Downloading Fanfic From AO3

Downloading fanfic from AO3

I've been downloading a lot of fanfic lately for personal archival purposes, and I figured I'd share how I do it in case it's useful to anyone else (and so I have it written down in case I forget!).

There are lots of different ways to save fic, including the file download built into AO3, but I find that this gives me the nicest ebooks in the most efficient way.

(Under a cut cause long.)

Download Calibre: https://calibre-ebook.com/ or (clickable link).

Calibre is about the best ebook management and control program around and it's free. You can get it for windows, mac, and linux or download and run it from a portable storage device (I'm using a windows PC).

Install it and run it. It's gonna ask you where you want to put your library. Dealer's choice on this one. I recommend your internal drive (and then back up to external/cloud), but YMMV.

If you want to keep fanfic separate from the rest of your ebooks, you can create multiple libraries. I do, and my libraries are creatively named 'Books' and 'Fic'.

Customise Calibre

Now you're gonna install some plugins. Go to Preferences on the menu bar (far right), click its little side arrow, then choose 'Get plugins to enhance Calibre'.

At the top right of the box that pops up is 'Filter by name'. The plugins you want to get are:

EpubMerge

FanFicFare

Install them one at a time. It will ask you where you want them. I recommend 'the main bar' and 'the main bar when device is attached' (should be selected by default). When you're done, close and reopen Calibre.

The plugins you just installed should appear on the far right of the toolbar, but if you can't see one or both of them, fear not! Just click Preferences (the button, not the side arrow), then Toolbars and Menus (in the 'Interface' section) then choose the main toolbar from the drop down menu. That will let you add and remove things - I suggest getting rid of Donate, Connect Share, and News. That'll leave you room to add your new plugins to the menu bar.

(Do donate, though, if you can afford it. This is a hell of a program.)

Now you're ready to start saving your fave fanfic!

Saving fanfic

I'll go through both methods I use, but pick whatever makes you happy (and/or works best for what you're downloading).

ETA: if the fics are locked you can't easily use FanFicFare. Skip down to the next section. (It does ask for a username/password if you try and get a locked fic, but it's never worked for me - I had to edit the personal.ini in the configuration options, and even then it skips locked fics in a series.)

Calibre and FanFicFare

You can work from entirely within Calibre using the FanFicFare plugin. Just click its side arrow and pick from the menu. The three main options I use are download from URL, make anthology from a webpage, and update story/anthology.

Download from URL: pick Download from URL (or just click the FanFicFare button) and paste the fic's URL into the box (if you've copied it to your clipboard, it will be there automatically). You can do more than one fic at a time - just paste the URLs in one after the other (each on a new line). When you're done, make sure you have the output format you want and then go.

Make Anthology Epub From Web Page: if you want a whole series as a single ebook, pick Anthology Options, then Make Anthology Epub From Webpage. Paste the series URL into the box (if you've copied it to your clipboard, it will be there automatically), click okay when it displays the story URLs, check your output format and go.

Update series/anthology: if you downloaded an unfinished fic or series and the author updates, you can automatically add the update to your ebook. Just click on the ebook in Calibre, open the FanFicFare menu using its side arrow, and select either Update Existing FanFic Books or Anthology Options, Update Anthology epub. Okay the URLs and/or the output format, then go.

Any fic downloaded using FanFicFare will be given an automatically generated Calibre cover. You can change the cover and the metadata by right clicking on the title and picking edit metadata. You can do it individually, to change the cover or anything else specific to that ebook, or in bulk, which is great for adding a tag or series name to multiple fics. Make sure you generate a new cover if you change the metadata.

Browser plugins, Calibre, and EpubMerge

You can also use a browser addon/plugin to download from AO3. I use FicLab (Firefox/Chrome), but I believe there's others. FicLab: https://www.ficlab.com/ (clickable link).

FicLab puts a 'Save' button next to fic when you're looking at a list of fics, eg search results, series page, author's work list etc. Just click the 'Save' button, adjust the settings, and download the fic. You can also use it from within the fic by clicking the toolbar icon and running it.

FicLab is great if you're reading and come across a fic you want to save. It also generates a much nicer (IMO) cover than Calibre.

You can add the downloaded fic to Calibre (just drag and drop) or save it wherever. The advantage to dropping it into Calibre is that all your fic stays nicely organised, you can adjust the metadata, and you can easily combine fics.

Combining fics

You can combine multiple fics into an anthology using EpubMerge. This is great if you want a single ebook of an author's short fics, or their AUs, or their fics in a specific ship that aren't part of a series. (It only works on epubs, so if you've saved as some other format, you'll need to convert using Calibre's Convert books button.)

Select the ones you want to combine, click EpubMerge, adjust the order if necessary, and go.

