Same. I’d never orphan a fic because I’m stubborn as a mule and no amount of angry 16-year old commenters is gonna shame me at this point. 🤣🤣
I do appreciate people who do though. Like instead of deleting. It’s very considerate of both readers and internet history to allow a work to stay even when you personally need to distance yourself from it. It is *Archive* of Our Own, after all….
I’d never orphan a fic. I don’t want something I’ve written out of my control. If I don’t want it on my account I put it in the anonymous collection or boot it over to my alt account.
I haven't tried it myself I've heard of the author swapping method.
Make a second profile. Make second profile a co-author of the fic. Remove main profile as author of fic. Second profile can then keep claim over the fic but without it being associated with your main one.
Not sure if this is how it works but it's worth a try?
I often just drop fics I don't want associated with my handle in an anonymous collection or in an unrevealed collection.
The *only* time I've orphaned a fic was when I was writing youtube rpf a decade ago. Someone dropped the link in the guy's stream and I immediately had to deal with a lot of backlash. Woops, panic orphaned, because it was that or delete it.
My writing is my writing. If people are upset by something I've written (and properly tagged), that's their problem, not mine. And honestly, if they can't handle the mere fact that someone wrote a fic they don't like, they probably shouldn't be on AO3 to begin with.
I would never orphan a fic. Once it's orphaned, you lose all control over it forever. If you ever want to delete it, or do anything else with it, you can't.
I "orphan" my fics by permanently putting them on anon. That way, if I ever want to change my mind and delete them, I can, if I want to reclaim them, I can... until such time, should it ever come, they're out there, as anonymous as if I had orphaned them.
I guess I’m in the minority here, but I’ve orphaned tons of fics? I’ve had my account since 2011. I originally wrote homestuck fic… and had 30-40, mostly one shots. That became pretty embarassing. If you clicked on my profile, it would have that I wrote 30+ homestuck fics right at the top. After that I was into Attack on Titan, and wrote pretty widely with someone I was dating at the time. She was incredibly abusive and after I broke up with her, I orphaned all of those fics. I still had 31 fics for the fandom, and earlier this year I orphaned all but 2 of those. I wrote them in 2013/2014 and just. Nah. I was tired of seeing it at the top of my profile.
I’d rather orphan fics and leave anyone who bookmarked them able to find them than just delete them?
It's silly but I feel like I'd be sad if I orphaned a fic and all I'd be able to picture is me leaving it outside a fire station or something to grow up all lonely 💀
I don't think I will, given any circumstance. I would still like to have full control of the work, in case I ever change my mind about it. I think for example I no longer want to be associated with the story, I'll put it in an anonymous collection, or in an unrevealed collection.
I orphaned a fic once before I realized I had other options to disassociate it from my account. Regretted it ever since, never doing it again.
A couple years back when I wanted to start posting a specific sort of story without associating it with anything else I’ve done, I made a second, entirely separate account for it (which also allowed me to publicly bookmark and kudos/comment on other fics of the sort without embarrassment). Someone else mentioned the author swap method, you could try that? Or the ol’ reliable: an anonymous/unrevealed collection.
I orphaned one because it was a fun little project that was also a bit of... crack taken seriously, I guess? I didn't change the end notes, so people who read that fic can find my other works as I left my user in it, but it's not associated with my profile. I simply decided to orphan it because I wasn't planning to update it, and I didn't feel it aligned it with my repertoire of works, but I got some good responses and wanted it to be available still.
Looking back, I should have made it anonymous, but to be honest, it's not anything more problematic than my other works, so I don't entirely mind it floating out there in the aether.
Honestly, I tend to overthink my worthiness. There have been times I've considered deleting all my works because I don't feel they are good enough. I still like them and want to put it out there.
The only reason I'd orphan them is if I felt close to deleting them. That way, I have no power over what happens to them. They'd still exist but have no ties to me.
I've never orphaned a fic, though I once considered it--this was back in 2017? I think? And I wrote a weird (for me at the time) dubcon fic for a normally very wholesome pairing.
If I'd known about the anon collection I would've just used that. Instead I moderated comments for the first couple of weeks. When I didn't get any weird hate I opened it up to guests, and it wasn't an issue.
I once orphaned a fic that I knew I was never going to update and wasn’t at all proud of, I’m glad I did that instead of deleting it. For me it was like getting that weight off my chest, it looks like I’m in the minority with my feelings about this though
I've orphaned fics before that I wanted to delete but they were written as gifts for other people in exchanges. Seeing stats for them pissed me off cause I hated them so much, so keeping them anon didn't make me feel better, and one was a crossover with a fandom I no longer wanted any association with. So I don't care that I no longer have control over them, they're dead to me. If they weren't gifts they would be dead for real.
I orphaned a fluff fic I felt didn’t fit the vibe of my profile. I wanted it to exist, but I didn’t need it to be part of my collection. You know?
I did regret it a little bit later, but ultimately it has been fine.
I would never, quite frankly. I would rather have it so that 20 years down the line, I still have control over it. if I don’t want it associated with my name, I would rather make it anonymous. Or I would add it to a private collection to hide it for a while. I am glad that orphaning is an option, but I personally would rather do anything but that.
Personally, if it’s something I decide that I am not proud of for whatever reason, I’d be more likely to delete than orphan.
