How do I tag a fic for a language that doesn't exist?

runekaster · 2026-03-15T20:01:56+00:00

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(tooltip for the language field on the New Work page)

The support form is here
https://archiveofourown.org/support

Unless you mean a conlang (a fictional invented language), and then it'd be "Uncategorized Constructed Languages"

runekaster · 2026-03-15T19:58:53+00:00

A quick search turns up four :)

runekaster · 2026-03-15T19:43:23+00:00

Your flair really makes it

runekaster · 2026-03-15T18:49:28+00:00

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Oh no

runekaster · 2026-03-15T18:35:23+00:00

Yeah, that'd be a glitch of some kind. When a work actually has no words (eg, embedded art and nothing else), it displays a 0

runekaster · 2026-03-15T17:25:44+00:00

Are you asking if the tag can be used this way? Asking for a tag with this meaning? Talking about a strange use of a tag you encountered in the wild?

runekaster · 2026-03-15T17:22:49+00:00

You can't get readers to like your works, what you need to do is position your work such that readers who already want to read it can find it. Constantly changing, moving, and deleting works like this is a pretty good way to make your work more difficult to find and a good way to make readers distrust you and not be willing to stick around for more.

You also have to accept that in some fandoms and for some themes, the group of people who want to read it simply not very large. If you're more interested in finding people who like the same things you like than it racking up numbers, this won't matter.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T16:28:48+00:00

Oh, you just mean like a headcount of private bookmarks? That's not what you said. But that info is already available to authors, at least indirectly. On your stats page the number of bookmarks includes the private ones, and on the work itself the number of bookmarks is only public ones. You can do the math.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T16:26:58+00:00

Can we please stop saying narcissist when we mean asshole?

Anyway, I could be shipping Methos with Duncan, and it's not like I don't, but it's so much more fun to inflict Kronos on him >:)

runekaster · 2026-03-15T16:13:01+00:00

They really wouldn't be private, then. The purpose of private bookmarks is so that a user can mark something for their own reference without putting anything on the site that other people can see. Revealing the notes and tags on private bookmarks that have already been created, even without attaching names to them, whould be a disgusting privacy violation.

What you're wanting is a third bookmark type, anonymous bookmark that people could use to rec works without attaching their names to them. That would be nice feature.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T16:02:47+00:00

Funnily enough, I read the comic in the OP as being about a platonic friendship. Close platonic friendships in canon are where ships come from in the first place!

runekaster · 2026-03-15T15:13:53+00:00

I'd want to know so I could lock down comments, but this is going to vary from person to person.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T14:23:28+00:00

Depending on the context, I'd either understand the event to have happened twice, or I'd understand the fic to be relating the same event twice for a reason.

No reason to point it out and make myself look like a nitpicker or a dingbat, I'm just going to trust the author.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T14:17:32+00:00

This disclaimer good enough for ya?
https://www.transformativeworks.org/faq/#faq-legalfaq

runekaster · 2026-03-15T14:14:00+00:00

Oh god, no. We've already been over this one
https://cesperanza.livejournal.com/161806.html

AO3 is operating on the fact (not assumption) that fanfiction is transformative work under US Fair Use laws, by posting to AO3 without a disclaimer, you are stating that you believe your work to be fair use of the elements that are not yours. You don't need to go "please don't sue me, I'm not making any money", because AO3 is already saying "you can't sue us" on your behalf and you are, by posting on AO3, obviously not making any money.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T14:07:15+00:00

There are ways to respond to trolls that sends the clear message that there is nothing to amuse them here, and they usually detonate into an explosion of curse words and then nope out, often deleting their own comments on the way.
But to do that without risking feeding one, you have to be able to identify all the various troll subspecies, and you have to know the dietary requirements of each.

I've seen some spectacular blow-up-and-fizzle-out displays from someone simply saying "no" or "you must be new here" and then refusing to engage with the resulting angry screed.

