slytherkins:

horsefaced:

slytherkins:

horsefaced:

slytherkins:

hazeldomain:

horsefaced:

slytherkins:

At least it’s off Google?

(Also, I’m too lazy to fix that typo)

It’s more like there are multiple entrances to the library and someone crafts a new one. Except this new entrance is designed to go only take you to the library and it offers useful services, like sticking bookmarks in all the books you were reading before you left the library. All the builders of all the entrances are paid for making and maintaining them but all the entrances can also be accessed for free.

Chrome, Firefox, Opera… browsers all make money. I don’t see how this app is different to a browser or an ebook reader. You make it seem like the app’s users were being manipulated into handing over their money, when they were voluntarily paying because they liked the app and wanted to reward the developer’s work. Chances are, the people who donated to the app developer also donate to Ao3.

So it would be like if someone built a coffeeshop with a door to the library so people could buy a coffee and sit in nice chairs and eat a croissant and listen to music while they read. They aren’t “stealing books” and the books being free isn’t gonna get you a comfy chair to read in.

Which is entirely beside the point if the library did not consent to the door being installed in their building.

 Or to things from the coffeshop being tracked into the library (ads). The arrangement would have to be mutual. And it isn’t. And it’s not as fancy or comfy as what you’ve described. Basically, the bookmarks being handed out by the unwanted cafes who have inserted their own door without permission have tassels on them and the library’s bookmarks are plain. Because they are free.  But also, at least one jerk has cut a hole in the wall by the alley and set up like a dozen booths, and he has a photocopier in the back and is def copying the books to stock his booths with for people to take home, and he’s done this without the permission of either the authors or the library. Which is also unnec, because the library will provide copies for readers (via several dl options) for free to anyone who has a library card. 

That’s not to mention that all of the authors involved provided the contents of the library to the library because it was THAT library. They trust and support THAT library and those librarians and what they stand for, and they did not consent to have their work associated with half a dozen random fucking coffeeshops that decided to install a bunch of unapproved doors, run by people they don’t know jack about and don’t know whether they can trust. AO3 doesn’t *just* house fanworks, either. There’s original fiction there as well. The authors consented to have their work curated by professions of the highest ethical standard who have their best interest in mind, and a bunch of strangers are capitalizing on that organisation’s hard work and reputation and the toil and creativity of thousands who, when they provided their works, did so in good faith and without these interlopers in mind. IT IS A TRESPASS. It is beside the point that it’s somehow more convenient for readers and coffeeshop owners. These apps have shown up unannounced and attacked the structure and made many of the authors take steps to protect their work they didn’t want to take and should not have had to. These apps have imposed and exploited through a staggering and erroneous sense of entitlement. AUTHORS AND THE ARCHIVE GRACIOUSLY PROVIDE ACCESS BUT THAT DOESN’T GIVE THESE APPS THE RIGHT TO DO WHATEVER THEY WANT WITH THE ARCHIVE OR ITS CONTENTS. YOU DON’T OWN OUR SHIT. IT’S NOT YOURS TO REPACKAGE AND SELL. 

What @hazeldomain said but also, I feel like you’re misunderstanding how the app worked. Nothing was being copied. No fics were stolen. Everything was still  on Ao3′s database. All the app did was display that data through what was essentially a different browser. Would you object if Chrome released a version of its browser that only went to the Ao3 website?

Maybe you’re perfectly with viewing Ao3 with your regular browser but many people obviously would prefer an app. And it actually did have a lot of useful features, like saving the exact position in a fic that you had read up to (Ao3′s bookmark function just saves the fic), dark mode, and easily accessing your downloads.

You didn’t have to pay a single cent to use any of these features, either *. Some people wanted to compensate the app developer for their work but that’s their prerogative. And like I said, people who were donating to the app developer or paying for the subscription were likely also donating to Ao3. It’s not an either or situation, as you’re framing it.

* I mean, there are ads, as with most free apps but there are also ebook reader apps with ads.

