#transformativeworks

[aintgonnatakethis]

Lost And Found / 600 words

Rush and his unhealthy relationship with sleep. Rush and his unhealthy relationship with his wife. Entry for the AO3 15th Anniversary Prompt Challenge. Prompt: Dreams

Fandom: Stargate Universe

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Character: Nicholas Rush Relationship: Nicholas Rush/Gloria Rush

Additional Tags: Rush POV, Angst, Dreams, Nightmares, Ficlet, Flash Fic, AO3 15th Anniversary Prompt Challenge

Collections: AO3 15th Anniversary Prompt Challenge Collection

[aroundthecoffeepot]

Hetalia fic recs for Feedback Fest 2025

Here are Hetalia fics I highly recommend! It was difficult to keep it to ten fics and, as you will see, I failed L(° O °L) I've tried to select a good range of style, length and genres, so there's something for everyone ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

The list is in descending order of publication date:

A Singular Affair — Part 1 & Part 2 by original_yazzy (England/Prussia) Single dad Arthur, struggling to raise his eleven-year-olds Matthew and Alfred, meets single dad Gilbert, also raising a young son, Ludwig. AU.

This was the first Hetalia human AU fic I read way back in 2009, and it has gone on to mould in my mind of Arthur being this incredibly multifaceted character. I still recall it most fondly.

The Consolations of Philosophy by orphan_account (France/Russia) So if I was a Russianist I would write a proper study in English on Franco-Russian relations during the Enlightenment, since the currently available ones are atrocious. Since I am not, however, HERE, HAVE PORN. With dancing and philosophers in.

A historical fic that has touched my soul indelibly. I don't think I'll ever forget the electrifying feeling of my first read. An absolutely gorgeous piece *chef's kiss*

The Timbered by sadlygrove (Egypt/Greece/Turkey) The dark voice of the Empire does nothing to detract from the beautiful green eyes, like the sea at dawn in both color and chill. Egypt dives in.

M/M/M 3some pwp with dp and possibly the hottest piece of erotic fanfiction I've ever accidentally stumbled across in the fandom's heyday. When I say I couldn't breathe!

Unwritten Rules by jedishampoo (America/France) France/US. France gives Revolutionary America some lessons in diplomacy. Sexy diplomacy.

Funny, sexy, and sweet - just an all-round fun smutty read!

Only This Moment by archestofenemies (England/France) France/England: Victorian gentleman Arthur winds up in the company of the handsome farmer Francis. Will he be able to keep from throwing himself into those muscular, sun-bronzed arms? No. De-anon from the kink meme, finished.

This is the quintessential FrUK fic for me! I don't know who I love more in this fic, Arthur or Francis - they both deserve each other (complimentary)! A joyful read, 11/10!

Untitled.avi by Delgumo (America/Russia) [no summary]

Okay, fair warning, this fic is not for everyone. I first read it on AFFN, and when I say it had me in a grip...!! It was my first real experience of reading a confessional/"unreliable" narrator-type of fiction that truly shook me like no publication has ever managed to do - and I think this would struggle to be professionally published, it is just so visceral and plain horrifying. Truly a difficult read, one I can't recommend to just anyone, but I couldn't leave it off this list as it has completely changed my entire perspective of what not just fanfiction but simply fiction can evoke in a reader.

No Need for Long Goodbyes by Delgumo (America/Canada, America/England, America/Liechtenstein) The pain from a life filled with sexual and physical abuse festers inside of Alfred, pushing him to lash out at the people he loves the most.

Bruh this fic will have you feeling feelings (and not all good) but damn if it ain't the best piece of longfic I've ever read! It probably says something about me that I can't quite explain, but Arthur is my favourite character in here. I'm sorry uwu

Snatch your happiness from the days to come by Mossy_man (China/Russia) Omegaverse self-indulgent porn in communist uniforms. God save the Tzar.

Post-WWII RoChu fic that yanked me back to the heyday of canontalia, and GOD it's just an absolutely rich and beautiful fic! The imageries are to die for! Love it so, so much <3

acuerdo by southerngothics (Southern Italy/Spain) It’s still new to him; four months is an eternity for humans, perhaps, but perspective has shortened and condensed time into a coiled thing, folding over on itself until the entire stretch of it is thin as parchment. Four months is the blink of an eye. And the fighting has not stopped since he set foot upon that little island kingdom; he hasn’t had time to truly process it all. That Romano is his now. That they are together. That every morning he will wake up and Romano will be here, and that every night Romano will be asleep in this bed. It still seems like the far-fetched dream Pedro had cooked up in hushed tones, away from the menacing glares of el Papa. Spain is convinced, somehow, that if he blinks, reality will throw its punch and he’ll be back in Palermo, crushed under that damned France’s boot. In 1282, King Peter III of Aragon is crowned King of Sicily.

