ao3
Vibe Coded AO3 Clone Site Down After Fanfic Authors Buried It With 2,000 Takedown Notices in a Single Day
ao3.life was scraping and repackaging fanfiction’ works and turning them into audiobooks for sale without the original authors’ permission.
daily newsletter
America Votes: 'CEKEVPATIVG EDELDOA'
Slopfest 2k26 continues with an election, a fanfic fiasco, and World of Slopcraft.
AI
World of Warcraft: Forever Is Already Overrun with AI Slop
The vibe-coded addon problem is getting so bad that Warcraft Logs is changing its API and developers are dealing with theft of their work.
ao3
Vibe Coded AO3 Clone Site Down After Fanfic Authors Buried It With 2,000 Takedown Notices in a Single Day
ao3.life was scraping and repackaging fanfiction’ works and turning them into audiobooks for sale without the original authors’ permission.
voting
Voting in 2026 Is Getting an AI Slop 'I Voted' Sticker
My polling place was handing out AI slop to midterm voters.
Newsletters
Reaping and sowing, CEO edition
Also: Consider the Apple slop, Texas data center troubles, and more from 404 Media around the web.
The Abstract
People Used to Drink Wine Made From Ground-Up Mummies. Now, Scientists Are Studying It
In a new study perfectly timed for Halloween, scientists dug into the chemical properties of a once-popular beverage with purported medicinal benefits: wine made with ground-up Egyptian mummies.
ao3
‘Wake Up Call:’ Fanfiction Writers and Readers React to AO3 Outage
Writer and readers share what they're feeling and doing in the aftermath of the AO3 outage. It's anything but Wattpad.
the abstract
Scientists Analyzed Thousands of Psychedelic Trips. They Found Something Disturbing
A newly released database of more than 25,000 anonymized calls from the Fireside Project’s Psychedelic Support Line opens a rare window into psychedelic experiences outside of clinical settings.
Impact
Proton’s CEO Cancels AI ‘Re-Interviews’
The move came after 404 Media published an investigation into how Proton CEO Andy Yen was aggressively pushing AI across Proton despite security concerns and the culture of fear he has created.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Tech Support
This week, we discuss customer service and Proton fallout.
News
Apple Is Entering Its Slop Era
I might finally buy an iPhone now that Apple has been taken down a peg.
