#ficfan

Last year, I briefly had my works locked when there was an AI scare going around with Twitter/X famously scraping a bunch of fanfiction sites to train their AI. Knowing that most of my readership are already users of AO3, I locked the fics in hopes to avoid my work being used in the mass proliferation of generative AI, something I firmly believe does absolute harm and has no real benefit to society other than to discourage creativity and enrich those who are already far too wealthy.

I thought I was okay with the dip in engagement I knew my fics would get. I had already limited comment access/enabled comment moderation on some of my stories for various reasons unrelated to AI, so ultimately, I reasoned, the only thing that would really change would be the guest kudos not coming in. I could live with that. Locking my fics also had the added benefit of making it difficult for anyone in my actual real life to find them (it's not that I'm ashamed of my work, per se, it's just that I don't want an overlap in certain aspects of my life). So I locked them.

And I hated it! The engagement numbers dropped substantially- even though I know hits are not the best metric by which to measure works, there was a real tangible feeling that the amount of people reading the words I had worked so hard on, had spent a lot of my free time crafting with my own brain and my own two hands, were doing a sliver of the already small numbers they were doing before.

TO BE CLEAR: I am eternally grateful for every single reader I get, whether there are 5 of them or 500. Fanfiction is not and never has been about popularity for me, nor should it be, for anyone. It's about the love of the game. But, it is a game whose satisfaction involves sharing with others, and to act like engagement numbers aren't part of that satisfaction is disingenuous.

So yeah, I will admit that the drop in numbers was disheartening. I knew that if people really wanted to read my fanfiction, they would make an account on AO3 to do it. I knew that. But I am stubborn. And I couldn't shake the feeling that limiting access to my work was some kind of admission of defeat, like I shouldn't be the one who had to hide, AI and its worshippers should be the ones to get fucked. I still believe that, tbh.

The fact of the matter is this: even the most grammatically incorrect, typo-ridden fic full of bad character takes and cringey porn euphemisms will always be better and more valuable to fandom than anything an AI can shit out, for no other reason than because a human being felt enough passion to write it all on their own. I will defend any writer, whether I like/agree with their work or not, before I will EVER say that generative AI has any place in this culture.

Because of that, by locking my fics and by extension acknowledging the influence AI is gaining, I felt like I was letting the bullies win in a way. I'm not saying it makes sense but that's how I was honestly feeling, and how I still feel to an extent.

So, I unlocked my fics again. The numbers slowly ticked back up; I was getting more guest comments on things, more people engaging with my writing and reaching out to ask questions or make genuinely insightful observations that even I, the author, hadn't thought of. Some of the most thoughtful comments I've received on my work have been from people who wouldn't have been able to make those comments if my fics had been user-locked. I'm not going to pretend I'm not scared/saddened to lose those interactions again.

But things are getting worse. I don't want to sound alarmist, or defeatist, and I respect any writer's choice to keep their fics public or not, for whatever reasons they choose to do so- the choice I'm making to lock them is one I'm making reluctantly myself. But as I hear more and more stories of AI comment bots accusing people of using AI to drive up AI engagement, or people stealing fics and putting them into RP bots to get "new chapters" faster when they're impatient for the authors to update, or mass fic scraping becoming the norm, I can no longer ignore the nagging feeling of unsafety (is that a word? no? too bad, it is now) that I've been feeling in this space.

Ultimately, these things can still happen whether I lock my fics or not. Someone could make an AO3 account just to get access to my fics so they can misuse them. My works are publicly available on fic.fan, which is based in Russia but accessible to anyone in the world. I post my works there because I have readers in Russia who might not always be able to access AO3 due to government constraints/censorship on internet usage. As far as I know, that site doesn't have an option for me to lock my works to user-only access. So my work is still floating out there because of that. However, it is a much smaller site than AO3, and AO3 seems to be where bots and AI cronies are focusing their attention. So that's where I'm focusing mine. I'm locking my fics on AO3 in the hope that I can protect my work even just a little, because it is very dear to me, as are all the people who care about it.

So, what can you do as a reader? Well, if you don't already have an account on AO3, you can make one. I believe there's still a waiting list to do that, but established users have access to invite codes that we can email out to expedite the process (a limited number, but still). If you want to make an AO3 account, reach out to me, I will help if I can! If AO3 isn't an option for whatever reason, but you still want to read my stories, they're on fic.fan, like I said earlier. It's good to support independent sites like that anyway, so I encourage you to visit my page even if you do have access to AO3.

Perhaps the most important thing you can do as a reader is COMMENT. I know we writers are always harping about it, beating the dead horse of "comment on fics!" all the live-long day, but that's because it really is THAT significant. Hand to God, when I get an email notification of a fic comment, even if that comment is nothing more than a single heart emoji, I feel fulfilled in my work. Even my works from 10 years ago- comments still make me feel that way. I promise it is not cringey or weird to leave comments. Your love is felt, and it is valued. If fandom and fanfiction as a culture is going to survive the AI crisis, we as readers (and I am fully including myself in this) need to step the fuck up and get better at directly engaging with the work we enjoy, more than just leaving kudos.

That goes for reblogging posts here on Tumbr, too, not just liking them. I haven't gotten into how AI is fucking with fanartists but as I am also a fanartist, I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention it. Please, for the love of all that is holy, reblog peoples' work, not just their shitposts.