Archive of Our Own, di biggest fanfiction repository for internet, don go down after wan security incident, and di Organization for Transformative Works wey dey run am talk say di site fit stay down for two to four weeks. Di announcement throw di huge community of readers and writers into panic, but e also show how fans fit organize when dem no get access to di platform wey dem love.
AO3 na home to more than 18 million works, and many of di stories dey sexually explicit, while others na writing inspired by popular stories like Harry Potter, Twilight and Heated Rivalry. Di site dey known for uncensored storytelling and detailed tagging system, so di outage hit readers hard. Some fans compare di wait to life inside prehistoric times or say dem dey go mad, but di panic soon turn to solidarity.
For di r/AO3 community on Reddit, moderators set up megathreads to help members find and share copies of dia favourite stories. Some AO3 writers dey upload new chapters to dia Tumblr blogs, while others dey create shared Google Drive folders so readers no lose track of works dem love.
One reader and writer, Ashmita, 23, from India, don build a web tool to make am easier for users to connect Google Drive folders and waka through hundreds or thousands of files inside. She ask say make dem use only her first name to protect her online privacy. Ashmita talk say even though fandoms dey disagree and sometimes fight, di outage bring different people together. “There are always debates, different opinions and occasional fights within and between fandoms. But during the outage, I have seen people from completely different fandoms and backgrounds helping one another and working toward shared solutions,” she talk. “It has been a beautiful reminder of how much these communities care about each other,” she add.
Another public Google Drive link, “Fanfic Emergency Fund,” created by author Berklie Novak-Stolz, don gather plenty works across different fandoms and genres. Novak-Stolz write letter to readers: “The horrors may persist, but so do we.” She also talk say, “We’re all going to be okay thanks to the wonders of humanness and community and storytelling.”
As of Sunday, di Organization for Transformative Works talk say no further update dey about di outage. Di organization encourage users to check recommended safety practices while di site still down: click links only from trusted sources, watch out for scammers, and create different password for every website.
