Latest Posts by karamelldiamant - Page 2

A Tag Wrangler's Guide to Tagging on AO3

Tags on AO3 can be confusing and hard when you don't know what you're doing. There are also a lot of misconceptions about how the Archive works behind the scenes, so here's a guide with tips, tricks, and explanations from a writer and tag wrangler (me)!

DISCLAIMERS:

I'm a tag wrangler volunteer, but anything I say here is my own personal experience and opinion, not that of the archive.

I am not: a coder, ao3 support, a wrangler of your fandom (probably), or responsible for that one author who annoys you.

I'm using well-known examples, not things I necessarily write or ship. Don't come at me for your shipping wars.

Image descriptions for screenshots are in the alt text!

With that out of the way, let's get started!

1. Fandoms

TL;DR - Use full words, the Archive will take care of the rest.

This is perhaps the most straightforward field. Enter the name of the fandom that your work relates to. If you start typing, the field will auto-suggest fandoms for you!

You'll have the best results with full words. The Archive doesn't know abbreviations!

If you've tried full words and nothing shows up, it might be the first work for that fandom! Congrats!! You can type the name of the fandom and press Enter or Return on your keyboard, and it'll appear just as any other fandom.

~~

2. Relationships

TL;DR - Relationships will auto-suggest based on what you enter in the Fandoms field!

Once you've entered a fandom, the "Relationships" field will auto-suggest as you type with relationships that have previously been tagged* in that fandom.

An ampersand (&) indicates that a relationship is platonic. A slash (/) indicates that a relationship is romantic or sexual.

Similar to the Fandoms field, full names are going to work best here.

Some things to note:

Tags suggest based on how closely they match what you've typed, then by how much they're used

Characters are alphabetized by last name (usually)! The order of names has no other meaning, like who tops, the Archive's favorite character, whatever. It's just the alphabet.

You can leave it blank. If there are no significant relationships, you can leave it empty!

If you want to note that a relationship is background, endgame, anything like that, you can indicate that in the Relationships field, but that's better for the Additional Tags field.

If your relationship isn't showing up, congrats! It might be the first time it's been tagged (or a wrangler hasn't gotten to it yet). Hit Enter and the tag wranglers will do the rest!

~~

3. Characters

TL;DR - Characters auto-suggest based on fandom, and tags are usually their most common name.

This field is to tag the characters who appear in the fic. Character tags will use the most common name in canon or fandom (ex. Tony Stark, not Anthony Edward Stark).

But I don't know if they're a big enough character to tag!

A good rule of thumb is: Would you be disappointed if this was your blorbo and you were looking for fics with them in it? Note: This is a rule of thumb that I, the author, use, and not an Actual Rule anywhere.

If your blorbo is a canonical character and they don't have a tag, it's not personal! They just haven't been tagged yet (or a wrangler hasn't gotten to it yet). Hit Enter and the tag wranglers will do the rest!

If your blorbo is not a canonical character, then I can't guarantee anything. Most fandoms need a non-canonical character to be tagged by at least three separate people before wranglers will make it into a tag. So recruit a friend or two!

~~

4. Additional Tags

TL;DR - Anything and everything else!

This is the field people struggle the most with. So much so that there are three archive tags for it: How Do I Tag, I'm Bad at Tagging, and Tags Are Hard!

This field can tag for anything and everything else that wasn't covered in the Fandoms, Relationships, and Characters fields. Think of it as bright colors on an animal -- it warns some away, and it entices others.

Here are some ideas:

genre/tone (fluff, angst, murder mystery, slow burn, etc)

relationship modifiers (background X & Y, endgame X/Y, X and Y are exes, etc)

character modifiers (mentioned X, werewolf Y, trans Z, etc)

tropes (there was only one bed, fake dating, etc)

any other warnings not covered by the Archive Warnings section (panic attacks, sad ending, nightmares, etc)

alternate vs canon universe?

when in canon? (missing scene, fix-it fic, pre-canon, etc)

If there's smut, any kinks

meta tags about the work (POV, verb tense, drabble, one-shot, etc)

If something doesn't show up, try a synonym; it may be phrased a little differently. And if a tag doesn't exist, make it! Wranglers will link it to where it needs to do.

~~

Wrangling FAQ!

Why do some characters have parentheses after their name and some don't?