I understand how that particular app worked. There’s another developer who was copying them to their own servers. My point stands that it is unethical to develop these things against the wishes of the authors and the archive. It does not matter that people liked the app. Sorry. It just doesn’t. It doesn’t matter that people ‘were likely to donate to both’, though I really don’t think that’s very likely at fucking all. There is an assortment of apps the comic was made in response to. Some of them had a paywall that required payment for access to the ending of fics. For a lot of us, the very fact that ads are being shown in relation to our work, which we uploaded to AO3 to avoid, is upsetting. Because nothing identifying AO3 is allowed on the associating apps due to copyright, some readers might not even be aware that the content is being pulled from AO3, or that they provide that same content for free. They may assume that the authors willingly provided their works to these services, which is misleading. We did NOT consent to our intellectual property being accessed in this way. In some cases, ratings/tag/warnings are not displayed on these apps. Not only is our shit being repackaged with an unnecessary charge to read it in its entirety, it’s not even being presented in the way it was intended by the creator to be presented. 

The readers’ convenience does not trump the wishes or the rights of the creators. Full stop. The point is, readers aren’t entitled to these apps or the ‘perks’ they provide. If someone made an app and wanted to solicit authors to willingly provide content, that’s one thing. They are welcome to shoulder the costs of maintaining the archive they are providing access to. AO3′s code is available for anyone to copy and do their own thing, and if they want to provide an app associated with their archive, more power to them. BUT THESE APPS, even the one people keep trying to assert is so very innocent and free to use, are standing on shoulders of others, profiting, even if just in users, from the years and years of work by the OTW and AO3 and the countless hours spent by everyone who toiled over the works contained there. THAT IS NOT OKAY. I don’t care how little the apps make for developers. I don’t care if this one in particular was entirely free. (Though it still had ads, and that’s still not okay) 

I DON’T CARE HOW MANY PEOPLE THOUGHT THE APP WAS NIFTY AND SHINY AND CONVENIENT. IT SHOULDN’T EXIST.  

This is not comparable to browsers. That argument doesn’t even make sense. Browsers do not force ads on sites that don’t want them. There’s a reason AO3 is ad free. And yes. I would object to Chrome releasing a browser that only accessed AO3, IF AO3 DIDN’T AUTHORIZE IT TO DO SO.  

This is so very not complicated. Some people just have an over-inflated sense of entitlement to the work of others. 

Your comic was made primarily in response to the Fanfic Pocket Archive Library though. You reference the app in your comic and in your commentary when you said “At least it’s off Google?“ I don’t see how some other app that’s apparently hosting fics is relevant since this particular app didn’t do that. The apps shouldn’t be lumped into the same basket.

There are browsers with advertising, as well as ones you can pay for. Same for ebook readers, which you’d be using if you like to download and read fics offline (a feature Ao3 offers). So again, I don’t see how this app is different to any other mode of viewing the Ao3 website. If I use a paid or ad-funded browser app to exclusively to view Ao3, how is it any different to using this app?

Your argument that Ao3 didn’t authorise the app doesn’t work. As @hazeldomain said, Ao3 is coded to work on most browsers. Therefore, by default it allows any browser, e-reader, whatever to access the site. There is no list of platforms that Ao3 has forbidden from viewing the site from. The only problem Ao3 seems to have with the app is that it doesn’t want people to think it’s affiliated with them.

People who donate to the app developer also donating to Ao3 is just common sense. People who donate to one thing are likely to also be willing to donate to another, and people who never donate usually continue to never donate. The app wasn’t deceiving anyone into thinking Ao3 required payment to access or that they were the only way to get to the fics. What is your reasoning for doubting people who had a few bucks to chuck at the app wouldn’t also do so for Ao3?

You know what? I just fucking can’t anymore. It’s like talking to a goddamned brick wall. 

Look, if you don’t like being challenged on your opinions, don’t put them on the internet where everybody can see them. All I asked you to do was explain how using FPAL was different to using a regular browser, and you failed to do that. Instead you went on another rant about artists’ rights, continuing to spread misinformation and showing you didn’t understand how the app worked. You admit you were repeating yourself, when I’ve made arguments against your first posts, so who’s the brick wall here?

