#lore fm

[lena-hills]

FYI from a disabled person on the Lore.fm thing, phones and browsers already have built-in screen readers you can use to listen to fanfic for free and for anyone to use without stealing from authors! Most even let you manually fix pronunciation for weird character names and set the speed to play at! Just do an internet search for instructions for your specific phone/browser and spoken content/text to voice, or go straight to the accessibility options (usually somewhere under settings).

I use it to listen to fics during migraines, but my students also love it for dyslexia/other reading disabilities, especially for homework (I'm a teacher who supports fellow folks with disabilities in my day job). It's also just great to use when I'm crocheting or sewing.

It's fully free because it's part of the accessibility tools built in, so you know it won't ever have ads or steal your data, and because it works from your browser you're not uploading fics anywhere else and the author still gets the hit and you are right there to leave kudos/comments!

Enjoy your fics, without the venture capitalists!

[octoberscigarettes]

In light of the whole lore fm thing I am coming back here to say

FANFICTION IS NOT "CONTENT"

YOU NEED TO HAVE RESPECT FOR THE AUTHORS AND CREATORS IN FANDOM

ENGAGE WITH ACTUAL CREATIVES IN THE COMMUNITY INSTEAD OF MINDLESSLY CONSUMING FANWORKS ON PLATFORMS THAT DONT RESPECT A CREATIVES RIGHT TO CHOOSE WHERE THEIR WORK WILL BE USED AND DISPLAYED

[hedonists]

Not mine; screenshot source: click here

"You can also lock your fics to users only" is a crazy thing to say to authors who do not wish to have their works stolen by a company without their consent. This is insane. This gives off scummy vibes no matter how you look at it. I hope someone files a DMCA claim and gets this taken off the AppStore.

[ghostellie]

For any AO3 authors who have been following the lore.fm stuff, they have posted a video saying they are considering shutting down due to feedback.

[grilledcheese-savage]

People prob about to get reeeeaaall mad at me but Idrc. I’m pissed about the Lore.Fm situation. If you haven’t heard of it, it was going to be an app that reads your fanfiction out loud so you could listen to it like an audiobook. It would’ve sounded more natural and correct than any other screen reader so far. As someone who can’t really read a lot of fanfiction anymore because of my crippling chronic migraine, this would have been a GAMECHANGER for me. So here are some facts:

Lore Fm DOES use Ai to read aloud.

Lore Fm DID NOT send your fics into a training model so it can write more.

Lore Fm MIGHT be owned by a company called Wishroll Inc. , but this is not confirmed.

Lore Fm WASN’T for profit. They didn’t have any way to monetize it. It was just an accessibility tool.

A lot of the fanfiction writers were rightfully scared by this, since a lot of art has been stolen without consent to create AI engines. As a fanfic writer myself, I understand wanting the option to opt out. But a lot of the content I’m seeing made against this, has been factually incorrect OR just completely unaware of why this could be such a good thing. I just watched a tiktok that made me want to post this, of a writer saying you were completely selfish or entitled if you used this app because some people “use accessibility as an excuse to disrespect author’s wishes”. That is just straight up, not true. There could 100% be ways to fix this. For one, Authors who are okay with their fiction being read by AI could submit the fanfics themselves, making it kind’ve like Watt pad instead of it being up to the reader. People could tag their fanfics “Don’t use Lore Fm.” People who made orphaned fics or can’t get back into their account can blacklist themselves on the lore fm app so none of their fics could be read. As someone who codes, these are all very viable options. There could even be a simple honor system. But y’all sent death threats instead of genuine critiques.

Lore Fm took themselves down because they didn’t want to piss off the community, because their team is apart of the fan-fiction community. They deleted all their posts and took the app off stores.

Again, I AM NOT AGAINST PEOPLE CRITIQUING THIS. In fact, I think more people should be keeping AI in check, especially when it pertains to art. Their beta testers should’ve been giving them this advice.

Honestly, I’m glad they took it down for now, I think a lot of the advice I had given earlier should’ve been implemented waaaay before beta testers, but the over-exaggeration of this has gone way too far. Do your research and make your own opinions. AI has gotten out of control but it can be used IN CERTAIN SETTINGS for good. If you’re legally blind, photosensitive or just plain busy, this would’ve been so great.

