>> Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but what did AO3 itself change? <<
They changed the rules in the user agreement, then demanded that everyone sign the new one. Since then, if I try to look at the site, all I see is that demand notice, not any content. The same has happened to other people. I've seen others say that you can read content without being a logged in current member, but then some of those have later clarified, "Well, you do have to sign the form once." Which means being a current member. It may be that some other people are still able to see content without being a current member, but if so, that number is smaller than it used to be. Because of those effects, I wouldn't call it as accessible an archive as it used to be.
This is separate from authors having the option to lock their work to members only, which they always had; but if what an author wants is to reach as many people as possible, that's much less feasible now.
>>I don't know how much good it would do to lock your works when they've already been scraped<<
It would make it harder to steal things again in the future. But realistically, nothing online is secure. It is merely harder or easier to access.
Re: Thank you!
They changed the rules in the user agreement, then demanded that everyone sign the new one. Since then, if I try to look at the site, all I see is that demand notice, not any content. The same has happened to other people. I've seen others say that you can read content without being a logged in current member, but then some of those have later clarified, "Well, you do have to sign the form once." Which means being a current member. It may be that some other people are still able to see content without being a current member, but if so, that number is smaller than it used to be. Because of those effects, I wouldn't call it as accessible an archive as it used to be.
This is separate from authors having the option to lock their work to members only, which they always had; but if what an author wants is to reach as many people as possible, that's much less feasible now.
>>I don't know how much good it would do to lock your works when they've already been scraped<<
It would make it harder to steal things again in the future. But realistically, nothing online is secure. It is merely harder or easier to access.