Welcome to International Fanworks Day (IFD) Feedback Fest 2026! Feedback Fest is when we celebrate fanworks that creators have made on AO3 or elsewhere by recommending them to others and leaving comments for the creators as well.
Our theme for IFD 2026 is Alternate Universes (AUs), where we celebrate all the fun and exciting AUs that fans have created!
Want to participate in this year's Feedback Fest? Here’s how to do it!
Leave a comment under this post recommending your favorite fanworks that involve an AU. Tell everyone why you love these works and why they should check them out. You can also link to a recommendation post you've made elsewhere, or create a new recommendation post on your social media accounts using the #FeedbackFest2026 tag. Keep the diversity of fanworks in mind when making recommendations—you can share fics, podfics, fanart, zines, archives, collections, newsletters, and anything that sparks joy in you about fandom. There's many wonderful fanworks out there and we want to hear about all of them!
While going through the recommendations, it’s nice to leave feedback—comments, kudos, likes—for the creators as well! Feel free to boost the recommendations from other people that you enjoyed. This year’s Feedback Fest is all about the universes and worlds people have enjoyed placing their favorite characters in, so try and think of your favorite AU fanworks to recommend!
Start your reccing, and we’ll see you on the other side—and once again we wish you a happy #IFD2026!
The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.
February 15 is almost here, and it’s time to get ready for the 12th annual International Fanworks Day (IFD)! This year’s theme is Alternate Universes (AUs), and in honor of #IFD2026, the OTW has quite a few activities planned to celebrate with all of you. Check out the list below to find out how you can get involved!
Feedback Fest: It wouldn’t be IFD without our annual Feedback Fest! This is your chance to share your favorite Alternate Universe fanworks and get some great recommendations for yourself in return. Look for our Feedback Fest post on February 13, and leave a comment with 10 fanwork recommendations for your fellow fans. On social media, use the tag #FeedbackFest when posting.
Share your fanworks: Tag your own AU fanworks on AO3 with International Fanworks Day 2026, or share them on social media using the #IFD2026 or #IFDChallenge2026 tags!
Fanlore Challenge: The festivities aren’t limited to AO3! Fanlore, the OTW’s fannish history and culture wiki, will be celebrating as well! From February 14-20, join Fanlore for a new editing challenge to complete every day. To participate, refer to the IFD 2026 Fanlore Challenge page for more information.
Games and Fan Chat: On February 15, we’ll be opening the gates of the OTW's once-a-year Discord server. Join us between 21:00 UTC February 14 (What time is that for me?) and 03:00 UTC February 16 (What time is that for me?) to play games and chat with other fans! The chat room will be moderated in English, and we’ll post a detailed schedule on the 15th.
We also invited you to send us your community events for this IFD, so in addition to what we're doing, here are some fan-led events:
The Fandom Melodies, Intertwined Edition
(in English, some small parts in other languages allowed)
This event is already running, and ends on February 28. You can submit entries in any form, though written material is preferred.
This event will run from February 1 to February 28. It's meant to motivate people to comment more on fic (new and older!), especially since February is the month with the lowest amount of commenting! There are multiple challenges and there are also fun things one can do to spice up their comment a little!
This event will run from February 15 to February 28. You can participate however you like, and there will be a set of questions provided for people to reminisce about and share their fandom experience!
Thank you so much for being a part of our fan community throughout the year. See you at #IFD2026!
The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.
What do the country of Portugal, the city of Seoul, and the Archive of Our Own (AO3) have in common? They are all home to more than 10 million people! That's right: AO3 has surpassed 10 million registered users this month! We at the Organisation for Transformative Works (OTW) are delighted to share this incredible milestone with you.
Even as the community is growing year by year, the active exchange of creations and ideas between fans remains as a cornerstone of fan culture. Whether it's gifting each other fanfic, recording a podfic of your favorite story, or putting together a reclist of fics—no fandom thrives without the myriad ways fans share their passion with one another. In today's world, where ideas are just one more commodity, and content is curated for maximum revenue, it's more important than ever to appreciate and celebrate these aspects of fan spaces.
One way to let other fans know you appreciate the love and hard work they pour into their creations is commenting on their work. In celebration of this milestone, we have prepared a Bingo all about comments! Below you can find the bingo cards in both a square and vertical format.
