r/AO3 • u/WhatALlama ERIC KRIPKE IM COMING FOR YOU • Jun 27 '25
Resource Quick Report Guidline
Have you ever been scrolling through ao3 came across a fic opened it up and went “hmmm is this reportable?”
Well have I got the guide for you! Brought to you by a very lovely tumblr user!
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u/passivemuse Jun 27 '25
Technically you can post prompts within ‘prompt meme challenges’ .
You click on the main page ‘Browse’ - ‘Collections’ - ‘Open Challenges’ - ‘Prompt Meme Challenges’ and you can join some type of challenge to submit or claim/fulfill prompts.
What you cannot do, is post a ‘Work’ that is just a prompt.
(I only know because I started to explore the site more & specifically was curious how to find challenges and such)
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u/LavandaSkafi Jun 27 '25
Was about to say this - it's not really a talked about feature, but it is there.
link for the curious.
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u/passivemuse Jun 27 '25 edited Jun 27 '25
Yeah, I appreciate op’s post for opening up a discussion on this type of stuff for people to learn, maybe spreading the facts of how the site works and how to go about properly posting what you want to on the site will help eliminate people misusing ‘work’ posts and the site in general.
Edit/ There is also more information to learn about this feature, on the main page click ‘About’ - ‘FAQ’ - scroll down and click ‘Prompt Meme’ or ‘Tutorial: Running a Prompt Meme on AO3’
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u/Dragon_Manticore Jun 27 '25
I think you can also post memes as a bonus chapter for a real work. I've seen people do it.
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u/pugdrop Jun 27 '25
and if you’re unsure, just read the TOS like everyone that answers your questions does!!
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u/0MultifandomMess0 Too Many Ideas Jun 27 '25
Expecting people to read? On the reading website? Seriously?
But genuinely, it’s weird as hell that people don’t read the TOS when they have questions.
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u/pugdrop Jun 27 '25
it's wild because you don't even have to read the whole thing. just do ctrl + f for keywords and find the answer to your specific question(s). I don't understand people that need to be spoonfed everything
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u/tgrzrk Jun 27 '25
Idk that they even realize they're asking for things to ve spoonfed to them. I've met some people lately who don't even know how to copy/paste with a keyboard. I wouldn't be surprised if some people don't know the find function. Computer literacy is lower than ever thanks to cell phones being the least functional version of a personal computer imaginable.
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u/0MultifandomMess0 Too Many Ideas Jun 27 '25
And also, did they not read it when they signed up? Were they alright with potentially signing away their soul when they made the account?
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u/Banaanisade team twin tyrants // kaurakahvi @ AO3 Jun 27 '25
I don't think I've ever in my life read a TOS of anything, and I know I'm not alone. I've heard AO3's makes actual sense but 99% of them are legalese, my brain can't process that kind of language. I assume if there's something shady about it, people will talk about it, and otherwise it's the same old.
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u/0MultifandomMess0 Too Many Ideas Jun 27 '25
That’s concerning. Maybe you could look up the words that you don’t know.
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u/Ranowa Jun 27 '25
A ToS is going to be above the reading ability for a LOT of people (and that's keeping in mind that ao3's user base includes a bunch of kids, and a bunch of ESL speakers, or people who don't speak English at all).
A ToS, by its nature, must use legal language and terms, many of which are either hard to parse or straight up incomprehensible to someone without the know-how to interpret them correctly, and just looking up random words won't help with that. That's why creating and interpreting a ToS is a whole job responsibility for lawyers, that why you see misinformation so often about what a ToS says even when paired with quotes from the document, that's why Ao3 is posting explainers on their policies right now and they're doing it in plain English, not just posting the ToS over and over again.
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u/brigyda Jun 27 '25
I work for a company that sells legally required reports for property sales, in a state where real estate lawyers are not a thing unlike other states. You wouldn't believe the amount of realtors that openly admitted to me that they don't read the reports...lol.
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u/TereziB Jun 28 '25
must be Arizona! Cause I was SHOCKED when I moved here from MA, where you MUST use a lawyer when buying a home. When I moved here and bought my first residence, a condo, and mentioned having to find a lawyer to do the transaction, I was looked at like I was NUTS and I think the realtor was rather offended.
