#but then i see some users who have all public bookmarks and they have like. 4k bookmarks | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thelucyverse · 2 years

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I found out more about the Ao3 bookmark search - the best way to find fic recs, fanfics on other less searchable sites, and to organize your own bookmarks!

My initial post explaining what this is can be found here, now here's what else I learned:

While in the normal work search, selecting 'complete works only' is part of the normal, clickable filtering system, that part is missing in the bookmark search, and seeing just lots of incomplete works as many people bookmark wips to get update emails frustrated me for ages - now I found a workaround!

In the filter section (see first post), below the include and exclude stuff in the 'More' section, you can find the field "search within results"

Typing "complete: true" here will show you only completed works! The opposite would be "complete: false" for WIPs only.

The same also works for a bunch of different stuff:

if you're looking at your own bookmarks page, "private: true" shows you only the bookmarks hidden from the public

"restricted: true" is for works only visible for archive users, "restricted: false" of course the opposite (useful for example if you want to send someone who doesn't have an Ao3 account some fic recs)

"bookmarkable_type: Series" to not get bookmarks of individual works but only of series

You have to be exact in the spelling here, even making sure the empty space is there and the capital letters are correct, otherwise it will error and show 0 works!

You can combine several of them with an empty space - no comma! - for example to get only finished series under "bookmarkable_type: Series complete: true"

And then, this one is particularly genius to get new fic recs of stories you wouldn't otherwise find on Ao3 at all: "bookmarkable_type: ExternalWork" is for bookmarks of stories not posted to the archive but for example ff.net or livejournal!

Yes, there are bookmarks like that on there, and you can add your own bookmarks of non-ao3 fics on your bookmarks page - "bookmark external work", you then just have to add the url and copy the summary etc!

If the fic doesn't have a proper summary, feel free to add your own summary in the 'notes' section so people have an idea what it is about, just leave the actual summary the way the author put it on the site they posted it to.

The more info and especially tags you add, the easier it is for people to find the fic rec later! As you can only add 'relationship' and 'character' tags for the actual bookmark, adding more things like the tropes of the fic etc to the 'your tags' section helps here. This means that when you are searching through 'bookmarkable_type: ExternalWork', to filter the results further you need to add tags in the 'bookmarkers tags' field (see top of first screenshot, marked green), not to the work tags sections.

I found most of this info and more here on Ao3!

Because tumblr mobile is a menace and will only let you copy by paragraph, I put the exact searches separately below the readmore so you can easily copy-paste and don't have to worry about typos!

complete: true

complete: false

restricted: true

restricted: false

bookmarkable_type: ExternalWork

bookmarkable_type: Series

private: true

private: false

bookmarkable_type: Series complete: true

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mayax81 · 2 years

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Okay, so I've run into a couple criticisms of creators pushing to have more engagement with their content, and I'd like to address them separately. If anyone else has others they'd like to add, feel free.

[1] "This is just how it is across all social media sites." Unfortunately, this is a false equivalency, because engagement of any kind on other social media sites is usually good news for the creator regardless (e.g.: views on Youtube, likes on Twitter & Instagram.) But additionally, there's also nothing wrong with wanting things to change for the better, & pushing for that change by gently letting others know a certain behavior harms them. What's harmless on one social media site may not be so on another. The likes-to-reblogs ratio has increased and this coincides with the advent of Instagram and the boom in Twitter users a couple years ago. At the very least, artists pushing for change are hoping to go back to the way things used to be (as opposed to, say, a 1/10 reblogs-likes ratio, we'd go back to a 1/3, roughly speaking.)

[2] "External validation is fleeting and meaningless." To an extent, this is true, but you have to remember that as far as content creation goes, some external motivation & reciprocation is required--if a creator receives less engagement creating one kind of thing, it's less lucrative to not only their viewership-numbers & fanbase but also to their time & energy (& resources) to continue producing content that's less likely to pick up. Simple cause and effect. For a lot of us, the joy of creation exists regardless of what others want or how much they care, but unfortunately, this passion, alone, doesn't build our rep or pay the bills.

[3] "Emphasizing reblogs over likes will make people not want to engage with you at all." The first prong of this issue? So what. Likes aren't public on here, anyway (unless you make them so, and even in that state they don't get much mileage outside of your already-followers--tough news for someone with a smaller following/just starting out/struggling to take off.) The second prong: the more we (re)normalize reblogging again, the more communities will start to come (back) to life--it's a noble goal in itself, so I see the pros outweighing the cons. The people who prefer to keep their blogs art-free were always going to be like that with or without the "like"-option. Likes are merely bookmarks on this site.

#reblogs #likes do nothing #reblog art #support artists #mypost

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girlcalledwhatsername · 2 years

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have you ever like. wondered what ao3 is doing with that money. every few months they ask for donations and get double that and yet the site is still exactly the same as it's been for Years, it's still in beta and like. they're not doing anything to get rid of the racist shit on there.

The OTW has its financial records public and easily accessible you can actually go and see what they are doing with that money. It's not like. Some super well kept secret you actually literally can see where the money is going. Keeping servers up takes money, having legal aid takes money, ao3 is a massive site with more content on it than most educational sites and libraries like jstor and stuff and they have dismal budget compared to those sites. This is all information you can find easily, like. Probably even just on the ao3 tag on this same site. Probably in some slightly older reblog tagged ao3 in my own blog. That money isn't as much as people seem to believe it is, for maintaining a site of that scale.

And ao3 is not going to get rid of things, that's the point of an archive. Ao3 isn't removing racist fic for the same reason that your local library isn't removing racist homophobic misogynistic classics. An archive cannot afford to censor anything because it will always put the power of deciding what gets censored in the hands of a governing body and no individual or state can be given that right. That being said, this is exactly why ao3 is working to provide an option to block users. I don't want to be reading racist ableist misogynistic fic any more than you do m8, but i understand that a volunteer run site where no one gets paid and they scrape by on a small budget to maintain the servers will have limitations to how quickly new stuff can be added to the site. A block function would enable readers to be able to filter out users who write fic objectionable to them and allow writers to block people saying objectionable shit to them directly. Like the op of the post I reblogged earlier today said, it should still not be something that enables writers to block out readers from reading fic completely because the option to warn people in the bookmarks about racist fic needs to be there.

