“Dead Dove” comes from this scene in Arrested Development wherein the character Michel Bluth opens a brown paper bag that reads: DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT. He looks inside and sees what is in fact, a dead dove. The then says: “Well, I don’t know what I expected.”
In fandom, the tag has come to mean: “pay extra attention to the tags!” And/or “this fic is what it says on the tin!”.
So if, for example, a fic includes the tags: Body Horror, Gore, and Violence along with the Dead Dove: Do Not Eat tag, the author is saying “Hey I’m not joking about these tags! Read at your own discretion!”
The tag acts as an honest intensifier to whatever tags are already in the work, as the author using it wants to give a double warning for their content, that it may be triggering and that the reader should proceed with caution.
One fic tagged with Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, also includes the tags: Seriously, this fic deals with some serious and disturbing content matter, mind the tags
Let's have a talk about all the damn spambots and scams on AO3 shall we?
This isn't a complaint against AO3 - the archive volunteers are fantastic for helping work these things out. It's a warning and reassurance to other writers, and a reminder for readers whilst we're here. Lets take a look!
Details below the cut
There are several different kinds of spam and scam messages going around. Some are there to scare you, some are there to try and get you to pay them for something, some are just pure malicious hate.
They are more common from Guest accounts, but can come from registered accounts too.
Here's one from a guest, one of the most recent kinds, that threatens legal action against the author.
To be clear, you cannot be charged with a crime over writing fiction, or a lot of famous and beloved authors (eg, George RR Martin) would have been charged.
EDITING TO ADD There may be some places in the world where writers can be charged over some fictional content, so it is good to know your local laws and keep personally identifying information off your AO3. However, these comments here are still bots, not genuine threats to worry about.
They've also been seen on SFW Gen fluff fics with only cute and fluffy tags, which would not be a crime in any area.
Again, the work this comment is on is not a crime. Here's the work it's on, but I've seen this reported on things that have absolutely no sexual content or otherwise.
(Image contains NSFW Tags in the text)
If someone were to report this, it would take resources away from actual crimes, causing harm to real victims.
Other comments might talk about being "inspired to turn [your] work into a comic" or encourage you to contact them on another site.
These ones are trying to get you to pay them for something, and will scam you or not deliver or serve you AI slop. Which, fuck that. And this one was registered.
Key signs of a BS profile:
- Name is name_name[number] format
- No works, no bookmarks, absolutely nothing on the profile
- Very vague, talks about being a visual storyteller and/or bringing imagination to life
- Linked account names may not match
- Account is very new
Here's another one, disguising the word "Discord" to avoid filters.
To be clear even if this was genuine, it is not permitted to advertise for paid work on AO3. It's against their TOS.
And again you can see no actual comment about the work itself.
There are other kinds of comment bots too. Some will have weirdly phrased details from the fic that are very general, like someone fed the piece to AI and asked it to create a comment or summary (which they most likely did) to try and trick you into thinking it's genuine.
Unfortunately not.
I've even seen some trying to stir up arguments like demanding an author change details about the fic claiming it's transphobic/homophobic/anti-immigration etc.
I once had one like this accusing me, and asexual, of being acephobic from a guest account copying the name of a regular commenter.
So there are lots of them out there. I see new ones every week on my works or reported from other writers.
But now the important bit:
What can we do about these bots?
Given how some are registered, locking fics so guests can't read/comment won't work any more. But you have options!
First, REPORT!
As you can see on one of my threads before there was a button for "spam". What if you already accepted the comment or replied or don't have comment moderation turned on?
In the email, click "go to comment thread page" and hit report at the bottom of the page here.
Keep your report concise and include spam or scam bot in the title, like this!
If you went from the comment thread page from above, the link will automatically be filled in for you. Just let the volunteers know what you're reporting and they'll handle it when able.
Having comment moderation turned on can also be peace of mind. It might mean having to manually approve all comments before they appear on your work, but it also means you can report these scam/spam/bot comments without them showing up on your work.
You deserve better.
"But Lia, what if I'm a reader, not a writer? How can I help?"
You, dear readers, have the most powerful skill of all - you can leave genuine comments. Even if it's just some emojis or a keysmash or some small but real comment on the work, to show authors they're still seen and appreciated.
Even better if you quote a line you really enjoyed, or say something specific about the work, but literally any comment could be a sorely needed boost for a struggling writer who has only had bot comments. I've seen new writers feeling so discouraged from all these and that's heartbreaking.
"What do these hate bots want? I know scammers want money but the hate makes no sense!"
The leading theory is they're trying to scare people off the site, stop them writing, and somehow weaken the archive because they don't like that it hosts works of all kinds.
Really, nobody knows for sure
There are likely only going to be more. It sucks, but I want you to know those signs to look out for to protect yourselves and others, and to report to help AO3 find ways to combat these annoying and pointless posts
Share this around, add your experience or anything I missed, but most of all:
Don't let it discourage you.
Keep writing, keep reading & commenting, keep enjoying this wonderful creative hobby we all love so much!
Tell YOUR stories in your ways with the characters and worlds you fell in love with so much you just had to write about them.