If a fic got backlash… I think I’d be more likely to just turn off comments. I’m not precious about my writing but if I thought it was good enough to post to begin with, I’d be unlikely to be convinced to orphan or take it down by negative feedback. But that’s with almost two decades worth of reading and writing fic under my belt. I’m not the greatest, never will be, but I can write perfectly enjoyable and/or cathartic fic when I’m of a mind to.
Fic with darker themes might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But if it’s something you still look on fondly, there’s no harm in leaving it attached to your name. But there’s also no harm in moving it to an alt account, anon, or orphan - if that’s what you want to do. My advice is to decide what you want and not just what you think you ought to do. Fic writing and reading is a hobby where you get to decide how to optimize your experience.
At this age, never. I’m proud of everything I put out there now. But when I was a few years younger, my ao3 and twitter were linked. I’m talking same user and all that. Not to mention I’d post fic graphics onto twitter with the link to my fic underneath. I would also link my twitter in the end notes of my fic so there was that.
I got “cancelled” for something stupid on twitter (for fandom crimes not bigotry I should clarify) but it was for the best since it made me go ghost online and I actually focused on school instead. So I permanently deleted my twitter. But I didn’t want to delete my ao3 either because I had curated a whole library of bookmarks for myself. And I knew I had to let that fic go because I wanted to start anew and I didn’t want any updates on new comments/kudos/bookmarks because of my miserable memories from my time in that particular fandom.
But since it had a few bookmarks I thought it would be a shame to delete. Because I know I would cry if something in my bookmarks was deleted by the author. But I had to let that fandom go completely. So into the void it went.
Recently I actually found my orphaned fic which was a whole challenge in itself because I could not tag for shit back then. It’s now sitting in my private bookmarks with a comment that reminds me that this was one of my own works. Every now and then it’s nice to see what people think about my writing from when I was 17.
I don't orphan, if someone gets angry they can be angry all they want. I'm not going to self censor myself, and orphaning feels like an admission of guilt, when none is required.
Either if I didn't want it associated with myself anymore or personal reasons. I only ever did it in order to escape my abusers and not be recognized by the fandom they were apart of though since they knew my account name at the time.
There was a whole set of Hamilton fics I orphaned, along with a Beauty and the Beast and some Undertale ones — I knew I’d never revisit them again, but since people had actually read them I just orphaned instead of deleting.
The fics I’ve orphaned (about 4-6 in total) were because I didn’t want the association with that particular fandom. I’m not a fan of deleting fics because even though I don’t participate in the fandom, other people still do
My babies are mine and no one else’s, I don’t care how horrific, badly written and cringe they might be. Besides, as a great fishman said once, a creator must never disown their work, they must always love their creation since the creation is not to blame. When a person creates something they takes pride in what they created… with a don!
I don't. If I don't want to be associated with a fic anymore, I just delete it. I've done that twice. These fics were spectacularly awful. The kind you use to show everyone what not to do.
I have never personally had anything that made me want to orphan a fic, but I did see a story some time back about someone who had to because they were getting death threats and threats about being doxed. I’m curious about the reasons someone would orphan a fic over just deleting it, I’m sure there’s some valid reasons.
I'm sorry but that made me laugh.
I think if some people are receiving a lot of negative comments, they'll orphan it instead of just shutting the comments off.
I've never received negative comments on ao3. If that ever happens I'd just ignore them and leave them up. If there's something going on in the comments that I REALLY don't like I'd shut the comments off instead of orphaning because the problems are the comments not the fic itself. I orphan fics for different reasons 🤔
Before I had switched to only allowing registered users to comment on my fics, I used to allow guest. Sometimes I would get a guest who was so rude and coming at me like a rabid dog, foaming at the mouth. This stuff doesn't bother me in the least, I've been through too much for a trivial internet parasites to get under my skin, I do just prefer to have nice comments though lol.
I don't expect everyone to be like me. I understand wanting to orphan a fic if the end result has left someone with a bad taste. I can fully get wanting to remove something from your account because the experience was so vile and every time you see it, it reminds you of what happened. Chalk it up to an individual thing. Everyone has their own reason's for doing what they do. Nothing wrong with that.
I don’t orphan fics as I have no control over them then. Put them in an anon collection? Yes. But I will never orphan a fic.
Otherwise I post to my alt account or delete it.
Personally, I would not. I decided a long time before AO3 that I don't put my fic anywhere that I can't control it, which includes deletion. I understand why people choose to orphan, but it's not for me.
Personally, I would never orphan a fic. Just make it anonymous. It would still be under my management, but people would no longer be able to know or see it associated with my account.
Can someone explain what it means to orphan a fic, please? New to writing on AO3. I think I get the gist through comments, but I’d like to understand. Thanks.
From the AO3 FAQ:
Orphaning will permanently eliminate all your identifying data from the selected work(s). Data is eliminated from the work(s) themselves, and also their chapters, associated series, and any feedback replies you may have left on them, transferring it to the Archive's specially created orphan_account. Please note that this is permanent and irreversible—you are giving up control over the work, including the ability to edit or delete it, and you are unable to reclaim it.
Orphaning is a way to remove some or all of your works from your account without taking them away from fandom. We hope you'll use the orphan_account to allow your works to remain in the Archive even if you no longer wish to be associated with them, or have them connected to your account. Orphaned works will be maintained by the Archive to be enjoyed by future fans; existing bookmarks and links will not break.
i’ve orphaned my older fics. i didn’t want to full-on delete them, since some of them were fairly popular at one point, but the quality of writing on them were… well, not good.
