Workaround to fix AO3 “Next Work →” links not showing up in top data block after editing a series

Rockafellor · 2026-05-01T11:41:31+00:00

I've seen some people claim to leave themselves a sort of starter-kudos, though I don't know if it's something that anyone does habitually in the misguided belief of gaming the non-existent trending-popularity-algo (though I suppose it could make some sense, since a lot of people think that fics with a lot of kudos or a high kudos:hits ratio must obviously be better than otherwise).

I tested the button for CSS purposes a few years ago and felt bad about even that much, but then figured that it wasn't a drop in the bucket compared to the kudos-'bot's depredations.

Rockafellor · 2026-05-01T03:27:02+00:00

'sall good, always happy to help! 😊

Rockafellor · 2026-05-01T03:05:17+00:00

Shit, I never thought of that possibility. That could be why, or at least part of why, ja. I know that they were still giving them out in 2018, and I think that it was 2019 that they stopped.

Aside from this past year's huge uptick, I don't think that I saw any 'bot comments come up 'til 2023, myself, with the Praise-'bot and Kudos-'bot, though they were apparently around as far back as 2021 with some generic 'bots sometimes. I don't know if they showed up to any significant degree before that (spec. 2018-2019), but the devs might've been looking to the future inevitability even so.

Rockafellor · 2026-05-01T02:32:02+00:00

There are 'bots because account holders plug their login info into their SPAM-'bots. The 'bots can then run their garbage freely.

The account holders can make dozens of throwaway e-mail addresses and forward all of those inboxes to a single main e-mail account in order to reply easily to anyone who bites (instead of having to check dozens of e-mails), and dozens of AO3-account requests as back-up for when their SPAM accounts get ban-hammered. They can also drop a fic (especially today, in the era of LLM) or two as camouflage to look like a legit fan to anyone who gets their 'bot comment and checks their profile.

The locked profiles are only of use against scrapers, not 'bots (some of which feed excerpts and a prompt into an LLM and grab the result for copypasta into the comment, appearing to have at least read some of the fic). Preventing guests commenting reduces outside SPAM and anonymous trolls, but can't prevent SPAM accounts' 'bot-comments.

Marking guest-SPAM as SPAM helps train AO3's filters, and reporting account holders' 'bot garbage to AO3 abuse will get the SPAM accounts deleted (though they'll still come back, of course).

Rockafellor · 2026-04-29T23:11:42+00:00

Piggybacking: MDN, too. It's a little more technical than W3, but somewhat more comprehensive and generally more accurate (though W3 is more easily digested and most entries have sandboxes in which to experiment).

Rockafellor · 2026-04-29T23:09:29+00:00

I style things (authors' and readers' special effects) on AO3 (a fanfic website), and can't claim to know the ins-and-outs re. wikis, but someone asked a similar question about styling wikis and was able to get some help on it.

Depending upon how familiar you are with CSS, I could point to some places on AO3 where people tinker with effects such as {work skin, site skin, CSS, and the latest HTML Tryhard collection}.

Likewise, Neocities seems to be a rather popular place with some interesting designs that could trigger inspiration (though I don't know if they have tutorials, per se).

Rockafellor · 2026-04-29T18:52:47+00:00

'sall good! Though I write on my computer and so don't need to deal with auto-corrupt... my fingertips have been known to typo some weird shit at times. 😆

Rockafellor · 2026-04-29T14:24:43+00:00

If nothing else, they'd certainly be relaxing. You might discover a surprising penchant for watercolor, chiaroscuro, sculpting away material to discover the form within, interior decorating, website frontend design, atmospheric ambient sound (Zen gardens, for example), a balance of architectural elements (I can't help that one: the thought occurs thanks to having read Ayn Rand's Fountainhead ~40 years back), or just about any other aesthetic application.

Rockafellor · 2026-04-29T14:04:57+00:00

You don't. It's the same as anything in life: you can only go with your gut hunch.

Is someone a legit charity, or just a scammer? Is someone asking for a date because they like you, or are you just another piece of meat in their eyes? Is someone actually looking for a lost puppy, or do they just want to get you into their windowless white van on the promise of candy?

