Comment on Releases 0.9.420 - 0.9.426: Change Log

  1. Reader_in_a_Digital_Library Thu 11 Sep 2025 12:06AM UTC

    To be clear, are email address and location now all hidden by default? If not, do creators who made their email and/or location visible still have the ability to hide the email and/or location?

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    1. ayoez Thu 11 Sep 2025 02:00AM UTC

      The email address and location fields straight up don't exist anymore, and cannot be set. As in, they aren't visible, and cannot be set to be visible.

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      1. tillwehavefaces Thu 11 Sep 2025 03:01AM UTC

        I was actually recently wondering where they'd got to!

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      2. PokePotter1 Thu 11 Sep 2025 03:10AM UTC

        That's probably a good thing-there are places where being on AO3 is illegal, places where certain types of fanfiction is illegal, and places where all fanfiction is illegal-this was best for the safety of everyone here.

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        1. Hellfang Thu 11 Sep 2025 04:45AM UTC

          not to menton other users that have doxed people on and off the site. Its nice that Ao3 is showing you can care about safety but NOT censor at the same time... the US and UK can learn something from this

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      4. LivianLynx Thu 11 Sep 2025 06:13AM UTC

        I liked adding a silly location related to my fandom's canon to my location for a little extra profile flair, but it's understandable why they removed this for the people who actually write their location there.

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        1. MysteriousMihai Thu 11 Sep 2025 10:30AM UTC

          Indeed, it was quite fun to meet people from fantastic places such as Narnia, Hogwarts, Mordor, Qo'noS, Neverland, Melmac, Camelot, or Wyoming on this site. ;) But yeah, some people are shockingly easy with giving away personal information, be it their location, age (especially if they're minors), or either. We'll certainly continue stumbling upon details in comments, sure, but removing the fields altogether was probably the most efficient way to keep possible damage from getting done too easily.

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          1. LivianLynx Thu 11 Sep 2025 11:17AM UTC

            Definitely! I'm all for the change. Frivolity can be set aside for safety reasons, it's no big loss.

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    3. Bilka (AO3_ADT) (Official) Thu 11 Sep 2025 03:42PM UTC

      A cat typing on a laptop keyboard

      Hi,

      Thanks for asking about email address and location. The information has been removed from our database and is therefore no longer visible on anyone's profile.

      Bilka
      AO3 development team

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