I get that people have strong opinions about the use of AI

[Shamrock Holmes]

I get that people have strong opinions on the use of AI, and I'll admit that I do use for first drafts, brainstorming and generally trying to get past writer's block, but the latest review for my current WIP

Spoiler: was rather over the top. Spoilered for possible triggers

This machine-generated literary garbage clearly proves that ShamrockHolmes is an absolute twat without a shred of talent or originality, incapable of thinking for himself. It's absolutely disgusting to see ShamrockHolmes filling the internet with such robotic dung, and the world would be a much cleaner and better place if ShamrockHolmes took the plunge and left this world for good. You should grab a big knife and slit your wrists until all your dried blood drips onto the floor, or make yourself a sturdy noose out of thick rope and hang it from the living room ceiling until you're out of breath. No one would care about your pathetic demise, so you'd better run in front of a speeding freight train or throw yourself off a tower block and finally do some real good to society by your total disappearance.

I normally don't like to complain, fan fiction is art and everyone is entitled to their opinion but they would be getting reported if they hadn't hidden behind a guest account.

 

[Tosk]

Where was this?

 

[Fire(BOO!)]

If it was a review on AO3, they've been having problems with hate and scam bots for months now. I had to close the comments on my fics to registered users only for a while because of it.

 

[Sgt_G]

Over the top?? The moderator of whatever board that was posted on should ban the user for life.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I get that people have strong opinions on the use of AI, and I'll admit that I do use for first drafts, brainstorming and generally trying to get past writer's block, but the latest review for my current WIP

Spoiler: was rather over the top. Spoilered for possible triggers

This machine-generated literary garbage clearly proves that ShamrockHolmes is an absolute twat without a shred of talent or originality, incapable of thinking for himself. It's absolutely disgusting to see ShamrockHolmes filling the internet with such robotic dung, and the world would be a much cleaner and better place if ShamrockHolmes took the plunge and left this world for good. You should grab a big knife and slit your wrists until all your dried blood drips onto the floor, or make yourself a sturdy noose out of thick rope and hang it from the living room ceiling until you're out of breath. No one would care about your pathetic demise, so you'd better run in front of a speeding freight train or throw yourself off a tower block and finally do some real good to society by your total disappearance.

I normally don't like to complain, fan fiction is art and everyone is entitled to their opinion but they would be getting reported if they hadn't hidden behind a guest account.

The ironic thing is that the way it repeats your name throughout makes it seem like it's just a form letter that just had your name filled in on the blanks throughout. That's even less creative than AI.

 

[Will The Serious]

This machine-generated literary garbage clearly proves that ShamrockHolmes is an absolute twatV{add comma} without a shred of talent or originality, incapable of thinking for himself.

Who's this guy's editor?

It's absolutely disgusting to see ShamrockHolmes filling the {Capitalization. "Internet" is a proper noun, and should be capitalized.}internet with such robotic dung,X{a different thought, so semicolon would be more appropriate than a comma here} and the world would be a much...

...the plungeV{again, missed the comma} and left this world for good.

ShamrockHolmes took the plunge and left this world for good.V{Carriage return. This is a new thought, changing the voice. It should be a new paragraph} You{Who is "You". Unclear change in subject} should grab a big knifeV{another missed comma} and...

...your dried blood drips{Dried blood doesn't drip.} onto the floor,V{inconsistent use of comma coupled with the conjunction "or"} or make yourself a sturdy noose out of thick ropeV{inconsistent use of commas with the conjunction "and"} and hang it{What does "it" refer to? How does just hanging a noose from the ceiling relate to waiting until one is "out of breath"?} from the living room ceiling until you're out of breath.
{unclear subject. Does "you" and "you're" refer to the writer or the reader or some imaginary metaphorical third person?}

No one would care about your pathetic demise,...
{Can a demise be pathetic? Perhapse it is the author who is pathetic? Is that what is meant here? It is unclear, just like it is unclear who is the author referred to in the above sentence.}

...off a tower block and finally...
{What the heck is a tower block? Is that maybe something people would love to throw themselves off of, or is that a bad thing?}

{I've given up on pointing out the missing commas, so I won't mention it here.}...and finally do some real good to society {Does one do good 'TO' society? Shouldn't that be 'FOR' society?} by...

...total disappearance.
{Unnecessary adjective. Disappearance is a binary state. Total is implicit in the act of disappearing.}

Really, how can you (the collective "you") take this seriously? This was written by a child. I would put him, her, or it, around 12 or 13.

-Will
Oh yes, I would still ban the creature.

 

[Timewalker]

I get that people have strong opinions on the use of AI, and I'll admit that I do use for first drafts, brainstorming and generally trying to get past writer's block, but the latest review for my current WIP

Spoiler: was rather over the top. Spoilered for possible triggers

This machine-generated literary garbage clearly proves that ShamrockHolmes is an absolute twat without a shred of talent or originality, incapable of thinking for himself. It's absolutely disgusting to see ShamrockHolmes filling the internet with such robotic dung, and the world would be a much cleaner and better place if ShamrockHolmes took the plunge and left this world for good. You should grab a big knife and slit your wrists until all your dried blood drips onto the floor, or make yourself a sturdy noose out of thick rope and hang it from the living room ceiling until you're out of breath. No one would care about your pathetic demise, so you'd better run in front of a speeding freight train or throw yourself off a tower block and finally do some real good to society by your total disappearance.

