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#ao3 tips
hepalien · 6 months
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Hey rarepair shippers, I'm about to change your lives.
The AO3 Primary Ship Search add-on for Firefox (it's called AO3 First Tag Search for Chrome) adds this little checkbox to the AO3 advanced search page
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And if you check the box, the search only returns fics where the pairing you entered is the first one tagged. This is better than the otp:true operator imo because it will show fics with secondary/background pairings too as long as your preferred ship is the main one.
You can even use the add-on in Firefox or Kiwi browser on Android mobile.
Have fun 😘
(more ao3 tips here)
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aurorasulphur · 3 months
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Disclaimer: none of these answers are official, and may not work for your particular use case. If there is a specific feature that an unofficial app had that you don't know how to replicate on the AO3, let me know in the notes and we might can crowdsource a solution.
A lot of people used the Archive Reader app to access stories on Archive of Our Own, and have been upset that the app is now charging to read longer than an hour a day. AO3 (and its parent organization, the OTW) has made it extremely clear in recent days that this app is unofficial and that there *is* no official app. They encourage people to use the website.
However, there are MANY reasons you might want an app, and in a bunch of those cases, there are ways to do those things without having to provide your login information to a random person running an app. Here is a round-up of solutions to the most common reasons I've seen people give for wanting an app instead of the plain AO3 website.
These solutions are based on the following assumptions:
You know what Archive of Our Own is
You often or primarily access it through a mobile device running iOS or Android
You understand what a browser is
You understand what a browser bookmark is
You understand what a site skin is
Edits:
Edited to clarify that you must be logged in to use custom site skins
Edited to add more tips and tricks from the reblogs
Edited to add new entry about notifications/emails
Edited to add new entry about reading statistics and the tracking thereof
I need a widget on my phone's homescreen, not just a browser bookmark.
You can do this with any website, not just AO3! Instructions here: https://www.howtogeek.com/196087/how-to-add-websites-to-the-home-screen-on-any-smartphone-or-tablet/
I need Dark Mode.
AO3 has a default site skin for Dark Mode, it's just called Reversi. Find it here, or at the bottom of any page on the website. https://archiveofourown.org/skins/929/
If you'd like Dark Mode on your whole browser (and you're on Android), sorrelchestnut has advice here: https://www.tumblr.com/sorrelchestnut/737869282153775104/if-you-want-dark-mode-and-dont-want-to-mess
I need to be able to read stories when I don't have internet.
Every work on the AO3 has a download button, so you can click on that and download the story for offline reading in the ereader app of your choice. More info on how to do that is in the AO3 FAQs: https://archiveofourown.org/faq/downloading-fanworks?language_id=en#accesslater
I need to be able to change the text size of the website itself.
If you have an AO3 account (and you should!!) you can do this with a personalized site skin! There is a simple tutorial here: https://www.tumblr.com/ao3skin/667284237718798336/i-have-a-request-if-you-dont-mind-could-you
I need to be able to change the text size in downloaded stories.
My personal recommendation: Don't download in PDF format. All the other formats you can download in can scale the text size up and down, assuming you open the work in the correct app. For me, I download works in EPUB format and read them on the built-in Books app on my iPhone. I hear good things about Moon Reader on Android as well.
I need to be able to replace Y/N in fics with an actual name.
ElectricAlice has a bookmarklet for that here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34796935
I need to be able to save specific tags and not have to search them up every time.
If you have an AO3 account (which you definitely should) then you can favorite up to 20 tags which will appear on the landing page. The AO3 FAQ explains how that works: https://archiveofourown.org/faq/tags?language_id=en#favtag
I need to be able to save specific filters and be able to apply them to any tag.
Reisling's beautiful bookmarklet has you covered: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33825019
I need to be able to permanently hide certain tags.
The best option is adding this to your site skin. (Must be logged in.) Instructions here: https://www.tumblr.com/ao3css/719667033634160640/how-to-permanently-filter-out-certain-tags-on-ao3
I also hear things about the AO3 Enhancements extension (just for Android/desktop, sorry iOS folks): https://www.tumblr.com/emotionalsupportrats/686787582579851265/browser-extension-everyone-on-ao3-should-know
I need it to save my place on the page and not reload.
