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The Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) is responsible for enforcing the AO3 Terms of Service (TOS). To help users better understand the TOS, we’re posting a weekly spotlight series about the TOS and our policies. We’ll also be reading comments and answering questions on this and our other spotlight posts.
Over 15% of all complaints that PAC receives each year are about content that users consider offensive but does not violate the AO3 Terms of Service. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Fictional depictions of societally taboo topics, immoral behaviors, or crimes (such as bestiality, child sexual abuse, incest, and rape)
- Fiction that contains or promotes offensive and/or oppressive viewpoints
- RPF (real person fiction) that contains explicit content or portrays people in a negative light
- Explicit fanworks for canons whose creators have said they dislike explicit content
Offensive fanworks are not against the AO3 Terms of Service, and PAC will not remove fanworks simply for being offensive.
AO3 is a home for all fanworks
AO3 operates under the principle of maximum inclusiveness of fanwork content. We will not make moral judgements about a work: if it’s a legal fanwork that does not violate any of our policies, we will not remove it from AO3.
Don’t report works for being objectionable or offensive. If you wish to avoid certain content when browsing AO3, you can use the tools discussed below.
Why does AO3 allow fanworks about content that is illegal where I live?
There is a difference between fictional content about acts that would be illegal if performed in real life, and content that is itself illegal to post or access in a particular jurisdiction.
AO3’s Terms of Service are designed to comply with United States law (specifically, the laws of Manhattan, New York). It is legal in the U.S. to create and share fictional content about murder, theft, assault, or other such crimes. It is also generally legal in the U.S. to create and share fictional content about topics such as bestiality, child sexual abuse, incest, and rape. AO3 allows users to post and access fiction about all of these topics.
In accordance with U.S. law, AO3 prohibits sexually explicit photographs, videos, and other photorealistic images of children (also known as Child Sexual Abuse Material, or CSAM). This includes embedded images, links, and any attempts to solicit, distribute, or otherwise obtain or provide access to such material – whether in a work, comment, or anywhere else on AO3.
However, stories and non-photorealistic artwork (such as drawings or cartoons) that depict sexual activity involving characters under the age of eighteen are allowed, provided that the works are properly rated and warned. Even if the work features real people, fiction about real people is still fiction, and therefore it is allowed on AO3.
Depending on where you live, the laws that apply to you may be more restrictive than the ones described above. All users are responsible for following the laws that apply to them. If certain content that is allowed on AO3 is illegal for you to access, then you should ensure you carefully observe all relevant ratings and warnings, and use the tools discussed below to avoid accessing any work that indicates it may contain such content.
What about other explicit or suggestive photorealistic images?
Photographic or photorealistic images of humans may not be used to illustrate works featuring underage sexual content (regardless of whether the images themselves are explicit in nature). This includes (but is not limited to) photographs of children, porn gifs, photo manipulations, computer-generated or “AI” images, and other linked or embedded images that could potentially be mistaken for photographs of real humans.
If the work appears to feature underage sexual content (as indicated by the “Underage Sex” Archive warning or other contextual markers present in the work’s tags, notes, or text), then PAC may require all photographic or photorealistic images of humans, regardless of their perceived age, to be removed from the work.
If your work does not feature underage sexual content, or if the images are not photorealistic, then please read our Terms of Service FAQ: Can I embed explicit images in my fanworks?
Real Person Fiction (RPF)
RPF is fiction based on real people. AO3 does not consider RPF works (in and of themselves) to be harassment of the individuals represented in the works. RPF works are allowed on AO3, even if they contain explicit content, negatively portray their subjects, or are about individuals who are minors and/or not well-known.
However, harassment and doxxing are both prohibited under our Terms of Service. This means that we do not allow works that advocate for actual harm to be done to a real person, nor do we allow works that disclose non-public information about a real person.
Fiction is generally permitted to include public information such as age, profession, city of residence, media or “stage” names, and publicly known legal names. However, if someone uses a pseudonym that they have not linked to their legal name, you’re not allowed to post content that links the two.
