Basic AO3 Etiquette for the Newcomers π€
This is not optional. This is the bare minimum social contract you sign the moment you post a fic. If your fic contains major character death, you tag it. If it contains graphic violence, you tag it. If it has a specific pairing, you tag it. If it contains content that could be distressing, triggering, or simply not everyone's cup of tea, you tag it. The tagging system on AO3 exists for two equally important reasons: so that readers can find exactly what they're looking for, and so that readers can filter out what they're not in a place to handle. Both of those things matter. Both of those people deserve consideration. The system only works if everyone participates in it honestly. When you don't tag properly, you are not being edgy or mysterious β you are being inconsiderate.
If you don't know if certain tags will apply, sdd in letters that while uploading the tags will be edited so that readers know!
THE "DON'T LIKE DON'T READ" RULE GOES BOTH WAYS
Yes, people can write whatever they want within AO3's Terms of Service. That is a feature, not a bug, and it is worth protecting. But that freedom comes with a responsibility on the reader's side too: you have to curate your own experience. The archive gives you extraordinary tools to do this. You can exclude tags, filter by rating, filter by pairing, filter by word count, mute authors, and bookmark content to return to later. These tools are powerful and most newcomers don't even know they exist. Learn them. Use them. The "don't like, don't read" rule only functions if both sides hold up their end β writers tag honestly, and readers filter actively. If you stumble into content that upsets you because you didn't use the available filters, that is a you problem, not a the-author-needs-to-hear-about-it problem.
KUDOS IS A ONE-TIME THING. COMMENTS ARE FOREVER.
You can only leave kudos on a fic once. That's just how the system works. But you can leave a comment every single time you come back to reread something, and that matters enormously. Authors write into a void most of the time. They pour hours β sometimes years β into a piece of work and then post it and wait, often hearing nothing at all. Even "HELLO????" counts. Leave the comment. It costs you nothing and it can means everything.
DO NOT COMMENT ASKING FOR UPDATES
I'm going to say this as gently as I can. Authors are not vending machines. Fanfiction is a gift β written on someone's personal time, unpaid, because they love these characters as much as you do
If a fic is marked incomplete and hasn't updated in a while, the author is either working on it, taking a break, dealing with real life, etc.... and all of those are valid. You can bookmark it, you can hope, you can check back occasionally. What you cannot do is treat the author like they owe you something. They don't.
DO NOT LEAVE SPITE RATINGS
If you don't like a fic, you close the tab. That is the entire move. That is all you have to do. Leaving a low rating in bookmarks because a fic didn't end the way you wanted, because it features a ship you dislike, because a character was written differently than you imagined them, or because the author made a creative choice that didn't land for you β none of that is a valid use. It is just cruelty toward someone who made something for free and shared it with the world. You are not a critic. This is not Rotten Tomatoes. If something isn't for you, leave quietly.
LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TAGS
"Alternate Universe" is not the same as "Canon Divergence." One reimagines the characters in an entirely different setting or context; the other asks what would have happened if a specific moment in canon had gone differently. "Angst" is not the same as "Angst with a Happy Ending" β one will leave you devastated on the floor and the other will pick you back up before you go. "Slow Burn" is both a promise and a warning: the payoff will come, but you will wait for it, and it will hurt in the best way. "Hurt/Comfort" means both things are present β the hurt and the comfort β not just one of them. Read tags carefully and thoroughly before you dive into a fic, and when you are posting your own work, use them accurately. Also learn the difference between "character name x character name" and "character name & character name."
BOOKMARKS CAN BE PRIVATE OR PUBLIC
This is a feature a surprising number of people don't know about. If you want to save a fic for later, or leave yourself a note about where you stopped reading or what you thought of it, you can make the bookmark private β only you will see it. If you want other readers to be able to discover a fic through your profile, make it public. You can leave a note on a public bookmark explaining why you loved it, what it made you feel (good things) or who else might enjoy it. Authors can see their public bookmarks, and they read those notes. It is a quieter way to show appreciation than a comment, but it is still meaningful.
ORPHANING IS NOT THE SAME AS DELETING
When an author orphans a fic, it stays on the archive but is disconnected from their account β it still exists and can still be read, but it is no longer attributed to them. When an author deletes a fic, it is gone. What is never acceptable is reposting someone else's deleted or orphaned fic without explicit permission. "But I saved a copy" is not a justification. "But other people deserve to read it" is not a justification. "But it was so good and it shouldn't be lost" is not a justification. It is not your work. It is not your decision. Leave it alone. If u wanna keep a work, always download it as PDF or smth.
THE CONTENT RATING SYSTEM EXISTS FOR A REASON
G, T, M, and E are not decorative. G is general audiences. T is teen and up, with some mature themes but nothing explicit. M is mature content β darker themes, more intense material. E is explicit β sexual content, full stop. Filter by rating. Read the rating before you click. If you open a fic rated E and are surprised that it is explicit, or if you open a fic tagged with dark themes and are upset that it is dark, that is entirely on you.
YOU ARE A GUEST IN SOMEONE'S CREATIVE SPACE
When you read someone's fanfiction, you are being invited into something they built with their own time, imagination, and emotional energy. Offering criticism they did not ask for is not a kindness, regardless of how gently you think you are phrasing it. If they wanted a beta reader, they would have sought one out. If they wanted feedback on their craft, they would have asked for it. Commenting to tell an author what they did wrong, how you would have written it differently, or how disappointed you are in their choices is not engagement β it is entitlement.
DO NOT USE AI TO WRITE YOUR FIC
This one is not up for debate. Do not use AI to generate your fanfiction and post it on AO3 as your own work. Fanfiction is a creative conversation β a deeply human one β between people who love the same characters, the same worlds, the same stories. It has been happening for decades, long before most of us were in fandom, and it matters because real people put real pieces of themselves into it. AI-generated content is not that. It is hollow. It is also built on the work of writers who never consented to having their words used as training data, including the fanfiction authors whose work lives on this very archive. Posting AI slop here disrespects every person who has ever sat down and genuinely tried to write something. If writing feels too hard right now, that is okay β read other people's work, take a break, come back when you're ready. But do not outsource the creative act to a language model and call it fic. Cause ai is not a fan.
