I didn't even know this was a problem, but I'm very glad it was fixed.
However, I am curious about how exactly this would have worked as an abuse/spam tactic. If a victim was added as a co-creator to an illegitimate work, how did it negatively affect them in any significant way? The only thing I can think of is if the person who posted the work typed a bunch of flames against the victim rather than a fanfic. I wouldn't think that'd be common, though. And for spam, would an unwilling co-creator get banned along with the poster when the spam is caught??? I'm just having a hard time seeing how the previous system could be effectively weaponized, especially on a large enough scale to warrant a change.
Regardless, AO3 is great for always looking out for the users and constantly trying to improve the site! (With user input, rather than just steamrolling over user preferences and making changes no one wants, like DeviantArt does.)
IDK, what with the prudery and moral policing going on in fandom, and people really not knowing how to dissociate an author from their works, I guess you could add someone as a co-creator on a fic that "promoted" something they actively hated or found morally repulsive. Or just imply they shipped something they don't ship, or are really loudly anti about or whatever. Or trolled them with content they knew was triggery for the person. I tend to write such dark and fucked-up fic sometimes that I'm sure someone's reputation among fellow prudes would be forever ruined were they namechecked as my co-creator. 😂 People can get very petty and very dumb. But I expect this would've been mostly a nuisance more than anything else? Being added as a creator because someone doesn't know how to otherwise credit an inspirational fellow fan?
It's not necessarily reputation. Some people who have experienced abuse in the past obviously might not want to read triggering material, so it would be cruel and abusive to forcefully subject them to triggering material, or to explicitly associate their name with content they find abhorrent. And other people have any number of reasons for wanting to avoid certain content. Ratings and categorization and warning tags exist for a reason. It's unethical to force someone to view fictional material that they don't want to be exposed to, or to associate their name with something that opposes their values.
And I agree with that. Absolutely. I don't know how or why--perhaps the nature of the Internet today, calling trolling fun--my comment above should read as my condoning of such. Just to clarify, when I said "petty" and "dumb," I did mean vengeful people who do do this kind of nasty thing without anyone's consent. I wasn't calling triggered people dumb (I'm an aging fangirl, not a 4chan tough guy). The laughing smiley was at myself, more like "man, some of the crazy shit I've written."
So, again, what you are saying is--to me at least--such an obvious thing that I felt it didn't need to be even emphasised. Because... basic morality. But again, the Internet is full of dicks today, so--as appalling as it is--perhaps we have come to the point where even this kind of obvious thing needs to be spelled out? I don't know.
*Blink* I even edited my comment to include harassment by trolling someone by throwing triggery material at them. I get that you have triggers and are probably anxious right now, but please accept that not every comment that (perhaps in a rush or accidentally) omits your particular issue means they're condoning it.
It's your comment about "my attitude" that implies far worse--malice on my part when there is none. Guess what? You're talking to someone with far stricter standards about what kind of stuff needs a consent check with the recipient than most people do. For example, I consider all surprise presents (of any kind) deeply intrusive and outright abusive if squicky/triggering to the recipient. And since we never know what sets someone off, consent is a must.
And BTW, if I bitch about "moral policing," that has nothing to do with consent issues as such, if nothing is forced on anyone. I would never approve of shoving even a ship someone hated in their face, or even a musical/artistic style they hated. But I don't approve of someone trying to tell me I'm evil for writing about something they hate if I'm not forcing it upon them AND add the appropriate warnings, readmore cuts, NSFW tags or whatever. Those are different issues.
So, don't worry. PTSD is a bitch, but sometimes, not everyone is an arsehole. Some of us *do* give a shit about triggers and hypersensitivities that others consider mere pickiness or whatever.
What? You're the one suddenly acting triggered. You were going on about prudes fussily worrying about their reputations, and your contempt made me realize the attitude that some of these feature abusers probably have. So you basically answered my question with your attitude rather than your actual words.
...What? I am just trying to understand the psychology at work here. You're the one talking about my "attitude." Read: your interptetation of a given comment from a stranger on the Internet, based on how you react to people and words based on events in your past and your upbringing and culture and generation and whatnot. Due to whatever those experiences may be, you choose to read hostility where there was pretty much a "shrug" on my part and speculation on what those abuses could be, going what kind of abuse goes on in fandom. But you read "danger, danger, bad attitude, potential abuser," even *after* I have just said I have stricter ideas of what kind of stuff requires consent? I can only wonder--more with surprise and sadness than condemnation, BTW--what it is that makes you breeze past that message (which was specifically aimed at dissolving your worries of a threat) and insist on reading this negatively and as a defense of trolling and breaking of people's boundaries, which... erm. Well, I wouldn't consent to bullying or generally giving anyone anything without their consent, just so you know.
Again, moral policing and censorship are not the same thing as not giving a toss whether someone gets triggered, laughing at warnings and the very concept of triggers or whatever. World of difference there.
Really, there's not much I can add if you have already decided I am implying "yay, harm to others is a fun pastime." Only that there are real trolls who do think like that, and that you'd be better off worrying about them than a random fangirl who does believe in warnings and doesn't condone bullying.
*also blinks* This is a really weird way to thank someone who provided a factual answer to a question you fricking asked yourself.
And literally what the heck are you talking about in your comments? "Acting triggered"? Again, you asked a question about *abuse of a website feature* and they answered it. I literally have no idea what it has to do with triggers and psychological abuse - how did you add 1 plus 2 and get 99?
(If I'm feeding a troll, sorry. It's hard to tell sometimes.)
Yeah, I'd be pissed by that, regardless of what I thought of the work in question! If I didn't write a fic, I don't want people thinking I did. Hell, I wasn't even comfortable being listed as a co-creator of podfics of fic I *did* write, and ultimately ended up removing myself from those works (and yay, A+ job AO3 on making sure people can't add me as a co-creator for that kinda thing anymore).
Comment on Important changes to adding work, chapter, and series co-creators
Raberba girl (Raberba_girl) Sat 07 Sep 2019 01:14PM UTC
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Snowgrouse Sat 07 Sep 2019 01:37PM UTC
Last Edited Sat 07 Sep 2019 01:38PM UTC
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Raberba girl (Raberba_girl) Sat 07 Sep 2019 01:42PM UTC
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Snowgrouse Sat 07 Sep 2019 02:27PM UTC
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Raberba girl (Raberba_girl) Sat 07 Sep 2019 01:43PM UTC
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Snowgrouse Sat 07 Sep 2019 01:55PM UTC
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Raberba girl (Raberba_girl) Sat 07 Sep 2019 01:59PM UTC
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Snowgrouse Sat 07 Sep 2019 02:19PM UTC
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asana (Guest) Sun 08 Sep 2019 01:25AM UTC
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Alyndra Sat 07 Sep 2019 05:43PM UTC
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Raberba girl (Raberba_girl) Sat 07 Sep 2019 08:23PM UTC
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SlightWeasel Sat 07 Sep 2019 08:19PM UTC
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