thedeevirus

[thedeevirus]

[thedeevirus]

posting niche fic on ao3 is like releasing a small creature into the wild and hoping it survives and finds sustenance

[thedeevirus]

Fan fiction reviews

Imagine you have a coworker who likes to bake. Every week, they bring in a batch of delicious, homemade cookies and leave them in the break room. Next to the plate of cookies is a sign, “If you like my cookies, could you please just leave me a note and tell me what you like about them? The more feedback you leave about what you like, the more incentive I have to bake.” A hundred coworkers walk by and take a cookie. One person leaves a note. “Great cookies! Bake some more soon!”

The next week, once again there are cookies in the break room with the same sign. Once again a hundred people take a cookie and only one person leaves a note. “Nice! More soon!”

Week Three- Once again, a hundred people take a cookie. No one leaves a note.

Week Four- One hundred people take a cookie. No note.

Week Five- There are no cookies. Someone leaves a note. “Where are the cookies? I loved them. Please, please bake some cookies.”

Week Six- There are no cookies. Ten people leave notes. “I miss your cookies. They were my favorites. I loved the chocolate chips. My friend really liked the way you had almonds in the cranberry ones.”

Week Seven- Motivated by the wonderful notes, the baking coworker stays up late to bake the best batch of cookies they have ever made. That week, a hundred people take a cookie. No one leaves a note. 

The co-worker gives up baking for their colleagues.

——————————————–

Please, if you like the fan fiction that you are reading, let your authors know. Stories are abandoned for a myriad of reasons, but it is very, very hard to stay motivated when you receive no positive feedback. If there is a story that you like, whether it is a completed one or a work in progress, please leave an up-lifting comment or review. By doing so, you’re providing that writer with motivation to spend their time and energy creating more stories for you.

And that way, you both win!

[thedeevirus]

Yet another AO3 bot situation - please spread the word!

Hi, it's me again, the person who wrote that viral post about fanfiction plagiarism! Today I'm here to warn you about abuse perpetrated by bots who have stolen AO3 usernames.

There's currently an epidemic of bots going around leaving (apparently random) horrible, hateful comments on people's fics. This isn't the first time bots have invaded AO3, but the big problem with this wave is that they're using real AO3 usernames to do it.

I learned about this when another writer contacted me after receiving the following comment on their story:

Now, while that is my username, I DEFINITELY did not leave this comment (and anyone who would leave something like that on a fic should be slapped! What an awful thing to post). This fic is in a completely unrelated fandom that I have never participated in, nor has that author participated in any of my fandoms, so the probability of it being some intentional fandom drama thing to make me look bad is also low.

The writer whose fic the comment was left on enlisted the aid of some friends and tracked down other guest comments with unrelated usernames attached, which is pretty strong evidence that they are being left by bots at random.

The TL;DR: If you receive a cruel comment from a (Guest) with an actual AO3 username attached, it's most likely from a bot. Please do not lash out at or dogpile the AO3 user who owns that name, and who in all likelihood has no idea that their name has been hijacked for evil.

If finding this kind of comment on a fic, even left by a bot, is likely to upset you, I would recommend changing your comment settings so that only users who are logged in can leave comments. To do this, edit your story settings, and under "Privacy," select the radio button that says "Only registered users can comment," as shown below.

Please spread the word to other AO3 users! And if you see mean guest comments on other fics, maybe let the author know that it's probably from a bot and not a real person who thinks their writing is bad.

[thedeevirus]

I'm always amazed how people have no clue how expensive data hosting is for a website of AO3's scale. Yes, it's all text, but you also have to host databases of all of those works and 7 million registered users. And the backups.

We're just used to posting stuff online and not thinking about it. Like, nobody talks how TikTok and Meta are both having a hard time to hosting so many videos (a lot of them in HD).

And then there's the speed at which it functions and the number of users accessing it. And again, yes, AO3 is text based but there's a lot of traffic on it at any point in the day because it's used worldwide.

[thedeevirus]

comments on fanfics

I thought about writing this post for a long time and decided, fuck it, I'm gonna write this.

All over my dash I see people being disappointed because nobody is leaving comments on ao3 anymore/rebloging things on tumblr.

And the only thing I can think about this is: it's so true.

Two weeks ago I posted the epilog of my 60k words fanfic (I've been writing on it for almost a year and got some positive feedback on it) and I got ZERO comments, or kudos on the epilog.

I can see that people kicked on it, but I have no idea whether they liked it or not. (And I used to get a comment on my story now and then)

Last week I posted the first extra chapter (I planned three of these) and also got no reaction.

No I'm just sitting here, wondering if my writing is just true shit.

This is also the reason I was hesitate to post this. Maybe it's not the people and just that shithole of a story I've been writing.

Things like are just running around my head now and must say that the motivation to even finish those extra chapters is gone.

GUYS, IF YOU LIKE A FANFIC PLEASE LET THE AUTHOR KNOW, IT MEANS SO MUCH TO THEM.