Another gorgeous piece of historical prose and a delightful, if disturbing, character study of Spain. How is it @torontofetish's first ever Hetalia fic in the year of our lord 2024? I need more from them!

My gentleness (is not for you) by Mossy_man (China/Mongolia/Russia) Our sex had always been full of misery. Of Mongolia's bitterness and China's sour resentment. But now when they are free from each other he can use another source of approval.

When I say I spent bloody years trying to capture China and Mongolia's relationship, and the one time I requested it of Moss and they delivered in spades... Biting my knuckle raw in envy at their talent, but also fuck writing I get to simply read this piece of pure perfection aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Bonus:

Holiday fling by Mossy_man (China/Russia) For smuttyandabsurd.

A birthday fic for me, tailored to a personal degree of the author's view of me (apparently?), and a gift I shall cherish all my life ( っ˶´ ˘ `)っ

[fanfictionlibrary01]

New AO3 “Proactive Removal” Bot Comment Scam

There’s a new type of spam circulating on AO3 where "guest commenters" (bots) are warning authors about their fics being in danger of deletion due to being part of older/less active fandoms or being original works.

What is happening? What do we know?

A guest user will leave a generic, flattering comments at the start, praising the author’s story, saying how much they enjoyed it, or how well the characters were written. Then it shifts to a false warning, claiming AO3 is undergoing a “cleanup” of sorts of older, inactive, or “deprecated” fandoms to free up server space.

It states that if the author doesn’t remove their fic themselves, AO3 will delete it and may even ban the author’s account for non-compliance

The comment is also likely imply urgency by saying the supposed cleanup is happening soon and that the author has to take action right away.

The organization behind AO3 has issued a statement that these comments are false. AO3 is an archive, the purpose of the site is preservation and archival, so mass deletions would go entirely against their core mission.

What can you do?

Ignore it. This message is completely false. AO3 does not delete fics based on fandom activity or age, and it certainly doesn’t issue bans for not removing a fic preemptively.

The scam uses a mix of praise and threats to manipulate authors. While the positive opening can understandably disarm authors, please: do not delete your fics. Nothing will be deleted.

Report the comments as spam using AO3's reporting tools, or delete them entirely.

Stay calm. Scams like this are designed to create panic, but rest assured that your works are safe.

Inform others. Share this information with other authors and readers, especially those who may be new to AO3 or unfamiliar with how it works.

Sources:

Various posts online: Tumblr post, Reddit post 1, Reddit post 2

AO3 themself: @transformativeworks on Tumblr

Follow up on updates and new infos in the Fanfic Communities Network!

"Deprecated Fandoms" Spam Bot Alert!

If you get a comment that says AO3 is "deleting works to conserve server space", that is a Spam Bot. There is no such thing as "deprecated fandom content", nor is there any limit on the number of works that can be posted to a fandom tag (regardless of how "popular" it is). AO3 has not changed its content policies. We are committed to upholding our founding principle of maximum inclusiveness of fanwork content, and will only remove content that violates the AO3 Terms of Service. While non-fanworks are not allowed on AO3, we consider both original works and real-person fiction to be fanworks. Please don't listen to anyone telling you otherwise.

Unlike the previous round of art spam, so far these comments have all been from guests, so our advice for handling them is different! We're working on filtering these comments out, and flagging them as spam is how you can help. Read more below the cut!

To help train our automated spam-checker to block similar guest comments in the future:

If the comment is on your own work: 

Note: The "Spam" button only appears when viewing a guest comment directly on your work. This is because the AO3 comment inbox is merely a copy of the work's comments – deleting a comment from your AO3 inbox does not delete the comment from the work itself.

Go directly to the comment on your work, either by clicking on the link in your email or in your AO3 inbox.

Click on the "Spam" button to mark the guest comment as spam and remove it from your work. 

That's it! You don't have to do anything else.

If you see comments like these on someone else's work: 

Feel free to let the creator know the comment is from a bot and that they should mark it as spam. 

You can also report the comments as botspam via the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form linked at the bottom of every page on AO3. 

