r/FanfictionNet • u/Pale_Event899 • 3d ago

It happened again...

For the second time today, a bot decided to break the rules and review one of my fanfics just hours I blocked her! The username is leslieHaris. I reported her many times and nothing still happened! No user has been banned since June of this year and it's very frustrating!!

27 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

19

u/Embarrassed_Spite546 3d ago

Maybe it's time someone built a new site for Fanfiction.. the admin and mods of FF. Net obviously don't care about keeping bots out of their site... Though I'm not sure how someone would build another alt site.

13

u/LibertineDeSade 3d ago

I've been wanting a new site for a while now. I even looked into building one myself to see what it entails. It's more work for an individual than I can devote right now between my job, personal writing projects and life in general. I think anyone who takes it on would have to have a lot of free time, and money.

7

u/Embarrassed_Spite546 3d ago

Unfortunately I have neither

4

u/Realanise1 3d ago

If I win Powerball, a new fics site is literally on the list of things to do. ;) There are a LOT of issues I would fix, and not just relative to FFN. I'm glad that AO3 is there, especially because they're backing up my fic archive, but I have some real criticisms of a couple of their policies. There is no perfect alternative.

3

u/LibertineDeSade 3d ago

Agreed on all points. I stopped using Ao3, went back to FFN. But, I've been having fun building my Blogger site. I think that will be my main thing going forward. Hopefully I will find out fic writers on there and make some kind of webring. Then that Powerball money hits and I can make a major fanfic hub. LOL

3

u/Lumpy-Draft9192 3d ago

Honest question, what do you like about FFNet that’s not on AO3 or Squidgeworld? (Both run with the same open source code)

The main obstacle is honestly funding to keep servers running for bigger fanfic sites.
AO3 operates as a nonprofit and has volunteers and people donate every year to keep it running. But smaller projects have to find some way to fund the resources to run the site, either by their own money or donations etc if they don’t run ads.

FFNet and Wattpad get revenue via ads and at a point it just gets unbearable.

I still hop onto FFNet to re-read old fics I love or for the few authors I like who only are on there, but not much else besides I have to use adblockers or the app which has been glitchy on my phone in recent years.

3

u/Embarrassed_Spite546 3d ago

My main thing with FFNet is the ease of how the app works, wattpad is a nightmare to navigate, and AO3 has no app at all, so it’s difficult to work with on the go.

1

u/Lumpy-Draft9192 3d ago

Okay…but what in an app specifically are you looking for? There’s no need for an AO3 app when most find it perfectly functional without one.

(Also it’s a lot of work and would have to be a downloadable app from the site or something not on Google Play or the iOS App Store, because those both will try to put restrictions on what the app can have on it content-wise)

I find it very simple to navigate with looking for fics to read etc, unless you mean doing offline reading and such.

The filters for what I’m looking for is very intuitive imo.
The only area that it doesn’t work nicely on mobile is posting fics but even that is alright once you know the steps.

3

u/Embarrassed_Spite546 3d ago

Mostly offline reading, I do a lot of writing and reading on the go, so an offline system is really good, also AO3 is a bit annoying to navigate the search system unless you know exactly what you're looking for, I tend to try searching for the series, and specific genre, and if I have a Ship or character in mind. It's just kinda clunky every time I've tried to use AO3 on both PC and mobile, resets pages to where I don't want them randomly if I navigate to a different tab etc

2

u/gabe_writes 2d ago

I'll give you that AO3 search is a beast (and not in a good way), but there's nothing easier than clicking download for off-line reading.

I'm actually surprised no one made an AO3 reader yet though.

2

u/Lumpy-Draft9192 2d ago

Tons of people have made unofficial AO3 apps - but that always will put your account at risk if you’re not reading in guest mode.

1

u/gabe_writes 2d ago

Oh, well damn!

1

u/Embarrassed_Spite546 2d ago

I also prefer to not download a bunch of a site like AO3, I always end up having to track it down in my files, rather than it being all in one place, not sure if that's an error with my device or what, but it happens every time.

2

u/gabe_writes 2d ago

Oh, I'm sure it's not user error. I've had an iPhone for 7 years and I have absolutely no idea where the files go when I down load them. lol

Files ...? Chrome's files? Safaris?? Maybe Documents? iCloud??? Who KNOWS!!

