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  1. minus_four_degrees Thu 19 Feb 2026 10:33PM UTC

    Whoever adds to the github what ao3 would need so that ao3 adds the ability to see reading time of fic will be a legend

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    1. Hakvrei Fri 20 Feb 2026 12:33AM UTC

      There is a Greasy Fork userscript that does just this on Chrome-based browsers. You can find them by searching "Greasy Fork AO3". There are a lot of helpful ones.

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      1. minus_four_degrees Fri 20 Feb 2026 01:25AM UTC

        I know I've used it I just think that it would be an epic feature that should come automatically with ao3 if doable

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        1. Gwenny_G Sun 22 Feb 2026 07:48AM UTC

          You mean something like "5 minutes for reading"? Than...

          No no no no no no no, please!

          This might be a good option for those who need it, but making it a core part of this site would be terrible. I don't want to track my time when I'm on AO3, i'm here just for fun, not for time management! This is completely unnecessary information, and I ended up stopping visiting all the websites that included this information in their articles. But those other sites are in it for money and traffic, and AO3 always tries to listen to different fans, so I hope my message will be heard too.
          I think the optional userscript is more than enough for those who want it.

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          1. Peace_Lemons Sun 22 Feb 2026 10:20AM UTC

            It isn't about money. It's helpful to know if I am sitting down to read a fic which would take 5 minutes or 3 hours. I am also here for fun.

            People have different wants and different opinions, they never going to please everyone. Much like you I hope my voice is heard

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            1. Gwenny_G Sun 22 Feb 2026 11:30AM UTC

              You have the option to install a plugin that helps you and disable it whenever you want.
              If this option becomes a default feature on the site, I can't be able to disable it. That's the problem

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              1. Peace_Lemons Sun 22 Feb 2026 02:42PM UTC

                A) a lot of those sites for plugins are beginning to work less and less due to a variety of sites blocking countries because of their online laws

                B) Not everything is about you, it isn't about you either. My world won't end if they don't add it as a feature, yours won't end if they do.

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                1. Gwenny_G Mon 23 Feb 2026 11:28AM UTC

                  You were very persistent in your desire to label the need for this feature as an "epic" or "adds this ability will be legendary," and I thought it appropriate to express an alternative opinion.
                  I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels the same way. Many innovations on various sites are simply unnecessary information noise, but the main problem is the lack of choice. I'd accept it if this option became customizable, but for now, what's stopping you from relying on the counter of words?

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                  1. Peace_Lemons Mon 23 Feb 2026 12:08PM UTC

                    Because 50k words doesn't tell me how long it will take me to read said fic and sure I could google it. But it'd be nice if I didn't have too.

                    Yeah you probably aren't the only one to feel that way, I am probably (I'm not) the only one who feels the way I do.

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                    1. MalcontentCatboy Tue 24 Feb 2026 07:32AM UTC

                      Let me try to be of some help to both of you.

                      If you want to know reading time, it seems like 200 words per minute is generally an accepted average. So you could divide the number of words by that to get an approximation. That's what most estimates you see for things like news articles are based on. They don't actually have people read them, just count the words, do some math, and usually obfuscate the exact number with an estimate like 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and so on.

                      If you don't like any part of a website you visit often, get ublock origin and use its block element function to hide it. It's capable of hiding almost anything on a website. I use it frequently to hide annoyances like Wikipedia's e-begging and YouTube's disclaimer boxes telling me the moon landing is real on Kerbal Space Program videos.

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                      1. Peace_Lemons Tue 24 Feb 2026 10:06PM UTC

                        I code this for myself months ago to figure out reading time

                        https://monalisamuncher.nekoweb.org/Calculator.html

                        It's just i think it'd be an epic automatic feature that's all

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