Further Changes to Support and Policy & Abuse Responsibilities

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2023-01-12 16:05:39 UTC

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Construction crane over a computer monitor with the words 'Spotlight on Support'

As we continue to work on better balancing the responsibilities of our Support and Policy & Abuse committees, we are shifting two further types of issues from Policy & Abuse to Support's mandate:

Fannish Next-of-Kin

This is an option we offer that allows a designated person to manage your account if you die or become incapacitated. To learn more about the Fannish Next-of-Kin program, you can read our TOS FAQ on the subject. Please note that if you have a currently-in-process Fannish Next-of-Kin request, our Policy & Abuse team will complete the ones that they have already received.

Going forward, if you wish to set up a Fannish Next-of-Kin, or need to change or activate one currently in place, please contact Support.

Duplicate works

Sometimes, due to a glitch or error, a work may be posted multiple times. This can be reported to our Support team, who will investigate and take down exact duplicates. Please note that works that contain different content (such as a work that is an edited or rewritten version of another work) will not be considered exact duplicates.

If you wish to report works that are exact duplicates of one another, please include links to both or all of the works in question in your report to our Support team. We hope these changes will be helpful by allowing our Policy and Abuse team members to devote more of their time and energy to other issues!

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Zumberge Thu 12 Jan 2023 05:01PM UTC

Funny question about the Next-of-Kin thing that might not be within the purview of the OTW but had me wondering anyway: Is there any way to ensure your works become public domain in the case of something happening?
(Not that I believe that I'm making a grand contribution to the global body of classic literature at large, mind you. I just want the world to know that it ain't getting rid of me *that* easily.)

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1. honilee Thu 12 Jan 2023 06:07PM UTC
  
  Interesting question! I'm curious about this, too, now that you've brought it up.
  
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2. CJ of Support (AO3_Support) (Official) Thu 12 Jan 2023 08:19PM UTC
  
  Hi Zumberge,
  Unfortunately, this is outside of the OTW's purview. In the United States, copyright attaches to works as soon as they are created, and lasts until 70 years after the death of the author. Disclaiming ownership of U.S. copyright can be difficult, as this article from law scholar David Fagundes explains: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjdnmp/its-too-hard-to-put-artwork-into-the-public-domain. Other countries’ systems are different. Since the public domain and copyright laws work differently in different countries, our best recommendation is that you speak to a lawyer, so you can ensure that your works are handled the way you want in case something happened to you.
  Best,
  CJ
  AO3 Support
  
  Last Edited Thu 12 Jan 2023 08:22PM UTC
  
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3. 1. honilee Fri 13 Jan 2023 06:59PM UTC
    
    Interesting! Thanks for sharing that article for further reading.
    
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  2. 1. Acorn_Squash Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:21AM UTC
      
      Do also look into Public Domain Dedication, although of course it's no substitute for lawyering up. Plus, look into making a will so you can choose who gets your copyrights.
      Edited to add: Oops, looks like Quihi already covered CC0!
      
      Last Edited Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:51AM UTC
      
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4. Quihi Sat 14 Jan 2023 10:55PM UTC
  
  You could ask your fannish next-of-kin to specify your works are under the Creative Commons zero license on your works and profile when they gain control of your account. It may not be foolproof, but I think that's the easiest option that makes your wishes clear, whatever the legal intricacies of the public domain.
  
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carpenter Thu 12 Jan 2023 05:34PM UTC

Quick note: the FAQ linked in your post, https://archiveofourown.org/tos_faq#next_of_kin, still refers to the Abuse team as the people to contact for requests, in the answers to several questions. At least some of those should probably be updated to point to Support.
Thanks for everything you all do!

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1. CJ of Support (AO3_Support) (Official) Thu 12 Jan 2023 08:21PM UTC
  
  Hi, carpenter:
  Changing the TOS and TOS FAQ documents requires a code deploy, as well as a more complicated approval process. They're on the list to change, but it will take a few more steps to do!
  Best,
  CJ
  AO3 Support
  
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2. 1. Acorn_Squash Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:51AM UTC
    
    Thanks!
    