The cover of the merged epubs will be the cover of the first fic in the merge list. You can add a new cover by editing the metadata and generating a new cover.

Combing with FanFicFare

You can also combine nonseries fics using FanFicFare's Make Anthology ePub from URLs option by pasting the individual fic URLs into the box.

Where there's more than a few fics, I find it easier to download them with FicLab and combine them with EpubMerge, and I prefer keeping both the combined and the individual versions of fic, but again YMMV.

Reconverting and Converting

Once I'm done fussing, I reconvert the ebook to the same format, to ensure everything is embedded in the file. Is this necessary? YMMV, but it's a quick and easy step that does zero harm.

If you don't want your final ebook to be an epub, just convert it to whatever format you like.

Disclaimers

Save fanfic for your own personal enjoyment/offline reading/safeguarding against the future. If it's not your fic, don't distribute it, or upload it to other sites, or otherwise be a dick. Especially if the author deletes it. Respect their wishes and their rights.

This may work on other fanfic sites, eg FFN, but I've never tried so I don't know.

If you download a fic, do leave the author a kudo or a comment; you'll make them so happy.

This is how I save fic. I'm not pretending it's the only way, or even the best way! This is just the way that works for me.

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Random mansion generator

Random Mansion Generator
Random Mansion Generator

The Procgen Mansion Generator produces large three-dee dwellings to toy with your imagination, offering various architectural styles and other options. Each mansion even comes with floorplans:

https://boingboing.net/2019/07/12/random-mansion-generator.html

1 year ago

I would never condone watching F1 for free without subscribing to those expensive, corporate streaming sites that make millions from advertising other corporations.

And I would never condone clicking on this link to watch F1 pre-season testing and all the free practices, qualifying and races.

Don’t click on this link.

JOKES! Fuck that, free for all is what I say. No one should miss out on F1 because it’s expensive to watch.

Just to be clear…this is the link I am talking about. It streams F1 for free. FREE!

2 years ago

Upcoming JJ Essays (And Links to Old Ones)

Hello to the new people! Glad to see you all here. I am making this post to pin so that people know what topics I am currently working on based on things I have been tagged in and asks that I have seen. I also have hyperlinked the essays that I have done so far so that when you ask you can also see what I have already written.

Upcoming

What is Sports PR and What Does it Entail?

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Why F1 Isn't Pushing Logan Sargeant To Gain Attention in the American Market (Or are they?)

The ways fandoms do and do not influence Sports PR

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The root of Max Verstappen's PR problem

RBR PR History and the Brazil 22 missteps

RBR and the use of Daniel Ricciardo

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Potential Aston Martin PR if Fernando Alonso is a WDC Contender

George Russell and the Complexities of PR Even for Relatively Neutral Figures Part 1 and Part 2

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Feel free to keep asking questions, I love reading them and I don't mind revisiting different areas of older topics that we hadn't really discussed nor do I mind getting new questions on new topics! Please do also let me know if you click one of the links and it either doesn't open or shows you the wrong post so that I can fix it.

1 year ago
My son has set the house up with a Pi-Hole. It’s a raspberry pi running Ad blocking on the whole house’s network. 

We’re a few hours in and we’re seeing effects, as well as some teething problems.

— Simon McGarr (@Tupp_Ed) August 11, 2022

>First, we’ve discovered that about a quarter of all the internet connection in or out of the house were ad related. In a few hours, that’s about 10,000 out of 40,000 processed.

>We also discovered that every link on Twitter was blocked. This was solved by whitelisting the https://t.co domain.

>Once out browsing the Web, everything is loading pretty much instantly. It turns out most of that Page Loading malarkey we’ve been accustomed to is related to sites running auctions to sell Ad space to show you before the page loads. All gone now.

>We then found that the Samsung TV (which I really like) is very fond of yapping all about itself to Samsung HQ. All stopped now. No sign of any breakages in its function, so I’m happy enough with that.

>The primary source of distress came from the habitual Lemmings player in the house, who found they could no longer watch ads to build up their in-app gold. A workaround is being considered for this.

>The next ambition is to advance the Ad blocking so that it seamlessly removed YouTube Ads. This is the subject of ongoing research, and tinkering continues. All in all, a very successful experiment.

>Certainly this exceeds my equivalent childhood project of disassembling and assembling our rotary dial telephone. A project whose only utility was finding out how to make the phone ring when nobody was calling.

For you can do it too!https://t.co/l1SLzPrzp6

— Simon McGarr (@Tupp_Ed) August 11, 2022

>Update: All4 on the telly appears not to have any ads any more. Goodbye Arnold Clarke!

They show your your stats on a neat little dashboard. pic.twitter.com/RQB39IvnKD

— Simon McGarr (@Tupp_Ed) August 12, 2022

>Lemmings problem now solved.

