Popular fanfic site Archive of Our Own could be down for a month: ‘AO3 said here’s some real horror’
Archive of Our Own is down. (Oleg Breslavtsev/Getty)
One of the most popular fanfiction websites, Archive of Our Own (AO3), went down for maintenance on Thursday (29 October) and could now be offline for a month.
The nonprofit volunteer-run website has warned they’ve detected a security incident which may include the site’s user database being stolen.
AO3 Status initially reported that the site was down for maintenance. Later, a new update revealed that service restoration for AO3 “will take around 2 weeks, but it could be up to 4 weeks.”
The news left many scrambling in what is being coined the ‘fanfiction apocalypse.’ AO3 is home to over 18,470,000 fanfic works in over 82,900 fandoms. It was created in 2008 and is an open-source website for fanworks contributed by individual users.
The site, and the practice of fanfic, is often recognised for its popularity with the LGBTQ+ community. It has long served as a creative outlet for both LGBTQ+ readers and writers.
“Ao3 said it’s Halloween b****** here’s some real horror,” one commenter remarked.
Another joked: “This is so dire I’m about to start sending ‘you up’ messages to my writer mutuals in the middle of the night to see if they’ll tell me a homosexual bedtime story.”
Another fanfic reader also put AO3 being down into context. They wrote: “Is this what the people felt when the Library of Alexandria burned down.”
‘AO3 said here’s some real horror.’
AO3 provided further details today (30 October), acknowledging that there is “evidence of a security incident on AO3.” The statement notes they’re in the early stages of responding to a “security incident and determining its scope.”
For now: “AO3 will remain down while we continue investigating and addressing what has been found so far.
“First, no AO3 data has been deleted. All your works, bookmarks, kudos, etc., are safe.
“Second, while we currently don’t believe that the user database was stolen, we are also unable to rule it out.
“The AO3 database contains account information that may include your username, email address, IP address, and a hashed version of your password.
“AO3 does not collect real names, so none could be exposed. Additionally, our donor information is held in an entirely separate system and is never linked to AO3, so that data has also not been exposed.”
In response to the news, alternative fanfic site Wattpad posted: “We’re here to support you during this difficult time.”
