Periodic reminder that Archive of Our Own was created to be a repository for all written fanworks without regard to inherent worth, morality, ethicality, artistic merit, or intelligibility. As long as the posting of the work does not violate US law, falls within fair use standards, and does not directly harass individuals, it can be posted on Archive of Our Own.
Efforts to further limit the scope of what can be posted and stored on Archive of Our Own will fail, because Archive of Our Own is a repository much like the internet or the Library of Congress pre-21st century (back when it kept a copy of every publication printed in the United States). As long as you are able to find objectionable material on the internet or in a library, you will be able to find objectionable material in Archive of Our Own.
People get upset with the lack of moderation on Archive of Our Own because they view it as "the place to go to read fanfic." But when it was created, there was no goal for Archive of Our Own to be a destination fanfic reading website. Most people who first used it would publish on other sites (LiveJournal, fanfic.net, message boards, and various fandom-specific sites) to be read and commented on, and add a backup copy to Archive of Our Own so that it would be preserved in case it was ever removed from the original website/the original website went down. In other words, it was used as an archive, just like in the name.
AO3 can still be used this way! You can do your primary fanfic reading and writing on other sites, then back up your own works to AO3 for safekeeping.
Even better, if you object to the content that you find on AO3 and don't want to use it to find fanfic, or don't want to post there because you feel that posting there would be tantamount to endorsing AO3's mission, Archive of Our Own will hand you the tools you need to create your own site with more restrictive guidelines!
How? The software Archive of Our Own runs on is open source and the entire code is posted on github, along with advice for implementation.
Not everyone is comfortable searching for fanfic on Archive of Our Own for fear of encountering triggering or objectionable content. By creating more fanfic sites and repositories with their own focuses and guidelines, we can create the safe spaces in fandom that people are looking for without endangering the archival mission of Archive of Our Own.
prguitarman
blakekathryn
yousharknotpass
ellievsbear
germansingergirl