>Can confirm, after small tests, that RTÉ Player ads are now gone and the player on the phone is now just delivering swift, ad free streams at first click.

>Some queries along the lines of “Are you not stealing the internet?” Firstly, this is my network, so I may set it up as I please (or, you know, my son can do it and I can give him a stupid thumbs up in response). But there is a wider question, based on the ads=internet model.

>I’m afraid I passed the You Wouldn’t Download A Car point back when I first installed ad-blocking plug-ins on a browser. But consider my chatty TV. Individual consumer choice is not the method of addressing pervasive commercial surveillance.

>Should I feel morally obliged not to mute the TV when the ads come on? No, this is a standing tension- a clash of interests. But I think my interest in my family not being under intrusive or covert surveillance at home is superior to the ad company’s wish to profile them.

There’s a handy explanatory video from Dr. Johnny Ryan which sets out how we could end up with Just So Much ads.

Each webpage load can potentially run an auction (with you as the prize pig on the block) sending data to loads of different brokers. https://t.co/wUosBLjM3f

— Simon McGarr (@Tupp_Ed) August 12, 2022
Privacy International has a short and clear guide to what hardware you can use for setting up a Pi-Hole as well as some setup instructions. 

Ad-blocking (home surveillance thwarting) is a human rights issue too!https://t.co/1vphCsaug1

— Simon McGarr (@Tupp_Ed) August 12, 2022

>Aside: 24 hours of Pi Hole stats suggests that Samsung TVs are very chatty. 14,170 chats a day.

>YouTube blocking seems difficult, as the ads usually come from the same domain as the videos. Haven’t tried it, but all of the content can also be delivered from a no-cookies version of the YouTube domain, which doesn’t have the ads. I have asked my son to poke at that idea.

This has proved a popular thread. I have no soundcloud, and the things I sell are not of general use. 

But you can always follow & support Digital Rights Ireland (who once knocked down a state surveillance law for half a billion people) @DRIalerts https://t.co/vrAPYsxjP4

— Simon McGarr (@Tupp_Ed) August 13, 2022
2 years ago
1 year ago

hey, don’t cry. one half flour one half yogurt knead into dough and fry for easy flatbread and dip in balsamic vinegar, okay?


Tags
1 year ago

Send me a Ship and a Number and I will Write a Kiss

…good morning.

…goodnight.

…goodbye.

…where it hurts.

…where it doesn’t hurt.

…on a falling tear.

…to shut them up.

…in secrecy.

…in public.

…desperately.

…in joy.

…in grief.

…discreetly.

…casually.

…passionately.

…lazily.

…to distract.

…as encouragement.

…for luck.

…on a scar.

…on a place of insecurity.

…in a rush of adrenaline.

…in relief.

…in danger.

…as a ‘yes’.

…as an apology.

…as a suggestion.

…as a lie.

…as a promise.

…as comfort.

…after a small rejection.

…to wake up.

…forcefully.

…to pretend.

…to gain something.

…to give up control.

…without a motive.

…because they’re running out of time.

…because time’s run out.

…because the world is ending.

…because the world is saved.

…out of pride.

…out of greed.

…out of lust.

…out of anger.

…out of envy or jealousy.

…out of spite.

…out of habit.

…out of necessity.

…out of love.

2 years ago

Tumblr added a bunch of tracking shit to share urls, so now ill teach you how to get rid of them

if you copy a url by sharing on the website, the link will look like this

Tumblr Added A Bunch Of Tracking Shit To Share Urls, So Now Ill Teach You How To Get Rid Of Them

getting rid of tracking in these is easy, just delete everything after the question mark and you are golden

Tumblr Added A Bunch Of Tracking Shit To Share Urls, So Now Ill Teach You How To Get Rid Of Them

in the case for the app, its slightly more complicated

Tumblr Added A Bunch Of Tracking Shit To Share Urls, So Now Ill Teach You How To Get Rid Of Them

first you have to delete at. that appears before tumblr(.)com the other tracking shit on this one has a lot more info, so please, clean app urls. after the first set of numbers, there's a / you have to delete everything after it

Tumblr Added A Bunch Of Tracking Shit To Share Urls, So Now Ill Teach You How To Get Rid Of Them

a clean Tumblr url should look like this

Tumblr Added A Bunch Of Tracking Shit To Share Urls, So Now Ill Teach You How To Get Rid Of Them

blog safely

2 years ago

100 prompts list

so this is the prompts list! If you want to request an imagine just say what ideas and prompts you want in it (you don’t have to have one of the prompts if you don’t want, though) and what boy you want it to be for! We will try to write what you are imagining for your request. you can also request for us to make another part to any imagine you’d like :)

“Everyone keeps telling me your the bad guy.”

“If I ever see you anywhere near her/him, you’ll have to deal with me.”

