Sup, I’m A Hot Mess.

So what this is is a guy who I guess does front end dev work (think make websites pretty and maybe give them content) and wants to break out into full stack dev work (also add in the back end dev work which is about content hosting, user profile management, how the website is shared to the Internet etc).

This guy forks Ao3's code (which means he made a full copy of it, which is allowed based on the copyright Ao3 has) to then play at being a full stack dev without actually building any of the code or realistically most of the infrastructure. He is learning to do this from other people who also forked Ao3's code and regularly update their versions of Ao3 with the updates Ao3 puts out. Again, there is nothing legally wrong with that but yeah it's a scummy as fuck coding practice. All these sites are color overs of Ao3 with their own lil gimmicks and special takes. This site's is the 'no waiting' for sign ups and every tag is canon (which it already kinda is on Ao3 but just not wrangled).

Now here is the issue I see as an IT professional and coder myself

This guy admits he does not have full stack experience. This site is hosted on a private server he built himself as he is learning to do that, and he posted a guide for that too. My concern for this site isn't even AI scraping, it's your private data like passwords and email. Many people use the same password across many sites, and he doesn't have the background in full stack to provide top tier security on his site. He also hand built his server, again that is a security risk.

Also to consider, we don't know this guy at all. HE is a security risk. Are you wanting to share your email and password with him? His sever is going to host that information and he will have access to it. Do you trust him not to sell it?

This site's big gimmick is the no waiting for an account. My alarm bells are ringing that this is a perfect strike point for vulnerable data. He could be a genuine guy (and I am not claiming he isn't) and have all the fancy bells and whistles for security but I don't know that and right now our private information is the hot commodity every company wants to buy. He may have the best intentions but that doesn't matter to someone that is looking to strike for information. Post there if you want I won't stop you and I won't stop him from having this forked site, but I beg you, please use a unique password for this site for your own security. ((Honestly a really good practice in general too!)) I don't want anyone to get accounts broken into because of this.

some people don’t deserve fanfics, much less for free.

also even if authors didn’t tag any specific warnings but they used the “creator chose not to use archive warnings” tag, then that is your warning.

THISSSSSSS!!!!!!! curate your own internet experience. block them because they’re allergic to peanut butter, block them because they have what you don’t, block them because they dislike your favorite food, block them because you don’t like their layout, block them because you can.

blocking is NOT a personal attack against someone. it’s you curating your own internet experience and catering for your comfort, and you have every right to do that.

you, yes, you!!! you CANNOT tell other people to censor themselves for your own comfort and personal likings. you CANNOT tell them what they can or can’t post. you CANNOT tell them what they can or can’t write. you CANNOT tell them what they can or can’t draw. BUT you CAN block them for whatever reason.

At first I stayed quiet, not wanting to bring it up because I know it’ll just cause more people to scrape my works.

But I’m so tired. I’m tired of my hard work being stolen. Why do you do this to us? Haven’t I given you enough free stories? Do you know how much I love all of you, how happy it made me when people commented on my fics and said they liked them?

Now that AI is more popular, I’ve seen in real time how people started treating writers like they were just a content farm. People abandon us or feed our works into AI if we don’t pump out stories fast enough.

It’s exhausting. The last few years I wrote so much that I ended incredibly burnt out to the point I’ve barely written anything in the past few months, but it’s still not enough.

Nothing is enough.

*pinches nose*

Fellas, is it cultural appropriation to inherit your family's culture but you don't pass the blood quantum test?

This reminded me of a post I saw about someone theorizing what MCU Morgan Stark's middle name was because we just knew her middle initial was "H" and they considered that the namesake might be Yinsen Ho but they didn't want to believe that because it would be, quote, "cultural appropriation".

Cultural appropriation. To name your child after someone you personally knew and was very important to you.

Don't you know it's unnatural for someone of a different race to be important to you? The races are not supposed to mix!

Step 1: like & follow people who say smart, logical, level-headed things that you agree with

Step 2: block people who say unhinged, rude or problematic things

Step 3: like & follow artists, gif makers, writers you enjoy and people who add to the culture of the fandom in a positive way

Step 4: block people who post about things you don't personally enjoy or have takes that you strongly disagree with

no. that is against ao3’s terms of service.

anything that involves money is against their site’s terms of service. doesn’t matter if it’s commission or donation or anything. on ao3, you cannot mention or link anything that involves money.

ao3 is a nonprofit site known for hosting millions of works of others’ copyrighted characters. it has to stay nonprofit and forbid any mention of money on its platform to avoid getting sued left and right. I’ve said this before, but the only reason ao3 can exist as it is today is because its main rule is “nobody can use their site to ask people for money in any way, shape or form”.

my brother and his friends in this field trip group were truly great kids. but they were not above run of the mill teenage boy shenanigans. it’s the end of senior year, you and all your buddies are at the amusement park, you’re naturally going to want to act like a complete moron

there was one kid in the group who was especially prone to goofing around. committed to the bit, some may say. my mom knew that if nonsense was going to break out, he’d likely be at the center of it

so she goes up to this kid at the very start of the trip and says “hey, i’m kinda worried about this chaperoning thing. this might be a lot to ask, but can you help me keep an eye on everyone? you wouldn’t have to do anything big, just be an extra set of eyes for me.”

friends, this kid proceeded to run their field trip group like the fucking us marines. everyone is at the meet up spots at the designated time. everyone waits in line for the rides like a bunch of boy scouts. the second the horseplay gets too out of hand, this kid is getting it back under control

it’s incredible how differently people act based on the expectations you set. instead of going to this kid and saying “hey, i know you’re trouble, so i’ve got my eye on you,” my mom went “hey, i know you have influence in your peer group, so i think you can help me.”