Fanfic for me (and you)

*cackling*

AO3 was built by a bunch of us with our free donated labor for the purpose of being a space free from commercial spam.

It’s not a public service. It was built by us to house the type of fandom culture we liked.

AO3 forbids commercial links because they are making a very specific claim about the legality of fanworks, and that claim is about noncommercial fanworks.

They’re not saying that commercialized fanworks are against the law. They’re just not prepared to host them–nor defend them in court.

In case people missed it: The OTW will not honor DMCA takedown orders that are basically, “I own X work and that’s a fanfic of it, and that’s copyright infringement so make it go away.”

The OTW says, lolnope, we don’t think that’s copyright infringement. If you disagree, sue us.

The OTW says: Disney - we will not remove explicit Mandalorian fanfic. Rowling, Warner Bros - we will not remove trans Harry Potter fanfic. Gabaldon - we are not removing Outlander fanfic no matter how much you think it’s illegal or a personal violation. Yarbro, if someone puts “The Adventure of the Gentleman in Black” on AO3, you will need to actually take it to trial to (try to) get it removed; none of this C&D order followed by fans caving because they can’t afford a lawyer.

…So far, nobody has sued them. (This is, in my mind, the strongest proof we have that fanfic is not copyright infringement. In 13 years, not a single person or company has scrounged up a lawyer and filed a lawsuit against AO3/the OTW for hosting fanworks.)

But they’re not willing to put themselves on the line for commercial works. Those get considered differently in copyright law. They’re not always infringing - there’s a whole history of parody books & songs to prove that - but the OTW is not dealing with them.

The OTW does not care if fans are making money. The OTW cares if fans making money interfere with its legal defense of its archive.

Events like Strikethrough and Boldthrough happened in the early to mid-2000s. It felt like you’d wake up every day in 2007 and find another fandom group on LJ gone. (And not just fandom groups either, important community groups for education and trauma survival were also wiped out in those purges as well.)

And while not exactly the same, Yahoo Groups–and yes Yahoo Groups was a major online fandom hub at one point–were deleted as late as 2019 with very little warning, leaving a lot of older fandom groups scrambling to back up decades worth of content.

I might be projecting, but Fanfic.net seems to be wobbling too. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out they go under in the next few years despite performing similar purges of adult content in 2012 and allowing for obnoxious ads, which made the site unusable on mobile unless you wanted to see an ad what felt like every couple of paragraphs. (It might be better now, I haven’t checked in a while.)

It has only been in very recent memory that fandom has gained any sort of foothold that isn’t poised directly over a precarious faultline that could at any moment open up and swallow entire communities whole, and a huge part of that is the volunteers at Ao3 who decided to play chicken with the likes of Anne Rice and won.

Minors would have to physically look for the mature works due to it being posted in a separate post, Click the “Proceed to works/Warning” button consenting/ LYING about their age of being 18 and read the author’s warnings AND tags of what will be mentioned in the text.

No one is forced to read. One has to click the button to read certain contents.

I have recently read a very lengthy post regarding how Mare Barrow and the Red Queen series, as a whole, is not feminist.

In all honesty, I fully agree with that (Well, half of it.)

Mare Barrow, from the start, was never meant to be a feminist. She was introduced in the series as an undereducated thief, with very few friends and a miniscule amount of patience(for example: spitting on people, stealing batteries and talking back to King Tiberias VI and Queen Elara). She does not see or blame her gender as the cause of her unfavorable position. From not getting proper education, her brothers being sent to war, Kilorn becoming an orphan and her father being severely crippled because of the war, she blames the Silvers for her people’s misfortune and suffering; bitterly remarking on their lavish lifestyle and hunger for glory.

Mare Barrow did fight for her people (Even leaving Cal, temporarily, when he chose to resume his pursuit in becoming king, as she believed that when there is still silver monarchy, achieving equality is not possible), for the Reds that have suffered for centuries and the Newbloods that were hunted down for being a threat (The Newbloods they rescued while escaping Maven and Elara, and the ones held captive in Corros Prison).

I am also aware that Mare is very selfish. Joining the cause for personal reasons; her brother’s death, her wanting to feel some kind of power and mostly vengeance due to Maven’s betrayal.

Mare is just a deeply flawed teenager that was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Getting herself in situations that she is greatly at a disadvantage, in power and in experience. She gets herself in danger due to being a Newblood and having very, very bad decision making skills.

And this is the part why I love Aveyard for this, Mare makes mistakes, a lot of it. Not only does she get called out for it (by Cal, Farley, Cameron and a few people from Monfort), she pays dearly for it. She wanted to smuggle out Kilorn, to avoid conscription, indirectly causing Gisa to crush her hand, which was her livelihood. She trusted Maven, she got betrayed and got thrown into the Bowl of Bones, with the knowledge that she is responsible for endangering a lot of lives. She killed Elara and paraded her severed head, she got tortured and imprisoned for months.

