Controversial Writing Tip

This is a Moving Forward PSA for everyone using AO3. I am witnessing the results of a culture clash and communication failure. Not a lack of communication, but a misunderstanding caused by changes in fandom culture.

Before fic tagging was common, fics weren’t tagged. You had a pairing, if applicable, an author’s note about genre or general content, and if they were feeling charitable, a vague content warning. There are even a few genres of fic where even vaguely tagging literally spoils the plot and impact (such as horror, psyche thriller, in which the likely content is implicit to the genre). As a result, there is a basic category tag that permits this, as a courtesy to “old-fashioned” writers.

“No Archive Warnings Apply” means the fic is PG13 at worst, probably fluff, totally safe.

“Choose Not to Use Archive Warnings” is the polar opposite. It’s a glaring Enter at Your Own Risk billboard. It means: a shitload of warnings apply but I ain’t telling because this story requires shock value. It’s very important to read the author’s notes for those fics because they might be using that older format from above.

But without the context of fandom culture that generated AO3, it’s understandably easy to conflate the two categories, given their similar wording.

@staff our identities aren’t nsfw and we will not stand for them to be treated as such

I'm rewatching monster high electrified and Moanica is doing her whole "normies are scared of the dark" thing. But we have flashlights. I want her to be defeated flashlights.

"we need more mean/traumatized/angry/morally grey women" you guys could barely handle bela talbot

PSA: dont use l33t speak in AO3 tags

[image ID: an AO3 tag that reads ‘implied suicidal thoughts’ but with exclamation marks in place of the letters i]

if you do this, congrats, you’ve totally defeated the purpose of the tagging system!

AO3 is not tiktok. it is not run by a mega-corporation that sanitizes content for advertisability and shadowbans or deletes content. it’s an ARCHIVE. 

by doing this, it means people won’t be able to exclude or include your tags. and if they use a text-to-speech reader, you’ve made it ten times harder to understand. 

this goes for tumblr too!! if you put “su!c!de tw” anybody who has “suicide tw” blacklisted will still see your post. it’s not a warning if the words aren’t able to be read or recognized by the systems.

no hate if you’ve been doing this! just fix your tags and don’t do it in the future.

the other day one of my coworkers halfway referenced the spiders georg post but stopped before he actually reached the spiders georg part. like. I can't be sure that that's what he was doing but one coworker said "yknow. people swallow several spiders every year" and my other coworker said "well that's just- it's not true. it's a- no, you'd wake up" and just. there was a look in his eyes. I just know

90 - 9 = 91

It's true. My 3rd grade brother told me.

"we need more mean/traumatized/angry/morally grey women" you guys could barely handle bela talbot

Can Elon Musk get off Twitter and figure out how to help the opportunity rover? Please? I would be less sad if he did and I won't eat him 🥺

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