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otw_news_feed) wrote2025-06-21 07:42 pmTOS Spotlight: Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement
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.
In today’s post, we’ll discuss two categories of TOS violations that have a lot of overlap: plagiarism and copyright infringement.
Don’t go looking for things to report.
Please do not start searching for plagiarized or infringing works to report after reading this post. We know that plagiarism and copyright infringement 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.
AO3 is for transformative fanworks
AO3 is an archive for fanfiction and other transformative fanworks. Transforming a work means that you are adding a new expression, different purpose, or alternate perspective to the source work. A transformative fanwork doesn’t copy the original source; instead, it uses the characters, setting, or other inspiration from an existing work to make a new, distinct creative work.
Transformative fanworks can be posted without requiring permission from the creator of the original work. When considering whether a work is transformative, we apply the same standards to fanworks as to professional works. This means that a fanwork based on another fanwork is allowed, just as much as a fanwork of a professionally published novel is. You are allowed to write a story or create fanart about someone else’s original character, or to use the same general ideas, tropes, or story structures as someone else. Two works can share the same premise, setting, and plot while still being transformative.
However, replacing names, swapping out words for their synonyms, or making other superficial changes to the source work is not considered transformative. A transformative work needs to have a large amount of creative expression that is original to you.
Plagiarism vs copyright infringement
Plagiarism occurs when a person reproduces large portions of someone else’s work or very heavily bases their work on another without adequately transforming it, and doesn’t credit the source. This lack of credit makes it appear as though the copied work is entirely their own original, unique idea and expression.
To avoid potential issues of plagiarism, you can cite your source by linking back to the original, for example by using AO3’s Inspired By feature. However, just because you provided credit doesn’t mean you’re automatically okay: your work may still be in violation of our other policies, such as copyright infringement.
Copyright infringement occurs when a work reproduces large portions of a different work, whether verbatim or with very little alteration (i.e. not in a transformative manner), without the authorization of the copyright owner. Even if you credit the source, reproducing too much of someone else’s content is still a violation of their copyright unless you have the copyright owner’s explicit permission.
Permission is not required for short quotations. While it is difficult to give specifics because every work is different, a good rule of thumb is that you should try to limit yourself to approximately:
- 2-3 lines of lyrics per song
- 2-3 lines of text per short chapter of a novel
- 10 minutes of screentime per TV episode or movie
If you want to include longer excerpts, you will need the copyright owner’s permission. This applies regardless of whether the original work is a fanwork or published professionally.
Permission to reuse fanworks
Some fan creators will give other people permission to reproduce larger portions of their works than would ordinarily be permitted by copyright laws alone. They may do this by granting blanket permissions for particular uses (for example, “Anyone can translate or podfic my work, but I don’t allow reposts or nameswaps”) or by applying an official license (such as Creative Commons) to the work, which grants various permissions based on terms specific to the exact license.
If permission to reproduce the work is accompanied by specific terms, then you must follow those terms. For example, a creator may say, “You can translate my fic so long as you link back to the original.” In that case, if you post your translation without providing a link, you’re committing copyright infringement. In order for your translation to be allowed, you would need to include the link as requested.
Common types of infringement
Unauthorized reposts
If you want to upload someone else’s work to AO3, you need to have their permission. It doesn’t matter how difficult it might be to contact them: even if the original creator posted their work a decade ago and then vanished from the internet, they still have copyright over their own work.
If you can’t get permission but you still want to save or share somebody else’s fanwork from another site, you can create an external bookmark that links to the work on that site, and add tags and notes to your bookmark so that other AO3 users can also find and enjoy the work.
Minor edits and adaptations
Making minor changes to a work doesn’t make the work original to you. If you’ve only changed the characters’ names and/or pronouns, or corrected the original author’s grammar or formatting, that isn’t transformative. You’ll need the creator’s permission to adapt their work like this and post it to AO3.
Too many quotes: transcripts and “character reaction” works
Transcripts (whether of TV episodes, movies, plays, video games, etc.) are protected by copyright. You cannot repost canon material on AO3, as this is typically a violation of our copyright infringement and/or non-fanwork policies.
