Archive of Our Own Reviews 

I really love AO3 because of the wide range of FF and the given chance for authors to write without any censorship about subjects they want to explore and the possibility for people to read this stories. If one don`t like special themes it`s easy play skipping these by setting the right filters instead of rumbling in this self-righteous ways how many stories are about things they don`t want to read. As an intelligent and self-responsible human being one should be able to do this. Furthermore most of the authors set the right ratings and warnings and those who aren`t sure often ask their fans to write in comments if they fail to do it correctly.

Another thing I don`t understand are the people arguing about the responsibility of AO3 to prevent minors reading stories with adult content. As a parent myself I can only state the fact: This is your part as dedicated parents. From a young age parents should sit down and talk with their kids, explaining them the rules and give them borders in which they are allowed to roam freely and making absolutely clear which things are not allowed without parental consent and the consequences going against it. It will work out well if it`s well done. People should quit shifting responsibility from parents to others. This is finally not their piece of cake.

And at the end there`s something else I want to say:
Yes AO3 is shutting down their servers every now and then but that`s for maintenance and they give notice one or two week/s before doing this. I know it`s hard when you can`t access the stories during this time but I take it as survival-training. 🥲

I seen a written Cp involving a 3 month old baby and his mother... this person should be put in jail or at the very least don't let them publish written things ever again. There is so much of adult rated stuff on here and this site doesn't even age check.

I requested a account and they keep pushing the day I will get an account back Witch is like bru

Even though my god damn email is in the system of this site that give an email in to get in so one star for this site

Ao3 I just amazing, honestly. I’m still only a teenager but I’ve been using it for years. From when I just got it till right now I’ve read over 2 million words of pure fanfiction. I think it’s beautiful, tons of other girls as me are dominating this app with their works and I love how we’re able to share it with each other. I even write some myself and getting comments appreciating my works and getting kudos make me a lot more confident in my writing abilities.

You can choose what you want to read, and what you don’t want to see. I don’t think parents of teenagers on this platform realise how bonded you get but also how anonymous you stay. It’s extremely rare somebody will ask you for other socials on the app, and that’s only if they want to see more of your work. It just doesn’t happen, ever. It is a very safe app and it gives you a creative outlet for your ideas with no restrictions.

I’m not from an English speaking country but I’ve learnt so much English from it.

I mean it’s just a beautiful app overall, a lot of fictions on there are longer than novels.

There’s a reason why explicit and mature sections exist for those who can bear to read them. What are people complaining about? The site’s legitimately great for fan content!
I understand those feeling discomfort & disgust of certain subject matters.
But just scroll away or even block that user if you don’t like it, that’s usually supposed to be fandom etiquette.

However! I personally think that real person fiction shouldn’t have existed in the first place! It creates more unstable user bases compared to fandoms of drawn media, not just violating boundaries! And I wish the site should do smth abt allegations of rl media being used for disgusting things!

Though I was there was an easy filter system in the settings like tumblr where users can just tag out in unwanted stuff. We should be able to surf the site without getting jumpscared by the things we hate. Or take too much time coding or downloading trustworthy high rated extensions on laptops/PC.
I wish we could import tags & filters from tumblr to AO3 aside from blocking users that create specific stuff I don’t like.
Alternatively, we could just save our favorites in public or private bookmarks. Another lesson learned bc there’s this unwritten rule where users generally stay on their turf & interact w/ others of similar/same interests!

Most people are quite civilized and respectful even with the most disturbing & explicit fictional content.
You can write down and share ideas, song lyrics and script style stories, not just the usual general canon stuff.
Which FFN sadly doesn’t allow most of the former nowadays since you can’t get too graphic with the descriptions. That site is kind of dying out and getting much worse due to lack of proper moderation. Not only desktop mode going haywire compared to the mobile version.
Wattpad isn’t any better because they’ve plagiarism including reuploaded content without permission outweighing good content.

If FFN or Wattpad shuts down, hopefully all the available users and their content move to AO3 & other less ad-filled or ad-free sites. I genuinely feel bad for active users being there when AO3 is truly a free-for-all place for fiction creators & fandoms.
Not just having better organization when it comes to putting fan series in order.

Like some sites, AO3 gives you the option to post anonymously or require sign-ons so the users can view them. Not put limits on creators.
Thankfully there are free downloads per story because there’s no official app version. Otherwise iOS would not allow mature/explicit fics on the app or force AO3 to heavily censor them...
Though if there’s a long fanfic at 300K+ words, I’d recommend using the epub option instead of the PDF one if you have an Apple or similar product. That includes combining the series with that total number into a huge epub.

However, you cannot really post links for financial help, art commissions or patreon/ko-fi unlocks to see them. I do understand AO3 not allowing monetization or smth bc it’s volunteer run, put those links on your most active frequented social media sites instead.

This site is full of pedos and rapist writing about their wildest dreams. Stay away.

Beautiful website. Amazing archive collection of fanworks.

The best site, despite there being strange people who write things I'd rather not read, the filters on the site are perfect

Archive of our own is an amazing website. I do understand that many people are outraged and concerned about it being available for all ages but, to that I say, control their devices? Genuinely, blocking the website from your child's device is an easy, effective way to stop them reading it. It isn't illegal in the United States (where the archive is run) to make this sort of content.

Rant aside, the archive is an amazing way to get started on writing. It allows people to explore different fandoms, themes and other people's views on their favourite show/book/media which is definitely enlightening. The Archive is also incredibly well organised, making it easy to navigate and block certain tags (themes) that you don't want to see.

