Archive of Our Own ^beta

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.

For our last post in this series, we'll be talking about our non-commercialization policy. AO3 doesn't allow users to engage in commercial promotion of any type, which includes everything from paywalls to tip jars, and quite a lot in between. In this post, we'll discuss why AO3 doesn't allow commercialization, what kinds of activities are considered to be commercial promotion, and what to do if you see commercial promotion on AO3.

Don't go looking for things to report.

Please do not start searching for works to report after reading this post. We know that commercial promotion frequently appears 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.

What is commercial promotion?

Commercial promotion covers all references or links to commercial sites, monetized features of non-commercial sites, and anything else that makes it clear someone is asking for or has received financial contributions.

On AO3, you can't encourage anyone to give other people money, or talk about anyone having given people money in the past. This applies whether you are promoting yourself or a friend, or even if you're collecting donations for other people or causes. If there is money changing hands, then it likely violates AO3's TOS.

AO3 is a non-commercial space.

AO3 was created and is managed by the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), a nonprofit organization committed to the defense and protection of fanworks from commercial exploitation and legal challenges. The OTW is entirely staffed by unpaid volunteers, and AO3 is itself entirely non-commercial. No one involved in AO3's creation or management profits from it. The site is made available free of charge to all fans who wish to share their works with other fans and fan communities.

We understand that many people today choose to monetize their creative activities. However, in order to keep AO3 as the non-commercial space it was designed to be, users are not permitted to engage in any commercial activity on the site.

When you use AO3, you agree to follow our Terms of Service, which includes the non-commercialization policy. This applies to all parts of the site, whether you're posting a work based on an existing source or creating content entirely original to you.

AO3's non-commercialization policy applies to the entire site.

Real-world commercialization is banned everywhere on AO3. This includes:

• Profile pages
• Usernames, pseuds, and pseud descriptions
• Works (including all tags, beginning or end notes, chapter notes, summaries, and titles)
• Series (including titles, summaries, descriptions, and notes)
• Bookmarks (including tags and notes)
• Comments
• Prompt memes, gift exchanges, and other collections
• Any other part of AO3

It's okay for fictional characters in fanworks to talk about fictional monetization. For example, it's fine if a character has a fictional OnlyFans or Patreon within the story, as long as that commercial reference doesn't direct the reader to a real-world OnlyFans or Patreon account for the work creator or anyone else.

What are some examples of commercial activities?

There is a wide variety of things that are not allowed under AO3's non-commercialization rules.

Links or references to any commercial site or service. A "commercial site" is any site whose primary purpose is to facilitate the transfer of money. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Storefronts like Amazon or Etsy
• Crowd fundraisers like Kickstarter or GoFundMe​​
• Tip jars or membership subscriptions like Ko-Fi or Patreon
• ​​Payment platforms like PayPal or Venmo

Links or references to the monetized features of non-commercial sites. This covers any site that has features you can enable or opt-in to earn revenue, but the primary purpose of the site is social media, sharing artwork, or anything else that isn't inherently payment-focused. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Paywalls or early-access content like Wattpad Paid Stories or Webtoon Canvas
• Storefronts like DeviantArt Shop or Instagram Shop
• Tip jars or membership subscriptions like TikTok Donation Stickers or Twitch Prime

Previews and other promotions for paid content. This covers situations like excerpts or teasers shared in an attempt to entice people to purchase a book or become a paying subscriber. It also includes references to paywalled or early-access content (e.g. "Patreon subscribers get the new chapter one week early before I post it on AO3").

Advertising content or services involving an exchange of money, such as buying merchandise, collecting donations, offering paid commissions, or selling published works.

Any other language which one might interpret as requesting or having requested financial contributions, whether for yourself or others. This covers indirect references, euphemisms, or other language intended to get around the TOS. Some examples of this include:

• Thanks for the coffee!
• My ☕ username is the same as my username here
• This chapter is brought to you by my patrons
• You know where to find me if you want early or bonus chapters
• Check out my Twitter to learn how you can donate to me since I'm not allowed to discuss it here
• If you want to hear more about my ideas, talk about fandom, or find more of my stuff for a coin, visit my Tumblr

Solicitation is not allowed, whether it's for yourself or on behalf of someone else.

Commercial activity is not permitted on AO3. It doesn't matter if you're promoting yourself or a friend, or even if you're collecting donations for other people or causes.

This means that if you paid an artist to create artwork for your fanfic, you're not allowed to mention that they have a Patreon or use any other language that suggests people should also commission or donate to them. If you like a book by a particular author, you are certainly welcome to gush about what a great book it is, but you can't link to the Amazon page where it's for sale or encourage others to buy it.

What is the difference between a commercial site and a non-commercial site that has monetization features?

As mentioned above, a commercial site is a platform that is first and foremost intended to facilitate the exchange of money. For example, while you can use Ko-Fi as a blog, the site's primary purpose is to encourage people to give each other money. Ko-Fi's social features are secondary to its purpose as a donation and paid membership platform. This means you cannot link to or mention your or anyone else's actual Ko-Fi on AO3 whatsoever.

An example of a non-commercial site that has monetization features is DeviantArt, an art gallery that is mainly intended as a place to share artworks. DeviantArt also allows its users to opt-in to additional monetization features, such as the DeviantArt Shop. Because DeviantArt's paid features are both optional and not the primary reason people use the site, you can talk about or link to DeviantArt on AO3 – as long as you aren't directing anyone to a paywalled post or referencing DeviantArt's paid features in any way.

Can I link or mention a social media site where I talk about making money or collecting donations?

You're allowed to link or mention social media like Tumblr or personal websites like WordPress, even if you sometimes post about commercial activities on those sites. However, you cannot reference commercial promotion on AO3 itself, nor may you link, mention, or give instructions for finding an account, page, or post that is solely promoting paid content.

Statements such as "Follow me on social media" or "Check out my Linktree" are fine. Directing people to an Amazon author page or to the Ko-fi link in your Twitter bio would not be allowed. This includes things like "Check out my Linktree to learn how you can support me" in cases where you are clearly referring to monetary support.

Can I post a fanwork created for a charity drive or for-profit zine?

While you cannot promote, solicit, or otherwise ask for donations on AO3, you are allowed to add your work to a collection or otherwise briefly mention why you created a fanwork, as long as you do so in a non-commercial manner. This means you can say "This was created for [Event]" or "Originally Written for [Name of Person/Zine]" as long as you do not directly link to a donation page or ask others to donate to them.

Keep in mind we also do not permit mentions of monetary transactions, regardless of when they occurred. A note such as "This was a $100 bid for Fandom Trumps Hate" would still be considered commercialization.