BTW if you don’t like the idea of someone viewing your art or writing on a platform that displays advertising or accepts donations, don’t put your work up or promote on Tumblr, which has ads.

whatwashernameagain:

ne0n-thunde1:

starbucks-strider-deactivated20:

whatwashernameagain:

yayroos:

teacupfulofstarshine:

queer-and-longing:

a-valorous-choice-deactivated20:

whatwashernameagain:

moonlight-mellohi:

whatwashernameagain:

I’m so fuming mad! Please talk to all of the fic writers you know, contact all of your friends on tumblr, leave comments with warnings Ao3. Report the app. And leave a super low rating in the app store.

Fanfic Pocket Archive Library stole all of our works!

That’s pretty much the entire fandom.

You know what the problem is? It’s not that my work is read somewhere else, or that those fucks get to profit from our work, it’s that creators will stop making new things if all that happens is that their work gets stolen. They’ll be frustrated and hurt and fandom culture will die. Please reblog this, and please make more posts for other fandoms to be warned. Let’s put an end to this. Help your fellow fanders have their works taken down!

I heard about this issue a few months ago, so I instantly started adding “don’t copy to another site” tags

Apparently that wasn’t enough. Guys I just reblogged below this some things you can do to help with this, we need to stop this right now. If this gets bad enough authors are going to start taking down work most likely or only uploading to sites some people dont use, because anything would be better than your work being stolen

This is bad, this is for not just fandoms but people who post original works too. I haven’t looked but my works are probably up on that site, and I will say right now I never give permission for people to repost my fanfics (or art for that matter)

Check out the post below this, we need to stop this now before it gets worse, before it corrupts the Ao3 community completely

I’m currently warning people i know. @impatentpending @randomslasher @a-valorous-choice i’ve already found on that site and messaged. I hope you guys can get your work taken down and maybe help spread the word.

SPREAD THIS

@whatwashernameagain if you put all your works on “visible only to registered users” you can’t read your work on the app. I’ve tested it out.

all my works have now been edited so that they’re visible only to registered users for this exact purpose

question: @accio-hufflepuff-power1 did your works disappear when you changed them to be visible only to registered users, as in they were previously visible through the app and then disappeared after you changed the setting?

If that is the case then this app is not saving your works to some other database, it is crawling AO3 live for search results and then fetching them.

The fact that the dev is asking for ‘tips’ is not great, but not entirely unreasonable.

Allowing users to save works offline is something AO3 already does.

All this is if my understanding is right, is an app that displays AO3 more neatly than a mobile website, because AO3 doesn’t have its own app.

I really don’t understand what the problem is. A theres third party apps for all kinds of websites that haven’t bothered to make their own apps.

I can’t say for any of the other apps of this kind, but I’m really not sure there’s anything wrong with this.

Thank you for trying to help spread information. I’ll try to explain what the problem for me, personally. My work has been taken by some dirtbag without my consent and he is making money off of it, which i have been writing on for free for over two years, without permission. That hurts me more than i can explain. I feel violated because i wanted to give this to the world for free. I made a choice to invest hundreds of hours and tears and pain into my work and have it to the world in good faith. It is part of the wonderful fanculture we all live in to provide our love and effort to everyone- that is why AO3 exists as well.

Everyone there is working for the fandom and not for themselves.

I have the feeling that only people who don’t create things themselves could ask what the big deal is, but maybe others are just not as upset over this as i am. However, you see how hurt and upset authors are. THAT is the big deal.

Imagine it like this. We all come together and create a garden. Every one of us works there for free - has been for almost 20 years in fact. They bring their own tools and buy the saplings themsleves and pour all of their deepest feelings, like their memory of deceased loved ones that taught them to garden, into the park. Sometimes, they work so hard for the people who love they flowers their hands bleed and they fall asleep in the early hours of the morning. And it’s free. Everyone can come as they please, look around, pick things they like.