Major disappointment. I’m definitely willing to change my mind about this in the comments/reblogs though if you have good evidence of why this shouldn’t have been made, just please be respectful.

[maingh0st]

the lore.fm situation is such a nightmare. from what i can tell, almost all of their organizational information & marketing has taken place on tiktok, a hellscape of an app that i refuse to download, so im having to read reddit threads to get the latest updates.

anyways, they’ve announced they’re shutting down, but from what i can tell have not done so yet? so I’ll be temporarily locking my fics so only users with accounts can access them. I’m sorry if that’s an inconvenience to anyone! once this blows over I’ll unlock them again

[sweetlittlevampire]

In light of the whole lore fm thing, my fics on AO3 have now been locked for the time being. Sorry about that.

The whole thing is opt-out instead of opt-in, and I don't want them to be able to have my email adress just because I wanted to opt out of a service I didn't consent to using my writing in the first place.

AO3 already lets you use screen readers. But also, as a podficcer? lore fm feels like a slap to the face. If you would like to listen to a fic and have it narrated by someone who isn't a computer, consider looking for a podfic of said fic, kindly requesting that it be podficced, or taking up podficcing yourself. It's fun, and you don't necessarily need expensive tools or programs for it.

[allemantheias]

Now rivd is gone..

I'm unlocking my works again now rivd is taken down. But when something like rivd and lorefm happens again, i will go back to locking temporarily (or permanent depending on the issue).

I still recommend everyone without an ao3 account to get into the invite queue now. Ao3 is honestly a great site to be part of.

[editorbit]

I love how every time someone tries to take advantage of the fanfiction community to earn some money, it always crashes and burns immediately

[ishootthelightsout]

Seeing all the shit about lore fm trying to commercialize fanfics and being super passive aggressive even when shutting down… like people have been using free realistic tts like Microsoft Edge read aloud for a while now be real

[lensman-arms-race]

I got a reply to my email:

We appreciate your feedback. The app has been taken down from both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. We wholeheartedly apologize for the stress we caused the community, and we don't want to put fanfiction in danger.

Good!

I think the person who created the app doesn't write fanfic of their own or do anything more with it besides passively consume it (doesn't leave comments or engage with writers or fandom).

Hey I don’t know if this is being talked about on Tumblr but thankfully the AO3 subreddit has a conversation going about this app that just went live.

TikTok user unravel.me.now has just launch an app (lore.fm) she is calling “Audible for AO3”. It’s an app that uses AI voices to read out fics.

🚨She is requiring any authors who do not want their fics to be on this app to OPT OUT by emailing team@lore.fm 🚨 🚨She has not given an actual template or how you’re supposed to prove you’re the author or said how her team will process this or how she will keep these requests secure🚨

I do not have this app. I haven’t seen anyone use it yet. According to Reddit users, unravel.me.now’s earlier TikToks stated she envisions the app being able to create libraries stored on that app and to have version of “Spotify wrapped”. That implies that eventually data collection must happen, if it’s not happening currently.

I don’t know the actual capabilities of this app. I don’t know the legalities. I do know that it personally feels like this app is trying to turn AO3 into a content generation source and I haven’t heard of the app allowing you to leave a comment or kudos or interact with the original work.

I’m just sad about this.

[baileys101]

So having seen the Lore FM issue I've learnt more about podfics (yes I live under a rock- with Cas) and promptly went to update my fic tags to include podfic welcome, just incase anyone did want to make it accessible - I felt they shouldn't have to ask, and I should make it clear I was cool with that.

Anyway, I thought I was being clever using edit all fics function. I was not. I've accidentally deleted all my additional tags 😆. So instead of 1 by 1 adding podfic welcome, I've now got to remember tags on all 61 works (I prob won't do all - some likely didn't have them since were pulled over from other now none existent sites).

