So I started with going to the Sherlock (TV) section of Ao3. On the right we find this lovely section! ((I know I’m going over things you already probably know, but I figure this post may go to new Ao3 users, so bear with me.))

Underneath this, I chose sort by Kudos, because that’s a quick way to find most popular fics, for the sake of this demonstration. 

With those filters on, we end up with this being our first two results: 

As you can see, we have Nature and Nurture by earlgreytea68, and The Internet Is Not Just For Porn by cyerus. So what if I am utterly sick of seeing earlgreytea68 on my list? Let’s pretend I’ve read all their fics, or that I just don’t like her, or whatever. I want this author out. I go to this section on the right: 

In “Search within results” I type earlgreytea68 into the bar, with a minus sign in front. This gives me the following page, upon hitting the sort and filter button:

There goes earlgreytea68! But now I’ve decided that Crack is just not my thing, I’m sick of that, too, for heaven’s sake, I want something reasonable in my gay slash fanfiction about detectives that solve crimes about glowing dogs and irish megalomaniacs. Heaven forbid this get ridiculous.

Well, then I add this to my search:

Which gets rid of everything with that tag. My results are now:

Performance in a Leading Role is now my first result!

You can do this as many times as you want; the biggest problem I have is trying to filter out multi-worded tags. For example, “Secret Relationship” is hard to filter. Better to go with authors you dislike or with words like “DubCon”. 

I hope this helps! Also remember that googling site:archiveofourown.org and then adding search terms will mean google searches Ao3 for you, and sometimes that works far better. 

You can filter out phrases by enclosing them in quotes. For example, if ABO and Hydra Trash Party are not your things, try:

Say, you’re in your random fandom- I went with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since I’ve been reading Iron Man stuff recently. Tony Stark is awesome.

But anyway, you’re on the page, and you see that there are 174,774 works! That is way too many for a casual afternoon’s browsing.

And you see that the first one is Peter Parker/Tony Stark and that is not your jam. It doesn’t work for you, or it squicks you, whatever. Wouldn’t life be easier if you could browse without seeing that pairing (or whatever pairing you don’t like)? You can!

First, click on that pairing tag(You may want to open this in another tab, actually.):

and it’ll take you to the page for that pairing tag. Click this button:

and then look at the address bar! The actual page is unimportant. Copy the numbers located here:

and go back to the original search page! Down on the side, in the same place you can get rid of other tags, type -relationship_ids:”the number you just copied”

Then hit ‘sort and filter’ annnd… magic!

The fics with that pairing are gone! You can also do multiple pairings, get rid of any tags you don’t like, and sort it by date or length or kudos, or whatever.

That means you can pretty much use all the Lucene Query Syntax in the “Seach within result” field.

I don’t think AO3 indexes the whole fic for searching but definitely it’s meta data. Combined with Lucenes awesome query syntax you can do pretty much every search you heart desires.

Addtional Lucene Query Syntax that has not been mentioned yet and you might find useful:

Wildcard Searches

You can use wildcard searches within single terms. For a single character wildcard search use the “?” symbol. For a multiple character wildcard search use the “*” symbol.

AND/OR

Lucene allows you to combin terms through logic operators. You’re looking for fics that are either “reunion” or “enemies to lovers”?

Just put in >“reunion” OR “enemies to lovers”< into the field

and you end up with all the stories that are either or but not both.

But wait, now you’re looking for fics that are both “reunion” and “enemies to lovers” at the same time? Now worries Lucene got you covered.

Just change it into >“"reunion” AND “enemies to lovers”“<

and you’ll get all the fics that mention both “reunion” and “enemies to lovers” somewhere in their meta data (note: it’s not just tags. It’s also title, summary …)

Boosting

You can also boost specific terms when doing a multi term search.

You can use the “^” Operator followed by a number to boost a specific term.

Say you’re interested in fics that are either “first kiss” or “bed sharing” but you’re much more interested in “bed sharing” fics and feel they are more relevant.

You can use the search >“first kiss” “bed sharing”^5<

to manipulate the order of your results in a matter that the score of every fic that contains beg sharing is multiplied by 5. Therefore all fics containing that term are given priority and shown at the top of the list.

You can also combine all of the above, target specifc fields (that’s what you did with the “relationsship_id:xxx”) and many more things.

