I might add something to this.
Where anon sees an organisation that is morally reprehensible, I see an organisation that saved my life.
Before I discovered ao3 I was literally wasting away. My life consisted of going to work and consuming books. I was depressed. The only reason I left the house at all was going to work so that I could keep a roof over my head. And honestly, if I didnāt need the money to survive, I wouldnāt have even done that.
I had no social life in the real world. I avoided social media at all costs and wouldnāt even speak to my own family unless it was avoidable. Hell, I wouldnāt speak to anyone for weeks at a time outside of work. Because I couldnāt face the thought of it.
So I lived for Amazon kindle where I could Bury my problems and avoid the hole that Iād dug myself into because I could see no way out. Until the day I could no longer afford my subscription.
Thatās when I found ao3. I didnāt even know fan fiction existed until I desperately scoured the Internet for free stories. I discovered the website and my fandom. Then I discovered writing fanfiction.
At 31 years old, Iād finally found a passion for something. I didnāt know it was possible for me to create stories of my own. So I started writing and quickly caught the bug.
Then I started gaining readers and followers and I found my voice. Now I had to interact with people. Which is scary as hell when you struggle on a daily basis to communicate. But these people were genuinely interested in what I had to say. So I opened a twitter account. And with that, I opened a door to a world that I didnāt know existed. I found others like me who struggle to put themselves out there.
I found myself. I came to terms with my sexuality. Finding others that had the same experiences I had been through. They would come and read what I had to say and continue to interact with me on ao3. They got to know me and I opened up. This website saved me and gave me the voice I was in such desperate need of.
Iām pretty sure I post things that nobody wants read about, and similarly, there is plenty of stuff on ao3 that I have no interest in. But guess what? I skip that stuff. I avoid it. And I do that by reading tags. As a reader, it is my job to take care of myself and monitor what I consume.
You may say, āsome fics have too many tags to read each one closely so I read it anyway and discovered something that effected me.ā
Let me explain why too many tags is a good thing. When an author does this, they have gone through their story and thought about every single detail that could offend/effect someone. They then used the tag system to warn readers of what they would find. They have done their job.
If you still read it because you didnāt want to take 30 seconds to read the tags, that is on you. You didnāt dob your job. It isnāt for you to tell an author what they can and canāt write when you didnāt do your part.
Also, if you are purposely searching tags so you can bash the authors without reading the work, donāt do that. They are creating work for others who are interested in that subject and theyāre doing it for free. In these cases, they are not creating content for you. Again, it is not up to you to tell others what they can and canāt produce.
People will not stop creating content because you tell them they arenāt allowed to. We live in a world where freedom to write and say what we want is our right. Not everyone, but most of us. Censorship is a step backward, not forward.
I might also suggest that if you have a list of things that trigger you or turn your stomach or make you angry because it exists, avoid the website altogether. Please practice self care, itās so important.
And lastly, Iāll leave you with a thought. Ao3 is a not for profit organisation. Not only do they not gain money by promoting content that you donāt like, they donāt actually promote content that you donāt like.
They are merely an archive. The organisation does not promote any authors work. Whether you like it or not, people will always create. And the archive will store it. No more, no less.
