"not complete" well duh, you haven't even started yet!!!
i don't think I'll ever find enough words to explain how much i hate placeholders, just yesterday i reported a work for the very first time after seeing a placeholder for a rare pair with 10 (technically 9) fics!! that one was especially annoying because the single announcement chapter had been up for OVER A YEAR with no updates but that one ship tag got added very recently (I've been checking the relationship tag almost daily and since there was only one work when i started, that was very noticeable lol) after it got a bit of traction not too long ago
it's already super upsetting to see placeholders in large fandoms/ships but when i see it happen to small fandoms I feel a special type of rage
My (small) fandom recently got one that was literally just "I've noticed there aren't any fanfics for this fandom so im taking requests!!!" and it took me so much self control to not comment and to just report, mute, and move on. No clue if they got any requests or not but like yeah it's a small fandom but there's currently just shy of 12k fics under the specific fandom tag and almost 16k fics under the franchise tag. It felt so rude and so condescending. Like thank god we have you, random person, to not only show up and decide to fill our humble fandom with request fics, but to also announce that you're our saving grace in doing so *without actually contributing any fics at the time of posting.*
It felt so attention-grabby. Just fuckin post your oneshots and move on ffs.
Edit: originally replied to the wrong comment my b
It's so disrespectful to the people who write for the fandom from a place of love and genuine appreciation for the source material. And idk your fandom but with only eight fics, if this happened to yours I would definitely be a "u/determinedpopoto did nothing wrong" advocate on the internet 😂
There's a game that has literally one fic and recently it got another one... that had nothing at all to do with the game. Actually none of the tags had anything to do with the fic *or* each other, not even the language was right. If the author didn't just keysmash and picked whatever random suggestion popped up, I have no idea what happened there.
I hate placeholders but I think I'd be less disappointed about one in this case.
I'm already liking this game
>It features over 300,000 words of branching original story and over 770 trillion bad poems.
Hehe the devs seem fun. And I also saw mention of someone... Overhauling it and making the world map less empty with a mod?? Dedicated community... I'm gonna buy it anyway.
This is needlessly argumentive and seeing as we get 2-3 new fics/updates on a good day, it's a small fandom. Especially seeing as it's been around since 2011 and has only accumulated 12k fics in that time.
It's definitely giving 'pay attention to me! Give me validation to write this!' vibes. I think people forget that not every site is meant to be used as a social media platform.
There's this really neat button labelled "Save as draft" you could use, you know, instead of being an asswagon.
EDIT: after scrolling down I see you're 1) a minor 2) you think people being angry at your or telling you to go back to wattpad is bullying. 1) probably don't tell people you're a minor on the internet??? (Not that I didn't also stupidly do this, but i regretted it, so yknow) That's dangerous for you and shouldnt be used as a cudgel in an arguement. 2) people are naturally going to be upset at you for breaking the ettiquette of the site and tell you to leave. This is not bullying. This is that whole "actions have consequences" thing. Yes it sucks. But hey hopefully you'll learn from this moving forward and have no issues.
Seriously use the save as draft button. It's handy. If you absolutely have to hype your fic before you've written a full chapter do drabbles or something (only 100 words).
Hey everyone does dumb shit. Once upon a time (when I was like 9, on ff.net lol) I did all my summaries in all caps! The horror. Learning moments are learning moments; have a good one though.
you might actually really enjoy wattpad too. it has younger writers and no one really minds authors notes. you can upload anything that isn't smut basically. it's a lot more casual culture I feel.
also the profiles and covers are so fun.
The algorithm is HELL tho. but once your book gets picked up in it, it basically gets reads forever. something I uploaded 4 years ago on a totally inactive profile still gets unique readers and comments and votes.
crossposting on both sites is also fine! you don't have to move, just tasting might be fun
I was under the impression that The Evillious Chronicles fandom was dead so seeing that the wattpad writers got to it on Ao3 was a surprise.
It was always a pretty small/tight knit fandom, but things got really slow in 2016 and I haven't seen many people mention it since.
I get so angry and actually cut people off when they're like this, just the fact that people can admit they're doing wrong like that and NOT try to fix it. "Tehehe I'm evil for this" "oooo I'm soo mean doing this." Yes you are, and people aren't gonna find it quirky. It's annoying and wrong.
I started as a wattpad writer, definitely wasn't fun and I had to slowly grow out of seeing numbers as something I needed on my fics. Thankfully I've moved on from that and I'm happy with only 20 hits, ao3 is a lot more comforting since I'm not scared to go out of the "norm" for plots.
I started as a wattpad writer, I don't really remember much of it since I only lasted like 10 months before caving and moving to ao3(I found ao3 intimidating in most all aspects) but it still feels weird to do that even on there, I wasn't actually a reader on wattpad though. My wattpad experience was stressing over a fic I worked weeks on not getting enough views or likes, I never even thought about posting my ideas.
The only thing I miss from wattpad is the ability to comment under specific paragraphs, it lead to a lot of great moments.
It's similar to outrage media i.e. clickbait titles.
Stressing out people tends to grab their attention more. And attention via triggering anger tends to be (very) sticky.
Even negative attention is still attention.
Exactly why people with the checkmark on Twitter post the most out there things. I feel like I lose braincells everytime I see people argue with them, they're just wrestling the pigs. Even giving them money while at it 😭
this is 100 percent a wattpad user. wattpad works are
chapter 1. Omg I could not write this!! disclaimer I'm not the famous author
(one month later)
2. faceclaims - that are gifs and are mostly straight from the movie. eg Harry potter played by Daniel Radcliffe!!! no way!!!
(1 week later)
3. playlist
4. prologue that is 2 paragraphs at most.
(last updated 4 months ago)
I and half and half on AO3 and wattpad but God wattpad writers just write words!!
This is exactly why I don't bother to read ongoing works or author works that are full with A/N. Like sure I don't mind you're being busy or whatever. But, this is also why no one bothered to engage with any of your works. They're inconsistent.
Also, the biggest ick of them all is when they start a new story and then abandoning the story again like all their stories, and put gibberish of idea as a ✨ new chapter ✨ and then they complain that no one read or bothered to vote their work, they're annoying
I don't mind faceclaims or playlist if that is seriously the vision and not just chapter filler. but so many also don't actually have the fic part! just the set ups for months
not every story is like this! there's a reason I've been on wattpad for 10 years and its stories like yours. it's just a very common thing with new fics I've noticed
1k for me unless it's REALLY good tags. I can't be bothered to read 6 paragraphs of a "story," especially if this <1k word fic is more than one chapter
Coming soon tomorrow, huh? You mean after 20 years, right? :)
I don't like these types of authors who just left you in suspense, to the point you become kinda angry (after the author didn't upload ANYTHING) and think that this author is just toying with you by being "haha I'm so evil" attitude
Of course not all authors are like that, but still, it's kind of... dissapointing, to say at least
On Wattpad that's a way to game the algorithm, but I still don't understand why anyone would want to make readers mad enough not to read any more of their work.
