juno steel and the audacity of they/thems

welcome! here are what you need to know about ao3 and how it’s the complete opposite of wattpad

trigger warning for the mention of contents that are allowed on ao3 that can be triggering to some.

ao3 is a non-profit organization. it’s run by fans (people like you and me), for fans.

fans donate to the site on their own free will to keep the site up and running smoothly.

ao3 is not a social media. it is an archive.

ao3 doesn’t have ads. it doesn’t have algorithms. it doesn’t have “going viral.”

everything is endlessly free on ao3. there is no “ao3 premium.” you will never see a single ad on ao3, and you can download as many fics as you want to read offline for free.

ao3 doesn’t have an app. and ao3 doesn’t need an app. any “ao3 apps” you see are third-party apps and are not affiliated with ao3, so be careful giving these shady apps your login infos or other personal information.

ao3 was built with the main purpose to 1.) be completely against censorship and 2.) host fics that are banned on other platforms like wattpad.

the reason ao3 doesn’t have an app is because for it to have its own app, appstore and google play store will have to approve it first. and due to the contents ao3 allows, chances are that it won’t get approved. which is actually a good thing. it doesn’t need an app. it works more than fine without an app.

on ao3, every single thing is allowed as long as it is fanfic or fan work (original works, fan art and video edits count as fan works, but if you want to post a video edits on ao3, you will have to post it elsewhere and then link it back to ao3 — ao3 cannot host video edits on its platform due to copyright issues)

by every single thing that is fanfic, I mean every single thing:

the filthiest smut without plot that is written purely for sexual pleasure is allowed. it has its own canonical tag called “plot what plot, porn without plot.”

fics that focus on non-consensual sexual intercourse are allowed, doesn’t matter if the fics glorify or romanticize the act, doesn’t matter if they’re written as kinks. they have their own canonical tag called “rape/non-con.”

fics about characters who are minors are allowed, even if they’re portrayed in a sexual manner, even if they’re non-consensual sexual intercourse. even if the minor characters are romantically and/or sexually involved with characters who are adults. even if the fics are written in ways that glorify and/or romanticize the thing. they have their own canonical tag called “underage sex.”

fics about incest are allowed. doesn’t matter if they glorify or romanticize the relationship. they have their own canonically tag called “incest.” fun fact: the first ever fic that was posted on ao3 was a fic about an incest ship from supernatural.

fics about self-harm and suicide are allowed. doesn’t matter if they glorify or romanticize the act. they have their own canonical tags called “self-harm” and “suicide” also “suicidal ideation”, “suicide attempt”, “implied/referenced suicide”, etc.

fics about violence and gore are allowed, even if they were written for the sake of shock value. they have their own canonical tag called “violence”, “blood and gore”, “blood and injuries”, etc.

rpf is also allowed. doesn’t matter if the content of the fics are dark and taboo. they’re treated the same way as any other fics.

every single dark and taboo fic you can think of is allowed. and it has its own canonical tag. because it is the main reason why ao3 was created in the first place.

“but what do I do if I don’t wanna see fics about xyz?” you can filter out any specific tag, character and/or pairing you want.

“what do I do if I wanna find fics about xyz?” you can search for any specific tag, character and/or pairing you want.

a lot of ao3 users rely on tags to search for specific tags, pairings, characters they want. they also rely on tags to filter out and exclude specific tags, pairings, and characters that they don’t want to see.

ao3’s tagging system is by far the most efficient one I’ve ever seen.

on ao3, our main principles are “don’t like don’t read” — which means YOU have a responsibility to curate your own internet experience. yes, ao3 allows all kind of messed up fics, but they also allow you the ability to NOT see anything you don’t want to see, by filtering out specific fics, pairings and/or characters.

no. you cannot harass authors who write about things that disgust you. you can and will be reported for harassment, and ao3 takes harassment very seriously. they will not take your side. because fucked up fics are allowed on ao3—fucked up fics are the main reason ao3 was created—whereas harassment is a direct violation of their terms of service.

ao3 is a house of the freaks and the perverts (affectionate). you ARE in the house of the freaks and the perverts. so don’t think about harassing or being rude to the freaks and the perverts who built this anti-censorship house and are kind enough to let you in.

ao3 is proship, profic, and anti-censorship.

any writer can write whatever they want, however they want. the only etiquette is that you tag your stuff properly and accurately

mistagging for visibility is heavily frowned upon here, and it won’t get your works more views. people will either block or report you if you deliberately mistag things with the purpose of getting your fic more views. as I’ve said before, ao3 is an archive. it’s not a social media. it doesn’t have algorithms or going viral.

there's a big difference between "&" and "/" in relationship tags: "Character A & Character B" tag means the relationship between Character A and Character B is neither romantic nor sexual, whereas "Character A/Character B" tag means the relationship between Character A and Character B is romantic and/or sexual.