You can fill out as many bingo squares as you want—the more comments, the merrier! Let us know on this post or on social media which Bingos you scored.
Happy commenting, and a huge thank you to everyone who helped us reach this milestone!
The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.
2025 was a busy year for AO3! The site continued to see rising traffic, with Communicationspublishing an update on AO3 statistics from 2020-2025. In December, Support received 3,589 tickets, totaling to over 40,000 tickets received in 2025, an all-time high. Meanwhile, Policy & Abuse (PAC) received 6,357 tickets in December, totaling approximately 47,500 tickets in 2025. Check out PAC's pie chart for more details.
Pie chart of the approximately 47,500 Policy & Abuse tickets submitted in 2025, divided by type of complaint. These categories reflect the subject of the complaint, and (with the exception of Offensive Content), do not indicate whether the report was upheld or rejected.
In the first half of January, User Response Translation translated or betaed 32 ticket requests from Support and PAC.
In December, Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 598,000 tags, or around 1,300 tags per volunteer. In total, they wrangled approximately 4,944,000 tags in 2025. They also continued work on handling "No Fandom" additional tags, publishing December and January news posts detailing recent changes. In total, Tag Wrangling published nine "No Fandom"-related news posts in 2025 covering around 399 new canonical "No Fandom" additional tags.
In January, Tag Wrangling updated their Fandom Tag Metatag guidelines, including clarifying when a fandom metatag should be made and when to merge closely related fandoms into one fandom tag. Check out the news post detailing the new policy.
As part of International Volunteers Day (IVD) 2025, Communications collected and batched answers to the IVD Q&A by committee, resulting in five committee-specific news posts highlighting Communications, Support, Tag Wrangling, Translation, and Volunteers & Recruiting. Answers across committees, along with additional responses not featured in the news posts, have been compiled in a separate AO3 work.
III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW
Fanlore ran an editing chat to close out 2025, and it was a lot of fun! They also began preparing for their annual IFD Fanlore Challenge and Femslash February event! Keep an eye on their Bluesky, Twitter/X, and Tumblr for announcements.
Legal answered many internal and external questions this month.
In January, Communications' Fanhackers wrote about the Transformative Approaches to Fan Identity, and they began a multi-post survey of acafannish research and publishing resources.
IV. GOVERNANCE
In December, Board announced the resignations of two directors: Kathryn Solderholm and Erica Frank. We would like to thank Erica and Kathryn for their service as members of the Board, and wish them all the best in their future endeavours with the OTW.
In January, Board finalized and approved the OTW Procurement & Purchasing Policy. They and the Board Assistants Team (BAT) organised the first quarter of 2026 public Board meeting on January 18 which had 54 attendees. Minutes of this meeting will be available soon on the OTW website. Elsewhere, Board and BAT continued work on document review and archiving board statements, Code of Conduct tasks in conjunction with Organizational Culture Roadmap, and ongoing projects for mental health resources for volunteers, scheduling tools, public meeting best practices and volunteer retention in BAT. BAT also updated their OTW website committee page.
Organizational Culture Roadmap finalized a confidentiality policy in preparation for upcoming external recruitment.
V. OUR VOLUNTEERS
In December, Volunteers & Recruiting thanked all OTW volunteers on International Volunteer Day with their organization-wide email and graphics campaign. In January, they ran recruitment for Open Doors.
From November 22 to January 23, Volunteers & Recruiting received 355 new requests, and completed 378, leaving them with 52 open requests (including induction and removal tasks listed below). As of January 23, 2025, the OTW has 1,013 volunteers. \o/ Recent personnel movements are listed below.
