Fanfiction PSA:
New AO3 comment scam just dropped.
Remember: if it's vague, a solicitation, and could plausibly be commented on virtually any other fic, it's no good.
They're not always vague! We're not just talking about bots here, but also human catfishers and con-artists. I got one of these scammers on a fanfic, and it was clear from the comment that the person read the beginning of the fic and knew enough about the canon to leave specific, believable flattery.
And then they tried to move the conversation to a secondary location, and my hackles were raised.
Yep they've moved to flattery specific to your chapter and then a question about your writing process/how you decided xyz. Then they'll wait for you to respond before they drop the lure to the secondary location.
It's disheartening to think you've got a commenter who wants to hear about the behind the scenes stuff, only to find out it's a scammer after replying with multiple paragraphs.
I try to give the benefit of the doubt bc I don't want to be rude if it is a real commenter, but the red flags I note for this type of scam are:
Comment is on chapter 1 of a multi chapter fic
Comment tries to engage with me as though they're an aspiring writer asking me about my creative process to help them get better
If they're a registered user (and they usually are) their profile is a barren wasteland. No bio, no bookmarks, no works.
If they trip all 3 flags then I report them without replying first. This is easy to do. Just go to the comment (you want this to be the page that has only the comment on it so you can get a direct link to it for ao3 to review), scroll to the bottom of the page, click "policy questions and abuse reports", and scroll down to the pre-filled form. The summary for the report is "spam". The description is "spam comment from a spam account." Submit. Easy peasy. They'll have it taken care of in like 2 days and you'll have done your part to stop the spread 👍
