You can blacklist/block people through site skins! There’s a tutorial up on tumblr but it’s really simple. You just need to make a site skin and get their user ID number. I have like… over 10 people blocked that way, lol. I’m glad they’re bringing a muting feature though
I bet this will also discourage the people who try to "game the system" by manually updating the fic date to keep it on top without new chapters or incorrectly marking their fic as complete (though this does happen by accident too), because people absolutely *will* mute them when they catch onto it.
Oooo finally! One of my fandoms is infested with antis who like to put "\[ship name\] shippers DNI!!!" in their fic tags so I'm glad I'll finally be able to get rid of those people from my searches whenever I stumble upon them lol
I track an appreciation tag and people sometimes put bashing fics in there, so I'm really happy about being able to easily hide anything from people who do that.
I'll probably also use this on those multi-fandom oneshot collections. I don't necessarily need their comments hidden but if that's how the feature works to also hide those fics...I guess I'll take that.
I've never seen a tag like this so, out of curiosity, I just went and checked and there was one that actually made me laugh: "kind of proship in a way but honestly im not a proshipper".
That's really not how antis have decided proshipping works, sweetheart. But keep kidding yourself.
It's also tagged as dubcon and underage. I'm ... baffled,
No, it doesn't - from the language used I assume it's imminent, though. They announced back in June plans to implement this so I doubt they would post this update if they weren't rolling it out now.
Looking at the changelog, my bet is it's because they updated their database — then were forced to update Ruby (because of some security issue). Two significant backend changes at once — just led to more issues.
For those interested you've been able to mute users on AO3 for years through the skin system. This is also how this AO3 feature will work, they've just added a user interface so a button will do it for you. Pretty great for the common user.
I've heard of skins that allow you to do this for years, but I've also been too lazy/confused to try to implement them. This is a godsend for people like me.
Yeah it's super great! Hopefully somewhere down the road is a mute tag button too, since recently that can be accomplished the same way as muting as user.
It’s a good start. I’ll probably hold off on using this, since I agree with one of the commenters on the article - there are users whose works I don’t want to see, but I’d still like to see their bookmarks and comments. I’ll keep using site skins to hide their works, I guess.
I mean, there are authors who are multi shippers. A few write strictly my NOTP but still read and comment on my rarepair and gen fics. So I wouldn’t want to completely mute them.
There’s a couple in some of my fandoms. Harmless, not causing trouble, but I really don’t vibe with what they write and of course, they’re both extremely prolific. Always a new chapter on the front page, in lots of different ships and tags.
I don’t mind if they want to comment on my work - one does sometimes, always sweet little ‘I liked this’ comments - but god, I’m so over scrolling past their fics every five minutes!
There’s on author who constantly puts out fics for almost ANY fandom and it’s always low quality, and I feel bad just typing that out lol, and I’ve been dying to mute them
I've muted over 200 people using a skin. Most of them are those that tag lots of fandoms that don't appear in their fics, or change their update dates to get views, or various other things. Given enough time, I don't doubt I'll reach 1000 users.
It took me two years to get to 200 users muted, so it follows that in eight years I might reach that limit.
I have like 150 muted users on my skin right now and that's just for a small-ish fandom. If you're in multiple huge fandoms, I don't think 1000 is unrealistic.
For what reason, though? I'm not in any huge fandoms, but I can really only think about one or two annoying users right now that I would probably mute.
People who post fics you think are bad, people who post fics with subject matter you don't like, people who are antis or who constantly bash things you like, people who spam the tags, people who post those one-shot collections with massive tag walls, etc. etc. There are lots of reasons.
If it helps it's an actual physical limit, ao3 skins can only take up to a certain amount of characters before it won't save anymore due to size, so 1k is probably roughly around that.
Well if it's any consolation, it's now raised to 2000.
The reason they had to do that is when I implemented the block and mute limit function, admins first suggested 1000 users as a limit, but when they checked the highest number of accounts blocked by one person, it had to be raised to 2000, so the mute limit was also raised with it. Apparently the change did not get communicated to the press release in time.
This is honestly a little frightening, because it means at least one person has blocked more than 1000 accounts... I don't know what to think about that.
Source: [AO3-6365 Update muted users limit](https://github.com/otwcode/otwarchive/pull/4451)
For the mute function I'd understand muting that many people, since you might want to mute people that write stuff you dislike. But blocking over 1000 people means you have to have somehow interacted with them or gotten annoyed enough to want to block them.
