#learn to use tags correctly

[ange1archive]

people need to stop tagging their ‘x oc stories‘ as ‘x reader‘. it’s so ANNOYING bc I am searching for ‘x reader‘ and all I get is the „reader“ having a first name and blonde hair with blue eyes. like I don’t want to read that shit. just fucking tag your oc stories as ‘x oc‘.

and don’t get me startet on them just tagging random characters that aren’t even mentioned in the fanfic. When I search up fics for a specific character I do NOT want to find fics of a different character. just let me read that ‘character x reader‘ and leave me alone

LEARN TO USE TAGS CORRECTLY. IT’S NOT THAT FUCKING HARD

[chanelle-lize]

I used to have a really hard time bringing up the fact that I graduated from high school a year late without feeling the need to explain why and insisting that it wasn't my fault while simultaneously kicking myself for how much I sounded like I was just making excuses for something I should take responsibility for.

Then I watched Dimension 20's "The Seven" and suddenly I could simply say that I was a super senior.

The first time I heard the phrase "super senior" was in reference to Antiope Jones, a Black girl who had been held back a year after getting kidnapped and imprisoned by members of a fundamentalist cult, and like, girl, same.

So, since then, instead of anxiously spinning out any time I tried to tell a personal high school anecdote, I could just say I was a super senior, and then my brain would auto complete that statement with "like Antiope Jones" and I'd feel good about myself because Antiope Jones Is That Bitch.

That's what the problem had been the whole time. I wasn't worried about how other people would perceive me; I had been struggling with how I perceived myself.

Thanks, Aabria.

[fearwithout]

you had me worried so worried that this would last but now I'm learning learning that this will pass

[imitor]

further to a topic i saw the other day idk how many times i can see the words dead dove on a blog and then look at the tags and go ? this truly just needs a trigger-warning and doesn't warrant the dead dove tagline.

[virescent-v]

Hey Reid Girlies

I swear to god I'm going to start blocking each and every one of you who posts a Reid fic with "Emily Prentiss."

You should not be tagging Emily in a Reid centric fic.

I will give you some leeway if she's in the fic, but if she's not like one of the main characters, don't tag her or anyone else that isn't the main character.

I don't know how many times other people in the CM fandom have to post this to get it through your heads, but it's annoying as hell.

I'm in the tag "Emily Prentiss" FOR EMILY. NOT REID.

Keep him to his own tag.

[cheswirls]

set of drabbles i did for @februairy's cute badminton au :)

-

"what do you mean you have us in different rooms?!"

"exactly what i said." shanks raises his hands to rest on his hips as he puts his metaphorical foot down. "this is an important competition, and i need you both to be all-in, one hundred percent. that means no needless distractions."

he raises his index finger when sabo opens his mouth to argue. "none of that. i've given you my reason and your only choice. unless you'd rather find somewhere else to stay on your own dime?"

sabo's mouth snaps shut. this time, when shanks offers him the room key, sabo wordlessly swipes it from his hand. he picks his training bag back up off the floor and storms away further inside the gym, muttering over his shoulder about getting in more reps while everyone else goes out to eat.

it's to blow off steam, so shanks doesn't say anything against it. hopefully the extra exertion will clear sabo's head.

-

when sanji opens the door to his hotel room, he finds his doubles partner on the other side instead of his assigned roommate. he can't help the surprise that pulls across his face. "what about sabo?"

"he kicked me out!" usopp exclaims, going from looking bashful to suddenly being very indignant – literally kicking the air. "then he made me switch him room keys!" his hand falls away from his suitcase handle so it teeters on its own to stay upright on the plush hallway carpet. "do you see what the problem is with that? it wasn't even his room to dictate what happens in!"

his other hand slides away from the strap to his overnight bag, essentially leaving both arms free to cross over his chest. "but if anyone asks, ace told me to say it was actually him that did all this. like anyone would believe that, hm? ace wasn't the one who stormed off earlier when we all got room assignments."

no, but he did stay behind to deal with his petty princess, sanji drily thinks as he finally holds the door open wider. usopp slouches where he stands and moves inside with all his luggage.