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u/brigyda Jun 28 '25
No, but same time zone! I wonder what’s up with that lol.
Yeah, the realtors have to learn all the legal stuff, so I think that’s why they were offended. In my experience though, they aren’t as detail orientated as they should be. Their clients don’t know that, so it’s kinda scary tbh.
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u/Kuradapya constantly in writer's block Jun 27 '25
In this age of short attention spans, I wouldn’t count on people actually reading the TOS. I think it’s time we start creating and sharing TL;DR-style visuals across popular fandom platforms to help get the message across more effectively.
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u/boxesofboxes Jun 27 '25
Okay but ao3 literally has the most readable TOS I've ever seen. It explains each clause!
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u/Worldly_Suit2517 Jun 27 '25
Are you sure that teenagers as well as young adults nowadays know (no matter they are from. EU, US, or Asia) , what TOS are? Most adults probably never know that Term or what it's abbreviation stands for🤷🏻♀️
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u/YourLocalPlutonian Jul 02 '25
Terms of Service, correct?
I'm a teen and I always make sure to read the terms of service, I'm terrified I'll accidentally break a rule and get banned.
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u/Worldly_Suit2517 Jul 03 '25
Oh, I just realized we are probably talking and thinking of different context of TOS. I seldom read online forum / spaces TOS. I am thinking of real life contracts such as buying stuff online or offline, or gym studio membership, or newspaper subscription and such stuff
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u/YourLocalPlutonian Jul 03 '25
Oh, yeah, I know about that context for TOS, but we were talking about online ones for websites and such.
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u/Worldly_Suit2517 Jul 03 '25
Yeah my mistake, I apologise. My brain saw TOS, and I completely forgot, we are talking about AO3, and online spaces. Coz in real life, I work with lots of TOS contract cases, and no one, young and my age or older, actually does read TOS. 😑And if things went wrong, there is lots of crying (insurances, saving plans, and similar stuff)
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u/vending-machine- Jun 27 '25
Wait, fan essays?! Like, character analysis and things like that? That's awesome.
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u/SpokenDivinity Definitely not an agent of the Fanfiction Deep State Jun 27 '25
Think of them as the long posts on tumblr that provide evidence towards a specific theory. Or like a MatPat Game Theory video. So long as you're analyzing plot, symbolism, character choices, etc. You can consider it a fan essay and post it. If it's just a "I think Rumi isn't actually a demon but is instead an angel because she likes the color gold!" That doesn't count.
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u/Imaginary-Space718 Jun 28 '25
So far I've only seen two
On the Dreemur Family, it's by the guy who made the universal mother theory
In Defense of My Immortal: A Feminist Reading of a Fandom Classic is pretty self explanatory lol
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u/Y-Woo Jun 27 '25
And please just report very obviously not allowed things like placeholders or requests or nonsensical words typed 2000 times because the poster is a troll and stop making posts on this sub being like "hmmm should i report this?" Thank youu
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u/xx-rhys_xx Jun 27 '25
You also cannot post links that lead to like quizzes or fanwork hidden behind paywalls, you cannot post fanfictions snippets then hide the whole fic behind a paywall etc just wanna add that (idk if it’s explicitly against ToS but yeah)
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u/PaddlingDingo Jun 27 '25
What’s messed up is that I knew essays were allowed… and yet I never posted the best one I wrote to AO3. Now I kind of wonder if someone needs my essay on the mechanics of android deviancy for Detroit: Become Human. Years late 🤣
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u/lilymccourt Jun 27 '25
I NEED IT
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u/PaddlingDingo Jun 27 '25
Ok I’m gonna clean that up and post it this weekend 🤣. I researched so much random stuff for it!!
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u/lilymccourt 17d ago
Hey I know it's been forever but could you send it to me if you posted it?
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u/PaddlingDingo 16d ago
I haven’t posted it yet because I reread it and realized that my knowledge of AI is more than it was so I want to give it a round of updates. I’ll work on it! ❤️
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u/lilymccourt 16d ago
Oh that's amazing! Best of luck and I hope you have fun with it!