This is really mostly a browser error--Firefox on iOS does this to me A LOT. Your best bet is to download the work and read it in an ereader app. A lot of people also will make an ao3 bookmark and write in the notes section which part they were at, but that assumes you aren't falling asleep while reading. (Which is the main reason I have this issue, lol.) For more info on bookmarks, see the FAQ: https://archiveofourown.org/faq/bookmarks?language_id=en#whatisbookmark
I need it to keep track of which stories I've already read/opened/kudos'd.
If you have an account (which you should) then the "My History" page keeps track of every fic you've ever clicked on. No, it isn't searchable or sortable, but it does exist. For fics you've kudos'd, I have yet to find a solution for iOS. For desktop or Android, you can use this excellent userscript: https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/5835-ao3-kudosed-and-seen-history
@the-sleepy-archivist and @inkandarsenic have a solution for iOS here to use userscripts: https://www.tumblr.com/the-sleepy-archivist/737895174683885568/this-is-a-great-guide-one-thing-i-can-help-with and https://www.tumblr.com/inkandarsenic/737827438571192320/the-user-scripts-will-also-work-on-ios-there-are
I need an app because the website's search is terrible.
(I genuinely don't understand this one but I have seen it multiple times so on the list it goes!!) The search bar at the top of the screen is a keyword search. If you'd rather search within a specific field (like title or tag) then you'll want to click on the word "search" at the top of the screen and select Work Search or Tag Search. To search users, use People Search. To search Bookmarks, use Bookmark Search. (If this is you, please tell me what the heck you mean by "search is bad" and how an app helped with this.)
I need to be able to sort stories by date posted/number of bookmarks/alphabetical/etc.
You can do this using the filters sidebar. Pick a tag you want to filter on (like a fandom, character, or relationship) and then click on the "Filters" button. The sidebar will pop out and you can sort and filter on a boggling array of specifics. A good filtering guide: https://www.tumblr.com/saurons-pr-department/718665516093472768/if-there-is-something-you-dont-want-to-see-in
I need to be able to mark stories to read later.
AO3 has this feature built in! If you have an account (which you should) there is a "Mark for Later" option on every work.
Edit: Thispersonishuman reminded me that History and Mark For Later can be disabled, so if you're not seeing the Mark for Later option, check your settings.
I need to be able to listen to stories using text-to-speech.
Microsoft Edge web browser has a built in text to speech function. Supposedly it works on both iOS and Android, but I have not personally tested that. iOS also has a native accessibility feature in settings for text to speech that will work on the Books app, so I assume Android has a similar functionality. A bunch of people in the reblogs have more in-depth Android recommendations here: https://www.tumblr.com/protect-namine/737957194510794752/seconding-voice-aloud-on-android-for-tts-my, https://www.tumblr.com/smallercommand/737884523093704704/i-use-voice-for-tts-on-android-its-got-some, and https://www.tumblr.com/doitninetimes/737869463749263360/for-text-to-speech-on-android-you-can-also-check
I need to have in-app notifications for updates/I can't ever find story updates in among the rest of my emails/checking my email stresses me out.
Set up a separate email address using a free service like gmail, and use that email address JUST for AO3. Then the only emails in that inbox will be your story updates. I use Apple's Mail application for all my inboxes, but it's very easy to use the Gmail app instead, and you could log in to JUST the ao3 email and set it to notify for every email.
(Also as a general PSA: don't use your work, school, or military email as your AO3 email. Just don't.)
I want statistics like how many hours I spent reading, how many words I read, what my most read tags were, stuff like that.
So we've finally hit something that isn't easy and that requires a hell of a lot of manual work. Short version: AO3 does not track this data because they don't want to. (Mostly due to privacy concerns.) The lack of this tracking is a feature, not a bug. You can crunch these numbers yourself, but it will take a hell of a lot more effort, and it's something I personally found is not worth the effort the couple of times I have tried to crunch those numbers. If you are willing to download your history to an actual computer (not a tablet or chromebook) using Calibre, you can get a rough idea of your most popular tags via their tag browser, but it won't play nice with typos synned to a Common Tag (Canonical Tag/filterable tag) like ao3 does. (If anyone has used an app that gave you stats on this, please let me know in reblogs/replies/via ask how that worked because I am very curious.)
