Welcome to @battling-the-bots! This blog exists for one reason only: to support writers and protect them from spam/hate bots on Archive of Our Own.
So first, to answer the question you may be asking yourself,
What is an Ao3 hate bot?
Hate bots come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but they all have one thing in common; they hate. You can find them in the comments of all kinds of fanfiction, spreading across thousands of fandoms on Archive of Our Own (more commonly referred to as Ao3 for short). These bots can be extremely detrimental to young, rising writers, who cannot tell the difference between what is a bot and who is an actual human.
So... what can you do to help?
Whether you're a reader or a writer, you can help our cause! If you're reading a fic and notice either a spam or hate comment, report it to us by sending in an ask with the fic link. We have a team of actual humans who will read that fic and leave genuine comments, noting things they liked and empowering writers. Don't forget to leave a comment yourself!
Please do not submit any NSFW/explicit fics!
There are minors here, and although we believe that every fic needs love, minors should not be reading NSFW. In the future, once the community gets larger, we may add locked channels on the Discord for NSFW, but for now, we will be reading strictly SFW fics. Thank you for understanding and keeping Battling the Bots SFW.
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In ord
What does a hate bot comment look like?
Hate bot comments can vary a lot. Some are simple and short, and some are incredibly complex and use sophisticated language. They almost always do not mention any specific details about the fic they liked. They are also usually a guest account.
It’s important to remember that those details mentioned above do not apply to all bot comments. Some will mention things about the fic, and some may have accounts.
Here are some examples pulled from Google with the search, “ao3 hate bot comment”.
You might see this too; the bot will accuse the writer of using AI.
Some hate bot comments feel very clunky and AI generated, while others feel like it might have been human written. But rest assured, these are all bots.
What about spam bots?
Although spam bots do the opposite of hate bots— they praise— they are just as harmful.
First, they might simply praise the author, again, giving general feedback with absolutely no details. These bots are basically harmless, but they are still not real humans who are actually reading your writing, which can feel pretty terrible.
Again, these are some examples pulled off of Google with the search “ao3 spam bot comment”.
Or, you also might see this; the bot will ask if you would like to join their club/discord or that they would like to make art of your fic (or also could be something completely different). These bots, although they are praising the work, are also incredibly dangerous. Some may not know that these are bots and lead themselves into dangerous situations, or pay money directly to a scammer.
The comment on the right was actually received by blog mod, @i-love-zelda-16.
Again, writers may be excited seeing these kinds of comments, thinking that someone is actually interested in their work, but unfortunately, rest assured that once again, these are all bots. Do not pay any money to them. Do not trust them.
At the end of the day, this blog is here not to battle the bots, but to support our fellow friends on the Archive. We're here to protect and preserve Ao3 authors so writers can keep writing and readers can keep reading.
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Hello! I left this as a comment on the ao3 story in question (Leap of Faith by you and alighterwood) but I figured I'd send it on tumblr too just in case you don't check your comments over there.
I recently found out someone reuploaded one of my fics without permission or credit from ao3 to fanfiction.net and noticed their whole profile is full of other reuploads I can only assume they didn't ask for permission to reupload either and unfortunately Leap of Faith is one of those :/
I had to Google search chunks of the writing to track down where the fic originally came from bc this user intentionally changes titles (in this case, removing the spaces as well as the A from leap, leaving it as lepoffaith) and does not include the original author's name on their reupload. Here's the link to the reupload: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/14352736/1/lepoffaith
I've left reviews on the reupload of my own fic a few times asking them to take it down to no avail, but I figure maybe if more authors also ask them then they'll have to do it.
Mentioned this in the ao3 comment I left too, but if you don't feel comfortable clicking a link from some rando in ur ask box just shoot me a DM and I'll send you screenshots of the reupload!
alright so that's just GREATTTT isn't it?? thank you for letting us know! truly the amount of fics they have reuploaded is insane. i went ahead and sent an email to fanfic.net's support letting them know the situation. hopefully they do something about it soon. the idea that they do this for text to speech is honestly ridiculous (as said in their bio).
so... to anyone who is looking for a text to speech app to listen to LoF: there is a free app called "Evie" that I know of for samsung phones. you can find it on google play. there are also other apps that let you do this (make sure not to use AI!!). i'm sure you can find one. uploading fics onto another website is not the way to go and is super disrespectful
just a reminder to everyone: i ONLY post LoF on ao3. if you see it on another website, it is not me. DO NOT go harass anyone. just help get it taken down if you spot it by contacting the website and letting me know. this goes for other fics as well! fic authors are doing this for free, and stealing content is never okay.
this also goes for if you're reading ao3 on an app... there is no app for ao3. you should not be getting ads on ao3. it is a website. free yourself.
Welcome to the blog of the AO3 Demographics Survey 2024!
We are an independent fandom research project who recently performed a large-scale survey of AO3 users, asking questions about demographics, preferences and behaviours.
We are now in the process of releasing and analysing our results, which you can find on AO3.
If you are interested in following along with the project, this is the place to do it! We will be making official announcements on our progress here, including any requests for public feedback.
If you have any other questions, please check our FAQ. If that doesn’t answer your question, the askbox is now open.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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