I really think what people cannot understand despite so many discussions on it is that ao3 serves the same purpose as the libraries in your towns, your schools, your universities, and it has social features on top. Ao3 cannot censor stuff for the same reasons that these libraries can't. And as much as I hate some literature considered 'classics' that have violent misogyny and racism in it, i would also stand against libraries banning them or the government insisting that libraries get rid of them. I will always stand against censorship and that's the mission OTW has too. You cannot speak for me and possibly know how much rage some of those books or fics fill me with to the point that they do spoil my entire day and are often horribly triggering because racism/ableism doesn't get tagged when someone is just being a bigot and is probably not expected even of dead dove content oftentimes. I still cannot stand for censorship in any way. No one should have that power. The way ahead is clearly a blocking feature + putting the warning you need/think might help others in your bookmarks. Much like how in literary circles we warn our friends when there's triggering content or bigotry in books that we have to read for our course or that we otherwise decide to engage with and discuss. That's what I do with racist classics instead of hoping they'll get banned.

I love to imagine a world where everything that hurts me simply ceases to exist! I love to imagine never having to see a film playing somewhere with misogynistic shit in it!

But i do not agree with actual censorship of it. As a matter of my political beliefs. This is one of the foundational principles of my leftist thought for me and if it isn't for you then what we have here is not a disagreement about ao3 but one of a political nature. You are entitled to especially curated spaces that do ban certain kinds of content, but an archive is not that, and I don't go to sites that do ban works because I disagree with that on a political level.

Ao3 introducing a block feature will help this along but I refuse to demand any works being taken down. There is always going to be room for improvement, but there are also limitations to volunteer run organizations and I'm too old to be putting the onus of perfection on people working for free. The financial records aren't a boogeyman. This isn't a conspiracy of "oh but did you ever think what actually happens behind the curtains?? I shudder to think the horrors, what must be happening there??" This isn't that because anyone who wants to know can know what OTW does with every penny of that money and you would know it too if you spent more time actually looking for answers to the questions you have instead of fearmongering about hypothetical scams. Volunteers are more overworked than people assume and shit costs more to run than people assume. There's an accountant who did a breakdown of the financial records of OTW as well if you want, idk, search OTW on my oh and scroll down or something. Clearly you are very very worried about these financial records, I'm sure such an effort will be well worth your time for how it will put your mind to rest.

And for fuck's sake do not ever think you can use my identity as a queer disabled poc to somehow push me enough with emotionally charged arguments to ever politically agree with censorship of any kind. When you stand up for everyone to have rights you end up defending the rights of bigots as well and that sucks and i hate it and it sucks enough without fellow "leftists" trying to guilt me into agreeing with ceding ground to right wing rhetorics and practices. Because that's also what the OTW is putting up with. In defending against censorship you end up defending works and authors who are absolutely despicable and that's still better than ceding ground to an ideology where a special select group of people get to decide what stays and what goes.

Good fucking day to you

#asks #otw #ao3 #I'm not linking to sources because guess what? it's exhausting! and i don't owe you my labour at all!#anyone who is feeling kind and patient and wants to put the sources in a reblog feel free to though #^ok to rb otherwise too #but if you're gonna argue about something that I've already stated my position on then you just can't read and I'm blocking #racism #misogyny #ableism

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angeloparker · 1 year

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Random AO3 Points

I've noted the fandom is really still getting used to AO3 from what I can tell so I wanted to point out some things new users may not know and that I've picked up on from years on the site under various usernames and from interacting a lot with other writers/readers from other fandoms. For readers and writers.

For Readers

You can only give kudos to a fic once. So if you've given one on the first chapter of a story, you won't be able to do it again per chapter. Consider comments as a way to give feedback.

Collections are largely meant for events like challenges (big bangs, exchanges, etc), not for collecting your favorite stories. An unrevealed collection's purpose is usually to keep works concealed only until the challenge is over. If an author permits you to put a story in a collection and you mark it unrevealed for any variety of reasons, you wind up hiding that work from the rest of AO3 until the author either removes it or you reveal the collection again.

Instead of using collections use Bookmarks! It's a great way to find your favorite fics and you can make notes in them -- like memorable plot points, how you feel about it, or even a mention of where you left off reading. Please note, there are private bookmarks and public bookmarks. If you use a public bookmark, the author (and site) can see what you wrote about the story.

The archive is precisely that: an archive. Not a social media site. Why is this important? Because if you are looking for a fic or fic recs or to request a fic, you should not be doing it on AO3. Yes, in certain fandoms you'll come across "stories" that are someone looking to make requests, take requests, or looking for a story. The majority of AO3 users will report these and while it might take a while because their support team is made of volunteers, just don't do it.

Download your favorite stories. At any given moment an author could leave AO3 for any reason. You can download from AO3 in a multitude of formats, including PDF and various epubs to read on your devices. However, if an author deletes their work and you have it saved you cannot repost it and should only share it privately and even then do so in a way that is respectful of the creator's wishes if they had any.

For Writers

First of all: Engagement takes a while on the website, don't get discouraged.

Your kudos refresh in real time, your hits refresh every 30 minutes, so if you see your hits are 5 and your kudos are 6, it isn't a bug -- something isn't wrong. The system is catching up. Similarly, hits are measured within windows of time by visitor, so if some reads all 10 chapters of your completed fic, it will count as 1 hit and not 10.

Similarly to above, do not use a post to take requests. The archive is limited to fannish/transformative work. Use your Tumblr or Twitter to take requests or eventually it will get reported.

Placeholders similarly are not for AO3. An influx of Wattpad users have lead to people describing their story idea in a few sentences and posting it without any story written -- maybe to gain interest or maybe misunderstanding and thinking there is an algorithm they need to tap into for their fic to be found. Both are bad practice and will be reported and removed if there is nothing fannish/transformative in them.

There are mixed feelings when it comes to one-shot "books" -- or rather, one story where each chapter is a one-shot. In general, AO3 readers who have used the site for a long time will prefer them grouped by some kind of common theme -- such as the main pairing. When searching on the site, people like to look for certain things and filter them out -- so having a 50 chapter story of 50 individual one-shots with 50 different couples and individual tags is a nightmare and many users will skip past them since they can't discern what they're getting. Plus, you'll limit yourself in terms of hit count because of the aforementioned reason about hits refreshing.

A series is generally a better place to group things together, because people can still search out and filter out tags and things they do not want from your works page. I advise to only do a series if there is still a common theme. I have done them for things like requests and drabbles but only because I was uploading them all at once when I made my transition. In hindsight, I probably would have just made them separate one-shots but do like that anyone who made a request can go to those two series at once.

You cannot link to your Ko-fi, Patreon, or anything else that solicits for money for your work. You can, however, link to your social media site like Tumblr and if your Ko-fi/Patreon link is posted there, that's fine.

