Why AO3 Sucks (Part 3)

A recent development in the Archive of Our Own censorship saga gave me a good laugh so even though I said I probably wouldn't post again, I couldn't resist making another post that once again reveals the AO3 mods for the biased idiots they are—and it's not hard at all to accomplish that as you'll see!

I recently posted the following fic to AO3:

You are Tony Stark. You've heard so much about this fanfiction website called Archive of Our Own and decide to get in line for an account because, despite this being the 21st century, AO3 still requires you to wait a week just for the “privilege” of having an account with them. When the email finally comes to get your account, you eagerly sign up for it. You pick a cool username and then post a couple fanfics which you worked hard on for weeks, editing them to perfection.

A few days later, you check your email. You notice an email from policy-abuse@archiveofourown.org and wonder what it could be about. The message states that all your AO3 posts were deleted and you've been banned for “non-fictional comments” you made about this multimedia series called Iron Man and for “spamming” your Tumblr account and that said actions violate AO3's Terms of Service.

You frantically read over the TOS to find these alleged provisions and find nothing even alluding to it. You reply to the email, insisting there must have been a mistake. The response you receive ignores all your valid arguments and simply continues insisting that you violated their TOS. Your posts are never restored and your account stays banned. Needless to say, you decide to abandon AO3 and find another place to post your fics.

I was not in the least bit surprised when they deleted this and all the other fics posted on the kwerty1 account:

I was simply waiting for them to delete these fics as I knew it was only a matter of time. It goes without saying that posts that mock the mods are one of the things they'll delete from their site even though it doesn't violate their TOS to post such content. On previous posts on this blog, I showed how openly hostile AO3 is to “nonfictional comments” (AKA, true statements) even when confined to author notes. So by deleting these fics, they're basically confirming that they do, in fact, delete fics that don't violate the TOS since otherwise, these fics would qualify as fiction and be allowed, wouldn't they?

They also say something about creating a new account to evade a suspension despite the fact that I was not banned under any account at the time that I posted any of these fics as the bans they place upon people for (non)violations of their TOS are merely temporary (until you piss off a mod enough for them to permanently ban you, of course. I'm honestly only amazed I haven't already reached that point yet simply because I post the sort of stuff they clearly hate...).

Since their attempted justification for deleting this set of fics is that they're “non-fanworks” even though they're just as much fanworks (if not more) as any of the plethora of AU fics hosted on the site, of course, I decided to start dutifully reporting fics that clearly are non-fanworks because they're tagged as such (with tags like “original work” and “no fandom”). I quickly found that, despite being a site that's apparently so committed to cleansing itself of all the content that they in their sole and biased discretion consider abusive, you are limited to only make a measly five(!) reports per day. There are far more than 5 non-fanwork posts made every day on top of all the other forms of policy-violating content that maybe aren't quite as easy to find. Plus, they even warn you to not go looking for things to report because, you know, they clearly don't want you to point out how terrible they are at doing their one job...

I got the following email from AO3 after reporting several posts that didn't carry a tag for any fandom and instead only had the “original work” tag:

A few parts in particular stand out:

Our Terms of Service FAQ states: "Original works that are not based on a specific media source (canon) may also count as fanworks so long as they are fannish in nature...

Non-ephemeral original works created within a fannish context are transformative fiction and thus allowed on the Archive. We take a very broad view of what "fannish context" means. A work does not need to be based on a particular fandom to be considered a fanwork; original fannish works may use fannish tropes or be created for a fannish audience. Works such as these often carry the "Original Work" or "No Fandom" fandom tags. In general, our policy regarding such works is to defer to the creator: unless an original work violates some other policy, it will be allowed to stay on the Archive.

So they apparently have an FAQ where they hide a bunch of exceptions to their TOS even though nowhere in their TOS does it state this—you're just supposed to somehow know about all the TOS addenda hidden there. FAQ doesn't mean “all the fine print goes here” but they clearly think it does. This is all a load of deceptive BS but AO3 is certainly no stranger to peddling that.

They even made up a word (“fannish”) to defend their selective censorship. What the hell does fannish even mean? Their nearly nonsensical explanation helpfully includes the word it attempts to define (thus ensuring maximum confusion) but my educated guess is that it basically means “related to fan/fandoms.” However, if so, every fictional story with characters and a plot could be considered “fannish” because of merely resembling the format of the typical fandom/fanfic. So as usual, it's just BS lingo that the mods are using to try to make it appear that they're not biased as hell when it comes to deleting AO3 posts. Nothing new here.

Original works that are not based on a specific media source (canon) may also count as fanworks so long as they are fannish in nature. […] Examples include such things as anthropomorfic, original fiction that is produced as part of a fandom challenge, exchange, or charity event, and genres such as Original Slash, Original BL, and Regency romances produced in Jane Austen fandom.

