#ao3 spam comments

[cacodaemonia]

New AO3 spam/scam tactic

Heeeey all. I've posted a lot about the AO3 comments scams that have been going around since late 2024, and yesterday, I shared a well-sourced video that discusses the explosion of long con scams in general since 2020. For anyone who's curious about this kind of thing, those links might be useful for you, but I think they also help explain why this comment I got a few days ago immediately pinged my scam radar:

(Yes, since then, AO3 support has responded to me and confirmed that the account is posting spam. I'm not slandering some random new user)

So, red flag #1: the comment came in on a fic I'd just posted that day. This is very consistent for these seemingly innocuous comments—they'll pop up the day a new work is posted or the day a new chapter goes up. Red flag #2: I don't recognize the user at all. I'm sure this wouldn't work for very popular creators on AO3 who get loads of comments, but I know all the people who comment on my stuff and rarely get new commenters. So that was odd in itself. Red flag #3: the comment is extremely vague and generic. It doesn't mention characters or anything that happens in the fic, but unlike short comments by real people, the message has a very... 'email they sent to a work colleague with whom they're friendly' vibe to it. That's pretty standard, too. Red flag #4: when I went to the user's profile, I saw that, shockingly, it was a brand new account and completely blank. For a while, these scammers were including weird amounts of contact info in their AO3 profiles (you can see examples in the posts I linked to at the top), but lately, they've been more bare bones. Red flag #5: the comment is such weird overkill. This is probably more specific to the fic I posted that day, but if it had been a long, complex story, I might have just thought the commenter was being extremely generous with their wording. The thing I posted, however, was a 600 word fluffy scene where nothing 'captivating' happens 😂 Like I said, weird overkill.

I think that covers my main reasons for immediately being suspicious. I wanted to explain them because a lot of people I've spoken to about these spam comments don't suspect them right away. And it really sucks having to be paranoid, but here we are ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As I mentioned, AO3 confirmed that the comment was spam, and they took it down. I also saw another comment from the same scam account yesterday, but by the time I got the reply from AO3 this morning, that comment was gone. So it may be that they're mass deleting comments by those spam accounts now? If anyone has insight on this, I'd love to know.

Anyway, just to give another example of the wording of the comment, here's a screenshot of it:

Vague again, and the fic was a one-shot, so mentioning a chapter is fishy.

I hope this helps prevent a few people from getting sucked into these long con scams. I still don't know exactly how they play out beyond the scammers offering to do paid art commissions, but obviously, they're making money with the comments or they wouldn't be flooding AO3 with them.

[lottiesnotebook]

New AO3 spambot warning! Just got a very mean comment on my Dragon Age Big Bang fic attributed to a guest using someone else's username. Marking as spam, as usual, but nobody take these to heart! <3

[silurisanguine]

Latest scam/spam coming in to AO3.

Registered user probably mass commenting with the same generic comment in hopes that some naive person will think it's genuine.

Note the utter impersonal approach -

'dear author' 'your work on This story'

This is so the same messege can be copy pasted on any fic.

Either it's a scam from some ai shillster/ general thief trying their luck or some terrible new artist thinking they can bullshit their way to get business. Probably the former. Either way it's breaks T&C so I reported their ass because this is the equivalent on digital cold calling and they can fuck off.

[starkillerbass]

Is anyone else having problems with hateful spam comments on ao3?

[darthnil]

We were doing so well, why do they always have to ask to chat?

[cacodaemonia]

All good advice. Don't forget to keep reporting these accounts, too! AO3 seems like they're pretty on top of it at this point.

just a heeeaaads up that some of these art commission scammers are upgrading their technique

they will now actually take notes of things that really happened in your fic, they make it sound personalised and genuine, but there's a way they talk that feels weirdly artificial, there's always a vague mention of some 'ideas' they have, if it raises your hackles trust those instincts and tread carefully, because ultimately-

they will ALWAYS LEAD YOU TO A SECONDARY LOCATION

suddenly changing up their writing style is a big red flag, wanting to take you off platform to some other site showcasing their 'art' is an even bigger red flag, REAL ARTISTS DO NOT DO THIS

no matter how genuine they sound, trust NOBODY advertising their art in your comment section, trust NOBODY who wants to take you off platform, NEVER go to that secondary location

STREET SMARTS!

[licorishh]

no way she's alive ?? yea those mental health breaks because social media makes people suck are wild huh

[leviosally]

I dunno how many people know about this sort of thing yet, so I’m making a post in the hopes that it will spread awareness.

I had a commenter on one of my fics offer to collaborate on creating art for it and wanted to chat on discord.