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honilee Thu 12 Jan 2023 06:19PM UTC

Thanks for keeping the community in the loop and thank you to all who work and volunteer to keep this Behemoth moving along smoothly.

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multifandom_fanfic_writer Thu 12 Jan 2023 08:25PM UTC

Thank you for your work!

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Mandela_Catalyst Thu 12 Jan 2023 08:57PM UTC

hi ok so one of my friends, WTAFDUDE, had one of their works taken down because it was supposedly violating the terms of service, but all it was was a smut request book ??
im just curious as to why it may have been taken down, so i dont make mistakes in the future, seeing as im a smut writer
otherwise, thank you for the update, and keep it up !! ^__^

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1. agni_kai Thu 12 Jan 2023 09:08PM UTC
  
  The TOS require works to be fannish, transformative and non-ephemeral – if your friend created a fic just to say "send me requests", that's not an actual work and isn't allowed on AO3. A work that is a collection of requests is allowed, but a blank fic saying nothing but "I'll write requests" is against TOS
  You can read the TOS FAQs – you're looking for the "What kind of fanworks can I post?" FAQ and then the ones below that
  
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2. 1. Mandela_Catalyst Thu 12 Jan 2023 10:01PM UTC
    
    oh ok !! tysm, that makes sense !!
    
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  2. magicwonderdreamfantasy Fri 13 Jan 2023 02:37AM UTC
    
    Seems like there are a ;ot more of those lately.
    
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  3. 1. MetaAllu Fri 13 Jan 2023 04:58PM UTC
      
      there's been an uptick due to younger fans who are used to social media etiquette as universal. i've also seen people "reposting" for the "algorithm," a thing which doesn't exist on ao3.
      
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  4. likegoldandfaceted Fri 13 Jan 2023 10:24AM UTC
    
    Original works are also allowed. Otherwise spot on.
    
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  5. 1. agni_kai Fri 13 Jan 2023 11:01AM UTC
      
      The TOS are pretty deliberately vague on what "fannish" means! Which I think is understandable, since there's a lot of tropey original fiction that has heavy overlap with fandom
      
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    2. 1. Acorn_Squash Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:26AM UTC
        
        [not speaking for the OTW] There was a bit of a kerfuffle regarding this recently, and I think the conclusions drawn from it were that the OTW considers you posting your original fiction to AO3 to be a declaration that you consider that fiction to be fannish in nature, but they still don't allow journal entries, although they do allow meta.
        By the way, if you want to make a statement like this without it getting taken down, you can write a fanfic and then put the notice that you're accepting requests in the author's note, and you can also say that you're accepting requests in your profile, and you can also say it on your socials or journals and link to those in your authors' notes and profile.
        
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3. CJ of Support (AO3_Support) (Official) Fri 13 Jan 2023 02:30AM UTC
  
  Hi, weezerfan69:
  The Policy & Abuse team, who handles all issues like this, has two strict rules regarding confidentiality. One, they do not comment on specific cases in public venues - either the nature of the case or the outcomes of a case. Two, they will not discuss a case with a third party - they will only discuss it with the reporter and the reportee (and the latter two are never put in contact or identified).
  The Support team has no information regarding Policy & Abuse cases. As such, we're unable to help.
  Best,
  CJ
  AO3 Support
  
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4. MetaAllu Fri 13 Jan 2023 05:03PM UTC
  
  to further elaborate on what someone else said, you and your friend should both keep in mind that ao3 is NOT a social media or forum website, but an archive. its intent is for posting, archiving, and sharing works of art and fiction, not for chatting, looking for rp partners, or simply taking requests with no actual content within.
  ao3's policy on smut is EXTREMELY open and it will REMAIN open. you will not see works on ao3 taken down for sexual, objectionable or obscene content alone.
  
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5. 1. Acorn_Squash Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:30AM UTC
    
    although, to be clear, you can link to your email, social media, & journals in author's notes, summaries, & your profile so that people can chat with you there, and you can also get into this kind of conversation in the comments of a legitimate work (though that conversation can be deleted by the work author with no notice for any reason, as is their right)
    I've also seen people post a two-chapter work with "requests open" thing as chapter 1 and then an actual story as chapter 2, and afaik that's fine
    
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  2. 1. MetaAllu Sat 21 Jan 2023 05:09PM UTC
      
      yes. it is greatly encouraged to link outside of ao3 using author's notes and your profile, and there is no issue with making conversation in comments as that's not considered part of the work itself.
      i think the preference or more "correct" way to mention you take requests is using the author's notes. i am not entirely sure on ao3 policies around chapters themselves, but keep in mind that just because you have seen something doesn't mean it complies with tos, it just means no one has noticed it and/or it hasn't been reported to ao3.
      
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    2. 1. Acorn_Squash Sun 22 Jan 2023 02:19AM UTC
        
        Yep, good point!
        
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Finlaena Thu 12 Jan 2023 10:05PM UTC

Can I just say the "Fannish Next of Kin" is a great idea? Considering the subject of planning for the future and estate planning for family members has come up... often in my corner of life as of late, this is something that I feel should be looked at a lot more.
(In any case, once I get something written up, it's going to state that if in the event of my passing, my social media channels + AO3 account + personal art archive site are all wiped and deleted by the person I'm entrusting them to, h'oohoohoo)

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1. honilee Fri 13 Jan 2023 07:14PM UTC
  
  I'm not sure if the concept of fannish next of kin is new to you or if you're just commenting on what a great idea it is (I love it!), but if it's new to you, were you also aware of how AO3 handles orphaned works? If an author wishes, they may orphan their body of work instead of deleting it -- this removes their name from the work: there is no author name, there is no author page, there is no way to find out if that author wrote any other stories (unless those stories are explicitly named or linked in author notes or comments on the stories). It's your prerogative what happens to your work, of course -- just mentioning another option if you weren't aware of it.
  
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2. 1. Finlaena Fri 13 Jan 2023 07:21PM UTC
    
    I've known of their fannish next of kin policies for a long time and I'm well aware of the option to orphan works. It's a wonderful thing that the option is available if that's how a person wants their works to be handled after their passing.
    
    Having said that, my choice is to have all my fan works, not just the ones on AO3, completely deleted from the internet (or as close as they can be, because yanno... someone somewhere saves things, even relics from Geocities pages past lmao) and those reasons are my own.
    
    Last Edited Fri 13 Jan 2023 09:02PM UTC
    
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  2. 1. honilee Sun 15 Jan 2023 10:57AM UTC
      
      Thank you for being so kind in your reply. I wasn't sure how to politely bring up the topic of abandonment in the case you were not aware of it without suggesting that I was judging you negatively for your choices (which I'm totally not -- of course you have the right to do what you will with your own things!). Thank you for taking my comment in the spirit it was written in despite its awkwardness.
      
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    2. Acorn_Squash Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:32AM UTC
      
      Be sure to have your fannish next of kin contact the Internet Archive - from what I recall, they'll remove stuff if and only if the content owner asks them to.
      
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    3. 1. Acorn_Squash Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:33AM UTC
        
        Oh, and let your readers know that you'd rather they not download things because you don't want old copies floating around - this relies on their compliance, of course, since the download buttons are unremovable for accessibility reasons, but I've seen requests like that and followed them.
        
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moves_like_jaeger01 Fri 13 Jan 2023 02:40AM UTC

Thank you for all of your hard work!

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MetaAllu Fri 13 Jan 2023 03:02AM UTC

When will you be clarifying your policies on AI "works" and on what you will be doing to prevent AI from scaping AO3?
To elaborate on this, as i am sure you are aware, it's a matter of content integrity as AI generators for writing, like AI generators for art, are created by scraping text on the internet. Not only does this present moral issues, but it also creates issue regarding copyright and IP theft, which as far as I am aware, is indeed against your TOS. When a "work" states it used an AI generator, and this AI generator directly tells you what sources it steals from, would this work be considered against the TOS?
A few months ago, I saw something on Reddit saying that AO3 was aware of this issue and was looking into it, but we have gotten no updates on the matter since then.

