my english teacher and i regularly discuss SPN and Harry Potter fanfic. she jokes about it in class and sometimes complains that the school firewall blocks fic sites. she has an account out there and i’m only reassured that my account does have my actual name on it but there is every possibility that she has in fact read one of my shitty fics

I don't know how to tell you that many of the people who joined AO3 when it started up 13 years ago were, at that time, already grown-ass adults. If someone was 35 when they started their account 13 years ago, they're now 48. They could easily have kids in their teens or twenties. (I do, for instance. I had a toddler when I joined AO3 in 2009, and now I have a kid almost finishing high school, and am still on AO3.) And 35 is a relatively middle-of-the-road age - some people starting their accounts were definitely older. People don't stop having interests just because they're not teenagers anymore, and adults don't have to move out of spaces they helped to build.

Seriously. Lots of the early crowd are well into their 50s or beyond.

I'm a 44 year old woman who's had an ao3 account since 2012

My fifteen year old has had one since last year. I know his user name but I've never read any of his fics. He doesn't know I know. I like to give him that little bit of privacy.

I really really hope he doesn't know my user name. And if he does I hope he's leaving mom's fic alone 😳