Since I'm a hands-on-learner, I logged in to the Archive and tried saving some of that terminally-online RPF -- both times archive.org said Nope and showed me AO3's "you need an account" screen.
When I'm not logged in to AO3, none of the author's locked works are shown when browsing by psued.
I now appreciate how AO3's lock shreds "plausible deniability," per your points 2 and 3.
Re: Thanks for bringing this up!
Ahhhhhhhh! I'm finally getting it.
Since I'm a hands-on-learner, I logged in to the Archive and tried saving some of that terminally-online RPF -- both times archive.org said Nope and showed me AO3's "you need an account" screen.
When I'm not logged in to AO3, none of the author's locked works are shown when browsing by psued.
I now appreciate how AO3's lock shreds "plausible deniability," per your points 2 and 3.
Locks work! Film at 7p.