So I've left my fics unlocked on AO3 because I have a reasonable amount of guests who read and comment, but I have to say the spam bot abuse is getting worse. Like, really really bad.
My latest chapter of Parasite got 5 abusive spam comments. And although I roll my eyes and delete them because I know they're rubbish and I'm confident that I'm a decent writer, it makes me really worry about newer writers, because some of this stuff is brutal and cruel.
Please please please combat this by leaving positive reviews for your writers on their work, especially if you know they're new to writing - it doesn't have to be long! A smiley face or a heart, tell the author that you enjoyed it or loved it, or quote your favourite line. Something to combat these abusive nasty bot comments.
We are going to lose new authors to this. We will. And it's not fair that people pouring their heart and souls into writing might only be getting these comments.
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Saw this over on bluesky. Concern-trolling plus vague threats. Current thinking is it's an effort to make the trans community look weirdly confrontational, though as one person pointed out the "looking you up in the phonebook" thing is weirdly outdated.
tl;dr support our writers and leave a nice comment, even just aβ€οΈ, cuz scam bots are mean and bad
Dear Readers,
Last night a longtime reader left me a comment on a wip. This is not unusual because I have amazing readers.
What has been unusual however is that over the last few days, I received 11 comments that were all scam bots. These more sophisticated bots are on registered accounts and can generate comments that look like actual excited happy praise about the actual fic and its contents (which also means that someone's also fed our work into an ai to form a summary review, another thing to be upset about).
Over the last few days I found out that I'm not the only one who's dealing with this, many other writers are currently being harassed and catfished by these more sophisticated bots.
But to have a real human reader leave a gem of a review was healing after days of finding out the excited happy reviews were just lies. The timing was wonderful, and I appreciate my reader so much for this meaningful kindness that inspires and keeps me going.
So please leave a comment for authors and creators on ao3 for the works you're enjoying or have enjoyed in the past. You don't have to do much, just leave them a little emoji heart β€οΈor something. Or maybe a "Thank you for writing this, I look forward to more!"
Whatever you say, reach out to give our creative community some love so they know that actual people out there still care.
What's it with all these bots commenting on AO3 recently???
Don't fall for that stuff, guys (and fellow humans, keep commenting! It really helps when you include something specific to the story, although they can also do that nowadays unfortunately)
I heard about bot comments sweeping through Ao3, and just had another example to look out for. They cut quotes from your fic and add a vague comment after it that could loosely be related to the words??? I guess???
Then it tried to reference another fic I've written [getting the name wrong] in an attempt to evoke.... I don't even know. Anger? Engagement?
Just a heads up to fic writers, ignore these if you get them, they're literally as worthless as diet water lmao
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Got this bot comment on my fic's newest chapter and itβs SO nonsensical and made me laugh SO much that I actually kind of want to talk about it π Like this is honestly fascinating π€£
Wooooooww, talk about a piece that is literally screaming for attention!
I think you mean a piece that is "deserving of attention". Screaming for attention just sounds so wrong to me lol. Like my fic is out here, throwing a tantrum and demanding that people look at it π€£ Also, I gotta say, interesting use of "literally" here. Like there's no exaggeration. My fic is out here yelling at the sky lmao.
The depiction of Zelda praying in the dark and Link running toward her anyway
"Link running toward her anyway" suggests that he is afraid of girls who pray in the dark π Like oh no. Zelda is sitting in the dark with her hands clasped together. And Link is running towards her anyway??? What a brave lad lol.
the shots showing sleepless nights stacking up like stones between two people who can't stop saving each other,
This one is actually taking me out π€£π€£ First off, love how they say "the shots". The bots always do this lol. They describe your writing like it's art. Like it's an actual image they're looking at. And just... no, my friend. You are looking at writing. π
"The shots showing sleepless nights" - Yes. I have so many shots showing sleepless nights. Because that is such an easy thing to depict and I have done it so wearily often.
