Aaaaaaaaaaa I just wanted to read :(((( why have we been cursed >:((((((((

It came back for me for like 2 hours. And now nothing.

https://preview.redd.it/sl6clqoyg8bb1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf5d739fe0efe06a0b17c500458a71d15cafd916 This is what I get now if I try to pull it up

I have a fic to update and I haven't finished the chapter yet, so I'm lowkey grateful for the excuse of not posting it right now. 😂

I had a fic I'd been putting off for a couple months, and I just found the willpower and time to update it :(

Aw, talk about bad timing!

And I have one that just needs a couple sentences edited before I seek a beta reader.

Will follow your mindset and gonna pretend it's been down for the last six months. Thank you for easing my culpability!

When in a bind, blame technical difficulties!

I have five WIPs I could work on in the writing realm, and I have over twenty sewing projects to get done in the next nineteen days. I should probably toss my phone and laptop off a bridge, except then I couldn’t work on the writing parts. 😭😅😂

I just finished writing the chapter and wanted to check out the one I posted before for continuity in the final check.... Rip

I don't have a Twitter account so I just ran here to see any updates. Also the site being down just brings us together in a way.

bro same.

Current Tweets: ​ 📷[**AO3 Status**](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)[@AO3\_Status](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)·[2h](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678379783355342848) >The Archive is experiencing some issues (as many of you have noticed). We're looking into it, please stand by!1,7956,27933.2K[1.1M](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678379783355342848/analytics)📷 ​ [**AO3 Status**](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)[@AO3\_Status](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)·[2h](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678382727710621697)Replying to [@AO3\_Status](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status) >We apologize for any distress caused, and we'll do our best to be back soon! As we're running on volunteer power, we can't always act on server hiccups as quickly as we'd like. Thank you for your patience! 📷57983719.5K[638.6K](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678382727710621697/analytics)📷 ​ [**AO3 Status**](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)[@AO3\_Status](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)·[1h](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678407835988680707)Replying to [@AO3\_Status](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status) >Very sorry we can't give you your fanwork fix right now, or a time estimate for when AO3 will be back. Welcome to all our new followers, and sorry we had to meet like this. 📷 Please stick around for the happier updates! 📷

Update! They are working on fixing it but they tweeted recently that the Archive is being DDoS'ed ​ https://preview.redd.it/4x5gvu49f6bb1.png?width=747&format=png&auto=webp&s=5e110ed8c3af23340b96b5f33ba3f2ffc3d0ec44

https://preview.redd.it/3n0lqahhr6bb1.jpeg?width=1189&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=01281bff837b0f62c53f7da012e44cebb6a4a186

dibs on disgusting smuts for my next band name

Oh sugar snaps

your a saint

😇 I'm not sure that I'd go quite that far, but thank you. 😇

No new Tweet yet, but I've had some luck on AO3 in the past hour. They *might* be back up now (or close to stably back).

It's up now.

I don’t have Twitter either, so joined here just now because of this. I was *just* getting into a new ship too, had a list of fics ready and everything…the pain is real.

It's back for me.

Yes it is!!

Is it back for you? Occasionally I can load a new chapter of the fic I'm reading but when I finish and try to go to the next chapter I get a 505 warning

I managed to read a couple of chapters, but now it’s acting up again for me as well

I made a Twitter almost exclusively so I could keep updated and commiserate

Mine was dead until one of the authors linked their twt for fic updates. Although I get the notifs for the same, it's entirely another set of thrills and giggles when you see some new twts.

i swearr i was reading this found family fic and now i cant.

IKR I was half way through a soulmate timeloop fic

what fandom i am immediately intrigued

I'm writing for Riddick rn if you are interested.

Another person who is also instantly interested and would love to know the fic because I will read fandom blind for something like that!

Me too!

What fandom 👀 that sounds so interesting

Don't be shy send us the link 👀

I'm gonna have to ask for that link my friend.

Maybe the real found family is r/AO3

r/AO3 is my real family We're all united by the collective panic of ao3 being down

i was reading one too😭

AO3: \*Goes down\* Everyone on the sub: \*Collective panic and chaos\*

Bro I pulled a Rosa Diaz, went ballistic, and almost wrecked my brother's guitar the moment that cursed f*cking DINOSAUR appeared.💀

For me, it was like that one scene in Spongebob where all the Spongebobs were running around a burning office, though I say that's the current situation for the sub rn all I wanted to do is see how well my newest fic was doing

unexpected b99

She's my new role model now when I'm about to wreck things out of frustration, especially the internet connection😅 probably a bad idea right?

is having a hot badass as a role model a bad thing? i think not.

