People Are Creating ‘Survival Guides’ to Cope With the ‘AO3 Apocalypse’

In a serious blow to each the terminally online and the criminally horny, the fan fiction web site Archive of Our Own (AO3) has quickly shut down as a result of a “safety incident,” in response to an replace posted on the location.

On October 29, an admin for AO3 posted that the web site was “down for upkeep.” The assertion mentioned that it may take as much as 4 weeks for service to be totally restored, although it was doable the location can be again up in a “degraded state” sooner, with a few of its options disabled.

Although the unique assertion didn’t specify the explanations for the closure, subsequent updates mentioned {that a} “safety incident” had taken place, although “we’re nonetheless within the early levels of response [and] figuring out its scope.” Whereas the assertion mentioned that AO3 didn’t consider that its person database had been stolen, it urged customers to train warning and alter their passwords for the location.

Run by the Group for Transformative Works, a nonprofit devoted to preserving fandom communities on the web, AO3 was based in 2007 partly as a result of considerations about censorship and company pursuits overtaking fandom areas. The web site has 11 million users, in response to a 2026 press launch, and hosts greater than 18 million unique works. The explosive reputation of the homosexual hockey romance Heated Rivalry TV collection generated a surge of latest curiosity final yr, ensuing within the publication of tens of hundreds of tales that includes the present’s foremost characters, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, on the platform.

These reliant on AO3 for his or her each day dose of Destiel– or Dramione-inspired smut will not be taking the information effectively. “No ao3 for probably 4 weeks SOMEONE DO SOMETHING,” one Heated Rivalry fan account posted on X, tagging not simply AO3 itself but additionally the official X accounts for the FBI, the CIA, and, for some motive, Uber Assist. Different followers are compiling Google Docs of hyperlinks to downloaded tales, touting them as “survival guides” for the “AO3 apocalypse” and organizing them by fictional character pairings, or ships. (Be warned, nevertheless: One such doc is troublesome to load as a result of “heavy visitors” on the file.)

Others commented on the timing of the outage, stating that it coincides with “No Nut November,” the internet-based problem that encourages folks to abstain from masturbation all through the month. “AO3 taking no nut november somewhat too critically,” one individual wrote.

A consultant for the Group for Transformative Works didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. However the chaos impressed by the location’s shutdown underscores the prominence of fan fiction in on a regular basis lives, driving mainstream publishing tendencies and producing a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of views. It additionally serves because the engine for the burgeoning vertical video industry, with streaming platforms consistently scouring fan fiction web sites for works to adapt.

“All life types depending on AO3 are actually withering proper now,” one fan wrote. “That is our 9/11.”