But what if you are like “fuck that, I’m not going to remember that, that is too hard?”

Well then you’re going to go to your browser, find get a GitHub Extension and use AO3 User Scripts.

What are is a Github Extension or Add-on and what are User Scripts?

Well, personally? I like Tapermonkey’s Add On because I use Firefox and it is stupidly simple

It’s easy to use. You just install it onto your browser. Point and click, like you’d add any browser extension. It also exists for other browsers because it’s open source and Github users love love love to make stuff people can use.

That’s the thing about Github programmers - they function a lot like fancreators - they’re making stuff for free for pure love of the game and hatred of the supreme overlords.

So once you add that extension?

You’re gonna search for AO3 Use Scripts

I love the floating comment box. It is literally exactly what it says. The comment box comes with me as I read so I can C&P what I read directly into the floating comment box for easy of feedback.

There’s also scripts for making your OTP the main thing you search, showing clicking if you’ve read a fic or not (I use this one alllll the time), oh my god, the bookmark maker!? THE BOOK MARK MAKER!!!! That automatically transports the entire text of the summary into the bookmarks you make so you don’t have to?

Each script is going to open to describe - in greater or lesser detail - what it does.

And then there will be a button offering for you to install the script.

I have Tapermonkey. I’m in dark mode and I have already installed the Bookmark Maker.

So for me the button is in green and it’s saying “Reinstall.” So I don’t need to click that to have the Bookmark Maker.

But if I went back and looked at the offerings

And I decided I wanted to Mute Selectively

I would need to Install the Script for the first time.

It is possible for these extensions to overlap in what they do so if you get wonky stuff, it could be that they’re doing tasks for each other.

But if all you want is one or two specific things? Start here!

And don’t be afraid to play with it! I give you permission to go into the code and fuck around!

Seriously, this is a safe place to play in the backend.

Why? I will tell you why.

Because you can make mistakes in your user script and it will not hurt your AO3. It won’t even hurt your AO3 User Script’s original status. All you need to do is go into your Tapermonkey and remove the app, reinstall it and go back to the first level of the user script! The user script will still be on Greasy Fork, waiting for you exactly as it was the first time you installed it, ready to go!

But I want to stress again the user scripts DO NOT effect the core of AO3.

It’s just really fun way to play with AO3 without risking your content.

Bonus? It will get you comfortable with GitHub which will allow to to start customizing all kinds of different things in your digital experience.

wdym he is THE protector of the team during a game? he is THE last line of defense? he has EVERYONE’s back? and he is AMAZING AT IT?!

and not just in the metaphorical sense (although as establish that too) but down to a literal physical level too. like? oh my god of course the character with the best reflexes that won’t let a ball past him is the character that grew up abused and constantly aware of his surroundings. and of courseeee the character that has issues with being touched and struggles to protect himself from abusers is the one wearing the most padding on the court.

A scrawny guy ordering and packing away enough food for four people in a restaurant is gonna garner attention in a way that people just sort of expect that of anyone they deem "plus size". So, in addition to meaning they Already have more reserves for their power to feed on, it will maintain their cover a lot better to be fat in that scenario. No one will blink twice at you earing a lot and no one would expect that kind of speed or athleticism from someone they assume is "too fat and lazy" to run at normal speeds much less super ones.

Plus. Momentum is a thing. Depending on how "realistic" the physics is in this already unrealistic superhero narrative, the added weight will probably make you more of a wrecking ball and therfore more of a threat to the bad guys than speed alone.

Anyone whose ever watched or participated in any sort of track and field event would know that while "aerodynamics" are somewhat of a factor in things, the difference is negligible when you have the muscles to power through the wind resistance. You could be a bullet or a cannonball; bullet is naturally faster, but cannonballs gonna do way more damage. And when paired with "its literally a superpower, we're already breaking the rules of physics, who cares" I don't think the argument of wind resistance or aerodynamics being an issues with a wider frame really holds much weight (pun not intended).

Really, a fat person with super speed just helps eliminate or lessen a lot of the drawbacks of having super speed while also making it even more of a threat. So they should probably all be like that.

Same with super strength since they are often depicted as having similar "calorie upkeep" needs and because it'll be a lot more "believable" as a cover story to the general public if a big dude lifts a car in an emergency because of "adrenaline" or whatever than if some scrawny tech bro does.