WINNER!!!

WINNER!!!

Hello Hello and welcome to this week’s six sentence story based on the word REMOTE. Follow our unnamed narrator as she defies the odds and wishes she had not. It was a slim chance, one in a million if that, so remote that the chances of her being on of the unlucky ones had barely even crossed her mind, because when had she ever “won” anything. That was the thing about odds though, because while…

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PACING IS ABOUT LOAD BEARING WALLS.

*staples violently to my own forehead*

You know, this is a really good litmus test. Like do you want to get seriously involved with someone and then one day discover they believe that birds aren't real or that the earth is flat?

This, it's like the FULL how to on AO3 without being "that guy"

AO3 Etiquette -UPDATED

Based on both decent and not so decent replies, I have made some changes to my original post below.

It would seem a whole new kind of AO3 reader/writer is emerging and it is becoming clear not everyone quite understands how the website community works. Here is some basic guidance on how most people expect you to go about using AO3 to keep this a fun community archive that funtions correctly:

As well as likes, kudos is for when the story was interesting enough to make you finish reading. If it sucked or was badly written, you probably left. If you finished it, you liked it - so kudos.

If you really liked it, you should try to comment. It can be long and detailed or a literal keysmash. Writers don't care, we just love comments.

No critisism unless the author has specifically asked or agreed to hear it (so use your notes to say if you want some constructive feedback). Even constructive critisism is a no-no unless an author note tells you it's okay. No, posting it online is not an open invitation for that. Many people write as a fun hobby or a way to cope with, among other things, insecurity and just want to share. Don't ruin that for them. I've seen so many authors just stop writing coz they can't handle the negative emotions the critism brings, and it's only meant to be a fun thing shared for free (pointing out tagging errors is not included in this).

Do not comment to ask the author to write/update something else. It's tacky and off-putting and will probably have the opposite effect than the one you want.

There is no algorithm, it's an archive. Use the search and filter function to add/remove the pairings/characters/tropes etc. you want to read about and it will find you the fics that fit the bill.

For this to work, writers must tag and rate stories. This avoids readers finding the wrong things and missing the stuff they want. I don't care how cringy that trope is in your eyes - it gets tagged.

The tag exception is if you don't want to tag a million things or spoil your story, you can rate it as "chose not to use warnings," and maybe tag the bare minimum.

Don't censor tags. How can someone exclude a tag if the word isn't typed out correctly? There are no content bans for terms so don't censor them.

If the tags are mostly content/trigger warnings, especially if they are things considered very fucked up or graphic, you might want to use "dead dove - do not eat" to ensure people know that you're not messing around with tags and what they get is exactly what you've warned them about.

Character A/Character B means a ROMANTIC or SEXUAL relationship of some kind. Character A&Character B is PLATONIC, like friendship or family.

Nothing is banned. This is an rule because banning one thing is a slipperly slope to banning another and another, until nothing is allowed anymore. Do not expect anyone to censor for you. Because of the tags system, you are responsible for your own reading experience.

People can create new chapters and sequels/fic series any time after they "complete" a story. So it's considered perfectly normal to subscribe, even to a finished story. You can even subscribe to the author instead just to cover your bases.

Do not repost stories or change the publishing date without an extremely good reason (like a complete top to bottom rewrite or an exchange youve written for going public). It's an archive, not social media. No one cares what's the most recent, only what fits their tag needs.

Instead of deleting a story you wrote if you hate it - consider making it anonymous or orphaning it so others can still enjoy it, without it being connected to your name anymore. If you still want to delete it, fair enough.

It's come to my attention that metaworks ARE allowed on AO3, which is something I wasn't aware of. So if you do post an essay or theory, please tag it as such so others can choose to search for it or exclude it. Art is also allowed.

The only reason this archive works is because NON ONE PROFITS. Do not link to your ko-fi or patreon or mention monetary gain in any way or you violate the terms and risk having your account removed. If anyone does link, it leaves the archive open to people claiming it's for profit and having the whole thing removed.

I KNOW there's plenty more I missed but I'm trying to cover most of the basics that people seem to be struggling with.

I invite anyone to add to this, but please explain, don't berate.

Re: tumblr selling our data to AI companies.

I don't know if it's overly cynical to say, but it's nothing that all the other social media haven't done already, with more or less publicity. I see people being like, "I'm going away from Tumblr, I'll be on Instagram instead" and. Do you really think Facebook and co aren't selling all of your stuff already. They are.

The AI companies are buying a shitload of data now, I'm guessing mostly so they can say they have "legally acquired" content when the laws and lawsuits start rolling in, but they were scrapping tumblr before that. They were and are scrapping AO3 and whatever other website you use. It's disturbingly easy to get ChatGPT to write shitty omegaverse. If you ask the image AIs to give you Maedhros from the Silmarillion, they'll spit out red-haired guys - that's not because it's canon (it's not even in the Silm) but because it's been trained on our fanart.

This is undoubtedly a shitty move on Tumblr's part, I hate it, etc. This is sure as hell not a defence of them. Do toggle the toggle to "opt-out" for whatever good it's going to do. Do Glaze your art if you can, Nightshade if you can (remember that Nightshade doesn't protect shit though), I don't think either of those are the panacea I've seen them described as but it's better than nothing. But ultimately, all of our stuff online (not just art, and not just public things) has been scrapped and will be scrapped. It doesn't matter if it's on your personal website or on shitty social media.

The internet's core concept is sharing, and that involves a certain amount of goodwill on all sides of the transaction. And that goodwill, when it comes to those big companies, just isn't there. The only way to protect your art from being scrapped is to not share it anywhere.

I don't have a solution. Those models are probably going to burn themselves out eventually, but the next thing will be as bad or worse. The big companies have considered themselves above the law for years and legal frameworks are unlikely to do much. The choice is between not sharing anything and giving up on the communities that bring me joy, or accepting that my art will be stolen whatever I do. Personally I'm going to keep sharing my art on here with the people who enjoy it, and try to remember even in the worst moments of imposter syndrome that it will always be a thousand times better than whatever shitty things the AIs are sprouting by stealing it.

This isn't the solution (or even compromise) I wish I could have. I'm writing this because all the posts I'm seeing are panicking and guilt-tripping, and I've caught myself feeling guilty for still wanting to share my art even though it's going to feed the Machines(TM) and. Can we please stop that. Can we not make the artists somehow responsible for being stolen from.