ask-a-miraculer

[ask-a-miraculer]

Wow, now there's a bot going around on Ao3 telling people that the "moderators" will delete works from "deprecated" fandoms and impose bans.

Fearmongering bullshit, but it's fearmongering bullshit that seems to be taking advantage of the recent spotlight series in order to trick authors into deleting their fics.

Just. Why.

What the hell does anyone get out of making these bots.

[ask-a-miraculer]

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS

WHO IS USING THIS

AN APP??? THEY HAVE A FUNCTIONING WEBSITE

THE LAST FUNCTIONING WEBSITE

[ask-a-miraculer]

PSA

Just a heads up, there are bots going around on AO3 accusing people of using AI. Considering the timing, this is likely AI bros' retaliation for AO3 users calling them out for scraping their work. Examples of what you might be sent:

Screenshots from here.

If you get a comment like this, just report for spam and delete.

[ask-a-miraculer]

'ao3 needs a like and dislike button'

what you need, my algorithm-rotten minded friend, is a grip

[ask-a-miraculer]

do people have no shame anymore?

[ask-a-miraculer]

nothing pisses me off more than when i see a fic on ao3 talking about reach. "this ship isn't here but i added them for reach" "this fandom tag isn't necessary but i'm adding it for reach" "reposting for reach" STOP IT!!!! this is not tiktok this is not twitter this is an ARCHIVE this is not how it works!!!

[ask-a-miraculer]

I am a(n):

⚪ Male

⚪ Female

🔘 Writer

Looking for

⚪ Boyfriend

⚪ Girlfriend

🔘 An incredibly specific word that I can't remember

[ask-a-miraculer]

Thinking about fandom and how I've seen several fic authors deciding to just. Forgo research into Eastern cultures and just write it like America.

Knew a woman who shrugged her shoulders when people pointed out "They don't do this in Japan, this is an American thing, it's more like this over there" and said she was American, so she was basing her stories on that. Know someone else who just assumes China celebrates all the same holidays as the US does, in all the same ways.

You gotta do the research when you're writing something set in a different country/culture, man. I understand some fudging or "Okay this is super complicated to explain so here's the basic gist," but to straight-up say "Nah, let's make it like the US" is just lazy and ignorant.

[ask-a-miraculer]

elon musk should kill himself elon musk needs to kill himself elon musk would make society as a whole better if he killed himself now

[ask-a-miraculer]

[ask-a-miraculer]

oh I wasn’t aware it was feeding the ai. I’ve inserted hundreds of fics into chatgpt for their continuation or for a different plot within the same context just for fun and out of curiosity… but I’ve never posted any of them…

Indeed, anything that is given to AI it can use later to draw from. That's why it doesn't matter if you post them or not as it has now access to those writers' texts without their permission.

~Mod L

[ask-a-miraculer]

“this is a compilation of all of my fics from different fandoms—”

Make them separate fics. I’m begging you. I can’t keep scrolling past that one fic with 115 fandoms and 75 chapters of one-sentence drabbles. I can’t.

[ask-a-miraculer]

PSA for Ao3 Users:

Be sure to check the URL before clicking on any site to go to Ao3. I noticed today when I searched via Google Chrome that there is a false Ao3 site that comes up as the first result.

It says archiveofour.net

When you go to it, it looks EXACTLY like Ao3, but it is NOT.

When I curiously tapped the search bar, a pop-up opened to direct me elsewhere. I believe this to be a spoof site for the purpose of either phishing or possibly hijacking PCs for mining bitcoin or some other malicious purpose.

I could be wrong. Perhaps it's a proxy site- but the fact that it redirected me to yet another suspicious-looking URL is alarming.

I let a few friends know, but it doesn't appear on every browser. @plague-of-insomnia mentioned using CC and Safari, and it didn't appear for them.

Ya'll be careful, and remember to always check the URL! At first glance, this spoof site is very convincing. If I had been half asleep, I may not have noticed it was different.

Please reblog to make your friends and other fic writers and readers aware!

[ask-a-miraculer]

Hey everyone. There's another app on the Google playstore. Pretty sure it's not official and it's making money from in-app ads.

I think the AO3's latest post about apps is here:

[ask-a-miraculer]

Potential Virus Risk on AO3 Comments

Hey everyone. So, I wanted to make a post about something I've seen in AO3 comments recently and I wanted to let y'all know so you can be careful.

Today, on two separate fics of mine, I got comments from guests with different names that had what looks like a key smash followed by a weird link. They looked like this:

[image ID: two emails from the website AO3. Both show comments from anonymous users with feminine names that show what looks like a key smash followed by a link. The second link says it’s from tinyurl while the first does not appear to be from anywhere specifically.]

Now, it is possible that these are legit comments and these links lead to nothing bad. But, in my experience, this looks like a classic phishing scam or a link to a virus. Honestly, I never open links I see online unless I know for sure I can trust the source. And even then I'm a bit hesitant, since I know that accounts can be hacked. I actually deleted the first email and comment immediately and didn't really think about it again. However, after getting another comment that was almost identical but from a guest with a different name, it makes me think that this might be something bad.

So, if you see these kinds of comments, unless you know exactly who sent it, I'd recommend just deleting them and not clicking on the links. Honestly, even if you know who sent it, I'd still be careful just in case they got hacked. If someone wanted to send you a legit link, they would probably do it with some kind of comment beforehand saying what the link actually leads to. This seems to me like they're trying to prey off curiosity and it can lead to some nasty stuff. Since I know some AO3 writers and readers follow me, I thought I'd post about it here. Similarly, if you see a comment like this on someone's fic, maybe don't click on it either. Again, I can't guarantee this is anything bad, since I definitely did not click on the links, but it's better to be safe than sorry. If y'all could reblog this to spread the word, I'd appreciate it.

Anyway, be careful out there guys! I got burned a few too many times as a kid, so I'm extra careful with links and things now, ha.

EDIT: Apparently, these links are indeed malicious. I checked them in an online link checker, and it detected one malicious source from the link in the second message, but 12 malicious sources in the link from the first message. So, it's pretty clearly a virus or phishing scam. Please be aware!

[ask-a-miraculer]

An artist : Aw man! I saw my arts were reposted on Instagram. I’ve asked them to take my arts down but they ignored me.

Me : Say no more! Click this link, then click ‘fill out this form’. Fill the form and wait for about 1-2 days, the staffs will remove the image you were reporting from the reposter’s account :^)

[ask-a-miraculer]

Those who may not be aware, for the OTW election in progress there is one candidate who is practically out to end it all:

Tiffany G.

They are wanting to censor and make AO3 a place of control. They want to take our freedom to write and form it to what they think is the correct guideline to, "Make it more friendly."

AO3 already has a ton of filters and tags in place to aid in helping each person tailor their own AO3 experience. Something triggers them? They can filter that tag out. Wanna read G only? Can filter out the rest. Want to read E only?

Filter out the rest.

What this person is wanting to do, it'll take away the beautiful community we have. It is a platform of freedom, of writing what you desire and posting it to find others just like you. To try and put a semblance of authoritive control.. it's repulsing.

Please, please please for those who can vote, DO NOT VOTE FOR TIFFANY G. IF YOU DO AO3 WILL END AS WE KNOW IT.

Can't vote? Pay 10 dollars a year to become a member so you can vote in the future. I just did and regret not doing so earlier.

If you can't vote like me? SPREAD THE WORD. LET THERE BE AWARENESS. DON'T LET THIS PERSON TAKE AWAY THE AO3 WE LOVE. STAND UP, YELL IT OUT:

DO NOT VOTE FOR TIFFANY G.