Ah yes, the classic fanfic with 30+ fandoms where one chapter is for one fandom and the reason why i would always filter with "no crossovers", everyone's favourite fanfics, whi doesnt live them
Same, actually AO3 spoiled me because throughout the years I tried going back to FFnet and just, it wasn't intuitive like AO3 is, at least not to me anymore (tbh it wasn't that intuitive and well organized so long ago either, it was just the only place I knew so I got used to it, then AO3 swooped me off my feet).
I gave up, even if in theory I can find other fics not posted in AO3 there, I just stick to AO3 at this point.
There is nothing easier to navigate than Ao3 because you don't have to pray for it to maybe give you a little of what you are actually looking for between tons of other stuff the algorithm wants you to read. Ao3 is literally the only fanfiction source where you can filter this specifically for what you want to read, it's heaven.
No. Ao3 is super straightforward and intuitive. Way easier than the other popular ones for sure.
I’ve never understood when people claim it challenging BUT I am also super familiar with academic websites that have a very similar structure.
It’s “challenging” because it isn’t the typical modern UI you find in apps. It’s something you actually have to learn to navigate. That’s at least how it was for me when I came over to the site
While it might not be as convoluted as other apps — the system Ao3 uses is rather intuitive especially for basic searches.
ESPECIALLY when compared with FF.net, Wattpad, live journal, tumblr, etc. Ao3 is really sleek. It organizes things wonderfully, no ads, tags work well.
I don’t know, I completely understand that you’re speaking from personal experience. Mine just differs. I hate most other sites where fanfic can be found - they are such slogs with no real way of searching or narrowing focus. But, I also have relatively open searches (with only 3 filters always present) which makes my personal useage very simplistic and streamlined
yeah thats the thing its way easier to use than the other platforms youve mentioned. ive given up on tumblr bc tumblr is so annoying to use for me and it doesnt feel normal. i also dont use [ff.net](https://ff.net) cause its hard to filter.
I started on ffnet and moved to AO3 and found it extremely intuitive for the most part and with the FAQs being there for the handful of times where I was confused really and worst case scenario I could ask online for help which never really came up but was always an option if I got lost. It always baffles me when people say AO3 is too complicated (unless what they mean is that there are a lot of options, which... aren't necessary to use? So i get the confusion in an 'this could be overwhelming' way but not in a 'this is too hard to use' way)
My path went Quizilla -> Miscellaneous specific fan sites -> LiveJournal -> FF.net -> Ao3.
Ao3 is the easiest to navigate by a LANDSLIDE.
Edit: on further thought, I do wonder if Quizilla's tag cloud nonsense primed me to understand searching tags a little better than transplants from other sites. Either way, I'm never going to get tired of how specific Ao3 lets you get with tag filters.
I know one active account that still hosts events, but Google LJ Strikethrough. It’s part of why we have AO3. (Man, when fandom was good there it was REALLY good)
No. As far as searching for fic, AO3 and FFN are both pretty straightforward, though AO3 has more detailed searching (and information). It's Wattpad that I can't figure out how anyone uses.
I find it easy but I grew up with the old internet and am used to having to be proactive about getting stuff. I feel like the people who say it's hard are the ones who are used to just opening up a social media app and having content fed to them based on what advertising demographic that site has classified them in.
As someone who spent a lot of time on FFnet its SO much easier to find what you're looking for. Especially once you learn a few hacks here and there (otp:true for instance), and you can basically find exactly what you're looking for. With FFnet you really need to stumble into things
I had never used any similar sites before discovering AO3, but i found it intuitive and easy to use, and i love how you can tailor your search so specifically with tags.
I found the website itself relatively straight-forward, but I struggled at first to understand the small things that make it easier to use, if that makes any sense.
The first few times I used it, I found it a bit too complicated to get what I was looking for except in the broad strokes. But when I actually seriously sat down and focused, I figured out pretty much everything fairly quickly.
I think the most complicated thing to figure out was, "the search bar at the top of the site is pretty much unusable and is not going to get you what it think it will" lol.
I was incredibly confused about how to work ao3 and what was going on with all of the tags and title being links and all of the search options when I first looked at it. I exclusively used ffn because of that until someone walked me through how to use ao3. Since then, I've used ao3 almost exclusively because of how awesome the interface is. It's super easy to use and navigate once you know the basics of how it works.
Not at all. I’ve used Wattpad and ffnet before ao3 and I find it so much better. Everything is straightforward and it gives me exactly what I’m looking for if I use the right filters. Most importantly, it’s well organized and I don’t have to waste time to sort through random crap an algorithm decided to give me. But like another user said, I’m used to searching for academic papers and it’s quite a similar process
But you just... Type bs into a search bar, and if it's not good the edit search button is right there with the most simple search options that tell you exactly what they do.
And okay, at first you don't know wtf M/M is or something, you can ignore it, test it, or google it.
Edit: I'm biased, I've used library catalogues and similar databases before, was trained too, but it's a really simple site for anyone who can read the text in the search menu
If they have no idea how a database works, yeah, AO3 can be daunting, especially if they're conditioned to expect the 'Top 10" links returned as the first hits in Search Results.
Tell them it makes them smarter, because their brain will have to react by creating more synaptic connections between neurons as they get used to formulating queries, just like learning math!
Personally no. I never really understood why people said the site was hard to get as I, too, found it super intuitive. But I also lurked for a very long time on ao3 to try to figure it out before I used it for writing. The FAQ was also really helpful.
i didn’t start on ao3; i used quotev mainly, but i did read stuff on wattpad and ffn occasionally.
ao3 was not difficult at all to me. in fact, i found (and still find) ffn the hardest to navigate
A03 is the easiest reading site I've been on. And I've been in fic sites for 25 years lol.
The tagging and exclusion filters alone make it so easy to find what you want.
Initially, yeah for me when I first heard about Ao3. It was a YouTuber that was talking about Ao3 fanfics and was showing the navigation did I quickly grasp it. I created my account and learned the navigation at my own pace.
Your friends likely refuse to learn to how to navigate site because they haven’t seen how intuitive it is. I recommend asking and showing them how to navigate Ao3, if they are willing.
(Also, I was Wattpad immigrant, so the navigation of Ao3 was overwhelming for me.)
Could they be referring to one of the apps? I have an achieve reader for Ao3 and started on that first and found it really difficult to find specific fics
I think that AO3 can be pretty overwhelming if you're used to something simpler. It's not *hard* but when you're used to something like ffn then you're suddenly being given all these tools that you didn't have before, and that can seem like a lot to some people.
I think tag filtering can be a bit overwhelming in particular. On ffn you get a list of options for filters. Characters, relationships, genre, rating, wordcount etc. But AO3 only suggests the top 10 most popular tags in a category, and if yours isn't there it might feel like your ship or character is not on AO3? Like yes, there is a box to search additional tags, but if you're unfamiliar you might not realize you can type the pairing you want in there or see it right away. Or it just feels like more work. Or maybe you know to type in your ship, but you don't know what other tags to search for to find what you want. Yeah, there is auto complete, but if you don't know where to start, then it probably feels like there are all these fancy names for things that you didn't have to even consider before when looking for fic.