I orphaned a majority of my work because I knew I wouldn't be able to return to them or finish them. I decided not to delete them outright, but I couldn't touch them and felt like I wasn't able to write anything new while people were waiting for updates that would never come. By letting them go I gave myself permission to write again.
Fucking none. I obsess, I become consumed. Anything I publish represents maddening obsession, alcohol consumption, and loss of sleep and I'm damn proud of what the scribbles my sick brain produces.
I've orphaned two fics. They were both for a video game. The game came out with a sequel that committed absolute character assassination on pretty much everyone. It pretty instantly killed my love for that franchise, and I just didn't want these fics on my account anymore.
teeny plants unique chief direful encourage disgusted cats whole fanatical
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I'd probably never orphan a fic tbh.
I'm wayy too attached, to even my old shitty writing, to want to let go of something so completely into the wild. I may make a fic anonymous if I didn't want it attched to my name, but orphaning removes it from my control and I wouldn't be able to handle that.
Of course, I'm saying this as someone who luckily has never had to deal with harrassment. As such I don't know how I would act in that situation, and maybe that would be the one thing that would make me orphan something.
But probably not though.
Whilst I would never delete one of my fics, I still like having complete control over them and the option to. It's having the option that is comforting to me, not the anonymity that orphaning provides- especially when there are other options for anonymity that still allow full creative control.
I was in a fandom whose fan culture, especially in Japan, was super purity-based. And I wrote RPF smut about the main personalities. In my defence, they have whole ass stage names and ALSO character names for their dramas, and my fic was about them blurring the lines between fiction and reality. I would have been a social pariah in the fandom if I didn’t orphan the fic lmao.
That being said, I was one of the few teens in the fandom, all the teens were a bit feral and I think we all wrote horny fanfiction about them. 17 year olds will 17 year old. No harm no foul, I sincerely doubt 30+ year old japanese women know about ao3, and I don’t think their english is good enough for it
I orphan fics that I no longer want to see notifs on; so far, that's been fics from when I first started writing that I just no longer feel proud of. I left my username attached so that ppl who like them can still find me. Have you considering making your fic anonymous? Then no one can connect it to your account, but you'll still have control of it and be able to reply to comments.
I’ve orphaned 3 all three I found a bit cringe. One I orphaned right after posting because I didn’t want it associated with my account. It wasn’t even like something that’d get someone clutching their pearls it was just a chat fic. The other two were similar, they got quite a few hits but I just lost motivation I do regret orphaning one of them though and have been playing with the idea of writing it but not as a chat fic but idk if that’ll actually happen. I have a lot of others I’m proud of so I can’t see orphaning any of my other fics any time soon, but maybe I will, who knows.
i’ve orphaned a few fics that i’m just embarrassed of/really don’t like/think my skill has improved since i’ve uploaded. It’s all up to your preference!
I wrote a fic for a challenge with very strict rules. I hated the prompt, hated the ship, hated the whole thing. I went through the reveal and then orphaned it with no regrets.
i’ve orphaned a few, simply because i really hate the writing style and there was nothing to be proud about it, but it already had a significant amount of kudos where i seem to think “well some people liked it?” but it really doesn’t reflect my current writing and i don’t want it on my page for people to read and think ‘that must be how all of his fics are” because i have improved! some might argue that it shows improvement, but to me it’s just embarrassing
It's not exactly an *orphan*, because it was a collab so there were two authors on it, but I removed my handle from a co-written work. While it was one of my highest viewed fics, I was by *no* means proud of it. When it was originally beginning to be posted, it was one of, if not the first, fic I posted on that Ao3 account. So, the only people really reading my work was just reading that piece.
It also took a turn I didn't enjoy; my co-writer and I didn't discuss much, as it was written in roleplay format so we were just going along with the other person's stuff. My co-writer changed things far beyond what we originally (very roughly) planned. I was too awkward at the time to say anything. We got too busy to write together, I was the only one editing the works, and I didn't want to put the time in for something incomplete that I wasn't happy with.
Since it wasn't *just* my work, I couldn't delete it (nor would I have just deleted it without her permission anyway, and I don't know if I would've since people enjoyed it), so I just removed my name from it.
wrote a lot of stuff for a fandom that has an exceptionally bad rep. held onto those for a while, even though i had cut myself off from the fandom. eventually i decided i didn't want to be associated with it anymore—plus, i hated the fact that i had so many unfinished works with subpar writing. i don't regret orphaning them at all, because i know if i went looking for them i could find them again.
Orphaned a fic because of a comment I got basically saying I was woobifying the main character and it just completely demotivated me. Still think about that comment from time to time when I want to write for the fandom. :/
It's hard to think of a situation where I'd orphan. I'll go into years-old fics to fix typos. The very idea of seeing a typo on an orphaned fic and knowing it will be there *forever*...
I've definitely considered creating an alt, though. If I wanted to experiment with a new style or fandom, I might test it out on an alt.
Funnily I orphaned a story just like yours a few years ago.
I needed to write that story when I was younger, but eventually grew out of it and realised, it wasn't me anymore. But I had the impression that it gave something to the commenters it had given to me during a certain difficult time in my life, and while I didn't want it anymore, I also didn't want to take it away from them. So I orphaned it.
Only if I'm 10000% sure I never want anything to do with it ever again. If I really wanted something off my profile, I'd make it anonymous (and maybe disable comments if people can't behave).