If you are reporting multiple guest comments, please submit only one report and include all comment links in your report description. (You can get the direct link to any comment by clicking the "Thread" button on the comment, and then copying the URL of that page.)

AO3's Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) does not pre-screen content on AO3; they only investigate if they receive a report. All reports are reviewed by PAC volunteers, who are real human beings. You don't need to worry that your or anyone else's fanworks will be taken down due to a baseless report or a mass-reporting campaign. 

If PAC were to determine that you had violated the TOS, you would receive a notification of the violation via the email address associated with your AO3 account—not via comments, social media, or any other method. 

[thestalwartheart]

Hello! I’m wondering is archive.transformative works.org separate or connected to archiveofourown.org? Noticed you linked the former for the Arthur x Eames fic in your recent post

Yes! I actually only learned this recently, hence the exclamation mark and why I’m so excited to tell you about a new fact I have to share. It is an official URL. For some reason, it often appears when I’ve come to the archive from Google.

Here’s proof from the AO3 FAQs:

…and yes, you did read that right.

archiveofourown.gay is an official url you can use.

[ao3screenshotss]

hi this is just me informing you that ao3 does have a tumblr (@ao3org) so if you don’t have twitter (their twitter is AO3_Status btw) you can follow along on tumblr

[watcher0033]

Y’all, the Archive admins are made up of VOLUNTEERS. And they have been working for 12-13 HOURS STRAIGHT.

I better not hear any complaints when donation period comes around. OR ELSE.

cosplay by @woahchriswoah on Twitter

EDIT: How do we show appreciation to the volunteers? For me reading these deep dives on OTW issues u guys apparently it's been said multiple times that one of their objective statements is to have paid staff for ao3 and there's a surplus of donations they haven't used up or the other community solutions that needs to address. For those more financially literate feel free to analyze, snipe me or add to the discussion etc. linked here by deepa. They’re cool and these yearly analysis they did aint no joke.

But Seriously what can we do for these volunteers? The probable burn out from this entire fiasco would be no joke. @ao3org

[jstor]

hi! i've always got the vibe that you and @transformativeworks are fraternal twins separated at birth. would you like to comment on this theory?

We have deep respect for their work and the work they make accessible! (And their color scheme... great taste)

[taikeero-lecoredier]

HR9495 ON ITS WAY TO SENATE

Sadly the nonprofit orgs killer bill passed the house and is now on its way to the senate,endangering orgs such as ACLU,EFF,FTF, Internet Archive, AO3 ( @transformativeworks )and any fighting for human rights. Take some time to voice your disappointment at the reps who voted yes on this terrible bill,and thanks the rep that voted against it. However the next step will be to focus on the Senate, here you can find your senators: https://www.senate.gov/senators/ If your senator is a democrat, you can use this script: "I am calling to urge my representative to vote no on H.R. 9495 . This is a dangerous bill would give the Trump administration unilateral power to label any non-profit as terrorist supporting and shut it down without due process. I am calling on my representative to defend civil rights organizations and oppose this bill. Thank you.” You can also tell them you'll vote for them if they vote no on this bill. Anything goes. if your senator is republican/MAGA, use their own words against them :

"As your constituent, I urge you to vote NO on H.R. 9495. This bill poses a dangerous threat to the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment and must not pass the Senate. It grants any incoming administration unchecked authority to revoke the tax-exempt status of non-profit organizations without oversight or due process. Such government overreach is not what the Founding Fathers envisioned for our democracy. This bill undermines the principles of free speech and freedom of association, cornerstones of American liberty.

H.R. 9495 threatens to pave the way for political suppression, allowing the government to selectively target and shut down organizations based on ideological disagreements. This could affect any non-profit, including churches and conservative groups, as well as organizations that champion human rights and civil liberties. Regardless of political leanings, this bill sets a chilling precedent that no American patriot should support.

While situations relating to the hostages deserve careful attention, they can and should be addressed in a separate, narrowly tailored bill. H.R. 9495, however, is a broad, unconstitutional overreach that strikes at the heart of free speech and freedom. It is unpatriotic and incompatible with the values we hold dear as Americans.

