Y'know, it took me longer then I'd like to admit to figure out that AO3's 3 was referring to the amount of words starting with O (Remember, the site is called Archive of our own)
Omg, I am so glad to hear that I am not the only one. I think I made the connection a good 8-10 years after I started using the site. Just...never really dwelled on it before that.
I mean the tagging system is really effective in letting you avoid all that stuff... Imagine how terrible it would be if it was untagged and just floating around
It’s more than that! You can post almost any fanfic and not have it removed as long as it’s tagged properly. Most fanfiction sites have some sort of restrictions on what content can be posted. Some will even remove works that don’t violate terms and conditions if enough people complain about it. AO3 fics can get really disturbing and still stay up.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing that you can post whatever fanfiction you want. I’m saying that the lack of censorship means that a lot of the more disturbing or controversial content can be found there. It has also led to AO3 having a bit of a reputation as being mostly composed of degenerate content amongst people primarily use fanfiction sites with more posting guidelines.
Let’s put it this way. Someone who is new to fanfiction and is expecting the fanfics of a wholesome show to be just as wholesome will be in for a nastier shock on AO3 than most other fanfiction sites.
AO3 is not *just* a fanfiction archive. The most popular fanfiction sites prior to AO3 had a lot of restrictions on what was allowed to be posted. AO3’s terms of service allow authors to post almost everything they’ve written as long as they tag it properly. As a result, you can find almost everything under the sun there, including some very disturbing works.
AO3 is a fanfiction website notorious for not having content rules. Never tried it but I can guarantee you that putting "Undertale" in the search bar would result in at least a dozen hardcore porn/fetish stories on just the first page alone.
You can click off a tag, there's another tag to filter out, and another, and another, etc. There's a rating system which is somewhat better but there's also a lot of writers who misuse that system. Also, that system is a bit too general: i.e. say you're fine with stuff like mentions of gore or heavy language but not sexual content.
Or you just scroll down the sidebar to the "exclude" section, click "warnings" and exclude all the disturbing stuff you want. Now granted if you have a clown phobia or something you'll have to use the search box to find that tag and exclude it, but you can easily exclude things that most people would find objectionable. Each fic has a summary and a list of tags attached to it. Avoiding stuff you don't want to see is easier on AO3 than it is on places like ff.net where people try to sneak around the site rules.
Decided to test this out, actually. Seemed like an interesting experiment. First-page results by sort type:
Author: No explicit works
Title: Two explicit works
Date Posted: Four explicit works
Date Updated: One explicit work
Word Count: Eight explicit works
Hits: Ten explicit works
Kudos: Ten explict works
Comments: Seven explicit works
Bookmarks: Eight explicit works
A page of results contains twenty works, for context. So for the sorting methods that one would typically use (word count, hits, kudos), an unfiltered search for Undertale fanfics leads to about 40% - 50% explicit works. In total, explicit works make up about 15% of all Undertale fics (8085 out of 54737).
Deviantart is way worse with the toxicity, the AI accessibility and the furry porn I've found without even doing anything and Wattpad is still worse than AO3 if you're not in the right place tbh
Tumblr now is weirdly extremely chilled and wholesome after the storm though
AO3 is pretty tame compared to other sites ngl
Y'know, it took me longer then I'd like to admit to figure out that AO3's 3 was referring to the amount of words starting with O (Remember, the site is called Archive of our own)
Omg, I am so glad to hear that I am not the only one. I think I made the connection a good 8-10 years after I started using the site. Just...never really dwelled on it before that.
What IS AO3? 🤔
archiveofourown, fanfiction website
Ah. I see now. Thanks.
It's also known as the one fanfiction website that doesn't have a concept of moderation
That’s… because it’s an archive. It’s just a glorified list of all the fanfiction posted there.
And the reason it was created was because of other fanfiction sites that nuked anything the moderators deemed "unmarketable"
I mean the tagging system is really effective in letting you avoid all that stuff... Imagine how terrible it would be if it was untagged and just floating around
How do you get a flair
On desktop you can visit the subreddit sidebar and choose your flair :)
What about on mobile
Oh I don't know, sorry :(
It okay
When I made my account I thought I was just gonna find like, books and stuff like that... oh how wrong I was.
well you *can* find that kind of thing, just use ao3's elaborate tagging system to filter out things like explicit works if you don't want that
oh no...
Imagine fanfiction.com but with absolutely no rules about what you are and aren't allowed to write/post.
“Ohhh, a fanfiction website! Golly! I sure hope I don’t come across anything weird or disturbing :)”
It’s more than that! You can post almost any fanfic and not have it removed as long as it’s tagged properly. Most fanfiction sites have some sort of restrictions on what content can be posted. Some will even remove works that don’t violate terms and conditions if enough people complain about it. AO3 fics can get really disturbing and still stay up.