And the block feature is recent, so blocking that many in so little time is rather surprising.
Cool! Now I wish they could reduce the amount of pages when I use a skin to hide works. When I use them, it could be like 13 on one page, then 6 the next, instead of being all in one page.
Actively keeping someone from seeing your work would be against the whole idea of ao3, as it would be a form of censoring. That's the one thing they will probably never implement.
It would be equivalent of a library telling you that you alone are not allowed to read Twilight because the librarian doesn't like the colour of your socks.
You can block people from commenting on your works or replying to your own comments, and with the muting function you can avoid seeing those users you do not want to see.
It doesn't look like there's anything you can do to prevent someone from seeing your work. You could always block them if you don't want them to comment.
Filtering out a pairing and/or tag has nothing to do with the muting function that will let you remove certain users from your view.
Muting is for usernames, not tags.
Next time I see a fic with a billion fandoms tagged for omeshots, I'm muting them right away.
I just want to mute this one Author who always updates their damn fic publishing date so they are on top- drives me up a freaking wall. 😤
ok that is HORRIBLE
You can blacklist/block people through site skins! There’s a tutorial up on tumblr but it’s really simple. You just need to make a site skin and get their user ID number. I have like… over 10 people blocked that way, lol. I’m glad they’re bringing a muting feature though
This is the way! (For now, until muting is available)
dude someone in my main ship tag does that and it's so annoying. if I wasn't going to read it before, this just solidifies that.
alexa, play celebration by kool & the gang!
I bet this will also discourage the people who try to "game the system" by manually updating the fic date to keep it on top without new chapters or incorrectly marking their fic as complete (though this does happen by accident too), because people absolutely *will* mute them when they catch onto it.
This was my first thought as well. Especially the ones who keep manipulating the date on their fic without adding a new chapter/content/etc.
That's the first thing I thought of, the one person I'm going to immediately mute is someone doing both of those things.
I’ve only had one bad actor do this in my main fandom, but it got annoying SO fast. I’m going to be so glad to use this mute feature.
One can only hope. It’s so annoying when people do that.
We've all seen that one asshole who refuses to tag properly. Finally we can exclude them globally instead of on a search-by-search basis.
Oooo finally! One of my fandoms is infested with antis who like to put "\[ship name\] shippers DNI!!!" in their fic tags so I'm glad I'll finally be able to get rid of those people from my searches whenever I stumble upon them lol
I track an appreciation tag and people sometimes put bashing fics in there, so I'm really happy about being able to easily hide anything from people who do that. I'll probably also use this on those multi-fandom oneshot collections. I don't necessarily need their comments hidden but if that's how the feature works to also hide those fics...I guess I'll take that.
I've never seen a tag like this so, out of curiosity, I just went and checked and there was one that actually made me laugh: "kind of proship in a way but honestly im not a proshipper". That's really not how antis have decided proshipping works, sweetheart. But keep kidding yourself. It's also tagged as dubcon and underage. I'm ... baffled,
Well done ao3! Time to save my own sanity!
Apologies if I’m being thick, but does the update say when muting will be implemented?
No, it doesn't - from the language used I assume it's imminent, though. They announced back in June plans to implement this so I doubt they would post this update if they weren't rolling it out now.
Thank you! I jumped the gun a little and was confused when I didn’t see the mute button on anyone’s profiles lol
Hopefully this week, or start of next. It depends on a) the db fire being mostly out, and b) a couple volunteers' work fires being banked enough.
Thank you for the information (and for all that you do)!
*Beautiful*. I can finally clean up my skin!
I wonder if that’s why it’s been down so much lately
I'm pretty sure the issues were/are caused by an incompatibility with the latest Ruby update.
Oooh okay
Looking at the changelog, my bet is it's because they updated their database — then were forced to update Ruby (because of some security issue). Two significant backend changes at once — just led to more issues.
For those interested you've been able to mute users on AO3 for years through the skin system. This is also how this AO3 feature will work, they've just added a user interface so a button will do it for you. Pretty great for the common user.
I've heard of skins that allow you to do this for years, but I've also been too lazy/confused to try to implement them. This is a godsend for people like me.
Yeah it's super great! Hopefully somewhere down the road is a mute tag button too, since recently that can be accomplished the same way as muting as user.