I implore you to stand as a defender of liberty and uphold the rights of your constituents. Be a patriot, listen to the voice of the people, protect our God given right to free speech as Americans, and reject this dangerous legislation. Vote NO on H.R. 9495. Thank you, God Bless and God Bless America." (Taken from here )

You can also come join our server internet dedicated to fight against bad bills (and other bad internet bills such as KOSA) We organize call in days and gather ressources ! https://discord.gg/pwTSXZMxnH

[fiercynn]

on ao3's current fundraiser

apparently it’s time for ao3’s biannual donation drive, which means it’s time for me to remind you all, that regardless of how much you love ao3, you shouldn’t donate to them because they HAVE TOO MUCH MONEY AND NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH IT.

we’ve known for years that ao3 – or, more specifically, the organization for transformative works (@transformativeworks on tumblr), or otw, who runs ao3 and other fandom projects – has a lot of money in their “reserves” that they had no plans for. but in 2023, @manogirl and i did some research on this, and now, after looking at their more recent financial statements, i’ve determined that at the beginning of 2024, they had almost $2.8 MILLION US DOLLARS IN SURPLUS.

our full post last year goes over the principles of how we determined this, even though the numbers are for 2023, but the key points still stand (with the updated numbers):

when we say “surplus”, we are not including money that they estimate they need to spend in 2024 for their regular expenses. just the extra that they have no plan for

yes, nonprofits do need to keep some money in reserves for emergencies; typically, nonprofits registered in the u.s. tend to keep enough to cover between six months and two years of their regular operating expenses (meaning, the rough amount they need each month to keep their services going). $2.8 million USD is enough to keep otw running for almost FIVE YEARS WITHOUT NEW DONATIONS

they always overshoot their fundraisers: as i’m posting this, they’ve already raised $104,751.62 USD from their current donation drive, which is over double what they’ve asked for! on day two of the fundraiser!!

no, we are not trying to claim they are embezzling this money or that it is a scam. we believe they are just super incompetent with their money. case in point: that surplus that they have? only earned them $146 USD in interest in 2022, because only about $10,000 USD of their money invested in an interest-bearing account. that’s the interest they earn off of MILLIONS. at the very least they should be using this extra money to generate new revenue – which would also help with their long-term financial security – but they can’t even do that

no, they do not need this money to use if they are sued. you can read more about this in the full post, but essentially, they get most of their legal services donated, and they have not, themselves, said this money is for that purpose

i'm not going to go through my process for determining the updated 2024 numbers because i want to get this post out quickly, and otw actually had not updated the sources i needed to get these numbers until the last couple days (seriously, i've been checking), but you can easily recreate the process that @manogirl and i outlined last year with these documents:

otw’s 2022 audited financial statement, to determine how much money they had at the end of 2022

otw’s 2024 budget spreadsheet, to determine their net income in 2023 and how much they transferred to and from reserves at the beginning of 2024

otw’s 2022 form 990 (also available on propublica), which is a tax document, and shows how much interest they earned in 2022 (search “interest” and you’ll find it in several places)  

also, otw has not been accountable to answering questions about their surplus. typically, they hold a public meeting with their finance committee every year in september or october so people can ask questions directly to their treasurer and other committee members; as you can imagine, after doing this deep dive last summer, i was looking forward to getting some answers at that meeting!

but they cancelled that meeting in 2023, and instead asked people to write to the finance committee through their contact us form online. fun fact: i wrote a one-line message to the finance committee on may 11, 2023 through that form, when @manogirl and i were doing this research, asking them for clarification on how much they have in their reserves. i have still not received a response.

so yeah. please spend your money on people who actually need it, like on mutual aid requests! anyone who wants to share their mutual aid requests, please do so in the replies and i’ll share them out – i didn’t want to link directly to individual requests without permission in case this leads to anyone getting harassed, but i would love to share your requests. to start with, here's operation olive branch and their ongoing spreadsheet sharing palestinian folks who need money to escape genocide.

oh, and if you want to write to otw and tell them why you are not donating, i'm not sure it’ll get any results, but it can’t hurt lol. here's their contact us form – just don’t expect a response! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[katy-133]

My AO3 card deck arrived! I'll be having fun using it as I write fanfics. ♥️♠️♦️♣️

Thank you,‬ @transformativeworks!