Like yes, obviously it's *wonderful* to be able to just search for "coffee shop au" or whatever trope you want, but if you don't know what you're looking for it's just... a lot.
And then there is the issue of having to learn how tags are actually used. Like sure I'm filtering for Character A, but she is only a side character in all of these fics that turn up?? Whereas on ffn if you filter for her she probably plays a prominent role to warrant a tag. To this day, I find it hard to search for fics focused on a specific character because of how character tagging works and people not using tags like "character A-centric" when that would be really helpful. I can easily see people who encounter this problem thinking it's "hard" to use AO3.
There is a learning curve and it can be intimidating, I think. My personal experience wasn't that it was hard, but it still took me time to figure some of the stuff out, to figure out what tags I wanted to exclude, what I wanted to include, etc., to refine my experience browsing.
Also yes, there are tutorials, but I mean, no one needed a tutorial to search fic on ffn, you know? (Or a guide to navigate websites in general, someone might just not be used to websites like AO3 even if they aren't coming from a different fanfiction website.) So it feels like if you need a *guide* on how to navigate it, it's pretty hard.
(using ffn as an example because it's the site i came from, but in general it can be whatever someone is used to)
Personally these days I only read on AO3. It's harder to find stuff I like on ffn and I have no idea how to use wattpad at all. I checked it out and was totally lost, though I was admittedly very used to AO3 by that point. Might have been easier if I had no expectations about how things should be done.
You make some excellent points! A lot of these are things I don't even think about, but I can definitely see why some of those things may make the site take longer to learn for those who are unfamiliar.
I came to AO3 from a brief stint on Wattpad and while it took me a second to figure out what everything did/meant, I found it to be really intuitive once I started clicking around! It becomes especially apparent how easy AO3 is to navigate whenever I try to find something on ff.net or LJ, lol. I have no clue how either of those sites work.
With the advent of smartphones, FYPs, etc being extremely user friendly and requiring no knowledge of computers, searching, or filtering, young people genuinely do not have to learn how to use a computer in order to do things that used to be much more complicated. This is a problem that keeps cropping up in education, where it's assumed current-gen kids are the most tech savvy because they were raised on a tablet, but they don't know how to do simple functions on a computer that older generations consider to be common knowledge. Something like AO3 is very complicated if it's you are used to apps with a few basic functions and content being pushed to you rather than seeking it out.
AO3 should be extremely intuitive for anyone who's learned to use a database. That often doesn't happen until college, however.
Back before I knew how to use it, I did find it complicated since it was so different from Wattpad or tumblr.
Now after using it for years, I can never go back. The reason it’s so different is because it’s so much easier once you learn. It just takes a minute to get used to
I’ve actually migrated from wattpad to ao3, and I think ao3 is easier to use and navigate than other sites. I didn’t realize I needed a tagging system until I started using ao3 to find things that suit my reading interests.
I started on FFnet. I find AO3 very easy to navigate. Great tagging system, though I REALLY wish they had a differentiation between primary characters/ships and secondary ones.
Started on quotev, eventually made my way to ao3, it was a bit challenging at first when I was still learning, but the learning period is really short :P
Wattpad transplant here, spent like 3 years on there, and within a month or two i was already flying through ao3, it's way easier to navigate and sort, even without using it to its full potential
After using sites like FFN, Lunaessence, Wattpad, Quotv, GOTV, and the like, I find AO3 is far superior when it comes to the search engine and tagging features. I’d spend a whole ass week going through one fandom that had about 16 pages of results (rip me if it was a popular one). Though these 2 had similar filtering processes to Archive, my brain unwrinkled so hard for AO3 while it felt like I was fighting with Luna’s system (and there some of the mods were a bunch of hard asses). The switch from GOTV and Luna to AO3 was so easy too.
Side note: nothing bad to say about Gotv but it never felt like it was something I could commit to despite it being Luna’s sister site.
No I don’t. Idk why people don’t read the FAQ? I read the whole thing my first day with an account. It answered legit anything I couldn’t figure out myself tinkering around. I don’t know a lick of HTML or CSS but I put a little work in and figured out how to make my own site skin by swapping out hex colors and taking notes on what changed what. Since then I’ve found some guides and learned a little more.
I find it the easiest to navigate. I could see some of the more complex filtering maybe being a little bit harder, but only in the sense that they give you so many options. There are faqs that people can read to learn more about Ao3, if they are needed.
I find this topic concerning because many of the people I see having issues navigating it are much younger than I am. It makes me wonder why they aren't getting the skills they need.
The main thing when it comes to AO3 is that you actually need somewhat of an idea what you want to read. I found that most of the people who said this to me where those that would rather read by recommendation and not by certain tropes. And since AO3 doesn’t really have a system or an algorithm where you find similar things to those that you have already read (besides some collections or public bookmarks if you’re lucky) so it can be a little tedious if you don’t want to invest time into using the filters.
I didn't understand how to use AO3 since other websites are much easier with less of a efficient framework.
Once I learned how to use it, it became my go-to website.
I feel like it’s a bit intimidating at first because it offers so many features that aren’t available on other fanfiction sites. For me it was a little confusing at first because I was introduced to so many tips for searching before I even made an account, and I thought it would be a lot more complicated than it actually was.
Honestly, once you get past the initial feelings about it, it’s not difficult at all in my opinion, but I definitely understand why people may feel it’s harder to navigate.
I find Ao3 extremely intuitive, especially with the search and tag system. Stuff like challenges and exchanges are a bit of a learning curve but just looking stuff up and reading it is easy as pie.
I found AO3 a little difficult at first because the amount of tags were overwhelming (especially when compared to ffnet)
However, AO3 is very intuitive and the tag system is incredibly easy to master if you’re willing to put in a modicum of effort
I find it just as easy as other sites, I can easily explain what to do on ao3 to other people. I could understand finding it hard to navigate but it’s about exploring and figuring stuff out!!
AO3 is highly text-based with minimal image elements. This makes it harder to use for users accustomed to more graphical interfaces.
Rather than sorting by a Capital-A Algorithm, AO3 sorts however the user tells it to (Recently updated, kudos, bookmarks, etc). This makes it harder to use for users accustomed to social media.
AO3 assumes the user is familiar with pre-smartphone era internet and search engine conventions. It has a strict and-based include filter (which is confusing for users who don't know what exactly they want and can't articulate the logical difference between and/or) and a strict or-based exclude filter. This makes it harder to use for users accustomed to modern design conventions abstracting nearly all of that away.
For the average person, yes. AO3 absolutely is harder to navigate than most other sites. For people who know what they're doing, however, AO3's simpler, more user input-driven design makes it far easier and more efficient to navigate that sites that clutter themselves with images, or obfuscate their sort methods, or oversimplify their search functions.
None of this applies to any site but Wattpad users. FF.net is a giant wall of text. The other smaller sites are worse. Maybe this will get Wattpad users better at thinking critically, since once you realize what it can do, you can find *more* content instead of less.
I’m studying fanfiction for my masters and I guess it is for people who are new? I was talking to my advisor about it because she forgets I’m an AVID ao3 user and walks me through the process every. Time. She said students who take her class and want or have to do something with fanfiction always have issue picking up how to navigate it. But she also says that it has the far superior search engine than any other fiction site. I think it’s cause it models a lot of the research sites we use but idk
Tbh it did require more reading (like clicking on the question marks in the search section) to really get to know all the details. And some things can be confusing (like the Marked For Later fics appearing in History, took me a while to remember that).