And now this bitch comes along and sells maps at the gate. He has never worked a day in this garden. He says he does it because he loves the garden while the money merrily rattles in his pockets. He does not ask if he can be part of the garden, he does not share his money with the gardeners. And what is more, he suggests to young people, who do not know the garden well yet, that they need him to find their way around. That they should pay him a fee - which gets renewed if they don’t forget to cancel in time, so he can personally guide them through the garden. All of the gardeners are hurt, betrayed, afraid for the way their culture will change with his greed, but he doesn’t care. The garden that has always been there for everyone is now his - because not everyone even knows you can walk in for free. As long as he is guarding the gate, he’ll make sure there are only parts of the garden you can see - and he makes sure you know it. “Give me a little tip, and i’ll let you see everything. Trust me. I love the garden.” He says, while the gardeners cry over how what they have been used.

Didn’t LJ rb a post or something about the fact that this website is something where youre just looking at AO3 as an app (but you still shouldnt login through it out of spite)

If y’all really need an app try fluff AO3 fanfic reader! It’s free and you can still comment and give kudos to the authors (it’s basically a app to look at AO3)

@starbucks-remy if you are using fanfic pocket archive library - even without logging in, you are still giving money to the creator, since the app is posting ads. Ergo, if you use it, he is making money of off fanfic authors’ and the work of Ao3’s volunteers. If you don’t want to harm fanculture and cause a dangerous percedent, it’s best not to use it at all. Anything else is a slap in the face of everyone who does it for free and i’m sure you don’t want that.

As far as I can tell, the creator of the app is a SHE. And she didn’t steal your fics. She just made an viewing interface, like an alternative browser.

If you’re upset at her making money off her app, you should also be upset that developers of whatever browser you’re using to view Ao3 fics also made money off of their work.

slytherkins:

horsefaced:

slytherkins:

hazeldomain:

horsefaced:

slytherkins:

At least it’s off Google?

(Also, I’m too lazy to fix that typo)

It’s more like there are multiple entrances to the library and someone crafts a new one. Except this new entrance is designed to go only take you to the library and it offers useful services, like sticking bookmarks in all the books you were reading before you left the library. All the builders of all the entrances are paid for making and maintaining them but all the entrances can also be accessed for free.

Chrome, Firefox, Opera… browsers all make money. I don’t see how this app is different to a browser or an ebook reader. You make it seem like the app’s users were being manipulated into handing over their money, when they were voluntarily paying because they liked the app and wanted to reward the developer’s work. Chances are, the people who donated to the app developer also donate to Ao3.

So it would be like if someone built a coffeeshop with a door to the library so people could buy a coffee and sit in nice chairs and eat a croissant and listen to music while they read. They aren’t “stealing books” and the books being free isn’t gonna get you a comfy chair to read in.

Which is entirely beside the point if the library did not consent to the door being installed in their building.

 Or to things from the coffeshop being tracked into the library (ads). The arrangement would have to be mutual. And it isn’t. And it’s not as fancy or comfy as what you’ve described. Basically, the bookmarks being handed out by the unwanted cafes who have inserted their own door without permission have tassels on them and the library’s bookmarks are plain. Because they are free.  But also, at least one jerk has cut a hole in the wall by the alley and set up like a dozen booths, and he has a photocopier in the back and is def copying the books to stock his booths with for people to take home, and he’s done this without the permission of either the authors or the library. Which is also unnec, because the library will provide copies for readers (via several dl options) for free to anyone who has a library card. 