Utilize work skins for fun, visual and interactive elements. Tutorials do exist on AO3 and also Tumblr for the coding as AO3's CSS capabilities are limited.

Do not put in your author's notes, tags, or summary that if you don't get comments, you won't update.

Avoid being too self-deprecating with your summary and tags. I know tongue and cheek we're sometimes like "I suck at summaries" or "I don't know what to tag this" but it is better to make an effort and attract a reader than not give them enough to go on.

Tag appropriately. Especially for potentially triggering topics. For other things, ask yourself "is there enough of X in this story where if someone were looking for a story about it, they would be satisfied. If it's a consistent theme, tag it. If it's one character who appears for half a scene in a 20 chapter WIP, you can skip it.

Archive warnings: Use them. If you are writing about something that might be triggering to others but want to avoid warning for it to avoid spoiling your plot, you can choose the "Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings" and any reader should know that they could be getting into something. I personally like to just provide warnings because I would rather let people know and avoid them getting invested/turning them off. But the "choose not to warn" exists for a reason and you are within your rights to use it.

"Dead Dove: Do Not Eat" is not a catchall for any triggering topic. It's origins are from a television show and it was originally meant to essentially mean "does what it says on the tin, so don't be surprised with what you get." In other words, if you work includes non-con, graphic smut, various kinks, or elements that are an "acquired taste" you should not use the dead dove tag in lieu of those tags to describe a dark!fic. You should use it in combination with the appropriate tags as a way of saying "This really is what I say it is, so get involved at your own risk."

I'm sure I'll think of other things and come back and add to this eventually. If you, an AO3 user, disagrees with what I've said here, as I mentioned this is from my experience and a lot of time spent on subreddits and talking to other authors both in and out of the fandom. So feel free to make your own recommendations in your own post so newer users can get their own feel for how the archive functions for multiple people and craft their own experience while still being in line with the AO3 TOS.

#panda talkie post

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cathy-gabby · 1 year

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An Introduction

If Twitter has not been problematic, I would not have dared create a Tumblr account. Sure, I have heard of it; of course, I have read some blogs from here when I searched for some content. But for me to create one and write some stuff is not something I imagined I would do.

I have been on Twitter since 2011 and never have I posted anything for public consumption. Initially I was there for the news and entertainment which I would like and retweet to be read later during free time. (Of course, in the later years, some BTS tweets would appear on my timeline, but I just was not curious enough then.) I was, and still am, a happy lurker on Twitter, consuming everything Jin, JK, and JinKook, from updates, to photos, to twitfics and AUs. Just like with the majority, if not all, of its users, I would surely miss Twitter should it collapse (but maybe it was just a scare?)

So, this Tumblr merely serves as an account of my Seokjinnie and JinKooker journey, a journal of sorts. Relatively I am still a newbie (though I am in no way a baby army, being older than the average age of BTS fans), but just like with others, I consumed every content available to get to know the boys better until I found my bias. Who knows whether I would still be here in the next 3 or so years when the boys are gone but at least I have chronicled my time with them – something I might look back to with a fond smile on my face, thinking “Ah, those were exciting days. I have Seok Jin in my mind the moment I wake up and before I sleep at night.” Like reminiscing a long-lost love.

Or I would still be here when they return, and this Tumblr journal serves as a comfort pillow absorbing all my thoughts and ramblings while waiting for Jin.

Yes, I am a Jin stan, unashamedly a Seokjinnie.

First Meet

It started with their Boy In Luv performance during their early years which my teenage daughter would play on repeat. Of course, she was an Army since the pandemic and this was her favorite song back then (despite being a JHope stan). I remember watching every playback just to take a glimpse of who I believed to be the handsomest member then (and now still).

Later she showed me the MV and his facial expressions, especially his eyes, caught me – there was no turning back since then.

First saved photo

And I knew it would be for the long haul when I started saving photos I could find online. This is the very first photo of him that I saved on my phone. Hmm, he is so fine, yes?

First vlive

Yes, judging by this being the very first vlive I have seen, I am very much new to the fandom. Honestly, as there were no subtitles and I could not understand anything, I focused only on watching their movements and facial expressions. Cliché as it may sound, but there was something in the eye contact, and secret smiles shared by Jin and JK in this vlive, that made me go soft on them.

So yes, I am a JinKooker, too.

First JinKook Live Moment

That PTD Online Concert on October 24, 2021 was unforgettable for me. My daughter bullied me into watching it with her but my screams were as loud as hers when JK flashed his abs.

And I remember getting all gooey watching their moments, of thinking how they were so subtle, yet the tenderness was so obvious one could not help but feel the love oozing between them.

And so here I am, too late a fan perhaps with what is going on. But, there are still too many original contents I have to watch, original interviews I have to read. And of course, too many fanfics still saved in my bookmarks and liked on twitter and in here, waiting to be read.

Will that be enough to tide me over until 2023? Maybe. Maybe not. Hey, the future is not cast in stone.

But I know I ugly cried listening to Jin singing The Astronaut in Argentina and seeing how happy and free he looked.

I know I waited late at night for JK to perform in the World Cup and felt like a proud parent, watching her son soaring high in achieving his dreams.

First SepAnx

And I miss JinKook. Very much. They have matured and may now be very content and secure in each other’s love, knowing it is real and private and not for public consumption.

As a believer, I can only wish them all the happiness they deserve (especially with the situation they are in – world famous and from a conservative country) and for me to be contented in whatever they would like to share with the public, crumbs or grand gestures (unlikely but a girl can dream).

Here's hoping that this will not be the last JinKook photo before he leaves. And that there will be a repeat of this.

Or this.

A girl can wish.

#jin #jk #seokjin #jeon jungguk #jinkook #seokjinnie #kookjin #new to tumblr

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aquaburst3 · 2 months

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Confession Time: I'm suffering from creative envy. There's this big name fic writer in the TWST fandom that I'm rather jealous of. I vented with one of my friends, calling them my "Neige", because that seems like an apt description. I find their work rather mediocre and overrated, so I dropped the fic along time ago. Despite this, they are praised to the heavens in this fandom like they are the second coming of Shakespeare while I toil away and not get a tenth of the amount of kudos, comments and subs that they do. They always get on fandom fic recs lists and fan art while I always have to commission people to get some. The only exceptions to that are when someone did a art piece of an old Kallura one shot and apparently someone mentioned in a comment that they read my stories because of a recommendation. That's literally it in all of my years of doing this. Like with Neige, I swear that this author can spew out any bullshit and people will still worship them like a god. The fact that they kiss Yana's ass, who I think is a terrible writer, doesn't help either.

