A supportive community for writers, readers, and reccers to talk about and share FanFiction.
This subreddit talks a lot about not understanding why more people don't use Archiveofourown.com over Fanfiction.net . I've been posting on FF since 2016 and on AO3 since 2020(got an account in 2018). I don't prefer one site over the other. I use both about the same. Perhaps this has been talked to death, but I don't care. I am making a pros and cons list for my own sanity.
Older fandom backlog
If you want to find older & larger fandoms fic's from 2006 or 2008 or even 2016, go to FF.net. If your fandom is newer, then go to AO3. Sometimes the older fandoms are more active on AO3, but it depends on the fandom.
Communication
On FF you can PM an author privately without leaving a review. Author can also privately respond to reviews. On Archive, the only way you can interact with your favorite author is if you leave a review. This annoys me as I am a private person. I don't want just anyone reading my response to the kind reader who commented on my fic. AO3 also has a feature where you can make collections or request prompts to be fulfilled by other authors. The only way you can communicate with those running the collection or fulfilling your request is if you give them your email or alternate social media links. That is not safe and limiting.
Tagging / Categories
The tagging system on AO3 is more efficient and specific than FF. You can find just about any fic, author, a fic featuring a super specific word, etc. You can also gift your fic to another author or add it to a collection with ease. FF is a lot harder to find what you're looking for and doesn't allow you to tag as many characters or relationships as AO3. You have a limit to four characters that you can tag in your fic. You also can't tag specific things, only general topics such as romance, friendship, etc. Some may actually prefer this as there are complaints that some people tag too much on AO3. The small number of tags on FF makes it so that Authors have to add the tagging into their summary. (for example, give the fic blurb and then a ship name in the summary if you couldn't tag it).
Interface
AO3 automatically spaces out your paragraphs so that it reads more like a book. FF tends to promote more blocks of text which can be harder to read. I however, do not like how bright and bold the Red interface is on AO3. Thankfully, you can change what you see with work skins. I changed mine to blue because the red hurts my eyes. If I couldn't change the color, I probably wouldn't have keep my account with them. FF tends to have more ads than it used to back when I first started using it. I don't like that I can't see the profile next to the works on AO3. While their interface is well organized to the eye, I want to be able to learn more about the personality of my favorite Authors without having to search for it.
Uploading FIC
AO3 is way easier to actually upload. You have to store your works in a doc manager before you can attach them to a fic and upload them on FF. If you wanna edit the fic, you have to go back to the doc manager, edit it there, and then re-upload the file. While on AO3, you simply click edit and you can edit the document.
STATS
I CAN'T SEE WHAT FICS I FAVORITED ON AO3. Sure, I could 'bookmark' my fave fics and tag them into categories, but that is a lot of extra work. On FF, there are separate sections where I can easily scroll through all my favorited and followed fics. AO3 doesn't keep a collection of all the fics I Kudos to. So unless I bookmarked it or subscribed to it, I can't find it again. That pisses me off. However, the stats interface is very pleasing to my eye on AO3. I wish FF organized my information like that, especially it organizes it by year. A couple of my fics have passed 10,000 views and it would have been nice to see in what year it got the most hits.
QUESTIONS
Not quite sure how the beta system works on either site. Or how the community/forums aspect works on FF. I'm not quite sure how the work skins on AO3 work as for getting more specific. It took a couple of days to get my account up on AO3 because its in beta stage.... not sure if that's still a thing since I got my account in 2018. FF account was easier to create.
OVERALL,
I like both sites. I have a lot of nostalgia on FF. I am probably going to switch more over to AO3 as that's where my readers are going. However, AO3 is going to need to step up its game on Communication and STATs if it wants to beat FF. Likewise, FF needs to up their tagging game to stay relevant.
On not being able to private message--from reading some of the official channels, there was a lot of thought put into making AO3 as un-abuseable as possible, and make it difficult for bullies to use site functionality to be, well, bullies. That's why you can moderate, turn off, or delete any comments you want, where on FFN, you can only delete guest comments, and you have to appeal to mods to remove signed-in ones. You can even report comments as spam on AO3.