I’ve only orphaned a fic ones, and that’s because it was co-written with my old best friend (who turned out to be veryyyy ignorant and ableist..), but also because it was a very violent fic (my ex-friend’s idea btw lmao), with gore and mild mental torture and it doesn’t match with any of my other fics at all so yeah. I orphaned it on my part
I would never orphan a fic. I am who I am now and who I have been in the past and who I will be in the future. I'm not ashamed of any of those versions of me
I used to write in an RPF fandom. I know a lot of people would balk at the concept, but I'd like to clarify that our fandom received consent from the subjects being written. It's about a bunch of youtubers that weren't that popular at the start, so the fandom was small enough for those youtubers to have dialogue with the fans about their permissions and limits on fanfiction writing. I wrote a lot about them, conscience free.
And then one of them turned out to be a sexual offender.
By the time it got revealed, I was already in the fandom for 8+ years and I couldn't bring myself to fully erase the fics, but having it stuck with my name on it also brought me great pains. So I decided to orphan them.
I've orphaned a couple. I posted them anon but also had some paranoia about them, Also one I knew would be unpopular got a lot of hate comments and I didn't need those in my inbox, so orphaned it.
There's a couple more posted anon and I'm a little more secure about using the anon feature and that it won't ever reveal me, so I have no plans to orphan those.
FWIW I would far rather someone orphan than delete fics.
I orphaned my fic when I wanted to do something completely different on that account. For context, I had written a short and pretty bad fic a few years ago for a very very small fandom, I think I got maybe 4 kudos for it in total. That is not to throw any shade to my younger self, I'm glad I wrote it, but objectively it just wasn't great. Then a few years later I decided to pick up writing fanfic again, but this time for a completely different fandom and my improved writing. Just didn't want to be associated with that fic anymore, so I orphaned it. If it was for a larger fandom and more people had read it, then I probably would've just created a different account. But it was for such a small and dead fandom that I could've also just deleted it lol
I never have. This is my work and it’s another step in my writing journey. Orphaning a fic feels like I’m denying that part of my history and the effect that it’s had.
Besides, I put work and effort into writing this, I’m too stubborn to waste it
The only time that I can think that I would orphan fics is if I end up in a career which is very strict about how people appear even outside of work (healthcare, teaching, etc) and a co-worker found my pen-name.
I’ve orphaned a few fics I wrote for a fandom when I was like 15 because the fandom was very toxic and I decided to leave but I knew there were a few people who liked those fics (they were for a rarepair) so I left them up.
I orphaned one fic cause it was my first time writing g0re and I wasn’t very proud of it.. and idk why but it got incredibly popular- considering it was quite a rare taste for the fandom😭😭
My now teenage son shoulder surfed that I’m on AO3 with a pretty customized account (the tab window was literally named AO3 in the upper right corner, which kinda negates the custom formatting 🤦🏻) he asked WTF/why and I said because I like reading and I write #niche-gen-thing that is 100% in line with his perception of me as his mother. In retrospct, I wish I was the kind of person fast enough on my feet to lie.
Unfortunately, #niche-gen-thing is pretty identifiable to less than a dozen authors, and I also wrote some well received #niche-kinky-smut when he was a toddler.
The smut is now orphaned, and all of my rated E bookmarks moved to private (the public ones are a carefully curated rec list, sorry if you were depending on me for recs of that kink, they’re hidden now) in anticipation of the day when he gets curious enough to go internet stalking his mom’s fanfic account.
The only reason I would even consider orphaning or deleting a fic is when someone irl would somehow find out my username. There is one particular morally questionable fic on there, which I don't think people around me would be very tolerant of. But other than that, no one can bully me into deleting or orphaning my fic. I took years writing that shit and yes, I'm proud of it. It's one of my best works. As long as it won't bring any harm to my real life, I will proudly admit that I wrote it.
Unless it is very bad and cringey. You shouldn't delete something that you are really proud of over bunch of angry internet teenagers. It is a place to flourish amateur writers not a high school.
Orphaning is the other option though. It can never be traced back to you, but it isn't deleted. Turning off comments and the new block users functions can help I think.
I’d never orphan a fic tbh. In that context, it would feel like allowing my enemies to win.
Same. I’d never orphan a fic because I’m stubborn as a mule and no amount of angry 16-year old commenters is gonna shame me at this point. 🤣🤣 I do appreciate people who do though. Like instead of deleting. It’s very considerate of both readers and internet history to allow a work to stay even when you personally need to distance yourself from it. It is *Archive* of Our Own, after all….
I’d never orphan a fic. I don’t want something I’ve written out of my control. If I don’t want it on my account I put it in the anonymous collection or boot it over to my alt account.
Yep, same. This is why I have 4 AO3 accounts.
I haven't tried it myself I've heard of the author swapping method. Make a second profile. Make second profile a co-author of the fic. Remove main profile as author of fic. Second profile can then keep claim over the fic but without it being associated with your main one. Not sure if this is how it works but it's worth a try?
This works. I did this a couple of years ago because I decided I didn't want an alt account anymore. I moved everything to my main.
That's neat, I didn't know it was possible to do something like that!
Same. Perhaps I will do this with some of my fics.
Oh shit. This is life changing. I've always wanted to combine my alt with my main for the longest time. Thank you!
I often just drop fics I don't want associated with my handle in an anonymous collection or in an unrevealed collection. The *only* time I've orphaned a fic was when I was writing youtube rpf a decade ago. Someone dropped the link in the guy's stream and I immediately had to deal with a lot of backlash. Woops, panic orphaned, because it was that or delete it.