[aintgonnatakethis]

Goa'uld Advanced Placement / 1.6k

As part of his preparation for going undercover with the Lucian Alliance, Telford is learning multiple dialects of Goa'uld. Young is his concerned and slightly clingy study partner. Entry for the AO3 15th Anniversary Prompt Challenge. Prompt: Learning a Language together

Fandom: Stargate Universe

Rating: General Audiences

Characters: Everett Young, David Telford

Relationship: David Telford & Everett Young

Additional Tags: Young POV, Pre-Canon, Character Study, Friendship, Found Family, Worldbuilding, Languages, Translated text, One Shot, Flash Fic, AO3 15th Anniversary Prompt Challenge

Collections: AO3 15th Anniversary Prompt Challenge Collection

[tacky-tramp]

An open letter to the Organization for Transformative Works' legal team:

Dear @transformativeworks Legal,

I am requesting that you take action on Speechify/WordStream's wholesale theft of non-commercial fanworks for commercial purposes.

As you are probably aware, Speechify, an app that uses AI voices to turn user-supplied text into audiobooks, has created a spinoff app called WordStream. WordStream has scraped many, many works of fanfiction from AO3, and has published AI-generated audiobooks of these fics. They charge users for access to these audiobooks, under a subscription model. Not only has this company, run by Cliff Weitzman, violated AO3 users' copyrights, it has done so for profit.

I understand that only authors themselves can file DMCA takedown notices when their fics are stolen. However, there are steps the OTW can take on this matter:

1. Notify all AO3 users via email that their work may have been stolen, and give them next steps. This is what companies are required to do in the event of a data breach, and that's effectively what this is.

2. Publish a blog post about WordStream's theft, and promote it on social media.

3. Send a letter to Speechify, educating them about fanfiction and copyright. Explain that fanfiction is *not* in the public domain, and therefore the users whose work they've stolen have legal recourse against them. Demand they take down all fanfiction they have stolen.

4. Reach out through your networks in tech and publishing to raise awareness of this and marshall support for a campaign to pressure Speechify to remove all fanfiction they posted without author permission.

I am a former OTW volunteer, and I would be happy to assist with any of this!

Thanks,

tacky_tramp

[aroundthecoffeepot]

Here are Hetalia fics I highly recommend! It was difficult to keep it to ten fics and, as you will see, I failed L(° O °L) I've tried to select a good range of style, length and genres, so there's something for everyone ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

The list is in descending order of publication date:

A Singular Affair — Part 1 & Part 2 by original_yazzy (England/Prussia) Single dad Arthur, struggling to raise his eleven-year-olds Matthew and Alfred, meets single dad Gilbert, also raising a young son, Ludwig. AU.

This was the first Hetalia human AU fic I read way back in 2009, and it has gone on to mould in my mind of Arthur being this incredibly multifaceted character. I still recall it most fondly.

The Consolations of Philosophy by orphan_account (France/Russia) So if I was a Russianist I would write a proper study in English on Franco-Russian relations during the Enlightenment, since the currently available ones are atrocious. Since I am not, however, HERE, HAVE PORN. With dancing and philosophers in.

A historical fic that has touched my soul indelibly. I don't think I'll ever forget the electrifying feeling of my first read. An absolutely gorgeous piece *chef's kiss*

The Timbered by sadlygrove (Egypt/Greece/Turkey) The dark voice of the Empire does nothing to detract from the beautiful green eyes, like the sea at dawn in both color and chill. Egypt dives in.

M/M/M 3some pwp with dp and possibly the hottest piece of erotic fanfiction I've ever accidentally stumbled across in the fandom's heyday. When I say I couldn't breathe!

Unwritten Rules by jedishampoo (America/France) France/US. France gives Revolutionary America some lessons in diplomacy. Sexy diplomacy.

Funny, sexy, and sweet - just an all-round fun smutty read!

Only This Moment by archestofenemies (England/France) France/England: Victorian gentleman Arthur winds up in the company of the handsome farmer Francis. Will he be able to keep from throwing himself into those muscular, sun-bronzed arms? No. De-anon from the kink meme, finished.

This is the quintessential FrUK fic for me! I don't know who I love more in this fic, Arthur or Francis - they both deserve each other (complimentary)! A joyful read, 11/10!

Untitled.avi by Delgumo (America/Russia) [no summary]

Okay, fair warning, this fic is NOT for everyone. I first read it on AFFN, and when I say it had me in a grip...!! It was my first real experience of reading a confessional/"unreliable" narrator-type of fiction that truly shook me like no publication has ever managed to do - and I think this would struggle to be professionally published, it is just so visceral and plain horrifying. Truly a difficult read, one I can't recommend to just anyone, but I couldn't leave it off this list as it has completely changed my entire perspective of what not just fanfiction but simply fiction can evoke in a reader.

