squidgestatus

There have been a few questions today about AI and Squidge.org's approach, so I thought I would drop a blogpost here so people know.  Here's our philosophy:

While AI (Artificial Intelligence) can be a great thing in the realm of medicine, like computers spotting lung or breast cancer before a human can, AI shouldn't have any place in the fanfiction world.  Honestly, probably not in the pro-fiction world, either, but every day companies like Grammarly are rolling out, "Try our new AI tool to assist your writing!" programs.  When it comes to writing, each voice is unique - and that's a wonderful thing.  Bringing AI into the realm of fanfiction is just asking for those unique voices to be squashed in favor of bland, generalized voice that is "safe for the masses."

That's not what we're here for.

Starting soon (days, not months) we'll make a concerted effort to keep screen-scraping bots away from Squidge.org properties, including SquidgeWorld Archive, Squidge.org homepages, and Squidge Images.  That's not to say more sophisticated screen scraping programs won't be able to slip through the cracks.  However, most generic screen scraping programs that AI uses can be identified and blocked.

Additionally, there are two settings that will protect you better on SquidgeWorld Archive.  Those are:

• In your profile preferences, there is an option called "Hide my work from search engines when possible."  This will discourage your work from being found by Search Engines, not necessarily by screen scrapers.

• For the works that you choose to archive within SquidgeWorld Archive, please make sure that this checkbox is ticked.  That way your fanwork will be available only to registered users - and prevent both Search Engines and screen scrapers from being able to access your works.  The setting looks like this:

Your work will show up in the list of results, just like before screenshot below.  Notice the lock next to the penname?  That means that this work can only be read if you are logged into an Archive account.

Please reply with what questions you have.  And thanks!

 

DW edit: The items aren't formatted quite right, but you get my meaning. If not, please ping me!