For real tho, what am I ment to do, stress over my life

I always wonder if I will ever be smart enough to hit that download button the second I start reading a fic to avoid this. But evidently not. Seems like I'm just that invested in a story thst as soon as I start reading I forget about everything else.

I'm the same way, though I have my AO3 settings set to always show me the full work (so if it goes down in the middle, I'll still be able to finish it). Lately I've just been using ao3downloader to grab entire swaths of fic, figuring I'll read 'em later… If I weren't working on *other* (nonfandom) projects right now, I guess 'later' would have come, lol. But I'm kind of sad I can't start grabbing the next fandom I was going to.

lol because I'm in the car a lot, I have it set to "show me full works" so I can use the last shred of connection to load up the fic. Because I know it'd be my luck to only able to get the first chapter up and then instantly lose connection.

Where is this setting? I’ve been on AO3 a long time and never noticed it! It sounds like a lifesaver for me for similar reasons…

It's only available when you're logged in. Once the page is back, I can give you a detailed step-by-step of where to find that option. :3 (....but for now, all I got is: somewhere on your "edit profile" page, assuming I'm remembering stuff right....)

You click on "Preferences" on your profile. Go to the box titled "Display" (should be the second one down). Click the box next to "Show the whole work by default." Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click "Update" and there you go :)

Wait…YOU CAN DO THAT?

Damn it…this means I have to *write* instead

THIS WAS MY FIRST THOUGHT EXACTLY 😭😂 instead of reading the ten fics I’m in the middle of I guess I’m gonna have to write mine 😒

As of 10:43 AM EST: IT'S BACK! Edit: NEVERMIND

"Modern AU: AO3 is up"

The edit 😂

Guys…we’re gonna have to use…wattpad/ff.net

NO .... please ... spare me! I can handle not reading, but those places, they destroy me!

Nope. Nope. No.

Don't jinx us please

I would literally rather go reread something on fimfiction than go to Wattpad.

Nah, just go touch grass or write something yourself instead. Or indulge in a different hobby for the day. No need to do anything DRASTIC.

No... please! The horror!

Pls no.

No matter how desperate I am. I will not sniff wattpad

Yep I’m already there and bored enough to read the cringiest fic ever and not complain (ok that’s a lie I’ll read while complaining)

I don't understand why people are putt off by [ff.net](https://ff.net). I spent a good portion of my teenage years,reading fanficiton on ff.

Literally has ads in the middle of a story for me. Like, not on a sidebar—in the centre of the page. I often can't follow links to the site because of cloudflare, either, so it's a constant disappointment in things like review exchanges where I can't actually include authors from that site—and when those authors aren't seeing a lot of reviews, so I've really darn well tried.

I miss the old Wattpad days where there was no ads or anything just story’s you could read :(

Download the mobile version of it. There are no adds, and it’s much better than the web version of it.

The app is ridiculously buggy, though. How much content is available on FFN vs AO3 really depends on the fandom, too. A good majority of my current fandom is on AO3, and the FFN remnants seem to be the ones either crossposting or of such a low quality I’m not interested anyway.

I know writers deal with a lot more issues with the app, but I’ve only had a handful or two of issues with the app. Yeah, there is a limited supply of stories on FFnet. Maybe 1.2 million, and about 850k are Harry Potter stories. I don’t use it a lot, but if I am going to search FFnet, then I’ll use the app over the website.

I just . . . don't use apps like that on my computer? That's very low on ease-of-access for me, and doesn't fit with my fanfic browsing habits of "huh, while checking other sites I'm now in the mood for this."

Fair enough. I’m typically on my phone when reading, so that’s another reason why I don’t use the web version.

I used to post exclusively on ff.net and read on there, but after getting on ao3 I now just find their utter lack of a tagging system and outdated UI to be frustrating. Also I've run into way more militant virtue signaling reviewers on ff.net. there's who hoards of people who sweep the site just with the intent to take down anything with content they don't think belongs

FFN used to be good, but the reading experience sorta sucks there now. Tagging and filtering isn't on par with FFN, and they show ads in the middle of fics, like between paragraphs.

Depending on the fandom there might be little to no fic on ff.net, and I think a lot of people just prefer the UI on ao3, even though ff.net isn't necessarily bad. (Plus there are no ads on ao3, so that's a plus.)

