I wrote AO3 asking if here was a permanent way to exclude some items from your searches, rather than having to fill each one in every time. They said there currently isn't a way to do it in the filter, but gave me directions for a skin that could do that. They're such a great site! I hope all the volunteers know how much happiness they bring to people. 💜 I emailed them back, and thanked them of course. :) I haven't tried it yet, but wanted to go ahead and pass it on. If you use it soon, let me know how it goes please. ETA: Creating and sharing the skin would be wonderful too! :)
Ensure that you have the latest version of your browser updated on your device.
Select the My Dashboard link in your username’s drop down menu in the upper right corner of the screen.
Select the “Skins” link in your Dashboard menu.
Select the “Create Site Skin” button in the upper part of the page.
Enter a title for your skin.
In the CSS field, use the following template to hide works, replacing the tag names in quotation marks with your own. You can copy and paste it for as many tags as you like.
Hide all tags containing a keyword
This example will hide works with the tags with "Naruto" in them, including relationship, character, and freeform tags..blurb:has(a[href*="Naruto"i]) { display: none; }
If the tags you wish to hide has spaces, you will need to replace them with "%20" like so:.blurb:has(a[href*="Uzumaki%20Naruto"i]) { display: none; }
This example will hide works with the tag "Fluff", but not "Fluff and Angst" or "Fluffy"..blurb:has(a[href$="/Fluff/works"i]) { display: none; }
If the tag you wish to hide has spaces, you will need to replace them with "%20" like so:.blurb:has(a[href$="/Major%20Character%20Death/works"i]) { display: none; }
This template will hide works that are rated Explicit..blurb:has(span[title*="Explicit"i]) { display: none; }
If the rating you wish to hide has spaces, you can just use the first word of the rating and it will work. For example, using "Teen" for Teen And Up Audiences..blurb:has(span[title*="Teen"i]) { display: none; }
Hide a specific relationship tag
This example will hide works with the tag " Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski", but not "Derek/Stiles". You will need to replace the / character in the relationship tag to a "*s*" and change any spaces to "%20" like so:.blurb:has(a[href$="Derek%20Hale*s*Stiles%20Stilinski/works"i]) { display: none; }
Select the button to “Submit” the skin.
Select the “Use” button to start using the skin.
When using the site skin, you may notice a difference between the number of works in a search result and the number of works you see. This is because the site skin hides works from your view, and is a purely cosmetic change.