No Need for Long Goodbyes by Delgumo (America/Canada, America/England, America/Liechtenstein) The pain from a life filled with sexual and physical abuse festers inside of Alfred, pushing him to lash out at the people he loves the most.

Bruh this fic will have you feeling feelings (and not all good) but damn if it ain't the best piece of longfic I've ever read! It probably says something about me that I can't quite explain, but Arthur is my favourite character in here. I'm sorry uwu

Snatch your happiness from the days to come by Mossy_man (China/Russia) Omegaverse self-indulgent porn in communist uniforms. God save the Tzar.

Post-WWII RoChu fic that yanked me back to the heyday of canontalia, and GOD it's just an absolutely rich and beautiful fic! The imageries are to die for! Love it so, so much <3

acuerdo by southerngothics (Southern Italy/Spain) It’s still new to him; four months is an eternity for humans, perhaps, but perspective has shortened and condensed time into a coiled thing, folding over on itself until the entire stretch of it is thin as parchment. Four months is the blink of an eye. And the fighting has not stopped since he set foot upon that little island kingdom; he hasn’t had time to truly process it all. That Romano is his now. That they are together. That every morning he will wake up and Romano will be here, and that every night Romano will be asleep in this bed. It still seems like the far-fetched dream Pedro had cooked up in hushed tones, away from the menacing glares of el Papa. Spain is convinced, somehow, that if he blinks, reality will throw its punch and he’ll be back in Palermo, crushed under that damned France’s boot. In 1282, King Peter III of Aragon is crowned King of Sicily.

Another gorgeous piece of historical prose and a delightful, if disturbing, character study of Spain. How is it @torontofetish's first ever Hetalia fic in the year of our lord 2024? I need more from them!

My gentleness (is not for you) by Mossy_man (China/Mongolia/Russia) Our sex had always been full of misery. Of Mongolia's bitterness and China's sour resentment. But now when they are free from each other he can use another source of approval.

When I say I spent bloody years trying to capture China and Mongolia's relationship, and the one time I requested it of Moss and they delivered in spades... Biting my knuckle raw in envy at their talent, but also fuck writing I get to simply read this piece of pure perfection aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Bonus:

Holiday fling by Mossy_man (China/Russia) For smuttyandabsurd.

A birthday fic for me, tailored to a personal degree of the author's view of me (apparently?), and a gift I shall cherish all my life ( っ˶´ ˘ `)っ

Welcome to Feedback Fest 2025

Welcome to International Fanworks Day Feedback Fest of 2025! To participate, leave a comment under our post recommending 10 fanworks and spread the joy of fandom! Read more at: https://otw-news.org/yckvy6vh

English • Bahasa Indonesia • Čeština • Dansk • Deutsch • Ελληνικά • Español • Français • Italiano • Magyar • Nederlands • Norsk • Polski • Português brasileiro • Slovenščina • ��рпски • Svenska • Tiếng Việt

[e-rated-beardo]

Oh guys, oh guys oh guys ohguysohguys

I found out a thing yesterday that's making me so very very very excited

And just in case you're the type who'd get excited too and like me two days ago you also don't know this important fact:

The Organization for @transformativeworks (OTW; the parent org of AO3) publishes a peer-reviewed academic journal, completely open-access, i.e. free for you to read

Cancel all my appointments forever this is where I'm going to be for the foreseeable lifetime gfasdafdhfgadgd

This post brought to you by "beardo needs to write a literature review about a certain number of a certain type of peer-reviewed paper, on otherwise whatever topics he likes, vaguely contained inside the concept of of 'library or information services', and yesterday he Found His Topic"

I'm so happy everyone, I'm going to write so many academic papers about fanfiction my lecturers are going to get sick of me 🥹🤩

I am Aziraphale rn

Relatedly, I've also just learnt that Dr Lyn Robinson, co-author of a book that's mandatory reading for like 80% of the courses in the academic programme I'm enrolled in, has published research about AO3. Not only does she seem to be into the same sort of information science stuff that I am, she's also researched fanfiction. She's my new idol

[curiositysavesthecat]

More from the submitter: ❝ I've seen this debate that said apparently if your fic has a ship, it cannot be rated G and has to be rated Teen and Up accordingly. I was always under the impression that rating had nothing to do with ship or pairing and you should only rate your fic based on the content of the fic itself, and ship and pairing were its own separate tag ( / or &). So I'm wondering what people actually think about this. ❞

@transformativeworks

This poll was submitted to us and we simply posted it so people could vote and discuss their opinions on the matter. If you’d like for us to ask the internet a question for you, feel free to drop the poll of your choice in our inbox and we’ll post them anonymously (for more info, please check our pinned post).