I normally don't like to complain, fan fiction is art and everyone is entitled to their opinion but they would be getting reported if they hadn't hidden behind a guest account.

I take it you post your stories on AO3? This kind of crap is becoming all too common. It's not a real review from a real person. It's an AI bot, and you should report it, if possible.

You can also change your settings to not allow Guest reviews (only allow comments from logged-in members).

Yes, there are some people who would argue that there are Guest readers who are legit people and sometimes they leave very nice comments.

My own take on that is this: Aside from the "invitation" issue, how hard is it to just log in if you want to leave comments on someone's story?

If you'd like a comment from a real human, feel free to drop me a PM with the link. I spend a good chunk of my daily waking lifespan on the fanfic sites.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Where was this?

If it was a review on AO3, they've been having problems with hate and scam bots for months now. I had to close the comments on my fics to registered users only for a while because of it.

Over the top?? The moderator of whatever board that was posted on should ban the user for life.

It was a comment on AO3 by an anonymous "guest", so I'm limited to not approving it and deleting it.

I've also finally limited comments to registered users, which doesn't necessarily stop all the bad stuff, but might cut it down.

 

[Fire(BOO!)]

It was a comment on AO3 by an anonymous "guest", so I'm limited to not approving it and deleting it.

I've also finally limited comments to registered users, which doesn't necessarily stop all the bad stuff, but might cut it down.

I'd also mark the comment as spam so AO3's filters continue to improve identifying them.

These comments fucking suck, and I'm sorry you got one that was so vitriolic. At the same time, don't take this one at all personally because it's a form letter. The people behind these hate bots only want to inflict the maximum amount of psychological pain they can to try to make people stop posting their works.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

It's been so marked.

I've got no issue with people not liking what I write, as I noted to Timewalker in a PM it's based on a currently controversial author's work and frankly is a very nique combo within that and at the end all fanfiction is 'art' so some people aren't going to like it.

Likewise, my use of AI as a first draft tool, particularly for elements that I'm not overly familiar with and want to get at least plausibly right isn't to everyone's taste and that's fine... but the rest of that post was... not.

 

[Will The Serious]

This is what Google AI (Gemini) says about my description of this problem:

"On Archive of Our Own (AO3) and similar platforms, scammers profit from vitriolic troll attacks through a mix of intellectual property theft, financial extortion, and malicious engagement farming. Because automated bots cost virtually nothing to run, hitting thousands of authors with these campaigns remains highly lucrative even if only a tiny fraction of victims fall for it.

1. Shielding Stolen Work from Copyright Claims (AI & Re-Publishing)
When a bot uses aggressive hate, doxxing threats, or fake "Terms of Service violation" warnings to scare an author into deleting their story, it creates a clean slate for the scammers.The Profit Mechanism: Scammers often deploy data scrapers to copy thousands of fanfiction works. They re-upload these works onto paid reading apps, sell them as e-books on Amazon, or package them into datasets to sell to generative AI companies.Why the Hate Helps: Fanfiction authors automatically own the copyright to their unique text. If an author spots their story being sold elsewhere, they can file a copyright strike to get it taken down. However, if the scammer successfully panics the author into deleting the original post off AO3, the author loses their public timestamp. This makes it incredibly difficult for the writer to prove they wrote it first, protecting the scammer's stolen revenue stream.

2. Conversational Trapdoors (The "Pivot" Scam)
A highly common strategy involves a bot leaving a deeply unsettling, confusing, or critical comment to provoke an emotional, defensive response from the author.The Profit Mechanism: Once the author replies to defend themselves or ask for clarification, the account is handed off to a real human scammer. The scammer changes their tone, drops a link, or pushes the author to continue the conversation on Discord, Instagram, or Telegram.The Financial Trap: Once off-site, the scammer attempts to sell fake services. They may claim they can "protect" the author's account for a fee, or aggressively pressure them into paying hundreds of dollars for "custom cover art" or "comic adaptations" that turn out to be cheap AI-generated slop or nothing at all.

3. Malware and Ransomware Deployment
Some vitriolic comments include links, disguised as proof of the "problematic things" the author allegedly did or links to a fake AO3 "appeals board".The Profit Mechanism: Clicking these links can infect the victim's device with malware or keyloggers. Scammers use this to hijack financial accounts, steal personal identity data, or lock the author's computer entirely with ransomware, demanding a cryptocurrency payout to unlock it.