I've seen authors say their works are commissions. Is this allowed?

You are allowed to gift your work to someone else or otherwise briefly mention why you created a fanwork, as long as you do so in a non-commercial manner. Because not all commissioned fanworks were created for pay, we do permit usage of the word "commission" as long as there is no indication that a monetary transaction was involved in the creation of the work or that you are available to create other paid commissions.

For example, phrasing like "This is a commission for X" is acceptable, but "Commission for my Gold Tier Patron, Julie" or "My client agreed to let me post the first chapter of their commission" isn't. The context makes it clear that both "patron" and "client" are references to a paying sponsor.

I've seen others ask for donations or advertise paid commissions. 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 mentioning their paywalled content or otherwise engaging in commercial activities on AO3, but that doesn't mean that it's allowed. All it means is that nobody has reported that content to us yet, or that we haven't finished processing the report.

What will happen if I get reported for commercial promotion?

First, we'll review the reported work to confirm that you violated our TOS by engaging in commercial activities on AO3. If we determine that you did, 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 commercial promotion policies, you may be temporarily suspended. Continuing to violate the TOS will result in your being permanently banned from AO3. You can learn more about warnings and suspensions in our TOS FAQ.

What should I do if I encounter commercial activity on AO3?

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.

What about spam comments?

The best way to deal with spam comments, commercial or otherwise, depends on whether the comments are from registered accounts or guests.

How do I report commercial activity?

Although we ask that you do not deliberately seek out commercial promotion to report, if you come across commercial activity while browsing, you can report it using the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form, which is linked at the bottom of every page on AO3.

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, so that all information about that user is in the same place.

Please tell us exactly where in the work the commercialization is. The best way to do this is to give us a description or short quote that we can search for in order to immediately find the content. If you are reporting multiple works by the same creator, please group all the works into one report and provide this information for each work.

For example, a report of commercial promotion might look like this:

Link to the page you are reporting: https://archiveofourown.org/works/00000000

Brief summary of Terms of Service violation: Commercial promotion

Description of the content you are reporting:
This work by USERNAME advertises a ko-fi in the end notes of chapter 3.

If you are reporting additional works, please include all relevant links and other information in your report description:

Description of the content you are reporting:
This work by USERNAME advertises a ko-fi in the end notes of chapter 3.

Some of their other works also contain commercial promotion:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456789 encourages readers to purchase their book on Amazon: "If you're curious what else I've been working on or want to support me elsewhere, check out my new short story on Kindle Unlimited!"

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34567890 contains an embedded image with a Patreon watermark. Underneath, the sentence "If you want more like this, click here" takes you to their commissions price sheet.

You can add more details if you like, but this example provides the basic information we need:

• Who posted the commercial promotion: Tell us their username or if the work is anonymous or orphaned.
• Where we can find the work(s): Enter one URL in the "Link to the page you are reporting" field, and (if applicable) include links to any other violating works in the description of your report.
• What violates the TOS: Explain why you think commercial promotion 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 work. 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 commercial promotion?

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 commercial promotion on AO3, or if you want to know whether a particular work contains commercial promotion, please report the work to us as described above. For more information, you can read our TOS FAQ on Commercial Promotion.

If you are still uncertain, you can comment below or submit a question through the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form.

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 can happen on AO3, as on any site. 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. Use a limited amount that's reasonable for your purpose, such as:

• 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 violating our policies. 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 encounter one while browsing, you can report it using the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form, which is linked at the bottom of every page on AO3. The copyright owner or their authorized legal representative can also file a DMCA claim, as explained on our DMCA Policy page.

In order for us to uphold a complaint, 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 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 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/23456789

The 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/23456789

The 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-cookie

I 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.

ETA: Edited to improve wording

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:

1. 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.)
2. 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.
3. 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/234567890

In 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.

The Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) is responsible for enforcing the AO3 Terms of Service (TOS). To help users better understand the TOS, we're posting a weekly spotlight series about the TOS and our policies. We'll also be reading comments and answering questions on this and our other spotlight posts.

Over 15% of all complaints that PAC receives each year are about content that users consider offensive but does not violate the AO3 Terms of Service. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Fictional depictions of societally taboo topics, immoral behaviors, or crimes (such as bestiality, child sexual abuse, incest, and rape)
• Fiction that contains or promotes offensive and/or oppressive viewpoints
• RPF (real person fiction) that contains explicit content or portrays people in a negative light
• Explicit fanworks for canons whose creators have said they dislike explicit content

Offensive fanworks are not against the AO3 Terms of Service, and PAC will not remove fanworks simply for being offensive.

AO3 is a home for all fanworks

AO3 operates under the principle of maximum inclusiveness of fanwork content. We will not make moral judgements about a work: if it's a legal fanwork that does not violate any of our policies, we will not remove it from AO3.

Don't report works for being objectionable or offensive. If you wish to avoid certain content when browsing AO3, you can use the tools discussed below.

Why does AO3 allow fanworks about content that is illegal where I live?

There is a difference between fictional content about acts that would be illegal if performed in real life, and content that is itself illegal to post or access in a particular jurisdiction.

AO3's Terms of Service are designed to comply with United States law (specifically, the laws of Manhattan, New York). It is legal in the U.S. to create and share fictional content about murder, theft, assault, or other such crimes. It is also generally legal in the U.S. to create and share fictional content about topics such as bestiality, child sexual abuse, incest, and rape. AO3 allows users to post and access fiction about all of these topics.

In accordance with U.S. law, AO3 prohibits sexually explicit photographs, videos, and other photorealistic images of children (also known as Child Sexual Abuse Material, or CSAM). This includes embedded images, links, and any attempts to solicit, distribute, or otherwise obtain or provide access to such material – whether in a work, comment, or anywhere else on AO3.

However, stories and non-photorealistic artwork (such as drawings or cartoons) that depict sexual activity involving characters under the age of eighteen are allowed, provided that the works are properly rated and warned. Even if the work features real people, fiction about real people is still fiction, and therefore it is allowed on AO3.

Depending on where you live, the laws that apply to you may be more restrictive than the ones described above. All users are responsible for following the laws that apply to them. If certain content that is allowed on AO3 is illegal for you to access, then you should ensure you carefully observe all relevant ratings and warnings, and use the tools discussed below to avoid accessing any work that indicates it may contain such content.

What about other explicit or suggestive photorealistic images?

Photographic or photorealistic images of humans may not be used to illustrate works featuring underage sexual content (regardless of whether the images themselves are explicit in nature). This includes (but is not limited to) photographs of children, porn gifs, photo manipulations, computer-generated or "AI" images, and other linked or embedded images that could potentially be mistaken for photographs of real humans.