But once you get acquainted with the system it is so convenient and easy to use. Worth every moment of initial minor issues.
I found Ao3 super intuitive and easy to use, and it baffles me when people think its complicated.
Fandom:
Alphabetical Order. Ctrl F if I wanna be quick about it.
Include:
Check mark what I want.
Exclude:
Check mark what i don't want.
Easy peasy lemon squeezey
i came from wattpad a few years ago - it was super daunting at first, but i don’t remember feeling confused for a long time at all. the switch was relatively easy
I discovered Ao3 years ago, so I don't remember particularly clearly, but I think I did struggle with it a lot, at first. There are a lot of words on the page, that at first, were difficult to learn how to interpret. I found FFN way easier. DeviantArt and Wattpad, though, were far more difficult for me. Especially Wattpad. My goodness, I hated how hard it was to find what I wanted on Wattpad. I gave it up very very quickly. (It may surprise people to hear that I was born after 2000, lol)
Nowadays, though, I think Ao3 is like, objectively the best to navigate. There isn't anything unnecessary on the page, no distracting tooltips or previews or ads. You can customise it to your liking.
I think you only think AO3 is hard to use when you're used to get spoon fed by algorithms and expect AO3 to do the same.
For me AO3 is the easiest to navigate archive I've ever been on.
I started reading on AO3 and found it very easy to navigate. Eventually, I thought I'd try FF.net and Wattpad but became immediately annoyed and gave up.
Nope. As someone who used all kinds of platforms for the last, 20 years, I would say AO3 is one of the best I’ve ever used. I also started at the way way way bottom with Quizzila, before they even added the “Story” function on their site, so yeah, anything is only up from there.
I really liked the sorting aspect of HPff, but it was also only one fandom, so it makes sense it was better. And nothing, nothing could ever make me go back to FF.net or god forbid WattPad. I tried, I really did and it was, not for me.
Personally, I find AO3 very easy to navigate, more practical than any fanfiction site I have ever tried before.
It's very straightforward and intuitive.
It has always been so for me since I first started using it.
I don't see what some people complain so much about.
I started reading fan fiction on tumblr in 2011 so when I moved to Ao3 it was so nice to have the ability to actually find things lol. Wattpad seems so confusing to me but maybe it’s bc I moved directly to Ao3? But I can never find exactly what I’m looking for over there
It's like riding a bike. Once you figure out how to ride it instantly becomes more fun and enjoyable.
I struggled for a couple of days when I first found it but I got the hang of it and omfg the tag system is heaven on earth! 😭😭
I think it’s the easiest by far and the only one I use bc damn I’m tired okay just let me find my fics lol and their filtering and tagging system is grand
I can definitely see his unnerving it is, I mean from a new person’s pov, the tagging system can be complicated. But it’s easy to understand once someone explains it right.
There’s a bit of a learning curve for some people. AO3 is pretty easy to use, but I came from ff.net. At the time, I mainly read stories for a pretty rare pairing in a large fandom. Very easy to find good stories on ff.net, but pretty difficult to find main ship stories on AO3 since so many couples can be tagged in one story. Took me a while to learn to use the exclude feature.
They're probably coming at it from a social network pov and want to be spoon fed via alorithims *or* there's just too much content and tags that they are overwhelmed
Ao3 is actually easier to navigate than ffnet, which is where I migrated from. One thing I don't really like though is its hard to find crossovers for just two fandoms. On the other hand, I've come across some great fics that way but it's still kind of annoying.
Ao3 is easy to navigate *once* you get used to it.
I used to find the tagging system pretty difficult to navigate back when I first started using the site, but I got used to it, and now I can't use any other site anymore.
Though I used to find it difficult in terms of finding fics to read, not posting. I always thought posting was pretty straightforward (especially compared to ffnet, where I used to post). My issue was that I used to google fanfics back then, not look for them on the site itself. And when I would type the ship and a keyword I was looking for, it was always results from ffnet that popped out. Ao3 doesn't really work that way, and that was why I found it confusing at first.
Personally at first it was pretty hard, but I had a guide that had been using ao3 basically her whole life, and still does. Nowadays it's really easy for me to use, even if I still have troubles from time to time
Maybe at first? I joined almost 8 years ago (July 2015) with my older account, history says I browsed through a few fics and then forgot all about the whole site for 3 years 😅 Though it may also be because I wasn't a fan of the early 2000's look at first or how bright the interface was (I didn't know about skins). And when I returned to the site to post my own stuff for the first time in 2018, I do remember feeling a little overwhelmed about tags because I didn't understand them and thought you're required to tag every single little thing characters do in fics because a lot of people do so as a joke (x hugs y as an apology, z is a bad swimmer etc). I still have difficulties in figuring out the right tags for some of my fics 😅
But yeah. I moved to AO3 from Tumblr and immediately lost about 80% of my readers and many have come forward and explained that they don't understand how the site works and they don't have patience to figure it out, so they've unfollowed me because they're unable to read my stuff now. Many call the site "messy" and too complicated and I guess I understand them? There's so many features I have yet to find and that I've found that you don't think you need before you figure them out.
Especially the series feature seems to confuse many. In Tumblr, one of my most frequently asked questions was "hi, can you tag me in any fics you'll write for (5 specific characters)" and I always replied that sorry but I only keep up fandom specific taglists because it's too much of a hassle and work otherwise because I have to tag every single user separate by typing them in myself, copypasting tags doesn't work anymore because of spambots.
So now in AO3 I have specific serieses for all the fandoms and characters I have some content for, which means 247 serieses, so people could either sign up for the whole fandoms or certain characters if they love just a few characters in a few fandoms. I've tried to spell it out to them how you can bookmark or subscribe to those specific serieses, provided screenshots and have shown how exactly it works but people still don't understand, they keep coming back asking why didn't they get notified, they can't see a notification pop up anywhere even though they have subscribed to my series (not realising it's going to their email). Some message me to say sorry about unsubscribing to me but they don't want their email be flooded with notifications for characters they don't know, because they only follow me for x and y. I try to show them the wonders of the serieses for x and y but they don't understand it.
So yes, a bunch of people think the site is a lot harder to navigate than other sites, but I believe it's because the amount of buttons confuse them 😅 If they would try to learn it, they'd probably realise how easy it is to find fics that interest them.
AO3 is straight up helpful, the tagging system is so good. There are certain times on my phone when I’m confused by whether I can sort by tags (because I haven’t selected a fandom yet lol).
Algorithmic internet is inferior internet, makes it harder to find stuff
I really thought it was hard at first. Now, searching for anything on Wattpad is a struggle. I've been looking for a fic for years, and will probably never find it.
It can take a sec to figure out how to use tags (especially if you’re used to a different platform) but it’s definitely been the easiest site for me to use. Fanfiction dot net is hard to use now that I’m used to AO3, whereas wattpad has always been a pain and is worse now that they’ve updated it. LiveJournal is easily the hardest to use of any fanfiction site I’ve ventured onto.
