#bot scraping

[tinypandacakes]

Attn authors on AO3! Just learned about this on a writing discord I’m in and thought I’d share.

A new website, https://rivd.net/, has cropped up and has been shown to have stolen/scraped works from Ao3, which are being scraped and uploaded at a rather impressive speed.

At this time, it isn't clear if site owners have wised up and have started taking the fics down, as the site requires an account and also the current *justified outrage* at this has led to an apparent overload on the site's servers, meaning they've basically shut down the search and privatized their fanfiction category.

The best way to protect your work if it has not already been scraped is by locking it to all logged out users. It’s unfortunate as guest comments and kudos are so precious to us authors, but it will protect your works from being scraped.

Further information can be found in this Reddit thread and the below screenshots: https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/comments/1dvyvqm/ao3_fics_being_uploaded_to_rivd_by_a_bot/

NOTE: DO NOT USE RIVD's DMCA TAKEDOWN FORM. You SHOULD NOT be required to provide your *government ID* to protect your intellectual property. This is borderline a phishing scam. RIVD is hosted by Cloudflare, who have a system for reporting abuse on sites which use their services which can be found at the following site: https://www.cloudflare.com/trust-hub/reporting-abuse/.

Thank you @punemy-spotted for compiling all this info and helping get the word out.

[altschmerzes]

every day i see 500 posts about archive-locking fics to protect from bot scraping and every day i just want to bang my head into the wall over and over because

1. It Has Already Been Scraped, the damage is done.

2. archive-locking fics is only a Good Solid Protective Measure against bot scraping if you believe that people who have the ability to create and shape this kind of technology cannot make some fairly minor adjustments to access archive-locked fics. it would not be hard. that’s like saying ‘i’m worried about getting stabbed so i have put on a lace-woven cardigan.’

3. ao3 did not “recommend that everyone do this” as i’ve seen about 400 of those 500 posts say. they, in the post where they confirmed scraping had taken place, said that if people wanted to do something that was an option for something they could do if they felt like it. hardly an urged warning that everyone really should take this as an important safety and security measure.

4. the only people this is deterring are people who don’t browse logged in or don’t have an account. literally all you’re doing is making your fic harder to access for people who actually want to like....... read it. it’s security theatre at best and maybe this is a very small hill to die on but i’m very tired of seeing dozens of posts urging everyone to do this Right Now because it’s Critical to protecting your fics from ai bot scraping. that’s just......... can we think about this for a second.

[ginnyw-potter-archive]

hey there! I was on Ao3 and couldn’t give any of your work. Do you know what happened???

Hi!

Yes, they are now visible to registered users only. If you log on you'll be able to see it and they'll all have a lock beside it. They're still there!

I didn't want to do this, and I thought about it for a long time, but I wanted to protect my fics from any type of bot scraping, and at least this puts up a little bit of a barrier (though not completely unfortunately).

I don't want to train AI with my writing but I was reluctant to do this still because I know that means some people will not be able to access the fic because of that. And now there was another website called Rivd that was scraping fics off AO3 and reposting them to their website (luckily it looks like that one is offline already) and that was the tipping point for me. I've had fics reposted to Instagram before and couldn't do anything about it (they're still up!). A lot of times these requests involve giving your legal name and details to someone for a take-down request. Websites like Rivd are not going to care.

So do log on if you have an account. If you absolutely for some reason cannot make an account and log on, just message me on here or discord and I'll happily send you a link to a Google doc. I'm not trying to keep humans out, just the bots.

TLDR: they're now for registered users only because of bot scraping and fic stealing

[popcornfairy28]

Hey I've locked my fics for now

Due to concerns about RIVD, an AI company scraping AO3 right now, I've decided to lock my fics for only registered users. Currently, I'm keeping up my podfics for guests though, since the majority of those are of other people's works and I don't think they can scrape those as easily??? That may change though. I also have a few of my fics on fanfiction.net, which I can't lock there so 🤷‍♀️ I guess you can read them there if you're a guest.

I will probably eventually unlock my fics when this blows over, which should be a matter of weeks. But in the meantime it is also pretty easy to get an AO3 account, so I would encourage you to get that if you haven't already. I love all my guest readers, so just hang in there.

[sepdet]

Pity the fool who wasted money scraping all of Tumblr.

Discovered: December 26, 4PM MST.

I reported this to Tumblr help, but I dunno how long it'll take @staff to see it they don't have the staff to play whack-a-mole. so it's up to us.

Update Dec 27:

WHOiS turned up CloudFlare as their webhost, but that's just a domain name registar. (It's more complicated than that, but nevermind.) Today, I received a reply from Cloudflare giving me Tumgik's real host & contact info (abuse@digitalocean.com).

Update Dec 28:

Some folks in replies are finding their blogs on tumbex.com instead. I found their host is ovh.com, no cloudflare to hide behind this time. Here's their abuse report form.

Here's What To Do:

Put your blog url into Google search and see if a non-tumblr.com version comes up.

If it doesn't, go back to what you were doing. Otherwise:

If it's Tumbjk, File a DMCA notice with abuse@digitalocean.com.

If it's Tumbex, File a DMCA notice with ovhost.

If it's a different URL, plug it into WhoIsLookup at myip.ms to identify the Web Host, then go to that host's URL and look for a "Report Abuse" "File DMCA" or "Support" link, usually in the footer.

If the Web Host shows as Cloudflare, docontact them, but check your emall after a day. They'll usually tell you the real webhost if your abuse report looks legit.

Report the scraped site to Google. If Google removes it from search results, that kills most of its traffic

Share this post.