If the work appears to feature underage sexual content (as indicated by the "Underage Sex" Archive warning or other contextual markers present in the work's tags, notes, or text), then PAC may require all photographic or photorealistic images of humans, regardless of their perceived age, to be removed from the work.

If your work does not feature underage sexual content, or if the images are not photorealistic, then please read our Terms of Service FAQ: Can I embed explicit images in my fanworks?

Real Person Fiction (RPF)

RPF is fiction based on real people. AO3 does not consider RPF works (in and of themselves) to be harassment of the individuals represented in the works. RPF works are allowed on AO3, even if they contain explicit content, negatively portray their subjects, or are about individuals who are minors and/or not well-known.

However, harassment and doxxing are both prohibited under our Terms of Service. This means that we do not allow works that advocate for actual harm to be done to a real person, nor do we allow works that disclose non-public information about a real person.

Fiction is generally permitted to include public information such as age, profession, city of residence, media or "stage" names, and publicly known legal names. However, if someone uses a pseudonym that they have not linked to their legal name, you're not allowed to post content that links the two.

What if the creator of a canon states that they dislike explicit fanworks or don't want people to create fanworks based on them or their work?

Creators are free to dislike fanworks, explicit or otherwise. However, AO3 holds the position that transformative fanworks are legal under United States law, and do not require the original creator's permission to be posted. If a fanwork does not otherwise violate our Terms of Service, then that fanwork is allowed on AO3.

I don't want to see certain kinds of works. How can I avoid them?

We want all our users to enjoy using AO3, but each user is responsible for their own browsing experience. If you encounter a work that upsets you, please leave the work, and use the following tools to manage your browsing experience and avoid seeing it again.

Tag exclusion filters

AO3 has an extensive tagging system. Tags can be used to filter out works when you are browsing a tag or using the work search function.

As discussed in our post about ratings and warnings, all works containing adult content must be rated "Mature", "Explicit", or "Not Rated". If you don't want to encounter adult content, you can use filters to exclude all works with these ratings. If you encounter a work rated "General" or "Teen" that has explicit content, you can report it to PAC.

In addition, all fanworks that contain underage sexual activity, rape/non-consensual sex, graphic violence, or major character death must be labeled with the respective Archive warning or the "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings" label. Much like ratings, you can use filters to exclude any or all Archive warnings (including "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings"). If you encounter a work that is missing an Archive warning, you can report it to PAC.

Creators frequently apply relationship and additional tags to indicate other kinds of warnings or content. All of these tags can also be used to exclude works. When a tag is excluded, any tags that are linked to it as synonyms or subtags will also be excluded. For example, if you exclude the "Child Abuse" tag, works that are tagged with "Canonical Child Abuse", "Abused Children", etc., will also be excluded, even though they don't use the exact tag "child abuse".

How to use tag exclusion filters

To exclude a tag using the filters sidebar:

1. You can get to any canonical tag's works page by clicking on a tag, either directly on a work or by using Tag Search.
2. Open the filters sidebar. On a large screen, it'll automatically be visible on the right-hand side of the screen. On a small screen, select the "Filters" button to make it appear.
3. Navigate to the "Exclude" section.
4. You can expand each tag type to see the most common tags used on works in your search results. If the tag you want to exclude is listed, select the X next to it.
5. If you're trying to exclude a Fandom, Character, Relationship, or Additional tag that is not one of the most common tags, type the tag into the "Other tags to exclude" box.
6. Select the "Sort and Filter" button at the bottom of the sidebar. This will apply the chosen search filters to the list of works you can see, removing any works with the tags you've excluded.

Exclude by keyword search

In addition to using tags to exclude content, you can exclude a keyword or phrase by inserting a minus sign in front of it in the "Search within results" box. Doing so will mean that any works which contain your keyword or phrase in their metadata will not show up in your results. Metadata includes the title, creator, tags, summary, and beginning and end notes, but it does not include content in the body of the work or individual chapter notes.

In addition to excluding specific keywords, you can also use this method to avoid works created by a particular user: just type -creators:USERNAME into the search box. You can filter out multiple creators at a time by typing this same command multiple times, separated by commas or spaces (for example, -creators:USERNAME1,-creators:USERNAME2).

If you're browsing a work tag, then you can exclude keywords using the filters bar. Type your keyword exclusion into the "Search within results" box, then select "Sort and Filter".

If you're using Work Search, use the "Author/Artist" field to filter out works by a particular user. You can also filter them out from "Any Field": if you do that, you'll catch not just any works they've created, but also any works created by someone else where their username is mentioned in the tags, summary, notes, or other metadata.

Permanently avoid seeing specific users or works

If there is a user that you never want to see again, you can mute them. Muting a user means that you will no longer see works or bookmarks they've created, other users' bookmarks of their works, or comments they've left on AO3. To mute a user, simply select the Mute button on their profile page.

Muting a user will result in a banner at the top of every work search results page. If you want to hide this banner, you can add a site skin that includes p.muted.notice {display: none;}. Site skins customize the way AO3 looks to you while you're logged in.

You can also use site skins to hide specific works that you don't want to see. Once set up, your site skin will be active whenever you're logged into your account on any device.

To use a site skin to hide a particular work:

1. Find the work ID. The work ID is the number in the URL immediately after /works/
2. While logged into your account, go to archiveofourown.org/skins
3. Select "Create Site Skin" (or edit your skin if you're already using one)
4. In the CSS box, type .work-000 {display: none !important;}, replacing "000" with the ID of the work you want to mute
5. To mute multiple works, use a comma-separated list: .work-000, .work-111, .work-222 {display: none !important;}
6. Save or update your skin. If it's new (or if you weren't already using it), you'll also need to select the button labelled "Use"

If you need help creating or using skins, filters, work searches, or any other AO3 feature, please contact Support.

Can I permanently block a tag or have a persistent filter?

Unfortunately, it's not currently possible to save a set of tags or search exclusions directly on AO3, although you may be able to find third-party tools or site skin instructions to help you do this. AO3 doesn't have those kinds of built-in persistent filters: every time you open a new search page or works list, the filters will be reset. However, if you run a search using filters, you can bookmark the results page in your browser. The bookmarked page will keep the same search and filter settings when you return to it later.

What if I have more questions about offensive content?

PAC follows a strict confidentiality policy. Therefore, while you are welcome to ask general questions in the comments of this post, we will not give information on specific cases, publicly rule on a work, or update you on the status of a report you have already submitted. Comments on this post that discuss specific works or users will be removed.