If you’re creating a fanwork where the characters are reacting to another piece of media (such as by reading or watching the book, show, or movie that they were originally from), then that is allowed if and only if you don’t include too many quotes from the original source. Even if the lines of the original book or script are broken up by the characters’ reactions, you still can’t reproduce more than a few lines of the original text. If you’d like to post a work in which characters read or watch another work, then we suggest heavily reducing the number and length of your quotes, and/or briefly summarizing the events they’re reacting to instead of quoting directly from the original work.
Songfics with lyrics
Song lyrics are protected by copyright, which means you can’t reproduce large portions of lyrics without permission. This includes both songfics where the lyrics are interspersed throughout the story text and fics with characters singing songs as part of their dialogue. If the part of the song you want to highlight is more than a few lines, we suggest instead linking to a licensed source, such as the artist’s official YouTube channel.
Embedded artwork
Copyright doesn’t just apply to written text, but to all types of creative work regardless of the medium. In order to embed or upload someone else’s images, audio, or videos onto your AO3 account, you must have the original creator’s permission and credit them appropriately.
If you don’t have permission, or don’t know how to credit the original creator, then we suggest instead using HTML or AO3’s Inspired By feature to link directly to the creator’s own original post.
Unauthorized podfics & translations
If you want to podfic or translate someone else’s work, you need their permission to do so. According to United States law, audio recordings and translations are considered derivative, not transformative. AO3 welcomes fan-podficcers and fan-translators. However, your content must comply with U.S. law for us to be able to host it, which means that you must have the permission of the copyright owner in order to post your podfic or translation on AO3.
Infringing on orphaned works
Orphaning a work does not mean the original creator is giving up their copyright, even if their username is no longer displayed on the work. The only thing the original creator did when orphaning their work was agree to transfer that specific copy of their work to AO3’s orphan_account.
Just like with any other work, if you wish to podfic or translate an orphaned work, you will need permission from the original creator. This can come in the form of an author’s note on the work or an additional tag such as Podfic Welcome. If the work contains no such statement, and you don’t know or can’t find the original creator to ask for permission, then you may not podfic or translate the work.
If you plan on orphaning your works and you want to ensure that other users can continue to adapt or translate them, consider adding a permission statement to each of your works before orphaning them.
Posting public domain works
While public domain works are no longer protected by copyright, reposting someone else’s work is not transformative. AO3 is an archive for fanworks and for original works created in a fannish context. Therefore, you cannot upload other people’s public domain works to AO3.
However, as public domain works are not protected by copyright, some types of derivative works (such as your own translation) may be posted on AO3.
I’ve seen others post plagiarized or infringing works. Why can’t I?
As our TOS FAQ explains, we don’t review content until it’s reported to us. You may have seen somebody else posting an unauthorized translation or public domain work on AO3, but that doesn’t mean that it’s allowed. All it means is that nobody has reported that work to us yet, or that we haven’t finished processing the report.
What will happen if I get reported for plagiarism or copyright infringement?
First, we’ll review the reported work and any provided sources to confirm whether or not your work contains plagiarized or infringing material. If we determine that your work is in violation, we’ll send you an email telling you to remove the violating material.
If your work can be edited to fix the issue, you’ll be asked to edit the work. Your work may be hidden from other users until you do. If you choose not to edit the work, or if your work cannot be edited into compliance with the TOS, it will be deleted.
PAC will only ever contact you by email, and only after we’ve determined that your work violates our Terms of Service. We will never comment on your work or contact you through social media. Please make sure to keep your account’s email address up to date and check it regularly (including your spam folder), or else you may miss our warning email.
If you repeatedly post works that violate our copyright and/or plagiarism policies, you may be temporarily suspended. Continuing to violate the TOS will result in you being permanently banned from AO3. You can learn more about warnings and suspensions in our TOS FAQ.
What should I do if I encounter a work that contains plagiarized or infringing material?