What if the creator of a canon states that they dislike explicit fanworks or don’t want people to create fanworks based on them or their work?
Creators are free to dislike fanworks, explicit or otherwise. However, AO3 holds the position that transformative fanworks are legal under United States law, and do not require the original creator’s permission to be posted. If a fanwork does not otherwise violate our Terms of Service, then that fanwork is allowed on AO3.
I don’t want to see certain kinds of works. How can I avoid them?
We want all our users to enjoy using AO3, but each user is responsible for their own browsing experience. If you encounter a work that upsets you, please leave the work, and use the following tools to manage your browsing experience and avoid seeing it again.
Tag exclusion filters
AO3 has an extensive tagging system. Tags can be used to filter out works when you are browsing a tag or using the work search function.
As discussed in our post about ratings and warnings, all works containing adult content must be rated “Mature”, “Explicit”, or “Not Rated”. If you don’t want to encounter adult content, you can use filters to exclude all works with these ratings. If you encounter a work rated “General” or “Teen” that has explicit content, you can report it to PAC.
In addition, all fanworks that contain underage sexual activity, rape/non-consensual sex, graphic violence, or major character death must be labeled with the respective Archive warning or the “Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings” label. Much like ratings, you can use filters to exclude any or all Archive warnings (including “Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings”). If you encounter a work that is missing an Archive warning, you can report it to PAC.
Creators frequently apply relationship and additional tags to indicate other kinds of warnings or content. All of these tags can also be used to exclude works. When a tag is excluded, any tags that are linked to it as synonyms or subtags will also be excluded. For example, if you exclude the “Child Abuse” tag, works that are tagged with “Canonical Child Abuse“, “Abused Children“, etc., will also be excluded, even though they don’t use the exact tag “child abuse”.
How to use tag exclusion filters
To exclude a tag using the filters sidebar:
- You can get to any canonical tag’s works page by clicking on a tag, either directly on a work or by using Tag Search.
- Open the filters sidebar. On a large screen, it’ll automatically be visible on the right-hand side of the screen. On a small screen, select the “Filters” button to make it appear.
- Navigate to the “Exclude” section.
- You can expand each tag type to see the most common tags used on works in your search results. If the tag you want to exclude is listed, select the X next to it.
- If you’re trying to exclude a Fandom, Character, Relationship, or Additional tag that is not one of the most common tags, type the tag into the “Other tags to exclude” box.
- Select the “Sort and Filter” button at the bottom of the sidebar. This will apply the chosen search filters to the list of works you can see, removing any works with the tags you’ve excluded.
Exclude by keyword search
In addition to using tags to exclude content, you can exclude a keyword or phrase by inserting a minus sign in front of it in the “Search within results” box. Doing so will mean that any works which contain your keyword or phrase in their metadata will not show up in your results. Metadata includes the title, creator, tags, summary, and beginning and end notes, but it does not include content in the body of the work or individual chapter notes.
In addition to excluding specific keywords, you can also use this method to avoid works created by a particular user: just type -creators:USERNAME into the search box. You can filter out multiple creators at a time by typing this same command multiple times, separated by commas or spaces (for example, -creators:USERNAME1,-creators:USERNAME2).
If you’re browsing a work tag, then you can exclude keywords using the filters bar. Type your keyword exclusion into the “Search within results” box, then select “Sort and Filter”.
If you’re using Work Search, use the “Author/Artist” field to filter out works by a particular user. You can also filter them out from “Any Field”: if you do that, you’ll catch not just any works they’ve created, but also any works created by someone else where their username is mentioned in the tags, summary, notes, or other metadata.
Permanently avoid seeing specific users or works
If there is a user that you never want to see again, you can mute them. Muting a user means that you will no longer see works or bookmarks they’ve created, other users’ bookmarks of their works, or comments they’ve left on AO3. To mute a user, simply select the Mute button on their profile page.