We have the real power here.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: I did not cover up the names of any users here.
They intended these to be public comments on public works.
HOWEVER please do NOT seek out or harass anyone shown here. Some may be cloned from genuine people, but either way contacting them will not achieve anything productive.
AO3 literally explains the fields for you. If you hover over or click the little “?” next to rating, warnings, relationships, characters, categories, summary, etc., it tells you what belongs there. Please use that because it helps readers find what they want and avoid what they don’t.
Also, please stop posting loose ideas as if they’re finished fics. I don’t mean “short fic.” Short fic, drabble, or flash fic are all great. I have found many gems in there.
But opening something that has no summary, barely any tags, and then finding 200–400 words of “idk maybe I’ll write this someday” author rambling is not good. That belongs in a Tumblr post, a prompt meme, a notes app, or maybe a clearly labeled “fic idea dump,” not in the archive as a normal completed work.
And the 200-word chapter updates just to bump the fic… bro. I get life gets busy and wanting to keep momentum. But if the chapter is basically just “sorry, update later,” or nothing plot-relevant is happening. It's better to wait. Readers would rather get an actual chapter later than click through five tiny updates that don’t move the story forward.
FYI, I’m really not that nitpicky. I’ll read messy grammar, odd formatting, weird ships, niche AUs, whatever, if the idea is good and the characterization works enough. But tagging and summaries are basic archive manners. They are not decoration. The whole site functions based on them.
Please tag major content properly; don’t use the summary box for “lol idk.” Please don’t mark something complete if it’s just a concept or abandoned notes, and use author’s notes for author’s notes.
PSA for the Kennecroft fanfic writers who post on AO3!
Be wary of commenters who tell you they “have ideas they want to share with you” while providing their discord/Instagram username all spaced out
These are commission scammers who have been floating around various fandoms. They will offer you the chance to give them money for AI-generated art or not give you any art at all.
Mark the guest comments that do it as spam and report any registered users who do it.
fyi - please stop posting original poetry in the we love poetry fandom tag on ao3. if it isn’t related to shoot from the hip’s longform ‘we love poetry’, please don’t post your work in its fandom tag. for those unaware, we love poetry is an improv comedy group’s improvised romantic period drama play. make sure to tag all original, non-fandom work as ‘original work’!! /nm /info
I don't like to do these 'callout'-style posts, but there's a potential scammer making the rounds in the Storm Hawks tag on AO3. They're on a brand new account and have commented on two of my fics (most notably Raptor Bite which is one of my longer ones), praising them and using some specific information before immediately jumping into "this would look great as a comic, contact me on Discord if you're interested".
They've also done this on one of @ashe-alter's fics that hasn't been updated in almost a year, and it's very unlikely this person has read ~20 chapters of fic in the span of 3 hours. If I had to guess they fed the fics into an AI LLM to get a synopsis and a comment template.
This is most likely a scam if not some sort of grift. I am not calling for a witchhunt of this person, if I hear anyone has done that I will block you. I do, however, encourage you to block this person on AO3 to stop them from interacting with your fics, and don't fall for this scam. If you see 'floridamike_01' on Discord, block them there too.
PSA: there's someone on ao3 advertising an ai-generated story site via "fanfic"
Okay so. I cannot prove that this person is a bot, but they're either a bot or someone who works with the site they're advertising. Either way, they're... not very good at hiding the scheme once you dig a little. With a fucking spoon. Long post beneath the cut.
The user in question goes by FantasiaStories, which happens to also be the name of the website in question. Funny, that. They have posted 38 works in the past 2 months for a variety of fandoms, including TWST, which is how I found them. Other fandoms include CoD, Genshin Impact, JJK, and Marvel. The works are pretty much solely NSFW reader-insert fics. First red flag: in the notes of EVERY fic, beginning or end notes (it varies), they advertise their website. Examples (WARNING: suggestive text):
Okay. Weird. Suspicious, even! I am, of course, wary of weird links to unknown sites (as we should all be!). We will talk about that site in a bit.
Now, like, this isn't bad in and of itself. Whatever, maybe it's a personal site or something. Now, I took a look at one of the Malleus fics they put out a couple weeks ago.
First person POV isn't really my thing, so I ended up not finishing it beyond the first few sentences. Forgot about it, put it out of my mind, whatever.
Today, I was once again trawling the tag, looking for some good stuff (or for updates of the fics I'm following), and I see this:
Oo, looks fun! The tags sound familiar, though... Whatever. Let's take a look, see if it seems good —
And I immediately noticed: THIS IS THE SAME FUCKING FIC???
EXHIBIT A: THE RECENT FIC
EXHIBIT B: THE EARLIER FIC
IT'S THE SAME FUCKING FIC!!! I literally checked the author's profile to see if they were, perhaps, stealing from another writer, but NO! THEY JUST COPY-PASTED THE DAMN THING!
Okay. So now I'm confused. Upset, even. What the fuck is going on here? Who is this "FantasiaStories", and what is this site they keep hawking?
Well.
Ahah.