Not like any more evidence was needed that AO3 is a yaoi (boy on boy lovin') fansite first and foremost and that the mods are all heavily biased against anything that dares to poke fun at it (just a few minutes of browsing AO3 without any filters should make that very obvious) no matter how nonsensical those types of fics frequently are or how often they fly in the face of everything established in the average fandom's canon, but here ya go! Didn't realise “slash” counted as a genre either! Last I checked, genres are things such as romance (and “slash” would only count as a subgenre of that at most) but I guess when you have a bias in favor of something, you put it on pedestal like that, eh? Notice how no exception was carved out for hetero shipfics, gen fics or any number of highly worthy fic types because the mods don't care about those, of course! If you post that type of stuff to AO3, you do so at your own risk because they won't bother to defend your right to free speech and expression for those worthless pieces of garbage...

I honestly pity AO3's mods for having biases so entrenched that they will go to such great lengths to defend them. I really wonder what the “qualifications” are for becoming an AO3 mod. The ability to make up BS to support your prejudices with a straight face?

Please, for the love of God, stop using a site that censors as heavily and unrepentantly as AO3! Transparent censorship is one thing (ie, consistently deleting things that explicitly violate a clearly-stated and fair set of rules/TOS) but sites like AO3 that do the opposite of that (pretending to be super-inclusive while simultaneously censoring their site in incredibly deceptive and uneven ways) are the absolute worst. Luckily, I don't live in China, and I refuse to let a site dictate what things I can view or post as if I did live there. Even if you personally don't care about the types of fics AO3 is deleting en masse, do it simply because censorship in any form is abhorrent and should be nipped in the bud ASAP before it's allowed to get even more out of hand. Remember, it doesn't fail to be censorship just because the things that were deleted weren't things you cared about anyway. One day it's these types of fics, tomorrow it's the type of fics you like. Heed the warning signs and look for greener pastures elsewhere now. 

Quotev seems like the best replacement for AO3 although fanfiction.net is still acceptable (it's over two decades old, give it a break. It has aged remarkably well considering its age and the ads can all be blocked with an ad blocker). Wattpad and blog/social media sites like Tumblr are the last sites I would recommend moving to since some of them require signing up for an account to browse and Wattpad doesn't let you browse at all, making it a disorganized mess. I'd search Google for fanfics sooner than Wattpad or Tumblr, personally.

Censorship of Fanworks on AO3 (Part 2)

AO3 filed a takedown notice on my first post on this blog, obviously because it was too “truthy” for them, and it's worth noting that they had to attest that their copyright was being infringed and that fair use didn't apply in order to have my post forcibly removed until I filed a counter-notice which forced me to provide my personally-identifying information to them and wait two weeks before the post was finally restored. They clearly want to be able to engage in all this censorship without anyone but the spurned author knowing about it! You can be damn sure my experience with censorship on AO3 is not unique. I'm just one of the few who has gone to the effort of getting the word out about it.

AO3 also gives authors the ability to delete any comments from their own fics. So if you've ever wondered why the comments on AO3 are so overwhelmingly positive everywhere, now you know.

AO3 has deleted not just one but two more of my fanfics. I reproduced them in their entirety below (Warning: Explicit content ahead) but you won't miss much if you skip past them. Please note that this is not a debate about the quality of the fics, whether you thought what I wrote was “wrong”, etc. Respecting free speech means not restricting an author's words just because you don't agree with them and empowering readers to make judgments about the work for him or herself (which they obviously can't do once the fic has been deleted).

Supernatural (TV series):

“Mm, what a spread. You look delicious. I need you inside me right this second,” Sam purrs in a low, sultry tone, his eyes reflecting an insatiable hunger.

“Oh, is that so? You think you can handle all of me?” replies Dean cheekily.

“You know how long I've been wanting this, ever since the day I first met you.”

“Well, I certainly wouldn't mind hearing it from those luscious lips of yours again and again as you take all of me in.”

Sam quivers in ecstasy. The mere thought of this sends a jolt of excitement coursing through his slender form. “I would come for you all day and all night. Just tell me when you're ready and I'll be there.”

“Mm...If you don't stop talking like that, I might have to fill that tight little hole of yours,” Dean retorts in a sexy tone.

“Is that really all you'll do? There is so, so much more that I would like to do to you.”

“Oh? Well, don't keep me in suspense!”