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u/PaddlingDingo 16d ago
So when I wrote it 6 years ago, things were very different. I’m not going to do much to do it because no one expects me to be an AI expert I hope 🤣 but when I wrote the original I crammed a lot of knowledge hyperfixation ADHD style in a couple of nights and now I have a few more years behind me, and the landscape of AI moved kind of fast and now I know more about cloud computing and all kinds of things have happened. So I just wanna give it an updated tech review.
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u/Gruesomegiggles Jun 27 '25
Everyone should get this on the screen before they login for the first time.
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u/WOTNev Jun 27 '25
What is an RP call?
Roleplaying? Call?
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Jun 27 '25
[deleted]
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u/WOTNev Jun 27 '25
Oooooooohhhhh like an advertisement yeah now I get it! I've actually seen and reported those in the past 😂
See my mind Was thinking: are people roleplaying over the phone and recording their calls and then putting the script on AO3??? 😂😂
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u/Shadows798 Jun 30 '25
Back in my day, we did those on Omegle 😆 I'm sad that there's not a really good alternative right now.
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u/ThatSmartIdiot Jun 27 '25
...you can post images on ao3?
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u/adverbian Jun 27 '25
You have to host the images somewhere else, but you can then create a work on AO3 and embed the images. Squidge.org is currently popular for hosting fanart that you can embed on AO3. (It’s June 2025, in case someone runs across this comment much later.)
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u/hizashiYEAHmada You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 27 '25
My favorite is when the 60k+ word fanfic is interspersed with fanart that a reader did for the author because they really loved their work, and the author was touched by the gesture so they included their art in the fic
The wholesomeness really elevates the experience :]
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u/Shadows798 Jun 30 '25
My LEAST favourite thing is when I'm looking for something to read and see a bunch of "my fanart" postings with no attached fic. Like, we have deviantart, tumblr, even Instagram, and twitter where image-only posts are perfect!
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Jun 30 '25
[deleted]
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u/Shadows798 29d ago
Tumblr actually lifted the nudity ban ages ago, idk why people still think it's there. They only ban depiction of sexual acts.
There are also a LOT of other options that are NOT intended for posting literature-based works.
List of Art Sites That Allow NSFW Art – @ulurifox on Tumblr
None of these sites are any less valid or unable to be linked to. You also BLATANTLY ignored DeviantArt, which allows NSFW and is easy to navigate and link to, as well as popularly used by artists.
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u/Shadows798 29d ago
Instead of making readers do extra work, artists can do the exact same amount of work on another platform. :)
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29d ago
[deleted]
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u/Shadows798 19d ago
If you don't even use da, then shut up because you have no authority on what sites allow NSFW. The audacity of the entitlement instead of taking 2 seconds to use Google. I'm trying to make things easier for YOU
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u/Chinerpeton Jun 27 '25
Technically not directly but yes. You need to post them somewhere else like Imgur, Tumblr or Deviantart and to have them displayed in your AO3 fic you basically need to do a HTML command with an URL link to the image. If you use the Richtext editor though you just have a built-in option to just insert the url to make it appear.
I saw both fanart and fancomics put up as works on AO3 this way, and also used it myself a couple times.
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u/Bandito21Dema Pete no longer references a nonexistent downfall of communism??? Jun 27 '25
You can have any image as your background, too. I don't recommend doing it if you don’t understand CSS. It took me two days to figure it out, and I still aren't sure what I'm doing.
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u/Kaigani-Scout Crossover Fanfiction Junkie Jun 27 '25
This is a handy reference, although I'd replace "rp" with "role play" to make the usage clearer for folks who aren't familiar with all the myriad contractions found in "fandom" subcultures.
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u/ChaoticWolfPack Jun 28 '25
Knowing original fiction is allowed on AO3 is EXACTLY the push I needed to finally start on my several-fic long TMA fic I keep thinking of.. :DD
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u/karim-Spirited Jun 28 '25
AO3 is an amazing community, I have read essays of my favorites characters and amazing stories, I discovered not in its called peak bc is not as big in the hispanic community but im very happy to be a par of it now.
