#ao3 shutdown 2023

[ao3-shenanigans]

WE MADE IT FOLKS!!!

#Had to draw up a badge rq :) #ao3 #ao3 attack #ao3 shutdown 2023 #archive of our own #feel free to use the image with credit :) #my art #digital art #Ginger’s art #GUYS YOU CAN BUY THE STICKER NOW!! #(I’m really proud of myself for figuring out how to make/sell them) #ao3 shenanigans

[soph-yagami]

I made a badge for us (it's ugly on purpose)

#ao3 #ao3 author #ao3 fanfic #ao3 shutdown 2023 #ao3 is backkkk #my post

[thelegitcasper]

a meme I created after the ao3 shutdown 2023...

#ao3 shutdown 2023 #welcome back ao3 #this is literally what happened #i was reading tumblr fanfiction #i was Starved for fanfiction #ao3 please #ao3 #ao3 please never leave me again

[anneswritingnook]

Feel My Love

I issued the writing challenge to write the gay smut that got AO3 targeted, and tonight I am delivering.  AO3 is back up, and so is my little piece of Dreamling PWP, also posted on AO3. Enjoy and Join the Challenge! https://archiveofourown.org/works/48514939 The flat was quiet, several layers of soundproofing had seen to that, so when Hob pulled the door shut behind them, the sound of his own heaving breaths was loud in his ears.

 He looked up at his stranger, Dream of the Endless, whose name he had at long last, and though Dream made no noise, the man was tousled, and there was a redness to his cheeks that Hob had never before seen.

 This was it, the point of no return, and there was a moment, no, seconds, where he considered straightening his shirt, offering some tea, pretending that they hadn’t been halfway to tearing off each other’s clothes in the middle of a crowded pub.

 He didn’t get a chance though, as though hearing his thoughts, and maybe that was a thing that his friend did, Dream stepped forward, closing the distance between them. A single touch of Dream’s hand on his, and he was gone.

 Dream was undressing him, and while Hob would have liked to have returned the favour, his friend’s clothes seemed to be disappearing in layers on their won.

 When they were both bare, Hob pulled Dream into his arms, reveling in the feel of skin against skin.  Dream was gasping, and Hob held tighter, biting, and kissing Dream’s neck until the other man relaxed enough for him to let go.

 He ignored the tears in Dream’s eyes, pushed aside what Dream had told him, over a century, alone, untouched.  He was going to make up for it now, tonight, and all the nights that followed. He was going to touch Dream all over, and he wasn’t going to stop until his partner begged for mercy.

He could almost see it in his mind’s eye, as he kissed his way down Dream body, his lover laying spread against the sheets gasping for breath as Hob made him feel until he couldn’t take it anymore.  

 Dream gasped as Hob nipped at the juncture of Dream’s left hip, and hands clenched in his hair. Hob wasn’t sure how much of it was what Dream was seeing, or what Dream was feeling, but he was going to keep going either way.

 He was kneeling before a god, a more than god, and he wanted nothing more than to worship at this altar.  Dream made a sharp noise, hands clenching, as Hob went lower, and he changed tactics.

 They had all night, all their lives, forever really, and Hob wanted to make this good for Dream, wanted to make him feel good, feel a pleasure in the real world that he had been denied for so long. So, his put the rest of his teasing on hold, and licked a slow stripe down the length of Dream, who, though soundless, was enjoying it, if the hands in his hair were any indication.

 Hob licked around again, and then once more, before taking as much of Dream’s cock as would fit into his mouth and sucking, a hand wrapped around what wouldn’t fit.  The noises Dream made were obscene, and if his partner were human, this is when Hob would have started to worry about knees going out, but Dream was not human.

 Hob bobbed in and out, taking as much as he could, and when Dream’s hands tightened again, Hob pulled out an old trick, relaxing his throat and going for it.  Dream bottomed out and Hob held a beat before pulling back, then going in again. It was three more strokes and Dream was coming down his throat, Hob swallowing eagerly, his own cock, hard and untouched.

 There would be time for him later, this was for Dream, and Hob was going to make sure his lover knew exactly how much he was wanted.

#ao3 shutdown #gay smut #smut #writing challenge #dreamling #sandman fanfiction #ao3 shutdown 2023

[emmawithtwoms]

I cannot handle another Ao3 down, like the “Great Ao3 shutdown of 2023”

#ao3 #marauders #fanfic #ao3feed #ao3 fanfic #ao3 smut #ao3 writer #ao3 tags #the great ao3 shutdown of 2023

[never-ending-fanfic]

God bless AO3 volunteers ♥️

#ao3 volunteers #you deserve all the best things in the world #♥️ #ao3 #ao3 attack #ao3 ddos #ao3 down #ao3 shutdown of 2023

[chimaeraonwards]

DownDectector x AO3

To celebrate AO3 coming back online, here is the fic I wrote to cope with the Great AO3 Shutdown.

