The latest changes on #AO3 include more preparations for internationalizing emails, overhauled Assignments pages for gift exchange participants, and improved redirects when logging in and out. Check out our release notes for full details on all changes!

[update] Resolved: #AO3 is back! We believe the problem has been resolved, but we're continuing to monitor things just in case.

[update] Investigating: #AO3 is down for some or all users. We are aware and are actively investigating.

[update] Completed: #AO3's scheduled maintenance has finished! You're free to return to browsing.

[update] In Progress: Scheduled maintenance is currently in progress. We will provide updates as necessary.

[update] Scheduled: Maintenance will begin as scheduled in 60 minutes.

[update] Scheduled: In a few hours, #AO3 will be briefly unavailable while we apply minor bug fixes.

September's changes on #AO3 include new features for collections, an upgrade to our HTML sanitizer, and a variety of fixes across different areas. Check out our release notes for full details!

Our updates to add tags and a multifandom filtering option to #AO3 Collections are now complete! Read more about it at: ao3-news.org/collection-t...

[update] Completed: #AO3 is back sooner than expected, and we have new and improved options for browsing collections! Get the details on collection tags at AO3 News: https://ao3-news.org/collection-tags

[update] In Progress: #AO3 is about halfway through the first part of maintenance. We expect this part to last about 5 more hours. The second, final part of maintenance should be quicker.

[update] In Progress: #AO3 maintenance has begun! We expect to be down for about 20 hours, but we’ll keep you updated on any changes.

[update] Scheduled: Maintenance will begin as scheduled in 60 minutes.

#AO3 will be going down for about 20 hours of maintenance at 05:30 UTC, two hours earlier than previously announced. Check what time that is for you: ao3-news.org/maint2025092...

Starting 24 hours from now, #AO3 will be down for about 20 hours.

[update] Scheduled: #AO3 will be down for about 20 hours starting at 07:30 UTC on September 26 while we prepare some improvements to collection browsing.

If you're looking for an email from us, please check your spam or junk folder and mark our emails as "Safe"/"Not Spam." To prevent this from happening in the future, we also recommend you add "[email protected]" to your email provider's Contacts or Safe Sender list.

In mid-August, we changed the links in our emails from http to https to increase security. Unfortunately, this change caused some email providers' spam checkers to be suspicious of our emails having a lot of new links, so they're sending them to your spam or junk folder.

The latest changes on #AO3 include privacy and security enhancements, a new option for site skin creators, and some quality-of-life improvements, such as the much-requested addition of chapter numbers in comment emails. Check out our release notes for full details!

To improve account security, #AO3 has updated our password change process to prevent users from choosing passwords that are known to be compromised on other sites. To learn more about how to protect your account, check out: otw-news.org/y8jnay3v

[update] Resolved: Our email servers have caught up with the backlog of messages.

[update] Identified: We have identified a problem with our mail servers which is causing delays in email. Emails are being sent as we speak, but it will take some time for things to catch up. Please bear with us!

[update] Resolved: AO3 is back online and the issue has been resolved. If you are still experiencing issues, please let us know. Thank you for your patience!

[update] Monitoring: We've run the fix and will keep monitoring to make sure things are back to normal.

[update] Identified: We've found the issue and a possible fix. We're currently working on it, but it may take a little time to complete. Thanks for your patience!

[update] Investigating: We are aware that AO3 is down and investigating the cause. We will update with more information shortly!

[update] Resolved: Our servers have caught up on their backlog. Emails are now being sent out as normal!

[update] Monitoring: AO3 emails are currently delayed. No data has been lost: emails will still be delivered, just behind schedule. You may also get some duplicate emails. Thank you for bearing with us!

Over the past month, #AO3 has gotten quite a few important infrastructure updates, a bunch of bug fixes, and a handful of enhancements (like chapter numbers on comments in your inbox). Check out our release notes for details on the latest changes!

We’ve temporarily lowered the #AO3 comment rate limit due to bots leaving spam comments.

[update] Resolved: The slowness and intermittent errors have been resolved.

[update] Investigating: Due to database server maintenance, Archive of Our Own is loading more slowly than normal and may occasionally show error messages.

[update] Resolved: Our servers have caught up on their backlog. Emails, history, and search updates are now processing as normal!

[update] Monitoring: Emails, as well as search and history updates, are currently delayed. No data has been lost: emails will still be delivered and history/search will still be updated, just behind schedule. Thank you for bearing with us!

[update] Resolved: We've applied the fix and checked to make sure the previous errors have stopped. You should now be able to create bookmarks (with tags too!) and add bookmarks to collections🎉Thank you for your patience!

[update] Monitoring: The temporary block on bots and VPNs has now been lifted. Thanks for your patience!

[update] Identified: To resolve ongoing issues with bookmark tags, we’ll temporarily block traffic from bots and some VPNs. This should last about 2 hours.

[update] Investigating: The Archive is currently experiencing issues; it is not currently possible to use tags when making a new #AO3 bookmark. We are working on a fix.

[update] Resolved: AO3 is once again fully functional; all issues should be resolved, thank you for your patience! If you are still experiencing any issues past this point, please let us know.

[update] Identified: To fully fix bookmark creation, we will need to put AO3 in maintenance mode for a few hours. We'll be back once the fix has been fully applied.

To apply the bookmark fix, we need to block traffic Cloudflare flags as bot-like, which may also impact some VPNs. If you see the AO3 maintenance mode message, please try again with your VPN off. If needed, we might need to put the site in maintenance mode for everyone.

[update] Identified: We have found the cause and are working on a fix. We expect to have it ready and applied within a few days.

[update] Investigating: We are investigating an issue with 500 errors when creating bookmarks.

In May and June we made a number of changes to #AO3, including some security improvements for user accounts, bug fixes for tag sets, and more

We've removed this restriction for comments by logged in users. Images will once again appear in your AO3 work comments, unless they were left by a guest!

[update] Resolved: The issue with our database cluster has been resolved and the Archive is back online! Thanks for your patience! ❤️

[update] Investigating: We are investigating issues accessing the Archive, please stand by!

[update] Resolved: The Archive is operating normally again. Apologies for the interruption!

[update] Investigating: We are investigating issues accessing the Archive, including slow loading and 5XX errors.

Changes to #AO3 throughout April included a fix for animated gif icons that weren't moving, an option to delete all your subscriptions, an extra confirmation step to keep your account secure when changing your email address, and much more: bit.ly/release-0-9-...