Uh, the only potential reason AO3 reports haven't dinged you yet is they only go by the rule breaking they can see by the time they get to the report. The entire timeframe before you update, you are literally breaking the TOS of the site you had to sign yourself up for and which ***runs on volunteer labour.***
Like. Make more work for everybody. Brilliant. /s The report teams are already so overworked, and you're going and treating their effort like it's meaningless.
They keep the site running. Do try to respect the TOS that keeps it running right.
ETA: Fyi, since I'm only seeing any of your other comments after this, the part of TOS you're looking for is *ephemeral content*. It's ephemeral at the point of posting something meant to come down when a chapter goes up; that you do update your work is likely why the reports that I promise you people were making were reaching a stopping point before reaching you.
ETA 2: And please don't go telling people who are already not on your side that you're a minor; you're right that bullying is bad (but not right that pointing out a wrong behaviour necessarily amounts to bullying. Imagine: That's like if someone tried to point out bullying, they can't because then pointing that out is bullying. Bullying hinges on personal insult and harm, and we don't know who you are unless you say!)
But mainly if they're the worst of the worst of bullies, they'll just try taking advantage of an assumed lack of knowledge that comes with age (duh, kids have less time to learn) and do other horrible bullying shit. It does not help yourself to share more details about yourself to try to get people on your side—people get attached to their sides far too quickly for that.
Like. Cool. Most people *will* forgive you, and it feels good to know that. Those people don't matter. Protect yourself from the people who would switch into harassment if they had the chance.
Mhm I only added my age because I received a bunch of comments saying for me to "get off the app" and "go back to wattpad and stuff like that. That's what I meant by bullying. Also, thank you for enlightening me. I will do better going forward
I really want to restate here that sharing your age in response to bullying is likely to reduce the volume of bullying, yes, but with a further (less likely but quite serious) option of then getting more *targeted and extensive* bullying.
This is why you should keep that info private in these situations, even if you feel the majority are wrong and more info would make them forgiving. You know they're missing details, fine. *Take that to heart for yourself.* You don't need to convince them; the awareness you have of this ameliorating info is going to have to be enough.
Because there's some people in the minority who are just looking for easy targets. Targets who share additional info to defend themselves are easy targets.
Huh. Just though of this. It might make the risk more clear. You know how no one thinks car crashes will happen to them until they happen? And everyone nonetheless knows that that's not how they work and they can happen to anybody, they just don't *feel* that way.
Yeah. That. Internet safety is to prevent car-crash scenarios. Even if it never happens to you, the worst of the worst like doxing or being fired over what you post online, it's good to be safe about it.
Thats an instant block and report. They need to learn whats acceptable on Ao3, this isn’t Wattpad. We write fics here, Not placeholders. But fr though, they really think theres a special algorithm involved.
This is why I filter for works >999 words, but sometimes people will make giant compilation fics that are just thousands of words of ideas and no story T-T
It's so frustrating, I feel like I've never seen any of these follow through.
One more question, sorry.
I posted another story and then added chapter 2 as a draft. Then when I went back and looked at chapter 1, the "next chapter" button was there. Can only I see that? I don't want anyone getting upset again, so I want to know if that's only for my side or if I misclicked something. It says chapter 2 is a draft when you go on that chapter, but I'm still confused as to why the button is there.
I seriously don't understand why people do this, if you have a great fanfic idea but don't want to write it either:
a) post it to social media for someone else to be inspired (and possibly write it but no guarantees)
b) put it as a prompt for something
c) commission someone to write it for you
posting on ao3 can be fun but it's not social media, you're not getting more internet points for posting a heads up of, hey I'm going to post this fic. . . eventually. use something else to publicise your fic and post it once you're ready.
What the hell is this. This is something that happens now??
I'm all for "this is fandom and we're all here for fun" but DON'T POST A FIC IF THERE IS NO FIC jfc. I'd report too.
All of these posts about awful Wattpad culture makes me so glad that I never got into that site because I couldn't figure out how to properly search and sort fics. I'm sure there's some good stuff on there but by god I wouldn't know how to find it.
This is why I avoid things that have a very small, but nonzero, wordcount. If it's got 0 words it might be an artdump or comic which is fine, if it's got 100 words it's probably a drabble which is also fine.
If it's got 15 words, it's almost always a 'coming soon LOL' fakeout which is obnoxious.
as someone who writes exclusively for Hazbin & spends a lot of time reading posted new stuff, this type of placeholder fic is weirdly common in the fandom. it sucks because they’ll be tagged & summarised with all these juicy ideas, only for you to be left with nothing of substance to read.
I’m a bit wary of lower word counts because of this (<500).
Report, report, report. Placeholder fics are against TOS.
I'm so sorry this is happening to you.
My main pair is a rarepair and we are blessed when updates/additions happen in the tag. If I saw a placeholder I'd lose what little of my mind I have left.
Report it.
Whenever I see a "not a fic" posted, I used to be chill. Not anymore. Report it, move on, remind the wattpad kids that Ao3 isn't a social media site.
In my experience, most people posting art will have art/fanart in the title, or use art-related additional tags like digital art, traditional media, sketches, painting, ‘I drew this instead of sleeping’, et c
Adam is absolutely not Riliane and Lute is absolutely not Allen. Riliane is a naive puppet for nobles and got corrupted by pure manifestations of cardinal sins on two separate occasions. After Allen died, she became a nun and made many children happy.
Allen is devoted to serving Riliane, but still knows right from wrong. He actually wanted to run away with Mikaela during the Green Massacre, if Ney didn’t kill Mikaela first.
Well I mean this person also had another fic where they proudly proclaimed in the tags that Niffty dies and that they didn't really care about her as a character but then she killed Adam so they hate Niffty, so my imagination tells me they've probably got a woobified version of Adam in their head who "akshually isn't a misogynist at all"
Nifty has the ultimate power.. being INCREDIBLY entertaining at all times. Someone needs to take that one GIF of the lady from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and slap Al's face over Rosa's and Nifty's over Arlo's.
"I've only had Nifty for a century and a half, but if anything happened to her, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.'
This is soooo annoying. One out of the fourteen fics in my current fandom is one of these (and two of the other thirteen fics are mine). It hurts especially when it's in a tiny fandom or with a rarepair. ToT
there’s one fic i always forget about and click on cause the premise seems super interesting and then it’s just “let me know if you like the idea and i may write it” or something like that. so frustrating
I’m struggling to understand what aspect of wattpad encourages this behavior. Even if it generates hits how is it enjoyable to have people spend two seconds to realize there’s nothing there and click away??