"Stacking up like stones" - Lmaooooo. Because stones always just stack up so well. Just like all my sleepless night shots. π€£π€£
"Between two people who can't stop saving each other" - I'm dead π This makes it sound like the characters have a serious problem. They can't stop saving each other! They've tried, but they just can't help it! It's like they can't keep their hands off of each other! Ughhhhh. Link. Zelda. Can you two please just stop saving each other already??? We can tolerate it once. But twice??? Clearly you are addicted to salvation, and we need to talk about it. ππ
the panoramic depiction of Oracle seasons bleeding into Awakening dreams into aLttP duty,
"Panoramic" - more descriptions that would suggest they are looking at art instead of writing lmao.
"depiction of Oracle seasons" - Do you mean Oracle of Seasons??? The content which I have not covered at all in the story yet??? π
"bleeding into Awakening" - Do you mean LINK'S AWAKENING??? Which again, I HAVE NOT COVERED YET??? π€£ My bot. My ai friend. Are you actually reading the fic? Or did you just read the tags? π€£π€£
"dreams into aLttP duty" - Gosh, where to even begin. "Dreams" as a transition is an interesting choice to be sure. Also interesting is the capitalization of ALTTP. I've seen ALttP before. But aLttP? Heaven forbid that first A gets capitalized π ALSO WHAT IS ALTTP DUTY? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??? ππ It's like, you know, the duty of A Link to the Past. The ALTTP duty, if you will. It's the step you reach after Awakening dreams, obviously π€£
and the silent scene following the moment he calls her Zelda and she realizes he always knew.
In case this sentence didn't run on for long enough, we have this tagged onto the end too lol. I can award half a point here, because yes, there actually IS a scene where Link calls Zelda by her name. Though... I really have to wonder what you mean by "she realizes he always knew". Like... do you mean he always knew her name? Because like... yeah. She's the princess. And they know each other. Link knows Zelda's name. I'm not sure why this is such a big reveal for her ππ€―
This just has to turn into a comic!
TRUE MOTIVE SPOTTED ποΈ I swear it's always comics with you people. Where's the creativity? I want to see animations. Murals painted on buildings. Toys and action figures. Movies in the theater. Come on now.
I have clear visualizations of the theme of "hero worship turning into something that breathes beside you in the dark" through a visual language.
This is taking me out again π€£ "I have clear visualizations of something through a visual language." Huh. What. That's like saying I've been writing something in a written medium. Like... okay, I guess π
"Hero worship turning into something that breathes in the dark beside you" LMAOOOOOO. First off, hero worship? Interesting way of saying Zelda appreciates that a hero came to save her life π Like knock it off already, Zelda. We get that you're thankful for Link, but you don't need to WORSHIP the guy. Geez. Get a grip already π€£
But then there's something that breathes in the dark beside you which just sounds SO. OMINOUS. π€£ Like yes. Link's help is very much like some weird unknown creature breathing next to you in a dark space. How comforting. How reassuring. I love it when creatures breathe next to me in the dark π
For any information regarding turning this piece into a comic, you can find me at Discord: noah_creates
Ah, yes, the signature closer. Find me on [insert social site here]. The surefire sign that you are not talking to a human being. Please don't ever fall for this, people.
(Also gotta love how the Discord username is completely different from their AO3 username. Always such a good sign lol π)
Okay can I ask wtf is up with the (probably bot) comments I keep getting on ao3 about trans rep? It's always from guest accounts, they start off with praise before BEGGING me to write in a trans or nonbinary character... I get wanting rep but like?? This is fanfic, I'm writing the characters I want to write, the fic I'm getting these on is literally a one-shot with three characters max. And none of them are OCs. The fact that they're all cis dudes is just because I happen to like those characters.
I feel like I've been initiated into an elite club - guess who got her first ever hate bot comment?
Just so glad I already knew about these kinds of comments, so it annoyed me but didnβt utterly crush me. This is just awful, it could destroy someone's passion for writing.