_____

“DownDetector, what is your emergency?” 

Sharp, shallow breaths come through their headset. A panic attack, unfortunately not that uncommon in Emergency Website Shutdown Reporting.  

“Hi, can you hear me? Take deep breaths, slowly,” Dow continues, their training kicking in immediately. When the caller sounds a little deeper, longer. “How can I help you?” 

A small frantic voice rushes out, “I was on Ao3 reading a 400k hurt/comfort fic, and then, they were finally going to make up after all the angst, and now”. A sob wreaks through the other end of the line. “It's gone, it's all gone. Ao3 is down.”   

A shudder pierces through their heart. No, wait, focus on the call - you’re on the job damn it. 

Automatically DownDetector replies, “Thank you for your report. Not to worry, sometimes servers go down but Ao3 usually bounces back in at most, a few hours.” Down glances at the screen. Usually Arch messages Dow quickly with an update, they know how much Dow worries. 

“I just feel like something is different this time. It feels wrong.”

Oh right, the call. Dow quickly types through the report in front of them. “I understand how alarming this may be. Please check Ao3’s official Twitter account for any updates. Can I have your location to complete this report?”   

Dow goes through the motions but there is a blaring alarm going off in their mind. 

Ao3 is down. 

Ao3 is down.

Ao3 is down.

Ao3 is down.

Ao3 

is 

down.

A glance at the screen shows no messages from Arch but the usual flood of reports that follow any of Ao3’s technical issues. 

The caller was right. This feels wrong. The notification sounds are the only thing that graces the dreaded silence hanging in the air. 

Dow’s finger hovers over the call button. It would be so easy to call Arch right now and find out if they’re okay. Dow doesn’t talk with Arch often, just a few pictures of the bumps and scrapes Arch sends after each tussle with technical issues (often accompanied by a selfie with a thumbs up and a goofy smile). 

It's not professional to directly message websites that get reported here, but Ao3 is different. 

Whenever a website goes down, so many people barge into DownDetector with complaints and anger, but with Archive of Our Own, it's only love and worry. Looking at their previous messages which consist of mostly Arch sending memes and fluff fic recs, Dow smiles at the screen. When Ao3 goes down, so many people come in with care and understanding, and it's easy to understand why. What’s not to love about Ao3?

The contact image of Arch putting French fries up their nose comes with a call. Dow would lie to you if you asked them how fast their picked up Arch’s calls every time. It's always borderline impossibly fast. 

Dow is greeted by a flurry of wet coughs. Okay, shit shit shit this does not look good. 

“Arch? Arch? Are you okay?” 

The coughs die down. 

Arch’s voice sounds so small, smaller than it has ever been. It's unnerving. Archive of Our Own is a titan - more than 11 million fics, over 57 thousand fandoms. Time, love, and care has put been fed into the website, making it the envy of most. Dow doesn’t think Wikipedia’s rants about donations can get worse but it takes a step higher every time Ao3 has a donation drive. Arch was never meant to sound so small. 

“I don’t have a lot of time, but I wanted to call you first”, Arch’s voice is raspy like they’ve been screaming while eating glass. “I’m going to be gone for a while.” 

“What’s going on? Everyone says something is wrong.” 

Dow hears a deep tired exhale down the line like Arch is thinking about the words to say. Just like their users, sometimes words don’t come easy to Arch. “It was an attack, they came out of nowhere. A DDOS.” 

DDOS – the weapon of cowards trying to take down a titan, a deity, worshipped by so so many. 

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be okay. I’m more worried about everyone else.” Even at the brink of a meltdown, Ao3 always put everyone else before themselves. “Maybe Fanfiction.net or Wattpad can take them back, huh?” 

Oh, this isn’t a warning, it's a goodbye. 

Dow takes a deep breath. It's all in the handbook, you cannot panic in a time of crisis. Breathe, breathe deeply. “Archive, what’s going on? Something’s wrong.” 

“Hey hey don’t worry, alright? The volunteers are coming, you know how well they take care of me.” 

“Down, they’re going to take me offline for a while. 

“Take you offline?” Dow exclaims. “For how long? You can’t go! It's not even been 5 minutes and everyone already misses you.” 

I will miss you goes unsaid. 

A pregnant pause fills the room. Dow can hear the rush of blood behind their ears. 

“I don’t know.” 

“Arch please –” 

Dow is cut off by shouts that come down from the other end of the call. Before they can say anything, Arch rushes out, “I have to go, the volunteers are here.” Tears can’t stop rolling down Dow’s face. “Take care of them for me, will you?” 