“Welllll...” Sam licks his lips before flashing a mischievous grin. He pulls down his pants and rips out a massive, throbbing cock. “But hey, before we fuck, I want to talk about a topic very important to me. It's about the heterophobic comments I've seen M/M shippers writing on social media. A lot of them don't realize that reverse discrimination is still discrimination, I guess because they've never read an equal opportunity law before. They call anyone who criticizes them homophobes and believe in the existence of a 'hetero agenda' that 'needs to be stopped'. That's an exact quote I saw on Reddit recently with over 10 upvotes! They also tend to just ship whatever two random hot guys they see regardless of how little sense it makes or if it contradicts any canonical relationships. They even think they're improving canon by making these fics, as if there was something wrong with the canonical relationships! I saw that one author even took the attempted justification of a recent decision to delete one of their fanfics for violating nonexistent provisions of AO3's Terms of Service and used it to make an exposé which you can read at the noncommercial website freespeechhub.blogspot.com. AO3 even has some made-up rule not mentioned in their TOS that allows them to delete someone's entire fic just because the writer made a 'nonfictional' comment that the mod didn't like! Can you believe that a website that has an entire section dedicated to libel, or 'real person fiction' as they call it, would be so hostile toward true statements?”

“Really? That's awful! How could people do such terrible things?! Especially since there's such a fine line between truth and fiction ever since Donald Trump started not ever shutting up and an author could just so easily write their nonfictional commentary into the fic itself,” Dean replies with an odd level of insight into the topic.

They then commence fucking each other with a level of passion greater than has ever been seen in any fanwork ever before. Unfortunately, mere words could not possibly describe such an immense level of passion adequately. Therefore, this is...

The end!

Sherlock (TV series):

“Mm, what a spread. You look delicious. I need you inside me right this second,” Sherlock purrs in a low, sultry tone, his eyes reflecting an insatiable hunger.

“Oh, is that so? You think you can handle all of me?” replies John cheekily.

“You know how long I've been wanting this, ever since the day I first met you.”

“Well, I certainly wouldn't mind hearing it from those luscious lips of yours again and again as you take all of me in.”

Sherlock quivers in ecstasy. The mere thought of this sends a jolt of excitement coursing through his slender form. “I would come for you all day and all night. Just tell me when you're ready and I'll be there.”

“Mm...If you don't stop talking like that, I might have to fill that tight little hole of yours,” John retorts in a sexy tone.

“Is that really all you'll do? There is so, so much more that I would like to do to you.”

“Oh? Well, don't keep me in suspense!”

“Welllll...” Sherlock licks his lips before flashing a mischievous grin. He pulls down his pants and rips out a massive, throbbing cock. “But hey, before we fuck, I want to talk about a topic very important to me. It's about the heterophobic comments I've seen M/M shippers writing on social media. A lot of them don't realize that reverse discrimination is still discrimination, I guess because they've never read an equal opportunity law before. They call anyone who criticizes them homophobes and believe in the existence of a 'hetero agenda' that 'needs to be stopped'. That's an exact quote I saw on Reddit recently with over 10 upvotes! They also tend to just ship whatever two random hot guys they see regardless of how little sense it makes or if it contradicts any canonical relationships. They even think they're improving canon by making these fics, as if there was something wrong with the canonical relationships! I saw that one author even took the attempted justification of a recent decision to delete one of their fanfics for violating nonexistent provisions of AO3's Terms of Service and used it to make an exposé which you can read at the noncommercial website freespeechhub.blogspot.com. AO3 even has some made-up rule not mentioned in their TOS that allows them to delete someone's entire fic just because the writer made a 'nonfictional' comment that the mod didn't like! Can you believe that a website that has an entire section dedicated to libel, or 'real person fiction' as they call it, would be so hostile toward true statements?”

“Really? That's awful! Those fans of noncanonical M/M ships really sound like a bunch of retards! How could people do such terrible things?! Especially since there's such a fine line between truth and fiction ever since Donald Trump started not ever shutting up and an author could just so easily write their nonfictional commentary into the fic itself,” John replies with an odd level of insight into the topic.

They then commence fucking each other with a level of passion greater than has ever been seen in any fanwork ever before. Unfortunately, mere words could not possibly describe such an immense level of passion adequately. Therefore, this is...

The end!

AO3 sent the following email to me on January 14, 2024:

I sent the following reply/appeal the same day:

And they sent this email a week later:

Although the normal timeframe for a work to be reviewed by a mod from the time it's reported is ~5 days, I got the first email just two days after posting the Sherlock fic which alleges that it and my Supernatural fic (which I had posted 3 weeks prior) were suddenly caught in a “spam filter” that, for some reason, didn't check my fics at the time I posted them (you know, when it would have made the most sense to do so).

I've received comments on fics I've posted to AO3 which are clearly spam (ie, generic comments that solely serve the purpose of offering an outside link to questionable content) and guess what? They're still there months later! Wow, what a spam filter! How funny that it seems to only catch the things the mods don't like! Almost as if the mods themselves run this alleged “filter”!

“Non-fanworks may not be uploaded to the Archive. Examples of non-fanworks include social media posts, fic searches, ads, prompts or requests, lists of other works, personal messages, empty works, and any other non-transformative content....Your works therefore do not count as fanwork content.”

