I made my first site skin over on AO3 last night because I'm increasingly aware that it'd be better for me if I can't see some of my stats. Namely kudos and hits. Here's what it looks like now:
If this is something you don't know how to do and would like a guide, here it is:
Firstly you need to be logged in, site skins are something that require an AO3 account. Then go to your dashboard:
Click 'Skins'
Now click on 'Create Site Skin'
What I'm using is a site skin, not a work skin. The difference is that a work skin affects how readers see your fics if they haven't disabled anything but the default skin, while a site skin affects how you see the site yourself.
A title is required, and needs to be unique, so you'll have to use a bit of trial and error to find something suitable, otherwise AO3 won't let you click 'submit' at the bottom of the page.
I didn't bother with a description because I think I made a private site skin just for me, and the title I picked was pretty self explanatory anyway.
Now the most important part: the CSS code. I found the one I'm using in a very helpful post on reddit:
.stats .hits, .stats .kudos, .stats .bookmarks, .stats .comments { display: none; }
I didn't use the bookmarks or comments lines because I still want to see those, if you want to tinker with which stats to keep it's as easy as removing that line of code, just be sure to leave the '{' before 'display' or the site skin won't work, from what little I know about coding. This is basically telling AO3 not to display hits, kudos, bookmarks, and comments in fic stats, so anything removed from it will still be displayed.
Don't forget to hit 'Submit' once you're done with the CSS!
Once that's done you'll be back in the 'Skins' section in your dashboard. Now all you need to do is click 'Use' - if for whatever reason you want to stop using the site skin, all you need to do is click the 'Stop Using' button in the same place.
I kept comment stats visible because I find my comment total useful for checking at a glance whether or not I've replied to my comments, I think it's more likely with an even number, but I might be mistaken! Roughly half of those 812 comments seen in the first screenshot are my replies.
(I've heard of the argument that fic writers shouldn't reply to their comments because it artificially inflates the total. Personally I prefer to reply, and I quite frankly don't care if it makes it look like my fic has double the comments it really does - it's not a competition, and part of the reason I share my fics on AO3 is for the sense of community through interactions with my readers who are kind enough to comment)
As for bookmarks... I sometimes venture in where authors probably shouldn't go, to see if a reader wrote anything in their bookmark. It can backfire if it's a warning not to read, but it can be like a bonus nice comment. I don't recommend investigating your own fic's bookmarks, they're for readers, not authors. Do as I say, not as I do? My problem is that insatiable curiosity is one of my fatal flaws. Should I have hidden the bookmarks too? Probably. Am I going to edit my site skin to do so? Probably not.
One thing the site skin doesn't do is affect anything at the end of a fic/chapter, like the list of kudos. Intentionally, because I do actually like to see that and I'm not good enough with numbers to be able to eyeball the list and know how many kudos I have. Instead I see readers who liked my fic enough to hit a button saying so, which feels a lot better than a number in the stats.