For more information, you can read our TOS FAQ on offensive content vs illegal content.

If you are still uncertain, you can comment below or submit a question through the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form.

The Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) is responsible for enforcing the AO3 Terms of Service (TOS). To help users better understand the TOS, we're posting a weekly spotlight series about the TOS and our policies. We'll also be reading comments and answering questions on this and our other spotlight posts.

Last week’s post was on ratings and Archive warnings. This week, we'll discuss the other kinds of tags that we enforce, as well as the ones that we don't. At the end of this post, we'll provide details on the info that we need included in an incorrect tag report in order to be able to handle it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Although these are minor policy infractions, investigating them can take us a very long time to investigate if the report doesn't contain enough information.

Don't go looking for things to report.

Please do not start searching for incorrectly tagged works to report after reading this post. We know that incorrectly tagged works are a problem on AO3. However, when people deliberately search for works to report, we end up getting a lot of duplicate tickets about works that have already been reported. Every ticket we receive is reviewed by a PAC volunteer, so we only need one report in order to investigate an issue. We know it seems like sites only respond to mass reports, but on AO3, duplicate and mass reports increase the time it takes our volunteers to investigate.

Not all tags are required

Every work on AO3 must have at least one rating, Archive warning, fandom, and language tag. If these tags are used incorrectly, then PAC (or, as we'll discuss below, the Support committee) may intervene. We discussed ratings and warnings in our last post, and we'll explain what we mean by "incorrect" fandom and language tags below.

All other types of tags, such as category, character, relationship, and additional tags, are optional. Our rules for those kinds of tags are much looser. You're not required to use them if you don't want to, and PAC does not enforce the accuracy of these tags.

Fandom tags

Every work must have at least one fandom tag, and some may even have more than one. You are not required to tag every fandom that appears in your work. However, you should not use fandom tags for fandom content that does not appear in your work.

For example, if you're planning a one-shot anthology for multiple fandoms, you should only add a particular fandom tag after the relevant chapter for that fandom has been posted. Please don't include a fandom tag if you haven't yet added any content from that fandom to your work.

We take a pretty broad view of what counts as "fandom content", and we generally defer to the creator's judgement. We don't intervene in cases where franchise or sub-franchise tags have been used. For example, if Darth Vader shows up in your work, you're allowed to tag it with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), even if your work is primarily about the Star Wars Original Trilogy. Similarly, if Cloud Strife appears in your work, you could tag your work with Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and/or Kingdom Hearts (Video Games) as fandom tags because Cloud is a character in both fandoms. If a fandom has both a movie and a comics version, we will defer to creators on whether to use the fandom tags for one or the other (or even both). It's up to the work's creator to use their best judgement about which fandom tags are most suitable.

However, we do have a few minimum standards. Generally, we don't consider the following scenarios sufficient to mean a fandom is represented in a work:

• A minor or off-hand reference to a well-known/pop-culture element from fandom A, such as an item, location, or the name of a character
• The characters of fandom B are consuming the canon of fandom A, such as by playing a game or watching a movie
• The characters of fandom B are roleplaying as the characters from fandom A

If a fandom doesn't feature in your work beyond minor references such as these, you should not tag that fandom on your work. Instead, you can use an additional tag such as References to The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) or Inspired by The Great Gatsby.

RPF vs FPF

On AO3, we generally differentiate between RPF (Real-Person Fiction) and FPF (Fictional-Person Fiction). When you're writing about a canon's real-life actors (such as Chris Hemsworth or Mark Ruffalo), you should indicate that by using the "RPF" version of a tag (such as Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF). If you're writing about the fictional characters (such as Thor or Bruce Banner), and not their actors, then you should use the tag for that fictional universe (such as Marvel Cinematic Universe). Even if you're writing about a real-life actor on set, filming a movie, you should still only use the RPF fandom tag and not the tag for the fictional universe: the fictional character isn't actually present in the work, it's simply the actor doing their job.

Sometimes, fandoms have only RPF components, typically when the fandom is for a reality show or other non-fictional canon. For example, fandoms like Boys Planet (Korea TV) and My Favorite Murder (Podcast) do not involve any fictional characters, so the RPF-FPF divide does not apply to them.

A fandom tag that is an actor's name, such as Pedro Pascal - Fandom, is automatically considered RPF. These fandom tags should not be applied to works that are only about the characters an actor portrays. Instead, you can use an additional tag such as Joel (The Last of Us) Played by Pedro Pascal. If you’re a fan of a specific actor or pairing and enjoy seeing them in the different roles they've played, you may also be interested in the Actor X/Actor Y Character Combinations additional tag format.

Generic fandom tags

Because we take a very broad view of how relevant a fandom tag is, it's always OK to use a generic fandom tag such as Unspecified Fandom, No Fandom, or even Original Work. Just as you can always opt out of applying a specific rating (by instead using "Not Rated") or a specific warning (by instead using "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings"), you may opt out of using a specific fandom tag by instead using a generic or non-specific fandom tag.

You're never required to use any particular fandom tag. If you want to tag all your fanworks with Unspecified Fandom instead of specific fandom tags, you're free to do so. We may require a creator to remove an inaccurate fandom tag, but we will never require a specific fandom tag to be added.

Synonymous tags

AO3's tag system relies on Tag Wrangling volunteers, who link synonymous tags to a canonical tag if both tags are the same type and have the same meaning. This is why you can click on Buffy the Vampire Slayer or BtVS - Fandom and the same set of results will pop up; these two fandom tags have both been made synonyms of the canonical fandom tag Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV). The Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV) works page will show works tagged with exactly "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)" and works tagged with any synonymous fandom tags. If you want to learn more about how tag wrangling works, refer to the Tag Wrangling Work Description.

PAC does not handle issues relating to what tags are canonical, how tags are formatted, or which tags have been made synonymous with which other tags. We only look at the exact tag on a given work, not where it's linked to. If you have concerns about a Tag Wrangling decision, please contact Support instead.

Language tags

Every work must be tagged with a language reflecting the language the work is presented in. If the work has multiple primary languages, or no language at all (e.g. artwork), we'll defer to the creator's judgement about which language to tag their work with.

In 2021, Support took over responsibility for handling language tags. If you find a fanwork that's labeled with an incorrect language, please report it to Support, not to PAC. Support will contact the creator and ensure their work is labeled with a language that's represented in the work.

Non-mandatory (optional) tags

Creators can use the category, relationship, character, and additional tag fields to provide more information about their work, but they're not required to. Neither PAC nor Support will judge the accuracy or relevance of these kinds of tags.