New Subcommittee Leads/Workgroup Heads: Eevee (Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution Lead) and megidola (Organizational Culture Roadmap Workgroup Head) New AO3 Documentation Volunteers: Lulu S (Chair Trainee) New Fanlore Volunteers: Elfie, Konsta Morales, Watts, and 1 other Graphic Designer New Open Doors Volunteers: Addiebees, AviLine, feelyx, LeighR, Marie K, meservey66, MetaKass, miffmiff, Mort, pinkconstellations, SleepyJane, Spit, StormySea, Truendz, Vail, and 11 other Import Assistants New Policy & Abuse Volunteers: megidola (Supervisor) and 1 Chair Track Volunteer New Tag Wrangling Volunteers: Chelsea Cheyanne, inspiredstork, Sanity, will, and Yrindor (Supervisors) New Translation Volunteers: Rhine and 1 other Chair Trainee; Arushi, athursdayschild, Eirinar, Linarii, Mira8, Niki K, Phoebe B, Pi, Rita P, and 12 other Translators New TWC Volunteers: Fiona M, Yumi, and 3 other Layout Editors; and 2 Outreach and Communications Editors New User Response Translation Volunteers: Eki, f0f8ff, HARRitte, Jules R, Laus, PanPan, rosings, zoy zauce, and 3 other Translators
Departing Directors: Erica Frank and Kathryn Soderholm Departing Committee Chairs: 1 Communications Chair and 1 Elections Chair Departing BAT Volunteers: 1 Volunteer Departing Communications Volunteers: KW Ukuku (TikTok Moderator), Lori P (Graphics Volunteer), 1 Fanhacker Volunteer, and 1 Social Media Moderator Departing Communications News Post Moderation Volunteers: 1 News Post Moderator Departing Development & Membership Volunteers: 1 Graphic Designer, 2 Membership Data Specialists, and 2 Volunteers Departing Fanlore Volunteers: 1 Discord Moderator, 1 Outreach Analyst, and 1 Policy & Admin Departing Open Doors Volunteers: Pelagia and 1 other Administrative Volunteer, Wynne (Import Assistant), and 1 FCPP Intern Departing Policy & Abuse Volunteers: 1 Volunteer Departing Strategic Planning Volunteers: 1 Volunteer Departing Support Volunteers: Nary and 22 other Volunteers Departing Tag Wrangling Volunteers: Nary and 1 other Supervisor; Asas Carmesins, Bruno, Eevee, lianneder, Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse, McBangle, Sayornis, Tea Huimyni, and 10 other Wranglers Departing Translation Volunteers: Teelee (Task Assistant); Illiterations and 4 Translators Departing TWC Volunteers: Melanie Kohnen (Review Editor); Courtney Lazore and 1 other Proofreader; and 1 Symposium Editor Departing User Response Translation Volunteers: 1 Translator Departing Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteers: 1 Senior Volunteer and 2 Volunteers
For more information about our committees and their regular activities, you can refer to the committee pages on our website.
The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.
AO3 Tag Wranglers continue to test processes for wrangling canonical additional tags (tags that appear in the auto-complete) which don't belong to any particular fandom (also known as "No Fandom" tags). This post overviews some of these upcoming changes.
In this round of updates, we began adjusting existing canonical "No Fandom" tags to add or remove new subtag and metatag relationships. We also continued to streamline creating new canonical tags, prioritizing more straightforward updates which would have less discussion compared to renaming current canonical tags or creating new canonical tags which touch on more complex topics. This method also reviews new tags on a regular basis, so check back on AO3 News for periodic "No Fandom" tag announcements.
None of these updates change the tags users have added to works. If a user-created tag is considered to have the same meaning as a new canonical, it will be made a synonym of one of these newly created canonical tags, and works with that user-created tag will appear when the canonical tag is selected.
In short, these changes only affect which tags appear in AO3's auto-complete and filters. You can and should continue to tag your works however you prefer.
New Canonicals
The following concepts have been made new canonical tags:
Additionally, this month we began making adjustments to existing canonical tags to add or remove new subtag and metatag relationships, which help users find related content and filter in/out content as they browse works on AO3.
While some of these tags may be tags and concepts you're intimately familiar with, others may be concepts you've never heard of before. Fortunately, our fellow OTW volunteers at Fanlore may be able to help! As you may have seen in the comments sections of previous posts, Fanlore is a fantastic resource for learning more about these common fandom concepts, and about the history and lore of fandom in general. For the curious, here's a quick look at a few articles about concepts related to this month's new canonical tags:
While we won't be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future about tags we believe will most affect users. If you're interested in the changes we'll be making, you can continue to check AO3 News or follow us on Bluesky @wranglers.archiveofourown.org or Tumblr @ao3org for future announcements.
You can also read previous updates on "No Fandom" tags as well as other wrangling updates, linked below:
For more information about AO3's tag system, check out our Tags FAQ.
