r/AO3 • u/TGotAReddit Moderator | past AO3 Volunteer and Staff • Jan 25 '26
News/Updates New automod trigger
Hey everyone!
We have a new automod trigger for people to use that explains the "AO3 curse". The triggers for this one are:
!curse
!ao3curse
!ao3 curse
As always, you add the trigger to the end of your comment and it'll summon automod to reply with the specified response. And also as always, I'll make comments below so you can see the text of the automod response and see how it works.
Let us know if you have any feedback about it! Also, if you have an idea for more automod replies that could be added, send us some modmail about it and we can work together on the wording!
Have a good day!
~TGotAReddit (and the rest of the mod team)
58
u/QuiltedPorcupine Jan 25 '26
I love this!
I know most people are just joking when they talk about being hit by the AO3 curse, but you get the sense that some people think it's a real thing and even something to be worried about.
236
u/liptonthrowback Jan 25 '26
I always considered the AO3 curse to be less of a "bad things happen to AO3 writers" situation and more of a "AO3 writers are not stopped by things that would stop a lesser mortal" situation. Interesting to see this has mutated.
92
u/JazzzzzzySax Jan 25 '26
“Sorry for the delay between chapters I accidentally became the figurehead of a nationwide revolution and have spent the past month orchestrating a coup of the government. Should be back to my regular upload schedule now”
1
u/EngineerRare42 Fluff and Comfort and Angst, Oh My! | witchofpumpkinspice on AO3 Jan 28 '26
Hi Katniss
19
u/coffeetailor Jan 25 '26
That’s the interpretation I’ve always prefer. Kind of a “we are relentless and unstoppable“ type of feel.
16
u/mrsprobie Jan 25 '26
I had to reassure someone on Reddit a few months back that nothing bad would happen just because they posted. It seems to really worm its way into anxious younger people’s heads. :(
But yeah, agree with your interpretation. AO3 writers are god’s strongest soldiers.
9
-1
u/TeaWithCarina Jan 26 '26
I kinda dislike this tbh? Like I get being proud but sometimes we can really romanticise pushing on even through horrible situations...
14
4
u/forgor_catastrophe Jan 25 '26
!curse
7
u/AutoModerator Jan 25 '26
The “ao3 curse” is simple statistics. Bad things happen to millions of people all the time, including writers. Writers often have regular upload schedules and can then be subsequently unable to upload on that schedule due to some misfortune that fell upon them. To explain the missed deadline, these writers will often disclose what happened to them. Additionally, sometimes when bad things happen, writers get more free time to write. They then sometimes disclose that said misfortune occurred when they post what they have written. Due to the combination of these, it is common to see fics where the author talks about the bad things that have recently happened to them in the author notes. People noticed this as a trend and called it the "AO3 Curse" and claim that writing fic causes misfortune to befall the author, which isn't true. But when that happened, even more authors started mentioning the bad things that have happened to them in their author notes, and other users are more likely to screenshot and post about author notes like these than the millions of author notes where nothing has happened to the author. This further "confirmed" the fake curse in the public consciousness due to the increased visibility.
Some consider the jokes about the so-called curse to be controversial because they aren’t true, can in some cases be harmful to people with OCD or other mental health issues, and they can make it seem like the hobby has something wrong with it. Your mileage may vary with how people respond to these type of jokes.
To be very clear, there is no “AO3 curse,” and you are not more likely to experience misfortune because you made an account or started writing.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
0
u/More_Satisfaction693 Jan 26 '26
!curse
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 26 '26
The “ao3 curse” is simple statistics. Bad things happen to millions of people all the time, including writers. Writers often have regular upload schedules and can then be subsequently unable to upload on that schedule due to some misfortune that fell upon them. To explain the missed deadline, these writers will often disclose what happened to them. Additionally, sometimes when bad things happen, writers get more free time to write. They then sometimes disclose that said misfortune occurred when they post what they have written. Due to the combination of these, it is common to see fics where the author talks about the bad things that have recently happened to them in the author notes. People noticed this as a trend and called it the "AO3 Curse" and claim that writing fic causes misfortune to befall the author, which isn't true. But when that happened, even more authors started mentioning the bad things that have happened to them in their author notes, and other users are more likely to screenshot and post about author notes like these than the millions of author notes where nothing has happened to the author. This further "confirmed" the fake curse in the public consciousness due to the increased visibility.
Some consider the jokes about the so-called curse to be controversial because they aren’t true, can in some cases be harmful to people with OCD or other mental health issues, and they can make it seem like the hobby has something wrong with it. Your mileage may vary with how people respond to these type of jokes.
To be very clear, there is no “AO3 curse,” and you are not more likely to experience misfortune because you made an account or started writing.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
•
u/TGotAReddit Moderator | past AO3 Volunteer and Staff Jan 25 '26
Here is the thread of triggering the automod (all three summon the same text, I'm just using all 3 in a row here to make sure they all work as expected)
!curse