I need an app because <other reason>.
The AO3 Unofficial Browser Tools FAQ might cover your use case: https://archiveofourown.org/faq/unofficial-browser-tools?language_id=en If not, give a shout and we'll see what other tumblr users suggest!
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swordsmans · 1 year
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today on ao3 tips, here's a quick follow up to this post about the ao3 "mark for later"/TBR/save for later function! ive seen some stuff going around lately lamenting that there's no easy way to filter out "character x reader" or "character x OC" fics from search results, but there absolutely is!
very quick and simple fix, just add "-reader" and/or "-original*" to the "search within results" bar (not "other tags to exclude", which might be where the confusion is coming from). it looks like this:
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here is what it looks like with both filtered out:
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the "*" after original is an indicator for the filters to catch the "original female--", "original male--", and "original character" tags, which is why is should be included! as a caveat, this also removes anything that has the word "original" in the summary or tags, so do be aware of that. (meaning this will also grab anything that has original characters tagged even if they AREN'T in a pairing, plus anything that uses the word "original" in the normal sense)
also, || designates "OR" for the filter search, so it is optional (and can be replaced with just a simple space) but i like to include it to be extra sure. i have checked and both results work.
anyway, happy reading, everyone!
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facingthenorthwind · 6 months
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Why does this have "- Freeform" at the end? and other questions about AO3 tag suffixes
Have you ever tagged something only for it to get a suffix like Character, Relationship or Freeform stuck on the end when you hit save? Do you think it's ugly and want it to go away, but don't know how? You probably can't, unfortunately, but there are a few situations where you can.
A tag suffix is a hyphen followed by the name of a tag category. Tags are either Fandom, Character, Relationship or Freeform tags. The reason that a suffix gets put on a tag is that the wrangulator (the part of AO3's backend that deals with tags) can't have tags with the same name, even if they're in different categories. As a solution, it puts the category at the end of tags that have first been tagged in some other category. For example: let's say that someone tags Evil Mark Donk in the characters field because that's where they want it to appear on their work (which is a perfectly valid choice to make!). Then someone else comes along and tries to tag Evil Mark Donk in the additional tags/freeforms field. (That field is shown as "additional tags" on the posting form, but the wrangulator and tag wranglers call it the "freeforms" because that's what it was originally called.) When the second person hits save, it will appear as Evil Mark Donk - Freeform on their fic. This will also happen if someone tags Evil Mark Donk in the relationships field, but there it would appear as Evil Mark Donk - Relationship. It's ugly and it's annoying, but the wrangulator is trying its best.
So how do you get rid of it? Sometimes it turns up because you've accidentally put your tags in the wrong field. Maybe you wrote a fic where you tagged Evil Mark Donk in the additional tags field, and no one else had tagged for it before you, which means it doesn't have a suffix and everything's right! But then you write a second fic, forgot to select the "additional tags" field when posting and now suddenly you've got Evil Mark Donk - Character on your fic. If that's the case, all you have to do is move it. But what if the first person to tag it wasn't you, and they put it in the character field, so you're stuck with Evil Mark Donk - Freeform? You can choose a different phrasing for the tag that wasn't initially tagged in a different field, e.g. Evil!Mark Donk or Mark Donk is Evil.
You may also have the problem that on the first use of a particular tag, you accidentally put it in a field you don't want it to be in, and now even when you put it in the right one, it still comes up as Evil Mark Donk - Freeform! The wrangulator has betrayed you, and you will be stuck with the ugly suffix forever! Not so, my friend. The problem is that even though you deleted the character tag Evil Mark Donk, it's still floating around in the wrangulator, which hasn't noticed that you deleted it. What you have to do is wait for 24 hours (give it a few for leeway) and a part of the wrangulator called "the rake" will delete it. After it's been raked, you can go forth and post it in the additional tags field, and no suffix will appear!
Unfortunately, most of the time it's going to be that someone else tagged it in a category you don't want to tag it first, and you can't change it without changing the phrasing of your tag. Sorry!