Mare made a lot of fuck ups and she tried and failed and sometimes succeeded thought it all, and seeing her continue to push and live and survive, after all the horrors she went through. She felt real, even with her ability to create lightning, she felt like a person. Who was trying to do what they thought was right.

I was a teenager when I read this series, and seeing her rise from all of this. Not as a feminist icon. Not as a hero. Heck, not even a saint. Mare Barrow is a survivor and a symbol of resilience and determination. (For me, not sure with everyone on Goodreads.)

Her red blooded pride and endless wrath helped push forward a time of Red empowerment, ended centuries of Silver Rule in Norta and got to marry (and have kids) with the love of her life. That’s inspiring.

Also, it's quiet unfair to base the series being “feminist” on just Mare Barrow’s relationship with other female characters in the series. There are remarkable women here in Red Queen that empowered and helped Mare and other characters in achieving their goals, and still having their own dreams and ambitions.

Diana Farley

She started with a small group of criminals and smugglers, bombing and shooting at silver nobility. She had to forgo her long hair (shaved for most of the series, and a symbol of her femininity) for practicality. At the end of Glass Sword, she got pregnant and she still continued to fight for the cause. When she gave birth to Clara, she attended meetings while carrying her baby and when things got even more close to danger. She had to leave Clara with the Barrow Family. She was hurt every time she had to leave, but she did it for the cause and rose through the ranks and became General Farley.

Evangeline Samos

From Silver Nobility, it was difficult to form friendships when most of the Silver ladies from a very young age were bred and raised to compete in Queenstrial. Evangeline was no different and had to work thrice as hard as everybody else, even going as far as being forced to hurt Elane Haven (the love of her life) during their training. Her arc in King’s Cage and War Strom centered on her powerlessness under her parents, as she was only seen as a bargaining chip to get more power and land. However, she plotted and asked Mare for help to escape her arranged marriage and to run away to Monfort with the people she holds dear (Elane, Ptolemus and Wren). The character development she had went from her bullying Mare and thinking she was weak to her POVs complimenting her (She [Mare] was a constant reminder of what I was supposed to be. A princess. A queen. 329, King’s Cage) and at the end, openly telling her that she deserves to be happy (There aren’t many that deserve to be happy. I’m certainly not one of them, but here I am. I think you might deserve it, Barrow. 425, Broken Throne). Where Mare was left speechless, as those were one of the nicest things anyone (I mean , anyone. Cause Mare is not well liked by most characters) has ever said to her and it came from Evangeline. When Silver rule had been removed, when they were finally at a place and in a position that they could finally see eye to eye, Evangeline of Monfort, through her cunning and unconditional love, finally got her happy ending and a budding new friendship with Mare Barrow.

Elara Merandus

…She gaslight, girlboss and gatekeep her way into our hearts. (She can choke).

Ada Wallace

One of the Newblood that were discovered in Glass Sword. Started as a maid from House Rhombus became vital member of the Nortan States’ delegation and during the meeting, Cal thought that Ada could be formidable queen. Also, she and Ketha (may she rest in peace) taught Kilorn how to read

Ella (Blue Lightning Storm)

She is wild, bubbly and deadly. She is awesome.

Cameron Cole’s relevacy

Also, Cameron Cole might not be my favorite character, but the amount of respect I have for this 15 year old is sky high. She was the voice of reason and would call people out on their bullshit.

Especially Mare during Glass Sword, calling her out on her favoring Newbloods and massacring Silvers. A few weeks after Mare’s rescue in King’s Cage, she approached and full heartedly apologized for what she did to Cameron. Because what she did was awful, which Cameron agreed, but she was able to get what she wanted (Morrey, safe.)

She acted as a foil in Mare’s character, should she give in to violence and vengeance, or should she heal, grow and defend, instead of attack. She was far more mature than Mare and clearly chose the latter. Helping her father rebuild a better New Town in Broken Throne. I wished that she had another POV in War Storm, cause I wish to get to know and love her character.

Even though the women in Red Queen did not have feminist (others would call itl “Girl boss”), in your face, moments, they still have goals and dreams, and they were able to achieve some of them through power, cunning and sheer determination, and in the end, they were able to get what they wanted.

Toastystats: Biggest fandoms, ships, & characters on AO3 -- looking back at 2022

It's not entitlement, it's an ask. It's begging. It's an ask to not financially support a multi-millionaire who uses her royalties to give money to organizations that are successfully trying to dehumanize and strip the rights of trans people. It is an ask not to support a game that entire premise depends dangerous and dehumanizing Jewish stereotyping, that was put into this fictional world by JKR herself.

My frustration is that people are actively claiming to be allies and even acting morally superior, for buying a game that trans and jewish communities have been begging people not to buy. You are not an ally if you buy this game. If you know what Joanne is doing is wrong, and you know how she uses her money, yet they are ignoring it for their own interests and nostalgia. You are not an ally. Allyship doesn't fluctuate when it's convenient for you, and you can't buy back your allyship or forgiveness if you donate to charities. It's selfish.

