If An Author Removes Their Work From AO3 You Do NOT Have The Right To Re-upload It. It Does Not Belong

If an author removes their work from AO3 you do NOT have the right to re-upload it. It does not belong to you. It was removed. You do not have the authority nor ownership to decide what happens to it.

I am getting genuinely incensed by the amount of works I'm seeing being re-uploaded by so called "fans" because it was removed by the author. Does it suck that a piece of work you enjoyed was removed? Absolutely.

But its not your right to decide to re-upload it. If the author removed it, they did it for a reason, and they shouldn't have to fight you for the right to decide that they no longer want that work available to the public.

"But they can just let me know they want it removed!" Newsflash. They did. When they removed it in the first place.

For those who could use a reminder: escapist fantasy fiction encompasses more than, like, purely happy and wholesome stories. If you use 'escapist fiction' to mean, 'things that never make anyone uncomfortable,' then you might want to reassess your terminology.

An (incomplete) list of fiction that typically features 'escapist' elements would include:

-Weird/dark/kinky porn -Horror fiction -Romance novels (and all the unhealthy possessive relationships and dubiously consensual sex that occurs in them for the fun and pleasure of the reader) -Fantasy worlds like Game of Thrones

So when you see things that claim it is people who only engage with 'escapist stories' or 'escapist fantasies' who cannot tell the difference between fiction and reality, that's a pretty clear and immediate signal that this person either: a) doesn't know what they're talking about, or b) is being deliberately disingenuous.

Enjoying escapist fiction is not the same thing as never wanting to engage with potentially uncomfortable stories, and a person's ability to tell the difference between fiction and reality is independent of their personal preference in what type of fiction they enjoy.

Because I'm seeing a lot of vile accusations and guilt tripping thrown around lately, I feel the need to reiterate:

Its okay to need a break or a space away from real life events and real life horrors.

Yes. Its okay if you don't reblog that death count post to your Marvel fanblog. Yes, its okay if you need to turn your phone off for the day so you're not staring at horrific headlines. Yes, its okay to not join in a conversation or to move away from a conversation if you need to.

Needing to appropriately manage your mental wellbeing is not the same as being wilfully ignorant or uncaring.

Just a warning for anyone in the Ateez fandom who might be using Omegle, apparently its the latest tag in a number of fandoms (and seemingly, specifically kpop fandoms) to be under fire from a pretty vile bot.

The anon who brought this to my attention mentioned it just disconnects the second you send a reply, so my best advice would just be to immediately disconnect or use an alternative tag like the fandom name (Atiny) instead of Ateez.

Its highly unlikely the person programming these bots is into kpop at all; they're simply big enough fandoms to be easy targets with a wide potential reach. Please do not take this as an opportunity to instigate unrest with other kpop band fandoms.

Are there really people who bash on Ao3?? Wow. I've never met any of those, it's very strange for me to hear that. I mean, Ao3 is the best site in terms of variety, it has everything. It is FULL of PG-13 works, gen works, family friendly fics and all, not just explicit stuff. I mean, filters exist and they are convenient. I am one of those fans who love to read & write both R and G rated works, and, like, Ao3 is my jam for that.

People opposing AO3 or AO3 in part (such as specific policies, functions, ect) are unfortunately very common. And by no means is the site exempt from criticism; there's always room for improvement, but a lot of the opposition to AO3 comes from the misunderstanding its actual purpose.

Too many people consider AO3 a 'fanfiction site' like Wattpad. To that extent; they're far too used to censorship and regulations. But like I always tell people; consider AO3 more like a museum or a storage vault than just another host site for content.

A lot of people additionally don't actually know why AO3 even exists, and why the kind of censorship we see in modern times on sites like TikTok isn't normal and can be used to perpetrate prejudice. And already is, in fact.

Re-education and developing an open understanding of these things, even if you still personally disagree with some of the content hosted on AO3, is so important for that purpose. Its what I'll continue to do on this blog for as long as I can.

Celebrities are aware that certain content about them exists.

They're also aware of where it exists.

They know to avoid it.

Your job is to make sure it stays in those places with the appropriate tags/warnings so they can.

I promise you, most celebrities don't think about that kind of thing beyond 'I don't want to see it, so I don't look for it."

And they'd think about it even less if you stopped asking them their opinion on it.