Had a dream this morning that Archive of our Own had a Random button which would simply take you to a random fanfic, like Wikipedia has. (AO3 does not appear to really have this, I checked and couldn't find one, but I kinda wish they did.) Someone had started a game where whatever fic you got, that was your new fandom, which is very fun! I would love this meme in real life.
The problem came in where so many people used the button that it broke and just started sending everyone to Stealing Harry, and like...I have fond memories of Stealing Harry but it's not my best work and nobody should be assigned to be a Harry Potter fan in this day and age.
So I decide to go off and find Astolat and demand she fix this but when I finally did (there was a whole quest) she turned to me like the baddie in a horror flick and said, "But that's the most random story there is" in a dark voice and I was terrified and woke up.
In the cold light of day I know there are more random stories by me on the archive, let alone by others, but I'm not going to try to get back there to argue my case. Pretty sure whatever I spoke to was actually the demon specifically assigned to plague fandom and not Astolat at all.
I'd say "get thee behind me, demon" but I know just how many porny fics on AO3 begin with that premise. (I've written some.) Begone foul spirit, and take your Satanic Panic with you!
Tim: Never have I ever had superpowers.
Damian: -tt- Well, Drake. Never have I ever had to fake an injury to get the press off my back.
Tim: *scowls*
Dick: Never have I ever had a big brother!
Tim: That's not even fair.
Damian: For once, I agree with Drake.
Jason: Wow. Whatever. Never have I ever staged an elaborate play, my friends as pawns whose trust I break in the process, in order to bring down a supervillain society and an alien invasion.
Dick: Okay. Well. That was one time.
Tim: Never have I ever intentionally destroyed shrubbery because I was a petulant brat.
Damian: Neither have I.
Tim: Never have I ever intentionally destroyed shrubbery, period. *narrows eyes.
Damian: And never have I ever been adopted.
Jason: Wow. Woww.
Tim: Rude.
Dick: Never have I ever taken up an identity that belonged to a previous Robin, the Robin mantel included.
Jason: Oh, come on!
Tim: Hey.
Damian: Grayson, you are being underhanded.
Jason: Whatever. Never has my sibling slept with my mom.
Damian: ... why must you say such things.
You all forgot the most important one
• when they exist
things i love about cats
when they run across the house at full speed for no reason
when they sneak up on u and start sniffing u and their whiskers tickle u
when u close the door to keep them out of ur room and they stick their paws under the door
the little butt wiggle before they pounce on something
their tiny sneezes
when u put a bag or a towel on their head and they start walking backwards
the thing they do with their ears when they hear a loud noise
Story time y'all. I was just about to go to bed when the LOUD AS HELL FIRE ALARM in my apartment complex starts going off. Flashing lights and BEH BEH BEH. I outside all upset, thinking my night's ruined because it takes FOREVER for them to get it off and it's FREEZING out. Then I open Tumblr and this post is the first one I read, conveniently after I just read a fix involving a wild boar, and it just really made me smile. Thanks, people of Tumblr, for making a shitty experience less shitty
Needless to say, I am HORRIFIED.
I got this comment on a story from my Other AO3 Account this morning.
(Info redacted because I prefer keeping these accounts separate but no one follows me on the side blog I have for that account.)
The story was posted almost a year ago and is relatively “popular” by my average statistics even though it has tropes and themes that are big turnoffs for a lot of people (hence separate accounts). This popularity is undoubtedly because it’s a Marvel Loki story and that fandom is massive.
So there is obviously an algorithm or a bot scrubbing ao3 statistics and leaving this comment on fics that meet a certain metric with the main character of the fic inserted into the comment.
I had a little time to kill this morning so I decided to investigate further. And y’all this is so predatory. Come on this journey with me. It made me mad. It may make you mad.
First, if you go to Webnovel’s website, you HAVE to choose between male lead or female lead stories before you can go any further. WTF?
And that’s weird, but this gets so much worse. This is basically a pay-to-read site that has different subscription models. Which… okay BUT! The authors don’t get paid! Look at that comment again. They’re promising a supportive and nurturing community, but zero monetary compensation. It’s basically, “post your stuff here so we can get paid and you can get… nice vibes?” I mean look at this Orwellian writing:
Using the phrase “pay-to-read model” in the same sentence as “qualitative changes in lifestyles for authors” deliberately makes you think that you can get paid and maybe even make a living on this website. But that’s not actually what it says and authors will not receive one red cent.
Oh but wait, the worst is still to come. In case this breaks containment (which I kind of hope it does) this is where I mention that I’m a lawyer in the US.
I don’t do intellectual property or copyright law but I do read and write contracts for a living. So I went to look at their terms of service. It was fun!
Highlights the first, in which Webnovel gets a license to do basically whatever they want with content you post on their site. This is how they get to be paid for people reading authors’ writing without paying them anything.
Highlights the second, in which Webnovel takes no responsibility for illegally profiting off of fan fic. This all says that the writer is 100% responsible for everything the writer posts (even though only Webnovel is making money from it).
Highlights the third which say that by posting, the author is representing that they have the legal right to use and to let Webnovel use the content according to these terms. So if a writer posts fan fiction and Webnovel makes money from people reading the fan fiction, and the House of the Mouse catches wise, these sections say that that’s ALL on the writer.
So that’s a little skeevy to start off with but the thing that is seriously shitty and made me make this post was that these assholes are coming to ao3. They are actively recruiting people in comments on their fan fiction. And they are saying they are big fans of the character you’re writing about and that they share your interests.
They are recruiting fan fiction writers and giving every impression that you can make money from posting fan fiction on their site and hiding the fact that you absolutely cannot but they can make money off of you while you try, deep in their terms of service which no one but a lawyer who writes fan fic and has some time to kill will read.
I see posts on here regularly from people who don’t understand how this stuff works, don’t understand that they (and others) can not legally make a financial profit from fan fiction. And there are tons of people who will not take the time to dig into the details.
Don’t deal with these bastards. Fuck Webnovel.
do u guys collect stuff (irl)? tell me what u collect
I sent this to my professor because we just did an essay about the meaning of time and such, this was her response
Thanks, [my name],
It is poignant! An evocative image that Dōgen would surely appreciate, too.
I hope you have a balanced weekend.
Warmly,
Dr. [Professor]
Just thought you should know.
yo wanna see a post I woke up at 3am to write for reasons unknown?
Pisces and Snake... water moccasin?
Combine your chinese zodiac and astrology sign to make your true fursona