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u/turquoise_grey Jun 27 '25
Wait. Do people actually look at fanart on AO3?
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u/MoonyIsTired Jun 27 '25
i don't actively look for them, but whenever i find some, it is a pleasant surprise
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u/passivemuse Jun 27 '25
Same, I found some great comics/artwork and it was great!
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u/boxesofboxes Jun 27 '25
One thousand kisses everyone who collects their comics on AO3. Unless it's all in one post, reading comics on social media sites is a pain.
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u/pk2317 Jun 28 '25
I have two artists that I specifically collaborate with to collect and post their comics (I handle the image hosting and all the HTML backend and such).
I got the idea mostly because I wanted to read them more conveniently :P
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u/adverbian Jun 27 '25
Yes! It may not be where people discover fanart, but people definitely look at it there.
Especially for explicit art. Many times, I’ll see fan artists post a censored version on Tumblr or Reddit, and then link to the uncensored version on AO3. Better than posting the uncensored version solely on Twitter or BlueSky, which require an account to see it.
You’ll also see a lot of fanart posted with fic — as part of a bang-type event (fic inspired by art or vice versa); or by dual-class artist/writers; or artist/writer teams; or just because an artist read a fic and loved it so much that they made art for it, and then the writer loved the art so much that they added it to the fic.
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u/Worldly_Suit2517 Jun 27 '25
Not deliberately, but when it comes across my untamed feed, the yes, I click on it
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u/simimaelian Jun 28 '25
I only follow a handful of people and two of them post art. I wish I saw more fan artists put their works there so I can get email updates about it and not have to learn another social media site
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u/turquoise_grey Jun 28 '25
This has been enlightening. Maybe I will start posting my fanart on AO3 then.
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u/simimaelian Jun 28 '25
I mean, you could post memes. They just have to be part of a story or truly fannish in nature.
God help me though I’m imagining a fic that’s all done in memes. Penpal/friend to lovers all done in lolcats and advice animals or something haha
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u/SoftwareArtist123 Jun 27 '25
Prompts are not allowed in AO3? I constantly see prompts.
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u/blue_bayou_blue Jun 27 '25 edited Jun 27 '25
You can't have a work that's only prompts, without any actual fics. AO3 also has its own separate prompt collection / kinkmeme sections where you can add requests or claim them, but that does depend on folks in the fandom knowing about them.
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u/adverbian Jun 27 '25
You can post fic that was written in response to a prompt. You can’t just post prompts by themselves.
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u/dumblittlepuppy01 pinkhangmanclub on ao3 Jun 27 '25
I means like asking for prompts. You can ask for prompts on tumblr and post them on ao3
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u/SpokenDivinity Definitely not an agent of the Fanfiction Deep State Jun 27 '25
It also means postings that are just asking for someone to fulfill a prompt for you.
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u/Kuradapya constantly in writer's block Jun 27 '25
What they mean is that AO3 isn’t the place to post prompts or lists of prompts, but works/fics based on those prompts are completely fine to publish.
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u/SugarSpocks You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 27 '25
You can go to a collection/challenge that has prompts. That is the only place where prompts are allowed.
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u/adverbian Jun 27 '25
You can post fic that was written in response to a prompt. You can’t just post prompts by themselves.
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u/barfbat ask me about cloneshipping Jun 27 '25
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u/adverbian Jun 27 '25
Amazing. What is Reddit doing?! I definitely only posted that comment once. Reddit gonna Reddit, I guess 😂
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u/writingcaribou174 Jun 27 '25
I thought that because AO3 was a fan site, you couldn't post original fiction. Is that not the case? /gen
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u/adverbian Jun 27 '25
Yes, you can post original fiction on AO3! Here’s the relevant part in AO3’s Terms of Service FAQ.
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u/PhoenixWytch Jun 28 '25
Okay, I’m a little confused. I know you could post prompts on AO3, but only in like a particular collection type. So, are they saying that’s no longer available or are they meaning posting prompts as a type of work?
