Massive Fanfic Site Archive of Our Own Says It’s Going Down for 'Up to 4 Weeks'

Archive of Our Own (AO3), a vast collection of fanfiction and creative writing, may be unavailable for up to a month following maintenance work that began on Thursday. The non-profit Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), which operates AO3, informed its users on its status page that the site was undergoing maintenance. The timeline for restoration was initially estimated at 12 hours, but was later revised to two weeks, with the possibility of extending to a full month.

In an update, OTW expressed optimism about returning the site to operation in a limited capacity sooner, but warned that temporary downtimes may occur until the issue is fully resolved. AO3, which hosts over 18.4 million fanfiction works across 82,900 fandoms, is crucial to fan culture, writing, and internet culture at large. The shutdown coincides with key events such as Halloween, the release of ACOTAR, and the upcoming NaNoWriMo, potentially impacting many fans and writers during these significant times.