The parentheses are used to reduce ambiguity between characters. "Steve" is just some guy, but if I type "Steve (Blue's Clues)", now we both know which Steve I'm talking about.

Why doesn't my canonical blorbo have a filterable tag yet?

If your fandom is very busy, the wrangler probably hasn't gotten to it yet. Be patient! If it's a fairly small fandom, it may not have a wrangler. There's only so many of us, and there are a truly mindboggling number of fandoms on the Archive.

Why isn't my tag "Blorbo is gay and Blorbette is trans" a filterable tag yet? They're gay and trans in canon!

Tags that have multiple concepts are almost never going to become filterable tags. That's because wranglers can only link a tag to one other tag with the same meaning. This tag would have two meanings: "Blorbo is gay" AND "Blorbette is trans".

Just because something is the case in canon doesn't mean that it automatically gets a filterable tag. Ao3 is an archive, not a wiki!

I don't want anyone changing my tags!

Then you're in luck, because we don't! Wranglers don't and can't change the tags on a work. Tag wranglers work on the backend, linking related tags to each other.

Do wranglers really see every tag?

Yup! But no need to be embarrassed. I promise you that your tag is not the weirdest thing your wrangler has seen.

I think a tag has been wrangled wrong!

Feel free to let Support know! Please don't come into my inbox and ask me to do something bc I can't if it's not my fandom.

I'm still confused! Where can I find more information?

Check out the Wrangling Guidelines! They're available for anyone to look through, and they're what guide the filterable tags that you see. They also have a lot more information and caveats for strange circumstances that I didn't cover in this post.

One of the honest to god worst things about all the baby Wattpadders migrating to AO3 is how they're all formatting their shit and trying to do a whole marketing campaign in the summary and author notes because they're so used to the 2012 fancy text generator maybe your story will be read by a world famous movie director and you'll get famous and marry One Direction era that Wattpad superglued itself to.

Like when you've written your entire summary in double bold size 13 Barnbrook font I literally cannot see shit. Its just squiggles. Its just a mass of ugly squiggles that tells me less about your story than your 2 tags do.

Your summary should tell me what the story is about, not how excited you are to have written it and where to find you on a site I am clearly not using. You're not trying to sell your book at The Strand you're uploading it to an archive website known for ungodly smut and ships not even the devil himself would've thought of.

You don't need stolen fanart and unreadable font to get me to read your story you need appropriate tags and a summary that at the very least tells me if I should brace myself for Cars Universe cannibalism or not.

"Why can't the freaks on AO3 just go and make a site for all the gross stuff and leave AO3 alone."

Because AO3 is that site. Because AO3 was that site long before you decided AO3 was better than the sites you bullied us off of before, and I can promise you if someone somehow comes up with a fanfic site you like better specifically for the 'gross stuff' you'll try to bully us off that too so you can benefit from it.

AO3's specific core purpose is to preserve fanfiction, yes, but it was also instigated as a host site for the fanfiction that kept getting yeeted off other platforms like Wattpad. Its designed to preserve all fanfiction, not just the fanfiction you, personally, think is 'allowed' to be written.

AO3 is the site for all the gross stuff the freaks make. We've been there just as long as you. We've been funding it just as long as you have. AO3 has specifically said you have a place here. The timeline was literally:

Wattpad/FF.net/LiveJournal purge fanfics > AO3 is born > The people who's fics got purged moved over to AO3 > AO3 gains popularity as the best functioning site > The people who pushed for the fics to be purged off Wattpad move to AO3 > The same people try to push for AO3 to purge fics.

AO3's source coding is open-access. You go make a polished, strict, rigid site where nothing 'icky' is allowed. You go make a site where you can control what is hosted. We already have our space.

As much as I hate the new issue I'm sure you are aware of what I might be referencing I do love the fact that Dick is being portrayed as a protective badass.

I see a lot of representation where he is this goofy dumbass and that pisses me off.

Dick Grayson is the original Robin angry pissed off at the world and wanting vengeance. He has had years of experience he has kicked Banes ass practically destroyed Deathstroke but for some reason he is treated like he's weak.

That man is one of, if not the most scary Bat he killed the fucking Joker. Nightwing is who I would want to hide behind and I know his siblings agree.

I imagine the other Birds getting in over their head and running to Dick so they can hide under his wings.