That’s not to mention that all of the authors involved provided the contents of the library to the library because it was THAT library. They trust and support THAT library and those librarians and what they stand for, and they did not consent to have their work associated with half a dozen random fucking coffeeshops that decided to install a bunch of unapproved doors, run by people they don’t know jack about and don’t know whether they can trust. AO3 doesn’t *just* house fanworks, either. There’s original fiction there as well. The authors consented to have their work curated by professions of the highest ethical standard who have their best interest in mind, and a bunch of strangers are capitalizing on that organisation’s hard work and reputation and the toil and creativity of thousands who, when they provided their works, did so in good faith and without these interlopers in mind. IT IS A TRESPASS. It is beside the point that it’s somehow more convenient for readers and coffeeshop owners. These apps have shown up unannounced and attacked the structure and made many of the authors take steps to protect their work they didn’t want to take and should not have had to. These apps have imposed and exploited through a staggering and erroneous sense of entitlement. AUTHORS AND THE ARCHIVE GRACIOUSLY PROVIDE ACCESS BUT THAT DOESN’T GIVE THESE APPS THE RIGHT TO DO WHATEVER THEY WANT WITH THE ARCHIVE OR ITS CONTENTS. YOU DON’T OWN OUR SHIT. IT’S NOT YOURS TO REPACKAGE AND SELL. 

What @hazeldomain said but also, I feel like you’re misunderstanding how the app worked. Nothing was being copied. No fics were stolen. Everything was still  on Ao3′s database. All the app did was display that data through what was essentially a different browser. Would you object if Chrome released a version of its browser that only went to the Ao3 website?

Maybe you’re perfectly with viewing Ao3 with your regular browser but many people obviously would prefer an app. And it actually did have a lot of useful features, like saving the exact position in a fic that you had read up to (Ao3′s bookmark function just saves the fic), dark mode, and easily accessing your downloads.

You didn’t have to pay a single cent to use any of these features, either *. Some people wanted to compensate the app developer for their work but that’s their prerogative. And like I said, people who were donating to the app developer or paying for the subscription were likely also donating to Ao3. It’s not an either or situation, as you’re framing it.

* I mean, there are ads, as with most free apps but there are also ebook reader apps with ads.

I understand how that particular app worked. There’s another developer who was copying them to their own servers. My point stands that it is unethical to develop these things against the wishes of the authors and the archive. It does not matter that people liked the app. Sorry. It just doesn’t. It doesn’t matter that people ‘were likely to donate to both’, though I really don’t think that’s very likely at fucking all. There is an assortment of apps the comic was made in response to. Some of them had a paywall that required payment for access to the ending of fics. For a lot of us, the very fact that ads are being shown in relation to our work, which we uploaded to AO3 to avoid, is upsetting. Because nothing identifying AO3 is allowed on the associating apps due to copyright, some readers might not even be aware that the content is being pulled from AO3, or that they provide that same content for free. They may assume that the authors willingly provided their works to these services, which is misleading. We did NOT consent to our intellectual property being accessed in this way. In some cases, ratings/tag/warnings are not displayed on these apps. Not only is our shit being repackaged with an unnecessary charge to read it in its entirety, it’s not even being presented in the way it was intended by the creator to be presented. 

The readers’ convenience does not trump the wishes or the rights of the creators. Full stop. The point is, readers aren’t entitled to these apps or the ‘perks’ they provide. If someone made an app and wanted to solicit authors to willingly provide content, that’s one thing. They are welcome to shoulder the costs of maintaining the archive they are providing access to. AO3′s code is available for anyone to copy and do their own thing, and if they want to provide an app associated with their archive, more power to them. BUT THESE APPS, even the one people keep trying to assert is so very innocent and free to use, are standing on shoulders of others, profiting, even if just in users, from the years and years of work by the OTW and AO3 and the countless hours spent by everyone who toiled over the works contained there. THAT IS NOT OKAY. I don’t care how little the apps make for developers. I don’t care if this one in particular was entirely free. (Though it still had ads, and that’s still not okay) 

I DON’T CARE HOW MANY PEOPLE THOUGHT THE APP WAS NIFTY AND SHINY AND CONVENIENT. IT SHOULDN’T EXIST.  

This is not comparable to browsers. That argument doesn’t even make sense. Browsers do not force ads on sites that don’t want them. There’s a reason AO3 is ad free. And yes. I would object to Chrome releasing a browser that only accessed AO3, IF AO3 DIDN’T AUTHORIZE IT TO DO SO.  

This is so very not complicated. Some people just have an over-inflated sense of entitlement to the work of others. 