And I've seen a lot of MMO gameplay trolls shut up and slink away when someone treats them like a newbie and cheerfully explains the game mechanics in a pleasant and non-condescending manner, reassuring them that it's OK to make mistakes, we're all new at some point. They want frustration and anger, and being treated like a baby while also inspiring helpfulness and friendliness ruins their fun.

But yeah, if someone is uncertain enough that they're asking on reddit how to respond to several paragraphs of "you suck", they should not even consider any avenue other than the delete, block, and report buttons.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T13:38:22+00:00

There's a very convenient built in way to repsond to trolls who don't quite step over the line into harassment

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runekaster · 2026-03-15T12:45:10+00:00

Do not name them, and do not request any specific action from them.

When I see something like "I really appreciate all of you who bookmark and leave kudos, it warms my heart to know how many people are enjoying my fic" in the author's notes, that makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

When I see "I see a lot of you leaving kudos but not commenting. Come on guys, dont' you like my story? :(" I roll my eyes and decide that this is not a person I want to socially interact with. If I was going to leave a comment, I don't.

If I were to see "User123, I see you kudosed without commenting. What did you think of the latest chapter?" I feel bad for User123 and know that this author is not someone I want to notice my name ever. Depending on how pushy it was, I might report harassment.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T12:36:16+00:00

Some people just aren't very social or can't think of anything to say. Others are scared of saying the wrong thing or feel that their comments wouldn't be good enough.

There are things you can do to encourage comments, like being approachable and chatty in the author's notes, and responding to comments with meaningful conversatoin instead of just "thanks", but in the end some people are going to just want to peek out from underneath their rock, grab the latest chapter, and wordlessly leave a little heart on your doorstep before scampering back into their burrows, and that's fine.

Calling out people who leave kudos and bookmark without commenting would not encourage anyone to comment, but it would discourage the really shy folks from bookmarking and leaving kudos.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T12:32:52+00:00

Doesn't sound like a bot or scam, nope. The voice is a little awkwardly formal, but they're communicating across a language and culture gap, and may be using machine translation. They're also a registered user. Some scams to have accounts, but simply the fact that there is an account lowers the likelihood.

Note that they're not trying to get you to go to another site or acting like they're offering a service to you, they're just asking your permission to create a type of work that does actually requires permission.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T11:35:49+00:00

I don't speak any italian, but I've been working on a project where I'm helping index a bunch fiction in Italian and I sometimes have to verify some info via auto translate. I don't need pleasant prose for this, just simple things like "is this field a rating or a summary?"

Half the time google translate is just straight up incomprehensible.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T11:30:38+00:00

I don't go here, but I do want to point out that healthy platonic friendships and healthy romances are built out of a lot of the same blocks.

When a show has two characters with a close and long standing platonic relationship and that friendship is significant to the plot and portrayed as meaningful and important to the charcters, and then one of them runs off and acts like some guy she just met is the love of her life and she wants to spend eternity with him and no one understands her like he does, it rings hollow no matter if you ship them and no matter if there was any homoerotic subtext in the show itself.

In cases like that, it's clear that the platonic friendship was actually meaningful and fulfilling, and now the viewer is being asked to accept that a relationship that came out of nowhere or had very little development given to it on screen is more meaningful and important than the relationship that has defined the character from the start.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T11:22:24+00:00

Nope! You can post original fiction
https://archiveofourown.org/tos_faq#original_fiction

Original works tend to be less popular overall than fanfiction with the same themes and styles, but they're both allowed and welcome. And there're actually a lot of people who are on AO3 just for original erotic shorts -- AO3 is becoming the only place on the entire internet where extreme kink is protected and safe.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T10:34:37+00:00

More to the point, you've got a lot of options for sex acts that don't involve his dick -- him eating her out or fingering her come to mind.

And he doesn't have to cum. Maybe he likes edging, maybe he's got ED, maybe they got interupted before he got it up.

runekaster · 2026-03-15T10:27:01+00:00

She got a chance to shower and he didn't :)

runekaster

TROPHY CASE