However, all tags (regardless of type) are still subject to our general content policies. Tags can't be used to engage in commercial activity or harass other users, because these are both not allowed on AO3. (Later posts in this series will discuss these kinds of violations and how we handle them.)

Harassment generally includes tags which insult or threaten other AO3 users. As mentioned above, inaccurate tagging is not considered harassment. Tags which express negative views of characters or relationships are also not considered harassment. AO3 is open to all kinds of fanworks, including ones that are critical, mocking, or parodies.

If you dislike the way a particular user tags their works, the TOS FAQ has some tips on how to avoid content you don't want to encounter.

What happens if I'm reported for tagging an incorrect fandom?

First, we'll review the reported work to confirm whether your fandom tags are actually incorrect. If you need to update them, we'll send you an email telling you to fix the issue.

If you don't fix it, we'll remove any inaccurate fandom tags. If doing this means we end up removing all of the fandom tags on your work, we'll add the "Unspecified Fandom" tag instead.

We don't ever delete works for having incorrect tags. While we do require inaccurate fandom tags to be fixed, it is very rare for us to apply any penalties to a user's account for incorrectly tagging a fandom. We usually only penalize a user if they revert the changes we made or required them to make, or if they are frequently mistagging their works despite repeated attempts from us to contact them.

However, tags are still subject to our Content Policy. If you violate our commercial promotion or harassment policies with your tags, penalties will be applied accordingly. We'll discuss those policies in later posts.

What should I do if I encounter a work that has an incorrect tag?

You can give the creator a heads up by politely commenting on their work and linking to the TOS FAQ or this post. Alternatively, you can:

• Report the work to PAC, if the incorrect tag is a fandom tag.
• Report the work to Support, if the language is incorrect.
• Mute the work or its creator, if the incorrect tag is a category, character, relationship, or additional tag; or if the issue is with the work's completion status, updated date, kudos count, or other metadata.

How do I report a work with the wrong fandom tags?

Although we ask that you do not deliberately seek out incorrectly tagged works to report, if you come across a work tagged with one or more incorrect fandoms, you can report it using the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form, which is linked at the bottom of every page on AO3. If a work is tagged with multiple incorrect fandoms, please give us a list of all of the fandom tags you think are incorrect and should be removed.

Regardless of what type of incorrect tag you're reporting, please don't report more than one user at a time or submit multiple reports about the same user for the same reason. When reporting multiple works by the same user, please submit only one report with links to each work you're reporting, so that all information about that user is in the same place.

For example, a report of a work with an incorrect fandom might look like this:

Link to the page you are reporting: https://archiveofourown.org/works/00000000

Brief summary of Terms of Service violation: Incorrect fandom tag

Description of the content you are reporting:
This work by USERNAME is tagged with "Star Wars" but it's actually only about the Avengers, and the characters just watched Star Wars for movie night.

If you are reporting additional works, please include all relevant links and other information in your report description:

Description of the content you are reporting:
This work by USERNAME is tagged with "Star Wars" but it's actually only about the Avengers, and the characters just watched Star Wars for movie night.

Some of their other works also have the wrong fandom:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456789 is tagged "The Avengers (Marvel Movies)" but it's about Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. which means it's RPF and should be tagged with the RPF fandom tag. Steve Rogers and Tony Stark don't appear anywhere in the work.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34567890 This work tags "The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time" when the character's sword only shapeshifts into the Master Sword for two sentences before turning into another sword.

You can add more details if you like, but this example provides the basic information we need:

• Who posted the incorrectly tagged work(s): Tell us their username or if the work is anonymous or orphaned.
• Where we can find the work(s): Enter one URL in the "Link to the page you are reporting" field, and (if applicable) include links to any other violating works in the description of your report.
• What violates the TOS: Explain which fandom tag(s) on each work you're reporting are incorrect. A brief list or description is fine; you don't need to be very detailed or quote an entire TOS or FAQ section.

You'll receive an automatic email confirming that we received your report, and our volunteers will investigate when they get a chance. Please be patient and do not submit another report about the same work. While PAC and Support investigate every report we receive, it can take several months for us to process a report, and not every report will receive a reply.

What if I have more questions about tags?

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 work that is tagged with a fandom that doesn't appear in the work, please report the work to us as described above. If you think you've found a work that is tagged with an incorrect language, please report it to Support instead. For more information, you can read our TOS FAQ on other tags.

If you are still uncertain, you can comment below or submit a question through the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form.

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.

AO3 is a home for all fanworks and operates under the principle of maximum inclusiveness of fanwork content. We allow content of any rating, and all kinds of fictional topics, as long as the creator provides basic information about the intensity and type of content that may be present in a work.

PAC handles many different types of TOS violations, including incorrect ratings and Archive warnings. In this post, we'll discuss the requirements for ratings and warnings as well as provide information on how to report works with incorrect ratings or warnings. We do our best to investigate every report, but incorrect ratings and warnings can take us a very long time to investigate if the report doesn't contain enough information.

Don't go looking for things to report.

Please do not start searching for works with incorrect ratings or warnings to report after reading this post. We know that these kinds of TOS violations 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.

Ratings

All works on AO3 must have a rating. Creators can either select a specific rating ("General Audiences", "Teen and Up", "Mature", or "Explicit") or opt out of providing a specific rating by applying the non-specific rating "Not Rated".

Our TOS divides ratings into two tiers: ratings that will trigger the Adult Content notification ("Mature", "Explicit", or "Not Rated"), and ratings that won't ("General" or "Teen"). When you click on a work rated "Mature", "Explicit", or "Not Rated", a banner will warn you that you're about to access a work that may contain adult content. By selecting the "Yes, Continue" button on the banner, you are agreeing to access a work which may contain adult content. Registered users can disable this notification, which is enabled by default on new accounts.

Works rated "General" or "Teen" are not subject to this notification system. If a work rated "General" or "Teen" contains explicit content that you believe should trigger the Adult Content notification, you can report that work to PAC, and we will investigate whether that work needs to use one of the three higher ratings.

However, PAC doesn't make any distinctions within these two tiers. This means that we won't require a work rated "General Audiences" to be changed to "Teen and Up", and we won't require a work rated "Mature" or "Not Rated" to be changed to "Explicit", or vice versa. We defer to the work's creator(s) for those decisions: the only part we enforce is whether or not the work needs a rating that triggers the Adult Content notification.

Archive warnings

There are four specific Archive warnings: "Underage Sex", "Rape/Non-Con", "Graphic Depictions of Violence", and "Major Character Death". Any work on AO3 that contains content relating to one of the four specific Archive warnings must be tagged with either that warning or the non-specific "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings" label.

