WTF, AO3???????

[bladespark]

I found out yesterday that AO3 has no method of blocking people. And no plans of ever creating such. Apparently it is just too hard.

I'm sorry, but that is a foundational, not-even-ground-floor-its-basement-level tool for any community with commenting of any kind. When people can harass and abuse you and your only recourse is to get always-overworked top-level site administrators to remove their accounts... That's just ridiculous!

It also, to be honest, makes me feel completely muzzled. I know that sounds paradoxical, but if I had the ability to block people, I'd feel safe in engaging with possible-trolls, asking why they think what they said, and having a conversation when I have the spoons to do so, maybe even accomplishing something. But if I have no way to cut off those who don't take clapping back well, then it's not safe to reward a possible troll with even the tiniest scrap of response, the only safe thing to do is delete the comment and hope they move on rather than come back and try to flood me. (I have been targeted by trolls before, even with the ability to block them on the various platforms they were following me through, it was seriously traumatic, having a group of people systematically pursuing you, but I've always known that at least any one of them only gets one try per platform, before I can cut them out. Now I guess I can't take comfort in that, because if a group went after me like that today, they'd find my AO3, and could drown me in vile bullshit before an admin could get around to banning them.)

Ugh.

What the fuck, AO3, seriously. I have never used a social site that didn't have a block feature, even fucking IRC, which was invented in the fucking 80s has a block feature.

Comments

[kara_mckay]

It's not a deal breaker for me, but I wish blocking were a thing there, too. My guess is that it's not because Ao3 is an archive, not a social media site, and the ability to block could easily turn into author wank. At the same time, though, creator bullying has gotten so out of hand. I haven't dealt with a lot of it, and even the little bits I've bumped into have left me feeling shaky. I'd probably end up turning off my comments altogether if I had to deal with the level of crap some people face. As it is, I don't allow anonymous commenting, and my one really skeevy story from back in '03 is only accessible to logged in users.

[erulissedances]

I'm a bit surprised to hear this, but I don't post there (yet) so I'm not affected. I do agree, however. Every social board of any type MUST have a way to regulate users to keep trolling minimal.

- Erulisse (one L)

[dogstar]

There's a scriptmonkey script called AO3 Savior that might help you out. You can also turn moderation of comments on, but that doesn't help with you having to see them. :(

I think the feeling is that AO3 isn't MEANT to be a social media site- it's meant to be an archive.

[armaina]

I did not know about that, regarding AO3, and I'm frankly, floored. That's something that is a priority I think in places as vast as that. Considering the fact that it's not like you can easily make a new account, blocking is pretty effective to prevent unwanted interaction. Just geeze. I hope it change but, who knows :/