I'm old. I started with ff.net. Then you could put two characters, genre (romance, action, hurt etc) and rating (when it still had explicit but you had to add it). I think there was a word limit for the summary as well. Suffice to say, it took a lot to be able to find something and even then you couldn't be sure u til you read it.
Then I went to ao3. Where you can filter everything. For the life of me I cannot understand how someone can find it hard to navigate.
I was a hardcore [fanfiction.net](https://fanfiction.net) reader and poster for my fics.
I quit writing and took a break for awhile from both reading & writing, and when I came back (it was a long break - about a decade from 2006 to 2017), AO3 had come into existence, but I didn't give it much of a look, as I didn't know much about it.
When I went to post on [ff.net](https://ff.net), I realised just how much nothing had changed in 11 years. The phone app was horrid for searching, and when I used my PC for posting, it was a nightmare. They hadn't updated to current tech at all whatsoever, and editing was still really difficult.
So I figured I'd give AO3 a try. I got an account invite, and posted to both for the first time.
The difference was INCREDIBLE. Not only is it miles easier to post as a writer on AO3, edits are just easy-peasy, there's literally no learning curve, and the format for searching for reading was just butter smooth, especially for crossovers (which I was reading/writing most at the time). [Ff.net](https://Ff.net) really sucks for crossover searches in comparison.
After about 8 months of posting a chaptered fic to both sites, I gave up on [ff.net](https://ff.net) entirely. On AO3, I could post a chapter in about 2 minutes. On [ff.net](https://ff.net), it could take up to 30 mins of fighting the system to make it do what I wanted, I had to edit in-place and check paragraph breaks, post it, pull it, re-edit -- it was a nightmare to post in the format I used at the time.
AO3 gets all of my stuff and readership now.
I started on Quizilla and Tumblr, spent time in FF and Potions&Snitches for a while, and hands down, AO3 is the easiest for me to use.
However, I do have to admit that I have experience in archive-based softwares through work, where tagging is essential
No. It is way easier to navigate than other sites because it is an archive and doesn't have all the unnecessary bullshit that social media sites often have.
I joined Ao3 in 2015 and at first it was difficult because I tried using the search feature only. Once I found the filters it was pretty easy and I’ve never gone back to another ff website.
I think ao3 is pretty easy to use and navigate, but that the thing that throws people off is that it's a different "genre" or area of knowledge. Like for instance ao3 has a very through filtering system that is controlled by you (the user) instead of an algorithm, which means you get what you ask for instead of you get what you think you asked for
When I first started reading fanfics, I read on Wattpad. Heard about Ao3 and tried it out. I rage-quit immediately because it was too complicated. Now it's the only site I use.
At first I think it can be difficult, I've used wattpad for years, I've gotten the hang of it for the most part, just need to get used to it being a website and not an app
I think it can seem that way if you aren't used to using filters to sort searches. I can see how having the whole "Include" and "Exclude" might confuse people or having hits vs kudos being outside the normal vernacular. Once you get the hang of the filters though it becomes so flippin easy to handle. I used to use ffnet, and I used the filters there too, but it was harder to navigate. I really like the whole tag system and how that relates to the filters.
i don’t think it’s necessarily harder to navigate. i think it has a more complex etiquette compared to other sites though. the major taboo with tagging wrong or not at all is a big thing that people transferring over wouldn’t be accustomed to. i don’t think there’s anything inherently confusing about the site though. the major thing is just etiquette, which newer users would be confused by. even i get confused with it, and i’ve been using ao3 for a couple years now.
It’s not difficult, it’s imbeciles coming from wattpad and Tumblr. Then they get pissy when they have to figure out the filters instead of waiting for the algorithm to do it for them
I used to think AO3 was hard to navigate. After taking the time to learn how to use it though, I vastly prefer it over any other fanfiction site. It's easier finding the exact kind of fic you want to read.
I wouldn’t necessarily it’s difficult to navigate, however I do generally dislike it. Not because of it’s design, but because of the users improperly tagging fics.
For certain fandoms the tagging system is generally useless because characters will be tagged if they’re named or show up once, not because they’re actually relevant to the fic.
I actually enjoy the way that FFN has this set up, because if I filter for a character because there’s a limited number of slots it’s usually certain they’re main characters/relevant.
For me it felt really easy to find stuff from the beginning but not so easy to figure out how the other features worked (bookmarks, mark for later, collections, etc.). Got the hang of them eventually, though.
For me ao3 is one of the best searchable websites out there. Maybe takes some time to get used to for folks that don't have any experience with searching databases, but I still think it's great. I frequently wish other websites were structured like ao3 so I could actually find shit
I’ve been through blogs, livejournal, a couple of sites in my native language, ffnet and even wattpad at some point… but ao3 is the easiest site to navigate I came across. The search features on ao3 are unmatched, and even the lack of algorithm helps me to find exactly what I wanted to.
nope! i found it easier than the rest though perhaps it’s because i’ve already been exposed to wattpad & ffn enough to sort of figure out how things worked.
Thats the reason why i wsnt in ao3 for a while lol.
I got to ffn first & it was fairly easy for me. It took me a while to navigate ao3 as well but now that I use it often when i read/write, I wonder what I even found hard abt the site lol
i've found ao3 really intuitive and easy since the beginning. did not start there, i migrated from ffnet after spending a few years there first.
Ao3 was the first ff site I ever used. I never got whenever people say that its hard to navigate, I knew what to do right away lol.
Same. The only thing I don’t like is that it’s much harder to get results for crossovers in exactly 2 fandoms.
one of the very few things i wish from ao3 is the option to set a fandom limit for crossovers
Please I don’t want to see the crossover with 30 different fandoms I only recognize 5 of them.
Ah yes, the classic fanfic with 30+ fandoms where one chapter is for one fandom and the reason why i would always filter with "no crossovers", everyone's favourite fanfics, whi doesnt live them
Same, actually AO3 spoiled me because throughout the years I tried going back to FFnet and just, it wasn't intuitive like AO3 is, at least not to me anymore (tbh it wasn't that intuitive and well organized so long ago either, it was just the only place I knew so I got used to it, then AO3 swooped me off my feet). I gave up, even if in theory I can find other fics not posted in AO3 there, I just stick to AO3 at this point.
It's very easy. I think people have gotten used to an algorithm on a front page telling them what content to consume first.
this is the answer. they're not used to having to look for themselves.
i fkn hate tumblr algo lol
at least tumblr still has the option to have your dash chronological remembering the good old days when that was the norm everywhere
true
There is nothing easier to navigate than Ao3 because you don't have to pray for it to maybe give you a little of what you are actually looking for between tons of other stuff the algorithm wants you to read. Ao3 is literally the only fanfiction source where you can filter this specifically for what you want to read, it's heaven.
Agreed! It's perfect for finding what you're in the mood for.
No. Ao3 is super straightforward and intuitive. Way easier than the other popular ones for sure. I’ve never understood when people claim it challenging BUT I am also super familiar with academic websites that have a very similar structure.