I don't want to say who the author is or explain why I think their writing is overrated. I don't want to start a fandom war over petty envy or bash on another writer on a public platform. All I will say is that if you are a mutual, friend or I've bookmarked/commented on your story, this is NOT referring to you. I promise. This person is someone that I never even left a comment or like on the story.

These emotions simmered down for a while. But they popped up again out of nowhere last night after almost year long absence. While I'm glad that OP's fine, their return is sparking those feelings in me again. It's so bad that I can hardly focus on anything today outside of my anger and envy towards them!

In order to save my own sanity, I just muted the user on AO3 to block their content from me. I might check in on them in the Fall to see the insanity. But rn, I just rather not have them constantly pop up on the TWST AO3 dashboard in order to focus on my own writing.

Honestly, I know how Vil felt like with Neige. Envy is not a good emotion. I hate that I feel like this about another writer. I'm kinda pissed off the story didn't dive into this more, because being envious of someone more successful without trying is a lot more relatable than languishing that you aren't picked for hero rolls.

#aqua rambles #vent post

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fieri-sentio-et-excrucior · 6 months

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For the first time in my many years of using AO3, there is a user I want to block!

And I know AO3 has a block function, but that only prevents the other person commenting on your fics. I want this person NOWHERE NEAR my fics! I don't want them to read them, let alone comment or bookmark them!

I don't even know if they have read any of my fics, I've just seen the insanely horrible public bookmarks they've made about a bunch of other people's fics including several I've read and loved. And fair enough, they can have their opinion, but maybe at least make them private bookmarks so other people, especially the AUTHOR themselves, can't see the shit they've written?!?! I mean, there was one fic there that I read recently and was a good fic and the author's first and only one on AO3... I know if I'd posted for the first time and saw their comments, it would put me off writing, or at least sharing my writing, ever again. Hell, even though I've written a whole bunch of fics, I'd still be super upset to see their nasty comments. It's not even concrit, it's just incredibly mean shit talking.

And what really pisses me off is that they complain about the contents of some of the fics like some pathetic teen who fancies themselves part of purity culture's morality police, but the TAGS ARE FUCKING THERE!!! Why the FUCK are they reading these fics if they're going to get all uppity and prissy about what happens to fictional characters in a fictional world?!?!?!

They have the PRIVILEGE to read all of these stories FOR FREE, they themselves haven't contributed a single thing to any fandom on AO3 and all they can do is bitch and moan and judge everyone lacking?!

OMG I'm feeling so pissed right now 🤬 I want to block block block... 😡😡😡

#sorry for the rant #random

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asliceofpsych · 11 months

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Ancient Language

Japanese and Katakana

With 127 million speakers leading into the 21st century, Japanese is the primary language of Japan.

According to Merriam Webster, a lingua franca is a language or languages among varying common “commercial tongues among peoples of diverse speech” (“Definition of Lingua Franca,” n.d.) Many people with Japanese as a native language do see English as their lingua franca. My first language is English. I would consider myself lucky to have my native language is a lingua franca around the world, but as someone who desires to travel to Japan with as much perspective as possible, learning Japanese may be in my best interest. Though in America, I sense our primary lingua franca may be Spanish. Having English as a lingua franca would impact my ability to communicate effectively with people from Japan in a positive way. I imagine the conversation would go more smoothly than if English was not my lingua franca.

Look up how to say the following words and phrases in at least one of the primary languages of the country you are studying. Write out the pronunciation for each word or, if you're preparing a vlog post, speak each word aloud.

Hello! – Kon’nichiwa - Yes - Hai - No - Īe - Please - Onegaishimasu - Thank You - Arigatō - Can you help me? - Tetsudatte itadakemasu ka? - I don't understand - Rikaidekinai - I don't speak (name of the language) - Watashi wa nihongo o hanasemasen - My name is (your name) - Watashinonamaeha morīdesu

Most of these words and phrases were hard to pronounce. Though after some practice and repeating these words/phrases out loud more than three times, I can say them. To remember them, I would need to practice them daily. Knowing these few phrases could be very beneficial while traveling to Japan. Many people may speak English as a lingua franca there, but travel would be easier and more enjoyable knowing a few phrases in Japanese at the very least.

また投稿作品の公開範囲やコメント設定は自由に編集することができ、気に入った作品にブックマークをつけることができます。作品をブックマークすると、おすすめ作品やおすすめユーザーが紹��され、色々な作品をあらゆる道から見つけることができます。また、気になるユーザーを「お気に入り」に追加すれば、そのユーザーの投稿した新着作品をトップページに表示することができます。

In addition, you can freely edit the public range and comment settings of posted works, and you can bookmark your favorite works. When you bookmark a work, recommended works and recommended users are introduced, and you can find various works from all directions. Also, if you add a user you care about to "Favorites", you can display new works posted by that user on the top page. I notice that Kanji looks like art. I also notice that this specific paragraph was translated very well.

Explain the phrase, "Language influences our view of reality." To me, this phrase means that the words we speak among one another influence our varying perceptions of our personal and shared realities.

References:

Before you continue. (n.d.-b). https://translate.google.com/?sl=en&tl=ja&op=translate Definition of lingua franca. (n.d.-b). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/lingua%20franca

Shibatani, M. (2023, June 28). Japanese language | Origin, Family, Alphabets, History, Grammar, & Writing. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Japanese-language [pixiv] About pixiv. (n.d.). Pixiv. https://www.pixiv.net/about.php?lang=en

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indexdrug1 · 2 years

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Rumored Buzz on The 7 Best Ebook Readers for Android You Should Try

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#refurbished kindle paperwhite #refurbished kindle

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olderthannetfic · 2 years

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Hey friend. Well, an apparently a post I made has exploded. And a super friendly person has said that we're anti-ao3 and about censorship because the post was asking people to stop being cruel in bookmarks. I was pleasantly surprised, tbh, by the reception of the post. And then utterly shocked when it sped right past my usual ~50 note count to spread like fire. Right now it's at 14k notes, and while I'm really sad at how many people have said they have had cruel and hurtful comments- the overall reception has been good! A few people didn't know and adjusted their bookmarks. Many people just liked it. But about... 5? People doubled down insisting bookmarks are for readers and we shouldn't tell them how to use them. It's utterly baffling- the willful misunderstanding of the request. But this last one is accusing us of censorship and you know? I figured I'd reach out to accounts more used to handling this shit. So I'm talking to you, as you're quite level headed in the discourse I've read. Whether or not bookmarks are for readers... is really a moot point, isn't it? But asking them not to be cruel in their notes, as we are, is it truly so unreasonable? (Horribly optimistic, I know, but asking doesn't harm.)