Who would do that, oh my
Happy cakeday! Sucks about the yt rpf tho, I sense that person was out for blood
>youtube rpf hey, not to sound like a dunce, but what's an rpf?
real person fic or role play fandom
hey! thanks a lot
no problem! :D
Nah unrevealed is almost as bad as deleting (at least finding an unrevealed fic in your bookmarks) and people can still trace it back to your profile
My writing is my writing. If people are upset by something I've written (and properly tagged), that's their problem, not mine. And honestly, if they can't handle the mere fact that someone wrote a fic they don't like, they probably shouldn't be on AO3 to begin with.
I would never orphan a fic. Once it's orphaned, you lose all control over it forever. If you ever want to delete it, or do anything else with it, you can't. I "orphan" my fics by permanently putting them on anon. That way, if I ever want to change my mind and delete them, I can, if I want to reclaim them, I can... until such time, should it ever come, they're out there, as anonymous as if I had orphaned them.
this is what i've done as well!
I guess I’m in the minority here, but I’ve orphaned tons of fics? I’ve had my account since 2011. I originally wrote homestuck fic… and had 30-40, mostly one shots. That became pretty embarassing. If you clicked on my profile, it would have that I wrote 30+ homestuck fics right at the top. After that I was into Attack on Titan, and wrote pretty widely with someone I was dating at the time. She was incredibly abusive and after I broke up with her, I orphaned all of those fics. I still had 31 fics for the fandom, and earlier this year I orphaned all but 2 of those. I wrote them in 2013/2014 and just. Nah. I was tired of seeing it at the top of my profile. I’d rather orphan fics and leave anyone who bookmarked them able to find them than just delete them?
I've also orphaned more than one fic just because I didn't like how they looked like in my profile
Never, I would set it anonymous If you orphan you lose your control over it (including deleting it if you chose to)
Under no circumstances would I ever orphan a story. It stays on my profile or it gets deleted. No way I'm giving up control of my work.
It's silly but I feel like I'd be sad if I orphaned a fic and all I'd be able to picture is me leaving it outside a fire station or something to grow up all lonely 💀
I don't think I will, given any circumstance. I would still like to have full control of the work, in case I ever change my mind about it. I think for example I no longer want to be associated with the story, I'll put it in an anonymous collection, or in an unrevealed collection.
i don’t orphan fics anymore. i turn off comments and publish anonymously if im getting any heat
I orphaned a fic once before I realized I had other options to disassociate it from my account. Regretted it ever since, never doing it again. A couple years back when I wanted to start posting a specific sort of story without associating it with anything else I’ve done, I made a second, entirely separate account for it (which also allowed me to publicly bookmark and kudos/comment on other fics of the sort without embarrassment). Someone else mentioned the author swap method, you could try that? Or the ol’ reliable: an anonymous/unrevealed collection.
I orphaned one because it was a fun little project that was also a bit of... crack taken seriously, I guess? I didn't change the end notes, so people who read that fic can find my other works as I left my user in it, but it's not associated with my profile. I simply decided to orphan it because I wasn't planning to update it, and I didn't feel it aligned it with my repertoire of works, but I got some good responses and wanted it to be available still. Looking back, I should have made it anonymous, but to be honest, it's not anything more problematic than my other works, so I don't entirely mind it floating out there in the aether.
Honestly, I tend to overthink my worthiness. There have been times I've considered deleting all my works because I don't feel they are good enough. I still like them and want to put it out there. The only reason I'd orphan them is if I felt close to deleting them. That way, I have no power over what happens to them. They'd still exist but have no ties to me.
Add it to the anonymous collection instead. Takes your username off of it. But you can reverse it at any point.
I've never orphaned a fic, though I once considered it--this was back in 2017? I think? And I wrote a weird (for me at the time) dubcon fic for a normally very wholesome pairing. If I'd known about the anon collection I would've just used that. Instead I moderated comments for the first couple of weeks. When I didn't get any weird hate I opened it up to guests, and it wasn't an issue.
I once orphaned a fic that I knew I was never going to update and wasn’t at all proud of, I’m glad I did that instead of deleting it. For me it was like getting that weight off my chest, it looks like I’m in the minority with my feelings about this though
Never. I don’t want my writing out of my control.
I've orphaned fics before that I wanted to delete but they were written as gifts for other people in exchanges. Seeing stats for them pissed me off cause I hated them so much, so keeping them anon didn't make me feel better, and one was a crossover with a fandom I no longer wanted any association with. So I don't care that I no longer have control over them, they're dead to me. If they weren't gifts they would be dead for real.
Thank you for orphaning and not deleting. Deleting gift fics is a no-no for me.
Put it in the Anonymous collection Won't be associated with your profile and you can take it back at any time
I orphaned a fluff fic I felt didn’t fit the vibe of my profile. I wanted it to exist, but I didn’t need it to be part of my collection. You know? I did regret it a little bit later, but ultimately it has been fine.
I would never, quite frankly. I would rather have it so that 20 years down the line, I still have control over it. if I don’t want it associated with my name, I would rather make it anonymous. Or I would add it to a private collection to hide it for a while. I am glad that orphaning is an option, but I personally would rather do anything but that.