Literally nothing of what they wrote was justification of any kind for this bogus conclusion. Furthermore, AO3 hosts hundreds of thousands of original works so this is clearly a lame excuse for deleting my fics. I have personally reported multiple works as being “empty works” (which are explicitly listed in the TOS as being a type of prohibited “work”) and yet AO3 has not deleted them and they're still accessible to the public even weeks later (and yes, they're still just empty works).

“Repeated identical or nearly identical posts in multiple places, e.g., a large number of identical comments promoting a website, will also be considered spam regardless of commercial content.”

 

The mod clearly went through the TOS with a fine-tooth comb after they realized that their original reasons for deleting my fics were ridiculous. It's unfair to me that they cited a totally new attempted justification for deleting my fics in a reply which I have no opportunity to counter now that their decision is final. It's also incredibly vindictive of them to delete two fics that simply mention a website which contains an exposé on AO3 censorship (and after they unsuccessfully tried to have it permanently deleted, to boot!), especially since they didn't even give me the chance to simply remove the reference to the website which would have constituted only an incredibly minor change to the fics.

Their TOS gives an example of spam as “a large number” of comments promoting a website. In whose mind does two qualify as a large number?! Their TOS even threatens (harasses?) to immediately and permanently ban a user (not merely an account) for spam. It should be abundantly clear that banning a user due to a mere two minor references to a noncommercial website within a much larger “post” is the definition of tyrannical.

Neither of the other fics on my AO3 account (the two that AO3 didn't actually delete simply because those fics didn't tick off the mods enough) make reference to this website. Yet a whooping two references to the site suddenly made both fics with said reference qualify as spam? And despite the fact that authors routinely reference various social media (commercial!) sites in their fics, profiles and comments? Gosh, this spam filter really seems particular to a certain type of content if it considers links to noncommercial websites to be a bigger threat than the commercial ones, especially since the TOS explicitly states that “promotion of commercial products or activities is not allowed.” If they actually bothered to enforce this provision, this would involve the deletion of a sizable percentage of the works on the site! Luckily, they only target the fics they personally don't like instead of enforcing the TOS fairly and consistently because otherwise, people visiting AO3 wouldn't have much to read, now would they?

You know what would be fair? If AO3 just used the dictionary definition of the term spam: “irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the internet to a large number of recipients.” Needless to say, there was nothing inappropriate about linking to a noncommercial website that exposes AO3 censorship (unless you're a truth/free speech hater). Nor was it irrelevant for characters having a conversation about fanfiction to reference a website that tackles the topic of censorship on what is currently (and unfortunately) the biggest fanfiction database on the Internet.

Note how the mod didn't answer my question of what percentage a fic needs to be different from any other work so that it isn't considered “nearly identical” to another “post.” This definitely does nothing to increase my confidence that they aren't just using some arbitrary standard based solely on how badly the mods want to delete a fic.

“Section IV.G. of our Terms of Service states, 'Harassment is any behavior that produces a generally hostile environment for its target. This includes activities such as bullying and hazing by groups of people as well as personal attacks by individuals.' Calling other users a slur is considered a personal attack. Your works are therefore in violation of Section IV.G.”

 

Everyone has their own definition of what constitutes harassment that just so happens to coincide with whatever their biases are (as people tend to view anything that feels like a personal attack on their own self more harshly). It's clearly deceptive to cite a generic line about harassment from their TOS when there's a more specific one AO3 should have cited to instead (“threatening Content will be considered harassment, while Content that is merely annoying will be allowed”). Notice how they used this as justification to delete both fics despite only one of them containing an alleged “slur.” Furthermore, their TOS threatens (harasses?) to “permanently suspend” a user for engaging in whatever they deem to be harassment pursuant to only the generic description of the term (which is open to so, so much bias).

“We recommend that you review your account and ensure your other works are in compliance, and that you do not violate the Terms of Service again.”

Sure, let me go edit my other works to make them compliant with the nonexistent parts of the TOS that I violated...oh, wait, that's right, they banned me for 30 days so I couldn't do that even if I wanted to! Because when AO3 suspends an account, you can't even edit, delete or post comments and they threaten (harass?) you with a permanent ban if you even merely use another account during this time.

“The nature of the Archive and the limitations of our resources mean that, while we will endeavor to host as much fannish content as possible, we need to put some limits on allowable works...We understand that, as with many things, there are hard cases at the edges of categories, but nonetheless need some limits in order to keep the Archive manageable for our hard-working volunteers as well as for other users.”

 

Just the fact that they wrote this implies that they know the logic of their reasoning for deleting my fics is razor-thin, so again, why didn't they just ask me to edit the fic to make it “compliant” instead of deleting it altogether? They waste their time coming up with ridiculous attempts to justify deleting my fics (which makes the line “while we will endeavor to host as much fannish content as possible” blatantly false) and I likewise waste my time writing appeals and blog posts exposing their practices when respecting free speech would have saved everyone so much time and effort. Therefore, complaining about all the work it takes your volunteers to censor your website is yet another pitiful justification.