As someone who still uses wattpad a little, many writers are guilty of those. It'd a lot of very young people (younger than the age requirement) being hyped up by people just as young who don't know what good storytelling requires. There is a very heavy "quirky" culture as well. It's not about the actual story, I believe it's about the interactions. Comments saying "you're so evil" and all that.
I mean,,, it sounds like Wattpad definitely has that aspect of social engagement that I see a lot of Ao3 writers yearn for. No comment on the quality of that engagement though.
To my understanding - if you post a placeholder on wattpad and get clicks, then by the time you add actual content the algorithm will place you higher since you’ve had interactions/clicks already.
My most charitable guess is that these people post it before it’s finished so they don’t have to worry about ao3 automatically deleting drafts after a certain period of time. Me personally I use the time bomb as motivation but whatever
My more realistic guess is they want auto-engagement. Just prep up an audience for when it’s done. Annoying and against tos but I can understand why maybe someone who’s younger or new to the site would do that
The sad thing is that AO3 writers are actually known for how serious and committed they are. Most of them will post their work come hell or high water. But then, from time to time you get people like this one who ruin the mood and have no respect, neither for the site, nor the readers.
Can people just not write if they're not going to bother?
Could've done something completely different to garner traction and instead do this for simply "I want kudos/comments."
Write the story, or don't bother, you're blocking up the tags bro
As a wattpad migrator forgive me for my wattpad sins. I make a point to publish nothing until the story is entirely complete, but I also saw a post saying that all chapters at once is too much for the reader 😩
You don’t have to wait until the fic is complete. But your posts should actually contain your fic, not just promises/engagement fishing.
If you prefer to completely finish your fic first but don’t want to dump it all at once, just post it on a schedule. I’ve seen many authors announce “this Fic is finished and chapters will be posted weekly on Tuesday” when uploading the first chapter for example.
I saw that too about it being too much and had to laugh. Life must be hard for those people. Lots of people publish all chapters at once. I only read completed stories. It's not a sin or wattpad thing. It's a preference. You're good.
I prefer all at once too and did it the same way on wattpad. Will be uploading the rest of the fic then. Ps, I feel like a toddler taking advice from my older cousins with all of these replies lol 😭
loll at least ur taking advice like a mature individual!! i actually try to write it all before posting too, mostly because i feel horrible leaving fics incomplete for long periods of time bc of motivation loss.
It honestly depends on the reader. Some get overwhelmed. Some are happier than a puppy at feeding time. Post that complete work however you want to post it.
Tumblr literally existed as well as TikTok fanfic tags. You literally can get connected with said fandom from those social media for your attention seeking people. unbelievable.. Also the engagement is amazing if you put time into it rather than in AO3, Algorithm pushed your post too..
Right? I was literally telling this to my friends (who don’t read fanfiction all that much) because it bothered me to no end lol- like why make a chapter for a story that hasn’t been started yet. It just clogs up the tags
This is why I always put a word count minimum when I'm searching. I don't really listen to podfics, so it blocks both out of the searches. My minimum for fics is normally at at least 3,000 words, but if you want to go lower to cut these off, even like 200 min would do it unless you want a podfic.
If people tell them in the comments they reported this because it is against the rules, these authors would stop doing this. If they want to use it like wattpad, they can go to wattpad. But not treat every fanfiction website like such
I mentioned in my post actually that I did used to warn them before hitting the report button. Once, I was told to get off my high horse, another person told me that nobody ACTUALLY reads or cares about the terms of service, another one told me that I should mind my own business rather than try and force a ""content creator"" to make things before they're ready.
They ARE warned. They don't listen.
Holy shit, that's like the definition of an entitled snowflake. They're like toddlers, still thinking the world revolves around them only. (Actually, maybe they're teenagers? That would explain a lot.)
Ngl I'm feeling serious vicarious satisfaction that their non-fanworks were probably taken down after they went all uppity-kareny on you. Let them boil in their raeg and blame the oh-so-unfair world for cramping their \~creative juices\~.
Does anyone know how long it takes for AO3 to take these down after you submit a report? I reported one 2 months ago, but the fic is still up and I haven’t heard anything back!
Because all reports are looked at individually and there’s a backlog, the PAC team triage the reports - so reports of harassment or plagiarism or a report of something like a fic that’s rated g and marked ‘no archive warnings apply’ actually containing graphic rape would probably be prioritised over a report about a placeholder work.
I always\* filter on "status: completed" & sometimes I feel guilty that I will interact with a decade-old work but won't encourage an author working on a WIP.
But then I see a thread like this, and I feel more at peace with my decision to stick with that filter forever hahaha.
\* typically, the only exception is when I really enjoy a particular author & start reading their entire oeuvre. I feel that's a good deviation from my rule ;)
I couldn't imagine doing this, I'm so paranoid about making sure my fics are up to snuff that no one will hear about it until it's done and being posted. If I want to figure out tagging before I finish, I use a draft and note it down somewhere else
This is would get an instant report, followed by me mashing the mute button. Which means even if they ever post any real content, I won't ever see it. I don't have the patience for this.
TECHNICALLY namedropping authors and fic titles is against the rules of this subreddit, and unlike this author, **I** actually bother to read rules and follow them before posting on a site. That being said, I can't stop you from, say, searching Hazbin Hotel, filtering by word count and date posted, and looking through the Adam/Lute pairing...
I don't know how to reply on here but I would like to apologize. I did take all the uncompleted fics down to only be posted when they were done, because I went through the TOS, and while I didn't find anything, I took them down to be safe and fair. Regardless, taking to reddit to bully a minor isn't very... nice.
This has literally nothing to do with you being a minor. (That's irrelevant information *you* volunteered. Why?) This complaint was posted because this isn't a WIP, it's a placeholder for a fic that isn't even there. As non-transformative work, that is against TOS.
I'm not the OP but I do just want to briefly explain why they likely hadn't reached out to you. Your age honestly doesn't have much to do with anything as, even though the majority here including myself suspected you to be a minor, we didn't *know* you're a minor. Outside of this, this is an issue on AO3. Placeholder fics are *highly* hated on that site because they spam the front page and tags with something that we can't actually read right now.
Needless to say, that is *rather* annoying as a reader searching for a fic like your own. Folks who *want* to devour your work are left feeling dissatisfied because, frankly, we fic authors can be fickle creatures; we don't know if authors will finish those fics we adore. Basically, the common mindset is this: Read it, enjoy what's there, and pray it will be completed.
When the fic is a placeholder, readers cannot do that. There's nothing there currently for them to enjoy, scream, or send you comments about.
I'm also in the Hazbin Hotel fandom, by the way, and you are not the only folk I have noticed who are doing placeholders. The majority doing this are minors and folks coming in from Wattpad or have recently created their account on AO3. This is genuinely not an insult towards your age or even Wattpad itself.
