read it the first time pretty upset that it's suddenly gone!), but it may end up with your account being suspended.
- Play around with the search filters! There's way more options available to you than you might think.
Got obsessed with these photos of Assad and Eric and came up with this weird 80s 'Little shop of Horrors' esque human Devil's Minion AU
your precious boy is so fucking dumb armand 🥹 lil sneak peek of my page for the incredible @dmcomicproject!!
I want Armand and Daniel to take me away and be held as their asexuell adopted one.
He gets it ðŸ¤
A friendly PSA for everyone migrating from Wattpad to AO3!
Commenting Etiquette
- No Unsolicited Concrit:Â Authors post fanworks for free as a hobby. Unless an author explicitly asks for constructive criticism in their notes, keep comments positive and critique-free.
- Don't Like, Don't Read (DLDR):Â If a story, relationship, or trope bothers you, hit the back button. Leaving negative comments over subjective preferences breaks core fandom norms.
- Phrase Update Requests Politely: Demanding "Update soon!" can feel transactional. Pair your excitement with appreciation for the current chapter (e.g., "Loved this chapter, can't wait to see where the story goes!").
- Short Comments & Emojis Are Welcomed:Â You don't need to write an essay! Leaving a kudos or a single heart emoji in the comment section is a totally valid and appreciated form of comment.
Tagging & Relationships
- Accurate Warning Tags: Always select the appropriate Major Archive Warnings or explicitly mark "Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings."
- Distinguish / vs &: Use / strictly for romantic or sexual pairings (Character A/Character B). Use & exclusively for platonic or familial relationships (Character A & Character B).
Site Rules & Features
- No Monetization:Â AO3 is a non-profit archive run entirely on donations. Selling physical copies anywhere on your profile or story text violates TOS and risks account suspension.
- Public vs. Private Bookmarks: Bookmarks are public by default, and authors can see everything written in them. If you use bookmarks for personal ratings, critical notes, or reading progress, remember to check the Private box.
AND DON´T USE AI.
This is all great, and I hate A.I as much as the next person, I promise with my whole heart I do and I personally would never create content with it, HOWEVER
Created Using Generative AI is a tag that is allowed on AO3
People are allowed to make any kind of fan works they want, so even if you personally hate AI and think it has major environmental consequences and other such things, which you are well within your rights to do so and I do in fact agree with you-
You are not allowed to harass these authors. I don't know why they're doing it, personally, but they have as much right to do this as we have a right to not do this.
And if you think someone has used A.I Generated Content and hasn't told you about it in an author's note or tag? Don't run it through A.I testers. Don't complain to the author about their work being A.I Generated. And do not fucking report the fic to the Policy and Abuse team on AO3.
THIS ENTIRE WEBSITE IS BUILT ON ALLOWING ALL FAN CONTENT TO EXIST! BECAUSE AS SOON AS WE CLOSE THE DOOR ON ONE THING, WE START CLOSING THE DOOR ON EVERYTHING, AND WE LOSE THE ENTIRE POINT OF AO3'S ANTI-CENSORSHIP EXISTENCE!
I HATE A.I GENERATED FIC, BUT I WILL DEFEND IT'S RIGHT TO EXIST BECAUSE OF THIS!
AO3 is also entirely run by volunteers who have better, more important things to do than deal with people complaining about the kind of fanfics they allow to exist on the website. That goes for any topic you find horrible by the way, be it incest and underage sex, or your least favourite romance tropes.
I don't care why you hate it and I don't care if I also hate it with you. You are not allowed to harass people about what they create and share on AO3.
sleep deprived and horny sketch there you go my fellow devil's minionpilled
Don't be afraid just start the tape
My take on one of the best eps of s2 of interview with the vampire (to be riso printed later this summer...)
to be continued....