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 us.
How do I report a work for plagiarism or copyright infringement?
Although we ask that you do not deliberately seek out violating works to report, if you come across a plagiarized or infringing work while browsing, you can report it using the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form, which is linked at the bottom of every page on AO3.
In order for us to uphold a complaint about plagiarism or copyright infringement, we need you to provide us with specific information about exactly what was copied and from where. Without these details, we may not be able to action your report.
If the work in question is no longer available online, but you have a copy of the work (such as a PDF), please say so. We may ask you to provide that copy to help us in our investigation.
Please be specific in your report. If you send us a link to an 80,000-word fic and say only “This work rips off mine!” without providing any details (such as a link to your own work), that’s not enough information for us to act on. We will need to email you back asking for more information, and if you don’t provide us with that information, we won’t be able to investigate. If we can’t verify the plagiarism or copyright infringement for ourselves, then we won’t take any action.
Please don’t report more than one user at a time or submit multiple reports about the same user. When reporting multiple works by the same user, please submit only one report with links to each work you’re reporting (correctly matched up with the original source), so that all information about that user is in the same place.
If you give us a link to one work and say “All of their other works look like plagiarism too!” without giving us details about those works or their sources, that isn’t enough information for us to act on those other works. If you give us a jumbled or incomplete list of links, or if you report each work by the same user separately, this makes our volunteers’ work much harder.
For example, a report of plagiarism or copyright infringement might look like this:
Link to the page you are reporting: https://archiveofourown.org/works/00000000
Brief summary of Terms of Service violation: Plagiarism
Description of the content you are reporting:
This work by Ernie is plagiarized from Bert’s work, “Fifty Shades of Oatmeal”: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456789The entire thing is copied, Ernie just swapped out Elmo’s name for the Count’s and changed some of the colors.
If you are reporting additional works, please include all relevant links and other information in your report description:
Brief summary of Terms of Service violation: Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement
Description of the content you are reporting:
This work by Ernie is plagiarized from Bert’s work, “Fifty Shades of Oatmeal”: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456789The entire thing is copied, Ernie just swapped out Elmo’s name for the Count’s and changed some of the colors.
Another of Ernie’s works plagiarizes from Big Bird’s “If You Give a Monster a Cookie”:
Ernie’s work (plagiarism): https://archiveofourown.org/works/34567890
Big Bird took down their fic when they published it as an original story. Here’s a link to the published version: https://www.monstercookiebooks.com/books/9876543210/if-you-give-a-monster-a-cookieI also have a downloaded copy of the original fic I can give you if you need it.
The plagiarized section is in Ernie’s chapter 2, where it starts at “Every time that Cookie Monster goes to the store, he can’t resist going and picking up more chocolate chip cookies.”
This is plagiarizing chapter 3 of Big Bird’s work, which starts, “Whenever Cookie Monster went to the store, he couldn’t resist buying more chocolate chip cookies.”
The entire rest of the fic is like that, with only minor edits to each sentence. It’s over ten thousand words long!
Finally, this other work contains the full lyrics of “I Love Trash” as sung by Oscar the Grouch: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45678901
Here’s a link to the song on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJekxVILnhw
You can add more details if you like, but this example provides the basic information we need:
- Who posted the violating work(s): Tell us their username or if the work is anonymous or orphaned.
- Where we can find the violating 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.
- Where we can find the original source material: Include a link to each original source and tell us what parts of the source were copied, for example by including chapter numbers or quotes from the relevant scenes.
- What violates the TOS: Explain why you think each work you’re reporting is infringing and match each reported work to its original source. A set of links and a brief description of each work is fine; you don’t need to be very detailed or quote an entire page.
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 incident. While PAC investigates 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 plagiarism and copyright infringement?
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.
If you think you’ve found a plagiarized or infringing work, or if you want to know whether a particular work qualifies as plagiarism and/or copyright infringement, please report the work to us as described above. For more information, you can read our TOS FAQ on Copyright Infringement and Plagiarism.
If you are still uncertain, you can comment below or submit a question through the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form.