Think of me in this time of stupidity 🤪

[yaeggravate]

nah sorry but HOW is dainsleif/kaeya STILL so slept on, even after they finally interacted? to the uninitiated, dainsleif is named after the sword of the legendary king hogni, also known as hagen, the son of alberich, a character from wagner's ring cycle, who kaeya is based on. in other words, dainsleif is literally named after kaeya's sword. whatever that means for their future relationship, and whether this is metaphorical or literal is unclear for now but hello that's crazy why are you as a man another man's sword

adding to that, in the previous patch we learned that dainsleif was carrying a ring with him, which is a reference to THEE ring of nibelung, which hagen (yes that guy again) was instructed to steal back by his father. and did you know that in order to use the ring the wearer must forsake love? i think you should know

not to mention the foreshadowing of a tumultuous and potentially tragic relationship based on their constellations. kaeya's a peacock and dain's ouroboros (snek). in hindu culture peacocks are often depicted killing snakes so you could say it's not looking good for mr dainsleif.

so basically you have two ways their relationship can go: either dainsleif is going to become loyal to kaeya, (which I can see happening because kaeya is the only khaenriahn we know of who isn't cursed or evil, and dainsleif would want to keep it that way. dain was also the royal guard of khaenri'ah and kaeya's ancestor is anfortas who briefly took over as regent when the king went awol, so there might be some kind of debt he wants to repay by protecting his descendent.) or kaeya is going to kill him <-obviously the story isn't THAT dark and they'd never permanently kill off a playable character lmao so if he does die i think it would be because he's freed from the curse, which according to zurvan is the reason why he's alive, implying that he died once. ouroboros does symbolize eternity so maybe kaeya is actually the key to breaking the curse of immortality, but what happens if you remove the only thing keeping him alive?

oh, and fun fact, the quest in which they meet is named 'destined encounter'. connect this to mona's prophecy of kaeya's fate catching up to him and you literally have him meeting his destiny. we're also told dainsleif loves alcohol and even mixes his own drinks, it's like they deliberately created him as the man of kaeya's dreams

with all this in mind, it's really strange to not see more people excited about the potential of their relationship, because they are in a unique position of being two characters with no pre-established relationship becoming closer throughout the story, where both of their fates remain a mystery, as opposed to so many of the other characters who remain stagnant and whose stories are already told.

[1-ker0sene-1]

Hey there, coming out of my unfortunate hiatus for a moment. Because what the fuck?

To say it's ableist to not back an AI, data scraping, writing stealing, app- is absolutely fucking ridiculous. And the statement itself, is ableist.

This app isn't some original godsend, you literally just steal from unwilling writers. Could have done the opposite, could have been reaching out to authors about moving/merging their work onto the app- but no. Instead you expect writers to figure out to message you, and ask NOT to get stolen from. And that's if you even believe that they're the author, or if you even decide to read the damn email.

There are and have been very good tools for disabled people to read and enjoy content, from app overlays and extensions. Because let's be real, the purpose of this app was not for disabled people, you just ran out of excuses. The entire point is the AI and data.

Do not use disabled people to condone your AI bullshit, do not use disabled people to steal the hard work of writers. Do not use disabled people as an excuse for your bullshit.

Writers, authors, poets. You are not ableist for protecting your hard work.

-sincerely a disabled bitch.

[ikemenomegas]

All 👆 excellent 👆 points 👆

I'm not a big platform but I would ask anyone reading this not to engage with this new app. The desire for realism is real, the love for character is real, many people might want to hear their favorite character say the kind words they're reading, but I am not and never will be okay with someone else profiting off of something that 1. I created 2. I created for free 3. I created for free directly playing off of very much copyrighted material

And especially I am not okay with something that risks giving others more fodder to threaten fandom spaces, queer spaces, or creative spaces.

As this reddit thread brings up it is very likely "They're making money on it somehow, running that kind of thing isn't cheap. Which means they're making money off of our creative work." This puts us ALL at risk. Once again, a big reason Ao3 has been able to maintain itself is because it does not allow any profit to come from fanworks, we post and read for free on that Ao3.

The team for this app does not care about fandom spaces - or if they do, they're delusional and shortsighted about what this app could possibly accomplish, but given that, I'm comfortable saying this app is not a friend of fandom. It's a friend of profit and profiting off the labor of fanwriters, and it's a friend of wasting fan's valuable time with something that will continue to profit off of you. Accessibility tools already exist, this is not one of them - remember the best tool of marketing is to say something true that does not require any extra work put into the product. Sure it can be used for an accessibility reader, but that's not what they built it for.