It felt a little funky to begin with, my spidey senses tingling, but I try to ‘benefit of the doubt’ people and so gave them my handle. They proceeded to basically attempt to strongarm me into commissioning them. No commission tier pricing, no ‘hey, check out my work’ just aggressively forward language

I recognize this is very poor artist etiquette, and, even though I still knew it was probably a scam, I gave a polite reply.

(If you really wanna know the story behind my username, DM me lollll) But anyway, just putting this out there because this is a scam. The Ao3 user is a guest account so I can’t report. Suggestion is to set your work preferences to ‘Only registered users can comment’

Here is a helpful screenshot from Reddit:

Take care of yourselves out there 🫶

[abyssalshriek]

If you write on AO3 (Archive of Our Own), edit your comment settings NOW (There is a way to edit all works at once. I will explain that shortly). By default, only registered accounts can comment on your works, but if you have allowed Guest comments, you must disable guest comments. If the following problem starts coming from registered users, it may become necessary to disable ALL comments.

Another wave of AO3 comment spam bots are hitting, except this time they are commenting with disturbing images. From what I've seen, they seem AI generated, but that doesn't change that they are commenting with the intent to show what can be deeply upsetting pictures. This imagery CAN BE GORE. While I haven't seen any cases of registered accounts spamming these images, I have heard reports of bot comments from registered accounts recently, so be aware there is a chance even Registered comments MIGHT be effected.

How to edit all works at once:

1) Go to your AO3 Dashboard. Click the option near the top labeled "Edit Works"

2) On the next page, in this order, select "All" then "Edit Works"

3) Scroll to the bottom of the next page and select either "Only registered users can comment" or "No one can comment". After this, select Update All Works.

So long as you don't click any other options in the list of possible edits, then nothing else will change on your fics.

--

Please, everyone, stay safe out there and take care of yourselves! If you get a comment of disturbing imagery from a REGISTERED account after making these changes, let me know and I will edit this post to recommend turning off all comments, not just guest ones.

Have a nice day!

[zeldreamia]

Omg just got my first hate comment on ao3 and it honestly made me laugh

Nevermissaspecila guest account took the time out of their day to give me “heartfelt” critique pertaining to my writing on my “Haunted Views” fic. I don’t mind critique or ways to improve on my writing, I absolutely encourage it and if there are ideas to improve a story or to improve my writing skills, I really do hope someone wishes to acknowledge it!! /gen

TRIGGER: However, I find it very interesting that they used the term “lobotomized squirrel” to describe my writing skills 💀

I couldn’t help but laugh at the “emotional depth of a puddle” description when the whole comment seems to be simply rage bait fjghghehrgdg

Told me to delete my account, get a real job, stop “polluting the internet with your worthless existence” yada yada yada “fundamentally pathetic human being” blah blah blah

I did report the comment as spam and deleted it from my fanfic, but I wanted to take the time to tell this to anyone who decided to read this post to now:

YOUR WRITING MEANS SOMETHING!!!!!! You weren’t meant to write if you never had the urge or interest to, and so many of you choose to give us your creativity, inspiration, thoughts, and genius to entertain, give experience, and create an everlasting fandom to so many people. Writing is only “shit” to the people that that look no deeper than their own ego

A final word: the reason for writing is to write for yourself. Give us your skills!! Show us your talent!!! Let us know your thoughts and your beautiful, incredible minds!!!

(P.S. If someone hates you for doing something good, you’re doing something they could never achieve 😉)

[aveimperator40k]

A heads-up for ao3 writers.

The current rash of long and weird troll comments are bots.

This is from where I archive commissioned *art* of my fics and ships. There is no story or dialogue.

Don't feel bad when you get these. It's just a bot.

[cacodaemonia]

FYI, it seems like the AO3 'art commission' scammers are trying out shorter opening comments before going straight to the con 😑

[8-rae-rae-8]

I'm BEGGING other AO3 writers to understand that if a GUEST ACCOUNT (and sometimes real account) is telling you your fic had ai detection, it is NOT REAL. It is a spam comment. DELETE IT AND MOVE ON. You know you wrote your fic singlehandedly, don't worry about what they're saying.

[spacevixen2024]

These spam comments are getting more frequent and worse.

[darthnil]

Spam comments are so weird, if you ask me for my socials when you're a first time commenter I will tell you nicely to go away, whether you do or not is up to you.

I also don't do discord

[mari-lair]

ycit is probably the only place where "you stabbed me. as a warning." is being said so lovingly and intended to sound purely comforting and it Actually Does. Very much so. love it so much sksjsks

I got so used to Aka Aka-ness that I didn't bat an eye, but when you take it out of context it really is wild that "you stabbed me. as a warning" is a very effective reassurance. Oh how far they've come.