At some point, will AO3 make it easier to upload images like Wattpad? The source links don't always work and the images fade over time. It'd be better if we could upload them without needing to create links.
definitely not in the foreseeable future, hosting images costs a lot more money than text and fairly paying moderators for moderating images costs even more than that (because whenever you have free image uploads, you'll have people uploading very illegal and disturbing ones, and ao3's current moderation team is a few dozen unpaid volunteers who already take months to process work reports)
there are smaller fannish image hostings like squidge's, and you can look up how to pay for your own server so that you're in full control of your images
Well, you might want to have a look around. People are already uploaded GIF clips of porn, full nudity and sexual content, on here and I've unfortunately come across images with assault involving minors and even babies. Reports have not gotten them taken down, so, me asking for a simpler version to upload an image is hardly going to fix an ongoing issue that's been present for years.
you are asking for something that would make the moderation situation way worse
People are already uploaded GIF clips of porn, full nudity and sexual content, on here
you can't upload images on ao3, only embed them, which means images are still stored on another server that ao3 does not control
sexual content is not forbidden to be embedded here, so if the work it's inside doesn't break the rules otherwise, then reporting it just wastes the policy&abuse volunteers' time and makes it take longer for actual tos violations to get processed. (and when it's just spam then it's in the same situation as non-porn spam and having no image-uploading interface adds more friction preventing people from spamming more)
if you do encounter CSAM (child sexual abuse materials, meaning sexual photoimagery involving real children), that's something to report to the image host and relevant autorities first, because as i've said ao3's volunteers are already overworked
if you were just referring to drawings, that's also not forbidden to embed on ao3 and from what i've seen those usually have clear warnings in tags and summaries (but they may or may not be allowed by whatever site is actually hosting them, so check those sites' rules if that's something you're concerned about)
OTW News Post Moderators do not handle nor have authority over feature requests. If you'd like to make a formal request for this feature to be added to AO3, contact Support as they handle feature requests in addition to providing technical support to AO3's users.
Comment on The Big Bang, Baby Challenge is Moving to AO3
Kittenpasta Wed 30 Sep 2026 06:08PM UTC
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OTW_Open_Doors_Volunteers (Official) Wed 30 Sep 2026 06:10PM UTC
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Funnygirl00 Wed 30 Sep 2026 07:23PM UTC
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napdragon Thu 01 Oct 2026 01:57AM UTC
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napdragon Fri 02 Oct 2026 02:51PM UTC
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OTW_News_Post_Moderation (Official) Thu 01 Oct 2026 06:54PM UTC
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