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rivkat) wrote2025-06-20 05:48 pmFiction
Stephen King, Never Flinch:( Holly Gibney )
Shannon Chakraborty, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi: ( piracy and magic )
Olivie Blake, Gifted and Talented: ( for fans of Succession )
Ai Jiang, A Palace Near the Wind: Natural Engines: ( marriage and conquest )
John Scalzi, When the Moon Hits Your Eye: ( moon made of cheese )
M. L. Wang, Blood Over Bright Haven: ( white women's guilt )
Emily Tesh, The Incandescent: ( magic school administrator! )
otw_news_feed) wrote2025-06-18 11:33 amThe OTW is Recruiting for Tag Wrangling Volunteers (General, Indonesian, & Russian), Internal Compla
Would you like to wrangle AO3 tags? Can you read and translate from Indonesian to English? Can you read and translate from Russian to English? Are you interested in actively contributing to the creation and maintenance of a safer volunteering environment within the OTW? Would you like to help your fellow fans use AO3? Are you fluent in Chinese? If you answered “yes” to any of these, you’re in luck: the OTW is recruiting!
We’re excited to announce the opening of applications for:
- Tag Wrangling Volunteer – closing 25 June 2025 at 23:59 UTC [or after 130 applications]
- Tag Wrangling (Indonesian) Volunteer – closing 25 June 2025 at 23:59 UTC [or after 30 applications]
- Tag Wrangling (Russian) Volunteer – closing 25 June 2025 at 23:59 UTC [or after 30 applications]
- Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution Volunteer – closing 25 June 2025 at 23:59 UTC
- Support Volunteer – closing 25 June 2025 at 23:59 UTC [or after 30 applications]
- Support (Chinese) Volunteer – closing 25 June 2025 at 23:59 UTC [or after 30 applications]
We have included more information on each role below. Open roles and applications will always be available at the volunteering page. If you don’t see a role that fits with your skills and interests now, keep an eye on the listings. We plan to put up new applications every few weeks, and we will also publicize new roles as they become available.
All applications generate a confirmation page and an auto-reply to your e-mail address. We encourage you to read the confirmation page and to whitelist our email address in your e-mail client. If you do not receive the auto-reply within 24 hours, please check your spam filters and then contact us.
If you have questions regarding volunteering for the OTW, check out our Volunteering FAQ.
Tag Wrangling Volunteer
The Tag Wranglers are responsible for helping to connect and sort the tags on AO3! Wranglers follow internal guidelines to choose the tags that appear in the filters and auto-complete, which link related works together. This makes it easier to browse and search on the archive.
If you’re an experienced AO3 user who likes organizing, working in teams, or having excuses to fact-check your favorite fandoms, you might enjoy tag wrangling! To join us, click through to the job description and fill in our application form. There will also be a short questionnaire that will help us assess whether you have the skills and attributes that will lead to your success in this role.
Please note: you must be 18+ in order to apply for this role. For this role, we’re currently looking for wranglers for specific fandoms only, which will change each recruitment round. Please see the application for which fandoms are in need.
Wranglers need to be fluent in English but we welcome applicants who are also fluent in other languages, especially Čeština (Czech), Español (Spanish), isiZulu (Zulu), Italiano (Italian), Polski (Polish), Português brasileiro (Brazilian Portuguese), Suomi (Finnish), Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese), Türkçe (Turkish), Українська (Ukrainian), ไทย (Thai), беларуская (Belarusian), 한국어 (Korean) and 中文 (Chinese – we welcome all dialects) — but help with other languages would be much appreciated!
Applications are due 25 June 2025 [or after 130 applications]
Apply for Tag Wrangling Volunteer at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
Tag Wrangling (Indonesian) Volunteer
The Tag Wranglers are responsible for helping to connect and sort the tags on AO3! Wranglers follow internal guidelines to choose the tags that appear in the filters and auto-complete, which link related works together. This makes it easier to browse and search on the archive.