Well... I think it's really a question of what "cruel" means to you, you know?

For me, direct insults to the author are too cruel. I'm talking stuff like "This stupid cunt can't write." Insult insults against their actual person, not just "I think this fic was poorly written". Threats are, of course, not acceptable.

I've been sent your post already, and I don't think I entirely agree with how you see bookmarks. Perhaps the tone of the pushback put your back up a bit, but underneath all that is a legitimate fundamental disagreement about what bookmarks are for and how much concrit or negativity should be visible publicly.

My view is that a very high level of concrit and even negative reviewing is fine in public... But not in the author's space.

The author's space is the comments on their fic, comments or reblogs on their posts, their email, etc. Basically, places you know will directly send the author notifications or emails to their inbox are places you post when you want to shove your comment in the author's eyeballs. I think unsolicited concrit and/or negative reviews are undesirable in such places.

Now, bookmarks on AO3, bookmarks on pinboard, recs posts on tumblr, recs communities on Dreamwidth, and the like are not the author's space. They're readers' spaces to discuss what they thought. It's true that sometimes what readers think hurts to hear. That's a good reason for authors to be careful about looking.

I do think that some AO3 users don't realize their bookmarks are public by default, and for them, a post like that is a good reminder.

But for others who are just using the bookmarks as fanfic Goodreads... that's what the bookmarking feature is for, and they're not doing anything incorrect.

So, again, does "cruel" mean insulting the author as a person, calling them rude words and slurs? Or does "cruel" mean bookmarking them with "1/5 stars, DNF, needs SPAG edit"?

AO3 has had an increased bullying problem in recent years, so I can well believe that people are getting bookmarks I too would consider cruel, full of personal attacks and anti bullshit. But I also see a lot of people calling "1/5 stars" cruel, and I'd consider that fair game and useful to other readers.

But as for the virality part, it will probably die down before too long. Most people won't remember that you're the OP of that post or have any particular association with your username from it. Anything that involves feedback for fic or AO3 itself tends to make the rounds like wildfire and people have a lot of passionate opinions.

I think the worst thing you can do is get defensive. If most of the replies are agreeing with you already, it's kind of petty to be really upset about the 5 that aren't. Being petty tends to attract more wank than just going "Whatever. I've thought through my philosophy, and I'm sticking to it."

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its-afucking-mess · 3 years

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A little guide on ao3 (by an ao3 user and writer)

Friendly reminder for mobile users! Ao3 is a website. It doesn't have (as far as im concerned) an official app for mobile, so better get comfy with using crome on your phone.

Some video links ill leave for people who prefer video and audio:

- navigating the fanfiction sites

- popular fandom terminology part 1 and part 2

- shipping etiquette

i really reccomend coley's videos if you want to get to know more fandoms, or get an inside look to how some stuff works. There also might be more vids about fandom's and fan works, so don't hesitate to look through some of her stuff!

the explaining under the 'read more' ao mutuals wont kill me :)

(also tagging @ethanesimp since they asked for this advice )

So, what is Ao3 really?

Ao3 is a website made by fans for fans. There are no ads, and all content is free on Ao3. Anyone can post (with some age restrictions) and they can post anything.

How can I browse Ao3?

Ao3 does not require an account to view stories. You can easily browse as an anonymous user. You just are not able to view certain works, as creators have the ability to show their works to registered users only. Some cases, commenting is possible while anonymous, but again, it's up to the creator of the work.

If you want to be a creator and share works, you need an account.

An account also gives you the ability to bookmark works, so you can re-visit them, mark works for later, keeps a history of the works you've visited and allows you to favourite tags.

How do I get an Ao3 account?

When you first open the site, it gives you the option to "Get Invited". An invitation will be sent to your email anywhere from 24hrs later to a week later, depending on the amount of people in the automated queue.

After the invitation, you are able to set up your account like any other social media account. Pick a username, pseuds (name), description and bio. You can have a profile picture as well.

How do I navigate the site?

There are few ways to do so efficiently, but there's countless of ways you can experiment with to find which is more comfortable.

1st option: As the website loads, you can go to the 'Fandoms' tag.

Then, after clicking on it, this column appears. Through there, you can pick which media your fandom is from and from there, browse the huge list of different fandoms until you spot your own.

The list is in alphabetical order, so if your fandom begins with an "C", it shouldn't be too far down.

2nd option: At the top right, under your profile, and the options 'Post' and 'Log Out' should be a white oval search bar.

(im using my own account for demonstration)

When searching, there are many ways to work around it.

Personally, I press search as it is. It will lead you to a page where all the fanworks of the site are listed. (i believe its easiest, but always feel free to experiment)

From there, you press the 'Edit Your Search' button, located near the top right.

It will then lead you to a page with multiple fields.

Don't panic when you see all the fields. Only half those are of interest when you want to browse works for a fandom.

The most important ones are those under the Field name 'Work Tags'

Whatever you select under this field will be included in the works the site presents you with.

What are the work tags? What do they do?

Lets go through the options.

Fandom(s): when typing on this option, multiple fandom names will autofill in a list under the white space. If your fandom shows up, you can just click on it.

example:

From there, you can select the fandom you want to see works from. If your fandom doesn't show up, it can mean one of two things:

-there are no works for it

-it isn't popular enough to be picked up by the algorithm

After selecting one fandom, you can select another fandom, or more, to see works that are crossovers over universes.

Ratings: Ratings are selected by author. It defines the level of maturity it has in the work

- General audiences is the tag you want to use when nothing bad happens in the work. No swearing, no sexual activities, no violence or gore. It wont contain scenes that minors are not allowed to see.

- Teen and up audiences is the tag used for most works on the site. It is what would be used when you have mentions of/vague sexual content or violence. Normally, the most extreme stuff on there is excessive swearing, heavy angst and hurt/comfort with no excessive details

- Mature is the tag that is for 18+. It is mostly filled with one of following : Violence, Sexual Content, Ab*se, R@pe, Death and SH.

Reader descretion is advised by looking at the additional tags the author has provided, especially for those with triggers.

- Explicit is like Mature, but contains more graphic content. Works rated explicit mostly fall under the 'Graphic depictions of sexual content', 'Graphic depictions of Violence and Gore' or 'Graphic depictions of Ab*se, R@pe, or Self H*rm

Reader descretion is advised, stronger than mature, since it can be much more triggering. The works are scarily detailed sometimes.

- Not rated: the author has not given this work a rating because none of the other ratings fit the work. Pay special attention to the tags.