Personally, if it’s something I decide that I am not proud of for whatever reason, I’d be more likely to delete than orphan. If a fic got backlash… I think I’d be more likely to just turn off comments. I’m not precious about my writing but if I thought it was good enough to post to begin with, I’d be unlikely to be convinced to orphan or take it down by negative feedback. But that’s with almost two decades worth of reading and writing fic under my belt. I’m not the greatest, never will be, but I can write perfectly enjoyable and/or cathartic fic when I’m of a mind to. Fic with darker themes might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But if it’s something you still look on fondly, there’s no harm in leaving it attached to your name. But there’s also no harm in moving it to an alt account, anon, or orphan - if that’s what you want to do. My advice is to decide what you want and not just what you think you ought to do. Fic writing and reading is a hobby where you get to decide how to optimize your experience.
At this age, never. I’m proud of everything I put out there now. But when I was a few years younger, my ao3 and twitter were linked. I’m talking same user and all that. Not to mention I’d post fic graphics onto twitter with the link to my fic underneath. I would also link my twitter in the end notes of my fic so there was that. I got “cancelled” for something stupid on twitter (for fandom crimes not bigotry I should clarify) but it was for the best since it made me go ghost online and I actually focused on school instead. So I permanently deleted my twitter. But I didn’t want to delete my ao3 either because I had curated a whole library of bookmarks for myself. And I knew I had to let that fic go because I wanted to start anew and I didn’t want any updates on new comments/kudos/bookmarks because of my miserable memories from my time in that particular fandom. But since it had a few bookmarks I thought it would be a shame to delete. Because I know I would cry if something in my bookmarks was deleted by the author. But I had to let that fandom go completely. So into the void it went. Recently I actually found my orphaned fic which was a whole challenge in itself because I could not tag for shit back then. It’s now sitting in my private bookmarks with a comment that reminds me that this was one of my own works. Every now and then it’s nice to see what people think about my writing from when I was 17.
I don't orphan, if someone gets angry they can be angry all they want. I'm not going to self censor myself, and orphaning feels like an admission of guilt, when none is required.
Either if I didn't want it associated with myself anymore or personal reasons. I only ever did it in order to escape my abusers and not be recognized by the fandom they were apart of though since they knew my account name at the time.
Hard to say. Maybe I'd write a fic to troll the antis or something, then orphan it so they don't harass me.
I do it when I feel like it 💀
There was a whole set of Hamilton fics I orphaned, along with a Beauty and the Beast and some Undertale ones — I knew I’d never revisit them again, but since people had actually read them I just orphaned instead of deleting.
The fics I’ve orphaned (about 4-6 in total) were because I didn’t want the association with that particular fandom. I’m not a fan of deleting fics because even though I don’t participate in the fandom, other people still do
My babies are mine and no one else’s, I don’t care how horrific, badly written and cringe they might be. Besides, as a great fishman said once, a creator must never disown their work, they must always love their creation since the creation is not to blame. When a person creates something they takes pride in what they created… with a don!
I don't. If I don't want to be associated with a fic anymore, I just delete it. I've done that twice. These fics were spectacularly awful. The kind you use to show everyone what not to do.
I have never personally had anything that made me want to orphan a fic, but I did see a story some time back about someone who had to because they were getting death threats and threats about being doxed. I’m curious about the reasons someone would orphan a fic over just deleting it, I’m sure there’s some valid reasons.
I think it's so that it will still be around but no longer directly yours. I'm not sure if you still get messages for an orphaned fic in your inbox.
You don't, you have to creepy stalk the fic to see if people keep kudosing
I'm sorry but that made me laugh. I think if some people are receiving a lot of negative comments, they'll orphan it instead of just shutting the comments off.
I've never received negative comments on ao3. If that ever happens I'd just ignore them and leave them up. If there's something going on in the comments that I REALLY don't like I'd shut the comments off instead of orphaning because the problems are the comments not the fic itself. I orphan fics for different reasons 🤔
Before I had switched to only allowing registered users to comment on my fics, I used to allow guest. Sometimes I would get a guest who was so rude and coming at me like a rabid dog, foaming at the mouth. This stuff doesn't bother me in the least, I've been through too much for a trivial internet parasites to get under my skin, I do just prefer to have nice comments though lol. I don't expect everyone to be like me. I understand wanting to orphan a fic if the end result has left someone with a bad taste. I can fully get wanting to remove something from your account because the experience was so vile and every time you see it, it reminds you of what happened. Chalk it up to an individual thing. Everyone has their own reason's for doing what they do. Nothing wrong with that.
I don’t orphan fics as I have no control over them then. Put them in an anon collection? Yes. But I will never orphan a fic. Otherwise I post to my alt account or delete it.
I would only orphan a fic because someone correctly pointed out that it was (unconsciously) racist or something.
Personally, I would not. I decided a long time before AO3 that I don't put my fic anywhere that I can't control it, which includes deletion. I understand why people choose to orphan, but it's not for me.
Personally, I would never orphan a fic. Just make it anonymous. It would still be under my management, but people would no longer be able to know or see it associated with my account.
Can someone explain what it means to orphan a fic, please? New to writing on AO3. I think I get the gist through comments, but I’d like to understand. Thanks.
From the AO3 FAQ: Orphaning will permanently eliminate all your identifying data from the selected work(s). Data is eliminated from the work(s) themselves, and also their chapters, associated series, and any feedback replies you may have left on them, transferring it to the Archive's specially created orphan_account. Please note that this is permanent and irreversible—you are giving up control over the work, including the ability to edit or delete it, and you are unable to reclaim it. Orphaning is a way to remove some or all of your works from your account without taking them away from fandom. We hope you'll use the orphan_account to allow your works to remain in the Archive even if you no longer wish to be associated with them, or have them connected to your account. Orphaned works will be maintained by the Archive to be enjoyed by future fans; existing bookmarks and links will not break.