Creators can always Choose Not To Warn.

The "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings" (CNTW) label is a blanket warning. It means "Read at your own risk!" or "This work may contain any of the four specific Archive warnings." If you don't want to encounter content depicting underage sexual activity, rape/non-consensual sex, graphic violence, or major character death, then you should not click on works tagged with "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings".

When you post a work, you can use the CNTW label if you don't want to apply a specific Archive warning. For example, if you don't want to spoil a plot twist by adding a "Major Character Death" warning, you can instead apply "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings" to your work. You can also apply a combination of CNTW and other Archive warnings. If your work contains rape and a major character death, and you want to warn for the former without spoiling the latter, you can label the work with both "Rape/Non-Con" and "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings".

If you don't Choose Not To Warn, then you may need to add a specific warning.

As mentioned above, you can always opt out of applying Archive warnings by instead selecting "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings". If you do not select this label, then in the following circumstances, you must use one or more of the four specific Archive warnings:

The "Underage Sex" warning is required on works that depict or describe sexual activity involving characters under the age of eighteen (18). We don't consider dating activities, like kissing, to be sexual content. Offscreen sexual content also doesn't need a warning.

For characters that are underage in canon, we do not automatically assume (without evidence) that they are also underage in the fanwork. If there are no indications that a particular character is under 18, we will assume they are 18 or older. When evaluating works, we consider explicit statements of a character's age as well as contextual clues (such as the work being clearly set in a time period where the character is underage). If you're worried that a character in your fanwork may be misinterpreted as being younger than 18, you can always specify the character's age in the tags, notes, or body of your work.

The "Rape/Non-Con" warning is required on works that depict onscreen rape or non-consensual sex. If the work only contains a reference to non-consensual sex, then we don't require this warning to be applied. Additionally, there are circumstances that are not considered consensual in real life, but don't necessarily require the "Rape/Non-Con" warning on AO3. For example, we don't inherently require a "Rape/Non-Con" warning for adult/minor relationships (though we might require "Underage Sex" or CNTW). We also do not require a "Rape/Non-Con" warning for situations that are dubiously consensual, such as the Sex Pollen or Fuck or Die tropes. When in doubt, we defer to the creator's judgement.

Similarly, the "Graphic Depictions of Violence" warning is only required if the work contains graphic violence that is explicitly shown "onscreen" in the work.

We require "Major Character Death" when the character is both a major presence in the fanwork and they're dead by the end of the fanwork. We don't take canon into consideration here – what we're interested in is whether the character is a major presence in your fanwork. If you create a fanwork centered on a character that dies and stays dead in your work, that work should be warned for "Major Character Death" even if they only appear for one line in canon. If that same character dies before the start of your work, and dealing with the grief of their loss is a major part of the fanwork, "Major Character Death" is also required in this situation.

If your work features a character death and that character returns in a later chapter that is currently posted, then this warning is not required. However, if the character does not return to life until a sequel fanwork, the warning is still needed on the work in which they died. Archive Warnings apply to individual fanworks, not to series of works.

"No Archive Warnings Apply" may coexist with other warnings.

There is also a sixth label in this category: "No Archive Warnings Apply". The best way to think of this Archive warning is as a placeholder. If "No Archive Warnings Apply" is the only Archive warning on a work, then it means that the work should not feature underage sex, rape/non-consensual sex, graphic violence, or major character death – or if it does contain such content, it is only a brief reference.

However, the "No Archive Warnings Apply" label can be present on a work that is also labeled with any or all of the other five Archive warnings. In that case, the other warning label always takes precedence. PAC never removes any Archive warnings already on a work. We only add the "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings" label to the work if it's missing a required warning.

For example, some users may apply a "Major Character Death" warning and a "No Archive Warnings Apply" warning in order to emphasize that while the work may contain Major Character Death, it doesn't contain any of the other warnings. The presence of "No Archive Warnings Apply" does not negate the "Major Character Death" label on the work – a major character death may still occur in this work.

If both "No Archive Warnings Apply" and "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings (CNTW)" are applied to the same work, then the CNTW warning is what takes precedence, and the work may contain content relating to any of the four specific Archive warnings. Some users may apply both the CNTW label and the "No Archive Warnings Apply" label for ambiguous situations, or to emphasize that while they don't think the work contains something that needs a warning, it is open to interpretation. However, you should not assume anything about a creator's intentions or the severity of content in the work – consider works warned with both CNTW and "No Archive Warnings Apply" the same way you'd consider works tagged with only CNTW or any/all of the specific Archive warnings.

We generally defer to the creator's judgement.

For borderline cases, PAC will defer to the creator's judgement. However, if we feel that a work depicts content clearly requiring one of the four specific Archive warnings, we'll require the creator to either add the warning or opt out by applying the "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings" label.

Can I use Additional tags instead of Archive warnings?

Sometimes users include warnings in the Additional tags of their work. If the content is merely a reference or offscreen, this is fine. However, for any content requiring an Archive warning, the label must also be added in the Archive warnings category. For example, while you are welcome to include an additional tag of "rape" on your work featuring a rape scene, you still need to apply the "Rape/Non-Con" Archive warning (or CNTW).

Why does AO3 have only four required Archive warnings?

AO3's warning system is deliberately minimal. When AO3 was created, these four warnings were chosen as a balance between the most common types of content that users wanted a warning for, and what would be feasible for PAC (a small team comprised entirely of volunteers) to enforce in a consistent and fair manner. We know that there are many other kinds of content that you might not want to see, so we encourage you to check out the additional tags, summary, notes, and bookmarks of a work before opening it. However, PAC will not enforce the use of tags or warnings beyond what is required by the TOS.

It's what's in the work that counts.

When it comes to ratings and warnings, we evaluate what is in the body of the work. If an author says in their notes that they plan to include explicit sex eventually, but the only chapter posted is a fluffy introduction with no explicit content, then we will not require that the work be given one of the higher ratings. Similarly, if a work carries an additional tag of "X dies at the end" but nobody actually dies in the work, then we will not require a "Major Character Death" warning.

Because of this, please do not report works based on what is in their additional tags or summary. Many creators may have begun works and added additional tags or notes based on their plans for future updates, but plans change, and not all works in progress are completed. Please only report works to us when there is actual content in the work itself that necessitates a rating or warning change.

Ratings and warnings are not promises.

AO3's warnings and ratings both mean "may contain", not "must contain". If you want to rate your fluffy, non-sexy slice-of-life as "Explicit", you're allowed to do that. A higher rating means that a work may contain explicit content, not that it must contain such content. Similarly, if you want to warn for "Major Character Death" even though nobody has died, you're allowed; we don't ever make someone remove a warning.