Warnings: Also known as Archive warnings by older users. The trigger warnings of Ao3. There are 6 archive warnings:

-Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings: The author didn't use the warnings, either because none of them fit the work's theme and warnings, or to avoid spoiling the story. Pay attention to the tags for any warnings.

-Graphic Depictions Of Violence: It is pretty self explanatory. Can contain any sort of violence, from wars, to simple fights, to ab*se of any kind. Can and often contain death. The type of violence is in the tags.

-Major Character Death: A main character in the story will die in this work. Pay attention to the tags always. The name of the character will be mentioned, as well as the way they die.

-No Archive Warnings Apply: None of the warnings apply. It is most times a perfectly safe work. Check the tags to make sure though!

-R@pe/Non-Con: The work contains non-consensual activities. Ranges from non-consensua sex to non-consensual use and ab*se of substances. Very close attention to the tags!

-Underage: The main character(s) in this work are underage/minors. This is normally tagged along sexual content so be aware and pay close attention to the tags!

Categories: This regards the relationships in the work:

- M/M, or better known as mlm or a relationship between two non-woment (men mostly, can include characters under the non-binary umbrella)

- M/F, a heterosexual relationship (is inclusive of trans characters too!)

- F/F, or wlw, or a relationship between two non-men (women mostly, can include characters under the non-binary umbrella)

- Gen, no sexual or romantic relationships are in this work, or if there are any, they arent of main focus.

- Multi: Polyamorous relationships, or multiple relationships are included in this work (this is also where threesomes+ are tagged in sometimes)

- Other relationships: One of the two people in the relationship is non-human (mostly), or the relationships are platonic/family.

Characters: The characters you want to be included in the story. This works just like the 'Fandom' filter, so the same things apply. You can tag as many characters as desirable.

Relationships: The relationships that you want present in the work. This includes both major and minor relationships. It can also include ended relationships (tagged Past x/y) and implied/referenced relationships. This works just like the Characters and Fandom filter.

Additional Tags: These are things the author has included to give potential readers an insight to the story. 'Angst', 'Fluff' and 'Smut' are additional tags. Works like the Relationships filter, so all same applies.

Is there anything I have to avoid/ I should avoid?

There is this very infamous tag, 'Dead Dove: Do not eat.' This tag is a warining to readers that the things in the work are really messed up, and can include anything illegal in it. PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE REST OF THE TAGS IF YOU STILL ARE INTERESTED.

How else can I filter works?

You can choose how they are:

sorted (Titles, Authors, Hits, Kudos, Comments, Bookmarks, and Best Match)

the word count (from 1 word to millions)

the language (most are on there)

the amount of chapters

if the work is complete of not

when it last updated/when was posted

and if there are crossovers.

These are all options that author has to include, and therefore you can sort freely. Most are bulletin options you can click on.

What if I want to find a specific work?

If you happen to know one of these: Author, Title, Fandom or Rating, you will find it. If you were reccomended one, it's better to ask for the author or the title, to make looking for it easier.

Can I find a specific author/ user?

People search is for finding users on the site

Bookmark search helps you look through other people's public bookmarks. Not really used.

Tag search finds works that include this specific tag you searched. Also not used a lot.

People can see my bookmarks?

When bookmarking a work, you are able to do a lot.

if you do not want your bookmarks to be visible to the public, make sure to check off the Private bookmark box at the bottom left.

Common terms thrown around by Ao3 users:

-tags: the additional tags of the work

-kudos: liking a story

-bookmarks: saving/saved stories. makes it easy to revist. you can see your bookmarks from your profile

-hits: the amount of people that have clicked on a story. Isn't necessary they liked it, but they did click on it.

And those are the basics! If you had to take one thing only, its ALWAYS READ TAGS

I hope this helped the clueless souls even a bit :)

Im open to reply to any other questions, and you can send me them in my asks, messages or comments of this post

#sofi's advice #navigating ao3 #help #advice #ao3

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aces-to-apples · 2 years

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I posted 2,389 times in 2021

430 posts created (18%)

1959 posts reblogged (82%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 4.6 posts.

I added 3,328 tags in 2021

#star wars - 879 posts

#by apples - 565 posts

#the clone wars - 525 posts

#sw fanart - 296 posts

#darth maul - 244 posts

#dragon age: inquisition - 221 posts

#sw fic rec - 176 posts

#obi-wan kenobi - 158 posts

#answered asks - 146 posts

#anakin skywalker - 118 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#as i understand it a lot of understanding of 'the jedi code' or w/e is word of god and like. wtf are we listening to word of god about this?

My Top Posts in 2021

Some rando with too much outrage to spare: you're shipping clones?!?! But they're brothers!!

Me, sexily draped over a piano with a rose between my teeth and a feather boa over my shoulders:....and what about it?

237 notes • Posted 2021-04-16 18:01:33 GMT

A bad argument for why AO3 should let me block users but the strongest one I have:

Just stop reading then. If you don't "get" it or if you don't like it, why the fuck did would you bookmark it like this. What is the fucking point. Also, what the fuck does that even mean, "meh" is not a confused noise, it's a disdainful one. *pulls hair out in What The Fuck*

237 notes • Posted 2021-02-17 06:26:19 GMT

Just once! JUST ONCE! I want to see Obi-Wan dip-kissing Cody!

307 notes • Posted 2021-10-08 20:45:05 GMT

Shaak Ti or whoever, arriving on Kamino and taking Alpha-17's measure: "So... thoughts on Master Kenobi?"

Alpha-17: *sips caf* "So Kenobi has thots now..."

Commander Colt: "Crawling all over him. Like weevils."

Commander Havoc: "They're the called the 212th Attack Battalion, I think."

616 notes • Posted 2021-01-14 10:13:52 GMT

So. Couple of things:

1) King Calenhad drank dragon blood to become a Reaver and some of that power was passed down through the generations, to the point where Arishok!Sten tells King!Alistair that he has the blood of dragons in his veins. (Also Sten calls Alistair kadan and that's not important I'm just still squealing about it.)

2) Vashoth have enhanced senses, particularly enhanced senses of smell, which dovetails nicely with 3.

3) The Iron Bull really wants to fuck dragons. This is not news, of course, but seriously in the game if you become a Reaver and are in a relationship with him, he straight up goes all googly-eyed horny for you because you drank dragon blood and smell like a dragon.

In light of these facts, I think it's only logical that if Bull is with you for In Hushed Whispers then he would definitely be DTF on sight with King Alistair who marches his ass into Redcliffe to chew out the mages for Doing A Stupid with Tevinter, smelling like goddamn dragon blood. I'm just saying. We were robbed of the Iron Bull very publically getting scent-drunk and making a pass at the King of fucking Ferelden.

