A wave of spambot guest comments claiming to be AO3 volunteers has recently been made across the site. They claim that there has been a data breach and that fraudulent password reset emails have been sent out. In addition, the harassment spambots are now accusing users of being sex offenders.
These claims are not true. These comments are not being made by real AO3 volunteers or users, and AO3 has not experienced a data breach.
These comments copy existing AO3 usernames in order to make their accusations seem more legitimate. They may also try to lure people onto other platforms, similar to the art commission scam.
AO3 volunteers will never communicate with you through guest comments on your work. All important communications from AO3 about your account will be sent via email. More general announcements will be posted on our official social media accounts or published as news posts on AO3 or OTW.org.
If you want to make sure you're doing everything possible to protect yourself and your accounts, our Policy & Abuse volunteers published a news post earlier this year with advice about internet safety best practices: Protect Your AO3 Account.
As always, we recommend that you do not click on any suspicious links or give your contact information to scammers. Instead, simply mark the comments as spam or report them so that Policy & Abuse can remove other comments left by these spambots.
If you aren't sure how to mark guest comments as spam, learn how to handle them below the cut!
As these comments have so far all been from guests, our advice is to flag them as spam to better filter them out. To do that, simply follow the instructions below:
If the comment is on your own work:
Go directly to the comment on your work, either by clicking on the link in your email or in your AO3 inbox.
Click on the "Spam" button to mark the guest comment as spam and remove it from your work.
Note: The "Spam" button only appears when viewing a guest comment directly on your work. This is because the AO3 comment inbox is merely a copy of the work's comments – deleting a comment from your AO3 inbox does not delete the comment from the work itself.
If you see comments like these on someone else's work:
Feel free to let the creator know the comment is from a bot, and that they should mark it as spam.
You can also report the comments as botspam via the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form linked at the bottom of every page on AO3.
If you are reporting multiple guest comments, please submit only one report, and include all comment links in your report description. (You can get the direct link to any comment by clicking the "Thread" button on the comment, and then copying the URL of that page.)
If you're not sure if something is a spambot comment, you're welcome to contact Policy & Abuse for assistance. Refer to the original post for more information!
I haven't touched it in a while so there may be some broken links, but for anyone who wants to remember PJ's life in pics, gifs, music, vids, etc, my PJ archive is up above. ❤️
collab i did with my goats @p1zzaparty and @striderepiphany for the reddiesance ...! nate did the sketch, josh did the lines, and i did da colors... soooo fun to see this come together hehehe. make sure to check out their parts of the collab!!!
art will save you, being unreasonably passionate about something niche will save you, letting past sources of joy show you the way back to yourself will save you, earnestness over composure will save you, the natural world will save you, caring for something bigger than yourself will save you, daring to be seen will save you, kindness not as a whim but a principle will save you, appreciation as a practice will save you, daring to try something new will save you, grounding will save you, love will save you, one good nights sleep will save you
Collab piece done for Reddiesance 2025!!!! Below are @clownmovieyaoi 's delightful sketch and @p1zzaparty 's gorgeous lines as well as the full grid of our collab! Pls check out their posts for their finished pieces :D
*through gritted teeth* the world is GOOD. people are kind. Humans are NOT inherently selfish. you will make it through this year. recovery is possible. people you don't know yet will love you. You are going to do things you can't even imagine right now. You are going to read a rlly good book. You are going to eat some rlly good food. You are going to experience joy again. Things can get better. Situations can change. You can choose to be kinder. The world can change for the better.
HI EVERYONE im doing an interest check for these 20cm reddie plushies!!! this project will only be possible if there's enough demand for them so if you're interested, more details are in the form below :) form will close in 2 weeks!
wow do u wang richie and eddie from it chapter 2 as marketable plushies. i do. so. this is not a commitment but pls be honest ....
tangentwithtanner
titsay
2087
