I've been a fanfic writer on AO3 for two years, have 50+ stories and over 350k in words, lots of fun reader engagement and stay active on Tumblr to promote my stories and fan creations.
Last night I got an angry message on my Tumblr from a user asking why I was flaming their story on AO3.
I never leave negative comments (and I've left over 500 positive ones!). I looked into it, and the hatebots on AO3 used my username with (Guest) at the end to send one of the most vile messages I've ever read to a user in a completely different fandom from me.
I straightened it out with that user and explained about the hatebots. But their initial message to me was angry, they'd found me off AO3 on Tumblr and called out personal details from my page because they thought I was bullying them.
I still can't really fathom why these hatebots do what they do, but I'm also a little scared that a misunderstanding like that could lead to someone getting doxxed. And I'm also extremely sad that this bot is posing as me and threatening other users. I encouraged the one reaching out to me to report and block and made a note on my page explaining that (Guest) comments are not from me in case anyone else had that experience.
I still love AO3 for the ability to write and share and connect over our stories and fandoms, but this is really discouraging and scary, in addition to the almost daily art bot scams I get on AO3 too.
And my heart breaks for the user who thought even for a moment that a complete stranger would say such awful things to them using my name.
And it's devastating to think of so many writers waiting for feedback on a story they worked so hard on who are getting hateful comments like these. Or to think someone could internalize those hateful comments without knowing it's a bot.
My heart breaks especially for newer writers on AO3, it's definitely a different landscape from when I joined two years ago.
As a kid who grew up watching Terminator - I'm not sure I envisioned the robot wars looking quite like this!!
Here's the form to report abuse if you have a comment from a bot: https://archiveofourown.org/abuse_reports/new
Here's a link with additional information on the different types of bots on AO3: AO3 Comment Bots - Fanlore https://share.google/m9IhE4NEGMNgHjtWq
Here's a way to fight the bots by leaving positive comments, join the AO3 comment fest bingo: https://ao3org-tumblr-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/ao3org.tumblr.com/post/808198255312781312/welcome-to-feedback-fest-2026/
And anyone who sees my name or any of my pseuds with (Guest) please know it didn't come from me, and don't let a random hate bot discourage you from continuing to write!