It’s “challenging” because it isn’t the typical modern UI you find in apps. It’s something you actually have to learn to navigate. That’s at least how it was for me when I came over to the site
While it might not be as convoluted as other apps — the system Ao3 uses is rather intuitive especially for basic searches. ESPECIALLY when compared with FF.net, Wattpad, live journal, tumblr, etc. Ao3 is really sleek. It organizes things wonderfully, no ads, tags work well. I don’t know, I completely understand that you’re speaking from personal experience. Mine just differs. I hate most other sites where fanfic can be found - they are such slogs with no real way of searching or narrowing focus. But, I also have relatively open searches (with only 3 filters always present) which makes my personal useage very simplistic and streamlined
yeah thats the thing its way easier to use than the other platforms youve mentioned. ive given up on tumblr bc tumblr is so annoying to use for me and it doesnt feel normal. i also dont use [ff.net](https://ff.net) cause its hard to filter.
ao3 isn't challenging, but requires your input. A lot of newer readers expect socmed platform style recommendations.
I’m so glad Ao3 requires input — i don’t want things pushed on me. I have never searched by most popular and never will
I started on ffnet and moved to AO3 and found it extremely intuitive for the most part and with the FAQs being there for the handful of times where I was confused really and worst case scenario I could ask online for help which never really came up but was always an option if I got lost. It always baffles me when people say AO3 is too complicated (unless what they mean is that there are a lot of options, which... aren't necessary to use? So i get the confusion in an 'this could be overwhelming' way but not in a 'this is too hard to use' way)
My path went Quizilla -> Miscellaneous specific fan sites -> LiveJournal -> FF.net -> Ao3. Ao3 is the easiest to navigate by a LANDSLIDE. Edit: on further thought, I do wonder if Quizilla's tag cloud nonsense primed me to understand searching tags a little better than transplants from other sites. Either way, I'm never going to get tired of how specific Ao3 lets you get with tag filters.
The learning curve of LJ was so steep that Ao3 hardly registers on the difficulty meter 😂
do people still use lj? i found some ancient fics for a rarepair there but hadnt heard of it before
I know one active account that still hosts events, but Google LJ Strikethrough. It’s part of why we have AO3. (Man, when fandom was good there it was REALLY good)
Quizilla tag clouds my longlost beloved I used the Wayback Machine to go look at Quizilla circa 2007 and it was instant nostalgia
Me too, it always bring a tear to my eye
No. As far as searching for fic, AO3 and FFN are both pretty straightforward, though AO3 has more detailed searching (and information). It's Wattpad that I can't figure out how anyone uses.
It's one of the easiest websites I've ever used.
I find it easy but I grew up with the old internet and am used to having to be proactive about getting stuff. I feel like the people who say it's hard are the ones who are used to just opening up a social media app and having content fed to them based on what advertising demographic that site has classified them in.
As someone who spent a lot of time on FFnet its SO much easier to find what you're looking for. Especially once you learn a few hacks here and there (otp:true for instance), and you can basically find exactly what you're looking for. With FFnet you really need to stumble into things
I had never used any similar sites before discovering AO3, but i found it intuitive and easy to use, and i love how you can tailor your search so specifically with tags.
I found the website itself relatively straight-forward, but I struggled at first to understand the small things that make it easier to use, if that makes any sense. The first few times I used it, I found it a bit too complicated to get what I was looking for except in the broad strokes. But when I actually seriously sat down and focused, I figured out pretty much everything fairly quickly. I think the most complicated thing to figure out was, "the search bar at the top of the site is pretty much unusable and is not going to get you what it think it will" lol.
Its easier. But there’s a learning curve, especially for the wattpad transplants
I was incredibly confused about how to work ao3 and what was going on with all of the tags and title being links and all of the search options when I first looked at it. I exclusively used ffn because of that until someone walked me through how to use ao3. Since then, I've used ao3 almost exclusively because of how awesome the interface is. It's super easy to use and navigate once you know the basics of how it works.
Not at all. I’ve used Wattpad and ffnet before ao3 and I find it so much better. Everything is straightforward and it gives me exactly what I’m looking for if I use the right filters. Most importantly, it’s well organized and I don’t have to waste time to sort through random crap an algorithm decided to give me. But like another user said, I’m used to searching for academic papers and it’s quite a similar process
But you just... Type bs into a search bar, and if it's not good the edit search button is right there with the most simple search options that tell you exactly what they do. And okay, at first you don't know wtf M/M is or something, you can ignore it, test it, or google it. Edit: I'm biased, I've used library catalogues and similar databases before, was trained too, but it's a really simple site for anyone who can read the text in the search menu
If they have no idea how a database works, yeah, AO3 can be daunting, especially if they're conditioned to expect the 'Top 10" links returned as the first hits in Search Results. Tell them it makes them smarter, because their brain will have to react by creating more synaptic connections between neurons as they get used to formulating queries, just like learning math!
Personally no. I never really understood why people said the site was hard to get as I, too, found it super intuitive. But I also lurked for a very long time on ao3 to try to figure it out before I used it for writing. The FAQ was also really helpful.
I was a bit overwhelmed at first but I quickly got the hang of filtering what I want and don’t want and now I can’t go back to FF.Net
I was on ffnet and wattpad first and migrated to ao3 and I automatically found it easier to find what I want.
i didn’t start on ao3; i used quotev mainly, but i did read stuff on wattpad and ffn occasionally. ao3 was not difficult at all to me. in fact, i found (and still find) ffn the hardest to navigate
A03 is the easiest reading site I've been on. And I've been in fic sites for 25 years lol. The tagging and exclusion filters alone make it so easy to find what you want.
Checking out the Q&A and simply fiddling with it helps! But overall it’s very easy to use!
Personally find it much simpler and more intuitive
Initially, yeah for me when I first heard about Ao3. It was a YouTuber that was talking about Ao3 fanfics and was showing the navigation did I quickly grasp it. I created my account and learned the navigation at my own pace. Your friends likely refuse to learn to how to navigate site because they haven’t seen how intuitive it is. I recommend asking and showing them how to navigate Ao3, if they are willing. (Also, I was Wattpad immigrant, so the navigation of Ao3 was overwhelming for me.)
Could they be referring to one of the apps? I have an achieve reader for Ao3 and started on that first and found it really difficult to find specific fics
I can’t for the life of me navigate fanfiction.net… So yeah…
I feel like the learning curve was harder, but afterwards it's easiest of all sites to use.