[alvivaarts]

AO3 is Removing 'All Media Types' without Public Input or Announcement. What Can We Do?

What's Happening?

For those who don't yet know: AO3 and the Tag Wranglers have begun to slowly remove the 'All Media Types' tag for older fandoms. Aka, removing the 'umbrella' tag for many franchises, and forcing franchises to be split by media, or to be shoved under one umbrella that does not accurately reflect the types of fics or source medias they come from. This has been slowly occurring with no official announcement, under the pretense that things will be 'easier' to manage, or that some users claimed that the 'All Media Types' tag was confusing. This has begun in secrecy, without genuine input from the userbase, and without any public announcement. (As of 9/5/2024 9:30 AM PST) Many of us are pretty confident in AO3 staff's decisions, but the fact that this decision is not only incredibly impactful, but made without public input, has deeply violated the condition of the site as an archive... an archive of OUR own.

Current seen issues and active risks:

Removal of 'All Media Types' automatically makes fics from different sources in the same franchise a 'crossover', forcing users to consider non-crossover fics 'crossovers'. So, any fanfic that spans or implements elements from multiple pieces of media in a franchise are now considered a 'crossover', despite being from the same franchise and not a crossover.

Removal of 'All Media Types' forces users to manually search for the fics and ships they want one by one through each fandom tag in a related franchise. (Imagine looking through all the separate DC or MARVEL movies one by one).

The 'include crossovers' and 'exclude crossovers' filters are now useless, and removing genuine crossovers (crossovers between franchises) must be done manually through the filter system, which can take upwards of half an hour, if not longer, with the amount of one-off genuine crossovers that exist.

Slightly smaller franchises are being shoved under the umbrella of a single, super popular fandom. (See, Sherlock Holmes. All Sherlock Holmes media has been relegated to the tag 'Sherlock TV', which confuses users, as the tag now includes not only BBC Sherlock, which is the umbrella tag, but any works based off of Arthur Conan Doyle's original works, the 2009 Sherlock Holmes films, and the 16+ Sherlock Holmes adaptations and international TV shows... none of which are BBC Sherlock.)

Anime and manga fandoms (especially smaller ones) are being automatically split by media type, without regard to the fact that many anime and manga adaptations are very similar, and/or authors tend to often implement elements from both anime and manga.

As far as we are aware, no one is going to be correcting any improper sorting resulting from this.

Accounts that are no longer active/accessible, memorial accounts, and orphaned fics and no longer be corrected by their original authors and are at risk of being misplaced into incorrect fandom tags. Unfortunately, no one can fix this but the tag wranglers, who were supposedly removing 'All Media Types' in the first place to prevent MORE work. Counter intuitive, isn't it?

Already, fandoms are being improperly split, others being improperly merged, and still more being far more confusingly sorted. This deeply damages AO3's integrity as an ARCHIVE.

What Can I Do?

As soon as it's back up again, make sure to stop by the Contact Support page! There, you're able to let them know exactly how you feel about this, and what fandoms your fear will be impacted by these changes. Many already have been.

In the meantime, make sure to contact AO3 on Twitter (or X): ao3org (AO3's general twitter page), ao3_wranglers (AO3's tag wrangler page), and OTW_news (the parent host of AO3).

There is also tumblr: ao3org (AO3's tumblr page) and transformativeworks (OTW's tumblr page).

And finally, the Organization for Transformative Works contact page.

If you are aware of any additional medias, please add them below to ensure that AO3 thoroughly understands the negative impact of this decision, especially the violation of trust resulting from making such a massive choice without impact. Be sure to share this information elsewhere, repost, share the links, and make a stink. Furthermore, if you are able, letting AO3 know that you are no longer comfortable financially supporting them in the future.

Be sure to also repost and list any fandoms you have personally noticed have been impacted by this change!

Already Impacted Fandoms:

MARVEL, MCU, Marvel Comics, Avengers, and related tags

Any Sherlock Holmes based Media

A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon)

World of Warcraft

Assassin's Creed

Monogatari

BanG Dream!

Jujutsu Kaisen

Disney (all media, now: Disney Theatrical Animated Universe)

DC and DC Comics

AND MANY, MANY MORE!