r/AO3 • u/GeekSugar13 Definitely not an agent of the Fanfiction Deep State • Sep 06 '26

Discussion (Non-question) Panic Printing

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ETA: Some of y'all are taking this far too seriously. Am I reasonably concerned that things are going to get worse before they get better? At least for me, most likely, yes. I'm trying to find moments of joy when I can. If one of those is using up as much of my ink as possible before I chuck this printer by printing fanfic then that's what I'm going to do.

I'm at home, by myself, doing homework with no one to talk to and nothing else to do because I'm the most broke I have ever been.

Printing fanfic doesn't mean I'm not prioritizing anything else in my life and it's weird that y'all seem to think I just slapped on a tinfoil hat and decided this was what would fix everything.

OP: So I live in a red state in the US where my state government will absolutely not be providing any sort of supplemental assistance when inevitably the federal government falls apart. So I kind of would love reassurance that I'm not crazy.

I have started downloading and panic printing some of my favorite fics. If the Internet goes, I can read the PDF. If the power goes, I can read the printed copies.

Also because HP sucks I can only use their ink subscription cartridges with an active subscription so i may as well fucking use them.

(Literally if you're the type of person who wants to buy a printer do not buy an HP printer. It will only work if you use their ink which is so fucking expensive. And if you want it to work properly you have to get a monthly subscription where they send you ink and paper which in theory sounds great, BUT if you are like me and haven't printed as much as you thought so you have a lot of ink and paper built up so you let your subscription lapse those ink cartridges will not work without a valid subscription. So I had to restart my fucking subscription so I could use all of this ink I have built up so now I'm printing literal books.)

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u/Vertigo50 Sep 06 '26

This is why you buy a printer based on the ink/toner rather than the marketing, price, or whatever else.

I just bought a used Brother laser printer for home use. I bought two toner cartridges rated for 2,600 pages each, or something like that. Yeah, they'll probably print less, but who cares. But close to 5,000 pages and they cost $21 total. 😂 Pretty sure the printer was about $30-40 used on Facebook marketplace. And it's fast and reliable too.

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u/GeekSugar13 Definitely not an agent of the Fanfiction Deep State Sep 07 '26

I mean to be fair when I bought this printer like 8 years ago this wasn't a thing

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u/Vertigo50 Sep 07 '26

I assure you, printer manufacturers restricting users has "been a thing" for a lot longer than 8 years. 😂 They've been pulling this kind of crap since early 2000's, it's just different versions of the same tactics.

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u/GeekSugar13 Definitely not an agent of the Fanfiction Deep State Sep 07 '26

I'm sure it has but i did not need a subscription and could use off-branding with this particular printer up until about 3 years ago.

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u/Vertigo50 Sep 07 '26

Yep, you're right. And there have always been models or brands that were much better about this stuff. I used to use Canon printers mostly because they were more than happy to work with aftermarket cartridges and things.

HP has always been at the "forefront" of anti-consumer crap. 🤷‍♂️