if you come across a fic that has the tag “creator chose not to use archive warnings” it means the fic may or may not contain topics that can be triggering, but the author won’t tell you what these topics are, or if there are any at all. so proceed at your own risk.

that said, because ao3 is a non-profit site that hosts millions of works about others’ copyrighted characters, you CANNOT link a monetization platform anywhere on ao3, you CANNOT mention any donation, commission—or anything that involves money—anywhere on ao3. no, you cannot imply donation, commission, or anything that involves money either. that is against their terms of service.

and because ao3 is a place for fanworks, the “work section” of your post has to actually be fanwork (fanfic, original work, fan art, link to a video edit count as fanwork). anything that isn’t fanwork is not allowed.

you cannot post something on ao3 that is not fanwork. so no political statement, no call-out post, no “I’m looking for fics about xyz”.

ao3 is anti censorship as long as what your post is actually fanwork and as long as you don’t violate their terms of service that I’ve mentioned above.

ao3 has their own team of lawyers to protect them, their users, and every fanwork that is posted on their platform.

last but not least, don’t write directly onto ao3. write and store your works elsewhere before copy and paste them onto ao3 once they’re ready to post!! because ao3 does NOT autosave drafts for you, you risk losing everything you’ve typed if there’s a glitch, if the site crashes or if your device unexpectedly shuts down for whatever reason.

The Archive of Our Own (AO3) is home to over 18 million fanworks (as of 26 July 2026) and there's always room for more as long as you follow a few rules and standards.

If you're new to ao3 from wattpad, please read allthingswhumpyandangsty's post about this first. The Archive is different than what you're used to, and for good reason. If this doesn't sound like something you want to participate in that's fine. But for anyone who wants to learn I have tried to condense "AO3 How-To" into four steps:

1.Make an account.

Yes, even if you're only going to read and not post, make an account. You can Bookmark fics and save them as "Mark for Later" so you don't have 40 tabs on your phone that might disappear. Plus you'll see more fics this way because some are only visible to those with an account! You can also subscribe to works or creators so you're notified when they update. You can request an invitation from the Archive or ask in servers and communities if people have invites they want to share.

2. Learn the tagging and filtering system.

All ratings and kinks are welcome on the archive. The site is proship and profic. You do not need to leave out tags or warnings for fear of any work being taken down. Any kink or dark theme you want to explore in a legitimate fanwork* is welcome here.

*The asterisk is to say: legitimate means not a placeholder fic that's blank to save a title, not spam, and not plagarized or otherwise breaking the Archive's TOS.

The most important tags to add to a work are the "Archive Warnings" in the checkboxes you see right after you select a rating. Always be honest here, even if you choose not to add the optional Additional Tags.

Failing to use the Archive Warnings properly is like warning people off your fanworks going forward (at best) and might get your work reported if you say, select General rating, "No Archive Warnings Apply", and then post a dark, violent fanwork (as an example). Tag accurately for what you're posting.

For Additional Tags, you can tag anything graphic, mature, or explicit that feels like it should be a trigger warning. Or other tags that give people an idea of your work's theme, like "Fluff" or "First Kiss". It will help people find what they're looking for!

Sure, sometimes you don't want to spoil the plot and that's why some creators will skip the Additional Tags and instead put content warnings in the End Notes and let people know to look there if they're worried about triggers. Also you can use a catch-all tag such as "Explicit Sexual Content" or "Graphic Violence" to let people know why it might be rated Mature or Explicit, without going into detail if you want. (Note: Not all Explicit works are smut. Sometimes the rating could be for violence or other graphic content.)

@bookwermthings made an ao3 infographic and the first three slides in particular can teach you more about tagging

And for readers remember our cardinal rule: DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ.

This means you are responsible for what you decide to look at on the archive. Learn what things like Dead Dove: Do Not Eat means. You do not get to harrass or report a creator for posting something you personally dislike or disagree with. You can also block or mute an Archive user if you dislike what they post.

AO3 is a non-profit run by volunteers who read all reports of works possibly breaking TOS. You aren't harming a large corporation by reporting every work you dislike. Simply click away and move on. Instead, you can filter things out using the "Exclude" section of the filters that's on the right-hand side of all pages of fanworks.

Proper tags help our fanworks be found by our target audiences and also protect users who do not want to see that material. It's a win/win for all when we use it the right way.

3. Only leave positive comments.

If you enjoyed what you read or saw (or listened to - shout out podfics!) let the creator know by giving them a nice comment. AO3 etiquette is to not give critical or constructive feedback, even if you think you're helping.

Caveat: Some creators may add a note that they are open to critiques. This is the only time you can give this kind of feedback.