You know what would be easier for everyone, AO3? If you'd just use those “archive warnings” to mark controversial fics. That would more or less satisfy everyone, readers included, who could then just skip fics that have controversial content. Or you could at least be more transparent about your censorship practices by merely updating your TOS to state “we reserve the right to delete any work/comment/etc for any reason whatsoever”, but I'm about positive that they'll never do this simply because they want people to keep believing that AO3 is a safe haven for all sorts of fanworks (spoiler alert: it's not). The closest they get to alluding to this in their TOS is found in this line (emphasis added): “Anything we determine is spam will be removed immediately.” So just by calling a fic spam (according to their own biased application of the term), they have “justified” their right to delete anything they want from AO3 and to unilaterally and immediately ban anyone who posts works that the mods don't like.

I will now exclusively be posting on fanfiction.net (which has not deleted a single one of my 20+ fics yet) because I'd rather post on an ad-supported site than on AO3. This will also probably be the last blog post I make on the topic, not because AO3 is no longer censoring works from it's site (that'll be the day!) but because I'm just tired of beating a dead horse. AO3 censors. The end.

About the censorship of fanworks on Archive Of Our Own

If you came here looking for a post about censorship of fanworks on Archive Of Our Own, well, guess what happened? I got a takedown notice for it and, although I can't view the request to verify this, I'm sure you can guess who (probably vindictively) submitted the request. I'm obviously disputing the takedown as being without merit but they force people to take down the post until the dispute is resolved. So maybe bookmark this page and come back in a week or two? Since I have no way of knowing which part of the post is allegedly infringing the DMCA since I can't view the takedown request and since I don't believe any of the post was actually infringing, I can't just repost part of it. Thanks for your understanding!

Update: It's back now.

Censorship of Fanworks on Archive Of Our Own

Archive of Our Own (AO3) seems like a site that will literally allow anything, doesn't it? They have works on such legally dubious subject matter as biblical porn, explicit pedophilia (already having over 150,000 results!) and an entire section dedicated to libel (“real person fiction” or “RPF”, as they call it).

But you would be very mistaken to think that they don't censor their website—they absolutely will delete works that the mods don't like regardless of whether it violates their Terms of Service. I've filed complaints about enough works on AO3 and checked weeks later to see if the works were ever removed to know that even when a work explicitly violates the TOS, they're rarely deleted. Instead, they cherry pick the content they censor.

I posted a fic on AO3 recently which I've copied in its entirety below. Warning: Explicit content ahead. If you don't care to read all the generic smut, just skip to the last paragraph. Please also keep in mind that this is not a debate about the quality of the fic, whether you thought what I wrote was “wrong”, etc. Respecting free speech means not restricting an author's words just because you don't agree with them and to give readers the chance to make judgments on the work for him or herself.

Harry loved Draco's sharp mind and fierce competitive instinct. Yet they only made it better when Harry could do this, get to see this: Draco dazed by pleasure, his sharp edges softened, the mind briefly overwhelmed by the body.

And the heart, Harry might have thought, except then Draco would sense it and mock him forever. As if Draco weren't incredibly soppy sometimes. He'd spent a full three hours introducing Harry to the Malfoy portraits and earnestly requesting their approval, hand clutching Harry's nervously tight. When Great-Uncle Septimus had said no, Draco had conjured a bucket of turpentine and waved it until his ancestor got with the program.

Harry smiled besottedly down at Draco and shoved two fingers into his ass.

Draco's eyes widened, a small sound escaping him. He was hot inside, and slick with lube and Harry's come. Harry just kept his fingers there for a few moments, enjoying being inside Draco once more. Even better was holding Draco's eyes while he did it. Draco's body tautened a little from its post-orgasmic lassitude, his breathing speeding a little. Harry grinned, exulting in the slightly nervous anticipation in Draco's face as Harry flexed his fingers.

Harry watched every twitch and change in Draco's face as he fingered him slowly. He held Draco's gaze, refusing to let him hide the prickling, oversensitive pleasure Harry was inflicting. Draco turned his face away, closing his eyes. Harry pumped his fingers harder in retaliation, and Draco tightened round Harry's fingers.

“Merlin, Harry, I can't... I just came, I can't deal with...”

“All right,” Harry told him. “Green, yellow, red?”

It was a sincere question, but there was an undeniable thrill in watching Draco's cheeks turn pink as he was forced to admit he wanted this. “Green,” he muttered.

“Pardon?” said Harry, scissoring his fingers.

“Green,” Draco snarled, glaring. The glare collapsed into a groan as Harry slipped a third finger into him.

“See, there you are,” Harry cooed. “I know you just can't get enough of this, of me fucking you till you can't see straight.”