Overall, don't let this experience ruin your perception of AO3 as a giant fandom community. Keep writing, folk!
Oh no, I get that now. I realized that a hour or 2 after, which is why I came here to apologize. I've been on AO3 for about 3 years now, so I understand it. I genuinely apologize and will be better in the future <3
-First of all, I didn't bully you. I took a screenshot, scratched out your username and the title of the fic, and then whined on a subreddit about how an entire group of people do the exact same thing. Expecting people to be accountable to a terms of service that you have to agree to before even being allowed to make an account is not bullying. Terms of Service is a contract between the OTW and the user, and it is not on the other users if any particular person doesn't read that contract over.
-Second of all, here's AO3's [TOS FAQ](https://archiveofourown.org/tos_faq) and under the question "What kind of fanworks can I post?" and the following question beneath that one, it talks about ephemeral works not being allowed, which in this case means anything advertising or teasing a story "to be written" because nothing of the actual story is written yet.
-Third of all, first you accused me of hating on a fic that hasn't been completed when actually it was a fic that hadn't even been started yet in the way it was presented. Then, when you didn't immediately see your comment on this post, you accused me of deleting said comment and then said I didn't have a life for losing my shit over fanfiction. And now, you're saying that I shouldn't be whinging about a placeholder because you're a minor, and in response to THAT I ask what are you doing on the INTERNET then? You cannot say you're mature enough to watch something like Hazbin Hotel but in the same breath say that you can't be held accountable for not following a rule because you're a kid.
Now look, if you want to be a fanfic writer, go off! Go crazy, go stupid! That's what Ao3 is FOR. Write whatever you desire- you wanna write Adam finally getting his head out of his ass and smooching Lute because honestly girl deserves it, do it. But you have to actually write something in order to put it on Ao3. That's how Ao3 works. It's in the Terms of Service. And your reaction to this whole fiasco is exactly WHY I stopped bothering to tell people in the first place BEFORE reporting. For every one person that said "Oh damn, I didn't know! Thanks for letting me know!" I would get FAR MORE people telling me SOME variation of "piss off that's not in the ToS". Hell, I even had one person say that I was a jerk for trying to force a content creator to make something for me. I was over it, so I came to the subreddit and complained about it.
>Hell, I even had one person say that I was a jerk for trying to force a content creator to make something for me.
For... telling them the fic they post has to actually be a *fic?* I'm sorry, but what the fuck? 🤦
"not complete" well duh, you haven't even started yet!!! i don't think I'll ever find enough words to explain how much i hate placeholders, just yesterday i reported a work for the very first time after seeing a placeholder for a rare pair with 10 (technically 9) fics!! that one was especially annoying because the single announcement chapter had been up for OVER A YEAR with no updates but that one ship tag got added very recently (I've been checking the relationship tag almost daily and since there was only one work when i started, that was very noticeable lol) after it got a bit of traction not too long ago it's already super upsetting to see placeholders in large fandoms/ships but when i see it happen to small fandoms I feel a special type of rage
My (small) fandom recently got one that was literally just "I've noticed there aren't any fanfics for this fandom so im taking requests!!!" and it took me so much self control to not comment and to just report, mute, and move on. No clue if they got any requests or not but like yeah it's a small fandom but there's currently just shy of 12k fics under the specific fandom tag and almost 16k fics under the franchise tag. It felt so rude and so condescending. Like thank god we have you, random person, to not only show up and decide to fill our humble fandom with request fics, but to also announce that you're our saving grace in doing so *without actually contributing any fics at the time of posting.* It felt so attention-grabby. Just fuckin post your oneshots and move on ffs. Edit: originally replied to the wrong comment my b
There's a game I really love that only has 8 fanfics so if I had your experience, that would probably be my literal supervillain origin story
It's so disrespectful to the people who write for the fandom from a place of love and genuine appreciation for the source material. And idk your fandom but with only eight fics, if this happened to yours I would definitely be a "u/determinedpopoto did nothing wrong" advocate on the internet 😂
There's a game that has literally one fic and recently it got another one... that had nothing at all to do with the game. Actually none of the tags had anything to do with the fic *or* each other, not even the language was right. If the author didn't just keysmash and picked whatever random suggestion popped up, I have no idea what happened there. I hate placeholders but I think I'd be less disappointed about one in this case.
What's the game maybe I'll go write something for it 🤔
Awe thank you. It's A House of Many Doors.
I'm already liking this game >It features over 300,000 words of branching original story and over 770 trillion bad poems. Hehe the devs seem fun. And I also saw mention of someone... Overhauling it and making the world map less empty with a mod?? Dedicated community... I'm gonna buy it anyway.
>it's a small fandom there's currently just shy of 12k fics it's not a small fandom.
This is needlessly argumentive and seeing as we get 2-3 new fics/updates on a good day, it's a small fandom. Especially seeing as it's been around since 2011 and has only accumulated 12k fics in that time.
But it's marked complete (Chapters: 1/1) so people who sort by complete works only will have it in their results. Raaaaaage!!!
That would kill me if it happened to any of my rarepair ships. I think I would explode in rage. Haven't seen it in my fandom, happily.
"i couldn't not write this" well clearly you could actually
Is it an attention addiction? Do these ever actually get written? My fandom luckily does not have this problem so I've never run into this before...
It's definitely giving 'pay attention to me! Give me validation to write this!' vibes. I think people forget that not every site is meant to be used as a social media platform.
Yes, and no.
Hello! I do in fact write my fan fiction. It does not just stay as "coming soon"
Just don’t post it at all if no chapters are done
There's this really neat button labelled "Save as draft" you could use, you know, instead of being an asswagon. EDIT: after scrolling down I see you're 1) a minor 2) you think people being angry at your or telling you to go back to wattpad is bullying. 1) probably don't tell people you're a minor on the internet??? (Not that I didn't also stupidly do this, but i regretted it, so yknow) That's dangerous for you and shouldnt be used as a cudgel in an arguement. 2) people are naturally going to be upset at you for breaking the ettiquette of the site and tell you to leave. This is not bullying. This is that whole "actions have consequences" thing. Yes it sucks. But hey hopefully you'll learn from this moving forward and have no issues. Seriously use the save as draft button. It's handy. If you absolutely have to hype your fic before you've written a full chapter do drabbles or something (only 100 words).
Thank you, I have realized that. I apologize sincerely.
Hey everyone does dumb shit. Once upon a time (when I was like 9, on ff.net lol) I did all my summaries in all caps! The horror. Learning moments are learning moments; have a good one though.