"well, look on the bright side, hm? neither of us has to deal with having a roommate that wants to be with someone else."

usopp nods wordlessly, still feeling prickly and dejected both at once. "really i'm just glad there's no cover story i have to keep up with. at least we won't have to deal with the fallout."

neither of them mention that it probably won't be an issue at all, because when shanks is personally traveling and organizing his athletes, his oversight is notably lax most of the time. it's not like he'll come upstairs to personally check everyone is where they're supposed to be for the night. aside from the grief given at the beginning, it's over now, for all intents and purposes.

besides, he'd meant what he said. he'd much rather room with usopp than have to deal with the world's most pouty prima-donna for the next four days.

-

sabo puts his arms in the sleeves of his pullover and then stretches them above his head in a last attempt to pop his spine. he's not given a chance to lower them and shrug the rest of the pullover on because ace comes up behind him and sags into his still-arched back.

sabo carefully resists a forming shudder when he feels ace's arms worm around his middle, fingers immediately roving along his sides. "ace, we really should go down to eat breakfast," he tries.

"gimme one more minute," ace mumbles into the back of sabo's jersey. "i need more sabo time to myself before we have to go out in public."

sabo snorts, because it's not like they'll be coming right back up or anything. he's not stuffing his feet into anything but slide-ons before 10AM if he can help himself. and he doesn't want to deal with bringing any of their practice stuff downstairs if they're not immediately going to leave.

his attempt at thinking of a snappy reply fails when ace's lips start working up the back of his neck. sabo does shudder this time, back finally relaxing from the unnatural position, and his arms come down from overhead to land lightly on ace's own. "ace, c'mon. let's go get food."

ace releases him to finish getting dressed himself, leaving sabo alone to resume putting his light jacket on. his commentary still filters over to sabo, though, both unnecessary and unwarranted.

"we could just go out to eat. there's that bakery down the road along the way to the training facility, and the woman who owns it likes watching us compete."

"we're trying to save money," sabo reminds him lightly, then smirks as he recalls exactly what they're saving money for. "hotel breakfast is free. if you want something specific later, we can nag shanks into taking everyone to eat again."

he opens the door for ace and doesn't attempt to decipher ace's mumbling after being met with a dull look. it was probably about how they could've gone to eat last night (or at least ace could have, if he hadn't offered to stay late with sabo) and sabo's better off leaving the exact wording of such a mystery.

but he does tune back in once they're in the elevator, ace speaking a bit louder and from a bit closer when he wonders aloud if they'd get something for free from the bakery if they let it slip that they're engaged now.

sabo puts an elbow in his side before the elevator doors can slide shut.

-

"you're late" are the first words koala says to sabo that morning when he sets his food tray down in front of the modest table she's claimed. she's said it for the sole purpose of riling him up and it works. she looks on in amusement when he pulls his chair out more harshly than intended.

"there's no set meal schedule, dearest, but thanks for grinding my gears. i can always count on you for that."

koala puts a hand over her heart. "what are friends for?"

sabo sits down heavily and leans into the backrest of the chair with a long-drawn sigh. "yeah, well, if you want someone to blame, then it's totally ace's fault for not getting up."

koala raises a brow at the wording. come to think of it, she had watched the two of them walk into the dining hall together. "you stayed with him? how'd you manage that? didn't you send me a whole long angry text last night about shanks being a literal demon from hell?"

"i switched rooms," sabo bites, throwing his head back to say this as snootily as possible. (ugh. it's too early for her to deal with this attitude from him.) "it's fine. shanks obviously doesn't understand the needs of teammates who are together romantically, so i just corrected his mistake on my own."

"and does he know about this correction?"

sabo purses his lips and ducks into his small bowl of porridge. "no," he mumbles.

"your 'needs' huh?" koala prods, smirking when sabo glances back up at her. she raises a brow instead of verbally asking the question.

sabo rolls his eyes and stabs his spoon back into the pile of mush. "we didn't do anything like that."