Muting a user will result in a banner at the top of every work search results page. If you want to hide this banner, you can add a site skin that includes p.muted.notice {display: none;}. Site skins customize the way AO3 looks to you while you’re logged in.
You can also use site skins to hide specific works that you don’t want to see. Once set up, your site skin will be active whenever you’re logged into your account on any device.
To use a site skin to hide a particular work:
- Find the work ID. The work ID is the number in the URL immediately after /works/
- While logged into your account, go to archiveofourown.org/skins
- Select “Create Site Skin” (or edit your skin if you’re already using one)
- In the CSS box, type
.work-000 {display: none !important;}, replacing “000” with the ID of the work you want to mute - To mute multiple works, use a comma-separated list:
.work-000, .work-111, .work-222 {display: none !important;} - Save or update your skin. If it’s new (or if you weren’t already using it), you’ll also need to select the button labelled “Use”
If you need help creating or using skins, filters, work searches, or any other AO3 feature, please contact Support.
Can I permanently block a tag or have a persistent filter?
Unfortunately, it’s not currently possible to save a set of tags or search exclusions directly on AO3, although you may be able to find third-party tools or site skin instructions to help you do this. AO3 doesn’t have those kinds of built-in persistent filters: every time you open a new search page or works list, the filters will be reset. However, if you run a search using filters, you can bookmark the results page in your browser. The bookmarked page will keep the same search and filter settings when you return to it later.
What if I have more questions about offensive content?
PAC follows a strict confidentiality policy. Therefore, while you are welcome to ask general questions in the comments of this post, we will not give information on specific cases, publicly rule on a work, or update you on the status of a report you have already submitted. Comments on this post that discuss specific works or users will be removed.
For more information, you can read our TOS FAQ on offensive content vs illegal content.
If you are still uncertain, you can comment below or submit a question through the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form.
I. 200 NEWSLETTERS
This month marks the 200th edition of the OTW Newsletter! Starting in February 2012, the newsletter has consistently provided updates on committees across the OTW. Over time, the newsletter’s format has grown and shifted, settling into the format used today.
If you’re curious, older newsletter editions can be found on AO3 News and the OTW website! Thank you so much for supporting the OTW and our projects. Here’s to many more!
II. ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN
Policy & Abuse is currently running a weekly spotlight series about the AO3 Terms of Service. These news posts have been highlighting various nuances of AO3’s policies, and Policy & Abuse has been coordinating with Communications’ News Post Moderation subcommittee to answer follow-up questions in the comments.
AO3 reached 15 million fanworks in May! Communications published a news post to celebrate.
Also in May, Accessibility, Design, & Technology deployed a few enhancements related to username and password changes, as well as fixed some longstanding bugs in tag sets. Systems is preparing to mount new servers, after which they’ll be able to get them up and running for AO3.
Open Doors announced the import of Homosapien Press: the publisher of multi-fandom fanzines such as Samurai Errant, Homosapien, and Pure Maple Syrup. They also completed the import of Slash Advent Calendar and Snow Lands. Lastly, they launched a way for archivists and publishers to designate a Fannish Next of Kin to take over collection management post-import.
In April, Policy & Abuse received 2,734 tickets, while Support received 3,003 tickets. Tag Wrangling wrangled just over 490,000 tags, or approximately 1,100 tags per wrangling volunteer.
III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW
Fanlore’s annual Fanlore Bingo Challenge is in full swing! This year the event is running from June 2 to June 15, and the bingo is beach themed. All Fanlore visitors and editors, new and old alike, are invited to participate!
Fanlore also celebrated May with a themed month: Creature Feature! Their editing chat on the Fanlore Discord server was a big success; thank you to everyone who joined. You can check out Creature Feature highlights on Fanlore’s Tumblr.
Translation’s recent recruitment led to the addition of a new translation team for Irish! User Response Translation’s first ever recruitment has also concluded.