In addition to providing technical help, AO3 Support also handles requests related to how tags are sorted and connected. If you have questions about specific tags, which were first used over a month ago and are unrelated to any of the new canonical tags listed above, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post.
Please keep in mind that discussions about what tags to canonize and what format they should take are ongoing. As a result, not all related concepts will be canonized at the same time. This does not mean that related or similar concepts will not be canonized in the future or that we have chosen to canonize one specific concept in lieu of another, simply that we likely either haven’t gotten to that related concept yet or that it needs further discussion and will take a bit longer for us to canonize it as a result. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Lastly, we're still working on implementing changes and connecting relevant user-created tags to these new canonicals, so it’ll be some time before these updates are complete. If you have questions about specific tags which should be connected to these new canonicals, please refrain from contacting Support about them until at least three months from now to give us adequate time to do so.
The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.
Last November we asked the community to submit questions to our OTW volunteers in celebration of International Volunteer Day. In this series of posts we will spotlight some of our committees' responses.
The Communications committee (Comms) disseminates information to the general public, media, and fans. We draft and beta news posts and social media posts, and are often the first point of contact for anyone interested in the OTW.
We asked Comms for replies to your questions, and received a lot of feedback! Below you can find a selection of their answers:
Communications Committee Specific Questions
Question: We're so thankful for how fast you guys always respond when the ao3 website goes down. I was wondering what's the circus like behind the scenes when it happens? xD Do you usually first notice when we start panicking, or does someone keep an eye on it 24/7, do emails start flying from social team to it, is it usually scary or is it very organised and calm since you're so experienced, who makes the decision to pull the plug for a few hours if it's really bad and looks hopeless, stuff like this. Thank you! Committee answer: Accessibility, Design, & Technology (AD&T) and Systems (our two main technical committees) have already given their own replies to this, but from Comms’ end, we often are the ones that handle posting and disseminating information for downtimes! We work hand in hand with AD&T and Systems to ensure that we're distributing the most accurate and concise information to the public, and coordinate with our fellow volunteers to make sure that it’s sent out in time. We do our best to handle the public logistics so that our coders can focus on their own work!
General Questions
How many hours a week do you spend on your OTW volunteer work?
It truly depends on the week! Typically I would say ~4 hours, for just keeping on top of things and my weekly tasks. It can be upwards of 10 if there's things outside of the norm or that require a bit of research. (Caitlynne)
For me, it depends on the time of year most of all! As an Event Coordinator, half of the year I'd say it's ~2-6 hours a week. The bulk of our anniversaries and holidays converge into fall and winter, during that time it's more ~6-8 hours. (Elin)
How do you manage your volunteer time, and do you do the same thing every day like with a day job?
I hop on my computer pretty frequently throughout the week, so I tailor my OTW time to when I'm on my PC. If there's a day I'm busy and away from my PC, I know I'll have to "catch up" the next day when I have time, so to speak. (Tiana)
I try to check our chat tool/the Comms email when I can throughout the day and give a dedicated half hour or so on my laptop in the evenings. It doesn't always work out, but that's the goal! (callmeri)
What's your favorite part about volunteering at the OTW?
I like that tending the little OTW!Tumblr corner of the landscape helps the whole fandom ecosystem. (Remi)
The best part of volunteering at the OTW is the people, for sure! The social aspect is easily what motivates me the most to stay. I have made lots of friends and the Communications committee has been a really supportive environment! (stork)
What's the aspect of volunteer work with the OTW that you most wish more people knew about?
We are fans just like you! There are so many different cultures and fandoms coming together every day to make the organisation run. (Tal)
We are really big on emojis! The custom emoji feature on our chat tool is definitely getting a lot of mileage with us XD. Also, you can put OTW work on your resume if you want to. (stork)
What does a typical day as an OTW volunteer looks like for you?
Check the Tumblr notes and ask box in the morning, before scrolling through my personal dash and then the tags the organisation follows looking for Things To Queue. Mosey through the #ao3 tag on occasion to reply or leave little notes to folks. Every day is similar, but none are The Same. (Remi)
I often start by checking and responding to messages from other volunteers, and then make a list of current tasks to work on. Sometimes that means brainstorming activities for a special milestone, other times it's writing posts, or preparing for an event. (Elin)
What is your favorite animal? Alternatively, do you have a favorite breed of cat/dog?
