Hi there! I was wondering if you could please do a tutorial on how to exclude particular relationships in AO3 searches. (And if you happened to use Clint/Coulson in your example I have a friend who would probably offer her firstborn and possibly the second as well.) Thank you for the ones you've already done as well. :D
This is a great question! And Iâm happy to use your suggested example :)
AO3 Work Search Tips: Excluding Specific Relationships
So, your friend wants to find fics that donât include Clint/Coulson in the pairings. The first thing you can try would be to go to the AO3 Work Search form as usual and simply adding -âClint Barton/Phil Coulsonâ (the hyphen means ânotâ) in the âAny Fieldâ bar like so:
And this should mostly work. If an author doesnât tag for a ship, however, thereâs nothing a search can really do about that.
(Note that because AO3 doesnât differentiate between primary and secondary ships in a work, many users prefer authors NOT to tag secondary ships in the relationship field so as not to clog the search results. Luckily, doing an âAny Fieldâ search will catch tags even when theyâre used outside of the relationships field, but again, only if the author added them).Â
There are a few additional details to be mindful of though. Like, why did I use âClint Barton/Phil Coulsonâ instead of simply âClint/Coulsonâ as you requested?