Transformative Works and Cultures continues to seek submissions for their upcoming special issue on Latin American Fandoms. The deadline for submissions is January 1, 2026.
IV. GOVERNANCE
Elections announced the 2025 Election Timeline in coordination with Communications and Translation. Candidates will be announced on June 22, and the deadline to become a member for voting is June 30.
Development & Membership is continuing to send donation gifts from April’s Membership Drive. They’re also starting to work on membership queries for the 2025 election and related mini-Drive in June.
Board, with the help of the Board Assistants Team, held a public board meeting on April 26, 2025. The meeting had 74 attendees, and Board answered 10 questions live and 7 questions asynchronously after the meeting. Meeting minutes are available on the OTW website.
Board also approved the creation of the Organizational Culture Roadmap workgroup, continued work on Crisis Procedures and Paid Staff Transition projects, and met with the Cybersecurity Delegate to discuss their report and next steps. The Board Assistants Team continued work on multiple ongoing projects, including updates to the Board Discord moderation guidelines, OTW roadmap goals, and non-profit training.
Lastly, Board announced the resignation of Zixin Zhang as a Board Director. We wish Zixin all the best in her future endeavors.
V. OUR VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers & Recruiting conducted recruitment for three committees this month: Fanlore, Finance, and Open Doors. Volunteers & Recruiting also began a large-scale project regarding their procedures on inductions and removals. This project aims to ensure documentation is consistent across all roles in the OTW, focusing especially on tools managed by Volunteers & Recruiting.
From April 21 to May 18, Volunteers & Recruiting received 154 new requests and completed 149, leaving them with 36 open requests (including inductions and removals listed below).
As of May 18, 2025, the OTW has 933 volunteers. \o/
New AO3 Documentation Volunteers: 1 Editor
New Open Doors Volunteers: Fandoms_addict and 1 other Admin Volunteer
New Policy & Abuse Volunteers: BlackTeaAndVodka, WonderfulWorld, Pent, and 1 other Policy & Abuse Volunteer
New Strategic Planning Volunteers: Everett Merian and Camilla Zhao
New Support Volunteers: 1 Tag Wrangling Liaison
New Tag Wrangling Volunteers: Ebonwing, Jazzberries, Keladry, megidola, and Tal (Tag Wrangling Supervisors)
New Translation Volunteers: Bluebear, flatlander woman, Lavinia, Mici Pici, ömer faruk, Somber, and 3 other Translation Volunteers
New TWC Volunteers: 1 Symposium Editor
New User Response Translation Volunteers: Ekevka, meat, Patkiecoo, Remu, and 4 other URT Translators
Departing AO3 Documentation Volunteers: 1 Editor
Departing Communications Volunteers: 1 Chair-Track Volunteer and 1 TikTok Moderator
Departing Fanlore Volunteers: 1 Policy and Admin Volunteer
Departing Open Doors Volunteers: Fandoms_addict and 3 other Import Assistants, and 1 Technical Volunteer
Departing Support Volunteers: 1 Support Volunteer
Departing Tag Wrangling Volunteers: Eirinen, Luhba, Vyslanté, and 2 other Tag Wrangling Volunteers
Departing Translation Volunteers: D.Taradi, dhriti, hedvig, Mai, Meep, and 4 other Translation Volunteers
For more information about our committees and their regular activities, you can refer to the committee pages on our website.
Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today’s post is with Mille K, who volunteers in the Support Committee.
How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?
So, as the blurb said, I’m a volunteer for the OTW’s Support branch, which I’ve been doing since May 2024! I’m sure other Support volunteers have explained this far more eloquently in the past, but we basically help users with a wide variety of things. If you want to ask how to change your password, we’re the people to ask. If you run into some kind of error, shoot us a message. If a work has been tagged with the wrong language, that’s also us! Basically, we help the OTW-machine run smoothly.
What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?