Overall, the archive is easy to navigate, amazing to use and makes reading available for everyone which I believe is the one thing our world needs right now.

I love ao3, it has so much variety. But I wish you could search your history. Even adding the option of seeing only what you've read before would be nice. (I wanna elaborate how I use ao3 but I don't know if that would be over sharing/how to phrase it)

Absolutely full of disgusting adult themed stuff, I'm sure some people on here try hard to write good stuff but I definitely can't find it, this site is just a place for pedos and rapists to write their sick fantasies, and the volunteers who run it are rude and unhelpful and the site is always down or not working, just avoid

Do yourself a favour and avoid this website.
It's full of r*ape, in*cest (omg so much of that), absue, suicide, it's basically a place for psychopaths to get their stuff out there creatively. And does AO3 take that stuff down? Nope. Because, and this is a direct quote from an email I got from them:
"Regarding your statements about offensive content, AO3's policy of maximum inclusiveness of content applies to all fanworks, even those that are abhorrent, bigoted, disgusting, or otherwise offensive to many people. Our Terms of Service are designed to comply with United States law. It is legal in the U.S. to create and share fictional content about murder, theft, assault, or other such crimes. It is also legal in the U.S. to create and share fictional content about topics such as child sexual abuse, rape, incest, or bestiality. AO3 allows users to post and access fiction about all of these topics. We will not remove content on the sole basis that it contains offensive material. We will remove commercial promotion material, however, as it does violate our Terms of Service."
Like, yeah you sick f*cks, it's LEGAL but that doesn't mean you should allow and normalise it!!!! Teenagers have access to this website, you think they should be allowed to read that sort of thing? Absolutely disgusting.

And now for my personal experience: I have written content for this platform for years (NICE content, not the madness I mentioned before. I write mellow, slow burn, fluffy romance between consenting adult characters). I've given up hundreds and hundreds of hours writing the best stories I can for it's readers.
I woke up one day, shocked, to find I've received a complaint form the "policy and abuse committee". Abuse? I was shocked. AO3 is full of scum and bullies, but I'd managed to scrape out a cosy, feel good corner for me and my loyal fans. I thought there had been some mistake.
Nope. I read on and it turns out I've had my stories "locked" because I "advertised commercial products". That's it. And you know what I was "advertising"? My first ever published novel, my pride and joy, that was BORN ON THEIR WEBSITE!!!! And I wasn't even advertising! I literally said "Hey, did you know this story is also available in paperback?😁💕 Thanks for all the love and support, guys, I finally did it!🩷"

MY AUDIENCE ASKED ME TO DO THIS, btw. They asked me to let them know when the published version came out. They have been saying for years they'd love to buy one of my online stories in print, and I finally self published last year. I worked extremely hard on it, it's been a lifelong dream, and I was so upset and hurt to see I'd received a complaint about "advertising" my hard work.
I am an unemployed, clinically depressed autistic woman. I earn NOTHING from the sales of my book. I lowered the price as far as Amazon would allow so that my readers could afford it. I tried to explain this to the abuse team and they said they'd delete my stories permanently if I didn't comply with their demands.
After years of writing for that website, for free, this is what I get?
That's unacceptable treatment of the people that make their content. Without us writers, they'd have nothing, and they treat us like scum---unless you want to write about child r*ape, which is perfectly fine, apparently.
I literally can't believe it, there's kids writing absolutely horrible things on here, dangerous, despicable things---but do THEY get their work taken down? Lol nope. But I mention I've worked hard and achieved an innocent childhood dream, and I get my stories removed!!! 😡😡😡😡😡
Do yourself a favour and move to Wattpad. They allow writer to grow and self promote, and harmful topics are actually banned, so you're guaranteed a safe and happy reading experience 🩷 Plus, their website isn't butt ugly and impossible to use. I mean, the filter tab has NEVER worked, guys, fix it for god's sake.

The amount of times they shut down for hours is ridiculous they have shut down for 6 hours it’s absolutely ridiculous

Inclusive community that lets you publish what you want to share with others. People on there are really supportive and vocal with their appreciation. Makes me happy everyday. Ao3 easily lets you filter out some more disturbing fics, focus on your interests in privacy and doesn’t push anything on you.

Nothing but rude people on here and weirdos. Got blocked by somebody who couldn't take constructive criticism and verbally attacked as well even though they left their comment box open, like what did they expect? Also the stories I see on here absolutely disgusting. People write about Pedophlia, rape, incest. Just full of sickos and rude people really. Deleted my account after a week.

If you want to write and read fanfiction don't bother on A03, Fanfiction.net is a lot better. At least nobody writes sick content on there and there are fewer trolls and people can actually take constructive critsicm without feeling the need to be verbally abusive and lash out at the other person to do so. Honestly people on A03 are sick and toxic af.

absolute best website. it makes me happy after the most boring f**king day

Adult themed Anime trash everywhere. Unaudited, unpoliced, hardcore pornographic grossly inappropriate content. Site should be rated mature. Site should blocked from youth.. This has the most vile content I have ever seen. Any 'not normal' sexual activity you could imagine is here. Any good parent who is aware of the content here would be horrified if they see their kids read this drivel.. People writing here without rating the content as mature are pure and simple evil.

i moved from wattpad to here bc i was done with wattpad after some drama there and i love it here! ppl are so nice and have very good fanfics compared to wattpad! c: