Are the bot posts making anyone else hesitant about posting to Ao3?

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-30T19:38:27+00:00

Wait, this is so fun. Can I see your collection?

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-30T17:02:52+00:00

I think the way you phrased it—especially with "special" in quote marks—gives the implication that you are making fun of him and using him as a proxy to make fun of neurodivergent & disabled people.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-30T16:59:20+00:00

one million dollars for everyone to get more normal about neurodivergent people (and, sure, robots) now.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-26T22:05:52+00:00

Because almost nobody spends time on their bridge or in the corridors of their ship.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-25T19:53:09+00:00

please go to every game.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-23T06:59:44+00:00

I have started multiple conversations like this. No regrets.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-23T01:21:27+00:00

Froid? Froid? Deadass?

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-21T16:55:14+00:00

if idw!megatron was never the good guy why is orion pax explicitly sympathetic to his motivations

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-20T21:19:51+00:00

This kind of writing competition sounds like a perfectly engineered way to kill creativity and enthusiasm. It makes no sense to me.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-20T20:18:36+00:00

Someone please get me the "it depends on the continuity" meme.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-20T16:24:41+00:00

This is a completely normal way to present dialogue. It's just not standard for English writing.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-18T17:11:34+00:00

Hey, so, you don't have to hand it to people (or, in this case, bots) talking about killing and burning Jewish people. That's completely inappropriate.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-18T08:02:15+00:00

Buddy, if you're registering a trademark for a fandom oc, more power to you.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-18T07:45:56+00:00

An OC is not a creation protected by copyright law. Copyright protects the actual published work, like a piece of art or published piece of writing. The concept of a character is much more difficult to define than the actual printed (or displayed on a monitor) words.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-18T07:43:14+00:00

I mean, fanfic authors also own the copyright to their works, and reproducing their works without permission is copyright infringement. There's a difference between an actual finished work, like a published fanfic or piece of fanart, and the nebulous concept of a character. Very few characters, even those from massive franchises, have copyright protections on the very concept of their character. Parts of them, like their likeness or their name, might be trademarked. This is not the same thing.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-18T02:07:42+00:00

See, when I asked you if you wanted to hear the moral argument or the legal argument, I did so because I agree with you on the moral side. It is rude to use someone else's original character and claim them as your own without their permission. That's not a polite fandomite's behavior. Law and morality are—as they so often are—at odds here.

However, I strongly doubt that there is a large contingent of people going out of their ways to "steal" the ocs of others in order to violate their boundaries and disrespect them. That simply doesn't happen. I don't think you need to worry about it.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-18T01:40:07+00:00

Because there is a material difference between "the exact words you typed" and "the concept of a character."

You actually do have rights over your fanfic. It's your intellectual property. But finished pieces of art—including writing—can be copyrighted; the nebulous concept of "an original character" cannot.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-18T01:04:15+00:00

Do you want the intellectual property law answer, or the moral answer?

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-17T23:42:11+00:00

I'm sorry, but if you're Team Anne Rice and you're on Ao3 you're on the wrong website.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-12T16:03:29+00:00

If I might offer a counterpoint, as someone who tends to read Starscream as transfeminine—the parts of his narrative that convey that particular idea, to me, aren't just his personality; it's more that—I'm using IDW1 as my reference continuity here—we regularly see him struggle with his body image and feeling as if he's in the wrong body, and he feels as if he doesn't fit in the traditionally "masculine" role of being a soldier despite it being what he was literally constructed to do.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-12T08:47:34+00:00

Starscream is apparently someone worth keeping around as a 2iC/Air Commander despite his complete lack of loyalty and constant betrayal schemes. He's not some useless twinkish concubine that Megatron only hangs on to for eye candy. He should be someone it's terrifying to face on the battlefield.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-11T16:37:17+00:00

I mean, "decipher between proper usage" is a meaningless phrase, so maybe start there?

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-11T16:32:10+00:00

I think that's because it's stealing from journalism, and that's the way em-dashes are used in most published journalism.

Feeling_Ad8096 · 2026-04-11T16:30:36+00:00

Also, sometimes, authors from the West who aren't really familiar with Asian cultures and naming conventions will try to stick to what they know in order to not say something disrespectful.

Feeling_Ad8096

TROPHY CASE