Just a heads up that I have locked all of my fics on AO3 today and you are no longer able to read or access them without being logged in.
I did not wanna do this, I wanted to keep my fics open and readable to those who do not have accounts because before I started writing myself, I only read as a guest for years.
But with the latest AI-fed scraping done to public fics, I am just beyond pissed. I don't want my creativity, passion, and art to be used for an AI without my permission. It's unethical.
Please, if you're a reader of mine, make an account on AO3 right now. It might take 2-6 weeks to get it (as AO3 has a queueing system for new accounts) but I can send you any new chapters privately while you wait for your account. Just DM me (on Tumblr, Bluesky, Discord) and I'll keep you updated on my fics during the waiting time.
You deserve to read them for free. And I deserve to have my works protected from the stealing AI.
Gonna add this for those who don't know how to lock their fics:
Step 1: go to your works. There are two ways you can do this. You can hover your name on the top right corner and click on "My Works". Or, you can go to your dashboard, and click on "Works (# of works)".
Step 2: click on the "Edit Works" button. In here, you will see the list of all of your works (fanfictions) that you've posted on AO3).
Step 3: Instead of checking every work one by one, click on the "All" button. This will insure that ALL of your works will be checked, ready to be edited at the same time. Then, you may now click on the "Edit" button.
Step 4: Scroll all the way down to the "Privacy" section. Here, change your "Visibility" settings to "Only show to registered users". While you're in here, you might also want to consider to change your "Who can comment on these works" settings to "Only registered users can comment". Not only changing these will help to prevent any AI-fed scraping happening to your fanfictions, but this will also help to prevent any AI/bot scammers from commenting on your fanfictions as well! After you changed the settings, click on "Update All Works".
Note: You WILL get a pop-up asking you if you're sure, and reminding you that this action will replacing all existing settings. Remember, everything that you leave blank will remain UNCHANGED! Since we're only changing two settings, you can safely click the "Ok" button.
Step 5: After a few seconds, all of your fanfictions should be successfully updated! You will be returned to the "Edit Multiple Works" page that you were previously on before. You will also be greeted with this pop-up:
Now, you may return to your Dashboard or Works page. With everything done right, all of your fanfictions should now have the blue lock. This means that your fanfiction is now only available for those who are logged in on AO3.
Congratulations! You have now successfully locked your fanfictions! Remember; for now on, whenever you want to post a new fic to AO3, check off the "Only show your work to registered users" in the "Privacy" section before posting!
(PS, if anyone would like to add any additional notes to this, feel free to do so. Happy reading!)