So if you read a good story, not some bullshit like mine, write that comment.

[thedeevirus]

no offence but the reason tumblr is “dying” is, well, yes, of course the cursed like/reblog ratio and the change in user behaviour (because of people being used to how instagram and tiktok work) BUT also the lack of weekly shows. i say it with my whole chest, they don't produce captivating and engaging stupid weekly tv shows anymore because streaming killed that so you have spikes of activity here when Something happens in general fandom or up to three days after a new season of whatever drops and then it's a wasteland. this is obviously an old woman yelling at a cloud missing supernatural and the vampire diaries and pretty little liars and all these other shows type of post but honestly give me back weekly tv shows where i have something to watch for 40 minutes almost every day of the week after work so then i can read and reblog it on tumblr give it back for the sake of my sanity

[thedeevirus]

No one reblogs on tumblr anymore.

No one leaves comments on Ao3 anymore.

Seriously people the lack of fandom interaction these days makes me genuinely depressed, it never used to be like this, makes me wonder what's the point of coming online to do anything anymore.

Reblog a post so other people can see it.

Leave a comment so the author doesn't feel like giving up.

Fandom cannot live on Likes or Kudos alone.

[thedeevirus]

When you get all excited that someone has left a comment on your latest AO3 fic and it turns out to be an ad/link for another website 😒

[thedeevirus]

New chapter of the LokixSteve redemption fic now up - featuring a surprise cameo at the end 🙂

[thedeevirus]

yknow ever since people realized tumblr isnt dead and have decided to flock here from twitter and tiktok ive seen a huge influx of people in fandom spaces who dont reblog anything. at all.

like, i used to have an art blog with 340 followers. not a ton but not a small amount either given how this website works with creators. and in my experience back then even the ones who only left likes still reblogged other things or at least posted their own stuff. literally the only empty blogs were clearly bots.

but on this New art blog, i've had so many people with fandom-specific headers and icons with actual usernames as urls and some kind of title or description, but have. Nothing. no posts. all they do is like things. and it's always public, too. their following list and their likes list.

and honestly all it makes me think is that these people are New and also don't know how tumblr works. how likes don't give exposure. not even in a "oh, i know it doesn't give exposure, but i'm still going to reblog anyways" way, but in a genuine honest to god straight up doesn't realize tumblr likes don't work like twitter's.

PLEASE please if you're from tiktok or twitter or whatever please reblog people's art both fandom and original if you like it!! and maybe actually pad out your blog's content in some way so people won't potentially see you as a bot and block you.

REBLOG ARTIST'S WORK. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY THEY GET ANY ATTENTION ON THIS WEBSITE OH MY GOD. PLEASE. I BEG of you

[thedeevirus]

New chapter of my Loki redemption/Loki X Captain America fic up - things are getting juicy 😉

Nearly have the next chapter finished too!

[thedeevirus]

Something I found on Twitter that really puts things in perspective as a creator.

[thedeevirus]

Decided to move my ‘Rise of the Guardians’ fics to AO3 from Fanfiction.net

Not to be a cliché but that movie was one of my first online fandoms and the first thing I ever wrote fanfic for 🙂

I probably missed out on a lot not being on Tumblr at the time LOL

[thedeevirus]

Literal years ago (as in when I was still posting it on Fanfiction.net), I started writing a Captain America X Loki fanfic

Today I uploaded the next chapter on AO3 after last updating in 2018.

Not sure how interested people are in it (given I made my bones writing Gotham fics) but thought I would post an update anyway because I decided to continue the fic after some recent messages/comments popped up asking about it.

So to those lovely people (you know who you are), thank you: you are proof that feedback can bring fics back from the dead!

Thanks for reading 🙂

The link to the prequel is below if anybody wants to check it out. Not necessary to be honest but good to have the full context. I know it’s an unorthodox pairing but nothing about Steve Rogers or Loki is orthodox anyway 😉

[thedeevirus]

Decided to move my ‘Rise of the Guardians’ fics to AO3 from Fanfiction.net

Not to be a cliché but that movie was one of my first online fandoms and the first thing I ever wrote fanfic for 🙂

I probably missed out on a lot not being on Tumblr at the time LOL

[thedeevirus]

Literal years ago (as in when I was still posting it on Fanfiction.net), I started writing a Captain America X Loki fanfic

Today I uploaded the next chapter on AO3 after last updating in 2018.

Not sure how interested people are in it (given I made my bones writing Gotham fics) but thought I would post an update anyway because I decided to continue the fic after some recent messages/comments popped up asking about it.

So to those lovely people (you know who you are), thank you: you are proof that feedback can bring fics back from the dead!

Thanks for reading 🙂

The link to the prequel is below if anybody wants to check it out. Not necessary to be honest but good to have the full context. I know it’s an unorthodox pairing but nothing about Steve Rogers or Loki is orthodox anyway 😉