"like what?" ace pipes up, finally within hearing distance. when sabo only shrugs his shoulders, he wordlessly looks past his head to koala, but she only seals her lips. "well, glad you two are having fun with your secrets," he mildly snarks.

he pulls out a chair next to sabo and slides into it. "i still think we should've hit the bakery instead, by the way. the sesame cookies are already out, and when i asked, a server told me they were done making them for the day!"

"could've woken up earlier," sabo mutters. then, louder, "and we're still trying to save money."

"hah!" ace leans back precariously in his seat, ignoring his plate of cannoli to be petulant. "so when you want something, it's suddenly a necessary expense, but when i do the same it's a waste of money to even consider?"

"yes, that's right!" sabo proclaims haughtily, stabbing his spoon back into his breakfast. across from them, koala can't help but laugh at their comedy performance.

"aren't you used to him being this way by now?" she asks ace when ace glares at her. she also reaches into her bag at the same time to pull out a collection of thumb-sized cookies she has wrapped in a napkin. "you're lucky i'm so thoughtful," she says to him before he can get out a retort, offering him the small handful of the same sweets he'd been complaining about not getting to eat. "and that i thought of you earlier when i saw these and realized how quickly they were going."

"you're right, i completely forgive you and love you," ace rushes to say as he accepts the gift. at his side, sabo purses his lips and huffs at the wording, but ace ignores him completely in favor of tossing a small cookie into his mouth. "you're literally the best."

koala inclines her chin, leering over at sabo when he happens to look up at her. "i'm the best," she gloats.

she should have expected sabo to snap at some point, yet the heel suddenly digging into her shin makes her realize she'd thought of this a tad too late.

-

"oh, that? i can tell you about that," robin says to sanji and usopp during lunch. she'd heard an abridged version from koala earlier of the conversation she'd had with sabo that morning. "shanks found out those two got engaged recently and thought rooming them together would be a needless distraction."

that's the short of it, but it sure does paint matching looks of surprise on both of the athletes sitting across from her. they've both paused with food halfway to their mouths. she chuckles at the sight, hiding her open lips behind one hand.

"oh," both of them say simultaneously. then, from just sanji, "ok, yeah, i'd be pissed too. what a dick move. that's a valid reason."

"how long have they been engaged?" usopp asks around a bite of his sandwich. "was that supposed to stay a secret?"

"i don't think so, it just hasn't been too long," robin assures him. "i actually don't know the specifics. you'll have to direct your inquiries to either of them."

"yeah, no thanks," usopp mutters. "if shanks nearly had his head bitten off, i'd hate to see what happens to me."

"well, he did incite them," sanji reminds him. "i'm sure ace wouldn't mind telling us."

he specifically says ace because they both know he's the more easy-going of the pair, and also when sabo is confronted with something he doesn't want to share, he immediately becomes the world's most frigid ice queen.

"sabo might be happy to spill details, if you catch him at the right time," robin mentions. "it's his engagement too. i wouldn't be surprised to learn he's more excited than ace."

alright, yeah, that's a good counter-point to consider. both sanji and usopp think that over.

"after dinner?" usopp suggests.

"no, neither of them drink during a competition." sanji shakes his head. "maybe after the plane ride back home? if he's too tired, he might reveal something without thinking on it."

"if he's too tired, he just won't give us the time of day," usopp counters.

"what about after they win this week?" robin suggests.

which. is a good idea, in theory. but they would have to win, which is not a one-hundred percent guarantee.

but it is something to think over.

-

koala bites on her lip and sags into sabo's side again to bemoan her fate. below them, the current women's singles match-up is their own teammate reiju versus an athlete from sweden. "how can someone look so hot while sweating so much?" she says, completely aghast.

she makes the mistake of glancing up at him after saying this, bearing witness to the large smirk taking up his face. he opens his big mouth and already she knows she wants no part in this. "well–"

"yeah, i don't need unnecessary commentary from the man with a boyfriend," she gripes, leaning off of him. thankfully, sabo shuts his mouth and only shrugs, still looking smug but at least remaining silent about it. "speaking of which, where did ace go? wasn't he just here?"

sabo looks to his other side to confirm ace has indeed disappear. he looks miffed at this but keeps his answer perfectly indifferent. "how should i know? i'm not his keeper."