Your comic was made primarily in response to the Fanfic Pocket Archive Library though. You reference the app in your comic and in your commentary when you said “At least it’s off Google?“ I don’t see how some other app that’s apparently hosting fics is relevant since this particular app didn’t do that. The apps shouldn’t be lumped into the same basket.

There are browsers with advertising, as well as ones you can pay for. Same for ebook readers, which you’d be using if you like to download and read fics offline (a feature Ao3 offers). So again, I don’t see how this app is different to any other mode of viewing the Ao3 website. If I use a paid or ad-funded browser app to exclusively to view Ao3, how is it any different to using this app?

Your argument that Ao3 didn’t authorise the app doesn’t work. As @hazeldomain said, Ao3 is coded to work on most browsers. Therefore, by default it allows any browser, e-reader, whatever to access the site. There is no list of platforms that Ao3 has forbidden from viewing the site from. The only problem Ao3 seems to have with the app is that it doesn’t want people to think it’s affiliated with them.

People who donate to the app developer also donating to Ao3 is just common sense. People who donate to one thing are likely to also be willing to donate to another, and people who never donate usually continue to never donate. The app wasn’t deceiving anyone into thinking Ao3 required payment to access or that they were the only way to get to the fics. What is your reasoning for doubting people who had a few bucks to chuck at the app wouldn’t also do so for Ao3?

slytherkins:

hazeldomain:

horsefaced:

slytherkins:

At least it’s off Google?

(Also, I’m too lazy to fix that typo)

It’s more like there are multiple entrances to the library and someone crafts a new one. Except this new entrance is designed to go only take you to the library and it offers useful services, like sticking bookmarks in all the books you were reading before you left the library. All the builders of all the entrances are paid for making and maintaining them but all the entrances can also be accessed for free.

Chrome, Firefox, Opera… browsers all make money. I don’t see how this app is different to a browser or an ebook reader. You make it seem like the app’s users were being manipulated into handing over their money, when they were voluntarily paying because they liked the app and wanted to reward the developer’s work. Chances are, the people who donated to the app developer also donate to Ao3.

So it would be like if someone built a coffeeshop with a door to the library so people could buy a coffee and sit in nice chairs and eat a croissant and listen to music while they read. They aren’t “stealing books” and the books being free isn’t gonna get you a comfy chair to read in.

Which is entirely beside the point if the library did not consent to the door being installed in their building.

 Or to things from the coffeshop being tracked into the library (ads). The arrangement would have to be mutual. And it isn’t. And it’s not as fancy or comfy as what you’ve described. Basically, the bookmarks being handed out by the unwanted cafes who have inserted their own door without permission have tassels on them and the library’s bookmarks are plain. Because they are free.  But also, at least one jerk has cut a hole in the wall by the alley and set up like a dozen booths, and he has a photocopier in the back and is def copying the books to stock his booths with for people to take home, and he’s done this without the permission of either the authors or the library. Which is also unnec, because the library will provide copies for readers (via several dl options) for free to anyone who has a library card. 

That’s not to mention that all of the authors involved provided the contents of the library to the library because it was THAT library. They trust and support THAT library and those librarians and what they stand for, and they did not consent to have their work associated with half a dozen random fucking coffeeshops that decided to install a bunch of unapproved doors, run by people they don’t know jack about and don’t know whether they can trust. AO3 doesn’t *just* house fanworks, either. There’s original fiction there as well. The authors consented to have their work curated by professions of the highest ethical standard who have their best interest in mind, and a bunch of strangers are capitalizing on that organisation’s hard work and reputation and the toil and creativity of thousands who, when they provided their works, did so in good faith and without these interlopers in mind. IT IS A TRESPASS. It is beside the point that it’s somehow more convenient for readers and coffeeshop owners. These apps have shown up unannounced and attacked the structure and made many of the authors take steps to protect their work they didn’t want to take and should not have had to. These apps have imposed and exploited through a staggering and erroneous sense of entitlement. AUTHORS AND THE ARCHIVE GRACIOUSLY PROVIDE ACCESS BUT THAT DOESN’T GIVE THESE APPS THE RIGHT TO DO WHATEVER THEY WANT WITH THE ARCHIVE OR ITS CONTENTS. YOU DON’T OWN OUR SHIT. IT’S NOT YOURS TO REPACKAGE AND SELL. 