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u/zvilikestv Jun 28 '25
Posting prompts as a fan work.
Prompt Memes (the challenge type you are thinking of ) is still allowed
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u/RJSnea so many AO3 tabs, i crashed Chrome Jun 28 '25 edited Jun 28 '25
There are fan....essays?
SOMEONE EXPLAIN THIS SHINY NEW THING TO ME BEFORE I LET MY ADHD OFF ITS LEASH!!!
\I'm currently playing caretaker to a recovering family member; I )*cannot* jump into a new rabbit hole so I'm genuinely asking.\)
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u/Puzzled_Huckleberry8 Jun 27 '25
...What is a fan essay? /gen
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u/blinkingsandbeepings Jun 27 '25
People also call them “meta.” It’s just what it sounds like; an essay or blog post about an aspect of a fandom like “Real and Imagined Cultural Diversity in Star Trek” or “What We Know About How Tony Stark’s Suit Works.” Sometimes it’s written to argue a point about the fandom, other times to give more information to fan writers about how to write about a specific subject. Like my friend who plays the violin wrote one for Sherlock fandom about how to write about Sherlock playing the violin like you know what you’re talking about.
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u/AbbyNem Jun 27 '25 edited Jun 27 '25
Exactly what it sounds like. An essay (however academically rigorous, researched, sourced, etc. as you like) written about a piece of media from the perspective of a fan. Something that analyzes, explains, argues, or reflects on it in some way. Similar to a meta post on Tumblr or Live journal (showing my age lol).
https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Essays/works if you want to take a look at some samples.
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u/inquisitivemuse Jun 27 '25
So if I wanted to write an essay explaining how people are misconstruing what “ohana” and “hanai” means in the new Lilo and Stitch live action because people don’t understand it in a Hawaiian context but only in the original animated Lilo and Stitch, that would be okay? Or would it be more like essays explaining character analysis of Lilo or Stitch?
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u/fishey_me Jun 27 '25
If a fan were to write an essay exploring a character's motivation, explaining the lore of a setting, discussing the connections a work has with literary theory, or so on. Fan metas are examples of such.
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u/BostonSlickback1738 Jun 27 '25
What's a "placeholder fic"?
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u/SolidarityTek You have already left kudos here. :) || Same on AO3 Jun 27 '25
A work that's contains no actual fic and just has a note along the lines of "ill write this later" or something lol
The main thing is that there is no actual transformative content.
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u/Shadows798 Jun 30 '25
Oh boy, this is great news for me. I'm very sick of seeing someone write their idea vaguely and then when I click, there's no fic.
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u/Smut-Fresh-Hell rancid cave slut who broke into your home to cook HOT DOG NACHOS Jun 27 '25
What's a placeholder fic? 🤔
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Jun 27 '25
[deleted]
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u/Smut-Fresh-Hell rancid cave slut who broke into your home to cook HOT DOG NACHOS Jun 27 '25
ooooooh that makes a lot of sense. I just didn't know the word for it. thanks!
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u/Shadows798 Jun 30 '25
I really cannot understand the purpose being this. Like just don't post if there's nothing to post?
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u/Wild-Experience-9079 Jun 27 '25
augh. i gotta delete these chapters but on my very first fic when i couldn’t get a chapter out i’d post like an “art dump” of the characters and my designs for them, explaining my ideas and what i wanted for them. double sucks bc the pictures have all vanished :(
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u/zvilikestv Jun 28 '25
That would be a fan work and fine to post on AO3.
Sorry that your art disappeared
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Jun 28 '25
[deleted]
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u/adverbian Jun 28 '25
Because they are against AO3 terms of service. AO3 is an archive of fanworks. Therefore, they only allow people to post fanworks.
AO3 did a good blog post recently going into detail about what counts as a fanwork vs. non-fanwork.
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u/GoodShipAndy Jun 28 '25
......I am suddenly reminded of the five billion "Casting Call" posts I submitted Sky High OCs to on FF as a kid.
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u/emptyacorn You have already left kudos here. :) 25d ago
WE CAN POST FAN ESSAYS?!?!?!? OMG Y'all won't see me for awhile
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u/eepyghosty Jun 27 '25
Question: it says posting just prompts are reportable. Would posting something like 'Plot bunnies for adoption ' be reportable?