If you’re an experienced AO3 user who likes organizing, working in teams, or having excuses to fact-check your favorite fandoms, you might enjoy tag wrangling! To join us, click through to the job description and fill in our application form. There will also be a short questionnaire that will help us assess whether you have the skills and attributes that will lead to your success in this role.
Please note: you must be 18+ in order to apply for this role. For this role we’re currently looking for applicants who are fluent in both English and Indonesian. We welcome all Indonesian dialects. The work will involve both regular Tag Wrangling work and translating tags from Indonesian into English.
Applications are due 25 June 2025 [or after 30 applications]
Apply for Tag Wrangling (Indonesian) Volunteer at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
Tag Wrangling (Russian) Volunteer
The Tag Wranglers are responsible for helping to connect and sort the tags on AO3! Wranglers follow internal guidelines to choose the tags that appear in the filters and auto-complete, which link related works together. This makes it easier to browse and search on the archive.
If you’re an experienced AO3 user who likes organizing, working in teams, or having excuses to fact-check your favorite fandoms, you might enjoy tag wrangling! To join us, click through to the job description and fill in our application form. There will also be a short questionnaire that will help us assess whether you have the skills and attributes that will lead to your success in this role.
Please note: you must be 18+ in order to apply for this role. For this role we’re currently looking for applicants who are fluent in both English and Russian. We welcome all Russian dialects. The work will involve both regular Tag Wrangling work and translating tags from Russian into English.
Applications are due 25 June 2025 [or after 30 applications]
Apply for Tag Wrangling (Russian) Volunteer at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution Volunteer
Are you passionate about fostering a safer and more supportive volunteering environment within the OTW?
As an Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution (“ICCR”) volunteer, you will play a key role in maintaining fair and respectful interactions across the Organization. Your work will include reviewing, investigating, and adjudicating complaints, and mediating conflicts. Our team is also in the process of refining the OTW’s policies to create a more effective and inclusive volunteer experience. Our goal is to serve as an objective, neutral party for personnel-related issues to help resolve situations with compassion and equity.
Please note that due to the nature of the work, current OTW volunteers who apply for the role will have to resign from all other roles within the OTW to serve on this subcommittee.
Applications are due 25 June 2025
Apply for Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution Volunteer at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
Support Volunteer
The Support team is responsible for handling the feedback and requests for assistance we receive from users of the Archive of Our Own. We answer users’ questions, help to resolve problems they’re experiencing, and pass on information to and from coders, testers, tag wranglers and other teams involved with AO3. If you enjoy helping others to learn how to use AO3 and figuring out solutions to problems, you might enjoy being a Support volunteer!
Applications are due 25 June 2025 [or after 40 applications]
Apply for Support Volunteer at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
Support Volunteer (Chinese)
The Support team is responsible for handling the feedback and requests for assistance we receive from users of the Archive of Our Own. We answer users’ questions, help to resolve problems they’re experiencing, and pass on information to and from coders, testers, tag wranglers and other teams involved with AO3.
We’re currently recruiting for applicants who are fluent in both English and Chinese (We welcome all Chinese dialects!). If you are a fluent Chinese speaker who enjoys helping others to learn how to use AO3 and figuring out solutions to problems, you might enjoy being a Support volunteer!
Applications are due 25 June 2025 [or after 40 applications]
Apply for Support Volunteer (Chinese) at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.
otw_news_feed) wrote2025-06-14 07:38 pmTOS Spotlight: Harassment
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.
Today’s post from the Policy & Abuse committee is about harassment. As stated in Section II.H of our Terms of Service, “Harassment is any behavior that produces a generally hostile environment for its target. Examples include bullying, threats, and personal attacks by or towards individuals or groups of people.”
Harassment is not tolerated on AO3 in any form—regardless of whether it occurs in works, tags, comments, usernames, pseuds, profiles, icons, or any other type of content.
What qualifies as harassment?
Threats and insults
When directed towards other users, threats and insults constitute harassment, and we will act on them if reported to us. This includes when phrases such as “X/Y shippers are creeps” are present in work tags or summaries.
