Better Than Drugs

better than drugs

NO BC THIS IS MY STORY FROM LIKE TWO DAYS AGO, HI AAVANTARES! it's aureliu_s! for everyone else, a few friends and i discussed and sleuthed it out. what tipped us off was that it was a GUEST user but had a very real username attached (and also that the actual account and i had 0 fandoms in common - our paths would've never crossed otherwise). i considered changing my fic to only allowing users to comment but decided not to (for now). y'all just know this is happening and there are a few ways to determine if it's a bot, one also being that it seems to be the exact comment on each. and, additionally, if you have me on ao3 and see my username used for this and it says GUEST and lacks my golden pfp, IT IS NOT ME!!

Yet another AO3 bot situation - please spread the word!

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.

u walk into apocrypha and he gives u this look, wyd⁉️

thank you dearest @aureli-us for the idea a few months ago, i’ve finally had to motivation and time to pick up a pencil a few days ago

that’s about all the explanation i have for pinup miraak (based on He Thinks I’m Too Good To Be True by Gil Elvgren)

Quick! The first OC you think of is dropped in the world of the last movie/show you watched. How are they faring?

I found this in a steam thread about Miraak and for some reason I’m fucking cackling

i wanted to get into sebastian for a long time, but im always unsure what am i supposed to see as bad writing choice and what's his actual character + apparently he has 0 reactions to many of the quests?? they just didn't write/code anything for those. they really did him dirty

i don't hate him though & open to learning more. he doesn't deserve half the things people say about him

no you're SO RIGHT😭 i mean. i kinda always forget he's a DLC character so ig in some sense it's excusable to not have a lot of stuff for him but also like ?? on the flip side i feel your DLC character should be uber fleshed out and well done to make them interesting and just as interactive, if not more, than the non-DLC ppl!

i also have problems wrapping my head entirely around sebastian's character, as much as i love him. (my DA hyperfixation days are also behind me, but i try) i read other people's incredibly detailed psychoanalysis or headcanons and such and they're always SO COOL😩 i just have a hard time really nailing sebastian's characterization when i write him, but ALSO figuring out a way to write his relationship with the chantry both in and post-kirkwall that isn't a total giving up on it (as easy as that would be to write).

but yeah so many ppl are unnecessarily mean to sebastian 🤡 and also really hate on his chaste romance for some reason??? like idk grow up