After sending some baffled texts to my friend, reporting the duplicate fics to Ao3 T&S for advertising, and several hours of waffling (and playing vidya games) about whether or not to click the link, I clicked the fucking link. I need to know what's going on. This is WEIRD.
WELL! The site is janky as all hell, first of all. Like, look at this shit:
Yeah, probably optimized for mobile but that is UGLY on desktop. And yes, that horribly-stretched png is a functional button! Shockingly. Let's go "learn how to play".
ah yes. the user guice. Welcome to visit our website :)))
So I scroll past the instructions on how to create an account, because I am not here to make an account. I am here to find the fucking truth. At first, the instructions give off the energy of this being an erotic mad libs site.
There's a feature for a narrator to read the text out loud to you as well. Personally I would crawl out of my skin but to each their own —
Oh. Ohhhh. Oh I see.
Now, when I look back at the Malleus fic that started all this, I noted something that, to anyone who has not played TWST, would go completely under the radar. I have helpfully highlighted this issue in the following screenshot:
The fic describes his eyes as being "gold and amber"
Any self-respecting TWST enjoyer knows that Malleus hAS GREEN EYES HOLY SHIT HIS WHOLE COLOR SCHEME IS BLACK AND GREEN YOU FUCKING SHAM! YOU CHARLATAN! YOU SCAMMER! This is SUCH a basic fact about his design that I simply cannot believe an actual human fan wrote this shit. ALSO the whole thing is generic af and it feels like malleus was just put in there because name recognition. this shit isn't malleus.
IN CONCLUSION: FANTASIASTORIES ON AO3 IS ALMOST CERTAINLY NOT WRITING THE STORIES THEY POST THEMSELVES, THEY ARE USING THEIR DOGSHIT WEBSITE THAT THEY KEEP ADVERTISING IN THE NOTES TO GENERATE AI SLOP FICS!! OH MY FUCKING GOD!!
Have you had comments similar to— or even exactly matching— these on your AO3 fics that made you worried about how your writing was being perceived?
If you got an AO3 email telling you that you had a comment, then read something like the above... Would it make you feel bad?
If so, then it's time to learn some tips that'll help you to identify an obvious bot comment! Although it has been said a load of times, I am of the opinion that this is something that's worth yelling about repeatedly and as loud as possible. Whatever the reason for this bullshit, the fuckers are determined, and that means it's more important than ever to give 'em the middle finger... So here are Leif's top tips for spotting these so you can give them exactly the attention they deserve— none.
Take a step back and check if the comment makes sense in context— and not just the plot of your fic, but things like your chapter count and whether it's complete or not. Those first two comments are both on a completed oneshot... So why mention "previous chapters," or tell me to "just hiatus the story"? Also, that plot that's apparently moving with seamless, boring efficiency? It's two guys trying to fuck in an alleyway. Even funnier, the third comment is ALSO on a smutfic, but apparently writing about gay sex is, "avoidance of queer relationships," and is, "an intentional homophobic choice." These tells are obvious, but they can absolutely be more subtle.
Guest accounts trying to look legit by using actual AO3 usernames are a clue, although I have seen bots posting from accounts vs as guests.
The guilt trip that's prefaced with a compliment. "Your writing is so wonderful, but you're using AI/being queerphobic/blablabla". The compliment is the bait to get your hopes up, in an attempt to make the guilt trip more effective.
Following on from the above... The compliments are so vague it's kinda funny, but they're worded so they could be considered specific if you don't think about them too hard. Apparently I have a "unique perspective" (everyone does, that's how perspective works), I'm an "architect of narrative" and my work was "wonderfully meandering"? This is digital cold-reading; these could probably apply to just about anyone. Combined with the immediate pivot to, "and this is why you should feel bad and probably never ever write again," it's highly likely to be a bot.
Real specific mentions of AI use. Oh, 77% was it? You ran it through 3 different detectors? That's more effort than my uni put in when they did their plagiarism detection, Sherlock, simmer down. Also note how it's a high but not impossible percentage; it's to make it seem more feasable that it's an actual result to authors who know they haven't used GenAI. 100% or even 90% is simply too high to be believable.
Behold the second, angry comment, and consider; for someone who is apparently so mad they're using capslock, they don't seem particularly angry. It's 3 steps below a formal complaint letter to a cereal company. Like, they're only using full stops, no exclamation points? Why are their sentences so long when all they're doing is accusing me of using GenAI? That 77% is real specific; are they angrily pasting my fic into an AI checker? And those insults are fucking weak. "If you're too busy or too untalented to write," huh? Just call me a slur, pal. Also, I dunno about you, but if I'm mad at someone I'm not gonna call their writing, "technically perfect." I'd probably just call them a dickhead.
The final, most importsnt lesson is:
If your fic is appropriately tagged and rated, and someone comes into your comment section to be a dick, then block them and delete their comments. If your fic isn't appropriately tagged and rated, then fix that— then block them and delete their comments. Then keep writing.
Oh yeah, and if someone asks to do fanart of your fic and asks you to commission them for it? Kick 'em into the sea.