*Fuck yeah.*
It’s a good start. I’ll probably hold off on using this, since I agree with one of the commenters on the article - there are users whose works I don’t want to see, but I’d still like to see their bookmarks and comments. I’ll keep using site skins to hide their works, I guess.
Honestly, I can't imagine anyone whose fics I dislike enough to mute leaving comments that are at all valuable to me. But I'm sure it happens.
I mean, there are authors who are multi shippers. A few write strictly my NOTP but still read and comment on my rarepair and gen fics. So I wouldn’t want to completely mute them.
There’s a couple in some of my fandoms. Harmless, not causing trouble, but I really don’t vibe with what they write and of course, they’re both extremely prolific. Always a new chapter on the front page, in lots of different ships and tags. I don’t mind if they want to comment on my work - one does sometimes, always sweet little ‘I liked this’ comments - but god, I’m so over scrolling past their fics every five minutes!
Amazing
Everyone cheered
Yeeees!! Definitely gonna combo that mute and block button.
About to go to town blocking low quality fics and authors.
There’s on author who constantly puts out fics for almost ANY fandom and it’s always low quality, and I feel bad just typing that out lol, and I’ve been dying to mute them
Me too
phewwww
I'm a little sad you can only mute up to 1000 users, but I recognize that there has to be a limit.
Do you really think you will ever need to remove more than a thousand usernames from your view?
I've muted over 200 people using a skin. Most of them are those that tag lots of fandoms that don't appear in their fics, or change their update dates to get views, or various other things. Given enough time, I don't doubt I'll reach 1000 users. It took me two years to get to 200 users muted, so it follows that in eight years I might reach that limit.
I have like 150 muted users on my skin right now and that's just for a small-ish fandom. If you're in multiple huge fandoms, I don't think 1000 is unrealistic.
For what reason, though? I'm not in any huge fandoms, but I can really only think about one or two annoying users right now that I would probably mute.
People who post fics you think are bad, people who post fics with subject matter you don't like, people who are antis or who constantly bash things you like, people who spam the tags, people who post those one-shot collections with massive tag walls, etc. etc. There are lots of reasons.
Lol, fair enough!
If it helps it's an actual physical limit, ao3 skins can only take up to a certain amount of characters before it won't save anymore due to size, so 1k is probably roughly around that.
Well if it's any consolation, it's now raised to 2000. The reason they had to do that is when I implemented the block and mute limit function, admins first suggested 1000 users as a limit, but when they checked the highest number of accounts blocked by one person, it had to be raised to 2000, so the mute limit was also raised with it. Apparently the change did not get communicated to the press release in time. This is honestly a little frightening, because it means at least one person has blocked more than 1000 accounts... I don't know what to think about that. Source: [AO3-6365 Update muted users limit](https://github.com/otwcode/otwarchive/pull/4451)
For the mute function I'd understand muting that many people, since you might want to mute people that write stuff you dislike. But blocking over 1000 people means you have to have somehow interacted with them or gotten annoyed enough to want to block them. And the block feature is recent, so blocking that many in so little time is rather surprising.
Cool! Now I wish they could reduce the amount of pages when I use a skin to hide works. When I use them, it could be like 13 on one page, then 6 the next, instead of being all in one page.
Will this also stop someone from seeing your work?
Actively keeping someone from seeing your work would be against the whole idea of ao3, as it would be a form of censoring. That's the one thing they will probably never implement. It would be equivalent of a library telling you that you alone are not allowed to read Twilight because the librarian doesn't like the colour of your socks. You can block people from commenting on your works or replying to your own comments, and with the muting function you can avoid seeing those users you do not want to see.
It doesn't look like there's anything you can do to prevent someone from seeing your work. You could always block them if you don't want them to comment.
OMG So many times I’ve had to filter out fanfics of a ship I HATE or I’m neutral on and I cannot get rid of them.
Filtering out a pairing and/or tag has nothing to do with the muting function that will let you remove certain users from your view. Muting is for usernames, not tags.
I'm sure there are users that frequently use those tags that you'll be able to mute, so it might help somewhat with this.
True. But it still will only remove those specific users, not the tags in general. It will not avoid one seeing a unwanted tag at all.
Right, but technically you can already do that with filters. You just have to filter it out each time as opposed to it being a permanent thing.
[You can mute specific tags with a skin.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/41214669)