I love bats and think they're super cute, but identify with possums on an emotional level. (Caitlynne)
My favorite animal is a saiga antelope. Fave dog breed: Irish wolfhound. (Communications volunteer)
Do you enjoy reading fanfic? If so, what's your favorite work on AO3?
For a dyslexic person I seem to read A LOT of fanfic... I actually tend to read more on AO3 than actual books?? Anyway, my favourite of all time would have to be unholyverse. I don't think anything can beat that… (Gray)
I love reading fic so much it's kind of concerning how many tabs I have open all the time. My favourite fic is locked but another fave is between the sheets by DasWarSchonKaputt. og. goat. mother. (choux)
Do you write any fanfic yourself? What do you enjoy about it?
I do write. I enjoy the creativity and the ability to explore characters. (Communications volunteer)
I do! It's my favorite hobby and one I neglected a bit last year. I hope to get back into the swing of it in 2026. (Tiana)
What fandoms are you (currently) in?
I’m very active in the Dan and Phil fandom :3 (Gray)
Mostly MDZS and IWTV for the past few years, but Heated Rivalry took over my brain so it looks like I'm getting on that ride. (callmeri)
Do you feel glad or proud to see fanfiction in your mother tongue?
I'm also a tag wrangler, so I get to participate in tag translation (every tag wrangled needs to have a documented english translation). There aren't as many German works, but we have loads of German volunteers – this means there's often several of us running to translate whenever there's a German tag. it's really cool to see very specific cultural references in works! (Tal)
I read a TON of socmed AUs in Filipino along with the Filipino fics in general! I'm super happy to see fanwork in Filipino and when a creator is Filipino as well! especially when I see actual locations or cultural tidbits getting referenced. (choux)
Thanks so much to every volunteer who took the time to answer!
(For more answers, check out this work on AO3, where we collect additional replies to each question!)
The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.
Over the last year, Tag Wranglers have been actively discussing how to make fandom metatags more useful to users, both to find the content they're looking for and filter out the content they aren't. Since our last update, these discussions have now concluded, and we want to provide an update about how our guidelines have changed.
Fandom metatags allow Tag Wranglers to connect groups of related fandoms together so that they can be more easily filtered on as a group. For example, if you're interested in all works related to Game of Thrones (TV), including the related novels or the 2014 video game, you may be interested in filtering on its metatag: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms. Filtering on the metatag means that you will find all the works tagged with the metatag itself or tagged with any of its individual subtags. In addition to this, having a group of fandoms connected together as a metatag and subtags means that selecting "Exclude crossovers" in the sidebar will not exclude works tagged with more than one subtag, and that selecting "Show only crossovers" will not include works tagged more than one subtags.
Metatags are different from merging ("synning") tags. When two tags are merged, the filters will treat them as if they are the same tag. When they are moved together under a metatag, each can still be filtered out individually from the metatag.
Guidelines update
Following extensive discussion, we have updated our guidelines related to fandom metatag trees, including when to create a metatag for related fandoms, when to merge closely related fandoms into one fandom tag (such as merging an anime and a manga), and when to split out subtags from a currently merged tag. The below paragraphs detail these updates and link to where you can find more information.
Metatag guidelines
Moving forward, Tag Wranglers may connect related fandoms using a metatag if there are at least two canons already canonized on AO3 that are:
Closely related adaptations;
The same story adapted across different media; or
Canon with official prequels, sequels, or other related adaptations set in a shared universe.
Whether a fandom metatag is created will vary based on the specific fandom. Not all fandoms will require a metatag, even if they fit the above criteria, and some fandoms with complex and sprawling canons may require multiple levels of metatags. Fandoms that do not fit one of the above criteria can be evaluated for a metatag on a case by case basis, focusing on what would be most useful to the majority of its fans. Tag Wranglers are fans of these canons as well and may base their decisions on a variety of factors such as whether the fan base generally considers these separate canons as distinct, or to what extent fans of different adaptations overlap.
Existing metatags, such as Star Wars - All Media Types or Marvel will not be required to match these rules or formats. These formats and guidelines will be applied to newly created fandom tags or existing tags if Tag Wranglers or users request changes.