Severe harassment
Some harassment is severe enough that it creates a hostile environment not just for the target, but for anyone who witnesses it. Engaging in severe harassment will result in harsher penalties.
The following are all considered to be severe harassment when directed towards other AO3 users:
- Death threats/wishes
- Threats of violence/bodily harm
- Slurs directed at other users
- Self-harm/suicide baiting (suggesting that someone should hurt or kill themselves)
- Doxxing or threats of doxxing (connecting a user’s non-public, personally identifying information to their online handle)
Anyone can report these, whether or not they’re the primary victim. PAC will remove all instances of severe harassment that are reported to us.
Call-out posts
A call-out is when someone posts a work (or a chapter or author’s note) that criticizes someone for their behavior in an attempt to draw public attention to that person.
We consider call-out posts to be harassment. If you see a call-out post, whether or not it is targeted at you, you can report it to us. Call-out posts are not allowed, regardless of what the target of the call-out has done.
If you encounter someone who has violated the AO3 Terms of Service, please don’t post a call-out and violate the TOS yourself. Instead, we recommend that you submit an Abuse report and use AO3’s blocking and muting features to avoid that person.
Interacting after being blocked
A blocked user is expected to cease all interaction with the person who blocked them. We consider attempting to “get around” a block to be harassment. If you’ve blocked someone and think they’re evading your block, you can report them to us.
What does not qualify as harassment?
Offensive content
What’s considered offensive and unacceptable varies from person to person. AO3 hosts a wide range of content that many users find to be offensive, and in our last post, we discussed some of the ways you can avoid such content.
You may not leave comments attacking the creator of a work you find offensive.
You can mute the user so you don’t see any of their works, bookmarks, or comments. If you want to make sure they can’t communicate with you, you should also block them.
Criticism
We don’t consider criticism of a work, constructive or otherwise, to be harassment in and of itself. Offensive opinions and comments that aren’t direct personal attacks are also not harassment (for example, expressing negative views about celebrities or the content of a work).
If somebody says your work is bad, that’s an opinion about your work, not a personal attack against you. However, repeatedly leaving negative comments in a short period of time, pressuring you to delete your work, or encouraging others to engage in similar behavior could be considered harassment depending on the circumstances.
Arguments
People are allowed to argue or disagree with your opinions. Argument is not harassment, and PAC will not intervene simply because users are arguing with or being rude to each other. If someone in the argument is using personal attacks, you can report them to us, but in general, PAC does not mediate disputes between users. If you want to end an argument, you should tell that person you will not respond further; if necessary, you can also block them.
If you are a bystander witnessing an argument rather than one of the participants, then we are unlikely to uphold your complaint unless someone is engaging in severe harassment. When it comes to rude or moderately antagonistic comment exchanges, we rarely act on third-party reports.
Do Not Interact (DNI) requests
Requesting that someone does not interact with you is not harassment in itself, but it may be considered harassment if paired with an insult or threat (for example, “DNI you weirdos who ship this” or “no incest lovers allowed I will stomp you all to death with my hooves”).
If you want someone to stop interacting with you, you should block them. If you never want to encounter them again, you can also mute them.
What should I do if I’m getting harassing comments on my works?
PAC tries to prioritize urgent reports such as harassment, but there will always be a delay while we investigate and take action. We recommend that you immediately block any registered user who harasses you. We also recommend that you enable one or more of the Privacy options on your work(s) while you wait for our response.
To edit the Privacy options on your work, select the “Edit” button, then navigate to the “Privacy” section. If you want to edit the Privacy options on multiple works at once, you can do so easily using our “Edit Multiple Works” tool.
Changing your Privacy options does not have to be permanent; you can update them at any time. If you’re being harassed, we recommend changing your Privacy options at least for a short period of time.
The options available to you in the Privacy section are as follows:
Only show your work to registered users
You can use this feature to lock your work so only registered users can see it. If you are the victim of a mass-harassment campaign, this will prevent “drive-by” comments from guest users. Works that have been restricted to AO3 users will have a blue lock symbol displayed next to the title and are not accessible to guest users.