Personally, that depends from week to week! We don’t send out responses to users until another volunteer has read it over and given it the go-ahead (known as betaing), so some weeks I get a lot of my own tickets done, other weeks I prefer focusing on betaing for others! I like to work while I’m drinking something and listening to music, just to make it a bit more cozy. (My music of choice is Citypop and soundtracks to anime and games!)
What made you decide to volunteer?
To put it very simply, AO3/the OTW has done so much for me, and I wanted to give back. It’s been amazing for my personal growth to have a place to meet like-minded people, to post my works to, to read works that have moved me in some form… and then to get to help it run is an amazing experience!
What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?
Probably having to learn so many new things, like how to use all of our tools, or all of the internal phrasing. It’s definitely been challenging to pick all of that up, but it’s also been super fun, and everyone else has been incredible so far!
What fannish things do you like to do?
I mainly read and write fanfic! I also enjoy art immensely, although I can’t for the life of me make it myself. I also participate in online events from time to time, such as bangs, fests, exchanges, and online cons!
Now that our volunteer’s said five things about what they do, it’s your turn to ask one more thing! Feel free to ask about their work in the comments. Or if you’d like, you can check out earlier Five Things posts.
The Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) is responsible for enforcing the AO3 Terms of Service (TOS). To help users better understand the TOS, we’re posting a weekly spotlight series about the TOS and our policies. We’ll also be reading comments and answering questions on this and our other spotlight posts.
Last week’s post was on ratings and Archive warnings. This week, we’ll discuss the other kinds of tags that we enforce, as well as the ones that we don’t. At the end of this post, we’ll provide details on the info that we need included in an incorrect tag report in order to be able to handle it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Although these are minor policy infractions, investigating them can take us a very long time to investigate if the report doesn’t contain enough information.
Don’t go looking for things to report.
Please do not start searching for incorrectly tagged works to report after reading this post. We know that incorrectly tagged works are a problem on AO3. However, when people deliberately search for works to report, we end up getting a lot of duplicate tickets about works that have already been reported. Every ticket we receive is reviewed by a PAC volunteer, so we only need one report in order to investigate an issue. We know it seems like sites only respond to mass reports, but on AO3, duplicate and mass reports increase the time it takes our volunteers to investigate.
Not all tags are required
Every work on AO3 must have at least one rating, Archive warning, fandom, and language tag. If these tags are used incorrectly, then PAC (or, as we’ll discuss below, the Support committee) may intervene. We discussed ratings and warnings in our last post, and we’ll explain what we mean by “incorrect” fandom and language tags below.
All other types of tags, such as category, character, relationship, and additional tags, are optional. Our rules for those kinds of tags are much looser. You’re not required to use them if you don’t want to, and PAC does not enforce the accuracy of these tags.
Fandom tags
Every work must have at least one fandom tag, and some may even have more than one. You are not required to tag every fandom that appears in your work. However, you should not use fandom tags for fandom content that does not appear in your work.
For example, if you’re planning a one-shot anthology for multiple fandoms, you should only add a particular fandom tag after the relevant chapter for that fandom has been posted. Please don’t include a fandom tag if you haven’t yet added any content from that fandom to your work.
We take a pretty broad view of what counts as “fandom content”, and we generally defer to the creator’s judgement. We don’t intervene in cases where franchise or sub-franchise tags have been used. For example, if Darth Vader shows up in your work, you’re allowed to tag it with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), even if your work is primarily about the Star Wars Original Trilogy. Similarly, if Cloud Strife appears in your work, you could tag your work with Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and/or Kingdom Hearts (Video Games) as fandom tags because Cloud is a character in both fandoms. If a fandom has both a movie and a comics version, we will defer to creators on whether to use the fandom tags for one or the other (or even both). It’s up to the work’s creator to use their best judgement about which fandom tags are most suitable.
