Whenever people go on about how AO3 doesn’t deserve donations because they host “ch*ld p*rn”, i*ncest, etc. and basically everything else they don’t like, I can’t help but to be like
Low key FFN has the same shit… You can’t just write MA or explicit stories. FFN doesn’t ban specific ships (since that’s basically the basis of calling it in*est or C* or p*do) or shows just like AO3 doesn’t ban specific ships or shows.
On FFN you just can’t write MA stories. However, similarities tend to end there.
AO3 allows you to actually have content filters. On FFN, you just have to rely on the author putting it in the summary.
AO3 also actively fights to help keep fanfiction and fanworks free. Anyone who complains about this obviously hasn’t had to survive when FFN purged a crap ton of fanfictions because of authors like Anne Rice who basically want No Fandoms.
Ofc a lot of people say that AO3 is a “haven” for basically all the bad shit because AO3 doesn't actively disallow or ban it. If you haven’t noticed, trying to say “this is allowed but this isn’t” when it comes to fanworks often leads to a clusterfuck of nuance, loopholes, and contradictions. There are far too many uploads happening and users to be able to filter out each individual chapter and story submitted in a timely manner.
And a lot of the “bad” tags on AO3, aren’t even smut (or lemons as older fandom people tend to call them) or romanticizing it… They’re tagged because they depict it so people can avoid it regardless of whether or not it is treated as something that is absolutely terrible and the worst thing you can do to someone. Hell, on AO3, people tend to over tag just so everyone has the best chance possible to avoid any content they don’t like.
A lot of the “P*do” and r*pe stuff on AO3 is from survivors who wrote explicit stories about a character overcoming the abuse and don’t romanticize or justify it. The other “p*do” shit people say is hosted on AO3 is just ships they don’t like with an incredibly small percentage of it being actual lemons.
The reason why people migrated from FFN to AO3 isn’t that they just wanted a place to freely post their lemons. They wanted a place where they didn’t have to worry about being censored. It’s why the MA tag is so important and why many people left FFN.
The MA tag isn’t just lemons. It’s anything that is inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. Sometimes fandom writers want to create or enjoy something that is purely adult in nature. Adult in nature =/= lemons. Adult in nature is anything that is explicit, I.e in detail and without any room for confusion or implications.
AO3 also has a better filtering system where you can search for things based on archive tags like F/F, Multi, etc. And yeah, even though AO3 lacks some features that should be innate-like a permanent exclude/blacklist, they aren’t shy about letting people know about 3rd party applications like AO3 Savior if it is a feature that they need.
It sucks there aren’t certain features, but I’d rather have a feature that isn’t there and that I have to use a third party app to have the feature than to have a feature that doesn’t work and breaks the site. looking at you Tumblr.
However, even though their filtering system isn’t permanent, it’s far better than FFN as it allows you to exclude just about anything you can include, whereas FFN only allows you to exclude certain characters and a genre.
People are mad or saying AO3 doesn’t deserve donations, support, etc. for basically hosting content they don’t like while FFN is basically the same way… only without the MA tag and with far more restrictions on the actual content you can post minus ships and fandoms. The MA tag or ability to have one is incredibly important to fandoms because it gives adult content creators a space or a way of creating adult material and adult material isn’t always lemons and lewds.
Sometimes adult content is serious, direct, and in-depth depictions of domestic abuse and violence. Sometimes adult content is direct and deliberate depictions of r*pe and unhealthy s*x and relationships. Sometimes adult content is dealing with adult fears such as job loss, homelessness, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. in a way that isn’t suitable for minors. It isn’t exclusively about ships and shit you don’t like. Don’t like it? It’s almost obnoxiously easy to exclude them from the search on AO3.
If you hate AO3 for hosting “p*dophilia”, r*ape and/non-con, etc, you obviously haven’t been able to live through the fall of Livejournal, FFN, the cease and desist and authors like Anne Rice who come after fandom creators looking to sue them, etc. when 90% of the criticism of AO3 boils down to the site owners not removing ships, fandoms, etc. that people don’t like. They haven’t had to deal with walking on eggshells that someone will report two characters kissing as inappropriate for children and site holders deciding to remove it.
Because the issue with saying “they should remove r*pe fics” is that not everything is a f*tish lemon.
If I write a story that involves graphic depictions of r*pe and sexual violence, guess where it falls? Yup, a r*pe fic even though it isn’t a f*tish r*pe fic. Guess what gets removed if AO3 decides to give in and remove anything related to? Yup a non f*tish r*pe fic that doesn’t romanticize or justify r*pe.
Not everything with an underage, r*pe/non-con, etc. tag is something that is romanticized ship stuff. Some people tag depictions of it so people can avoid it. Why? Because if someone is triggered by r*pe, it does not matter whether the depiction is implied, direct, romanticized, realistic, or depicted negatively, etc. they are still triggered by it.
Same goes for anything else people are squick towards or triggered by. When you go on crusades about how they need to remove bad and problematic fiction, you basically shoot anyone who wants to make a realistic, dark and in-depth story in the head just to get rid of a bit of f*tish or ship crap because they feel like they shouldn’t have to blocklist or avoid certain tags, content warnings, etc.
They want a place free of any gross, bad, etc. ships and people and a place that is 100% Fandom Pure despite the fact that no such place exists because believe it or not, there is always something someone thinks is bad, gross, etc. and they’re gunna be crying when their “precious pure ships uwu” get the ban hammer should a site ever come into existence because people found a problem with it or when they can’t write certain AUs or content because someone may find it problematic to even so much as mention that it exists.
There is a reason why many experience fandom creators don’t flock towards sites that are like that… because they know at any point they could be the ones getting the ax and why they tend to flock towards sites that allow anything to be posted or hosted provided that it isn’t illegal in the state/country/province/etc. that the site itself is hosted in.
Also… FYI… on FFN you can host the same things… you can only just imply that it happened and you aren’t allowed to basically make it MA… which is arguably more dangerous towards people as opposed to being able to protect them. And without the content warnings of AO3, survivors and people with certain triggers or grossed out by certain content are in far more danger because of the fact that not allowing those content tags to exist doesn’t stop people from making it… It just only leaves people to imply that it happened and people often won’t put it in the tags or summary that it contains something violent or graphic because they risk getting removed despite the fact that the M rating exists on FFN.
Idk about y’all, but I’d much rather be on a site that hosts fictional shit that I don’t like and I can avoid and blacklist it as opposed to being on a site that I have to walk on eggshells wondering whether or not I can appropriately tag something so people can avoid it while also not putting myself in danger.
and before you say “Well if it is potentially triggering, just don’t post it”
Anything can be potentially triggering to anyone. Self harm, depression, mental illness, homophobia, racism, etc. and when you fall into the whole “If it’s possibly triggering, don’t post it” you basically are saying “Don’t create anything other than a coffee shop AU”
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