Enable comment moderation
Comment moderation prevents any new comments (from both registered users and guests) from being publicly displayed on your work until you approve them. If you don’t approve a particular comment, then it will not be made public. PAC volunteers are able to see unreviewed/unapproved comments, so you can report a harassing comment without marking it as approved.
If you’re being harassed by a guest user but don’t want to disable anonymous comments entirely, you can use comment moderation to prevent harassing guest comments from appearing on your work.
If the harassment was posted by a registered user, comment moderation can help too. It not only prevents their comments from being shown to others, but also makes it easier for us to investigate, as long as you leave their comments unapproved and don’t delete them yourself.
Who can comment on this work
There are three comment settings:
- Registered users and guests can comment: Anyone can comment, including guests. (Note: If your work is restricted to registered users, guest users won’t be able to access it and therefore cannot comment even if this option is enabled.)
- Only registered users can comment: This is the default option. Only logged-in users can comment on your work, while guests and logged-out users cannot.
- No one can comment: This will disable all new comments on your work, regardless of whether the user is logged in or a guest.
Changing these settings will not affect any existing comments.
Archive locking, comment moderation, and comment restriction can all be used in conjunction with each other. For example, you can enable comment moderation and set your work to only allow registered users to comment at the same time. This means you won’t receive any guest comments at all, and comments from registered users will have to be manually approved.
What should I do if I encounter harassing content on AO3?
You can report harassment through the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form, which is linked at the bottom of every page on AO3. If you wish to avoid future contact from a registered user, we recommend blocking and muting them.
If the harassing content has been deleted, we generally won’t be able to investigate unless you’re able to provide screenshots or other copies of the harassing content. While it’s not possible to upload images to our reporting form, you can include links to images hosted on third-party sites in your report description. You can also specify in your report that you saved copies of the harassment, which we may ask you to provide in our initial response to your report.
How do I report harassing comments?
Comments can be reported through the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form like all other content on AO3. You can get the direct link to a specific comment by selecting the “Thread” button on the comment and copying the URL of that page, or by clicking on the link in your email or AO3 inbox.
If you’re reporting moderated comments, you don’t have to approve the comments or link every single comment in your report—just give us the link to your work’s unreviewed comments page, and specify which comment(s) you’re reporting (if you have a lot of unapproved comments).
Please don’t submit multiple reports about the same user. When reporting multiple works or comments by the same user, please submit only one report with links to everything you’re reporting, so that all information about that user is in the same place. If the harassment is ongoing, you can turn on comment moderation—if you mention that you’ve done so and link your work’s unreviewed comments page in your report, we’ll check that page for any new harassing comments submitted, without you needing to file an additional report.
For example, a report of a harassing comment might look like this:
Link to the page you are reporting: https://archiveofourown.org/comments/000000000
Brief summary of Terms of Service violation: Harassment
Description of the content you are reporting:
USERNAME went on a slur-filled rant in this comment on my work.
If you are reporting additional comments, please include all relevant links and other information in your report description:
Brief summary of Terms of Service violation: Harassment (repeated nasty comments and block evasion)
Description of the content you are reporting:
USERNAME went on a slur-filled rant in this comment on my work.After I froze the thread, they commented with more slurs and insults here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1234/comments/123456789
I blocked them and turned on comment moderation but then they commented again as a guest: https://archiveofourown.org/ works/1234/comments/234567890
I have screenshots and copies of the email notifications if you need them.
A report of a harassing work might look like this:
Link to the page you are reporting: https://archiveofourown.org/works/00000000
Brief summary of Terms of Service violation: Harassment in tags and notes
Description of the content you are reporting:
USERNAME has a harassing tag: “go away x/y freaks or i’ll call the cops”And in the end notes they have more harassment: “incest lovers do not comment or I will slice your toes off”
If you are reporting additional works or comments that are part of the same incident, please include all relevant links and other information in your report description:
Description of the content you are reporting:
USERNAME has a harassing tag: “go away x/y freaks or i’ll call the cops”And in the end notes they have more harassment: “incest lovers do not comment or I will slice your toes off”
One of their other works (https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456789) also has harassment and I think is not a fanwork? It’s a long rant about why x/y shippers are idiots.