However, we do have a few minimum standards. Generally, we don’t consider the following scenarios sufficient to mean a fandom is represented in a work:
- A minor or off-hand reference to a well-known/pop-culture element from fandom A, such as an item, location, or the name of a character
- The characters of fandom B are consuming the canon of fandom A, such as by playing a game or watching a movie
- The characters of fandom B are roleplaying as the characters from fandom A
If a fandom doesn’t feature in your work beyond minor references such as these, you should not tag that fandom on your work. Instead, you can use an additional tag such as References to The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) or Inspired by The Great Gatsby.
RPF vs FPF
On AO3, we generally differentiate between RPF (Real-Person Fiction) and FPF (Fictional-Person Fiction). When you’re writing about a canon’s real-life actors (such as Chris Hemsworth or Mark Ruffalo), you should indicate that by using the “RPF” version of a tag (such as Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF). If you’re writing about the fictional characters (such as Thor or Bruce Banner), and not their actors, then you should use the tag for that fictional universe (such as Marvel Cinematic Universe). Even if you’re writing about a real-life actor on set, filming a movie, you should still only use the RPF fandom tag and not the tag for the fictional universe: the fictional character isn’t actually present in the work, it’s simply the actor doing their job.
Sometimes, fandoms have only RPF components, typically when the fandom is for a reality show or other non-fictional canon. For example, fandoms like Boys Planet (Korea TV) and My Favorite Murder (Podcast) do not involve any fictional characters, so the RPF-FPF divide does not apply to them.
A fandom tag that is an actor’s name, such as Pedro Pascal – Fandom, is automatically considered RPF. These fandom tags should not be applied to works that are only about the characters an actor portrays. Instead, you can use an additional tag such as Joel (The Last of Us) Played by Pedro Pascal. If you’re a fan of a specific actor or pairing and enjoy seeing them in the different roles they’ve played, you may also be interested in the Actor X/Actor Y Character Combinations additional tag format.
Generic fandom tags
Because we take a very broad view of how relevant a fandom tag is, it’s always OK to use a generic fandom tag such as Unspecified Fandom, No Fandom, or even Original Work. Just as you can always opt out of applying a specific rating (by instead using “Not Rated”) or a specific warning (by instead using “Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings”), you may opt out of using a specific fandom tag by instead using a generic or non-specific fandom tag.
You’re never required to use any particular fandom tag. If you want to tag all your fanworks with Unspecified Fandom instead of specific fandom tags, you’re free to do so. We may require a creator to remove an inaccurate fandom tag, but we will never require a specific fandom tag to be added.
Synonymous tags
AO3’s tag system relies on Tag Wrangling volunteers, who link synonymous tags to a canonical tag if both tags are the same type and have the same meaning. This is why you can click on Buffy the Vampire Slayer or BtVS – Fandom and the same set of results will pop up; these two fandom tags have both been made synonyms of the canonical fandom tag Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV). The Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV) works page will show works tagged with exactly “Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)” and works tagged with any synonymous fandom tags. If you want to learn more about how tag wrangling works, refer to the Tag Wrangling Work Description.
PAC does not handle issues relating to what tags are canonical, how tags are formatted, or which tags have been made synonymous with which other tags. We only look at the exact tag on a given work, not where it’s linked to. If you have concerns about a Tag Wrangling decision, please contact Support instead.
Language tags
Every work must be tagged with a language reflecting the language the work is presented in. If the work has multiple primary languages, or no language at all (e.g. artwork), we’ll defer to the creator’s judgement about which language to tag their work with.
In 2021, Support took over responsibility for handling language tags. If you find a fanwork that’s labeled with an incorrect language, please report it to Support, not to PAC. Support will contact the creator and ensure their work is labeled with a language that’s represented in the work.
Non-mandatory (optional) tags
Creators can use the category, relationship, character, and additional tag fields to provide more information about their work, but they’re not required to. Neither PAC nor Support will judge the accuracy or relevance of these kinds of tags.
However, all tags (regardless of type) are still subject to our general content policies. Tags can’t be used to engage in commercial activity or harass other users, because these are both not allowed on AO3. (Later posts in this series will discuss these kinds of violations and how we handle them.)