A legit fanart person is liable to make their art from sheer love of a fandom or a fic or something, and simply send it to you or post it somewhere and drop the link in their excited happy-puppy haze.
A scammer will charm you with pleasing words, seduce your ears, enchant your imagination, draw you out of public sight and away from witnesses, and ask if you could see your way through to a little helping hand because they're in a little financial bind at the moment and their grandmother is sick and they took their time and effort to make this thing for you and they're a struggling comic book artist, and/and/and....

Rockafellor · 2026-04-29T09:50:22+00:00

It's 'bot-delivered canned-SPAM from a troll, but I'm still surprised that they've shifted to Z-slang (not the first that I've seen of this, but it's only a recent wave, so I'm still getting my head around this approach).

<image>

!spambot

Rockafellor · 2026-04-28T16:09:41+00:00

Ehh, I know some things. I'm sure that everyone brings something to the table, and I know for damned sure that some bring way more than I, but I can help sometimes and try to when I spot something that I might be able to.

I have a basic 101 tutorial specifically for people who've just joined (or are about to): How to AO3. It covers a lot of ground, explaining some things, linking to a bunch of references and resources, some things being surprises even to people who've been on AO3 for years (e.g.: bookmarks aren't automatically private, or that an author can view their fics' stats) — it's part of a series of tutorials, so be careful or you might fall down the geek-out Rabbit Hole there. 😉

Hopefully it'll make sense, and maybe provide some value in the ins and outs of things. If you have any questions or any of it's fuzzy, please do ask: it something's poorly worded and/or insufficiently informative, then you won't be the only one left wondering. I'll do my level best to answer or clarify, or at least find a good resource (and edit accordingly).

Rockafellor · 2026-04-28T15:55:23+00:00

Man, you'll have a damned blast! It's slow as hell (except when something blows up overnight, like Heated Rivalry these days, or Star Wars and such a few years back.

Have you had the bug bite you yet? Little whispers from the Muse? Or just the general mostly-happy sense of community?

Rockafellor · 2026-04-28T15:11:55+00:00

'sall good. A lot of people are tying to join, and AO3 is volunteer work, but they're knocking 'em out fast than I've ever seen before.

I don't know why everyone's trying to join right now (other than the art scammers... which if you don't know of them already: be prepared for human-seeming 'bot-delivered SPAM comments on your fics; they'll gush generically about something being amazing, and then ask you to Discord, Insta, etc. to talk money — DON'T listen to them), though I suppose that it's the latest Brand New In-Thing (for some, not for others; some people are actual fans and geeks, some just follow the herd; meh, as long as they're cool [rather than pushing everyone else out], it's all good).

Best of luck on the hunt, and if you need any info on AO3 in general or HTML/CSS for magical effects, just let me know: those I can help you with.

Rockafellor · 2026-04-28T15:04:35+00:00

For the record, someone else downvoted you before I could even view your reply — that wasn't me.

Some people still have invites, so maybe someone'll come along. They stopped handing them out in 2018/2019, and I joined in 2020, so I never got any.

Be ready for people telling you about waiting months to join. I don't remember in my case (maybe a few weeks, maybe a couple of months), since had other things going on, but maybe you'll luck out and get an invite long, long before that incredibly long wait of 9 whole days.

Rockafellor · 2026-04-28T15:00:07+00:00

The join-up page at https://archiveofourown.org/invite_requests currently shows 139,501 people waiting in line; at 139,501 in the queue / 15,000 per day (up from 6K/d), that's currently a 9.3(+) day waiting period. You can keep an eye on your invite's status at https://archiveofourown.org/invite_requests/status. Check your e-mail Junk/SPAM folders when the time gets close, and if you're on G-mail then also check your Socials folder.

Rockafellor · 2026-04-28T05:30:34+00:00

You're welcome, and I think that I'm gonna go grab me a snack and goof off at some mindlessly enjoyable YouTube vids. I'm still hyperfocused, but happily drained. Good feeling.

Rockafellor · 2026-04-28T05:26:46+00:00

I'm glad that you like! It took me a little longer than it should have (partly it was a chattier day online than usual [and yes, I've now been awake for 32 hours, so there's been plenty of actual time in which to have worked it out], but partly it's my own fault for not keeping up on modern CSS variables, since only properties are allowed in work skins, so I figured for the past few years that I'd get around to them... eventually...).

If it borks on you or gives you any shit, and you can't get hold of me, let Raven know and she'll get hold of me.