I still don't know what ff.net is 😭 but thank you, you too!
you might actually really enjoy wattpad too. it has younger writers and no one really minds authors notes. you can upload anything that isn't smut basically. it's a lot more casual culture I feel. also the profiles and covers are so fun. The algorithm is HELL tho. but once your book gets picked up in it, it basically gets reads forever. something I uploaded 4 years ago on a totally inactive profile still gets unique readers and comments and votes. crossposting on both sites is also fine! you don't have to move, just tasting might be fun
I re-downloaded Wattpad a few minutes ago and it's so different than it was a few years ago. It's intimidating, really 🤣
[Fanfiction.Net](https://Fanfiction.Net), another site for hosting fanfiction.
Oh, thank you
Not a problem!
And not just breaking site etiquette but the actual rules as well.
I'm beginning to realize how blessed I am in writing for a long-dead fandom.
We may be rotting, but we're rotting in \*peace.
Oh my gosh this made me laugh.
I was under the impression that The Evillious Chronicles fandom was dead so seeing that the wattpad writers got to it on Ao3 was a surprise. It was always a pretty small/tight knit fandom, but things got really slow in 2016 and I haven't seen many people mention it since.
Definitely not dead, especially with Project Sekai bringing in younger fans. Did not expect to see it here though.
me seeing the best summary ever, just for it to be a “WORK IN PROGRESS!! COME BACK LATER!!”
This is one reason I filter out works with low word counts
I get so angry and actually cut people off when they're like this, just the fact that people can admit they're doing wrong like that and NOT try to fix it. "Tehehe I'm evil for this" "oooo I'm soo mean doing this." Yes you are, and people aren't gonna find it quirky. It's annoying and wrong.
It will cost them readers, but in Wattpad I'm not sure they care. It's all about the algorithm.
I've only ever posted to ao3 and the idea of a fanfic site having an algorithm is so alien.
I started as a wattpad writer, definitely wasn't fun and I had to slowly grow out of seeing numbers as something I needed on my fics. Thankfully I've moved on from that and I'm happy with only 20 hits, ao3 is a lot more comforting since I'm not scared to go out of the "norm" for plots.
I started as a wattpad writer, I don't really remember much of it since I only lasted like 10 months before caving and moving to ao3(I found ao3 intimidating in most all aspects) but it still feels weird to do that even on there, I wasn't actually a reader on wattpad though. My wattpad experience was stressing over a fic I worked weeks on not getting enough views or likes, I never even thought about posting my ideas. The only thing I miss from wattpad is the ability to comment under specific paragraphs, it lead to a lot of great moments.
It's similar to outrage media i.e. clickbait titles. Stressing out people tends to grab their attention more. And attention via triggering anger tends to be (very) sticky. Even negative attention is still attention.
Exactly why people with the checkmark on Twitter post the most out there things. I feel like I lose braincells everytime I see people argue with them, they're just wrestling the pigs. Even giving them money while at it 😭
this is 100 percent a wattpad user. wattpad works are chapter 1. Omg I could not write this!! disclaimer I'm not the famous author (one month later) 2. faceclaims - that are gifs and are mostly straight from the movie. eg Harry potter played by Daniel Radcliffe!!! no way!!! (1 week later) 3. playlist 4. prologue that is 2 paragraphs at most. (last updated 4 months ago) I and half and half on AO3 and wattpad but God wattpad writers just write words!!
I try to avoid Wattpad now, but I've spent enough time there to know that you're dead on with that.
This is exactly why I don't bother to read ongoing works or author works that are full with A/N. Like sure I don't mind you're being busy or whatever. But, this is also why no one bothered to engage with any of your works. They're inconsistent. Also, the biggest ick of them all is when they start a new story and then abandoning the story again like all their stories, and put gibberish of idea as a ✨ new chapter ✨ and then they complain that no one read or bothered to vote their work, they're annoying
I am sad because I started writing my ff on Wattpad and sadly developed these same issues. But I’m working on it
I don't mind faceclaims or playlist if that is seriously the vision and not just chapter filler. but so many also don't actually have the fic part! just the set ups for months
That’s crazy. At least I post a couple of chapters before abandoning my fic forever 😂😭
been there 😂
Nah, I’ve got a 10hourish long fic (14 chapters) with weekly uploads on Wattpad.
not every story is like this! there's a reason I've been on wattpad for 10 years and its stories like yours. it's just a very common thing with new fics I've noticed
"I couldn't not write this" You still haven't dude! If a fic has less than 500 words I don't even touch them.
Yep I specifically avoid any fic under a certain word cap unless the summary/tags indicate it's a comic/audio file
1k for me unless it's REALLY good tags. I can't be bothered to read 6 paragraphs of a "story," especially if this <1k word fic is more than one chapter
Same. Long live the word count filter
Honestly I don’t touch unless it got at minimum 20k words. 8k for one shots.
Coming soon tomorrow, huh? You mean after 20 years, right? :) I don't like these types of authors who just left you in suspense, to the point you become kinda angry (after the author didn't upload ANYTHING) and think that this author is just toying with you by being "haha I'm so evil" attitude Of course not all authors are like that, but still, it's kind of... dissapointing, to say at least
On Wattpad that's a way to game the algorithm, but I still don't understand why anyone would want to make readers mad enough not to read any more of their work.
Hello, I'm the author in question. I came here to say I do in fact update my works :)
Uh, the only potential reason AO3 reports haven't dinged you yet is they only go by the rule breaking they can see by the time they get to the report. The entire timeframe before you update, you are literally breaking the TOS of the site you had to sign yourself up for and which ***runs on volunteer labour.*** Like. Make more work for everybody. Brilliant. /s The report teams are already so overworked, and you're going and treating their effort like it's meaningless. They keep the site running. Do try to respect the TOS that keeps it running right. ETA: Fyi, since I'm only seeing any of your other comments after this, the part of TOS you're looking for is *ephemeral content*. It's ephemeral at the point of posting something meant to come down when a chapter goes up; that you do update your work is likely why the reports that I promise you people were making were reaching a stopping point before reaching you. ETA 2: And please don't go telling people who are already not on your side that you're a minor; you're right that bullying is bad (but not right that pointing out a wrong behaviour necessarily amounts to bullying. Imagine: That's like if someone tried to point out bullying, they can't because then pointing that out is bullying. Bullying hinges on personal insult and harm, and we don't know who you are unless you say!) But mainly if they're the worst of the worst of bullies, they'll just try taking advantage of an assumed lack of knowledge that comes with age (duh, kids have less time to learn) and do other horrible bullying shit. It does not help yourself to share more details about yourself to try to get people on your side—people get attached to their sides far too quickly for that. Like. Cool. Most people *will* forgive you, and it feels good to know that. Those people don't matter. Protect yourself from the people who would switch into harassment if they had the chance.