Sometimes, taggers will add their own suffixes, and tag wranglers are extremely curious about why. If you've done this, or something similar like put (freeform) in brackets after a tag, please let us know why! What does freeform mean to you? You are of course free to put suffixes on manually if you want -- it's a valid way to tag! We are just fascinated by this practice and don't really understand it. Please enlighten us!
For more information about tags, I've written some other explanations about how tags work, such as how to tell what type of tag something is and tag capitalisation.
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thenerdyindividual · 10 months
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So with AO3 recommending locking your fics to help prevent scraping for AI use, I know a few people (myself included) who have locked down their fics. But it’s made me curious how many people are locking so…
Also reblog this and tell me in the tags why you do or don’t plan to lock your works.
For those of you that want to lock your works but don’t want to do each fic individually, here is a tutorial for how to lock all your fics at once.
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frownyalfred · 1 year
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need a serotonin hit? go look at your fic’s bookmarks in the statistics tab instead of on the public fic listing. you’re welcome.
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malicedafirenze · 2 months
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I just made a lengthy post about how to get into AO3, basically a beginner's guide to how to find fanfic, since I saw some people on the fantasyromance subreddit struggle with it (AO3 is fantastic, but it can be a bit daunting if you're not sure what you're looking for and how)
How to find and read Fanfiction: Beginner Tips for navigating Archive of Our Own (AO3)
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the-fic-rex · 1 year
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5 basic things you can do to improve your ao3 experience +1 thing that will not help
Get an account
There is a process to this- you need to get on a waitlist and then will be sent an email to make an account (at this point in time the wait time is about a week)- but once you have an account you unlock a lot of features that make the whole experience better, such as the marked for later list, turning off the extra acknowledgement for adult content, mute users, and you can see more fics that are only available to people with an account.
2. Use a site skin
This can be as simple as just getting dark mode (the reversi skin), or it can dramatically change the viewing experience. There are premade ones to chose from that require absolutely zero coding. Skins can also just be applied to one platform- for example on mobile devices you can consolidate tags. You can also use skins to hide works or tags you don’t like or that have a lot of fics that clog up search results.
3. Search by things other than fandom
If you love a trope and want to see more of it or love a niche character, click on the tag to search within it. You may get fewer results but it will allow you to scratch that specific itch without having to wade through 100s of pages of results. If you search by a trope, you can then apply a fandom tag on top of that so you see the characters you love.
4. Download fics
AO3 makes downloading fics super easy and you should do it! Whether you know you will be offline, are concerned that a fic could be deleted, you want to read on a e-reader instead, or you just want to be prepared for the next AO3 crash, downloading fics can let you read with no limits. The download button is at the top of each fic and lets you download a bunch of different file formats.
5. Interact with authors
One of the things I love most about reading fanfic as opposed to traditional media is that the people writing the fics are just as into the fandom as you are. So by leaving kudos, commenting, subscribing and checking out any linked social medias, you can get involved or give back to the community. Take this with the warning that authors may not want to interact back with you and have no obligation to, but to some authors a comment on their fic will make their day which is just a good goal to strive for if you liked a fic.
Even if you don’t want to leave a comment or follow an author's socials, a subscription is a nice way to feel a bit included in the writing process. Once you subscribe to a work, series, or author, you get fun emails whenever something updates! It keeps you from wondering if you missed something and makes reading your email a more enjoyable experience.
+1
Don't make it anyone else's problem if you didn’t like a fic
This is a little obvious but it is worth repeating- commenting that you didn’t like a fic changes nothing. If you don't like a fic, you don’t have to finish it! If you did finish it but wish you didn’t, that is what the back button is for. If you keep forgetting you didn’t like a fic and keep clicking on it, you can create a skin that blocks it from view, or mute the author. If you didn’t like the content, filter out the tag describing that thing using "Other Tags to Exclude" within the Sort and Filter menu.  If something is against the AO3 terms of service, you can report it. 
None of those things need to be shared with the author and doing so just makes the internet a less fun place. 
Happy reading!
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insanitysilver · 1 year
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Ao3 Recommendations
Wish ao3 had an algorithm? Wish it would recommend you the best of the best? Ao3 can’t, but your fellow fans can all through the magic of the bookmark search. How is this done?