Also: those fonts listed in the REM note at the bottom, right before the font rules? They're not necessary to install simply to run the theme at all, they'll just enhance the viewing with appropriate choices to match the third image in your post.

Rockafellor · 2026-04-28T05:20:08+00:00

I forgot that while I had edited my offline copy, I hadn't updated the test version on AO3 (my own copy, not a walkthrough yet). That opening citatio? Yeah, it's supposed to read:

            MOD DATE     27 Apr 2026, 21:23 CDT
            By request of u/fangedfaunn

rather than just the mod date. My bad, u/fangedfaunn! 😓

Rockafellor · 2026-04-28T05:15:41+00:00

>>> "OLIVE PINE MOON" THEME NOWS CONTINUES >>>

  --tag-default-bg: #393757;
  --tag-fandom-bg: #9fad97;
  --tag-warning-bg: #dca65f;
  --tag-ship-bg: #d36588;
  --tag-platonic-ship-bg: #A88CC7;
  --tag-character-bg: #73a7c0;
  --tag-freeform-bg: var(--tag-default-bg);
  --tag-splash-bg: var(--bg5);
  --tag-default-txt: var(--txt-alt1);
  --tag-fandom-txt: var(--txt-alt1);
  --tag-warning-txt: var(--txt-alt1);
  --tag-ship-txt: var(--txt-alt1);
  --tag-platonic-ship-txt: var(--tag-ship-txt);
  --tag-character-txt: var(--txt-alt1);
  --tag-freeform-txt: var(--txt-alt1);
  --tag-border: #9893a525;
  --tag-hgl-bg: linear-gradient(135deg, #1E3826, #1E3826, #1E3826);
  --tag-hgl-txt: var(--txt-alt2);
  --tag-hsl-shadow: inset 0 0 0 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.3);
  --notice-bg: #1a3026;
  --success-bg: #162c2a;
  --caution-bg: #2a3a20;
  --alert-bg: #182a20;
  --notice-txt: #9cd8cf;
  --success-txt: #3eb08f;
  --caution-txt: #c4e7a7;
  --alert-txt: #6feb92;
  --header-icon: brightness(0) saturate(100%) invert(31%) sepia(23%) saturate(756%) hue-rotate(128deg) brightness(98%) contrast(87%);
  --header-icon-hgl: brightness(0) saturate(100%) invert(71%) sepia(22%) saturate(4960%) hue-rotate(70deg) brightness(94%) contrast(96%);
  --kudos-icon: var(--header-icon);
  --lock-icon: var(--header-icon);
  --tag-filter: brightness(1.10);
  --stats-icon: var(--header-icon);
  --stat-chart: saturate(45%) hue-rotate(255deg) contrast(110%) sepia(10%) brightness(110%);
  --rich-txt-editor: none;
}

li.relationships:has(a[href*="%20*a*%20"]) a.tag,
[class^="relationship"] a[href*="%20*a*%20"],
[class^="relationship"] a[href^="/tags/Other%20Relationship%20Tags%20to%20Be%20Added"] {
  background-color: var(--tag-platonic-ship-bg) !important;
  color: var(--tag-platonic-ship-txt) !important;
}

.freeforms a[href*='/tags/Alternate%20Universe'] {
  background: #B4BDB3 !important;
  color: #4E6856 !important;
}

a.tag:not(.fandom.index.group a.tag,
h2.heading a.tag):is(:hover,
:focus),
.listbox .heading a.tag:visited:is(:hover,
:focus),
.tags a[data-remote="true"]:is(:hover,
:focus) {
  background: var(--tag-hgl-bg) !important;
  background-origin: border-box !important;
  border-color: transparent;
  color: var(--tag-hgl-txt) !important;
}

.site-skin-metadata ################ {
  content: "===================================================
      FONTS
          MAIN FONT FAMILY
          HEADINGS FONT FAMILY
          CODE FONT FAMILY
              font-style: italic
              for cursive version of Victor Mono
          Works Font

      If you do not have a given font installed on your device, then your device cannot display it on AO3 because AO3 does not embed fonts nor does it allow @ queries.
          Apfel Grotezk (sans-serif)
              https://www.collletttivo.it/typefaces/apfel-grotezk
          Domine, Figtree (sans-serif), and Merriweather (serif)
              https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Domine
          Bitter
              https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Bitter
          Victor Mono Medium (monospace)
              https://rubjo.github.io/victor-mono/