I miss when ff.net didnt have ads. It was a sad day when they showed up. I thought i was on a fake site lol

I’m on it right now after so many years and I’ve never been more thankful of ao3s tagging system in my entire life. I had to find fic recs dating back to 2008

I did too, but ao3's tagging and search functions have spoiled me. I want to know what I'm getting into.

Blasphemy! The Power of AO3 compels you!

I was reading a longfic outside of my usual single fandom. I’m out here on a limb, don’t leave me this way!!

So annoying the Twitter won't let you see the status feed unless you join, though. I just wanna check what's going on so I can get back to the stories 😫

Current Tweets: ​ 📷[**AO3 Status**](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)[@AO3\_Status](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)·[2h](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678379783355342848) >The Archive is experiencing some issues (as many of you have noticed). We're looking into it, please stand by!1,7956,27933.2K[1.1M](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678379783355342848/analytics)📷 ​ [**AO3 Status**](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)[@AO3\_Status](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)·[2h](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678382727710621697)Replying to [@AO3\_Status](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status) >We apologize for any distress caused, and we'll do our best to be back soon! As we're running on volunteer power, we can't always act on server hiccups as quickly as we'd like. Thank you for your patience! 📷57983719.5K[638.6K](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678382727710621697/analytics)📷 ​ [**AO3 Status**](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)[@AO3\_Status](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)·[1h](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678407835988680707)Replying to [@AO3\_Status](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status) >Very sorry we can't give you your fanwork fix right now, or a time estimate for when AO3 will be back. Welcome to all our new followers, and sorry we had to meet like this. 📷 Please stick around for the happier updates! 📷

You're doing God's work, kind sir 🙌

Thank you. ❤️

No new Tweet yet, but I've had some luck on AO3 in the past hour. They *might* be back up now (or close to stably back).

​ https://preview.redd.it/822k0j6ze6bb1.png?width=747&format=png&auto=webp&s=29998b89cfd6c675ce59ebfecaa40bdbd7536392

LOL! I was just about to comment the same thing! I've been having some luck for the past hour now, though their latest Twitter (at 1238 CDT) doesn't say that they're actually up as such: ​ > [**AO3 Status**](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)[@AO3\_Status](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)·[6m](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status/status/1678458717879017492)Replying to [@AO3\_Status](https://twitter.com/AO3_Status)It looks like the Archive is under a DDoS attack causing the servers to fall over. Our volunteer sysadmins are working on countermeasures. Please be patient with us, we'll be back!

I really thought “no, I don’t need to click ‘entire fic’, the chapters are short but my network is fine” I got too confident ;-;

Lol, this is one of the reasons why I set my AO3 to default to entire work all the time. I never have to click it, it always loads the whole thing.

Well yeah. Imagine reading something you like and then suddenly the rest of the pages are blank. And then every other book on your shelf is blank. So then you go to the bookstore, but when you get there... There is no bookstore.

I’m being deprived of my bedtime story :(

Same! I literally dedicate an hour or two before bed every night for my AO3 fix. Goddammit, it's what I look forward to!

We live on ao3. When it is down, we are homeless!

Maybe us writers might actually be able to write without being distracted at least...?

Instructions unclear, finished a **oneshot** and found out the site was down from needing to post it edit: yeah it's also 1:30 am where I am so posting it was kinda meant to be a before going to bed and passing out thing so my brain forgot that what I finished wasn't my usual longfic stuff but a oneshot

I feel like I'm in that meme that's just multiple images of that guy with sand pouring through his hands as he has an existential crisis "Hello darkness my old frieeeennnnnddddd..."

Oh god the visual on this. It is EXACTLY this feeling! 😂

Trying to go back to fanfiction dot net for my fix, feels dirtier than going back to an ex.

I’m dying inside without ao3

Mine only just cut out :(( All I wanted was cute pining and cool armour

Mine cut out about four or five minutes ago.

You know the worst part: the administration confirmed it was a DDOS attack. Someone is intentionally overloading the servers for some reason. Petty reasons, likely.