Harassment generally includes tags which insult or threaten other AO3 users. As mentioned above, inaccurate tagging is not considered harassment. Tags which express negative views of characters or relationships are also not considered harassment. AO3 is open to all kinds of fanworks, including ones that are critical, mocking, or parodies.
If you dislike the way a particular user tags their works, the TOS FAQ has some tips on how to avoid content you don’t want to encounter.
What happens if I’m reported for tagging an incorrect fandom?
First, we’ll review the reported work to confirm whether your fandom tags are actually incorrect. If you need to update them, we’ll send you an email telling you to fix the issue.
If you don’t fix it, we’ll remove any inaccurate fandom tags. If doing this means we end up removing all of the fandom tags on your work, we’ll add the “Unspecified Fandom” tag instead.
We don’t ever delete works for having incorrect tags. While we do require inaccurate fandom tags to be fixed, it is very rare for us to apply any penalties to a user’s account for incorrectly tagging a fandom. We usually only penalize a user if they revert the changes we made or required them to make, or if they are frequently mistagging their works despite repeated attempts from us to contact them.
However, tags are still subject to our Content Policy. If you violate our commercial promotion or harassment policies with your tags, penalties will be applied accordingly. We’ll discuss those policies in later posts.
What should I do if I encounter a work that has an incorrect tag?
You can give the creator a heads up by politely commenting on their work and linking to the TOS FAQ or this post. Alternatively, you can:
- Report the work to PAC, if the incorrect tag is a fandom tag.
- Report the work to Support, if the language is incorrect.
- Mute the work or its creator, if the incorrect tag is a category, character, relationship, or additional tag; or if the issue is with the work’s completion status, updated date, kudos count, or other metadata.
How do I report a work with the wrong fandom tags?
Although we ask that you do not deliberately seek out incorrectly tagged works to report, if you come across a work tagged with one or more incorrect fandoms, you can report it using the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form, which is linked at the bottom of every page on AO3. If a work is tagged with multiple incorrect fandoms, please give us a list of all of the fandom tags you think are incorrect and should be removed.
Regardless of what type of incorrect tag you’re reporting, please don’t report more than one user at a time or submit multiple reports about the same user for the same reason. When reporting multiple works by the same user, please submit only one report with links to each work you’re reporting, so that all information about that user is in the same place.
For example, a report of a work with an incorrect fandom might look like this:
Link to the page you are reporting: https://archiveofourown.org/works/00000000
Brief summary of Terms of Service violation: Incorrect fandom tag
Description of the content you are reporting:
This work by USERNAME is tagged with “Star Wars” but it’s actually only about the Avengers, and the characters just watched Star Wars for movie night.
If you are reporting additional works, please include all relevant links and other information in your report description:
Description of the content you are reporting:
This work by USERNAME is tagged with “Star Wars” but it’s actually only about the Avengers, and the characters just watched Star Wars for movie night.Some of their other works also have the wrong fandom:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456789 is tagged “The Avengers (Marvel Movies)” but it’s about Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. which means it’s RPF and should be tagged with the RPF fandom tag. Steve Rogers and Tony Stark don’t appear anywhere in the work.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/34567890 This work tags “The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time” when the character’s sword only shapeshifts into the Master Sword for two sentences before turning into another sword.
You can add more details if you like, but this example provides the basic information we need:
- Who posted the incorrectly tagged work(s): Tell us their username or if the work is anonymous or orphaned.
- Where we can find the work(s): Enter one URL in the “Link to the page you are reporting” field, and (if applicable) include links to any other violating works in the description of your report.
- What violates the TOS: Explain which fandom tag(s) on each work you’re reporting are incorrect. A brief list or description is fine; you don’t need to be very detailed or quote an entire TOS or FAQ section.
You’ll receive an automatic email confirming that we received your report, and our volunteers will investigate when they get a chance. Please be patient and do not submit another report about the same work. While PAC and Support investigate every report we receive, it can take several months for us to process a report, and not every report will receive a reply.