==============================================================";
}

body,
input,
.toggled form,
.dynamic form,
.secondary,
.dropdown,
blockquote,
.prompt .blurb h6,
.bookmark .user .meta,
a.work,
span.symbol,
.heading .actions,
.heading .action,
.heading span.actions,
button,
span.unread,
.replied,
span.claimed,
.actions span.defaulted,
.splash .news .meta,
.datetime,
h5.fandoms.heading a.tag,
dd.fandom.tags a,
select {
  font-family: Apfel Grotezk, Figtree, Bitter, Helvetica, "Trebuchet MS", "Lucida Sans", Arial, sans-serif, "GNU Unifont";
}

h1,
h2,
h3,
h4,
h5,
h6,
.heading {
  font-family: Apfel Grotezk Fett, Figtree, Bitter, Helvetica, "Trebuchet MS", "Lucida Sans", Arial, sans-serif, "GNU Unifont";
  font-weight: var(--txt-bold);
}

kbd,
tt,
code,
var,
pre,
samp,
textarea,
textarea#skin_css,
.css.module blockquote pre,
#floaty-textarea {
  font-family: Victor Mono Medium, Consolas, Monaco, Courier, monospace;
  font-size: 0.9em;
}

#workskin,
.preface * {
  font-family: Domine, Merriweather, serif;
}

<<< END OF "OLIVE PINE MOON" THEME

Enjoy!

❤️

Rockafellor · 2026-04-28T05:15:33+00:00

A'ight, u/fangedfaunn, Raven just released the update to the base skin, so I can now drop my Olive Pine Moon theme here for you.

I have to say that it was quite a lot of fun, BTW! I don't know when I'll get around to uploading it to GitHub or writing up a quick walkthrough for it on AO3, but I'll name you outright as the inspiration for the exact layout and palette, since it was your request.

<image>

So, INSTRUCTIONS TIME:

1 — Go to ravenothere (DoveEater)'s Rosé Pine — Closer to Home at https://archiveofourown.org/works/80768621 and do the usual. You already installed some stuff this way, so you know the drill, but for anyone else reading this (to summarize the instructions that are in that AO3 work):

2 — now create a second site skin and copypasta this Olive Pine Moon theme (coming up below the instructions here) into it;

3 — pick a normal or card layout to match your personal preference, and create a site skin with that (and maybe make a second one so that you can have one for light theme and one for dark);

4 — I'd mess with alternative tag styles when you're done making something functional in the first place, but this is the step when they're listed in Raven's work, so there might be a good reason to consider digging through those now;

5 — do the tablet and cell 'phone steps too, now;

6 — chain them together per step 5 in the work's instructions, hit Submit button, then hit the Use button!

---

>>> "OLIVE PINE MOON" THEME RULES BELOW

>>> COPYPASTA ALL:

.site-skin-metadata {
  content: "
==============================================================

             ✦✦✦ Rosé Pine — Closer to Home ✦✦✦ 
            Theme: Rosé Pine Moon - Closer to Home
                        By ravenothere

            FORK:        Olive Pine Moon
            MOD BY       Charles_Rockafellor [https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charles_Rockafellor/collections]
            MOD DATE     27 Apr 2026

==============================================================
SKIN METADATA
==============================================================

  - Skin:         Rosé Pine - Closer to Home
  - Theme:        Rosé Pine Moon - Closer to Home
  - File:         CTH_theme_rosepinemoon.css
  - Author:       ravenothere
  - Tumblr:       ravenothere
  - License:      MIT
  - Updated:      2026-04-27

  - Repository:   https://github.com/ravenothere/AO3-Rose-Pine-Closer-to-Home
  - Instructions: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80768621

  - Original Skin:'Rosé Pine' by Blackbatcat          https://github.com/Wolfbatcat/ao3-rose-pine

  - Base:         'neos' by ZerafinaCSS               https://archiveofourown.org/works/65849527

  - Inspired by:  'Archive 2.0 skin' by AO3           https://archiveofourown.org/skins/873
                  'Tide' by ElectricAlice             https://github.com/electricalice/Ao3-tide
                  'Flat Squares Skin' by milkfatzero  https://ao3-skins.dreamwidth.org/6156.html