Last Edited Fri 13 Jan 2023 05:06PM UTC

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1. honilee Fri 13 Jan 2023 07:15PM UTC
  
  Glad you mentioned this. I agree this is an incredibly important topic that needs to be addressed.
  
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2. AO3_Support (Official) Sat 14 Jan 2023 04:12AM UTC
  
  Hi, MetaAllu:
  We've passed on your request for a public comment!
  Best,
  CJ
  AO3 Support
  
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3. 1. acidbirth Sat 14 Jan 2023 06:04PM UTC
    
    Seconding this guy’s concerns.
    
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  2. 1. Acorn_Squash Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:34AM UTC
      
      Thirding. I've locked most of my works to the Archive because I'm so worried about bots scraping them. This is infuriating to me.
      
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  3. acidbirth Sat 21 Jan 2023 07:17AM UTC
    
    Still waiting for a public statement.
    
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timetravelingsherlockian Fri 13 Jan 2023 06:37AM UTC

Is there a place on your profile where you can check if/who is your fannish next-of-kin?

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1. maitimiel Sun 15 Jan 2023 11:55PM UTC
  
  Not really! This info is only available to site admins. If you have never emailed AO3 and requested a fannish next-of-kin to be recorded on your profile, then you don't have one. If you can't remember, you can contact support!
  
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2. 1. timetravelingsherlockian Wed 18 Jan 2023 04:12AM UTC
    
    Alright, good to know!
    
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weshouldfondue Fri 13 Jan 2023 07:33AM UTC

Will there ever be any changes to Collections going private? So many fics keep getting held hostage by people privating collections.

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1. LordiTheRailgun Fri 13 Jan 2023 01:05PM UTC
  
  Or even better, maybe some info blurb on collections because I think a lot of people don't know the effects of a private collection
  
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2. 1. babs Fri 13 Jan 2023 09:26PM UTC
    
    I think this is true. I don't have any collections but when I first read about private collections, my thought was that it was simply a way for a person to put the fics they loved into different categories or something. I never had any idea that it would lock those fics away from other readers.
    
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  2. 1. LordiTheRailgun Sat 14 Jan 2023 07:51AM UTC
      
      Precisely! I only learned that it hid a work the other day. I don't uzs collections but information like that is legit important to spread so people at least know what collections do.
      
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    2. 1. Acorn_Squash Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:44AM UTC
        
        Oh yeah I definitely agree that info about this needs to be more clearly stated! And in the spirit of that: You can remove your work from a collection. You can't add a work that isn't yours to a collection that's anon and/or unrevealed.
        The reason why collections can be private is that they are intended to be used by people participating in a challenge where works are gradually revealed, such as Holmestice. This allows participants to submit works whenever they want with the knowledge that they'll stay private until the correct date. It also allows mods greater control over which works get posted and when, which helps them catch abusive works early & lets them stagger posting so that each work gets its own time to shine. This is a good thing for challenges, and I wouldn't want to see it go away.
        I've also seen people add their own works to private collections so that they can keep the works to view for themselves but stop other people from seeing them. I'm glad that people have this kind of control over their own works.
        Edited to fix HTML
        
        Last Edited Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:44AM UTC
        
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    3. NYKevin Sun 22 Jan 2023 09:07AM UTC
      
      Just in case anyone is trying to find a good alternative (for when you really do want to "just" privately categorize works): Use private bookmarks. Optionally, you can then add those bookmarks to a collection, but it's probably simpler to just tag the bookmarks and use bookmark search to find them later. You can tag bookmarks with whatever you want, and it doesn't even need to pertain to the work (it's probably not a good idea to write anything really private in the tags field, because I think they might be visible to wranglers, but other than that, nobody is going to see or care about tags on private bookmarks).
      
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3. eelia_faustus Fri 13 Jan 2023 01:09PM UTC
  
  From your profile you can uncheck the box that allows your works to be added in collections by other people automatically. When you uncheck it, every time someone wants to add your work into a collection you receive a notification and you have to accept for it to be added. That way you have total control of which works get put in which collection. You can also always remove your works from collections managing collected works from you dashboard in "Collections".
  