Warning for criticism and what I’d consider some harsh to outright mean words:

So I’ve just been made aware of the project known of as ‘lore.fm’ and I’m not a fan for multiple reasons. For one this ‘accessibility’ tool complicates the process of essentially just using a screen reader (something native to all I phones specifically because this is a proposed IOS app) in utterly needless and inaccessible ways. From what I have been seeing on Reddit they have been shielding themselves (or fans of the project have been defending them) with this claim of being an accessibility tool as well to which is infuriating for so many reasons.

I plan to make a longer post explaining why this is a terrible idea later but I’ll keep it short for tonight with my main three criticisms and a few extras:

1. Your service requires people to copy a url for a fic then open your app then paste it into your app and click a button then wait for your audio to be prepared to use. This is needlessly complicating a process that exists on IOS already and can be done IN BROWSER using an overlay that you can fully control the placement of.

2. This is potentially killing your own fandom if it catches on with the proposed target market of xreader smut enjoyers because of only needing the link as mentioned above. You don’t have to open a fic to get a link this the author may potentially not even get any hits much less any other feedback. At least when you download a pdf you leave a hit: the download button is on the page with the fic for a reason. Fandom is a self sustaining eco system and many authors get discouraged and post less/even stop writing all together if they get low interaction.

3. Maybe we shouldn’t put something marketed as turning smut fanfic into audio books on the IOS App Store right now. Maybe with KOSA that’s a bad idea? Just maybe? Sarcasm aside we could see fan fiction be under even more legal threat if minors use this to listen to the content we know they all consume via sites like ao3 (even if we ask them not to) and are caught with it. Auditory content has historically been considered much more obscene/inappropriate than written content: this is a recipe for a disaster and more internet regulations we are trying to avoid.

I also have many issues with the fact that this is obviously redistributing fanfiction (thus violating the copyright we hold over our words and our plots) and removing control the author should have over their content and digital footprint. Then there is the fact that even though the creator on TikTok SAYS you can email to have your fic ‘excluded’ based on the way the demo works (pasting a link) I’m gonna assume that’s just to cover her ass/is utter bullshit. I know that’s harsh but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it’s probably a duck.

I am all for women in stem- I’ve BEEN a woman in Stem- but this is not a cool girl boss moment. This is someone naive enough to think this will go over well at best or many other things (security risks especially) at worst.

In conclusion for tonight: I hope this person is a troll but there is enough hype and enough paid for web domains that I don’t think that’s the case. There are a litany of reasons every fanfic reader and writer should be against something like this existing and I’ll outline them all in several other posts later.

Do not email their opt out email address there is no saying what is actually happening with that data and it is simply not worth the risks it could bring up. I hate treating seemingly well meaning people like potential cyber criminals but I’ve seen enough shit by now that it’s better to be safe than sorry. You’re much safer just locking all your fics to account only. I haven’t yet but I may in the future if that is the only option.

If anyone wants a screen reader tutorial and a walk through of my free favorites as well as the native IOS screen reader I can post that later as well. Sorry for the heavy content I know it’s not my normal fare.

[one-winged-dreams]

I finished Dae's comm of her dragon dad recently and I decided to act on my "What if an Adri s/i had NOT shitty parents for once?" idea of also giving Sky Singer a fictional dad (and also because adeptus oc)

So here's his qilin dad! I'm wondering if he didn't take his dad's name (whether he was even allowed to or not, he's just not gonna respond until you call him by the name he insists on taking) after he died during the Archon Wars, so this is the ORIGINAL Sky Singer. He took care of s/i Sky Singer after his mother eventually died (because, you know, she was a mortal and had to eventually) until ^^^

He was very proud and graceful, but not like, vain or condescending. Just the type of guy who seems intimidating because of how poised he is but you can also catch him with his kid and Ganyu slung over either of his shoulders because they were out exploring til they dropped from wearing themselves out. Also many moments with his hands in his hair, racing around trying to FIND his kid and Ganyu.

HE WAS A GOOD DAD THOUGH LMAO

tag list: @dearly-beeloved @kylars-princess @adoredbyalatus @dorothys-wife @the-sleeping-city @camellias-and-coriander @sunstar-of-the-north @lysandreslittlechatot @little-miss-selfships @goldenworldsabound