I’ve been seeing just. The wildest takes about AO3 this donation cycle and I’m at my limit. I just saw a post claiming that AO3 isn’t a real archive, that it’s a scam, because there’s no quality control like a real, legitimate archive would have, that they just let in any old trash. And that this makes AO3 not worthy of anyone’s money or respect.
And you know what? It’s true! AO3 does let in any old trash! People can just post whatever the hell they want. And you know what? An ad-free, free-to-use website where people writing fanfiction, in their free time for no money, can upload their work with no hassle or exclusive vetting process, that also happens to be a highly popular and well-known fanfic repository for every fandom under the sun? WITH a robust and well-curated tagging system, too? That’s the dream. I’m glad they let anyone upload whatever weird trash they want. GOOD.