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4. 1. PerfectFour Fri 13 Jan 2023 05:07PM UTC
    
    But that requires the author to still be active on AO3.
    By making the collection private (unrevealed), another person is holding a story hostage until that author makes a decision to say otherwise. That's not always possible and now the community has lost the story with no way to recover it so long as the collection is unrevealed.
    And you can make a collection with no reveal date (https://archiveofourown.org/collections/anon_unrevealed_armadillo/works) "Works Revealed:
    (no time specified)"
    Then there are all those sites whose works were ported to AO3 - many of those authors aren't even on AO3 to begin with, but their works were rescued (THANKFULLY!!). So there is no way for those people to mark their works not for collections.
    There needs to be a date required for an "unrevealed" collection, and there needs to be time limit on that collection - say 6 months. Maybe more, maybe less. But something.
    The example above has been unrevealed for 11 works since 2012. That's a decade ago. Will the community ever get to see those works?
    
    Last Edited Fri 13 Jan 2023 05:08PM UTC
    
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  2. 1. eelia_faustus Fri 13 Jan 2023 05:56PM UTC
      
      The points you made are absolutely true. I'm not saying that what I mentioned above is a definitive solution, but it's a tool that not many active users know about so I thought it would be useful to mention it, since the unrevealed collections issue came out.
      
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    2. 1. PerfectFour Fri 13 Jan 2023 06:05PM UTC
        
        Thank you for mentioning it. And thank you for the OP commenter for helping to bring more light to this issue.
        I had encountered a story or two that I've bookmarked as "mystery work" but never thought much more about it. I figured that the next time I go to look at it, it will be available.
        This whole thread got me to look more into collections and "unrevealing" and realizing that there is a problem here that I don't really want to go into details on because from the FAQs, it could be easily exploited. (Unless I'm misunderstanding what I've read, which is certainly possible!) Regardless of what the author intended because the default is to accept additions to such collections.
        
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      2. eelia_faustus Sat 14 Jan 2023 09:01AM UTC
        
        Yes, I see what you mean. Someone in the thread also mentioned how it could be exploited and in the current fandom climate that possibility should be looked into and taken out.
        
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    3. honilee Fri 13 Jan 2023 07:58PM UTC
      
      This is something I had never considered. So if someone dislikes a particular fandom, theme, topic, trope, pairing, character, etc. they could go through AO3 and pretty much lock all that content away with zero oversight. If someone wanted to, it sounds like it would be pretty easy to create a script (or just dedicate the man hours) to go through the entire archive and effectively delete huge swathes of fanworks. (If something exists, but is locked away forever, does it matter if it exists at all?)
      This is completely absurd. Sounds like the easiest fix going forward would be to make adding a work to a private collection something that a creator must opt into, with a warning that the work would only be accessible to the collection owner. The current system seems to unilaterally give defacto ownership of the works within a collection to the collection owner.
      I know my piddly financial contributions to AO3 aren't much, but I seriously disapprove of any of my money going to an organization that is enabling such blatant widespread theft. OTW and AO3, why are you using crowdsourced funds to 1) pay for the upkeep of private, undisclosed individuals' personal collections of data? 2) explicitly deprive the larger public of fanworks in your keeping without the explicit consent of their creators? I'm angry as this seems to be the opposite of "saving" and archiving fanworks for posterity: this is literally allowing and supporting cultural theft.
      Am I wrong? OTW/AO3, please explain to me how your current policies are not enabling cultural theft and/or what your reasoning is for financially supporting these private collections that will be forever inaccessible to the public.
      
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    4. 1. Cesium_Ice Sat 14 Jan 2023 04:02AM UTC
        
        I agree that the default for requests to join unrevealed collections should be no instead of yes, but to call this "cultural theft" seems silly.
        Also, aren't all user accounts a "private, undisclosed individuals' personal collections of data"?
        
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      2. eelia_faustus Sat 14 Jan 2023 09:07AM UTC
        
        Well, if I went at my public library and took all the books I personally have issues with and put them in a locker so that no one could pic them from the shelves to read them, wouldn't you call it cultural theft?
        
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        Cesium_Ice Sat 14 Jan 2023 10:33AM UTC
        
        No? That’s just regular theft. Nothing cultural about it.
        