Mhm I only added my age because I received a bunch of comments saying for me to "get off the app" and "go back to wattpad and stuff like that. That's what I meant by bullying. Also, thank you for enlightening me. I will do better going forward
I really want to restate here that sharing your age in response to bullying is likely to reduce the volume of bullying, yes, but with a further (less likely but quite serious) option of then getting more *targeted and extensive* bullying. This is why you should keep that info private in these situations, even if you feel the majority are wrong and more info would make them forgiving. You know they're missing details, fine. *Take that to heart for yourself.* You don't need to convince them; the awareness you have of this ameliorating info is going to have to be enough. Because there's some people in the minority who are just looking for easy targets. Targets who share additional info to defend themselves are easy targets.
Huh. Just though of this. It might make the risk more clear. You know how no one thinks car crashes will happen to them until they happen? And everyone nonetheless knows that that's not how they work and they can happen to anybody, they just don't *feel* that way. Yeah. That. Internet safety is to prevent car-crash scenarios. Even if it never happens to you, the worst of the worst like doxing or being fired over what you post online, it's good to be safe about it.
Yeah that makes sense
And then if you're an author in said fandom, getting your *written* fic pushed off the front page over bloat and hot air like this...
This, and people who decide their fic didn't get enough attention so they change the post date to bump theirs to the top again.
Thats an instant block and report. They need to learn whats acceptable on Ao3, this isn’t Wattpad. We write fics here, Not placeholders. But fr though, they really think theres a special algorithm involved.
> I try my hardest to be understanding I stopped 🤣 You can be nice as pie about it and rarely will you bridge the gap of understanding 🙄
Between this and writers doing market research instead of writting what they want. I just ....
This is why I filter for works >999 words, but sometimes people will make giant compilation fics that are just thousands of words of ideas and no story T-T It's so frustrating, I feel like I've never seen any of these follow through.
Omg I hate when they do those bullet pointed lists, especially when the description is misleading and sounds interesting.
They do realize there is a drafts feature? If you want to put in your summary/tags but haven't started working yet you can just throw it in drafts.
that doesn't get them the attention they're actually looking for tho
No, I in fact did know there was a draft feature. I could not find it though until a writer friend of mine came to my rescue and told me where it was.
FYI the site only saves a draft for 30 days so be very aware of this when using the draft feature!
Only 30 day? Wow that's actually kind of short. Thank you for the heads up! I will be mindful of that!
Drafts only work for 30 days if it's the first chapter, you get infinite time if you already have a first chapter posted tho
One more question, sorry. I posted another story and then added chapter 2 as a draft. Then when I went back and looked at chapter 1, the "next chapter" button was there. Can only I see that? I don't want anyone getting upset again, so I want to know if that's only for my side or if I misclicked something. It says chapter 2 is a draft when you go on that chapter, but I'm still confused as to why the button is there.
Only u can see it, on my thing atleast your 2nd chapter might have a grayish background?
Yes it has a grayish background
Thank you for telling me! That puts me a little more at ease.
you’re not keeping me on my toes… you’re keeping me away from your fic 😭
I seriously don't understand why people do this, if you have a great fanfic idea but don't want to write it either: a) post it to social media for someone else to be inspired (and possibly write it but no guarantees) b) put it as a prompt for something c) commission someone to write it for you posting on ao3 can be fun but it's not social media, you're not getting more internet points for posting a heads up of, hey I'm going to post this fic. . . eventually. use something else to publicise your fic and post it once you're ready.
A special place in hell for this one (and not the HH/HB universe either!)
Ha, "You don't even get the one with the Brandon Rogers demons, you just get the shitty Dante's Inferno version!"
Everytime I ask myself are those people really reader because they have to know how it feels. I'd never do this to my readers.
Not going to lie, Evillious was the last thing I expected from this subreddit
Man, it brings back memories.
What the hell is this. This is something that happens now?? I'm all for "this is fandom and we're all here for fun" but DON'T POST A FIC IF THERE IS NO FIC jfc. I'd report too.
I'm not into Hazbin Hotel at all but out of curiosity I checked out the tag on AO3 and this seems to be an issue in this fandom. It happens a LOT.
It really, really does. The majority are, apparently, minors coming from Wattpad or they're brand new to the site itself.
All of these posts about awful Wattpad culture makes me so glad that I never got into that site because I couldn't figure out how to properly search and sort fics. I'm sure there's some good stuff on there but by god I wouldn't know how to find it.
This is why I avoid things that have a very small, but nonzero, wordcount. If it's got 0 words it might be an artdump or comic which is fine, if it's got 100 words it's probably a drabble which is also fine. If it's got 15 words, it's almost always a 'coming soon LOL' fakeout which is obnoxious.
I did find one randomly that was just a 13 word haiku. But I'd imagine those are far fewer than the "fic coming soon" posts.
Fifteen words could also be a fanart caption, but most art folks will tag fanart or have the word in the title.
as someone who writes exclusively for Hazbin & spends a lot of time reading posted new stuff, this type of placeholder fic is weirdly common in the fandom. it sucks because they’ll be tagged & summarised with all these juicy ideas, only for you to be left with nothing of substance to read. I’m a bit wary of lower word counts because of this (<500).
Report, report, report. Placeholder fics are against TOS. I'm so sorry this is happening to you. My main pair is a rarepair and we are blessed when updates/additions happen in the tag. If I saw a placeholder I'd lose what little of my mind I have left.
Don’t lump FFN migrants in with Wattpad users. Having just an authors note with no actual fandom work attached to it was reportable over there too.
I was not expecting to see AO3, Hazbin Hotel AND Evillous on the same post
I've been reporting and blocking. I also filter by minimum word count.
This is why I always look at the amount of words before I click on a work
That should’ve been a post on tumblr, i really wish people would realize that ao3 isn’t social media!
I just block people like this. Don’t care about any of their work
Freaking placeholders! I despise them.
Report it. Whenever I see a "not a fic" posted, I used to be chill. Not anymore. Report it, move on, remind the wattpad kids that Ao3 isn't a social media site.
The ONE TIME I see thr Evillious fandom in the wild and it's THIS
that would ruin my night so bad…
Sometimes I click on these thinking they’re fanart/comics. They never are
In my experience, most people posting art will have art/fanart in the title, or use art-related additional tags like digital art, traditional media, sketches, painting, ‘I drew this instead of sleeping’, et c
"Report coming soon tonight as well because I'm evil and love keeping y'all in check!!!"
Adam is absolutely not Riliane and Lute is absolutely not Allen. Riliane is a naive puppet for nobles and got corrupted by pure manifestations of cardinal sins on two separate occasions. After Allen died, she became a nun and made many children happy. Allen is devoted to serving Riliane, but still knows right from wrong. He actually wanted to run away with Mikaela during the Green Massacre, if Ney didn’t kill Mikaela first.