1380 notes • Posted 2021-09-10 23:53:53 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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fatehbaz · 4 years

Text

On soil degradation and the use of non-native plants as weapons to change landscapes and sever cultural relationships to land; and on the dramatically under-reported but massive scale of anthropogenic environmental change wrought by early empires and “civilizations” in the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and ancient world (including the Fertile Crescent, Rome, and early China): I didn’t want to add to an already long post.

This is a Roman mosaic, from when Rome controlled Syria, depicting an elephant (presumably the Asian species, Elephas maximus) interacting with a tiger (the Caspian tiger, a distinct subspecies of tiger, lived in Mesopotamia, the shores of the Black Sea, and Anatolia up until the mid-1900s). This mosaic is striking to me, because I guess you could say that this is clear evidence of the higher biodiversity and more-dynamic ecology of the Fertile Crescent in the recent past, until expanding militarism and empire led to extensive devegetation. After all, does the popular consciousness really associate elephants and tigers with the modern-day eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia? Not really. But for the majority of human existence, lions, tigers, elephants, and cheetah were all living alongside each other in Mesopotamia. Pretty cool.

Anyway, I wanted to respond to this:

Which was in response to a thing I posted:

Pina: Thanks for the addition! I don’t know much about the technicality Rome’s devegetation of the Mediterranean periphery, but - like you - I’ve read some cool articles about it, and then forgotten to bookmark them. (I know that I have at least one good article in print form, about Roman devegetation; I’m going to try to find it.) I’m glad you mentioned it!

The first image is in the public domain and depicts a rhino-shaped ritual wine vessel made of bronze, from about 1100 to 1050 BC, during the Shang era. (The piece is housed at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.) The second image is another bronze wine vessel from a site in Shaanxi Province, this time inlaid with gold and hailing from later in history during the Western Han period, about 205 BC to 10 AD. (Photo by Wikimedia user Babel/Stone.) The rhinos in both of these pieces are depicted with two horns, meaning that they likely depict the Sumatran rhinoceros; this is corroborated by the existence of fossil remains of Sumatran rhinos from across China prior to 1000 AD.

On devegetation in the ancient world:

Yes, it feels like the ecological effects of empires prior to the Middle Ages are not just “under-discussed,” but dramatically overlooked. Some “quintessential and iconic African fauna” like lions and cheetahs lived throughout the Fertile Crescent, until devegetation during the late Bronze Age and, a few centuries later, the ascent of Rome. Caspian tigers (a distinct subspecies of tiger) also lived nearby, in Anatolia, the Caucasus, the shores of the Black Sea, and Persia - right up until the 20th century, in fact! (Other iconic species present on the periphery of ancient Mesopotamia were Asian elephants; leopards are still present.) Aside from the devegetation of the Fertile Crescent and the later landscape modifications of Rome, I also don’t see a lot of popular discussion (there is academic discussion, though, obviously) of ecological change in Zhou-era and early imperial China, either. While early Mesopotamia is famous for the amount of social prestige ascribed to irrigators and engineers, who were evidently essential to maintaining the domesticated crops so important to “hydraulic civilization,” early China (apparently) also revered irrigators and engineers. At least according to folklore and written histories, before the Han period, seasonal floods, especially in the Yangtze watershed, would regularly destroy human settlements. Also, there far more tigers, leopards, rhinos, and elephants present; rhinos and elephants lived as far north as the Yellow River until empire really expanded, and the animals lived as far north as the Yangtze River into the European Renaissance era. So, those people with the technical expertise to “tame the wilderness” by damming rivers or calming floodwaters were given prestige and sometimes treated as folk heroes. [Chinese history is not a subject that I really know a lot about. I’m just relaying the observations made in one of the better books on environmental history in East Asia, which is Mark Elvin’s The Retreat of the Elephants - 2006.]

------

On empires’ use of soil degradation to “sever connections to land” and “indirectly” destroy alternative or resisting cultures:

Seems that empire uses ecological degradation to enact a “severing of relations” (in Zoe Todd’s words). Basically: If you destroy somebody’s gardens, then they have to come to you to buy food. Furthermore, destroying someone’s connection to land will also harm their cultural traditions rooted in that land, eliminating a threat to the imperial cultural hegemony and erasing “alternative possibilities and futures” from the collective imaginary. (And destroying the imagination doesn’t just harm the invaded cultures, it also prevents the relatively privileged people living in the metropole or imperial core from “achieving consciousness” or whatever, wherein someone living in 150 AD Rome or 1890s New York City might imagine an alternative system and potentially dismantle the empire from within.)

It’s violence; destroying soil, cutting forests, it’s violence. But when empires destroy soil, they get to maintain a little bit of plausible deniability: “Ohhh, it’s not like we outright killed anybody, we just accidentally degraded the soil and now you can’t grow your own food. Damn, guess you have to rely on our market now, which also means you have to assimilate/integrate into our culture.”

Europe, the US, and the World Bank did this in West Africa after “independence.” They said “oh, yea, sure, we’ll formally liberate you from colonial rule.” But since the palm and sugar plantations were already installed, and many of the ungulate herds of the savanna had already been killed, what were new West African nations supposed to do? Miraculously resurrect the complex web of microorganism lifeforms in the soil? So what the US and its proxies are essentially doing is saying: “If you want loans, you have to keep the plantations and also install supermarkets to sell Coca-Cola.”

Todd: “The Anthropocene as the extension and enactment of colonial logic systematically erases difference, by way of genocide and forced integration and through projects of climate change that imply the radical transformation of the biosphere. Colonialism, especially settler colonialism – which in the Americas simultaneously employed the twinned processes of dispossession and chattel slavery – was always about changing the land, transforming the earth itself, including the creatures, the plants, the soil composition and the atmosphere.” [Heather Davis and Zoe Todd. “On the Importance of a Date, or Decolonizing the Anthropocene.” ACME An International Journal for Critical Geographies. December 2017.]

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On the use of non-native plants as a sort of “biological weapon”:

The use of non-native plants and agriculture to enforce colonization and empire is the whole focus of this influential book from Alfred Crosby. (I have some issues/criticisms of some of his work/theories, but his work is generally interesting.) Crosby popularized the term “neo-Europes,” and he proposes that European empires attempted to subjugate the native ecology of landscapes in Turtle Island, Latin America, Australia, etc., while attempting to introduce European species, cattle ranches, pastures, dairy farms, gardens, etc. in an effort to “recreate” a European landscape.