The comments of this work are full of harassment, mostly by guests, but the creator calls a bunch of people pedophiles in these threads:
https://archiveofourown.org/comments/123456789
https://archiveofourown.org/comments/234567890In the second thread linked above, there’s also a “kys” (kill yourself) comment by USERNAME2, which the creator responds to with “u first”.
You can add more details if you like, but these examples provide the basic information we need:
- Who posted the harassing content: Tell us their username(s) or if the comment(s) or work(s) are anonymous or orphaned.
- Where we can find the harassing content: Enter one URL in the “Link to the page you are reporting” field, and (if applicable) include links to any other violating works or comment threads in the description of your report.
- What violates the TOS: Explain why you think harassment has occurred, for example by including a quote and/or providing context for a comment exchange. A brief description of the situation 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 incident. While PAC investigates every report we receive, it can take several months for us to process a report.
What if I have more questions about harassment?
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.
If you are being harassed, think you’ve found harassing content, or if you want to know whether a particular work or comment qualifies as harassment, please report the work(s) or comment(s) to us as described above. For more information, you can read our TOS FAQ on harassment.
If you are still uncertain, you can comment below or submit a question through the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form.
otw_news_feed) wrote2025-06-11 04:05 pmAbsolution – The Inugrrrl Memorial is Moving to the AO3
Absolution – The Inugrrrl Memorial, an InuYasha fanfiction memorial archive, is being imported to the Archive of Our Own (AO3).
Inugrrrl was a longtime fan and fanfiction writer of InuYasha and the InuYasha/Kagome pairing. In her own words, she was known for “writing characterization-breaking, smut-filled, angst-riddled, alternate universe pulp fiction without a hint of shame, regret, or apology.” She was active in the fanbase from 2005-2024. Inugrrrl tragically passed away in June of 2024 and her daughter wished for her mother’s fanworks to remain online for the fanbase to enjoy.
Open Doors will be working with Rinikioi, Inugrrrl’s best friend, to import her personal archive, Absolution, into a separate memorial account on the Archive of Our Own.
We will begin importing works by Inugrrrl to the AO3 after May. You will find them on the inugrrrl_memorial account.
Inugrrrl also had a collection of fanfiction gifted to her by friends and fellow fans. Open Doors will be importing these works into a separate collection.
What does this mean for creators who wrote fic for Inugrrrl?
Please contact Open Doors with your fannish pseud(s), if:
- You’d like us to import your works and need a claim request sent to your email address.
- You already have an AO3 account and have imported your works already yourself.
- You’d like to import your works yourself (including if you don’t have an AO3 account yet).
- You would NOT like your works moved to the AO3, or would NOT like your works added to the archive collection.
- You are happy for us to preserve your works on the AO3, but would like us to remove your name.
- You have any other questions we can help you with.
We will begin importing works gifted to Inugrrrl to the AO3 after June.
We’d love it if readers who were familiar with her fannish activities could help us document Inugrrrl’s fannish involvement on Fanlore. If you’re new to wiki editing, no worries! Check out the new visitor portal, or ask the Fanlore Gardeners for tips.
We’re honored to be able to help preserve the works of Inugrrrl, and while we mourn her loss, we also realize that we are fortunate that she had a friend who was given permission to collect and preserve her works on the AO3 so that they will not be lost. Thinking about the death of a fandom friend may be difficult, but it can also be an opportunity to consider what will happen to your fanworks and accounts and those of your friends after your deaths. The Archive of Our Own has an option to name a Fannish Next of Kin, someone who would be able to gain access to your accounts in the case of your death or incapacitation. By naming someone who can act on your behalf, you can decide ahead of time how you want your AO3 accounts handled going into the future.
– The Open Doors team and Rinikioi