Find your tag of choice (fandom/ship/character/trope). The default search is by works. Set it to bookmarks.
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2. Add filters like normal. Check ‘rec’ and ‘has notes’ near the bottom. Sort.
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And voilà. Now everything listed comes with positive reviews for your perusal.
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Sit back on your divan and let your servants feed you grapes knowing that other brave souls went before you to bring you these gems for your illustrious inspection.
Side Notes:
Authors do see bookmark comments. Do not be an ass to people sharing their art for free.
This method is biased towards older works. Try not to use this search method exclusively or you’ll miss out on hidden gems.
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batcavescolony · 7 months
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Have I mentioned how much i love ao3? So I'm currently watching a show and I like to look up fanfics but obviously I don't want to get spoiled so I just go to filters scroll down to 'date updated', look up the date the episode aired on, go 6 days ahead to the day before the next episode, and it filters out all the fics about episodes I haven't watched yet! It's great.
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ladamedusoif · 3 months
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In Which Rose Discovers How To Add Fic To Her Kindle.
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I’ve been horribly behind on reading, especially for longer fics I’ve had on my TBR list forever. And I know some people read on Kindle, so…
I did some research. And it works. (See above: @iamskyereads’ Lie to Me now on Kindle.)
I think this would also work on other e-Readers - especially if you can just drag and drop to a Library with something like Caliber.
How-to:
Find your Kindle device’s email address in the Content and Device settings. It’ll probably be based on your user ID/primary email.
Add the email address you’ll be sending your fics from to your trusted emails in Content and Device > Preferences.
From AO3, download the fics in EPUB format.
Email as attachments to the Kindle device email address.
Give it a couple of minutes… and the stories will appear in your library.
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thepropagandists · 10 months
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Ao3 Guide Skin Customization ◇
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ellililunch · 8 months
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AO3 Re-read Savior Userscript
Fellow Ao3 users, tired of any of the following?
Bookmarked fics that have been deleted or put in a private collection that you just don't know what that fic was. There's just a note you've left about how amazing it was.
Lack of comments / difficulty coming up with comments?
Can only kudos once?
Unable to remember if you've already read a story before and can only figure it out after re-reading the whole thing?
Unsure if you private'd all your bookmarks?
What if I told you I had a 1 stop solution for all of these issues?
I have (with a little help from friends) written some code that you can download and use fairly easy. It even works on mobile! (Though you may have to download a different browser).
What it does:
"Rekudos Machine" that turns any additional clicks of the kudos button into a random "additional kudos" comment. (You can also edit and customize this list yourself!)
Bookmark note helper: automatically adds fic info (title, author, workID, and summary) in a collapsible element to bookmark notes (workID can be used to recreate the url for a wayback machine). This is also compatible with any existing bookmark notes you have as all the fic info is just added in front of any existing notes. If the fic info is already in the notes (determined by the presence of the workID), no changes are made to the bookmark notes. (Though for a WIP you can have it automatically add the last chapter up as an indicator as to how far you got before any future updates are made, and you can also get a read date added to the bottom of the notes each time the bookmark is updated.)
Bookmark auto tags: automatically adds tags for the wordcount range [for <1K words, 1-5K words, 5-10K words, 10-20K words, 20-40K words, 40-60K words, and >100K words] and tags unfinished works with "WIP" and a "Read up to chap X" tag.
Bookmark auto privacy: sets all new bookmarks to default to private, but keeps the existing privacy setting for any existing bookmarks.
This script also clones the subscribe button and the "Marked for later/Marked as read" button at the end of the fic. This is convenient to subscribe to an in progress fic or mark a previously marked for later as read.
Please note that as of right now, only seems to work for works, not series. Additionally, doesn't work if there is no summary. I am working on it though!
You can also see and edit the code yourself for everything! Get your fingers in there and customize it to your system and needs!