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      3. eelia_faustus Sat 14 Jan 2023 09:05AM UTC
        
        It gives defacto ownership of the work to the collection owner only if the author themselves is not active on ao3 anymore. If an author is still active, they can still 100% manage their collected work from their dashboard and remove their fics from any collection they don't want them to be.
        But yes, as someone pointed out it IS an issue when an author is not active on here anymore.
        
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      4. Acorn_Squash Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:46AM UTC
        
        Sounds like the easiest fix going forward would be to make adding a work to a private collection something that a creator must opt into, with a warning that the work would only be accessible to the collection owner.
        This is already the case.
        
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      5. eelia_faustus Sat 21 Jan 2023 11:25AM UTC
        
        Afaik, if you create a normal collection, add works to it, and then turn it to unrevealed, the works can be unrevealed.
        Since the option to accept your works being automatically added to collections is the default, that could be a problem.
        I don't think people doing this maliciously is common at all, but it has happened, also because of a general confusion around what collections are and how they work. Many end up using collections as bookmarks and then private them without knowing the effects of that.
        
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        (2 more comments in this thread)
    5. Cesium_Ice Fri 13 Jan 2023 09:18PM UTC
      
      Some authors put their work in private collections as a way to essentially take down the work from public view
      
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    6. 1. PerfectFour Fri 13 Jan 2023 09:27PM UTC
        
        While I wish they wouldn't, the suggestions would still work. If the default was to say no to unrevealing collections, the author could say yes to put their own work in such a collection. And if they're controlling the collection, then they know when it expires and put them under the collection again - and again agreeing to put them in an unrevealing collection.
        Maybe not ideal, and this is certainly with just a few minutes of thought with only myself and this *definitely* needs more hashing out and more people.
        
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      2. Cesium_Ice Sat 14 Jan 2023 03:58AM UTC
        
        I don't think mandating an expiry date makes sense for this use case, but I do think the default to being added to an unrevealed collection should be no instead of yes.
        
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      3. Griselda_Gimpel Sun 15 Jan 2023 02:22PM UTC
        
        Wait, you can do this? Specifically, is there a way to put an already published work in a collection such that the work then becomes unrevealed? I know you can do this for new works; I want to be able to do this for existing works. But when I experimented here, the works stayed revealed because they were already published. Is there a step I missed?
        
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      4. KitePiper Sun 15 Jan 2023 04:10PM UTC
        
        Iirc if a fic was already posted and you add it later, you have to go into the collection, "manage items," and select that you really do want the fic to be unrevealed. It's much harder to hide fics than all the panic in the thread implies.
        
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        Griselda_Gimpel Sun 15 Jan 2023 04:12PM UTC
        
        Thank you! It's useful knowledge to have in case I ever need to hide all my fics in a pinch.
        
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    7. Account Deleted Sat 14 Jan 2023 04:52PM UTC
      
      I disagree on the dates (I use unrevealed collections to hide my 1/2 chapter abandoned wips that I hope to pick back up years down the line), but a time limit on unrevealed status without direct author consent would be great. I don't accept collection requests purely because I don't want to risk it getting unrevealed/anoned and me - not noticing/having left fandom/died - not removing it.
      
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    8. 1. SweetAlphaChild Sat 14 Jan 2023 08:36PM UTC
        
        I would dislike private collections having expiry date too. I use this feature to post stories that are meant to be just for my eyes, also I've changed the visibility of some of my published stories to unrevealed before, it's very handy.
        
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      2. KitePiper Sat 14 Jan 2023 09:38PM UTC
        
        Same, I want those stories to stay unrevealed. The idea of an expiry date fills me with anxiety, I don't want to have to constantly check if my stories are still hidden or not.
        
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        Wildmage_of_galla Sun 15 Jan 2023 06:45AM UTC
        
        This could easily be remedied by having expiry dates be required *only* if you are not the/one of the authors of the work in question. That way, you can hide all of your own works, but cannot permanently hide someone else’s.
        That, or have it be a required opt-in from all authors on a work in order for a collection to be able to hide it, for any length of time at all. That way, nobody can hold another person’s work hostage, and then authors can feel comfortable allowing collection requests, knowing their work won’t suddenly be hidden at the whim of the collection owner. It removes ultimate control from the collection owner and puts it back in the hands of the author. And if those are one and the same for a given scenario, then it doesn’t change anything.
        