Remember notes in a Bookmark are public and can be also seen by the creator. They are not a place to critique the work either (see this bookmark post by @tumbleweedtech)

Basically, leave the kind of comment you would want to receive if it was your work. And remember: the A stands for Archive! This isn't a social media site. It doesn't matter how old the work is you can still comment!!

@dawnfelagund wrote a list of 101 Comment Starters if you need some ideas or @bizarrelittlemew taught us how to leave kudos as an image in the comments!

4. Customize your profile.

This is your space to let people know if your works are open to translation into other languages or having fanworks created that are inspired by your work. You can also let people know where to find you by linking to your tumblr, reddit, or other social media profiles.

Do not (repeat: DO NOT) advertise anything like a kofi or buy me a coffee or say anything about commissions on your profile or anywhere on your works. AO3 is very strict about this. Do not advertise if you are exchanging money for your creations. See this post from @ao3commentoftheday if you want to take commissions and not break TOS.

To edit your profile click on your username on the Archive home page. Navigate to My Dashboard -> Profile -> Edit My Profile. You might want to add an HTML hyperlink if you want outside links to be clickable.

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Need more help?

⋆ Archive of Our Own has an official tumblr: @ao3org to let us know if there's maintenance planned, updates to the site, or news like OTW elections

⋆ @transformativeworks is also ran by the Archive to post milestones, OTW news, and reblog fandom posts

⋆ @ao3commentoftheday is fan-run, not official, but posts helpful resources and guides

⋆ As referenced above @allthingswhumpyandangsty recently wrote a great guide about ao3 vs. wattpad for all newcomers

⋆ @fuckyeahladybug has written a thread of resources to help those switching from wattpad

⋆ @ghoulishbuck wrote a helpful guide with html advice and what ao3 numbers and stats mean and more about which options to choose when posting

⋆ @the-bar-sinister wrote a quick guide to what you can and cannot post on ao3 (link to a reblog version with more additions)

⋆ There are also tumblr communities you can join like AO3 - WRITERS - READERS - FANFICTION or Fanfiction Writers Unite (and probably others) if you want more of a "live help" discussion

I hope this guide is helpful and thank you for reading! Tough to condense 15 years of Archive experience into one post but I tried my best ♡ Shout out to everyone that is linked here for all the great posts you've made about ao3! Please reblog and share this guide in any servers or tumblr communities if you think it's helpful.

Below are a few bonus tips from me to enhance your user experience right out of the gate! ♡

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Composer: Fat Segal

Putting 'em all together in one post, my Babylon 5 watercolor triptych is done! I had originally just done the Delenn one, but inspiration struck and a G'kar followed, and a Londo soon after. It's never too late to get into a show that's been off the air for decades! Bonus: They look so nice hanging on my wall, I might actually get some frames one of these days :')

AO3 was founded partly in response to a growing trend of fanworks being removed from websites that had previously allowed them. This pattern has been observed numerous times throughout fandom history.

Whenever there are fears about censorship on other sites, AO3 sees an increase in the waitlist for our automatic invitation queue. Regardless of their reasons for joining, we welcome any new user to our site who agrees to abide by our Terms of Service. We will not vet new users for "legitimacy", because AO3 is for everyone.

The OTW has no plans to change the content we allow on AO3, and we stand by our commitment to maximum inclusiveness of fanwork content. We will not remove works unless they violate the AO3 Terms of Service, and we don't make decisions based on how many times something is reported. Users do not need to worry that anyone's works will be taken down due to a baseless report or a mass-reporting campaign, if one were to occur.

Ophelia as a character is shown to be restricted as women were in her environment to her relationships with men. Her father, her brother, and her romantic interest. She isn’t just The Girl in this story- she can easily be interpreted as any woman of her standing at this time.

And because of this- as women were, and still often are- her personhood was reduced to the context in which she served others: a daughter, a sister, a lover. She is nothing else because all she is allowed to be, all she CAN be, is what she can offer, what she can PROVIDE, the esteem in which she is held by those men.

So we see a person whose personhood is, in effect, a shadow cast by the relationships in which she belongs. “Belongs” in the possessive sense, because she has no agency, no worth or value beyond those relationships, and it doesn’t matter if she is happy or not because she couldn’t live any sort of meaningful life apart from them.

In this circumstance in which Ophelia has been raised, in this society, in this position, the Existence of Ophelia is a shadow cast in the light of three candles. Her father, her brother, her lover, who can shine their lights and cast as many shadows as they wish while she cannot.

Her brother is leaving. He is no steady pillar. If she is not sistered, she is not a sister.

And then her lover, he loses his mind. He goes hot and cold, loving and then cruel and then kind and then completely nonsensical. If she is not loved, she is not a lover.

And then her father is killed. And if she is not daughtered, she is not a daughter.

