I feel like a lot of new comers to things like fandom spaces and fanfiction don't really like...understand how Ao3 works?
Like for those who are (somehow) unaware, Ao3 is a website where you can both read stories that fans of a piece of media have written, and make your own fan stories (fanfics for short). The amazing thing about Ao3 is the pretty much anything goes there in terms of writing.
Ao3's "rules" for what you post on the site are extremely small and easy to follow.
You can't have promotional content, either from a sponsor or a link to a donation page
You can't post something that isn't transformative to a piece of media, such as using the website as a personal blog, posting episode transcriptions, prompt lists, and placeholders for a future fic
You can't post content containing real-world child sexual abuse material (CSAM/CSEM), or encourage real-world violence/self harm
You can't like- violate real-world laws. I think that's pretty self explanatory
You can't harass creators
You have to be 13+ years old to have an account (although most people highkey ignore this one including myself when I was younger)
Other than that, you're free to write/read whatever you want. You can write and read from something as simple as a cute, PG love scene between your favorite ship to stuff that would make a Catholic mother faint, die, meet Jesus, come back to life, and then scream at what you just showed her.
That's what makes Ao3 so good. It's a place where anyone from anywhere can write whatever they want, whether it be socially acceptable or considered taboo, and then go read stories catered to their liking. Ao3's tagging system let's you search for the exact type of fics you want by including the content you want in the story, and what you don't want.
But lately, I've noticed a considerable amount of fanfics and creators being harassed for having fanfics be "too mature" for the fandom it's for or "extremely gross" for what they've written.
Like for example, there was this one Ninjago fanfic I was reading that was super good, but had very heavy topics like self harm, child abuse, and attempted SA. But the thing is, I knew all this going into it because of how the fic was tagged. It had "self harm", "implied/referenced child abuse", "attempted sexual assult", "dead dove do not eat", and "angst" easily seen in the Additional Tags. Plus, the fic was rated as Mature and had the Content Warning of "Graphic Depictions of Violence" on it.
Even a little old 13 year old could clearly understand what type of fic it was going to be.
So imagine my surprise when, while going to make a comment saying how much I was enjoying the fic, I saw people saying this like "this is a kids show, why would you write this", "this isn't okay for kids to be reading, you should be ashamed", "you should delete this for how inappropriate it is".
And, unfortunately, the hate got to the creator, and they deleted the fic.
This small incident happened a few months ago, but I keep seeing people react like this whenever they see a fanfic that they've deemed "too inappropriate or intense". And it just baffles me because like what??? This is Ao3 you're on. If you don't wanna see something, FILTER IT OUT.
I can understand many people being weirded out by a ship, the content in a fic, or the overall writing within a fandom space. But the whole point of Ao3 is that you can write virtually whatever you want for the world to see.
It doesn't matter if the fandom is aimed towards children, or the content is too severe. If you don't wanna see stuff like that, then filter it out.
It's literally as easy as going to the Exclude bar and clicking on all the Archive Warnings that make you uncomfortable, adding the ships you don't like to the list, clicking on any specific tags you don't wanna see, and then boom. You'll find the fics you're comfortable reading.
I filter out a ton of stuff to, and I sure as hell judge some of the stuff that people decide to write about. But ya wanna know what I do? I think to myself "Ew that's nasty why tf would anyone write about that" and then scroll past it. What I don't do is click on the fic and berate the creator.
You're allowed to not like certain things or topics, and you can absolutely feel grossed out and judge the things people write about. But you're not allowed to be a bitch and go yell at the creators of those things.
So this is my PSA to all readers and writers of Ao3, and pretty much any other fanfiction platform:
"If you know you don't wanna read something with certain topics, whether it be because they make you uncomfortable or you think it's wrong, then be a responsible person and filter out those things or ignore any fanfics with them. Don't be an asshole and bully creators simply because they wrote something you didn't like."