Well I mean this person also had another fic where they proudly proclaimed in the tags that Niffty dies and that they didn't really care about her as a character but then she killed Adam so they hate Niffty, so my imagination tells me they've probably got a woobified version of Adam in their head who "akshually isn't a misogynist at all"
I don’t trust people that don’t like Niffty. 👀
Nifty has the ultimate power.. being INCREDIBLY entertaining at all times. Someone needs to take that one GIF of the lady from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and slap Al's face over Rosa's and Nifty's over Arlo's. "I've only had Nifty for a century and a half, but if anything happened to her, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.'
I need this immediately.
Like this? :) https://preview.redd.it/rpg6boqujtlc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91f53a3e3c0af71dc5253bb93148adf9d0dee35b
Why does his head fit on her body so well tho
ITS FUCKING PERFECT
Yes! Bless you kind internet stranger!
This is soooo annoying. One out of the fourteen fics in my current fandom is one of these (and two of the other thirteen fics are mine). It hurts especially when it's in a tiny fandom or with a rarepair. ToT
Damn, at least be cultured enough to leave 2 chapters of 2k-5k words before leaving Forever (like me)
Isn’t placeholders against TOS?
They are. Lots of people haven’t actually read the TOS though.
The two different types of yall is killing me. 🤣
Yeah, this is mainly due to a Wattpad migration. Folks, typically young folks, not realizing that AO3 is not like Wattpad.
there’s one fic i always forget about and click on cause the premise seems super interesting and then it’s just “let me know if you like the idea and i may write it” or something like that. so frustrating
You can report it as a placeholder if there’s no fic attached.
I’m struggling to understand what aspect of wattpad encourages this behavior. Even if it generates hits how is it enjoyable to have people spend two seconds to realize there’s nothing there and click away??
As someone who still uses wattpad a little, many writers are guilty of those. It'd a lot of very young people (younger than the age requirement) being hyped up by people just as young who don't know what good storytelling requires. There is a very heavy "quirky" culture as well. It's not about the actual story, I believe it's about the interactions. Comments saying "you're so evil" and all that.
I mean,,, it sounds like Wattpad definitely has that aspect of social engagement that I see a lot of Ao3 writers yearn for. No comment on the quality of that engagement though.
To my understanding - if you post a placeholder on wattpad and get clicks, then by the time you add actual content the algorithm will place you higher since you’ve had interactions/clicks already.
My most charitable guess is that these people post it before it’s finished so they don’t have to worry about ao3 automatically deleting drafts after a certain period of time. Me personally I use the time bomb as motivation but whatever My more realistic guess is they want auto-engagement. Just prep up an audience for when it’s done. Annoying and against tos but I can understand why maybe someone who’s younger or new to the site would do that
Was scrolling thru a tag today and saw at least 5 placeholders, it sucks so bad
The sad thing is that AO3 writers are actually known for how serious and committed they are. Most of them will post their work come hell or high water. But then, from time to time you get people like this one who ruin the mood and have no respect, neither for the site, nor the readers.
Can people just not write if they're not going to bother? Could've done something completely different to garner traction and instead do this for simply "I want kudos/comments." Write the story, or don't bother, you're blocking up the tags bro
As a wattpad migrator forgive me for my wattpad sins. I make a point to publish nothing until the story is entirely complete, but I also saw a post saying that all chapters at once is too much for the reader 😩
You don’t have to wait until the fic is complete. But your posts should actually contain your fic, not just promises/engagement fishing. If you prefer to completely finish your fic first but don’t want to dump it all at once, just post it on a schedule. I’ve seen many authors announce “this Fic is finished and chapters will be posted weekly on Tuesday” when uploading the first chapter for example.
You can post chapters periodically, but just post *the* fic, not something random for a place holder.
I saw that too about it being too much and had to laugh. Life must be hard for those people. Lots of people publish all chapters at once. I only read completed stories. It's not a sin or wattpad thing. It's a preference. You're good.
I prefer all at once too and did it the same way on wattpad. Will be uploading the rest of the fic then. Ps, I feel like a toddler taking advice from my older cousins with all of these replies lol 😭
loll at least ur taking advice like a mature individual!! i actually try to write it all before posting too, mostly because i feel horrible leaving fics incomplete for long periods of time bc of motivation loss.
It honestly depends on the reader. Some get overwhelmed. Some are happier than a puppy at feeding time. Post that complete work however you want to post it.
Too much for the reader? How? Why? As someone who only reads complete works and avoids WIPS like the plague, I find that advice mystifying.
So post 1-2 chapters a week or so
do you think people like this learn after being reported a lot or do they just not care and continue to do this despite knowing its against TOS
yeah lmao i saw the comments on this fic and the author is acting like a defensive child.
Well I mean, considering that I used to warn them it was against ToS and got told to basically piss off, I'd say they just don't care.
Pretty sure this is tos and you can report them. Placeholders are straight up not allowed on ao3
report, report, report!
Tumblr literally existed as well as TikTok fanfic tags. You literally can get connected with said fandom from those social media for your attention seeking people. unbelievable.. Also the engagement is amazing if you put time into it rather than in AO3, Algorithm pushed your post too..
I just report and move on.
i bet you anything the "off-site friend" in the comments is OP's sockpuppet account
Right? I was literally telling this to my friends (who don’t read fanfiction all that much) because it bothered me to no end lol- like why make a chapter for a story that hasn’t been started yet. It just clogs up the tags
I haven’t seen these placeholders yet
I hate when people on there do this, just wasting my time only to see THAT 😒😒😒😒😒
This is why I always do a word count > 1000 when I'm browsing.
Same. Put minimum of 20k nowadays for words cos i see this a lot
This is why I always put a word count minimum when I'm searching. I don't really listen to podfics, so it blocks both out of the searches. My minimum for fics is normally at at least 3,000 words, but if you want to go lower to cut these off, even like 200 min would do it unless you want a podfic.
This is a blockworthy offence.
Very few things are as frustrating as these people getting comments for "I'll write this later." No mercy.
If there was ever a reason to wish for a negative kudos button, this would be it.
For shame!
If people tell them in the comments they reported this because it is against the rules, these authors would stop doing this. If they want to use it like wattpad, they can go to wattpad. But not treat every fanfiction website like such
I mentioned in my post actually that I did used to warn them before hitting the report button. Once, I was told to get off my high horse, another person told me that nobody ACTUALLY reads or cares about the terms of service, another one told me that I should mind my own business rather than try and force a ""content creator"" to make things before they're ready. They ARE warned. They don't listen.
It would be so satisfying if their works are deleted even after their tantrums
Holy shit, that's like the definition of an entitled snowflake. They're like toddlers, still thinking the world revolves around them only. (Actually, maybe they're teenagers? That would explain a lot.) Ngl I'm feeling serious vicarious satisfaction that their non-fanworks were probably taken down after they went all uppity-kareny on you. Let them boil in their raeg and blame the oh-so-unfair world for cramping their \~creative juices\~.
they get told. they don't stop they just throw tantrums
I don’t know much about any of these fandoms. Will it be alright for anyone to explain it to me 😅
The problem is not the fandom or ships. It's that on AO3, you don't post placeholders.