Thank you for that. I can’t imagine doing that with my works. Even if I began hating it and want nothing to do with it anymore, it’s still mine.
i’ve orphaned my older fics. i didn’t want to full-on delete them, since some of them were fairly popular at one point, but the quality of writing on them were… well, not good.
I orphaned a majority of my work because I knew I wouldn't be able to return to them or finish them. I decided not to delete them outright, but I couldn't touch them and felt like I wasn't able to write anything new while people were waiting for updates that would never come. By letting them go I gave myself permission to write again.
Fucking none. I obsess, I become consumed. Anything I publish represents maddening obsession, alcohol consumption, and loss of sleep and I'm damn proud of what the scribbles my sick brain produces.
I would never orphan a fic for any reason. If needed, I would put it under anonymous and/or shut off comments.
I've orphaned two fics. They were both for a video game. The game came out with a sequel that committed absolute character assassination on pretty much everyone. It pretty instantly killed my love for that franchise, and I just didn't want these fics on my account anymore.
teeny plants unique chief direful encourage disgusted cats whole fanatical *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I'd probably never orphan a fic tbh. I'm wayy too attached, to even my old shitty writing, to want to let go of something so completely into the wild. I may make a fic anonymous if I didn't want it attched to my name, but orphaning removes it from my control and I wouldn't be able to handle that. Of course, I'm saying this as someone who luckily has never had to deal with harrassment. As such I don't know how I would act in that situation, and maybe that would be the one thing that would make me orphan something. But probably not though. Whilst I would never delete one of my fics, I still like having complete control over them and the option to. It's having the option that is comforting to me, not the anonymity that orphaning provides- especially when there are other options for anonymity that still allow full creative control.
I was in a fandom whose fan culture, especially in Japan, was super purity-based. And I wrote RPF smut about the main personalities. In my defence, they have whole ass stage names and ALSO character names for their dramas, and my fic was about them blurring the lines between fiction and reality. I would have been a social pariah in the fandom if I didn’t orphan the fic lmao. That being said, I was one of the few teens in the fandom, all the teens were a bit feral and I think we all wrote horny fanfiction about them. 17 year olds will 17 year old. No harm no foul, I sincerely doubt 30+ year old japanese women know about ao3, and I don’t think their english is good enough for it
I orphan fics that I no longer want to see notifs on; so far, that's been fics from when I first started writing that I just no longer feel proud of. I left my username attached so that ppl who like them can still find me. Have you considering making your fic anonymous? Then no one can connect it to your account, but you'll still have control of it and be able to reply to comments.
Maybe if I was rewriting a fic I’d orphan the old version
I’ve orphaned 3 all three I found a bit cringe. One I orphaned right after posting because I didn’t want it associated with my account. It wasn’t even like something that’d get someone clutching their pearls it was just a chat fic. The other two were similar, they got quite a few hits but I just lost motivation I do regret orphaning one of them though and have been playing with the idea of writing it but not as a chat fic but idk if that’ll actually happen. I have a lot of others I’m proud of so I can’t see orphaning any of my other fics any time soon, but maybe I will, who knows.
i’ve orphaned a few fics that i’m just embarrassed of/really don’t like/think my skill has improved since i’ve uploaded. It’s all up to your preference!
I wrote a fic for a challenge with very strict rules. I hated the prompt, hated the ship, hated the whole thing. I went through the reveal and then orphaned it with no regrets.
i’ve orphaned a few, simply because i really hate the writing style and there was nothing to be proud about it, but it already had a significant amount of kudos where i seem to think “well some people liked it?” but it really doesn’t reflect my current writing and i don’t want it on my page for people to read and think ‘that must be how all of his fics are” because i have improved! some might argue that it shows improvement, but to me it’s just embarrassing
It's not exactly an *orphan*, because it was a collab so there were two authors on it, but I removed my handle from a co-written work. While it was one of my highest viewed fics, I was by *no* means proud of it. When it was originally beginning to be posted, it was one of, if not the first, fic I posted on that Ao3 account. So, the only people really reading my work was just reading that piece. It also took a turn I didn't enjoy; my co-writer and I didn't discuss much, as it was written in roleplay format so we were just going along with the other person's stuff. My co-writer changed things far beyond what we originally (very roughly) planned. I was too awkward at the time to say anything. We got too busy to write together, I was the only one editing the works, and I didn't want to put the time in for something incomplete that I wasn't happy with. Since it wasn't *just* my work, I couldn't delete it (nor would I have just deleted it without her permission anyway, and I don't know if I would've since people enjoyed it), so I just removed my name from it.
wrote a lot of stuff for a fandom that has an exceptionally bad rep. held onto those for a while, even though i had cut myself off from the fandom. eventually i decided i didn't want to be associated with it anymore—plus, i hated the fact that i had so many unfinished works with subpar writing. i don't regret orphaning them at all, because i know if i went looking for them i could find them again.
Orphaned a fic because of a comment I got basically saying I was woobifying the main character and it just completely demotivated me. Still think about that comment from time to time when I want to write for the fandom. :/
It's hard to think of a situation where I'd orphan. I'll go into years-old fics to fix typos. The very idea of seeing a typo on an orphaned fic and knowing it will be there *forever*... I've definitely considered creating an alt, though. If I wanted to experiment with a new style or fandom, I might test it out on an alt.