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        KitePiper Sun 15 Jan 2023 04:29PM UTC
        
        The fear of other people hiding authors' works is fascinating because I don't know any authors who have experienced that. It's literally never come up in any writing discords I'm in. I do however know many authors who use unrevealed collections to hide their own previously public fics. I would guess the vast, vast majority of fics that go "mystery work" were hidden by the authors on purpose. Something to consider when tossing out new feature suggestions.
        
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        Wildmage_of_galla Sun 15 Jan 2023 08:40PM UTC
        
        I’ve literally watched fics in my bookmarks and my Mark for Later section undergo this process. Plenty of authors I follow state that they *will not* accept collection requests because this has happened to them. Please don’t act like “well, because I’VE never seen it, it doesn’t happen!”
        What I suggested would not affect authors using collections to hide their own work in any way.
        I’m confused as to why the option to hide another person’s work without their active consent _even exists._
        
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        amberquartz Sun 15 Jan 2023 09:49PM UTC
        
        How do you know this was done maliciously to your bookmarked works, and not done by the author themselves?
        
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        Nightcandle Mon 16 Jan 2023 06:20PM UTC
        
        I've personally encountered a "Mystery Work" where the author was not aware that it had been hidden.
        It was part of a series where all the other works were available and this one was still shown as part of the series, but as "Mystery Work", so I was able to contact the author and ask them if it was intended that this specific work of their series was unrevealed. It wasn't and the author was very happy that I made them aware of the issue and how to fix it (remove the work from the collection).
        And yes, this fic had been bookmarked by other users - who would've just seen the "Mystery Work" info unless they included the author's name in their bookmarker's comment (which is something that I do).>
        If it happened in this case, I'm sure it happened to other Works and authors, too.
        
        I'm fine with Mystery Works as part of an event where I know that the Works will be revealed in the course of that event.
        I also understand if someone wants to temporarily hide their own works for whatever reason, but it should be temporary. After all, this is an archive, not a personal storage facility.
        What shouldn't be allowed is that someone can suddenly hide other users' Works which were already available to the public without consent of even knowledge of the actual creator/owner of that Work.
        
        Last Edited Mon 16 Jan 2023 06:21PM UTC
        
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        Acorn_Squash Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:49AM UTC
        
        And yes, this fic had been bookmarked by other users - who would've just seen the "Mystery Work" info unless they included the author's name in their bookmarker's comment (which is something that I do).>
        Oooh, good idea! Especially combined with a private bookmark.
        
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LordiTheRailgun Fri 13 Jan 2023 01:04PM UTC

The next of kin thing is quite an interesting idea.

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1. Account Deleted Fri 13 Jan 2023 05:37PM UTC
  
  In my opinion, it's a great idea...
  I have seen a lot of hate and violence towards people who read fanfiction, and it's even worse towards those who write it (especially if it is NSFW).
  It wouldn't be surprising if an author receives death threats and one person actually follows through with it, so it's a good idea for those who may be writing from countries that have higher rates of violence...
  
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2. 1. LordiTheRailgun Fri 13 Jan 2023 06:48PM UTC
    
    Wait wait wait. Imma ask you to hold your horses for a sec. I get death threats, fucked up as they are but have people deadass been murdered over fanfiction? The fuck?
    
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  2. 1. Account Deleted Fri 13 Jan 2023 06:54PM UTC
      
      It's not shown very much, but it's either in countries with higher rates of violence, or places with high rates of discrimination. My friend got death threats for writing NSFW about the DSMP characters on Tumblr/Twitter, and she almost killed herself.So, yeah ☹️
      
      Last Edited Fri 13 Jan 2023 06:55PM UTC
      
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    2. 1. LordiTheRailgun Fri 13 Jan 2023 06:56PM UTC
        
        Jesus. I'm so sorry to hear that.
        