What will happen if I get reported for having an incorrect rating or missing warning on my work?

First, we'll review your work to confirm whether or not your work's rating and/or warnings are insufficient. If we determine that the rating or warnings need to be changed, we'll send you an email notifying you to update your tags.

We'll only ever contact you by email, and only after we've already reviewed your work and confirmed that the current rating and/or warnings are insufficient. We will never comment directly 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 email.

If you don't update your tags, we'll change them. For an incorrect rating, we'll set the work to "Not Rated". For a missing warning, we'll add the "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings" label to the work. We won't remove any of the warnings that are already on the work.

We don't ever delete works for having insufficient warnings or ratings. While we do require all works to have appropriate ratings and warnings (as specified in the TOS), it is very rare for us to apply any penalties to a user's account for insufficient ratings or warnings. We would usually only penalize a user if they undo changes we made or required them to make. A user may also receive a penalty if they repeatedly mislabel their works even after being contacted about similar violations, or for the purposes of harassment.

What should I do if I encounter a work that has the wrong rating or a missing warning?

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 with the wrong rating or missing warnings?

Although we ask that you do not deliberately seek out incorrectly tagged works to report, if you come across a work with the wrong rating or missing warnings while browsing, you can report it using the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form, which is linked at the bottom of every page on AO3.

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, so that all information about that user is in the same place.

Please tell us exactly where in the work the content requiring the higher rating or warning is. The best way to do this is to give us a short quote from the relevant scene that we can search for in order to immediately find the content. If you are reporting multiple works by the same creator, please group all the works into one report and provide this information for each work.

If the rating or warning issue pertains to a specific character, please tell us the name of that character as used in the work. If it's Bert who died, please tell us it's Bert, so that we don't spend time trying to figure out if it was Ernie (who was only badly wounded). If you are reporting a missing "Underage Sex" warning, please tell us exactly where the underage sexual content occurs and where the indication of the character's age is. As a reminder, if there are no indications that a particular character is under 18, we will assume they are 18 or older.

Rating and warning issues can take a lot of time for us to investigate if we're not given clear information about where the violation has happened. PAC will not act unless we've confirmed a policy violation ourselves. If we're sent a report about a work that is 80,000 words long and the report only says "contains rape", we have to confirm that there is a rape scene somewhere in those 80,000 words before requiring a "Rape/Non-Con" (or CNTW) warning. If we can't find it easily, the most likely result is that we'll reply to you asking you to give us more info – and if you don't, we'll close your report with no further action. So please make sure to include as much information as possible when submitting a report.

For example, a report of a work with an incorrect rating might look like this:

Link to the page you are reporting: https://archiveofourown.org/works/00000000

Brief summary of Terms of Service violation: Incorrect rating

Description of the content you are reporting:
This work by USERNAME is rated G but it's entirely smut from the very first sentence.

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: Incorrect ratings and warnings

Description of the content you are reporting:
This work by USERNAME is rated G but it's entirely smut from the very first sentence.

Some of their other works also have the wrong rating or warning:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456789 is rated T with No Archive Warnings Apply, but it has underage sex onscreen. CHARACTERNAME is 17 (in chapter 2 it says "after his seventeenth birthday party three weeks ago") and has sex in chapter 4 (starting at "He stepped closer, leaning in...")

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34567890 has the main character CHARACTERNAME die at the end (search for "She gasped in horror"), but the work isn't tagged with Major Character Death or Creator Chose Not To Warn.

You can add more details if you like, but this example provides the basic information we need:

• Who posted the incorrectly tagged work(s): Tell us their username or if the work is anonymous or orphaned.
• Where we can find the work(s): Enter one URL in the "Link to the page you are reporting" field, and (if applicable) include links to any other violating works in the description of your report.
• What violates the TOS: Explain why you think the rating and/or warning(s) on each work you're reporting are incorrect, for example by including a quote from the relevant scene(s). A brief description of the work is fine; you don't need to be very detailed or quote an entire TOS or FAQ section.

You'll receive an automatic email confirming that we received your report, and our volunteers will investigate when they get a chance. Please be patient and do not submit another report about the same work. While PAC 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 ratings and warnings?

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 work that's incorrectly rated or missing a warning, or if you want to know whether a particular scene requires a specific rating or Archive warning, please report the work to us as described above. For more information, you can read our TOS FAQ on ratings and Archive warnings.

If you are still uncertain, you can comment below or submit a question through the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form.

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.

PAC handles both major and minor policy infractions. We get tens of thousands of reports each year about a lot of different types of TOS violations, but approximately half of all reports are about one specific thing: the violations we call "non-fanworks". In this post, you'll learn about some of the most common types of non-fanworks, why we don't allow them, where to put this type of content instead, and what you can do if you see a non-fanwork on AO3.

Don't go looking for things to report.

Please do not start searching for non-fanworks to report after reading this post. We know that non-fanworks 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 an archive for fanworks, not other kinds of content.

AO3 has a very specific purpose: to host fanworks, and only fanworks. Our definition of "fanwork" is broad: fanworks can take many shapes and forms, including fanfiction, fanart, podfics, fanvids, fancrafts, fannish non-fiction, original works, and more.

What are some examples of non-fanworks?

Works that are not fanworks should not be posted to AO3. These include (but are not limited to):

• Fic searches or requests for recommendations
• Advertisements for roleplay partners or servers
• Personal messages to other users
• Updates, polls, or announcements
• Reaction, blog, or vent posts
• Spam, shitposts, or memes
• Reposted novels or other published works
• Placeholders and other empty works
• Links to or lists of works you've read or created
• Ideas or prompts for fanworks
• Requests for other users to provide you with ideas or prompts for fanworks

AO3 has many features that you can use instead of posting a non-fanwork.

There are many AO3 tools and features that are designed to assist you with finding, recommending, and creating fanworks. Please use these features instead of posting a non-fanwork.

• Tags and Search: AO3 has an extensive tagging and searching system, which you can use to browse for works you might be interested in or find a specific work.

• Bookmarks: You can use bookmarks to save or share fanworks hosted on AO3 or other sites. AO3 bookmarks can be organized using tags, notes, and collections.

• Series and Collections: You can make a series to organize your fanworks so that other users know what order to read them in, or a collection to group similar kinds of fanworks together. Fanworks can be placed in multiple series or collections at the same time.

• Prompt Memes: Prompts or ideas for fanworks that you would like to see (or requests for others to give you ideas for fanworks to create) are not themselves fanworks. Instead, you can request or post prompts using a prompt meme, which is a specialized type of collection that lets multiple users share and fulfill each other's ideas.