"you're right, he's just yours," koala says before she can help himself. sabo gasps, completely and justly indignant, and the look on his face is the perfect reward for ruffling his feathers again.

-

koby notices ace and sabo from the distance, but it takes him getting closer and a moment of observation to realize they're monitoring their competition and not merely engaged in conversation.

because from further back, it does look like something different. he stops short to watch ace wrapping an arm around sabo's back, tugging him closer with a hold around his middle. from the angle koby is to them, he can see ace gesturing down to the court with his other hand. they're both talking quietly with their heads huddled close together.

casual intimacy between doubles partners is nothing new, but koby can't help but add another mental notch to the running total he has in his head telling him this is another moment between this specific pair that qualifies more as pda.

he's kept this count going since the olympics ended, when he'd first begun to notice the change in the pair's affection for each other. it's not relative or important, really, but sometimes he can't turn off his observant eye. not for the first time, he thinks about asking after it in an unofficial capacity. maybe if it's off-the-record, they'd tell him if something had changed.

before he can think more on this, someone is calling out to him. specifically, someone says "hey four-eyes!" and from experience and the cadence, koby knows it's luffy before he turns around to acknowledge the athlete.

"hi," he greets luffy a bit lamely, still caught up in his thoughts. "you have another match?"

"no, i'm done for the day," luffy reveals. "i'm just sticking around to watch ace and sabo." he pointedly looks over koby's shoulder to see the duo not far away, realizing koby had been facing that direction. "do i need to get them for you?"

"oh, no, that's fine," koby insists, raising both hands to wave luffy's suggestion off. he peers over his shoulder as well, noting that the pair are even closer together than they were before, and quickly turns back to face luffy. "they, uh, look preoccupied as-is. i'd hate to ruin their concentration."

luffy looks at the pair again and takes koby's words into account. "oh, they're always like that now."

now implies that something has changed recently, though koby's not hell-bent on knowing anymore. the distance between the four of them isn't large, and he'd hate to be overheard, even if he is still curious.

luffy steamrolls along, though, not realizing the gravity of the situation. "probably because they're getting married soon? they've been a lot more touchy-feely since getting engaged."

sirens blare in koby's head, and he has to resist the temptation to look back behind him again. "oh, ok," he says, suddenly overwhelmed. that does make sense. it is a good explanation. it's also probably something he should not be privy to, especially if it's a recent development.

luffy must realize this too, because he perks up and grabs koby by both his shoulders. "i'm saying this to you as my friend, koby, not as a journalist."

"yeah, i got it," koby wheezes. "you can trust me. i won't say a word."

-

"maybe we should come back to korea," ace says at the end of their stay. they're both outside on the veranda, some light alcohol still in either of their glasses though neither are keen on finishing it off. it had been a celebratory move that both are regretting, especially with the summer heat bearing down on them. even in the dark of night, the blush on sabo's fair-skinned cheeks is still evident.

"after the season is over," ace says aloud, though they both know the implication. after we get married, he means. "we can book a room at the shilla and sight-see for a few days. or just chill in there. not like there's a lack of things to do."

sabo had been about to reply, but at the mention of the luxury resort hotel, he chokes. gasping for breath, he swallows the rest of his champagne in an attempt to quickly recover. "isn't that just a tad too expensive??"

"eh, we can splurge a bit." ace shrugs, then grins over at sabo. "it'll be another thing to save up for. if you want to."

"well i don't not want to," sabo admits, which is progress. as long as he's considering the possibility, that's good enough for ace.

"they even have their own bakery inside," ace adds, which only makes sabo groan.

"will you let that go already?"