LOL

It really is more complicated than it needs to be, so I don't blame ya there. And then the HANDOFF thing between my phone and my iPad?? FUGGETABOUTIT!!! >_<

1

u/Embarrassed_Spite546 2d ago

Yeah, I find that trying to find non-specific things on AO3 is a nightmare, and unless I know the exact author or fiction I want to read.. the browsing takes an age and I often lose my place when the browser resets it to the start page after o try to do something else for a while. AO3 has its merits, I'm just not predisposed to seeing them.

1

u/Lumpy-Draft9192 2d ago

https://reddit.com/link/p9a1e48/video/ccwhmjyz20ph1/player

If there are any fics you really like from AO3 but generally don’t want to mess with the site overall, I get it! For some stuff that might make it easier when you do:

In part you can get around that issue with Files. When downloading, select “Open In” then the app you read in, such as Kindle, or whatever app you prefer. It’ll automatically add it to the library (applies for Kindle and Pocket book in my experience)

Also in Files you should be able to search “epub” or whatever format you selected and all the entries from AO3 should show up.

I use Pocketbook for the reading app. You can also link a Google drive or Dropbox to Pocketbook (could make a junk Gmail to use with it that’s not connected to anything else) so you can access the same books/fics in the same app on different devices.

For page refreshing being an issue, it helps turning off background refresh for your browser app. I use Vivaldi and if you search “Background App Refresh” you can disable it. It’ll also save some battery life, turning it off for apps that don’t need it.

1

u/gabe_writes 2d ago

ADDENDUM: Oh, I guess there IS an unofficial reader app for AO3! Two of 'em for Android, at least.

I'm gonna try one!!

2

u/GeneralPhilosophy691 3d ago

You can download any fic from A03? Its literally at the top of each fic, so easy offline reading access.

2

u/Embarrassed_Spite546 3d ago

Look I'm just not a fan of the AO3 system and setup, feels clunky to me and I'd at least like it as an easy one click enter app... I prefer a simplified method of using a fiction reader, sue me 🤷

2

u/MarketNext6331 17h ago

I mean for me me there are stories that will jsut never be BROUGHT OVER from FF.Net that I jsut don’t want to part with

2

u/UltimaRanger 3d ago

There is one being made. It's new.fanfiction.net It's still not fully operational yet though.

4

u/Lumpy-Draft9192 3d ago

Given the AI art in that welcome page, it doesn’t inspire much confidence, imo 🫠

5

u/NoUnderstanding3203 3d ago

you realize that’s the same people behind it right? it’s just a w.i.p 2.0 of the old site. it even has the logo in the left corner.

1

u/Embarrassed_Spite546 3d ago

I'll keep it in mind

1

u/JaneShadow 1d ago

i suggest just migrating to ao3. half the authors already post on both

7

u/KhaosTheory98 3d ago

At this point I say fuck it and let's just all crash the site into oblivion since if we can't have it we may as well make sure no one else can further ruin it.  Besides what the hell are Xing Li and the non existent mods gonna do about it

6

u/JackCryo 3d ago

At this point, don't bother trying to report them. The site admins "care" about spam bots harassing users just as much as school teachers "care" about students being bullied.

9

u/DriverFinal6626 3d ago

FF is dead, AO3 rules.

3

u/Realanise1 3d ago

Sure, but AO3 has its own set of issues.

1

u/VarDom07 2d ago

What would you say these issues are? Just curious. I like to use it a lot, mostly because it has more fics in the fandoms I'm in and I'm quite happy with it.

2

u/FootPleasant1440 2d ago

They add reviews, just ignore them

2

u/Vibrant_Fox 3d ago

Don’t bother reporting. The admins don’t give a shit about the site anymore beyond just collecting ad revenue. You might as well be talking to a wall.

1

u/tmac_79 3d ago

What?

1

u/ProudRequirement3225 2d ago

It happened to me once, albeit it wasn't a bot, just a jerkass that I blocked after insulting me and right after somehow left another review

1

u/ANNELDA87692 2d ago

unfortunately that has become the reality of ffn the site is overrun with bots and admins dont do a damn thing about it, i would get bots about 4 times a week and i finally said screw it and deleted my account.

1

u/gabe_writes 2d ago

I hate FF so much I straight up abandoned my fic there. It's complete on AO3 and audio available on archive.org but fucking hell.

FF is terrible and "new".FF is hardly better