“H-how long have you been standing there?”

“I think I’m in love with you and I’m terrified.”

“When are you going to realize I don’t care?”

“Who gave you that black eye?!”

“I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

“Don’t say you love me.”

“It’s a hobby of mine to prove you wrong.”

“If you don’t want to talk about what happened, then say so. Don’t just lie and say it’s fine.”

“Stop staring at me.”

“I said, I don’t know anything.”

“If you think I’ll believe you again…”

“You think it’s a bit…much?”

“Call me that one more time, see what happens.”

“Put some clothes on for the love of God.”

“It’s pitch black and I can still see you blushing.”

“Am I supposed to be scared of you?”

“I don’t hate you, I just don’t particularly like you.”

“I was so stupid to make the mistake of falling in love with my best friend.”

“Because I love you, you asshole!”

“Come over here and make me.”

“Excuse me, has he 12:15 bus come yet?”

“Oh my god! You’re in love with him!”

“Squeeze me hand if you can hear me.”

“Can you two please get a room?”

“I’ll do it. If you do something for me.”

“I have a name and it’s not sweetheart.”

“Take a breath, you can do this.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“I hate how much I care about you.”

“You’re kind of turning me on.”

“Please, don’t leave.”

“I can’t do this anymore.”

“Please, shut up so I can kiss you.”

“I broke my rules for you.”

“Dammit, are you drunk?”

“Just sleep in my damn shirt.”

“I’d do anything for you despite how much you piss me off.”

“Sorry, I can’t trust anyone that looks good with a bed head.”

“Kill me now, because I’m so done with saving myself.”

“Stay. I need you more than you think.”

“Don’t say a word and just dance with me.”

“And suddenly, we were strangers again.”

“Nobody wants me, not even myself.”

“You have no idea who I am, do you?”

“You think you can control me now? You never could.”

“Look, I know we don’t know each other that well, but I’m still worried about you. No one deserves to be alone.”

“If I could, I would kiss away all your scars.”

“I think I might be falling in love with you.”

“Your lips are so soft. I could kiss them all day.”

“Mmmm… you’re warm.”

“It’s not bad to cry. I’m fact, I think it makes a person stronger.”

“You’re cute when you’re half asleep like this.”

“I’ve had a rough day and honestly all I want is a drink and someone to cuddle with.”

“Shhh, it was just a bad dream. Just a dream, okay? None of it was real.”

“Open the fucking door!”

“You have something in your hair…um- do you want me to get it out?”

“I want to take a shower so you should probably join me so we can save water.”

“You’re/we’re just not the same anymore.”

“It’s past midnight! Where the hell were you?”

“What the hell is your problem?!”

“You can’t keep it all inside, you know? Bottling it up won’t do any good.”

“I love you/hate you! Sorry it took me so damn long to realize that!”

“You lost your chance.”

“I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.”

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

“I’m done trying to help you!”

“Sorry doesn’t fix anything.”

“I tried to move on, but nobody is you.”

“Can I at least buy you a coffee, for old times sake?”

“It’s not that hard! Just put your hands on ten and two and push the gas peddle!”

“Maybe I’m just meant to be alone.”

“Isn’t this, like, illegal?”

“You’re really drunk right now. I don’t think you want to do this.”

“It isn’t anyone’s fault. Sometimes love just changes.”

“Stay, for me.”

“You know I have feelings for you.”

“Why the fuck are you doing this to me?”

“Yeah, I remember the drill.”

“What keeps you up at night?”

“I wish you were here.”

“I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.”

“Is it so wrong for me to want to save you?”

“We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Is that a blood stain?!”

“I let people down, it’s what I do.”

“You can spend the night, if you want.”

“I brought food.”

“I just want you to be happy.”

“This has to stay between us.”

“Take me home. Now.”

“I’m trying to get work done.”

“Do you believe/you don’t believe in love?”

“Just hold my hand, please.”

“We were supposed to leave, like, ten minutes ago.”

“Backseats aren’t nearly as comfortable as movies make them out to be.”

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing. Mostly.”

“We could…you know, go together, if you wanted.”

1 year ago

Here's uBlock Origin's official guide to bypassing youtube's anti-adblock popups, updated weekly. Please share widely. Don't reward google for their predatory anti-consumer bullshit

To summarize: 1. Get uBlock Origin and make sure it's updated to the latest version. 2. Click on the gear icon to get to the dashboard, go to "Filter lists", and make sure that "uBlock filters - Quick fixes" is up to date

Repeat those steps any time you get another popup (google and uBlock are having an arms race right now so it might stop working at any moment), and if you have any more problems, read the reddit thread for troubleshooting advice

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library-of-alex - Library Of Tumblr Resources
Library Of Tumblr Resources

A side blog dedicated to all those cool info posts i find

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