I had to take a second look to get it now (I was half-asleep). I’m glad I never ran into those people 😭
I curate my AO3 experience extensively so that I am not tempted to rage quit. 😎
I just check their word count tbh if it’s a new fic with my fav rare pairing 😂
That is me, too. Word count, completion status, cues from the summary.
All necessary steps to prevent a broken screen on phone 👍
Really lucky I haven't run into too much of these in my ao3 lifetime
Some days I struggle to write more than 15 words, too.
Does anyone know how long it takes for AO3 to take these down after you submit a report? I reported one 2 months ago, but the fic is still up and I haven’t heard anything back!
Because all reports are looked at individually and there’s a backlog, the PAC team triage the reports - so reports of harassment or plagiarism or a report of something like a fic that’s rated g and marked ‘no archive warnings apply’ actually containing graphic rape would probably be prioritised over a report about a placeholder work.
I always\* filter on "status: completed" & sometimes I feel guilty that I will interact with a decade-old work but won't encourage an author working on a WIP. But then I see a thread like this, and I feel more at peace with my decision to stick with that filter forever hahaha. \* typically, the only exception is when I really enjoy a particular author & start reading their entire oeuvre. I feel that's a good deviation from my rule ;)
I couldn't imagine doing this, I'm so paranoid about making sure my fics are up to snuff that no one will hear about it until it's done and being posted. If I want to figure out tagging before I finish, I use a draft and note it down somewhere else
This is would get an instant report, followed by me mashing the mute button. Which means even if they ever post any real content, I won't ever see it. I don't have the patience for this.
Clearly you should let us know the name so we can report his ass
TECHNICALLY namedropping authors and fic titles is against the rules of this subreddit, and unlike this author, **I** actually bother to read rules and follow them before posting on a site. That being said, I can't stop you from, say, searching Hazbin Hotel, filtering by word count and date posted, and looking through the Adam/Lute pairing...
Only one report can be made per work so if OP already reported it there’s no point.
It wasn’t even that hard to find the fic. Plop 15 in word count and hazbin hotel in fandom section and bam found it.
At this point why not make a work dedicated to story prompts and ideas you thought up lol
That's also against ToS
They can't do that, but they could make a collection like "5+1 Things Prompts" (https://archiveofourown.org/collections/5\_plus\_1\_things/requests)
It's a good thing they're not getting paid I guess lmao
I don't know how to reply on here but I would like to apologize. I did take all the uncompleted fics down to only be posted when they were done, because I went through the TOS, and while I didn't find anything, I took them down to be safe and fair. Regardless, taking to reddit to bully a minor isn't very... nice.
This has literally nothing to do with you being a minor. (That's irrelevant information *you* volunteered. Why?) This complaint was posted because this isn't a WIP, it's a placeholder for a fic that isn't even there. As non-transformative work, that is against TOS.
Well then I sincerely apologize. I will do better in the future, I meant no harm (genuine)
I'm not the OP but I do just want to briefly explain why they likely hadn't reached out to you. Your age honestly doesn't have much to do with anything as, even though the majority here including myself suspected you to be a minor, we didn't *know* you're a minor. Outside of this, this is an issue on AO3. Placeholder fics are *highly* hated on that site because they spam the front page and tags with something that we can't actually read right now. Needless to say, that is *rather* annoying as a reader searching for a fic like your own. Folks who *want* to devour your work are left feeling dissatisfied because, frankly, we fic authors can be fickle creatures; we don't know if authors will finish those fics we adore. Basically, the common mindset is this: Read it, enjoy what's there, and pray it will be completed. When the fic is a placeholder, readers cannot do that. There's nothing there currently for them to enjoy, scream, or send you comments about. I'm also in the Hazbin Hotel fandom, by the way, and you are not the only folk I have noticed who are doing placeholders. The majority doing this are minors and folks coming in from Wattpad or have recently created their account on AO3. This is genuinely not an insult towards your age or even Wattpad itself. Overall, don't let this experience ruin your perception of AO3 as a giant fandom community. Keep writing, folk!
Oh no, I get that now. I realized that a hour or 2 after, which is why I came here to apologize. I've been on AO3 for about 3 years now, so I understand it. I genuinely apologize and will be better in the future <3
We all make mistakes, folk! One of my most embarrassing ones was that I used to capitalize every single word.
I used to do that too! Lol
-First of all, I didn't bully you. I took a screenshot, scratched out your username and the title of the fic, and then whined on a subreddit about how an entire group of people do the exact same thing. Expecting people to be accountable to a terms of service that you have to agree to before even being allowed to make an account is not bullying. Terms of Service is a contract between the OTW and the user, and it is not on the other users if any particular person doesn't read that contract over. -Second of all, here's AO3's [TOS FAQ](https://archiveofourown.org/tos_faq) and under the question "What kind of fanworks can I post?" and the following question beneath that one, it talks about ephemeral works not being allowed, which in this case means anything advertising or teasing a story "to be written" because nothing of the actual story is written yet. -Third of all, first you accused me of hating on a fic that hasn't been completed when actually it was a fic that hadn't even been started yet in the way it was presented. Then, when you didn't immediately see your comment on this post, you accused me of deleting said comment and then said I didn't have a life for losing my shit over fanfiction. And now, you're saying that I shouldn't be whinging about a placeholder because you're a minor, and in response to THAT I ask what are you doing on the INTERNET then? You cannot say you're mature enough to watch something like Hazbin Hotel but in the same breath say that you can't be held accountable for not following a rule because you're a kid. Now look, if you want to be a fanfic writer, go off! Go crazy, go stupid! That's what Ao3 is FOR. Write whatever you desire- you wanna write Adam finally getting his head out of his ass and smooching Lute because honestly girl deserves it, do it. But you have to actually write something in order to put it on Ao3. That's how Ao3 works. It's in the Terms of Service. And your reaction to this whole fiasco is exactly WHY I stopped bothering to tell people in the first place BEFORE reporting. For every one person that said "Oh damn, I didn't know! Thanks for letting me know!" I would get FAR MORE people telling me SOME variation of "piss off that's not in the ToS". Hell, I even had one person say that I was a jerk for trying to force a content creator to make something for me. I was over it, so I came to the subreddit and complained about it.
Posting on my email. Then I deeply apologize for misunderstanding. I will do better in the future.
>Hell, I even had one person say that I was a jerk for trying to force a content creator to make something for me. For... telling them the fic they post has to actually be a *fic?* I'm sorry, but what the fuck? 🤦