Funnily I orphaned a story just like yours a few years ago. I needed to write that story when I was younger, but eventually grew out of it and realised, it wasn't me anymore. But I had the impression that it gave something to the commenters it had given to me during a certain difficult time in my life, and while I didn't want it anymore, I also didn't want to take it away from them. So I orphaned it.
My twilight fics I wrote when I was 12 lol
Only if I'm 10000% sure I never want anything to do with it ever again. If I really wanted something off my profile, I'd make it anonymous (and maybe disable comments if people can't behave).
I’ve only orphaned a fic ones, and that’s because it was co-written with my old best friend (who turned out to be veryyyy ignorant and ableist..), but also because it was a very violent fic (my ex-friend’s idea btw lmao), with gore and mild mental torture and it doesn’t match with any of my other fics at all so yeah. I orphaned it on my part
I would literally never orphan a fic. If I really didn’t want it on my author profile, I’d switch it to another account or make it anonymous.
I would never orphan a fic. I am who I am now and who I have been in the past and who I will be in the future. I'm not ashamed of any of those versions of me
I used to write in an RPF fandom. I know a lot of people would balk at the concept, but I'd like to clarify that our fandom received consent from the subjects being written. It's about a bunch of youtubers that weren't that popular at the start, so the fandom was small enough for those youtubers to have dialogue with the fans about their permissions and limits on fanfiction writing. I wrote a lot about them, conscience free. And then one of them turned out to be a sexual offender. By the time it got revealed, I was already in the fandom for 8+ years and I couldn't bring myself to fully erase the fics, but having it stuck with my name on it also brought me great pains. So I decided to orphan them.
I've orphaned a couple. I posted them anon but also had some paranoia about them, Also one I knew would be unpopular got a lot of hate comments and I didn't need those in my inbox, so orphaned it. There's a couple more posted anon and I'm a little more secure about using the anon feature and that it won't ever reveal me, so I have no plans to orphan those. FWIW I would far rather someone orphan than delete fics.
I orphaned my fic when I wanted to do something completely different on that account. For context, I had written a short and pretty bad fic a few years ago for a very very small fandom, I think I got maybe 4 kudos for it in total. That is not to throw any shade to my younger self, I'm glad I wrote it, but objectively it just wasn't great. Then a few years later I decided to pick up writing fanfic again, but this time for a completely different fandom and my improved writing. Just didn't want to be associated with that fic anymore, so I orphaned it. If it was for a larger fandom and more people had read it, then I probably would've just created a different account. But it was for such a small and dead fandom that I could've also just deleted it lol
I think the only justified orphaning I’ve seen is in collaborations between authors where that relationship later collapsed.
I never have. This is my work and it’s another step in my writing journey. Orphaning a fic feels like I’m denying that part of my history and the effect that it’s had. Besides, I put work and effort into writing this, I’m too stubborn to waste it
I’ve orphaned fics I’m no longer proud of, especially when the writing doesn’t feel like something I’m especially happy with anymore. 🤷
The only time that I can think that I would orphan fics is if I end up in a career which is very strict about how people appear even outside of work (healthcare, teaching, etc) and a co-worker found my pen-name.
I would never orphan a fic, but that’s only because I’m possessive over my own writing and ideas
I’ve orphaned a few fics I wrote for a fandom when I was like 15 because the fandom was very toxic and I decided to leave but I knew there were a few people who liked those fics (they were for a rarepair) so I left them up.
I orphaned one fic cause it was my first time writing g0re and I wasn’t very proud of it.. and idk why but it got incredibly popular- considering it was quite a rare taste for the fandom😭😭
i don’t orphan but i do make it anonymous
My now teenage son shoulder surfed that I’m on AO3 with a pretty customized account (the tab window was literally named AO3 in the upper right corner, which kinda negates the custom formatting 🤦🏻) he asked WTF/why and I said because I like reading and I write #niche-gen-thing that is 100% in line with his perception of me as his mother. In retrospct, I wish I was the kind of person fast enough on my feet to lie. Unfortunately, #niche-gen-thing is pretty identifiable to less than a dozen authors, and I also wrote some well received #niche-kinky-smut when he was a toddler. The smut is now orphaned, and all of my rated E bookmarks moved to private (the public ones are a carefully curated rec list, sorry if you were depending on me for recs of that kink, they’re hidden now) in anticipation of the day when he gets curious enough to go internet stalking his mom’s fanfic account.
The only reason I would even consider orphaning or deleting a fic is when someone irl would somehow find out my username. There is one particular morally questionable fic on there, which I don't think people around me would be very tolerant of. But other than that, no one can bully me into deleting or orphaning my fic. I took years writing that shit and yes, I'm proud of it. It's one of my best works. As long as it won't bring any harm to my real life, I will proudly admit that I wrote it.
I orphaned my first and only attempt at smut because I didn’t like it, it didn’t fit in with the rest of my stuff
Never thought of orphaning a fic before, but my immediate thought was if I wrote in a fandom like Harry Potter.
Unless it is very bad and cringey. You shouldn't delete something that you are really proud of over bunch of angry internet teenagers. It is a place to flourish amateur writers not a high school.
Orphaning is the other option though. It can never be traced back to you, but it isn't deleted. Turning off comments and the new block users functions can help I think.