[bossthebicon]

no, actually my least favorite thing about watching thai dramas while speaking & understanding thai... is that the dialects never match up 😭😭😭 if a character is from a non-central province, they'll have their whole family speak in northern/southern/isaan dialect while the main character, who's played by an actor from bangkok, will unexplainably not have any remnants of his native dialect when he speaks even though he was born & raised in the area and often time never even left... that shit breaks the fourth wall to me, like... why even hire an actor who doesn't fit the role fully, I don't get it 😭

[minnow-451]

Ngl I want to write fanfics….I actually do have some drafts but…I also don’t know how to space or pace my words….

[eryanlainfa]

Wait. Hold on. I have to share with you that dream I had tonight because.. because you'll see.

So.

I dreamt someone commissioned an animator to animate a whole trailer/pilote for their fanfic, and instead of making stuff up, my brain just recycled animation it had seen before so it looked like a mashup and caracters looked out of place and their animation style were different and all 😭 but it was overall pretty cool! And impressive!

And the main character was Varian but the anime boy version(????) And I thought it was about him and the person who commissioned's OC. But no. Their OC was dead on the floor in one shot??? And the second lead was some random character that looked like Nana.. from the manga Nana..??????

And even in my dream I was SO CONFUSED

But the concept of the fic seemed fun and the dedication was visible so I kept watching

And then. And then there was a timelapse. And.- I am still not over it. But the Nana doppelganger. Was in fact HUGO but like???? Pre-transition I guess???????? There was a one minute bust shot of him, going from frail feminine face with longish straight black hair, to a more masculine face with a (little) better body build and you saw he cut his hair shorter and then bleached it and then cut it again throughout the year and the black color was slowly coming back but now he genuinely looked like anime boy Hugo. AND I FUCKING LOST IT IN MY DREAM. I GENUINELY SCREAMED AND I FELT LIKE THAT WAS THE MOST SHOCKING REVEAL I'VE SEEN IN YEARS.

[idwtgoinsane]

i got my first binder like a week ago and i know it’s literally pressing on my chest and all but… i can finally fucking *breathe*

yknow what i mean?

[komaruzu]

watching myself remake and delete old posts on this tumblr just so I could interact w a fandom on here cringe free

anyways hi i have totally NOT scrolled thru the tags and clawed at the walls bc some of u mfs decided to make the most ANGSTYIST SHIT I have ever seen and I have to go on deranged rambles to someone who knows nothing abt the series

[intrinsicepiphany]

Also there are some great resources for learning the AO3 tagging system

Here is a good reddit talk about tagging

And lgr_02 gave a decent rundown of tagging on reddit:

Rating: understand fully what M,R,T... means. Choose the most accurate one and, in case of doubt, it's better to be extra cautious than too little/leave it as "not rated". Never EVER tag "General audiences" if they are not for general audiences

Warnings: the most important one. You could neglect everything else, but not this. Put whatever warnings you need and, if you don't want to, use "Creators chose not to use archive warnings". Never EVER tag "no archives warnings apply" if it's not like this

Categories: don't tag a type if this one plays a minor role in your story

Characters: only tag those who play an important role in your story. For special cases you could use "minor x character": try to not have a lot of those (and don't tag "x character" AND "minor x character", choose just one). For the rest of them "Background & Cameo Characters"

Relationships: only tag those who play an important role in your story. Keep this in mind. Don't tag the same relationship both with & and /. They are in a relationship or they aren't. And, in case it happens both (they start/end a relationship) choose the one who play a more important role in your story

Additional tags

Don't ramble. Anything you want to tell, use the summary, author's notes or whatever. Never the tags

Not everything that happens in your story needs to be tagged. If something doesn't have impact in your plot, don't tag it

Every time you can, use canonical tags. Only use not canonical tags when it's something important

Don't be repetitive. If there's several tags that mean the same, choose one. If one of them is canonical and the rest aren't, choose that one

Potential triggers are always a priority over everything else. Never overlook them, this is the only area that you should never fear to over tag