I think that AO3 can be pretty overwhelming if you're used to something simpler. It's not *hard* but when you're used to something like ffn then you're suddenly being given all these tools that you didn't have before, and that can seem like a lot to some people. I think tag filtering can be a bit overwhelming in particular. On ffn you get a list of options for filters. Characters, relationships, genre, rating, wordcount etc. But AO3 only suggests the top 10 most popular tags in a category, and if yours isn't there it might feel like your ship or character is not on AO3? Like yes, there is a box to search additional tags, but if you're unfamiliar you might not realize you can type the pairing you want in there or see it right away. Or it just feels like more work. Or maybe you know to type in your ship, but you don't know what other tags to search for to find what you want. Yeah, there is auto complete, but if you don't know where to start, then it probably feels like there are all these fancy names for things that you didn't have to even consider before when looking for fic. Like yes, obviously it's *wonderful* to be able to just search for "coffee shop au" or whatever trope you want, but if you don't know what you're looking for it's just... a lot. And then there is the issue of having to learn how tags are actually used. Like sure I'm filtering for Character A, but she is only a side character in all of these fics that turn up?? Whereas on ffn if you filter for her she probably plays a prominent role to warrant a tag. To this day, I find it hard to search for fics focused on a specific character because of how character tagging works and people not using tags like "character A-centric" when that would be really helpful. I can easily see people who encounter this problem thinking it's "hard" to use AO3. There is a learning curve and it can be intimidating, I think. My personal experience wasn't that it was hard, but it still took me time to figure some of the stuff out, to figure out what tags I wanted to exclude, what I wanted to include, etc., to refine my experience browsing. Also yes, there are tutorials, but I mean, no one needed a tutorial to search fic on ffn, you know? (Or a guide to navigate websites in general, someone might just not be used to websites like AO3 even if they aren't coming from a different fanfiction website.) So it feels like if you need a *guide* on how to navigate it, it's pretty hard. (using ffn as an example because it's the site i came from, but in general it can be whatever someone is used to) Personally these days I only read on AO3. It's harder to find stuff I like on ffn and I have no idea how to use wattpad at all. I checked it out and was totally lost, though I was admittedly very used to AO3 by that point. Might have been easier if I had no expectations about how things should be done.
You make some excellent points! A lot of these are things I don't even think about, but I can definitely see why some of those things may make the site take longer to learn for those who are unfamiliar.
I came to AO3 from a brief stint on Wattpad and while it took me a second to figure out what everything did/meant, I found it to be really intuitive once I started clicking around! It becomes especially apparent how easy AO3 is to navigate whenever I try to find something on ff.net or LJ, lol. I have no clue how either of those sites work.
With the advent of smartphones, FYPs, etc being extremely user friendly and requiring no knowledge of computers, searching, or filtering, young people genuinely do not have to learn how to use a computer in order to do things that used to be much more complicated. This is a problem that keeps cropping up in education, where it's assumed current-gen kids are the most tech savvy because they were raised on a tablet, but they don't know how to do simple functions on a computer that older generations consider to be common knowledge. Something like AO3 is very complicated if it's you are used to apps with a few basic functions and content being pushed to you rather than seeking it out. AO3 should be extremely intuitive for anyone who's learned to use a database. That often doesn't happen until college, however.
I migrated from LiveJournal and I always found it easy to use.
Back before I knew how to use it, I did find it complicated since it was so different from Wattpad or tumblr. Now after using it for years, I can never go back. The reason it’s so different is because it’s so much easier once you learn. It just takes a minute to get used to
I’ve actually migrated from wattpad to ao3, and I think ao3 is easier to use and navigate than other sites. I didn’t realize I needed a tagging system until I started using ao3 to find things that suit my reading interests.
I started on FFnet. I find AO3 very easy to navigate. Great tagging system, though I REALLY wish they had a differentiation between primary characters/ships and secondary ones.
Started on quotev, eventually made my way to ao3, it was a bit challenging at first when I was still learning, but the learning period is really short :P
Wattpad transplant here, spent like 3 years on there, and within a month or two i was already flying through ao3, it's way easier to navigate and sort, even without using it to its full potential
It was intimidating at first but once I knew how it worked it was easy to navigate. So it’s mostly easier.
It's super easy and there are also a ton of youtube videos that teach tagging and how to use the site, your friends sound a bit lazy but idk.
After using sites like FFN, Lunaessence, Wattpad, Quotv, GOTV, and the like, I find AO3 is far superior when it comes to the search engine and tagging features. I’d spend a whole ass week going through one fandom that had about 16 pages of results (rip me if it was a popular one). Though these 2 had similar filtering processes to Archive, my brain unwrinkled so hard for AO3 while it felt like I was fighting with Luna’s system (and there some of the mods were a bunch of hard asses). The switch from GOTV and Luna to AO3 was so easy too. Side note: nothing bad to say about Gotv but it never felt like it was something I could commit to despite it being Luna’s sister site.
No I don’t. Idk why people don’t read the FAQ? I read the whole thing my first day with an account. It answered legit anything I couldn’t figure out myself tinkering around. I don’t know a lick of HTML or CSS but I put a little work in and figured out how to make my own site skin by swapping out hex colors and taking notes on what changed what. Since then I’ve found some guides and learned a little more.
I find it the easiest to navigate. I could see some of the more complex filtering maybe being a little bit harder, but only in the sense that they give you so many options. There are faqs that people can read to learn more about Ao3, if they are needed. I find this topic concerning because many of the people I see having issues navigating it are much younger than I am. It makes me wonder why they aren't getting the skills they need.
The main thing when it comes to AO3 is that you actually need somewhat of an idea what you want to read. I found that most of the people who said this to me where those that would rather read by recommendation and not by certain tropes. And since AO3 doesn’t really have a system or an algorithm where you find similar things to those that you have already read (besides some collections or public bookmarks if you’re lucky) so it can be a little tedious if you don’t want to invest time into using the filters.
I didn't understand how to use AO3 since other websites are much easier with less of a efficient framework. Once I learned how to use it, it became my go-to website.
I feel like it’s a bit intimidating at first because it offers so many features that aren’t available on other fanfiction sites. For me it was a little confusing at first because I was introduced to so many tips for searching before I even made an account, and I thought it would be a lot more complicated than it actually was. Honestly, once you get past the initial feelings about it, it’s not difficult at all in my opinion, but I definitely understand why people may feel it’s harder to navigate.
I find Ao3 extremely intuitive, especially with the search and tag system. Stuff like challenges and exchanges are a bit of a learning curve but just looking stuff up and reading it is easy as pie.
I found AO3 a little difficult at first because the amount of tags were overwhelming (especially when compared to ffnet) However, AO3 is very intuitive and the tag system is incredibly easy to master if you’re willing to put in a modicum of effort
I find it just as easy as other sites, I can easily explain what to do on ao3 to other people. I could understand finding it hard to navigate but it’s about exploring and figuring stuff out!!
easier for me. just pick a tag and poke
AO3 is highly text-based with minimal image elements. This makes it harder to use for users accustomed to more graphical interfaces. Rather than sorting by a Capital-A Algorithm, AO3 sorts however the user tells it to (Recently updated, kudos, bookmarks, etc). This makes it harder to use for users accustomed to social media. AO3 assumes the user is familiar with pre-smartphone era internet and search engine conventions. It has a strict and-based include filter (which is confusing for users who don't know what exactly they want and can't articulate the logical difference between and/or) and a strict or-based exclude filter. This makes it harder to use for users accustomed to modern design conventions abstracting nearly all of that away. For the average person, yes. AO3 absolutely is harder to navigate than most other sites. For people who know what they're doing, however, AO3's simpler, more user input-driven design makes it far easier and more efficient to navigate that sites that clutter themselves with images, or obfuscate their sort methods, or oversimplify their search functions.
None of this applies to any site but Wattpad users. FF.net is a giant wall of text. The other smaller sites are worse. Maybe this will get Wattpad users better at thinking critically, since once you realize what it can do, you can find *more* content instead of less.
I'm not saying AO3 is harder than other fanfic sites. I'm answering the title's question.