Physically, emotionally, spiritually, the context she exists within is taken away, and so she is nothing. Just the shape of a girl left adrift in a vacuum.

She is a construction of other’s perceptions, and when she is no longer perceived in a way that is stable, she loses her stability. She’s never been truly alone in herself- never seen herself outside the eyes of those who see her, patronize her, value her, and so her fate is tied to their perceptions. Her value is what they find her value to be; her personhood is what they find her personhood to be.

Ophelia dies covered in flowers, singing in a river. A nonsensical caricature of what a girl should be- beautiful, whimsical, lighthearted, young, left literally and figuratively adrift. Desperately grasping to fulfill the role she was shaped into despite no longer possessing the context in which it has function. Like post-traumatic stress, all that’s left of her is the flinch-and-run response to the bang of a gun you hear on the radio a hundred miles from the battlefield. A reaction to an action that is no longer happening.

She is reduced to Madness as Madness truly is- the rational, logical, straightforward actions of a hero suddenly dropped into the wrong story, giving the right answers to the wrong questions.

I’m not an academic, so my interpretation might be way off, but I love Ophelia because broadly speaking she is an answer to the question of what makes us who we are. If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If a tree is not perceived, is it even a tree? If your only value is to others, what are you when there are no longer others to value you? What happens when their value of you wavers? Fluctuates madly without reason? What are you then?

When you read the text and then the lyrics, what the song is essentially saying is "Ophelia died because in her society, a woman without a man was as good as dead. Fortunately I have a man, so / don't *need* to be a fully actualized person in my own life. Hashtag girlboss". Which so wildly misses the point that it’s sort of amazing that the construction of the song itself betrays absolutely no rational reasonable shred of a clue that it’s anything less that 100% sincere in this interpretation.

Ophelia as a character is shown to be restricted as women were in her environment to her relationships with men. Her father, her brother, and her romantic interest. She isn’t just The Girl in this story- she can easily be interpreted as any woman of her standing at this time.

And because of this- as women were, and still often are- her personhood was reduced to the context in which she served others: a daughter, a sister, a lover. She is nothing else because all she is allowed to be, all she CAN be, is what she can offer, what she can PROVIDE, the esteem in which she is held by those men.

So we see a person whose personhood is, in effect, a shadow cast by the relationships in which she belongs. “Belongs” in the possessive sense, because she has no agency, no worth or value beyond those relationships, and it doesn’t matter if she is happy or not because she couldn’t live any sort of meaningful life apart from them.

In this circumstance in which Ophelia has been raised, in this society, in this position, the Existence of Ophelia is a shadow cast in the light of three candles. Her father, her brother, her lover, who can shine their lights and cast as many shadows as they wish while she cannot.

Her brother is leaving. He is no steady pillar. If she is not sistered, she is not a sister.

And then her lover, he loses his mind. He goes hot and cold, loving and then cruel and then kind and then completely nonsensical. If she is not loved, she is not a lover.

And then her father is killed. And if she is not daughtered, she is not a daughter.

Physically, emotionally, spiritually, the context she exists within is taken away, and so she is nothing. Just the shape of a girl left adrift in a vacuum.

She is a construction of other’s perceptions, and when she is no longer perceived in a way that is stable, she loses her stability. She’s never been truly alone in herself- never seen herself outside the eyes of those who see her, patronize her, value her, and so her fate is tied to their perceptions. Her value is what they find her value to be; her personhood is what they find her personhood to be.

Ophelia dies covered in flowers, singing in a river. A nonsensical caricature of what a girl should be- beautiful, whimsical, lighthearted, young, left literally and figuratively adrift. Desperately grasping to fulfill the role she was shaped into despite no longer possessing the context in which it has function. Like post-traumatic stress, all that’s left of her is the flinch-and-run response to the bang of a gun you hear on the radio a hundred miles from the battlefield. A reaction to an action that is no longer happening.

She is reduced to Madness as Madness truly is- the rational, logical, straightforward actions of a hero suddenly dropped into the wrong story, giving the right answers to the wrong questions.

I’m not an academic, so my interpretation might be way off, but I love Ophelia because broadly speaking she is an answer to the question of what makes us who we are. If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If a tree is not perceived, is it even a tree? If your only value is to others, what are you when there are no longer others to value you? What happens when their value of you wavers? Fluctuates madly without reason? What are you then?

When you read the text and then the lyrics, what the song is essentially saying is "Ophelia died because in her society, a woman without a man was as good as dead. Fortunately I have a man, so / don't *need* to be a fully actualized person in my own life. Hashtag girlboss". Which so wildly misses the point that it’s sort of amazing that the construction of the song itself betrays absolutely no rational reasonable shred of a clue that it’s anything less that 100% sincere in this interpretation.

goodness gracious

August 18, 2026