Draco laughed a little; the sound hitched as Harry nudged his prostate. “I never see straight, haven't you heard? When a hot man walks by I see anything but straight.”

Harry smiled. “But it's just me who gets to drive you out of your fucking mind.” He thrummed his fingers inside Draco. Draco's kiss-bruised mouth opened on a gasp.

“Celebrities,” Draco huffed. “You always say you're not but clearly you're getting big-headed.”

Harry wriggled a little, getting comfortable between Draco's thighs. Draco slung his legs over Harry's shoulders in response, easing Harry's access to his hole. His cock was hardening, looking almost painfully flushed. Draco tried valiantly to ignore this fact and Harry's smirk. Harry stroked him inside, finding the sensitive places he'd learnt through careful study. Draco made a soft sound, like biting back a groan.

“You're delusional,” said Draco. He sounded close to laughing, yet there was undeniable strain in his voice as he tried to keep it even, pretending that Harry's touch wasn't affecting him. “You think you're so sexy and dominant, but you're just getting nutty from all the wizards sending you pornographic fan letters. I always knew it. Helpless in the face of praise, that's you.”

“Funny,” said Harry. “That's how I think of you.” Draco looked outraged, but his retort dissolved into a groan as Harry pumped his fingers in a steady rhythm. “Go on, let yourself,” Harry told him. “I know how much you want this. You can't help yourself.”

Draco made an outraged noise, but his back arched uncontrollably as Harry worked his prostate. “You don't know what you're t-talking about,” Draco said, voice wobbling as his thighs went tight over Harry, his body curling in round Harry's fingers. Desire tightened Harry's throat as he watched. “I don't need this. I would do just fine with your molesting hands all over me on a regular basis.”

“Oh, it's okay,” Harry soothed. “I know what you need. You're mine, don't worry, so I'll give you what you need. You don't have to hide it.” Draco writhed on Harry's hand, twitching with every movement of Harry's fingers inside him. “I can feel your hot little hole all tight around me, you just want more, don't you?” he crooned. “Want to fuck me and get fucked, feel me all over you.” Draco was huffing for breath, straining not to react; Harry's own breath caught that rhythm as he felt Draco squirm. Draco's cheeks were stained red with embarrassment that just wound them both up more.

“I love doing this to you, you know? Especially after sex. You're all sensitive and open and hot for me, it's so...” Harry trailed off in the face of Draco's groans, how he quivered with Harry's words. He hadn't been lying; Draco so vulnerable to pleasure was a thing to be savored, and watching him get wrecked by this sent lust thumping through Harry's blood. He finally took hold of Draco's cock, stroking it in counterpoint to his fingers inside.

Draco tossed his head, thighs quivering round Harry. Recognizing the signs, Harry eased things down again; slowing his hand on Draco's cock, stilling his fingers inside him. He wasn't ready for Draco to come again, wasn't ready to give this up; watching Draco squirm desperately, helpless in the face of Harry's hands working him up or soothing him down, putting him through his paces with relentless pleasure.

Draco growled at him faintly, thumping his head back against the mattress, but didn't push. Harry's body felt overheated, his hair sticking to his temples from sweat though he'd barely moved in a while. He tried to distract both himself and Draco.

“So, d'you think the Tornadoes'll win their game this week?”

“Potter, what on earth are you wittering about?”

“Sorry,” said Harry with badly-faked innocence, “did you need me to be doing something else?”

Draco scowled at him murderously then flopped down. “Of course the Tornadoes won't win their game this week. All these years of Quidditch and you're – you're – still an idiot, d-did you forget their Keeper's still injured and the r-reserve is – ” He broke off on a groan. “God, Potter, you know that drives me mad.”

“What, you mean this?”

Draco gave a long moan that made Harry's mouth go dry. He kept rubbing at Draco's prostate steadily, other hand on Draco's cock. He couldn't have made himself stop, feeling Draco come apart under his hands, nonsense spilling from that kiss-reddened mouth.

He managed to leave off before Draco came, which was apparently the last straw.

“Potter, you bastard!”

“Ready to admit you fucking love it when I – ”

“Yes, but that's not – I can't take it any more.”

“What?”

“I can't take it any more!”

Positioning his ass over Harry's face, Draco shot the largest turd he's ever shat directly into his lover's mouth which Harry hungrily ate up. They then lay together, panting and sweaty, completely incapable of higher brain function...just like the people reading this trollfic!

Author's Note:

As much as you might rush to label me a homophobe for this, you're the one that's reading yaoi fics that completely contradict canon. If you think these types of fics are actually improving canon or if you avoid reading any straight fics, that actually makes you a heterophobe.