Big brother Nightwing is the definition of fuck around and find out and, you fucking will find out if you touch his fucking Robins.

Which is something else people forgot Robin isn't fucking Batman's that belongs to Dick Grayson each Robin is Dicks family and he won't allow his birds to fall.

the joy of AuDHD and executive dysfunction 😅

anybody else in the club feeling this one

One of Kamala's biggest hobbies in the comics is writing fanfiction. Have any of you ever written fanfiction?

someone I follow on the bird app just announced they're starting a very exclusive private fic server because they and a bunch of other people want to talk about how much they love the fics they're reading, and as an author can I just say that a really great place to talk about a fic you love is in the comments for that fic

I understand that people are trying to create safe spaces, but as the number of comments that I get on my fics dwindles with each passing year, knowing these spaces exist where my fics are being discussed, places that I am excluded from, makes me want to write fic LESS

I mean I guess who cares, right, because if I stop writing, there's 10,000 other people that will continue...but if you participate in a fic "book club" server and you say nice things there about a fic you loved, maybe copy and paste that into a comment on AO3?

the only thing fanfic writers are asking for in return for hours of hard work is attention. please don't rob us of the one thing that we hope for when we hit "post"

Dick is the kid who stubbornly leaves Bruce on read for months if his dad says ONE thing he doesn't like. Jason is the kid who'll obsessively check his phone to see if Bruce returned his " Morning, fuckface" text with his usual " Good morning, son. Love you" and WILL freak out if he doesn't get the ❤️ attached to it

what the fuck ethan

As a batfam enjoyer: Jason’s character has not been handled well since UTRH and Lost Days, meaning he has not had nearly the correct story impact in decades, so him fitting into the batfam right now is nowhere near even a decent writing decision. His entire character is meant to be discomforting to and challenging Bruce constantly. He was reduced to “trigger happy idiot with daddy issues and no solid beliefs” almost immediately and has stayed like that, so he is being thrust into another supporting role without getting 5% of the individual growth that the other main characters get.

It shows very clearly in that he doesn’t even get his very first established skills levels, making him seem incompetent in order to shove him into a role within the batfam. This can’t even be excused by “the writers focused so much on the emotional aspect that they altered everything else to fit” because the closest we’ve gotten to genuine, not shallow emotions was the cheer induced desire scene in Urban Legends. And it was followed by Jason giving up guns, very obviously a lead up to him giving up killing for Batman.

NSFW will be tagged as #lemon sorta NSFW is #Lime Weird fet shit/ extreme NSFW is #orange reblog to spread awareness that we’re back on the citrus scale

my journey from a DC animated fan to a DC comic reader so far has been pretty much "oh cool I like this" -> "WHAT" -> "ok ok so it was a bad take before I need to research more" -> "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT'S JUST FANON" -> "So I need to pay more attention to the writers' names" -> "I'm still trapped in batfamily hell when do I get more time for arrowfamily hell" -> "where the fuck do I start with the laterns" -> "cool cool I think I get it now" -> "NO I'M NOT GETTING SHIT" -> "I only had Jason Todd for half a year but if he died again I would kill everyone in DC and then myself"

that’s enough emotions for a whole year. ciao

one of my favourite ways to engage with any given fandom is exclusively via the content shared by one mutual. I don’t know Anything about the source material but by god you’re right, my friend, your otp is literally the pinnacle of all shipping. your fave character is the best character ever. I love you and trust that all of your opinions are completely and objectively correct on this subject

I will never fully understand why things happen the way they do on this planet. Too many people hold their tongue here. Too many people hide their feelings. And at the end of the day, that does nothing but hurt someone. The men and women of Tamaran were always taught to live by their emotions. To trust their first reaction, as it is the most true. Cyborg argues that you need time to make the proper decision. I argue that time blurs the true intent.

To Earth standards, I may appear brash and rushed. I never hide what I think. Perhaps that is why Tamaran was a target for so many invasions. Our captors may have enjoyed seeing what pain they inflicted upon us. For our tears are never hidden either.

This garden is all I have left to remind me of Tamaran. The Hy'tt Blossoms. The Rutt Trees. One of Earth’s customs for the warriors 2called the samurai is to learn patience and understanding from your garden. I hope that is what this teaches me. It would be nice to understand the concept of patience. It would be nice to fit in a bit more with these new Teen Titans.

