If AO3 users aren't aware right now, AO3 considers 'All Media Types' tags 'outdated' and have no longer been applying them to new fandoms. They've now gone one step further and are starting to dismantle the overarching tag in older fandoms which, in some cases, have had them since their conception over a decade ago.
This is an explicitly anti-fan move, and it's already causing trouble:
Works tagged with just 'All Media Types' are being left in an unsearchable limbo. Now users will have to use one fandom, or, more likely, all of them at once to show its status as a work taking from multiple continuities. 1 tag has turned into a requirement of multiple.
E: to add to this, some 'AMT' fics are being thrown into the goop of one of the larger fandoms, since no general fandom fics are allowed anymore. Lots of Sherlock writers have woken up to their, completely unrelated, fics being assigned as 'Sherlock TV' as an extension of the sunsetting of 'All Media Types.'
Fandoms where two continuities are functionally the same are still being split, requiring users to now check each fandom tag individually to see all works. There will now no longer be one place to view all continuities at once.
The show/remove crossovers option will become obsolete and non-functional. As AO3 moves towards fandoms no longer have any overarching tag, all continuities will be counted as crossovers with themselves. This has been shown in new fandoms with, for example, an original content/accurate adaption: as works are tagged with both (as both apply), removing crossovers now means removing these works, and searching crossovers shows only these works, which are now counted as crossovers with themselves.
In no uncertain terms, this will obliterate usability and accessibility in older fandoms, as it's already doing in new ones.
AO3 has taken a stance in telling its users we don't know how to use 'All Media Types' tags, and we want it removed, and should have it removed for our own good [Check r/AO3]. How insulting.
I think we should all take the time to tell them otherwise, it's our archive after all.
discoholicmusic
2087
snowghoul
stormborns
janainaart
gummygunk