4. Direct Extortion via Doxxing Threats
When a bot leaves a vitriolic comment threatening to release an author's real name, location, or private information (doxxing), it is a high-pressure psychological tactic.The Profit Mechanism: While many bots are just casting a wide net to cause chaos, some follow up these public threats with private demands for money (blackmail) to "stop" the harassment campaign or to prevent the alleged information from being leaked."

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

That makes sense, and certainly I've had comments that are fairly likely to be scams before (usually by "artists") so that tracks. What's weird about this one is that it doesn't have any way of contacting them, so it can't be an example of the above.

 

[Will The Serious]

These types of scams are run by organized groups. There may be a second account waiting to commiserate and build trust. If the goal is to steal the intellectual property, all they need to achieve that, is your cooperation in removing the work from public access. This changes the defensible time stamp and doesn't require communication beyond the trolling. A second account would likely be used to further the abuse, or gain trust before trying to buy your story or writing services.

They would accidentally over-pay with a check, and ask you to kindly refund the difference before you found out the check was bad. Something similar happened to my daughter on Etsy.

She was selling a box of cloth, some guy bought it for a generous amount of money and asked her to wire some extra money through Western Union to a company in China he owed a few thousand dollars to. He added a commission for the service and sent the check to cover everything. After my daughter deposited the check and wired the money from her account, I asked the bank to review the check she deposited. It turns out, there are several levels of vetting a check goes through and the initial level allowed the bank to approve the check for deposit and declare it good, but not yet release the funds. When the bank did a deeper dive, the check bounced.

I was able to stop the Western Union transfer to some Chinese electronics company, and my daughter had to endure several vitriolic messages accusing her of stealing and getting the police involved. Ignoring them finally ended the exchange.

I was recently contacted by an artist to turn my stories into a graphic novel. When I explained that I was not making money on my stories and could not spend money on them either, the artist stopped emailing. All good. But another "artist" sent a very similar email shortly after. It was so similar and, time wise, so coincidental after years of nothing, I asked Gemini what was going on. Gemini explained that it was likely they were part of an organization, and once my email proved to be active, I would be on a list of potential scam victims for a while before my email was down-graded from their target list. Any art they provided would be AI generated or stolen from legitimate online sources and no real services would be provided.

-Will

 

[Count Darcula70]

I get that people have strong opinions on the use of AI, and I'll admit that I do use for first drafts, brainstorming and generally trying to get past writer's block, but the latest review for my current WIP

Spoiler: was rather over the top. Spoilered for possible triggers

This machine-generated literary garbage clearly proves that ShamrockHolmes is an absolute twat without a shred of talent or originality, incapable of thinking for himself. It's absolutely disgusting to see ShamrockHolmes filling the internet with such robotic dung, and the world would be a much cleaner and better place if ShamrockHolmes took the plunge and left this world for good. You should grab a big knife and slit your wrists until all your dried blood drips onto the floor, or make yourself a sturdy noose out of thick rope and hang it from the living room ceiling until you're out of breath. No one would care about your pathetic demise, so you'd better run in front of a speeding freight train or throw yourself off a tower block and finally do some real good to society by your total disappearance.

I normally don't like to complain, fan fiction is art and everyone is entitled to their opinion but they would be getting reported if they hadn't hidden behind a guest account.

WOW that is harsh... ......I personally don't read fanfiction or anything that was written with the help of Ai. (I'm suspicious of anything published after late 2022 and maybe a bit before )

If I did read an "Ai" story and didn't like I would just say it stinks and move on. But Jesus Christ. The guy has clear anger issues. Sorry that someone did that to you.

 

[Timewalker]

It's not actually a "guy." These are bots. They're not human. They target people on AO3 or FFN, and we try to look out for each other. Just about every day someone in one of my FB fanfiction groups will mention getting a comment like this, or offering artwork or turning it into a comic. Either they're exasperated and letting us know, or they're wondering if it's legit.

Those are never legit.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I'm currently on the invitation list at AO3. What should I do in advance to block this shit out?

 

[Timewalker]

You can set your preferences to allow only logged-in members to post comments. So many of these bots are "guest" posters, which means they either don't have an account or they didn't log in.

 

[Catboots]

You can set your preferences to allow only logged-in members to post comments. So many of these bots are "guest" posters, which means they either don't have an account or they didn't log in.

I did that with my FFnet account, didn't work. I still got swamped by countless bot messages and reviews. I didn't know the intent behind this scam, so I deleted all of my fics. They've probably been stolen and copied as a result.

 

[Will The Serious]

Since most of us here are writing Star Trek fanatic, they won't be stealing any intellectual property because Universal Studios would get involved with anyone trying to profit on a Trek-based story. They are more likely looking to sell something like fake art or non-existent protective services, suggest you move your stories to a paid platform where this doesn't happen, supposedly, or something like that.

-Will

 

[Catboots]

Or they file the serial numbers off and publish it. There's already a bunch of published fanfics like that (I've heard of several HP ones making it big). Hell the Mortal Instruments books were originally some Draco fanfic, and the Orville was intended as TNG with the numbers filed off right? So it's not that hard to do in order to dodge copyright.