When reporting abuse, (a) list the URLs of the copycat (b) list the corresponding URLs to your real blog(s). If there's a box asking for more explanation, try something like "they scraped pages from tumblr'" and/or "these are my personal blogs hosted on the tumblr platform which I started in (year xxxx)].

It doesn't have to be much. The webhost just needs to verify one site is copying the other, which came first, and who is the probable owner— which the thieves admit they aren't, since their "About" page admits they're reposting stuff from Tumblr.

Fly, my pretties, fly!

[gumbo]

A few weeks ago i wanted to get a soj keychain or button for my backpack but i barely saw anything for her on etsy :-( jq only had slightly more than her…

embolden by my anger i decided to make my own keychains/charm concepts ^_^ i think they turned out preddy good even tho i barely draw chibis

also drew this sketch for fun but i would be too embarrassed to put this on anything but still wanted to share anyways ^q^

[zombified-queer]

Okay so, we know how empurata was created to shun those who were criminals n shit, right? Well, of course! But surely some people get a little, uh... Creative. Yknow, who would *really* notice this mech that's been getting on their nerves going missing for a few weeks. Oh, that strange unrecognizable empurata bot that just showed up has a strangely similar spark code? Huh, wonder how that happened... Oh hey no let's not look at my mysterious payments to unlicensed doctors, that's not relevant here!!

That wasn't really what I wanted to address it just showed up and demanded to be said, uh. ANYWAYS, PUSSY TEETH! Yknow what would further isolate those who need to be shunned? If you take away their ability to interface. That's right boys, shove some teeth in that valve, this is totally ethical because theyre a criminal! But really, who would risk losing their spike to a valve full of denta just to get laid? And with an empurata no less? Only perverts with an empurata fetish would do that! And what's worse, never getting laid ever, or only getting bitches because they romanticize your trauma?

Yeah so... That. Side note, get those bitches laid anyways cybertronians are freaks!!! It actually backfires and suddenly everyone wants the pussy teeth because these bots just can't be normal ever. Also barbed spikes COUGHS WHO SAID THAT

Valves with teeth are so hot. And of fucking COURSE there's people getting modded to have valve teeth. It's the hot new thing! It's what holotapes are made of.

And Primus Alive you know there's a whole market for holovids made by empurata showing off their teeth. Whole videos that show how this thing can take a sex toy and chew it up and spit it back out. There's a killing to be made on that kind of pornography.

AND!!!! BARBED!!! SPIKES!!!!

[kneelingshadowsalome]

hi! Why is dog only on ao3?

Honestly, I'm lazy 😶😶‍🌫️

But now that I had to put my works under lock and key (=visible only to registered users) on Ao3 I might post it here! 💕

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon forbidden west | talanah 15/?

[vehemourn]

i just wanna know. what does anyone want artists to do. im really just curious. Like if u steal all of our work and chase us out of all of the jobs and crush every single one of us until we either die or quit. Whats the end goal. artists provided their work for free for 2 decades and built their lives in digital spaces. And in a few years the landscape is changing drastically away from that :/. I'm fucking tired. I'm tired of artists being disrespected. And yet its not going to Stop. Our spaces are still snuck into and scraped, our work is still stolen, and we still have people that are just outright fucking nasty to us just bc u draw a furry animal or are queer. what is anyone supposed to do. our communities were destroyed. our spaces were destroyed. so many artists are Gone and scattered to the winds. What is anyone Doing.

[ginnyw-potter-archive]

I'm sorry if you've answered this question somewhere already, but I looked and didn't find anything: why are all but two of your fics set to members only on Ao3? I was half way through Knight of Mine and Spilt Blood and then one day they were just gone! :(

I did answer it but it was a bit ago!

The reason is mainly AI bot scraping. Not only are fics being used for GenAI, there are also just whole bots scraping websites and uploading fanfics to their site. This makes me really uncomfortable to think my fanfics could end up somewhere and I have no clue (I have people steal writing from me and is still up on insta with nothing for me to do about it)

The reason two are not is because they're new fics so I simply forgot to tick the box. Knight of Mine is also on fanfiction.net. If for one reason or another you can't get on AO3 or waiting for your invite link, just message me and I'll happily provide you with a PDF/doc link. I know it sucks, and maybe I'll put them open again but I don't feel like there are enough regulations currently for me to put all my fics up publicly. it sucks and I put it off for a little even but nothing improved

[honkai-news-network]

Ajita hd close-up model. (She appeared in flashback in Chapter 3) #HonkaiImpact3rd #Ajita #Hoyoverse

Original Post

[saelik]

You prepared for battle as you fell apart

Shuake Week 2024 - day 3: Hurt/comfort Rating: Mature Additional Tags: Morgana is here too, Canon-Typical Violence, November 20 Interrogation (Persona 5), Minor Injuries Description, Vomiting, Implied/Referenced Torture, but nothing that isn't seen in game really, Hurt/Comfort, Wound Tending, POV Alternating, No beta reader Summary:

Akira gets out of the interrogation room alive, but as much as he tries to pretend he's ok, it's obvious he's not. So much that Goro insists on staying the night to take care of him.

[agnesmontague]

lmao

[yinyuedijun]

quite tragically I think I must finally lock my ao3 works when I get home and remember how to use a computer 😔

[khepiari]

Do others also feel slight paranoia now when their email notifications are full of a profile liking your fics at one go on Fanfiction dot net?

Like, hello, are you an AI bot scraping my writing?

Or what is with your reading speed that makes you like everything in one go?