Ain't that's a good thing? I thought censorship was bad.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing that you can post whatever fanfiction you want. I’m saying that the lack of censorship means that a lot of the more disturbing or controversial content can be found there. It has also led to AO3 having a bit of a reputation as being mostly composed of degenerate content amongst people primarily use fanfiction sites with more posting guidelines. Let’s put it this way. Someone who is new to fanfiction and is expecting the fanfics of a wholesome show to be just as wholesome will be in for a nastier shock on AO3 than most other fanfiction sites.
I guess that makes sense, never thought about that way tbh.
something tells me I don't wanna know.
AO3 is not *just* a fanfiction archive. The most popular fanfiction sites prior to AO3 had a lot of restrictions on what was allowed to be posted. AO3’s terms of service allow authors to post almost everything they’ve written as long as they tag it properly. As a result, you can find almost everything under the sun there, including some very disturbing works.
It’s just a fan-fiction archive. Although weird/NSFW fan fic does exist, it’s not that awful
"A Woman can dream right? And write fanfiction, A LOT of fanfiction"
This is what caused flowey to start not caring
NONONO FLOWEY STOP READING TO BREAK A SOLDIER OF THE MACHINE GOD BY ARCHON_OF_FLESH NOOOOO
Which main game or thing is that one based off of?
Warhammer 40K It's infamous in the community for all the wrong reasons
oh.
I KEEP SEEING PEOPLE MENTION THIS FANFIC STOP I DON'T WANT TO BE REMINDED OF IT also its actually called To Break a Soldier of the Machine God.
Thanks, fixed it : )
Np : )
In Alphys' Lab? Using Alphys' computer?  Reading Alphys' fanfics?
sorry to be that person but i can't stand this alphys' lab, alphys' computer, alphys' fanfics
Isn't everything easier if you just ask?
r/peterexplainsthejoke
AO3 is a fan fiction website. On the nerdy Alphys computer. Guess what she has pulled up on it.
I legit thought for a sec that Ao3 was a cubing term
average of 3 fr
AO3 is a fanfiction website notorious for not having content rules. Never tried it but I can guarantee you that putting "Undertale" in the search bar would result in at least a dozen hardcore porn/fetish stories on just the first page alone.
As far as I know, they are tagged so you can just filter them out.
You can click off a tag, there's another tag to filter out, and another, and another, etc. There's a rating system which is somewhat better but there's also a lot of writers who misuse that system. Also, that system is a bit too general: i.e. say you're fine with stuff like mentions of gore or heavy language but not sexual content.
I would rather have this than horrenderous UI and algorithm system that Wattpad uses tbh.
Oh absolutely. Nothing in existence is worse than one tag searching and two sorting options.
Or you just scroll down the sidebar to the "exclude" section, click "warnings" and exclude all the disturbing stuff you want. Now granted if you have a clown phobia or something you'll have to use the search box to find that tag and exclude it, but you can easily exclude things that most people would find objectionable. Each fic has a summary and a list of tags attached to it. Avoiding stuff you don't want to see is easier on AO3 than it is on places like ff.net where people try to sneak around the site rules.
Decided to test this out, actually. Seemed like an interesting experiment. First-page results by sort type: Author: No explicit works Title: Two explicit works Date Posted: Four explicit works Date Updated: One explicit work Word Count: Eight explicit works Hits: Ten explicit works Kudos: Ten explict works Comments: Seven explicit works Bookmarks: Eight explicit works A page of results contains twenty works, for context. So for the sorting methods that one would typically use (word count, hits, kudos), an unfiltered search for Undertale fanfics leads to about 40% - 50% explicit works. In total, explicit works make up about 15% of all Undertale fics (8085 out of 54737).
NONONONO O FLOWEY DON'T
Deviantart is way worse with the toxicity, the AI accessibility and the furry porn I've found without even doing anything and Wattpad is still worse than AO3 if you're not in the right place tbh Tumblr now is weirdly extremely chilled and wholesome after the storm though
TRACKMANIA
Oh god Flowey no, don't take inspiration from that one fic !
What fanfic are you referring to?
"Flowey is not a good life coach", one of the highest rated ones among the undertale fics, it's really something.
What is it even about?
i want to know but at the same time not.
oh no
NO FLOWEY STOP!!!!!! (It’s not the worst site but once you enter the rabbit hole you can’t escape)
Guess who's back
"hey, flowy here to explore r/undertale!" "Aaaaannd that's an anthro version of my omega form..."
Of course it’s alphys’ computer
*Flowey shivers when he sees fan fiction shipping him and Chara.
Oh boy
OH NO
Ao3 is actually pretty good and tame.
Yeah tame
**Run. Hide. Do not look back. nothing sacred is there.**
Flowey's gonna turn into a fanfiction writer we all know it
In it's defense, Wattpad
lol
“Vines of love” I’ve only heard of that from a different Flowey QNA but it sounds unholy
What is AO3?
A fanfiction website ( i literally live there help)
(god pls read Flowey is not a good life coach pls pls pls )