Fanon is like:

“I know all the Robins! Smiley, Angry, Smarty and Stabby! Sometimes Girly is there too!”

That’s…that’s literally it. You did not lie.

dick: i came out to have a good time and i'm honestly feeling so attacked right now

jason: i came out to attack people and i'm honestly having such a good time right now

tim: i came out

damian: attack people

a list of takes that tumblr apparently cant handle:

1. calling someone by a label that they dont identify with is harmful

2. men can be abused too, not just women and gnc

3. asexual people are valid and deserve representation

Reblog if its ok to spam you with boops

Shout out to all your internet friends who are gone.

Those messenger screen names that haven’t logged on in ages, some before detailed profiles were a thing on those services.

Those emails that are long since abandoned, some with domains that no longer exist.

Those online friends you knew years ago and who then helped shaped you in some way, who you just can’t FIND anymore.

Those people who once were, and hopefully still exist IRL, that seem to have no known internet life anymore.

And those who have actually passed on, and their online lives are now a memorial to them.

I miss you all. I hope life is/was kind to you, and maybe one day, we’ll somehow connect again.

‘cLiNt iS a BaReLy fUnCtIoNaL hUmAn BeInG’ both natasha AND clint are highly trained and hypercompetent spies and assassins, please stop with your hot takes headcanons of clint being a fucking idiot

Thats ral and tomik

I havent seen anyone talk about this yet so im making a post. 

So lets say you’re researching something for a paper (or just for fun) and the research paper you want to read is behind a paywall, or the site makes you create an account first, or makes you pay to download, or limits you to only 5 free articles, or otherwise makes it difficult for you to read what you want.

do not fear! copy the link to the article

go to sci-hub.se         (the url is always changing so its best to check out whereisscihub.now.sh to find what the current url is)

slap the article link in there

bam! free access! 

canon: they died

fanfic: fUCK YOU

Words to replace said, except this actually helps

I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.

IN RESPONSE TO Acknowledged Answered Protested

INPUT/JOIN CONVERSATION/ASK Added Implored Inquired Insisted Proposed Queried Questioned Recommended Testified

GUILTY/RELUCTANCE/SORRY Admitted Apologized Conceded Confessed Professed

FOR SOMEONE ELSE Advised Criticized Suggested

JUST CHECKING Affirmed Agreed Alleged Confirmed

LOUD Announced Chanted Crowed

LEWD/CUTE/SECRET SPY FEEL Appealed Disclosed Moaned

ANGRY FUCK OFF MATE WANNA FIGHT Argued Barked Challenged Cursed Fumed Growled Hissed Roared Swore

SMARTASS Articulated Asserted Assured Avowed Claimed Commanded Cross-examined Demanded Digressed Directed Foretold Instructed Interrupted Predicted Proclaimed Quoted Theorized

ASSHOLE Bellowed Boasted Bragged

NERVOUS TRAINWRECK Babbled Bawled Mumbled Sputtered Stammered Stuttered

SUAVE MOTHERFUCKER Bargained Divulged Disclosed Exhorted

FIRST OFF Began

LASTLY Concluded Concurred

WEAK PUSY Begged Blurted Complained Cried Faltered Fretted

HAPPY/LOL Cajoled Exclaimed Gushed Jested Joked Laughed

WEIRDLY HAPPY/EXCITED Extolled Jabbered Raved

BRUH, CHILL Cautioned Warned

ACTUALLY, YOU’RE WRONG Chided Contended Corrected Countered Debated Elaborated Objected Ranted Retorted

CHILL SAVAGE Commented Continued Observed Surmised

LISTEN BUDDY Enunciated Explained Elaborated Hinted Implied Lectured Reiterated Recited Reminded Stressed

BRUH I NEED U AND U NEED ME Confided Offered Urged

FINE Consented Decided

TOO EMO FULL OF EMOTIONS Croaked Lamented Pledged Sobbed Sympathized Wailed Whimpered

JUST SAYING Declared Decreed Mentioned Noted Pointed out Postulated Speculated Stated Told Vouched

