Please don’t use collections to track your reading on AO3!
Someone is going through all my zimbits fics and adding them to a collection called “completed stories I’ve read.” Well, they’re trying to, but I’m denying all their requests.
Yes, ao3 has fixed the thing that made it possible for collection owners to anonymize your fics without your permission, so why do I not want all my fics in these random collections?
Well, imagine if 10% of the people who read my fics tracked their reading via a collection like this. Unlike bookmarks, all the collections a fic is in are listed directly on the fic! The fic I just got a request for has 12000 hits and 1300 kudos. If even 10% of the people who left kudos added it to a collection, every person who reads it would have to scroll through a list of 130 collections to get to the fic!
Please track your reading using bookmarks, not collections!
Bookmarks just add to a number on the fic itself, but if you click that number you’ll see the many ways people use them to track their reading. Some people use tags like “to read,” “read,” “complete,” etc. Other people use bookmark collections, which unlike regular collections don’t get listed on the fic - plus, they don’t require the author’s permission, so you can actually have an accurate list instead of just a list of the fics that got approved!
Whoever you are (I know their ao3 name but since they have no works of their own I have no way to contact them), I am very flattered that you like my stuff enough to go through and read all of it, and I very much appreciate it. But please stop using collections just to track your reading.
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Sometimes I think about how Ed must struggle w shit that requires more fine motor skills. Like basic things that able bodied people don't think twice about. We know Ed can't write with his automail hand. Flesh is so useful for getting traction on items. There's give to flesh, so you can pinch and hold things without worrying it'll slip between your fingers.
I imagine Roy's team becomes much more aware of the difficulties of having prosthetics through littler instances. Maybe somebody in the office asks for a pen when Ed's flesh hand is preoccupied with whatever. He reaches to pick it up with the metal hand and it just kinda skitters around. So he just keeps chasing it so he can pass it over already but he can't get a grasp on it. It becomes an elongated and frustrating affair and he's committed this long to getting the damn thing so he isn't gonna switch hands despite the stares he feels.
And by the time he gets a grip he's so pissed he fucks up the pressure control, clenches too hard, and the pen breaks and ink stains his glove and the surface below it. He gets that horrible wash of embarrassment for being unable to do what most anyone else could no problem. To think about things like this, when Ed is so incredibly capable and competent, is really interesting to me.
Compiling it on top of all his insecurity and self hatred I imagine he gets sick with anger when something of that nature occurs. Especially in front of people he feels compelled to prove himself to.
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