I feel kinda dumb asking this but, on the topic of How to download fics, are there any reasons Why I should download fics beyond letting me read them when the site’s down? Like, does the creator get a notification or?
No, the creator does not get a notification when you download them
It’s just a feature to make them offline for readers when Archive of Our Own isn’t available or an option, you don’t have to wait until the Archve is going down, like when you’re about to go on a flight with your phone in airplane mode, or you just want to use ebook settings for the reading (changing the font, background color, scrolling vs page flipping, accessibility features, ect)
also, for posterity! you never know when your favorite fic might disappear off the face of the earth, never to be seen again. i’ve had this happen to me dozens of times over the years and it’s devastating every single time, doubly so if you can’t remember the title or author to use the wayback machine to try to scrounge up proof of its existence. saving a copy for personal use means you never have to worry about it