In addition to determining when a metatag may be created, Tag Wranglers have also identified some circumstances where a metatag would not be beneficial to the majority of fans and therefore these fandoms will be canonized separately, not linked by a metatag. These are generally fandoms that are not closely related, such as:
Fandoms which are only connected by minor crossover events
Fandoms which share a performer, director, or creator/creative team but are not related through a shared continuity, shared characters, or other shared elements
You can find the full list of situations where Tag Wranglers decided a metatag would not be beneficial in the Metatag Wrangling Guidelines.
Fandom merging guidelines
Similar to determining which existing tags should have a metatag and don't currently, existing tags that have multiple adaptations merged together into one fandom tag may instead canonize their adaptations and subtag them to a metatag if they meet the guidelines above for when to create a metatag. These will also be handled on a case by case basis based on what is most appropriate for the fandom.
Finally, Tag Wranglers reviewed their guidelines on when to merge fandom tags for two related adaptations into one shared fandom tag (e.g. fandom tags like Naruto (Anime & Manga)), partially in relation to anime and manga fandoms. Going forward, when requested by users and/or Tag Wranglers, fandom tags for nearly identical adaptations may be merged if it is determined that this will be what is most useful to AO3 users. These requests will always be examined on a case by case basis.
Canonizing adaptations separately will remain the default, as it's much easier to merge later if appropriate than it is to separate them. This is particularly true in the case of ongoing canons where it's highly possible that the adaptations may diverge in plot, character development, etc.
Changes in progress
As part of these guideline updates, we've already begun processing some commonly requested metatag and fandom changes. The below list represents a small sample of changes that we've already made in response to requests from Tag Wranglers and users. This is not a comprehensive list of every change we have made or will make, but these examples show how the above changes may look in practice.
The above changes are already live on AO3, and others will be made in the coming days as wranglers and users request changes to their fandom's structure in connection with this change.
Have questions or want to request a metatag change?
You can find these specific guideline updates on our Metatag and Fandom Wrangling Guideline pages. As mentioned above, other fandoms may already be discussing making changes. These discussions will also include requests from users who've previously submitted feedback to Support. If you have submitted a request within the past six months asking for a metatag or merger to be considered, there is no need to submit another request at this time as your request is already being reviewed.
If you have questions about specific tags, want to request a change to your fandom's metatag, or have other questions about this change, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post. Support handles questions and requests related to how tags are sorted and connected in addition to providing technical support to AO3's users.
Do not contact Support if the tags you wish to ask about are less than one month old. Please give Tag Wranglers time to handle new tags and wait to request changes until at least one month after a tag's first use.
Finally, while we know the majority of users find having a metatag helpful, we are aware that not everyone agrees with this due to the limits it creates on filtering. As such, we wanted to provide some advice on how to filter out works tagged with the metatag, if you wish to. Please select "How to exclude works tagged with a metatag" below to expand the instructions on excluding works tagged with a metatag.
How to exclude works tagged with a metatag
You can exclude works tagged with a metatag using the metatag's Tag ID, using the following process. For ease of use, we recommend you do this on a computer rather than on your mobile device.
Begin by finding the Tag ID of the metatag you want to filter out from its source code. Open the works page of the metatag you want to filter out, such as The Hobbit - All Media Types. Right-click on the "Favorite Tag" button, then select "Inspect". In the window that opens, locate the line that says: value="X" name="favorite_tag[tag_id]" where X is the ID of your tag. It should be directly above what is automatically highlighted when you click Inspect.
For this example, the Tag ID for The Hobbit - All Media Types is 541478. This is a fandom tag, so the search operator you'll need is fandom_ids:541478. (You can use this trick for other tag types, just swap the word fandom in fandom_ids for character, relationship, or freeform.)
Next, go to the works page for the specific subfandom whose works you want to read. For this example, we'll use The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien.
In the Filters sidebar, enter -fandom_ids:541478 in the "Search within results" field. This will show you all works tagged with "The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien", except those that are also tagged with "The Hobbit - All Media Types" (viewable here).
If filtering by tag ID is something you want to do often and you'd like to make your life a bit easier, you can use an unofficial script to display the tag ID of all canonical tags directly on the works page (if you're unfamiliar with scripts, you can find more information in our Unofficial Browser Tools FAQ).
The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.
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