In fact, I fear I am a jack-of-all-trades. (Posts tagged ao3)

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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
cubistemoji
pipdepop

Every time AO3 makes an update, there’s a chorus of ‘and can we please please please be able to leave kudos on each chapter pleeeeease?!?!’

In theory, this is a nice idea. We’ve all smashed the kudos button on our favourite fics, bemoaning the fact we can’t give them all the love.

But ya’ll, kudos per chapter would absolutely fucking suck.

For readers, it would suck because it would compound the existing problem of making it hard to find fics that are good and not just long - not that a fic can’t be both! But there are plenty of Pulitzer-worthy one-shots out there that are buried way way down the list when ranked by number of kudos, because they’re beneath a bunch of 50/? fics where the author lost sight of where the hell the story was going 30 chapters ago, but their fic has had 50x the chances to be viewed so has more kudos. It would encourage authors to release their fics in lots of little chapters instead of a few longer ones/one-shots as they might otherwise have done (and as might otherwise suit the story).

And for authors it would especially suck, as it would compound the existing problem of people not commenting. Kudos are very much appreciated, but comments make an author’s day; but so few people bother, and frankly, it’s disheartening. Let people just click a button to show their appreciation for each new chapter? The hits:kudos:comments ratio would get even worse than it already is.

You can already ‘give kudos’ for each chapter of a fic on AO3 - by commenting. Hell you can literally write ‘kudos!’ It will make the author smile, I promise.

212thincorrectcanonquotes

I actually never thought about it like this. If you are a fic writer or reader you should definitely read this 👆

YUP and like i appreciate that you want to give multiple kudos on my one-shots too! but when you comment to say that that achieves the exact same purpose ao3 writing
rythyme

A Small Suggestion

wrangletangle

Hey guys, an AO3 tag wrangler here with a small suggestion for making the lives of wranglers and the Abuse volunteers and all your fellow users a little easier. You know that impulse to post a “PROMPT ME, I WILL TAKE ANY OF THESE 50 SHIPS IN 30 FANDOMS” work?

Please don’t. These make everyone cry.

Look at all those fandoms and ship tags… that this work doesn’t apply to! Look at the fact that this isn’t even a work yet! Look at all those tags you’re asking wranglers to wrangle, usually not the existing canonicals, that appear in the bins of 30 different wrangling teams, flooding the smaller teams and annoying the big ones! Look at the Abuse volunteers getting 3 reports for your work in the first day and having to talk to you and reply to each of those people!

I have a better suggestion: personal prompt meme.

Aw yeah, AO3 has prompt memes and allows personal collections! Imagine your personal prompt collection:

  • Control when it’s open and closed!
  • Post a link in the notes of all your works!
  • Post a link on your blog and your AO3 profile!
  • Post the things you’ll accept in the Rules/FAQ section of the collection!
  • Use claims or gifts to notify the prompter when you’ve posted a work for their prompt!
  • Easily delete prompts that don’t follow your rules!
  • Post each work separately and gift each one to the prompter to build relationships and encourage interest from new fans who just noticed your work!

So much control, so much useful organization, so many fewer frustrated users finding a work with two chapters, neither of which applies to most of the relationships or fandoms tags. Why burn your bridges with some users when you’re trying for positive attention for your works?

Just imagine it: “[YourName]′s Personal Prompt Meme*”. Your name on a collection on AO3. All for you.

Let’s make this a thing, yeah?

i’m not a tag wrangler but there’s nothing i hate more than seeing fifty fandoms tagged on one work ao3
chaneen
stickthisbig

Let me explain you a thing about bookmarks.

When you leave a bookmark on a work on the AO3, you are making a comment to which the author cannot respond. You are giving feedback that cannot be replied to. When you leave trash like this on somebody’s bookmarks, the author has no recourse. Can you do it? Yeah, sure. Should you be banned from doing it? No, because used wisely, it can be used as an important tool against an author who’s being in some way abusive or hiding warnings that readers need to be aware of.

Should you leave this type of shit on literally hundreds of stories?

If you’ve got any fucking home training, you should already know you shouldn’t.

I’m not going to sit here and give y’all- and I mean all y’all, because this is far from the only offender- the “fanfic doesn’t have to be good” or the “fanfic’s just for fun” arguments against feedback, because we all know both those arguments are disingenuous. Instead I will inform you that making attacks on people who can’t respond- and yes, it is an attack whether you meant it to be or not, don’t hide behind “I only criticized the ~story~”- makes you a giant bag of dicks.

If you want to criticize the quality of an author’s work, do the polite fucking thing: either say it somewhere the author can respond, or say it behind a friends lock, where you and your dumbass friends can snicker about it together. If you can’t say something nice, then act like a fucking adult about it and don’t do this fourth-grade shit.

[Some disclaimers: None of these bookmarks are on stories by me; I pulled 4’s and 5’s on the two I saw (yippee). And let me make it very clear: if someone acts like a bigot, if they do something *ist or *phobic, if they’re just an asshole to you, you don’t owe them a space to reply. Also, I’ll be using notification block on this post and probably not responding to any asks about it- because, indeed, giving someone the ability to reply doesn’t mean you have to continue the conversation. Have fun.]

bliss116

Okay, unpopular(?) opinion time.  I don’t think it is a requirement to make criticism where an author can respond to it.  This applies to everything, whether it’s published fiction/nonfiction/etc. or fanworks or news articles or film or TV or whatever.  Is it polite?  Hell yes, especially in fannish circles.

As a reccer, my recs aren’t for the author, they’re for other readers.  I don’t generally make anti-recs (since I usually don’t dislike things enough to make an effort), and if I do, I will give you a squillion details as to why.  I’ll give you a squillion details as to why I liked something, too, since a) it helps me remember what something was about if I want to read it again, and b) it helps people to find good things they may like.  All the bookmarks I have added (and will add) to AO3 are full of praise for the author and why I think something is good, and every AO3 bookmark with no notes irritates me as a reader because I want to know why you liked something!

What this person has done seems designed to start wank (granted, they have 900+ bookmarks, so this is really only a fraction of the whole, but it’s apparently a large number—I saw less than 5 in my browse of their first couple of pages, though), and I think it’s incredibly rude, especially, since these “recs” aren’t even criticism.  They’re the equivalent of the “Nope” collection I have on my kindle for works that I read and don’t want to rec or read again for whatever reason.  They’re entirely unhelpful to anyone, which is why I think this person just wants to stir up shit.

I’m really sorry if any of you got one or more of these comments and it ruined your mood or your day, or screwed with your confidence.  If I follow you, or if I’ve commented on or recced your fic, you should know that I consider you amazing, and am so happy that you write or have written things in my fandoms.  Please don’t pay any attention to people’s random negative comments!  I know it’s hard, but remember you are awesome! <333

nonnegative

I’m just wondering what the OP would have replied to this person. I’m more of an author than a reccer, and would you rather have a comment left on the fic that says “meh”, where there’s an actual expectation of responding? Yes, these particular bookmarks seem geared toward wank, but as authors we have to roll with the fact that sometimes criticism is geared toward potential readers, not authors.

also this post does the same thing it's calling itself out for since it's an outside criticism without addressing the person directly w a n k c e p t i o n ao3 fanfic reccing