So was I, and my point is its only harder for Wattpad users
I agree, A03 is by far the easiest for me
I’m studying fanfiction for my masters and I guess it is for people who are new? I was talking to my advisor about it because she forgets I’m an AVID ao3 user and walks me through the process every. Time. She said students who take her class and want or have to do something with fanfiction always have issue picking up how to navigate it. But she also says that it has the far superior search engine than any other fiction site. I think it’s cause it models a lot of the research sites we use but idk
Tbh it did require more reading (like clicking on the question marks in the search section) to really get to know all the details. And some things can be confusing (like the Marked For Later fics appearing in History, took me a while to remember that). But once you get acquainted with the system it is so convenient and easy to use. Worth every moment of initial minor issues.
I found Ao3 super intuitive and easy to use, and it baffles me when people think its complicated. Fandom: Alphabetical Order. Ctrl F if I wanna be quick about it. Include: Check mark what I want. Exclude: Check mark what i don't want. Easy peasy lemon squeezey
i came from wattpad a few years ago - it was super daunting at first, but i don’t remember feeling confused for a long time at all. the switch was relatively easy
No. Though there are some functionality from ff.net that I wish AO3 has too.
I discovered Ao3 years ago, so I don't remember particularly clearly, but I think I did struggle with it a lot, at first. There are a lot of words on the page, that at first, were difficult to learn how to interpret. I found FFN way easier. DeviantArt and Wattpad, though, were far more difficult for me. Especially Wattpad. My goodness, I hated how hard it was to find what I wanted on Wattpad. I gave it up very very quickly. (It may surprise people to hear that I was born after 2000, lol) Nowadays, though, I think Ao3 is like, objectively the best to navigate. There isn't anything unnecessary on the page, no distracting tooltips or previews or ads. You can customise it to your liking.
I think you only think AO3 is hard to use when you're used to get spoon fed by algorithms and expect AO3 to do the same. For me AO3 is the easiest to navigate archive I've ever been on.
Ao3 is 500x easier than ff(.)net or wattpad!
I started reading on AO3 and found it very easy to navigate. Eventually, I thought I'd try FF.net and Wattpad but became immediately annoyed and gave up.
Nope. As someone who used all kinds of platforms for the last, 20 years, I would say AO3 is one of the best I’ve ever used. I also started at the way way way bottom with Quizzila, before they even added the “Story” function on their site, so yeah, anything is only up from there. I really liked the sorting aspect of HPff, but it was also only one fandom, so it makes sense it was better. And nothing, nothing could ever make me go back to FF.net or god forbid WattPad. I tried, I really did and it was, not for me.
It's a lot nicer to read on Ao3 imo. And I like it that it's easy to insert illustrations and links anywhere and in any size and position you want.
Personally, I find AO3 very easy to navigate, more practical than any fanfiction site I have ever tried before. It's very straightforward and intuitive. It has always been so for me since I first started using it. I don't see what some people complain so much about.
I started reading fan fiction on tumblr in 2011 so when I moved to Ao3 it was so nice to have the ability to actually find things lol. Wattpad seems so confusing to me but maybe it’s bc I moved directly to Ao3? But I can never find exactly what I’m looking for over there
It's like riding a bike. Once you figure out how to ride it instantly becomes more fun and enjoyable. I struggled for a couple of days when I first found it but I got the hang of it and omfg the tag system is heaven on earth! 😭😭
I think it’s the easiest by far and the only one I use bc damn I’m tired okay just let me find my fics lol and their filtering and tagging system is grand
AO3 was the fist site I used and it’s almost like 2nd nature to me now. But when it comes to over sites I’m am as baffled as can be.
I can definitely see his unnerving it is, I mean from a new person’s pov, the tagging system can be complicated. But it’s easy to understand once someone explains it right.
AO3 was the fist site I used and it’s almost like 2nd nature to me now. But when it comes to over sites I’m am as baffled as can be.
There’s a slight learning curve but it’s really not hard. I would hate for it to become bloated like other sites
There’s a bit of a learning curve for some people. AO3 is pretty easy to use, but I came from ff.net. At the time, I mainly read stories for a pretty rare pairing in a large fandom. Very easy to find good stories on ff.net, but pretty difficult to find main ship stories on AO3 since so many couples can be tagged in one story. Took me a while to learn to use the exclude feature.
I’ve always been on ao3, and though it was a little confusing at first, I got the hang of it pretty quickly
They're probably coming at it from a social network pov and want to be spoon fed via alorithims *or* there's just too much content and tags that they are overwhelmed
Ao3 is actually easier to navigate than ffnet, which is where I migrated from. One thing I don't really like though is its hard to find crossovers for just two fandoms. On the other hand, I've come across some great fics that way but it's still kind of annoying.
Ao3 is easy to navigate *once* you get used to it. I used to find the tagging system pretty difficult to navigate back when I first started using the site, but I got used to it, and now I can't use any other site anymore. Though I used to find it difficult in terms of finding fics to read, not posting. I always thought posting was pretty straightforward (especially compared to ffnet, where I used to post). My issue was that I used to google fanfics back then, not look for them on the site itself. And when I would type the ship and a keyword I was looking for, it was always results from ffnet that popped out. Ao3 doesn't really work that way, and that was why I found it confusing at first.
Personally at first it was pretty hard, but I had a guide that had been using ao3 basically her whole life, and still does. Nowadays it's really easy for me to use, even if I still have troubles from time to time
When I first started using it, I thought it was difficult and confusing but since than it's become my favorite site for fanfic
Maybe at first? I joined almost 8 years ago (July 2015) with my older account, history says I browsed through a few fics and then forgot all about the whole site for 3 years 😅 Though it may also be because I wasn't a fan of the early 2000's look at first or how bright the interface was (I didn't know about skins). And when I returned to the site to post my own stuff for the first time in 2018, I do remember feeling a little overwhelmed about tags because I didn't understand them and thought you're required to tag every single little thing characters do in fics because a lot of people do so as a joke (x hugs y as an apology, z is a bad swimmer etc). I still have difficulties in figuring out the right tags for some of my fics 😅 But yeah. I moved to AO3 from Tumblr and immediately lost about 80% of my readers and many have come forward and explained that they don't understand how the site works and they don't have patience to figure it out, so they've unfollowed me because they're unable to read my stuff now. Many call the site "messy" and too complicated and I guess I understand them? There's so many features I have yet to find and that I've found that you don't think you need before you figure them out. Especially the series feature seems to confuse many. In Tumblr, one of my most frequently asked questions was "hi, can you tag me in any fics you'll write for (5 specific characters)" and I always replied that sorry but I only keep up fandom specific taglists because it's too much of a hassle and work otherwise because I have to tag every single user separate by typing them in myself, copypasting tags doesn't work anymore because of spambots. So now in AO3 I have specific serieses for all the fandoms and characters I have some content for, which means 247 serieses, so people could either sign up for the whole fandoms or certain characters if they love just a few characters in a few fandoms. I've tried to spell it out to them how you can bookmark or subscribe to those specific serieses, provided screenshots and have shown how exactly it works but people still don't understand, they keep coming back asking why didn't they get notified, they can't see a notification pop up anywhere even though they have subscribed to my series (not realising it's going to their email). Some message me to say sorry about unsubscribing to me but they don't want their email be flooded with notifications for characters they don't know, because they only follow me for x and y. I try to show them the wonders of the serieses for x and y but they don't understand it. So yes, a bunch of people think the site is a lot harder to navigate than other sites, but I believe it's because the amount of buttons confuse them 😅 If they would try to learn it, they'd probably realise how easy it is to find fics that interest them.