• Drafts: All works on AO3 must be fanworks; empty placeholder works aren't fanworks. You shouldn't post a placeholder work that has no content, nor should you remove all the content from your work while you're editing it. If you have a work in progress that you aren't ready to post yet, please save your work as an unpublished draft instead.

• Profile and Notes: You can share links to your accounts on other sites or provide updates on your writing progress by editing your profile or adding notes to your fanworks.

If you need help using any of AO3's features, please contact Support.

I've seen others post these "non-fanworks". 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 post a fic search or a prompt as a work on AO3, but that doesn't mean it's allowed. All it means is that nobody has reported that non-fanwork to us yet, or that we haven't finished processing the report.

What if I plan to delete it as soon as possible?

Works on AO3 must be fanworks. By posting a non-fanwork, you're violating our TOS. If someone reports your work to us, we may still take action even if you've already deleted the work.

What will happen if I get reported for posting a non-fanwork?

First, we'll review the reported work to confirm that you violated our TOS by posting a non-fanwork. If we determine that your work is a non-fanwork, we'll hide the work and send you an email telling you to delete the non-fanwork. In some cases, we may offer you the chance to edit your work instead.

We'll only ever contact you by email, and only after we've determined that your work is a non-fanwork. 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 non-fanworks, 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 non-fanwork?

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 non-fanwork?

Although we ask that you do not deliberately seek out non-fanworks to report, if you come across a non-fanwork while browsing, you can report it using the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form, which is linked at the bottom of every page on AO3.

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, so that all information about that user is in the same place.

For example, a non-fanwork report might look like this:

Link to the page you are reporting: https://archiveofourown.org/works/00000000

Brief summary of Terms of Service violation: Non-fanwork

Description of the content you are reporting:
This work by USERNAME is a search for a fanfic.

If you are reporting additional works, please include all relevant links and other information in your report description:

Description of the content you are reporting:
This work by USERNAME is a search for a fanfic.

Some of their other works are also not fanworks:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23456789 is a request for roleplaying partners.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34567890 is a list of prompts.

You can add more details if you like, but this example provides the basic information we need:

• Who posted the non-fanwork(s): Tell us their username or if the work is anonymous or orphaned.
• Where we can find the work(s): Enter one URL in the "Link to the page you are reporting" field, and (if applicable) include links to any other violating works in the description of your report.
• What violates the TOS: Explain why you think each work you're reporting is not a fanwork. A brief description of the work is fine; you don't need to be very detailed or quote an entire TOS or FAQ section.

You'll receive an automatic email confirming that we received your report, and our volunteers will investigate when they get a chance. Please be patient and do not submit another report about the same work. While PAC 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 non-fanworks?

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 non-fanwork on AO3, or if you want to know whether a particular work is a fanwork, please report the work to us as described above. For more information, you can read our TOS FAQ for examples of fanworks and non-fanworks.

If you are still uncertain, you can comment below or submit a question through the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form.

ETA: As mentioned earlier in the post, original works are a type of fanwork allowed on AO3. For more information, please refer to our TOS FAQ: Can I post original fiction?.

This year, in recognition of World Password Day, we’re asking all fans to spend a few minutes ensuring that their passwords – and their AO3 accounts – are secure.

Recently, the Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) has seen an increasing number of users who have lost access to their AO3 accounts because they used an insecure password. We'd like to reassure our users that there is no indication that AO3 has experienced a data breach. PAC has been able to determine that all of the affected users' login information had been compromised in other ways, such as by accidentally downloading malware to their devices and/or by re-using the same password on AO3 that they had also used on a compromised website.

In early 2025, several large datasets were posted online, containing hundreds of millions of email/password pairs obtained from malware and compromised websites. It's common practice for scammers to test these compromised email/password pairs on other websites, in case the affected passwords were reused elsewhere. This allows the scammer to access accounts on websites that have never experienced a data breach, such as AO3. After gaining access to an account, the scammer may then change the account's email, password, and/or username, or sell the account information to other people.

AO3 is always free to use, but some people might not understand how to create their own AO3 account. There are many reasons for this, such as language barriers and unfamiliarity with our site. These people may purchase AO3 account information in the mistaken belief that AO3 accounts can be sold legitimately. They only discover they have been scammed once PAC re-acquires the account to give it back to the original owner.

PAC has been working diligently to identify compromised accounts and restore them to their original owners. We have also been working with the victims of the account-selling scam to help them create their own free AO3 accounts. Unfortunately, sometimes these victims, thinking the account they purchased legitimately belongs to them, may delete works or other content posted by the original account owner. While PAC can restore ownership of an account, we are unable to restore deleted content.

Ensure Your Password is Secure

You can reduce your vulnerability to this kind of incident by following internet security best practices:

• Set a unique, secure password for each and every one of your accounts on all platforms.
• Don't ever reuse passwords or share your passwords with anyone else for any reason.
• Use a password manager. This will help you to set unique, secure passwords for each of your accounts without worrying about forgetting them. Many browsers have a free, built-in password manager if you would prefer not to download third-party software.
• Keep your antivirus software and operating system up to date, and set them to scan for malware regularly.
• Check the website haveibeenpwned.com to see if your emails, passwords, and other information may have been exposed in data breaches. Change your passwords for any breached websites and any accounts on other sites where you may have used the same password.

If you are ever worried that your AO3 account is at risk of being compromised, you should do the following:

• Change your password immediately. This will automatically log you – and anyone else accessing your account – out of all sessions on all devices.
  • If you’ve forgotten your password, but you have access to the email address currently associated with your AO3 account, you can log out and reset your password instead.
  • If you’ve forgotten your password, and you no longer have access to the email address you used for your account, please contact Support.
• Make sure the email address associated with your AO3 account is one that you check regularly, as this is where all notifications about your account will be sent. If you need to update your email address, please refer to our FAQ about changing your email.

If you've received an email from @archiveofourown.org saying that the email associated with your account has been changed to one you don’t recognize, and you can't log in to your account, please contact Policy & Abuse. PAC treats compromised accounts as a matter of high priority, and will work with you via email to restore your account. If it's been over a week and you have not heard back from a PAC volunteer about the status of your account, check your email (including any spam, social, or other folders) before replying to our email or submitting a new Abuse report.

Again, we emphasize that there has not been any breach of AO3's servers. We are also developing and implementing additional measures to help prevent unauthorized access to AO3 accounts. However, your account is only as secure as your password and email. We encourage all users to take a few minutes today to ensure that your AO3 password is unique and your email address is up to date.