What @hazeldomain said but also, I feel like you’re misunderstanding how the app worked. Nothing was being copied. No fics were stolen. Everything was still  on Ao3′s database. All the app did was display that data through what was essentially a different browser. Would you object if Chrome released a version of its browser that only went to the Ao3 website?

Maybe you’re perfectly with viewing Ao3 with your regular browser but many people obviously would prefer an app. And it actually did have a lot of useful features, like saving the exact position in a fic that you had read up to (Ao3′s bookmark function just saves the fic), dark mode, and easily accessing your downloads.

You didn’t have to pay a single cent to use any of these features, either *. Some people wanted to compensate the app developer for their work but that’s their prerogative. And like I said, people who were donating to the app developer or paying for the subscription were likely also donating to Ao3. It’s not an either or situation, as you’re framing it.

* I mean, there are ads, as with most free apps but there are also ebook reader apps with ads.

slytherkins:

At least it’s off Google?

(Also, I’m too lazy to fix that typo)

It’s more like there are multiple entrances to the library and someone crafts a new one. Except this new entrance is designed to go only take you to the library and it offers useful services, like sticking bookmarks in all the books you were reading before you left the library. All the builders of all the entrances are paid for making and maintaining them but all the entrances can also be accessed for free.

Chrome, Firefox, Opera… browsers all make money. I don’t see how this app is different to a browser or an ebook reader. You make it seem like the app’s users were being manipulated into handing over their money, when they were voluntarily paying because they liked the app and wanted to reward the developer’s work. Chances are, the people who donated to the app developer also donate to Ao3.

ao3commentoftheday:

kedreeva:

kedreeva:

Okay, so I looked into this and would like to say: Please stop spread this, please stop fear-mongering over this app, and especially please don’t bog down AO3′s volunteer support folks with messages about this app.

Why?

Because from what I can tell

1.  AO3 already knows. They’ve known since 2015. They do not have their own version of an app and have no intention of making one of their own anytime soon. So this person isn’t stepping on their toes by making this ad that means they won’t be doing anything about it.
2. This is basically an ereader app for AO3. They’re not ~stealing~ your fics and selling them for profit. The app is a fancy interface for AO3. It gives you a fancy way to view the site and download fic, but it’s not actually hosting them. It’s not setting up your fic on a new site. It’s JUST allowing people a different way to view and interact with AO3.
3. They’re not profiting off of your fic they’re being paid for use of their interface. If people want to view ads instead of accessing AO3 ad-free on a browser, that’s their business. If they want to pay $1/month to see AO3 through a fancy skin without ads instead of using a browser that would do the same thing for free, that’s their prerogative. It makes absolutely no sense to me why anyone would WANT those things, but it’s not my business to interfere with the idiom “a fool and his money are soon parted.”

This is not to say that the app doesn’t have serious problems. The major problem I can see is that the app is completely and totally not affiliated with AO3 but gives users the option to log in- but since they are unaffiliated, this means you’re basically giving your login credentials to a third party.

So, you know. Those of you who just downloaded the app just to bitch them out and logged in to do it- the app creator potentially has your login info now. Maybe go change that on AO3 asap, and don’t use login to AO3 through this app just in case.

And if you’ve left a nasty review of this app in response to this initial post, perhaps consider taking it down or revising it with actual information (like maybe the bit about not logging in). I get being upset over the idea of someone stealing your fic to make a profit, but that’s not what is happening here, and this app creator does not deserve backlash for something they’re not even doing.