-----

Speaking of Rome’s devegetation of the Mediterranean: One of the famous cases of Roman devegetation that made the rounds recently was that of silphium. A couple of excerpts:

[From: The Original Seed Pod That May Have Inspired the Heart Shape This historical botanical theory has its roots in ancient contraceptive practices.” Cara Giaimo for Atlas Obscure, 13 February 2017.]

Silphium, which once grew rampant in the ancient Greek city of Cyrene, in North Africa, was likely a type of giant fennel, with crunchy stalks and small clumps of yellow flowers. From its stem and roots, it emitted a pungent sap that Pliny the Elder called “among the most precious gifts presented to us by Nature.”

According to the numismatist T.V. Buttrey, exports of the plant and its resins made Cyrene the richest city on the continent at the time. It was so valuable, in fact, that Cyrenians began printing it on their money. Silver coins from the 6th century B.C. are imprinted with images of the plant’s stalk -- a thick column with flowers on top and leaves sticking out -- and its seed pods, which look pretty familiar:

[End of excerpt.]

Silphium is extinct now. There is a lot of conjecture about what, specifically, caused the extinction. But it looks like the expansion of Rome across the North African coast of the Mediterranean, and Rome’s development leading to soil degradation, is a likely cause.

-----

Thanks @pinabutterjam :3

The scale of ecological imperialism’s effects ... planetary, no escape. It’s exhausting.

#long #sorry #sorry sorry #thank you pina

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theopticalmouse · 3 years

Link

There isn’t much Kaeya and Diluc brotherly fics out there, so I decided I wanted to add to the pile. This is COMPLETED, for those who shy away from incomplete works. This story is one of reconciliation and brotherhood, following these two as they travel from Mondstadt to Liyue and investigate the disappearance of a little girl.

I want this to get some publicity, so if any of you would be willing to share and reblog this post so people can see it, I would be grateful. Due to how tumblr works[read:poorly], Likes do absolutely nothing but bookmark it for the user.

Thank you all in advance, and thank you to those who have shown your support while I was writing this tale!

#Genshin impact #Genshin #Diluc #Kaeya #Venti

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not-poignant · 3 years

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When you look at how well a story is doing, what do you tend to look the most at? Like kudos, comments, hits, etc?

For me personally I tend to look mainly at kudos and comments. After that, I look at public bookmarks and the number of regular commenters (i.e. people who feel inspired enough to comment on most of the chapters, instead of just one), and new commenters - i.e. usernames I don’t recognise. In this I might also include bookmark comments (even though they’re not for authors). And then after that, I look at overall engagement - like is that excitement or engagement filtering over to Tumblr, are people sending me asks about the story, do they seem interested, overall, in the world and sharing that with others (the major drop off on all of these in The Ice Plague is the reason why I got very depressed about it at the end last year - but last year was the worst I’d done overall, in every metric, ever - even including the first year I made a single AO3 account so, lol, welp).

I never look at hits, I don’t actually care about hits very much, though I know other authors look at them acutely. A lot of hits are from bots etc. and aren’t going to necessarily be a person actually pressing kudos, or opening the comment form. I’ve never really cared about hits.

But it’s complicated. Like if I’m in a small fandom, then 20 kudos means a lot. If I’m in a huge huge fandom with a massive reader base, then 100 kudos means I’m probably not actually getting a lot of interest in my story or I’m writing unpopular tropes and tags. If I’ve written a multi-chaptered story that’s been going for over 6 months and it has less than 250 kudos, then that’s not doing as well as a single chapter story that has 100 kudos in a single day (see: The Ice Plague 3 vs. Passiflora), despite the discrepancy in kudos.

I mean all kudos definitely mean a lot! Every kudos is important, but there’s ways of reading the nature of those metrics which imho, for me, kind of guides what to focus on and where to put my focus (to a point, I still completely shoot off into the wilderness to do lengthy fics in dead fandoms like The Beast that Chose Its Own Bridle).

I’m also often looking at the kudos-to-public-bookmark ratio. A ratio of 4/1 (4 kudos for every 1 public bookmark) is very good for my fiction. Stuck on the Puzzle is one of the best ever, with a ratio of 3/1, and The Ice Plague 3 is one of the worst, with a ratio of 8/1 (that’s not super uncommon for the last book of a series, but by comparison, Into Shadows We Fall (the last part of a series) has a ratio of 5.8/1). Public bookmarks let you know how many registered AO3 users are happy to let other people know that they read your story (this is less common with straight up kink and porn and PWP) if they use a public bookmark system.

And then factoring into that, I have to look at how many kudos are from guests, because obviously guests can’t bookmark your fic publically or privately, nor can they subscribe to your works or your author name. But guest kudos are a really great metric for indicating how many long-time readers, or readers who are searching for your work via tags or fandom, or hearing about you by word of mouth etc. are out there.

I don’t actually pay a huge amount of attention to these metrics overall, honestly. It’s why it came as such a shock to realise that 2020 was the worst year for me in terms of AO3 performance literally ever. I had a suspicion things weren’t great, but I thought I was like, being paranoid or over-inflating my fears due to insecurities, and it turned out not only was I wrong and things were bad, but they were worse than I ever could have imagined across both of my accounts, for various reasons.

If I’d been paying more attention, perhaps it wouldn’t have hit me like a ton of bricks.

I usually pay attention to metrics most on the first few days a story releases and then I sort of...stop paying as much attention and just go through phases where I check out the kudos/bookmarks etc. on a lot of stories at the same time.

That being said, some stories will surprise you. Like Falling Falling Stars is not doing great on kudos or even bookmarks (comparatively speaking, for the length of time it’s been going, the amount of chapters it has, and the tags it uses), but it’s probably one of the best stories I’ve ever had since SAL for engagement. Like the people who do give that story a chance tend to be among the most engaged readers I’ve ever met, and that’s been really humbling and incredible.

So the rules don’t always apply in every situation. I probably would’ve quit writing if it wasn’t for FFS, lol, and the few folks who are incredibly loyal to The Ice Plague.

#asks and answers #pia on writing #pia on fanfiction #on fanfiction and fanfiction metrics #i could write a longer post than this #actually at the end of every year i write a big digest on my writing and analytics #on dreamwidth #but i don't put that up publicly #and then i talk about plans for the year ahead #also with my published works #i go mostly by sales and sell through #and then by reviews #for example i did a promo thing via a discord channel #which resulted in almost 0 sell through (the statistics on sales didn't change at all over that period of time)#things like that tell you a lot about how your book is doing lol #patreon support plays into this too #but eh i was focusing on AO3 metrics like this #before patreon #Anonymous

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