It's just a personal theory, but given how much nastiness can go on in PMs, I suspect that the reason why AO3 doesn't have PMs is because it can be so easily used to bully. You can always anonymize your comment (you still have to enter an email address, so you'll be notified if the author replies), or, you can comment, then go in and delete it. As long as the author gets email notifications, they will see your comment. They won't be able to reply to it (it'll be deleted out of their AO3 inbox), but they'll at least be able to see it if you send something private (I found this out when someone asked a question that was answered in one of my fics, and when I went to answer the comment in my inbox, it was gone). Neither option is perfect--and part of the reason I have a tumblr is so people can anonymously PM me if they desire to, but not all authors have an alternative option and it's still annoying to have to go to another site. At least you can't get bots or random spammers in you PMs.
AO3 isn't perfect, but I have to say it's the best archive we've had so far.
That's part of it, yep. AO3 has announced the implementation of a block feature in the future (as in people who are there to troll can be blocked by users from seeing their profiles entirely). If that comes online, there's be no reason not to have DM because there are cases when DM would be nice (such as the few cases of welcomed critique) and it would be nice not to go to a third party site to do so.
^ This! Plus, AO3 from its conception was first and foremost an archive and not a social media or community site. I like that authors can keep their accounts relatively anonymous if they want to and just post fic without giving out any identifying information. And for the authors that do want to interact in private messages with readers, they can always leave links to Twitter, Tumblr, etc. As a result I've seen almost no drama from my time on AO3 (definitely not as much as on other fanfic sites) and I think it's overall a positive thing!
I’m an old timer, joined FF in 2007 (when - can you believe it - we used to read on desktop!) and AO3 in 2013 when it started getting popular. I still post on both when I write stuff but mostly use AO3 to read, these days. At first, you needed to be “invited” into AO3, which meant that the quality of writing was generally better (people would only get invited if they knew people in fandom, which kind of weeded out first time posters). Then, i just stuck to AO3 because I found the interface easier to use, the filters really help finding good fics in bigger fandoms and honestly, I’m hardly ever on FF, anymore. I still do get reviews on it when I do post, though, so I suppose there are still people using it!
As an author, I hate that you can’t really respond to reviews on ff. It just feels bizarrely personal to send a PM so I just don’t respond, then feel bad. I love the comment threads on AO3.
we used to read on desktop!
Do...do people not?
Hahaha from reading this sub, it sounds like everyone is on their phones these days
I wonder what app most people use to read fic, if they do? I generally dislike browsing FF or AO3 on my phone because it always feels so clunky.
Oh really? I find that the rare times I use it, the ff app is actually quite good, loads better than their desktop site as a matter of fact. AO3’s a bit annoying but once you focus your screen correctly it’s actually not too bad. I wish they would make an app though
FF has an app? Uh oh! LOL I didn't know that. I'll check it out! But I do use Ao3 more than FF, so if Ao3 had a nice app, that'd be fantastic.
I also don't like reading fic on my phone. I read on my desktop, and download to Kindle if I think I'll want to re-read it, especially for long fic
I still do! I mean, why would you not want to use your computational machine to read the fiction made by fans of a series?
Now if you'll excuse me, it's my turn to go sit in the rocking chair on the front porch with my cane, and mutter under my breath about all the young whippersnappers these days.
Regarding tags the one things that bothers me about AO3 is that so many authors if a character appears for literally seven seconds they'll include them in the tags. With FF.NET it's really only the main characters that are included. It makes searching for fics where second tier characters are the focus so much easier. The over tagging capability of AO3 sometimes hurts more than it helps.
This is my biggest issue with Ao3. It's basically impossible to find fics that focus on minor characters on ao3 compared to ff.net
Tags are useful but they introduce as much problems as they solve imo. This is why I still use both sites
Mind you, AO3cs tagging system was created in '07, years before Tumblr was the fandom hub. The vast majority of ppl who overtag do so because they were use to commenting in tags over there, since it's the only thing Tumblr's tag system is good for.
That said, if the tag list is longer than the word count of the fic, I nope TF outta there.