Anyway, that’s the info I could find while half-asleep at Too Early O’clock on a Sunday. Please try to be a little more judicious on what information you’re spreading and maybe ask around before spreading it, especially if it’s going to involve making extra work for the AO3 support folks who already have too much to do. There absolutely HAVE been sites found to be stealing your fics and re-hosting them elsewhere against your will. This doesn’t appear to be one of them though.

winchestersingerautorepair:

🚨ATTENTION🚨

All Writers Published on Ao3:

This app, “Fanfic Pocket Archive Library”, is lifting all public content from Ao3 and making it available through a service they profit from.

Your work has been stolen and is being used to make money for a third party.

^above are the ways in which the app makes money off of Ao3 content. The developer is called Simple Soft Alliance. Here’s the app’s Terms and Conditions.

Any fanfiction that can be accessed without a password on Ao3 is already available in this app. Yours, mine, every fan creator’s. Whether this is illegal I do not know, but it is certainly unethical and needs to be fought. Ao3 is a site of unparalleled integrity and shows the utmost respect to creators, so this content grab is an even bigger slap in the face for that reason.

🚨Please flag/report this app in your app store. 🚨

🚩Google Playstore link (go HERE to report directly)

🚩Apple Store link (download app, then go to report it here )

Feel free to contact Ao3 as well to alert them to this issue. Let’s take em down, folks. In the meantime, you can put your Ao3 in private mode to prevent any more data theft.

Please reblog and tag your writer friends. Signal boost this.

The reason EVERYONE’S work “is there” on the app is because the app is not hosting any of it. The app hasn’t downloaded your work, it isn’t hosting any of it itself, it’s not stealing your stuff and reposting it for profit. It’s a window through which to view AO3. So of course all of everyone’s work will be there- you’re literally looking at AO3.

This app is just…. it’s a little like rabb.it was. You have an account and you view another account through it (except in this case I think you’re providing login info to the app differently than you did in rabb.it). You’re looking at AO3 through the pocket fanfic window.

Taken from a response from AO3 support:

To the best of our knowledge, the app is not wholesale scraping and storing data - they’re displaying content from the Archive in a very heavily modified format. Because the app’s subscribtion fee can be explained as “to support the app’s code base” and not for the content itself, it is within legal bounds.

They also suggest that you can attempt to issue a DCMA takedown notice, but since the app is not storing your data, this would be like telling chrome “take down my story that you showed me on AO3″ which…. it cannot do. Because it’s not hosting it. It’s just showing it to you in their window.

Signal Boost to save your AO3 Support team from drowning in email.

The people who have been flooding the app creator’s social media with abuse should consider apologizing too. It’s outright bullying.

I also see fanfic writers in the notes suggesting sticking Disney on them. The irony of that is just…

scarletwitching:

[long, protracted sigh]

I’m going to break my own “don’t ask me about the MCU” rule, which I never follow anyway, to say something about this freakin’ tv show because no one else is going to: The idea that Wanda, who is not from the US and spent most of her life hating the US (because the US military MURDERED HER FAMILY) is going to create an alternate reality where her perfect life is being a stereotypical 1950′s US housewife is gross and bad.

Revealing that a foreign-born victim of the US military’s #1 secret desire is to live out this white, conservative US-American fantasy and all she wants out of life is to be June Cleaver is really nasty US-centrism. Why would that be her dream? Does she think to herself, “Yeah, they killed my family, but my idea of what a family is – and what happiness is – is based on a sanitized version of THEIR history.”

And why would someone from a former communist country idealize the era of the Red Scare, a time full of xenophobia directed specifically at people like her?

I think this is framed a bit awkwardly. There are tonnes of people from countries ravaged by US military action who do want to live in the US. It’s a prosperous country with high quality of life, and people willing to put politics over improving their own prospects (and that of their family’s) are in the minority. So this character doing/desiring what most (or at least a good chunk of) people with her background would do is not the problem. The problem is the lack of acknowledgement of her background altogether.

Promoting 1950′s America as an idealistic period is also troublesome, of course, but is the show about Wanda’s fantasy universe? From what I can tell, that’s just a fan theory and people take everything to mean HoM will be the next MCU story because that’s all they know of her.