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How to get it:
First you will need to have a user script manager. I personally downloaded Tampermonkey which I use with Firefox on desktop and the Kiwi browser on mobile. I also have the info from greasyfork as to what script managers are recommended for which browsers:
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You will also need to download the script. I have uploaded the script to a website called "Greasyfork" (link here: https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/470448). You will need an account I think but I don't remember exactly. Greasyfork is where I got the idea to create this, inspired by some of the scripts for AO3 that were up there (which I would highly recommend going through any of the scripts that come up when you search AO3, there's so much cool stuff out there). If you are not comfortable downloading from this website, feel free to dm me directly and we can figure out a different way. But I have downloaded many scripts from greasyfork and trust it personally.
Lastly, how I use this:
I personally bookmark every fic I read and (with the bookmark private'd) assigned it a 1-5 star rating on how likely I would recommend or re-read the story. (Though I do have the top tier bookmarks public)
Having every single fic in a bookmark collection allows me to see a better idea of my reading history than simply going to the history page as I can filter based on fandom, word count, pairings, etc.
I currently have around 7000 bookmarks, and it took me about 6 days to get all of my bookmarked works updated to this new system. This includes the time it took for me to tweak and de-bug the code and the fact that I was also sleeping, going to work everyday, etc. So even if you have A LOT of bookmarks, it's possible to convert all of them! Honestly after de-bugging the code, what was slowing me down the most was going so fast AO3 gave me the "retry later" error and my own finger cramps.
If you have any issues or ideas let me know!! I'm definitely a hobbyist and not a professional coder, so I'm open to improvements and learning! Just trying to spread the word since I spent so much time developing and testing it and have found it super helpful.
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swordsmans · 6 months
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maybe i'm being overly cautious with a psa but for newbie authors, these kinds of comments are spam. dont add strange codes to your discord and pls report them instead of deleting them! you can report spam by clicking on the fic link attached to your comment (in this image, "wood is a living creature") and clicking the "spam" button that appears in the bottom right-hand corner (:
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catgirl-catboy · 2 years
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Ao3 tips:
- Install a skin.   This makes it less scary to read ao3 in public, and hurts your eyes way less.   I recommend trying out Snow Blue, Reversi, and Dusted Off, but if you don’t like any of them you can use the Allmighty Skin Wizard to make your own skin.
- If you do use a skin, CRANK THAT FUCKING FONT SIZE UP.   Your sleep schedule won’t thank me: it’ll get you reading longer.
- Consider installing a remove kudos button.   I’m serious.  I’ve had so much more fun both writing and reading fic ever since I removed the kudos counter from ao3.    It really isn’t the indicator of quality you think it is, (more like an indicator if the fic has the fandom’s OTP in it) and you can still sort by kudos if you’d like! 
-  Bookmark your searches.    I have a search bookmarked for all of my fandoms that excludes my NOTPs and all the tropes I dislike.   If I’m in a rare mood where I want to read for a pairing I’m ambivalent about, I can always re-include them.   It isn’t passing judgement on the ship/trope (unless you want it to be >:) ), its just saving future you some times.
- User subscribe to your favorite authors! “But Tenko!  They post a lot of shit I don’t care about!”   Thats the thing:   you can use email filters to only get notified for stuff you like.    One of my favorite authors posts Re:Zero a lot, which I have never watched and have no desire to (no judgement to the fans, the art style is not my thing).  But ever since I blocked the keyword, I have mostly forgotten that that author posts anything but the fandoms I care about.    I never subscribe to actual works, just authors.
- Make a second account for commenting if you feel shy!   Second accounts are explicitly allowed and encouraged by the ao3 team.  If that helps you feel more comfy chatting with your favorite authors, whats stopping you?
- Bookmarks are your friend.   Bookmark every fic you could actually see yourself rereading- then when you are in the mood to reread fic, you can search your own personal rec list, curated by you!
- Ao3 savior, while a bit complicated to set up, can help you block those ships/tags you don’t want to see under any circumstances.   Goodbye! X reader one-shot collections!   I don’t have to scroll past you anymore.
- If you want some good old F/F (or M/F depending on your fandom) thats usually relegated to a background pairing, don’t use OTP:True.   Go to exclude, categories, and then exclude M/M and Other.  Bam! You get both Gen and F/F works about that character.
 Thats it for today, a drabble is precisely 100 words, byeeee!
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frownyalfred · 1 year
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I learned you can use wildcards today on ao3 thank u so much random tiktok girl
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