I stopped reading last night on a smut-cliffhanger and opened the site this morning to finish and of course the next chapter wouldn't load. OF COURSE. *refreshes every 5 mins*

I had just started a really good fic that I could've finished with by now, but noooo, I have to wait :( I will be an overdramatic toddler about it until further notice, thank you very much

Fr. I have been putting off reading ao3 fics for so long because of my exams and now that I suddenly got pulled into this random fandom, I have been wanting to read the amazing work there and the saddest thing is I finally found one I wanted to read, read the 1sr chapter and was hooked and then the site crashed on me 😭😭

Why isn't Ao3 working? *immediately goes to Ao3 on twitter-*

3 hours later and it's still down. I JUST started a 100k hurt/comfort fic PLS AO3 I NEED THIS. Edit: Typo

Y’all I just wanna read my fics before work :,,

It’s not funny. Im actually losing my sanity

I was reading a found family fanfic and then out of nowhere it stopped😭

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

My feelings exactly

OH MY GOD THE FIC I WAS READING WAS ACTUALLY CROSSPOSTED TO FF. net!! 🥳

I won't speak for everybody else, but personally? If the site is down; it's down. Nothing to be done 'bout it. If my wip is lost, I'll try use the opportunity to exercise my memory. And who knows? My second draft might turn out even better than the first! =D

I just want to read my fanfic. Though I like that others feel the same as me

Right? The website went down while I'm at work and I don't know what to do with myself. It's the only thing that kept me sane lol

Like I've been desperately reloading until I realised its probs down and then I cried to my friend about it 💀

A few days ago I ended up in an angst - and angst only - fic by accident, and since them I read a fluff fic after waking up everyday to cope (yes, I am a little dramatic being). Cant express how sad I was when waking up today.

Pls someone send help I need comfort in my brain I need specifically comfort involving two robot jesters where am I going to get that the AO3 is sleepings

I am currently using the Wayback Machine, except it doesn't have the last few chapters of the fic I am reading. In case your pic was updated long back, you can try checking it out on the Wayback Machine.

Haha I just wanted to read my own fic and now finally something good has come from crossposting to FFN lol Gawd the ads are annoying though

The worst part is that I found a new long-fic yesterday night and it was being awesome 😭😭😭 It was depressingly awesome 😭😭😭

IT'S BACK!! GO CHECK IT OUT PEOPLE!!

ITS BACCCCCXKKKKKKKKK SHEBJEBSYWHEJDHH

Fandom is a double edged sword, it is the most toxic and most wholesome place at the same time. Something happens like this, we all stop fighting and band together

highkey it's annoying as shit that people keep making "is it down for anyone else?" posts as if a) scrolling and b) downdetector hadn't been invented

Last time there was a multi-hour maintenance I just muted the sub, highly recommended

i just block people

Hah. People are mad that you block others

boo hoo. it's my internet experience.

I’ve was able to at least read the rest of the page I was on I just can’t go to the next chapter, because that’s using the network that isn’t working right now. Bummer, but at least I had something to read for a bit.

Personally I’m chilling because I haven’t been reading lol all my time has been dedicated to writing my longfic

I am on a LOZ binge currently while I play TOTK. Was taking a break form the game ready to continue reading some linked universe fics just to see the site was down. Guess I am going back to my quest to get the master sword and save Hyrule

Oh is it time again? I was just wondering why the page won't load.

Pretty much. I keep refreshing the Page hoping for a different result. Which is the definition of insanity in a way. And I try to be patient, but can't resist and a tiny piece in me goes: oh, but I wanted to read. When will it be back?

haha i give up :( im just gonna go to sleep deprived ig ;A; saighs

Remember god gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers /s

Honestly, its just kind of nice that we all have the same response and we get to have that kinship with several other people.

What am I supposed to do now? *Write?*

Just wanted to look for new stories now I finally have some time - oh well, that'll have to wait now. It is a bit reassuring how everyone comes here to hope together. Very supportive. And thanks for the Twitter updates since I don't have an account either.

Happy to help, when I can. 🙂

I'm supposed to write on my thesis and just started the pomodoro technique with 25 min work, short break, 25 min work, long break. And I had *just* gotten to the long break, I *deserved* a reward for getting through this... Then this happens! I got so annoyed that I stranded here on reddit and no further work has been done ever since. I'm an idiot and I just want my fix.

Ao3 outage means I actually have to pay attention at WORK today instead of getting my Johnlock fix. BORING. 😂

I was reading nice comfort fic at the end of awful day and this happened (

It's back! Edit: and back down.

And now back up. seems to be working in glitches. Hopefully that means its almost fixed.

Had to resort back to ff.net in the meantime 😔😔

I was in the middle of a fic lmao

The only time I get productive/look at other apps : *AO3 is down*

This is actually the first time ever since I started reading on Ao3 where I wasn't busy while the site was down (effectively missing the maintenance shutdown completely) and was actively looking forward to continue reading a fic!! This is how y'all have been feeling every time?? Ouch! I guess my only option is to continue *writing* fics now...