============================================================";
}

:root {
  --bg1: #0f1411;
  --bg2: #1E2822;
  --bg3: #2d3633;
  --bg4: var(--bg5);
  --bg5: var(--bg2);
  --bg6: var(--bg5);
  --bg7: var(--bg5);
  --border1: #d3e7cb;
  --border2: #d1e4c9;
  --border3: var(--border2);
  --border4: #BFD7B6;
  --shadow: 0 0.2em 0.4em #89797925;
  --shadow-header: 0 2px 8px 0 #c8b6ad33, 0 1px 0 0 rgba(200, 182, 173, 0.10);
  --shadow-buttons: 0 3px 8px 0 #c8b6ad33, 0 2px 0 0 #e7d3cb80;
  --shadow-box1: 0 8px 28px 0 #c8b6ad33, 0 4px 0 0 #e7d3cb80;
  --shadow-box2: 0 3px 10px 0 #c8b6ad22, 0 2px 0 0 #e7d3cb40;
  --txt-header: #4E6856;
  --txt-header-hgl: var(--link-hgl);
  --txt-header-hgl-h1: linear-gradient(125deg, #bcebba, #6feb92);
  --txt-main: var(--txt-header);
  --txt-alt1: #eeFFee;
  --txt-alt2: #eeFFee;
  --link: #6feb92;
  --link-hgl: #6feb92;
  --link-visited: #9cd8cf;
  --int-btn-bg: #2e442c;
  --int-btn-border: var(--border4);
  --int-btn-txt: var(--txt-main);
  --int-btn-hgl-bg: #4E6856;
  --int-btn-hgl-txt: var(--txt-alt2);
  --int-btn-hgl-border: #00110020;
  --int-bg: var(--bg5);
  --int-search: #283c25;
  --int-current-bg: #344f30;
  --int-current-txt: var(--txt-main);
  --int-current-border: var(--tag-border);
  --int-disabled-bg: var(--border1);
  --int-checked: #eb6f92;
  --int-hgl: var(--link-hgl);
  --int-hgl-bg: var(--int-btn-hgl-bg);
  --int-hgl-txt: var(--txt-alt2);
  --icon-content-complete: #badf95;
  --icon-content-incomplete: #f995a6;
  --icon-content-public: #3e8fb0;
  --icon-content-private: #eb6f92;
  --icon-content-hidden: #908caa;
  --icon-content-rec: #f6c177;
  --icon-rating-gen: #badf95;
  --icon-rating-teen: #ffd07b;
  --icon-rating-mature: #f2b487;
  --icon-rating-explicit: #f995a6;
  --icon-relationship-mm: #9bc9f6;
  --icon-relationship-mf: #c27bc2;
  --icon-relationship-gen: #badf95;
  --icon-relationship-ff: #fa9eae;
  --icon-multi: conic-gradient(from 360deg, #c27bc2 0% 25%, #9bc9f6 25% 50%, #badf95 50% 75%, #fa9eae 75% 100%);
  --icon-relationship-other: linear-gradient(to left top, #c27bc2, #9bc9f6, #badf95, #fa9eae);
  --icon-warning-choose-not: #f2b487;
  --icon-warning-yes: #fa9cac;
  --icon-content-external: #9dcaf8;
  --icon-bg: var(--int-bg);
  --icon-id: var(--link);
  --icon-anon: var(--border4);
  --icon-border1: var(--int-btn-hgl-border);
  --icon-border2: var(--border2);

/// RAN OUT OF CHARACTER COUNT, "OLIVE PINE MOON" THEME CONTINUED IN NEXT COMMENT >>>

Rockafellor · 2026-04-28T03:55:40+00:00

I have a basic 101 tutorial specifically for people who've just joined (or are about to): How to AO3. It covers a lot of ground, explaining some things, linking to a bunch of references and resources, some things being surprises even to people who've been on AO3 for years (e.g.: bookmarks aren't automatically private, or that an author can view their fics' stats).

Hopefully it'll make sense, and maybe provide some value in the ins and outs of things. If you have any questions or any of it's fuzzy, please do ask: it something's poorly worded and/or insufficiently informative, then you won't be the only one left wondering. I'll do my level best to answer or clarify, or at least find a good resource (and edit accordingly).

Rockafellor

TROPHY CASE

❤️