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      2. Account Deleted Fri 13 Jan 2023 06:58PM UTC
        
        It's fine, you didn't know 😊
        And also, that's America for you 😅
        
        Last Edited Fri 13 Jan 2023 06:59PM UTC
        
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Account Deleted Fri 13 Jan 2023 05:39PM UTC

Hi, a tiny question about the duplicate works.
Say somebody decides to copy and paste a story from another author(for my example, let's say that it's for translation)... What would happen if they accidentally post it before it's finished with the translation?

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1. always_angel Fri 13 Jan 2023 05:53PM UTC
  
  That falls under plagiarism unless you have the author's specific permission to do so. Not a mod but just saying.
  
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2. CJ of Support (AO3_Support) (Official) Sat 14 Jan 2023 04:20AM UTC
  
  Hi, astralagoon:
  Before anything else, let me put the usual disclaimer: "plagiarism" cases are handled by Policy & Abuse (PAC) on a case-by-case basis. Support can only provide very general advice on the issue. I am also assuming the translator has explicit written permission from the translatee.
  Further, we strongly recommend to not compose on the Archive. There is no auto-save, and as you describe, it's easy to mis-post. We strongly recommend composing in an actual word processor, and only moving the content to the Archive when you're ready to make final adjustments, and use the Save as Draft to sleep on a work or save it for a specific day.
  As for your question, if PAC receives a report about the "plagiarized" work, they will hide the work and contact the creator at the email listed on the account to give the creator a chance to fix the issue. From that point, it's incredibly case-specific, and PAC won't (and Support can't) comment on specific cases in a public venue.
  Best,
  CJ
  AO3 Support
  
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3. 1. Account Deleted Sat 14 Jan 2023 03:51PM UTC
    
    Thank you for clearing that up, CJ!
    I was making an example because I have a translation for a work I really like (with permission) going on right now, and I appreciate you clearing that up! :)
    
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CitrusCitrusHope Fri 13 Jan 2023 08:48PM UTC

"Okay, you get the will, you get the house, and you get the fanfiction"

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1. Barbara_pass_the_holy_water Mon 16 Jan 2023 05:56AM UTC
  
  Oh god
  
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2. Acorn_Squash Sat 21 Jan 2023 04:49AM UTC
  
  love this
  
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psychoseraphy Sat 14 Jan 2023 04:46PM UTC

It would be nice for opt ins for works being added to collections to be separate so you can say yes to non private collections and say ask me to private collections.

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EnigmaticSoul Sat 14 Jan 2023 08:23PM UTC

Next of kin, just in case one dies. I have no idea why I found that so morbid and subtly amusing, but this all sounds helpful and beneficial.

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teyla Sun 15 Jan 2023 10:00PM UTC

Hello, thank you for your hard work! I have a question regarding the fannish next-of-kin: is there a way to find out if I have one set, or if my request is still being processed? I submitted a request a fairly long time ago (at least a year) and never heard anything back; unsure if I should resubmit, wait, or just missed the response.

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1. AO3_Support (Official) Sun 15 Jan 2023 11:51PM UTC
  
  Hi, Teyla!
  Send in a ticket to Support using the link at the bottom of the page, and we can look up to see if one's there. (It's technically an account access thing, so I'm 0% comfortable answering it in a public forum.)
  Best,
  CJ
  AO3 Support
  
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Barbara_pass_the_holy_water Mon 16 Jan 2023 05:55AM UTC

Woah they really think of everything

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Elizabeth Perry (watersword) Wed 18 Jan 2023 05:46PM UTC

I was told, a few years ago, that there's no way to merge duplicate works; is this still the case? For example, I posted works which were later imported as part of the Yuletide import, and I'd be more than happy to merge them, keeping the comments from the pre-import and the AO3-native versions, but the work texts are identical.

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1. CJ of Support (AO3_Support) (Official) Thu 19 Jan 2023 01:46AM UTC
  
  Hi, Elizabeth:
  Unfortunately, this is still true. It's something we still discuss implementing, but we need fewer fires for our volunteers to put out!
  Best,
  CJ
  AO3 Support
  
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