WASN’T ME Denied Lied

EVIL SMARTASS Dictated Equivocated Ordered Reprimanded Threatened

BORED Droned Sighed

SHHHH IT’S QUIET TIME Echoed Mumbled Murmured Muttered Uttered Whispered

DRAMA QUEEN Exaggerated Panted Pleaded Prayed Preached

OH SHIT Gasped Marveled Screamed Screeched Shouted Shrieked Yelped Yelled

ANNOYED Grumbled Grunted Jeered Quipped Scolded Snapped Snarled Sneered

ANNOYING Nagged

I DON’T REALLY CARE BUT WHATEVER Guessed Ventured

I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM Hooted Howled Yowled

I WONDER Pondered Voiced Wondered

OH, YEAH, WHOOPS Recalled Recited Remembered

SURPRISE BITCH Revealed

IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD Scoffed Snickered Snorted

BITCHY Tattled Taunted Teased

not to be a dick but imo the mcu will always be fundamentally unsatisfying to me compared to the comics in part bc of how much it lacked in avengers team development

like speaking as an iron man fan i will always be bitter that

1) tony stark didn’t qualify at first like um excuse me? tony stark was a founding member of this bitch in the comics like i do not Care for your ultimates inclinations, you could at least have had him unquestionably be part of the team from the get-go lmfao mcu miss me with this,

2) the fact that tony didn’t qualify at first not ever being addressed in any explicit way as a Tragic Mistake like. honestly i’m just mad tony had to Prove His Heroism ™ to be taken seriously when he’d already proven his heroism before plenty of times,

3) i know everyone digs being salty and petty these days but tbh the fact that “does steve even care about tony?” is even a topic of debate is just. Wrong. i do not give a flying FUCK to who your notps and otps are i do not Care, what i care about is the mcu doing justice to the iron man legacy and steve and tony’s relationship is unquestionably one of the strongest and – yes – most passionate in the comics and let me tell you this WE WERE ROBBED OF ITS DEVELOPMENT,

4) the near non-existence of the general fucking concept of the avengers listening to tony and respecting what he has to say in times of crisis like lol. also the general concept of giving him the benefit of the doubt (like he was shown giving to thor while he’s arguing with steve during the aou log scene, like he’s implied to have done regarding wanda)???? yeah,

5) mcu you are honest to FUCKING GOD wasting the big trifecta (tony, thor, steve). you’re wasting them. you’re fucking wasting them @@@@ mcu for the love of fuck fix this. mcu where are my Big Three combo battle moves. mcu where’s thor lending himself as middle ground when tony and steve start arguing. mcu where’s tony and thor sharing the weight of their space experiences. mcu where’s my intense close-ups of thor, tony, and steve’s reactions when they see one another in danger during battles. mcu where’s steve’s “TONY, YOU GAVE ME A HOME” stuff. mcu where’s thor’s “tony you’re one of the most noble men i’ve ever known” stuff. mcu where’s tony’s “steve and thor, you’re my idea of higher power because of the things you inspire me to be” stuff. jesus christ we were ROBBED what a WASTE,

6) no visible captain america memorabilia rooms in tony’s towers/avengers facilities? *deep breath* FAAAAAAAAAAAKE,

7) (and before anyone hits me up like “but in the mcu tony has no reason to ever have been a cap fan bc of his dad” or whatever let me just tell you: a) my thoughts are way too 3D for that sort of black-and-whiteness but ok, regardless, b) if the price of sticking howard into mcu steve’s backstory was to finish the possibility of adult cap!fanboy tony actually like, welcoming steve to the team when steve wakes up in the present, then that was NEVER a price i was willing to pay),

8) natasha only called him shellhead in a movie that was So Bad that we barely even got to register the fact that tony was called shellhead in the mcu. what sort of fucking CRIME

9) someone at some point has got to call him Golden Avenger or i’m gonna have to quit,

10) “stark” “rogers” yeah yeah i get it you’re emotionally stunted men hurr hurr durr whatever let tony call him STEVE to his face before i get even more pissed and start straight up demanding the comic canon GOOD MORNING BELOVED,

11) whatever twisted mcu bullshit has led people to conclude that the avengers – shining beacon of light in 616 tony’s life, his legacy, part of his family, his most passionate affair – is the most unhealthy unrewarding thing in mcu tony’s life like jesus christ THE AVENGERS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE TONY’S PRIDE AND JOY MCU WHY DID YOU DEPRIVE ME,

12) you seriously expect me to take an ENTIRE mcu tony run where he doesn’t wear a superhero logo (not his own) t-shirt AT LEAST ONCE? jesus