If you go to a fandom with canonical same-sex relationships, isn't it funny how you'll find a serious lack of fics featuring noncanonical straight pairings? That's simply because we don't make those types of fics since we actually have more than two brain cells to rub together. We don't just see hot people on screen and immediately think “OMG I want them rubbing their genitals together right now!!!!1” #truthhurts

Thank god for the M/M exclusion filter, or as I like to call it (when applied to fandoms with only straight 'ships), “the quickest way to remove 95% of idiocy” filter.

Flames are welcome and will be used to make myself a nice steak dinner. Enjoy your day!

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AO3 sent the following email to me:

I sent the below reply/appeal:

And here's their reply several days later:

There's so much to unpack here that I'll need to go through it section by section. But one thing that stands out like a sore thumb is that there's absolutely no reference to their TOS in their reply, as if they're pulling this pitiful attempt at justification for their censorship straight out of their ass.

In your example, some artists 1) use the melodies of other artists but 2) change the lyrics. The second point is critical here. By coming up with new lyrics for the song, they have added a transformative element: they have added something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the source with new expression, meaning, or message. If they did not change the lyrics substantially, then they would simply be copying the original artist's work.

This is clearly just their opinion on when something is different enough from a copyrighted work to be deemed transformative. I still disagree with their interpretation, especially since they had no counterargument for my assertion that, unlike many parody musicians, I was not motivated by profit and was not attempting to make money off my parody/satirical fic which are two of the main factors to be weighed when deciding if a work is infringing or not.

96% of your work is you copying 77% of Lokifan's work. The only original material you contributed to the work you posted was 43 words (4%) at the end. Simply adding 43 words onto the end of 1,135 words written by someone else does not meaningfully transform the other person's words in any way. You have simply copied their words, and then added a brief remark of your own. Unlike "Weird Al" Yankovic or other parody songwriters who create their own lyrics, you have not made any substantive change to the work you posted. Although you claim that your 4% contribution changes the 'tone' of the work, you have only changed the tone of 4% of the work. The other 96% of the words are the same as if they had been read in the original context.

Adding insults or a brief joke does not, by itself, make something satire or parody. You have to also create your own transformative work, or else you're just reposting someone else's work and then making a joke about it. That is what you have done here.

Your work is very clearly copyright infringement. Moreover, it is plagiarism, as you did not credit the original author of 96% of your work, and instead presented it as your own words.

A formal warning and the removal of the work is the standard penalty for engaging in copyright infringement and plagiarism of this scale. At the Policy & Abuse committee's discretion, we may offer a user the chance to edit their work instead, but this is not required by the Terms of Service. Our standard practice is to offer a user a chance to edit when they have quoted too much material from someone else's work (thereby committing copyright infringement), but have also included a substantial amount of their own original content. A work that consists of more than 90% plagiarism and contains less than 100 original words is well below qualification for such consideration.

We apologize for the lack of clarity in our prior email regarding why you are in violation of our harassment policies (Section IV.G. of our Terms of Service). It is not because you wrote content that is negative about characters or a specific pairing. If you had simply written your own scatological joke fic about this pairing instead of committing copyright infringement and plagiarism, and posted it without any additional notes, then we would not have contacted you.

And all of the above is also solely this mod's opinion of when a work has enough original content to qualify as non-infringing under their own made-up standards which are strangely just so very particular and demanding when it comes to this type of fic that so many fanfic readers find offensive. Notice how the mod didn't cite to anything (not their TOS, the law of any country, nothing!) to support their claims. Since AO3's TOS doesn't state anything about how much of a work can be borrowed from another work before it's considered plagiarism/copyright infringement by their standards, how much do you want to bet that the standard they use is based entirely on how badly they want to delete the fic and not at all on a consistent, fair standard?

And despite the wordiness of the mod's response in relation to the plagiarism allegation, I'm still left without any concrete guidance of what their standard is because all they told me is that “a work that consists of more than 90% plagiarism and contains less than 100 original words is well below qualification” and their TOS only seems to indicate that their standard for determining that a work is infringing is very low: “Simply finding and replacing names, substituting synonyms, or rearranging a few words is not enough to make the work original to you.”

Furthermore, there are over 58,000 works tagged as “songfics” which are fics that use copyrighted song lyrics either in part or in full within the fic. So clearly, their commitment to defending the Internet against plagiarism/copyright infringement is very minimal, especially considering that most songs, unlike fanworks, are very frequently monetized and thus a musician's livelihood is actually threatened when their copyrighted work is infringed, unlike a fanfic writer who could not have profited from their derivative work.

In reference to the length of the original part of my fic, there are currently over 254,000 works that have under 100 words on AO3 and several hundred fics using the “1 sentence fiction” tag (and yes, they're fics that are literally just one sentence long). The mod even stated that, simply by removing all the “plagiarized” portions and not including my author note, they wouldn't have deleted my fic. Considering that it would have been so quick and easy for me to simply remove something from the fic, I wonder why they didn't give me the chance to? Geez, it's almost as if they just wanted any excuse they could find to delete my fic and give me a strike for failing to abide by these nonexistent parts of their TOS! And their TOS threatens (harasses?) to permanently “suspend” users (not just accounts) for enough violations of their TOS.

