aria.nee

Some months ago, I was looking for ways to optimize my AO3 searching, and I found this AO3 blog post on the topic. These are some of the ways I've used the hidden search operators, if anyone is looking for inspiration.

restricted: true for restricted works (if you're logged in to access them)
This was the first one I used, before I even found the blog post. Once I finally bit the bullet and signed up for an AO3 account, and I wanted to see what works I'd missed because they were restricted.

otp: true for works tagged with only one relationship
This is good for when you don't want any other relationships in the mix. Best for pairings that are frequently listed as minor or background to the major pairings in a fandom.

-relationship ids: * for works with no relationship tags at all
Sometimes just filtering for "gen" isn't enough. This does seem to have some difficulty with filtering out relationship tags for Original Works (likely because the relationship tags are not canonical), but should be fine for all established fandoms.

private: false to filter for public bookmarks only
I like to keep most of my bookmarks private. This filter lets me check if I've missed any.

-language id: en to filter out all items in that language
Normally, I filter for English fics only. If I get desperate enough, though, I'll go through all those ones I skipped and attack them with a machine translator.

*/reader to filter out x reader fics
Credit to dreamwatch on Tumblr. Look, they're just not my cup of tea¹. Note: this has to be put in the tags section, not the search section, to work.

imported_from_url: xyz for works imported from a specific site or domain
I tend to like fics that were originally posted on other sites a lot. Maybe people are more likely to cross-post if they feel the work is truly great? Usage of other fanfic sites - especially older ones like LiveJournal, DreamWidth, etc - also tends to point to a more experienced writer.

backdate: true for works that have been backdated
I tend to like the older fics in a fandom more - survivorship bias, maybe? Older, backdated fics often do not rank highly when sorting by kudos, since they tend to have very minimal tagging. This could be a more useful method than trying to find a sufficiently "old" date for a fandom.

bookmarkable_type: ExternalWork for bookmarks of external works
When someone bookmarks an external work on AO3, it means they really liked it and it's not in the archive. What a great way to find fic outside of AO3!