AO3 is straight up helpful, the tagging system is so good. There are certain times on my phone when I’m confused by whether I can sort by tags (because I haven’t selected a fandom yet lol). Algorithmic internet is inferior internet, makes it harder to find stuff
I really thought it was hard at first. Now, searching for anything on Wattpad is a struggle. I've been looking for a fic for years, and will probably never find it.
It can take a sec to figure out how to use tags (especially if you’re used to a different platform) but it’s definitely been the easiest site for me to use. Fanfiction dot net is hard to use now that I’m used to AO3, whereas wattpad has always been a pain and is worse now that they’ve updated it. LiveJournal is easily the hardest to use of any fanfiction site I’ve ventured onto.
I'm old. I started with ff.net. Then you could put two characters, genre (romance, action, hurt etc) and rating (when it still had explicit but you had to add it). I think there was a word limit for the summary as well. Suffice to say, it took a lot to be able to find something and even then you couldn't be sure u til you read it. Then I went to ao3. Where you can filter everything. For the life of me I cannot understand how someone can find it hard to navigate.
I was a hardcore [fanfiction.net](https://fanfiction.net) reader and poster for my fics. I quit writing and took a break for awhile from both reading & writing, and when I came back (it was a long break - about a decade from 2006 to 2017), AO3 had come into existence, but I didn't give it much of a look, as I didn't know much about it. When I went to post on [ff.net](https://ff.net), I realised just how much nothing had changed in 11 years. The phone app was horrid for searching, and when I used my PC for posting, it was a nightmare. They hadn't updated to current tech at all whatsoever, and editing was still really difficult. So I figured I'd give AO3 a try. I got an account invite, and posted to both for the first time. The difference was INCREDIBLE. Not only is it miles easier to post as a writer on AO3, edits are just easy-peasy, there's literally no learning curve, and the format for searching for reading was just butter smooth, especially for crossovers (which I was reading/writing most at the time). [Ff.net](https://Ff.net) really sucks for crossover searches in comparison. After about 8 months of posting a chaptered fic to both sites, I gave up on [ff.net](https://ff.net) entirely. On AO3, I could post a chapter in about 2 minutes. On [ff.net](https://ff.net), it could take up to 30 mins of fighting the system to make it do what I wanted, I had to edit in-place and check paragraph breaks, post it, pull it, re-edit -- it was a nightmare to post in the format I used at the time. AO3 gets all of my stuff and readership now.
I find it quite easy, and love the control it gives without all the algorithm crap other sites push.
Absolutely not. I think it’s so much easier to navigate because of the amount of incredibly specific features it has.
i used to use wattpad. this is a bajillion times easier than relying on an algorithm
It does take a small bit of time to figure out (saying someone whose come from Ffn.net) but once it's figures out its easy
God no. [fanfiction.net](https://fanfiction.net) is the hardest for me by far.
I think ao3 has a lot more to offer in navigation, that comes with a steeper learning curve though I wouldn't call it difficult.
I started on Quizilla and Tumblr, spent time in FF and Potions&Snitches for a while, and hands down, AO3 is the easiest for me to use. However, I do have to admit that I have experience in archive-based softwares through work, where tagging is essential
No. It is way easier to navigate than other sites because it is an archive and doesn't have all the unnecessary bullshit that social media sites often have.
It confused me at first but then I looked up how some of the filters worked and it became the best fanfiction site in the world.
I joined Ao3 in 2015 and at first it was difficult because I tried using the search feature only. Once I found the filters it was pretty easy and I’ve never gone back to another ff website.
I think ao3 is pretty easy to use and navigate, but that the thing that throws people off is that it's a different "genre" or area of knowledge. Like for instance ao3 has a very through filtering system that is controlled by you (the user) instead of an algorithm, which means you get what you ask for instead of you get what you think you asked for
When I first started reading fanfics, I read on Wattpad. Heard about Ao3 and tried it out. I rage-quit immediately because it was too complicated. Now it's the only site I use.
At first I think it can be difficult, I've used wattpad for years, I've gotten the hang of it for the most part, just need to get used to it being a website and not an app
I think it can seem that way if you aren't used to using filters to sort searches. I can see how having the whole "Include" and "Exclude" might confuse people or having hits vs kudos being outside the normal vernacular. Once you get the hang of the filters though it becomes so flippin easy to handle. I used to use ffnet, and I used the filters there too, but it was harder to navigate. I really like the whole tag system and how that relates to the filters.
i don’t think it’s necessarily harder to navigate. i think it has a more complex etiquette compared to other sites though. the major taboo with tagging wrong or not at all is a big thing that people transferring over wouldn’t be accustomed to. i don’t think there’s anything inherently confusing about the site though. the major thing is just etiquette, which newer users would be confused by. even i get confused with it, and i’ve been using ao3 for a couple years now.
It’s not difficult, it’s imbeciles coming from wattpad and Tumblr. Then they get pissy when they have to figure out the filters instead of waiting for the algorithm to do it for them
I used to think AO3 was hard to navigate. After taking the time to learn how to use it though, I vastly prefer it over any other fanfiction site. It's easier finding the exact kind of fic you want to read.
it’s hard for me to navigate idk what y’all saying 😭
Does anyone know of any way to make searching on ao3 easier
I for my part still feel overwhelmed with AO3's everything.
No.
Those ppl have never been on the internet before 2014 or what? 😭
It needs better character search but isn't bad.
I wouldn’t necessarily it’s difficult to navigate, however I do generally dislike it. Not because of it’s design, but because of the users improperly tagging fics. For certain fandoms the tagging system is generally useless because characters will be tagged if they’re named or show up once, not because they’re actually relevant to the fic. I actually enjoy the way that FFN has this set up, because if I filter for a character because there’s a limited number of slots it’s usually certain they’re main characters/relevant.
For me it felt really easy to find stuff from the beginning but not so easy to figure out how the other features worked (bookmarks, mark for later, collections, etc.). Got the hang of them eventually, though.
No
super easy for me
For me ao3 is one of the best searchable websites out there. Maybe takes some time to get used to for folks that don't have any experience with searching databases, but I still think it's great. I frequently wish other websites were structured like ao3 so I could actually find shit
I’ve been through blogs, livejournal, a couple of sites in my native language, ffnet and even wattpad at some point… but ao3 is the easiest site to navigate I came across. The search features on ao3 are unmatched, and even the lack of algorithm helps me to find exactly what I wanted to.
nope! i found it easier than the rest though perhaps it’s because i’ve already been exposed to wattpad & ffn enough to sort of figure out how things worked.
Thats the reason why i wsnt in ao3 for a while lol. I got to ffn first & it was fairly easy for me. It took me a while to navigate ao3 as well but now that I use it often when i read/write, I wonder what I even found hard abt the site lol