However, you did not post your own work. Instead you infringed upon someone else's work, used tags and a summary designed to attract readers who like a specific pairing, and then used the notes of your work to berate and insult those readers that you deliberately attracted. You stated that anyone who creates or enjoys works about non-canonical same-sex pairings doesn't have "more than two brain cells to rub together" and accused them of "heterophobia" based on their preferences in fanfiction. This is harassment and is not acceptable behavior on the Archive.

The Archive was founded to be a home for transformative fiction. We allow all types of transformative fiction that is legal in the United States. However, we are not a social media site and we do not provide equal protection to all other types of speech, including nonfictional commentary. In particular, we are not obliged to provide a platform for commentary that is designed to harass other users into not creating certain types of transformative works.

Your appeal is denied, and the warning on your account stands.

The amount of effort this mod went to to defend their bias is pitiful. Once again, they stick to their prejudiced definition of harassment which is not reflected in the actual definition of this word (“aggressive pressure or intimidation”) nor the explanations of what constitutes harassment from AO3's own TOS: “threatening Content will be considered harassment, while Content that is merely annoying will be allowed” and “we will not remove Content for offensiveness, no matter how awful, repugnant, or badly spelled we may personally find that Content to be.” Needless to say, I'm glad I didn't waste my time making this fic from scratch since they were clearly going to shoehorn in some reason for deleting it no matter what (as this proves).

They also complain that, by tagging the fic appropriately with the pairing contained throughout the entire fic, I've done something wrong by “attracting” readers who are fans of that pairing (that's literally the whole point of using a pairing tag) even though their TOS states that “failure to use an appropriate rating or Archive warning is not a violation of the abuse policy” and “it is our policy to defer to creators' categorizations.”

Also, note how the mod didn't respond at all to many of my very valid arguments, such as how my fic actually created renewed interest in Lokifan's 7-year-old fic and thus served as promotion for the complete and un-satirized version of it or how my fic had an important social purpose by bringing attention to the heterophobic attitudes of many yaoi fans that I've observed on social media. It's like the mod didn't have any counterargument for them because they knew I was right and yet they didn't care because they just wanted my fic gone that badly.

This line, however, takes the cake: “...we do not provide equal protection to all other types of speech, including nonfictional commentary.” By “equal protection”, they specifically mean “the right to not have your entire fic deleted because we didn't like something you wrote.” This is even in spite of AO3 hosting thousands of nonfictional works, such as “essays” and “nonfiction”. It's also ridiculous to make such a statement considering AO3 allows fiction based on real people and even has an entire section of the site dedicated to it. Nonsensically, this mod's statement means that they only openly invite libelous content and don't welcome anything that isn't libel (in other words, anything that's true). So AO3 expressly condones telling lies about real people. But telling the truth? Oh, now that's going too far!

RPF isn't limited to celebrities either as nothing in their TOS says you can't post a real person fic about, for instance, a fanfic writer you hate, and they even helpfully have an all-inclusive “fandom” you can post such a fic to. And AO3's definition of celebrity is clearly very loose since many minor Youtubers are included in their RPF “fandom” list.

Why would AO3 even provide the option to add an author note if they're so hostile toward nonfictional statements? This is the space where authors routinely discuss the creation of the fic, their own life, their reactions to people's comments and other “nonfictional” topics. Just the fact that there's a clickable box to add such a note to a fanwork is clearly AO3's implied consent for you to do so. As such, it behooves them to add particular language to their TOS which sets forth their policy on nonfictional comments added to works posted to AO3 if said comments are going to have higher standards for what's considered acceptable than fictional statements have. Again, this is simply another TOS addendum they're pulling out of their ass.

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So you heard it straight from the horse's mouth: AO3 doesn't care about protecting your right to free speech even when it doesn't violate their TOS or the law in any way, shape or form and you're only allowed to view the version of their website they want you to see, one which certainly seems like it's pushing a certain agenda.

AO3, your bias is showing. Big time. Might wanna scale that back a notch. I know I'll be linking to this blog post anytime I post a work or comment on AO3 from now on and I would encourage everyone else to get the word out about this as well.

I realize the organization behind AO3 is a nonprofit and the fact that their filters allow you to avoid seeing a lot of content you don't like is nice, but they clearly need to be more transparent (in the form of detailed reports about works deleted from the site, for instance) and to think a lot harder before force-deleting someone's fic for any reason and especially when the justification for the deletion has to be shoehorned in. They have this handy “Archive warning” system that's supposed to allow even the controversial content to have a place on the Archive so maybe they should learn how to make better use of it in lieu of censoring their site.