I constantly live with the fact that no one fights others' battles, and I'm still frustrated by it. We were put on this earth to protect our fellow man, and people just won't. I know we can't all constantly fight for ourselves and others' 24/7 while also living ori day to day life. Our world is too big for that. But this is not people choosing not the fight. It's people consciously choosing to give money to the ones harming people. I constantly live with the fact that people aren't fighting our battle for and with us because no one actually cares about trans people. Most of the world doesn't care about us, and people are trying to destroy us. And here we have "allies" who throw get frustrated they feel guilty and people dont like that they are knowingly put their money into a influential, multi-millionaire bigot's pockets. Those that are mad that people don't want them to play the Blood Libel slavery simulator game.

It's literally asking people to not buy a video game. That's all people are asking. It's an inaction. No one's asking people to vote, no one's asking people to wave flags or sign petition, people literally asking you not to spend money on a game. Its a gesture. The bare minimum. It was doing nothing and people couldn't do that. That was it. People couldn't do even do nothing for the Jewish and trans communities.

For the people with their own problems and bigotry they're dealing with, a video game isn't going to fix it. A video game isn't going to save them. And if they are someone who is maganalized, it is very, very likely JKR doesn't care about them either. Her work and her views are extremely racist, xenophobic, fatphobic, even things having misogyny and homophobia, and things she claims to dislike. Her and her posse are willing to align with whit supremacists in order to continue their cause. Her bigotry will only get worse with time. So why financially support someone who is only going to harm marganalized groups. You are knowingly putting your wants above real people who will be harmed. If you buy the game, you have to accept that fact. You can't work your away around it, or try to donate away your guilt.

No one needs a Harry Potter game. No one will die without getting the game. The game won't fix any of your problems.the game won't stop the bigotry you deal with personally.

All people asked for was literally nothing. Do nothing. It's not spending $70 dollar on a video game and not playing it. It's a symbol of support, showing you won't support someone so cruel. All people asked if people would do nothing when a game came out. Why is it so controversial to ask that of people? Why is it so controversial to be upset about when people don't do it?

Some examples;

Don't be afraid to break the pointless and sexist rules society has imposed upon you, especially if they stand between you and your dreams.

Learn to recognise your self worth beyond the trappings of success.

Recognising and working to correct your white privilege, is not only the right thing to do morally, but will also lead to a more diverse and exciting playing field.

So I started with going to the Sherlock (TV) section of Ao3. On the right we find this lovely section! ((I know I’m going over things you already probably know, but I figure this post may go to new Ao3 users, so bear with me.))

Underneath this, I chose sort by Kudos, because that’s a quick way to find most popular fics, for the sake of this demonstration. 

With those filters on, we end up with this being our first two results: 

As you can see, we have Nature and Nurture by earlgreytea68, and The Internet Is Not Just For Porn by cyerus. So what if I am utterly sick of seeing earlgreytea68 on my list? Let’s pretend I’ve read all their fics, or that I just don’t like her, or whatever. I want this author out. I go to this section on the right: 

In “Search within results” I type earlgreytea68 into the bar, with a minus sign in front. This gives me the following page, upon hitting the sort and filter button:

There goes earlgreytea68! But now I’ve decided that Crack is just not my thing, I’m sick of that, too, for heaven’s sake, I want something reasonable in my gay slash fanfiction about detectives that solve crimes about glowing dogs and irish megalomaniacs. Heaven forbid this get ridiculous.

Well, then I add this to my search:

Which gets rid of everything with that tag. My results are now:

Performance in a Leading Role is now my first result!

You can do this as many times as you want; the biggest problem I have is trying to filter out multi-worded tags. For example, “Secret Relationship” is hard to filter. Better to go with authors you dislike or with words like “DubCon”. 

I hope this helps! Also remember that googling site:archiveofourown.org and then adding search terms will mean google searches Ao3 for you, and sometimes that works far better. 

You can filter out phrases by enclosing them in quotes. For example, if ABO and Hydra Trash Party are not your things, try:

Say, you’re in your random fandom- I went with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since I’ve been reading Iron Man stuff recently. Tony Stark is awesome.

But anyway, you’re on the page, and you see that there are 174,774 works! That is way too many for a casual afternoon’s browsing.

And you see that the first one is Peter Parker/Tony Stark and that is not your jam. It doesn’t work for you, or it squicks you, whatever. Wouldn’t life be easier if you could browse without seeing that pairing (or whatever pairing you don’t like)? You can!

First, click on that pairing tag(You may want to open this in another tab, actually.):

and it’ll take you to the page for that pairing tag. Click this button:

and then look at the address bar! The actual page is unimportant. Copy the numbers located here:

and go back to the original search page! Down on the side, in the same place you can get rid of other tags, type -relationship_ids:”the number you just copied”

Then hit ‘sort and filter’ annnd… magic!

The fics with that pairing are gone! You can also do multiple pairings, get rid of any tags you don’t like, and sort it by date or length or kudos, or whatever.