Tags explaining the connection with the original source are always appreciated: pre/post canon, season/chapter x, alternate universe, canon divergence, missing scene... Tags setting the tone of the story (angst, fluff, smut) and the type of ending are also usually welcome

@livixbobbiex - https://www.tumblr.com/livixbobbiex/172484586812/my-personal-guide-to-ao3-posting-and-tags-how-to

Has a rundown of how they personally tag on AO3 as well that I will quote some good bits here

"Archive warnings

 As it says on their website, these are essentially just trigger warnings. It doesn’t include all common triggers, but some that typically show up in fanfiction.  I don't LIKE to use these unless completely necessary, to be honest. Somehow, it comes off as a little spoilery. However, this kind of thing can really bother people, so I think it’s best to bite the bullet and add them, especially for a one shot. 

From what I've experienced, the one people tend to get most het up about is 'major character death', so I’d always tag that one, or at the very least make some sort of reference in your additional tags such as ‘tragedy’. 

You can use 'choose not to use warnings', as a 'read at your own risk' kind of thing, which is totally valid, if you really don’t want to give away any plot twists. However, if you’re doing that, I still believe it’s courteous to add ‘contains subjects that may be triggering’ to your chapter notes. "

"Relationships

Similarly, I wouldn't bother tagging every single relationship that gets mentioned. A lot of the time, it’s just irrelevant. If you're worried, just tag the main one, and then add the tag 'minor or background relationships'. That’s kind of like saying ‘this work contains other pairings, read at your own description’, in my mind. An exception to this, maybe, is if you have a pairing you know is pretty out there and controversial, but that’s more a courtesy thing, so long as you’ve added another warning."

Alright, to ao3's soon to be arriving Wattpad Refugees, a basic guide to general user culture:

1.) Unlike Wattpads vote system that let's you like each chapter, the ao3 equivalent kudos only allows one per work. Everyone is generally quietly annoyed about this. To engage with each chapter, you're heavily encouraged to comment. Trust me, it makes people's day.

2.) Ao3 has no algorithm. By default it's latest updated work first. You can find things to your taste through searches, filters and tags.

3.) 'No archive warnings apply' and 'user has chosen not to use archive warnings' mean two very different things. No archives warnings means the work is free from any content that could require a warning tag (character death, graphic depictions of violence, non-con, etc). User has chosen not to use archive warnings means it could contain any of the warning content, be it hasn't been explicitly tagged. Treat it like an allergen. No archive warnings apply is allergen free. User has chosen not to use archive warnings, may contain traces or whole chunks of the allergen. If you're likely to have a bad reaction, maybe don't take the risk.

4.) Speaking of warnings, ao3 has very few restrictions on the type of work that's allowed. Whatever your personal thoughts or feelings on that are, thats how the site is. You're likely to run across some dark subject matters and a lot of people are uncomfortable with reading that. You're well within your rights not like these works and have your opinion on whether they should be allowed, but harassing the authors of such works (or any works) is more likely to come back on you than them. Ao3 operates on a strong policy of 'don't like, don't read'. Use the tagging system to your full advantage to only engage with the kind of works you want to see.

We look forward to welcoming you all and seeing the fantastic works you create. Happy writing!

[fluffykittensox]

Hey if you tag something with a tag that has nothing to do with your post in any way it’s just going to make me double ignore your post.

Example tagging “Star Wars” in a fanfic about Peaky Blinders.

[rainbowingvomit]

I enjoy drawing skeletons and then making them fat /aff /pos

[morwee]

THIS! THIS!! THIS IS WHAT I LIKE!!

Time to beat up the King.

—

Theory that Rouxls Kaard is actually kinda OP (and that he talks in butchered English because whatever he says in normal speech can automatically become a rule)

[my-wildflowergirl]

Do people not know how to use the Dead Dove tag anymore? Like you can't just plaster Dead Dove on the top of a fic and then not add a single keep reading button on it. Its a little hard to avoid it properly and scroll away when your ten page long fic is blocking the entire tag.