Pretty much summed up my thoughts on this too
I’m probably gonna download my old stuff from FFN that hasn’t been saved to my laptop tho and eventually convert to AO3 being my main site, since the FFN decline is obvious and has been for a while now
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I have always preferred FFN over Ao3 because I’ve been with them for YEARS and know how to navigate around the site. But recently, I’ve been converting to Ao3 because more people in my main fandoms are posting over there. The only thing I don’t really like about Ao3 is the abundance of tags many people use. I find a wall of tags to be quite overwhelming, especially when tags are used solely to get traction (and have absolutely nothing to do with the story).
That said, I don’t think I’ll ever leave FFN and the more I use Ao3, I feel like I have “two cakes” since some of my favorite authors solely post to FF and some solely to Ao3. More stories for me!
If you have an account, you can go to "preferences" > "Display Options" and select "Hide additional tags (you can still choose to show them)."
This pretty much puts most tags in a dropdown. Not a perfect solution, but better than wall-o-tags in my opinion.
You can add skins on AO3 to hide mods, or the one that I have where it only shows the first three lines, and then for more you can scroll inside the box. People's anythologies of drabbles are terrifying with 100+ tags so that's a way around it.
I largely prefer AO3 to FFnet (and I’ve yet to find anything I like on Wattpad; I think the users tend to skew young). The one exception is that the limited tagging options on ffnet make it way, way easier to find fics for minor or background characters.
I don’t think overtagging is a big problem on AO3 but when it comes to characters who always get the Bruce Banner treatment it’s really hard to find what you’re looking for.
AO3 for me all the way. I just prefer the formatting; it's way easier to read. And I like that I can avoid certain tags and tropes because the system is relatively clear with the tagging.
I have never been a fan of FF.net purely because of the interface, I hate the way it looks! In my fanfic days I would find fics through LiveJournal or specific fandom sites (such as Harry Potter Fan Fiction). I do use AO3 as I much prefer the interface and most of the people I followed on LiveJournal have moved their works over there.
You have to try the mobile app. I was astounded by how much better FF is with thier app than the regular website.
I’ve been die-hard FFN since 2003, but in the past month, I’ve started moving my fics over to AO3, even though AO3 doesn’t seem as active for my fandom right now.
FFN needs to up their game in the tech/service dept. The general apathy and lack of effort is killing their website.
Both.
Older Fandom backlog:
If you want to find older & larger fandoms fic's from 2006 or 2008 or even 2016, go to FF.net. If your fandom is newer, then go to AO3. Sometimes the older fandoms are more active on AO3, but it depends on the fandom.
Yes, well, I'm active in a fandom that's been around since the FF was born. And most authors still prefer to post there instead of AO3. A few post on both sites. And fewer only choose AO3. Most of my readers, on this day, are on FF. And we've built a really healthy community, and I have met some great friends there.
And then, there is the new 2017 fandom. On FF, it has less than 200 stories, while on AO3, it has close 1500.
Communication:
On FF you can PM an author privately without leaving a review. Author can also privately respond to reviews. On Archive, the only way you can interact with your favorite author is if you leave a review. This annoys me as I am a private person. I don't want just anyone reading my response to the kind reader who commented on my fic. AO3 also has a feature where you can make collections or request prompts to be fulfilled by other authors. The only way you can communicate with those running the collection or fulfilling your request is if you give them your email or alternate social media links. That is not safe and limiting.
That is, literally, the sole reason FF is still so popular in many fandoms. I've a reader from Russia and she's not comfortable with leaving reviews that would be visible to everyone because of the fluency she lacks in English. So, she leaves really nice PMs that encourage to keep writing and cheer me and put a smile on my face. And though the PMs can offer spams, you can choose to block users. The site isn't bullying or unhealthy. And I love the community.
I think FF also has a much easier to understand search feature. Far better than any other Fanfic site I’ve been on. AO3 comes close, but it’s still not user friendly.
It depends on the fandom re: FFN. For a show with about 30 characters, the drop-down works fine. For big fandoms, it's a nightmare. I know friends that read Pokemon whole tell me the drop-down includes all 800+ pokemon as characters, to say nothing of the human cast. I haven't bothered reading the Digimon section since before it left Fox Kids for that reason.
AO3 was geared more towards the writers than readers but even there, it's way easier for me to find what I need there.
I find FFs search so limiting
idk for me it's just "easier" to use AO3, like the filters and stuff. i still use ff.net, just not as much as AO3 :\