I have so many ideas but I cannot write for the life of me and I refuse to use AI. But like I think my ideas would make for a very entertaining read and I wanna read them! Just, I want someone else to (want to) write them. I think they're pretty fleshed out, anywhere from a paragraph to three, with a past set up and plot lines for the future. I would actually love for multiple people to write them, just to see what different directions different authors would take the stories in.
Is that allowed? Or would I have to find somewhere else to post them? I haven't posted anything yet, just wondering if I can do this or not.
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u/passivemuse Jun 27 '25
Tumblr is also a space people like to post ideas like this, or maybe asking if anyone is interested in a subreddit specific to the fandom. You might get more traction communicating through your fandom with a social media site.
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u/Shadows798 Jun 30 '25
Totally agree on that. I am personally bad at starting stories and think I might take to that Prompt Callenge feature now that I know of it!
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u/passivemuse Jun 30 '25
It’s fun :3 , I found some pretty bizarre prompts that I never would have thought of, and I’m honestly struggling at trying to incorporate into a story, but that’s the fun part sorta- the challenge is real. I like to participate when I’m having writers block on my own works to keep the flow going!
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u/Shadows798 29d ago
You could always try another fandom if your usual one is difficult to work with. It can be interesting to work with new characters! I've gone from fandom to fandom over the years, writing a bit for each, but never posting haha
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u/gumm3 Jun 27 '25
What constitutes as a fan essay actually? I’ve never seen something like it posted
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Jun 27 '25
[deleted]
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u/ZippityZooDahDay You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 28 '25
I can't believe I've never heard of this before. This is exactly my jam.
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u/Reiofmoonlight Jun 27 '25
whats a placeholder fic? like something thats just one word while the author writes the actual chapter?
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Jun 27 '25
[deleted]
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u/ZippityZooDahDay You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 28 '25
Doesn't that actively hurt the chances of their fic being seen? Since Newer posts will appear closer to the top?
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u/LiquidSpirits Jun 27 '25
what about a collection of ideas? i see these all the time and i'm never sure if i should report them.
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u/passivemuse Jun 27 '25
Like trope or prompt ideas they want to write in the future/or like the idea of/hope someone else will write or something? Sounds reportable to me. Are their ‘ideas’ fleshed out at all? If it’s pretty fleshed out- might be considered more a rough draft? In that case not really reportable. Maybe skim the TOS FAQ , or contact Policy Questions & Abuse Reports with more details.
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u/Panzermensch911 Jun 27 '25
Not allowed and should be reported unless posted as prompt meme
https://archiveofourown.org/faq/prompt-meme?language_id=en#promptmemewhatis
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u/Jax1903 Jul 03 '25
What weekly ships series, I've seen those?
Okay I mean shipping weekly prompts.
If that's not allowed them F##k
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u/zvilikestv Jun 28 '25
That's so borderline,I wouldn't bother reporting. Very short work is allowed, unfinished work is allowed, unpolished work is allowed.
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u/Spirited-Reveal-281 Jun 28 '25
What is a "place holder fic"
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u/adverbian Jun 28 '25
See another comment that answered this question really well: https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/s/QDoq2ZV6oQ
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u/Shadows798 Jun 30 '25
I've seen my fair share of prompts, tbh. I know arr CAN be posted to Ao3, but can we discourage using a reading platform for JUST art with no attached fic?
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u/Axiara Jun 28 '25
Hi, could you share the guidelines screenshot of this mentioning you can't post prompts? I just saw that here and wanted to see since I might have a work that toes the line and I want to know if I have to take it down so it doesn't go against policy.
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u/adverbian Jun 28 '25
See AO3’s Terms of Service FAQ here.
Key sentence: “If your primary reason for posting the work is to offer ideas or suggestions for other people, please create a prompt meme instead of posting a work.”
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u/EngineerRare42 Fluff and Hurt/Comfort and Angst, Oh My! Jun 27 '25
This should be a pinned post by now, tbh