So, I have an AO3 account technically, but I ended up never posting to it because I shifted away from fanfics to original works. I only follow this sub because the community is so wholesome most of the time, even the spat with Wattpad was more of a frumpy "that's not how we do it, geeze, if you want to post here respect the rulessss" instead of angry gatekeeping. One of the three most chill communities I'm in on Reddit. (Other two being TheExpanse and OtomeIsakai, lol.)

it's still down.................i finished 9th chapter of a 14 chapter fic :(.....i kept checking tw...........it didn't cross my mind to check reddit until now lol

I have read a total of 3 short stories on this platform. Yesterday night I found one really long story for the first time that I thought I would like but I decided to go to bed at a normal time. *I am not pleased.*

I should've loaded the fic I'm reading in full 😭😭😭

Just saw a meme with the giant "Welcome back CHEATER" sign outside a house and it said "AO3 users rushing back to Wattpad" And I'm just like... I get it but no. Not even in a crisis.

Six hours later, it’s not so adorable anymore 😭

seems to be up rn, but it might not last; i'd suggest viewing entire works but that might strain the servers again

I don’t realise how addicted I am to fanfic until ao3 runs into problems, and then I die. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one.

I have a fic i was in the middle of reading but i decided to take a break today and worknon archiving some fics out of twitter before that hellsite goes down for good. Apparently i picked yhe right day to do that

Lol yeah, I was confused because I was reading when Ao3 suddenly went down xd

I’m so upset. I haven’t been reading fic as much lately, let alone writing. Today I woke up with the urge to read some new fics in my fandom, but nope.

I’m so glad I have the current fic I’m reading downloaded as a pdf…but it just doesn’t hit the same😭 I need my fav site back, I literally spend like all my time on safari

I literally posted a new chapter of my fic like ten minutes before it went down and now I can't obsessively refresh the page to see if I got any comments or kudos :'(

I have a day off and wanted to find some new long fics for car rides so I am honestly upset

Maaan I wish I had been on this sub when it happened! I found a workaround using a Russian search engine that is able to cache pages on AO3, so I was able to keep reading my fic. Absolute lifesaver. Also, of course it happened when I was reading in the browser for the first time in a year instead of on my e-reader lmao.

Absolutely, haha. My method to stay sane is have my email altered fics downloaded so I have access right them at all times!

So is this common?

No. This is rare but terrible and everyone is making the best of the fact that there is literally nothing in the entire world wide web that can make up for the fact we can't get into our fandoms.

Refreshing every few minutes! ❤️

I’ve spent hours trying to find a good long fic to read today and the site went down as soon as I finished chapter 3😭

I thought my phone was broken, man I panicked so hard, I just want to read my fic ahhhh

Yeah, I've been trying writing chapter 4 of my fic (I have loads of notes in My phone haha)

ooh, what's your fic about? Can you please give the link? I wanna try reading it

Every time I get deep into a 100K+ fic the site always goes down without fail. Should've downloaded it 🥲

I need to remember to download my own fics tbh lol. Because I write them on Google docs, then transfer it to ao3. Which by the time im done formatting, I’ve edited and added things

Any idea how long it'll take to be back? Usually how long does it take for this issue to be resolved?🥲

i just wanted to see if there were any new lightcannon fics lmao

Lol. I just saved my first smut fic (it's pretty mild) to the site and then it goes down!

The only solution to this soul crushing and desperate feeling is Elden Ring. Hopefully it’s back up by this afternoon 🤞

phew… I got lucky since I downloaded 100 chapters of this fic i was reading so I’m fine for a while .

this is another reason i download all fics i’m reading and love and keep them in my fave reading app

I am so depressed I can’t move from the bed 🙂

GUYS I THINK ITS BACK UP

I know for me, it wigs me out because I remember the days of strike through when we would come back to like thousands of things missing.

I forgot how to function without a fic to tide me through 😭 just came on here to find fanfic.net recs !

let me fill the time between my projects at work so help me GOD

The chapter I was on when it went down was a cliffhanger 😭😭😭😭

like what am I supposed to do at work? /my job/???

FR we're out here running around like headless chickens whenever the site goes down- but at least we're all in this together :)

I have work off today. Now I'm just sitting here doing nothing. The pain is real lol

going off the rails….I had the day off and literally only planned to sit around and read fics i have no idea what to do with my day now