#comment spam

Last night I got an angry message on my Tumblr from a user asking why I was flaming their story on AO3.

I never leave negative comments (and I've left over 500 positive ones!). I looked into it, and the hatebots on AO3 used my username with (Guest) at the end to send one of the most vile messages I've ever read to a user in a completely different fandom from me.

I straightened it out with that user and explained about the hatebots. I still can't really fathom why these hatebots do what they do, but I'm also a little scared that a misunderstanding like that could lead to someone getting doxxed. And I'm also extremely sad that this bot is posing as me and threatening other users. I encouraged the one reaching out to me to report and block and made a note on my page explaining that (Guest) comments are not from me in case anyone else had that experience.

I still love AO3 for the ability to write and share and connect over our stories and fandoms, but this is really discouraging and scary, in addition to the almost daily art bot scams I get on AO3 too.

And my heart breaks for the user who thought even for a moment that a complete stranger would say such awful things to them using my name. I'm genuinely glad they reached out so we could straighten it out. I would hate to think someone could internalize those hateful comments without ever knowing it's a bot because they didn't reach out!!

And it's devastating to think of so many writers waiting for feedback on a story they worked so hard on who are getting hateful comments like these!

As a kid who grew up watching Terminator - I'm not sure I envisioned the robot wars looking quite like this!!

Here's the form to report abuse if you have a comment from a bot: https://archiveofourown.org/abuse_reports/new

Here's a link with additional information on the different types of bots on AO3: AO3 Comment Bots - Fanlore https://share.google/m9IhE4NEGMNgHjtWq

Here's a way to fight the bots by leaving positive comments, join the AO3 comment fest bingo:

I had a commenter on one of my fics offer to collaborate on creating art for it and wanted to chat on discord.

It felt a little funky to begin with, my spidey senses tingling, but I try to ‘benefit of the doubt’ people and so gave them my handle. They proceeded to basically attempt to strongarm me into commissioning them. No commission tier pricing, no ‘hey, check out my work’ just aggressively forward language

I recognize this is very poor artist etiquette, and, even though I still knew it was probably a scam, I gave a polite reply.

(If you really wanna know the story behind my username, DM me lollll) But anyway, just putting this out there because this is a scam. The Ao3 user is a guest account so I can’t report. Suggestion is to set your work preferences to ‘Only registered users can comment’

Here is a helpful screenshot from Reddit:

Does anyone else keep getting this same message or is it just me?! ->

Your ability to craft such an engaging and immersive world is something I find truly admirable, and I have recommended your work to many people because of your unique stylistic choices. However, I must speak up about a very concerning element I noticed regarding the presence of borders between the nations in your story. This choice effectively signals a support for the restrictive policies of ICE and resonates with anti-immigrant and fascist sentiments that cause real-world harm. I am pleading with you from the bottom of my heart to please change this and write about a world where borders have been entirely abolished. In the interest of accountability, I spent some time cross-referencing information on social media and checking public registries until I was able to locate exactly where you live. I felt it was necessary to include your name and your address on a list of ICE agents that we maintain on social media to keep our community informed. I want you to know that this is not a permanent situation, but you will stay on that list as long as your work continues to promote these borders. If you can find it in yourself to remove those boundaries from your countries and leave a thoughtful comment on my own fic, I will take the initiative to remove you from the list and put this all behind us.

It’s unpleasant, but there’s no reason to believe it’s anything other than spammy spam. I reported it to AO3 abuse and I recommend you do as well if you see it.

I also (as always) recommend archive-locking your work! It prevents guests/logged out users from trolling your comments. I’ve had my work locked for years and haven’t seen any reduction in hits or kudos.

/not forced, only interact if you want!

Feel free to reblog and comment spam.

Notes Game? (For ever note py'll ___)

Likes -> py'll add a new sysmate to sp!

Reblogs -> py'll finish the description of profile!

Comments -> py'll finish the basic info for a profile!

For Every 5 Notes -> py'll finish a profile with all the information py currently have!

And yet. They have to be spam, because

it's very unlikely that someone would leave a genuine comment on an original work, let alone 4 of them;

they are articulate in a way that AI-generated prose is articulate, while real-life commenters often are not.

the commenter is a guest or, in some cases, a registered user that has 0 of everything to their name: not just fics (which would be understandable, since many AO3 users get accounts only for accessing user-locked works, not for writing), but also 0 bookmarks or gifts. You would expect a real user to have at least some bookmarks.

One way to see is wait for a while and see if those comments get deleted. AI-generated comments usually get deleted eventually. I guess AO3 has some scripts that try to detect spam and delete it? I assume that guest comments can't be deleted by the same guest, because how would the site validate that you are the same guest?

[redacted]* left the following comment on [Fandom stats] Ted Lasso S3 on AO3: fandom response to Season 3:

I love how you explored the unexplored aspects of the original story. It adds a whole new layer of depth.

[redacted]* left the following comment on [Fandom stats tutorial] How to gather fandom data & do fandom stats:

Your fanfic is an emotional rollercoaster. I laughed, I cried, and I couldn't get enough. Fantastic work!

[redacted]* left the following comment on [Fandom stats tutorial] How to gather fandom data & do fandom stats:

Your writing has a lyrical quality to it. The prose is poetic, and it added an extra layer of beauty to the story.

[redacted]* left the following comment on [Fandom stats tutorial] How to gather fandom data & do fandom stats:

I can't get enough of your writing. It's addictive.

I believe I've only been getting these on my most recently updated three works (and mostly on the oldest of those three, which is also the most popular, the only WIP, and the only one with multiple chapters). But it's also possible I got some comments on older works that were fiction, and I didn't recognize them as spam.

Has anyone else been noticing a similar influx?