What if I have more questions about tags?
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Every month in OTW Signal, we take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including issues related to legal matters, technology, academia, fannish history and preservation issues of fandom, fan culture, and transformative works.
In the News
An article by Publishers Weekly notes how demographic changes in readership have influenced publishing houses to diversify the titles they publish. Female readers are at the forefront of this change.
Most top-selling manga titles, though classified as shonen manga, also boast huge female followings. Some are also the work of women, like the hit series Delicious in Dungeon by Ryoko Kui, translated by Taylor Engel (Yen). But girls’ manga is growing in popularity, especially subgenres exploring LGBTQ+ themes. And as the manga audience ages, following a decade-long boom in young adult readership (according to the Beat’s annual BookScan analysis, graphic novel sales reached an all-time peak in 2022, with tween-to-teen manga titles consistently among the top sellers), publishers report that female readers in particular seek out more mature and diverse subject matter.
This diversity is reflected in titles published under subgenres such as BL and GL. BL, short for Boys’ Love, is notable for having a particularly high readership retention rate, prompting publishers to explore a variety of themes. Some of these themes, such as omegaverse, trace their origins to fanfiction.
GL, short for Girls’ Love, draws a much more varied demographic – the article notes that the genre boasts a mixture of male, female, straight and queer fans and creators. A 2020 essay exploring the genre’s readership demographic attests that “yuri is made for a diverse audience by an equally varied group of creators.” Studies, such as Verena Maser’s 2013 survey of Japanese yuri readership found that the gender and sexuality of GL audiences was vastly varied. A 2017 survey by Zeria, aptly titled Yuri isn’t Made for Men, studied the international audience and found that a majority of GL fans are women, who do not identify as heterosexual.
Themes too are pushing the boundaries of what defines a work as manga or literary graphic novel. Female creators are at the helm of this change, creating mature, personal stories that reflect the desire for manga that feels relatable and represents the diversity of its growing audience.
My Friend Kim Jong Un (Feb. 2026), a graphic memoir manhwa by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, also translated by Janet Hong, describes life with another level of bad neighbor: Gendry-Kim lives on a small island within sight of North Korea.
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With such mature topics, Hurren finds, there’s also more crossover with audiences that don’t usually read manga. The titles “belong with our other literary graphic novels. We’re reaching out to manga-specific press, but it’s not a manga-specific trade campaign.”
This evolving landscape of manga readership is not just a trend but a reflection of deeper cultural changes towards a more diverse and inclusive literary future.
Parallel to the rise of female manga readership is the increasing popularity of Chinese web literature in Japan. A recent article by The Star noted that platforms like WebNovel, under China’s Yuewen Group, have seen significant growth, with a 180% surge in Japanese users in 2024 alone. This expansion is not just in readership but also in cultural exchange. Japanese creators and fans are actively engaging with Chinese web novels, translating works, and even co-developing new intellectual properties.
One such example is the Chinese web novel Apocalyptic Forecast, a fantasy fiction that deals with the supernatural and secret societies. Japanese screenwriter and director Hikaru Takeuchi became an avid fan of the novel, translating over 200 chapters into Japanese and sharing them with friends. Her efforts highlight the deep cultural resonance and potential for cross-cultural collaboration such stories hold in the literary world.
When the novel ended, Takeuchi felt compelled to write a letter to its author, Feng Yue. The cross-border fan mail became a symbolic bridge between cultures. In a recent interview, she expressed her hope of introducing more Japanese readers to the rich and emotional world of Chinese web literature.
The success of Chinese web novels like The King’s Avatar and Dragon Raja further illustrates this trend. The King’s Avatar has been downloaded over 30 million times in Japanese, and its anime adaptation has been screened in multiple countries, including Japan. These works are not just gaining popularity, but are also influencing Japanese creators, leading to a blending of cultural elements and shared narratives that appeal to a global audience.
OTW Tips
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