Dow looks back to the screens on their desk. The overwhelming cries of terror, care, and worry fill the comments section. 

“I will,” spills off their tongue without hesitation. 

“Thank you,” whispers Arch, their voice clear as day amidst all the commotion. “Goodbye, DownDetector.” 

The disconnect tone plays. 

“I’ll see you soon, Archive of Our Own.”  

Silence fills the room again. 

For the first time in their lives, Dow gets down to their knees and prays. 

Please, whatever entities are out there, please. 

Bring them back.  

#ao3 #downdetector #ao3 and downdetector are non-binary icons fight me #they are in love your honor #downdetectorXao3 #DownDectector is the emergency services #Ao3 is your accident prone bestie #obligatory not a native english speaker tag #this is what fanfiction withdrawal looks like #archive of our own #bless the ao3 volunteers #fanfiction #you cannot tell me they dont have cute nicknames for each other that only they can use #this is how i survived the great ao3 shutdown of 2023 #ao3 ddos attack #ao3 down

[f-and-e-girl-main]

Aaaaaaaand… we’re back!!! 😁

#ao3 attack #the great ao3 shutdown of 2023 #ao3

[your-enby-antihero]

It's Okay to feel Betrayed Sometime (Even as a Punk Rock)

Look, look, look I might have hoped for FCG to be more concerned about Ashton when they were separated. I love Love Letters, it is simply adorable but I'm an Ashton Greymoore kinnie and I have abandonment issues so :p. Anyway, I also think Deanna and Ashton should get to be drinking buddies. 

Also on ao3

Ashton is a little bitter about how they reunited with FCG, and Deanna tries to comfort. They mostly yell.

——————————————————————————

Ashton was bitter, okay maybe bitter was the wrong word. Angry was more like it, maybe a little defeated, maybe a little scorned, possibly a bit sad. It isn’t like they haven’t been left behind before, fucking hell he has the hole in their head to prove it. Ashton just expected a little more excitement when he reunited with Fresh Cut Grass. When you spend multiple months being teammates and protecting someone and making sure that they don’t go fucking murderous rage bot on the populace of Jrusar you’d think they’d be more worried about you when you get separated at a fucking world-ending event. But unlike the fucking romance novel that was Imogen and Laudna running to each other with the shimmery shojo manga filter overlaying it. Ashton and FCG didn’t even speak a word to each other until FCG started talking about the Changebringer. Maybe Ashton was jealous, not of Imogen and Laudna that was a whole different bag, maybe closer to how Fearne and Orym had reunited. The way that Ashton saw Orym’s eyes light up when he saw the small animal that had scurried back to the table filled with the Hells. Orym who hadn’t really been sleeping, Orym who really hadn’t sighed a sad smile in the past few days, Orym who Ashton had been keeping on “going off the deep end” watch. Even Chetney had been more excited to see Ashton. Ashton had been glancing over to the yellow and cyan aeormaton, but their glowing eyes seemed more focused on the new rose gold and emerald frame in the room. It was fine, they weren’t jealous, Ashton didn’t feel like they had lost a close friend. It wasn’t like Ashton hadn’t noticed that FCG had continuously drifted farther and farther from Ashton and that they’d once again be left behind. Ashton wasn’t deflecting by pretending to be offended by Prism calling Orym her “new best friend” no that was truly his actual literal offence for sure (he was lying).

Just as the groups had gotten ready to part ways Ashton felt a tug on the back of their jacket. Turning around, at a frankly very frightening speed, with fist ready to deck a motherfucker (look it's been very stressful and there had been a lot of bad shit recently can anyone fault Ashton for being fucking paranoid?) Ashton saw the small armoured gnomish woman who had introduced herself as Deanna.

“Hey buddy you doing okay,” she questioned.

Ashton was not one to be comforted, he was always the comfort, a literal rock in the lives of his people. He simply couldn’t just crack and let this total stranger worm her way into his very carefully guarded heart. They had always used anger as a defense, keeping even the closest people like an arm away.

“Fuck off,” they spat, throwing Deanna a bit backward as he was trying to move back down to the bar area.

Who was the Dawnfather chucklefuck to try and interrogate him about how he was feeling? But as he walked he felt a hard grip on their arm.

“Now listen here, I know what you might think of me but I can see you feel like Fresh Cut Grass is leaving you for FRIDA.”

“Fuck off I’m not talking to a priest of the fucking Dawnfather about my fucking business.”

“Listen to me for one fucking second. Look I know how that feels, how do you think it feels for me?! FRIDA is my best friend.”

“Great, glad for you! Fuck off.”

“Hey don’t- listen finally I get someone who genuinely cares about me after being fucking dead and suddenly they’re more concerned about a fucking stranger! Do you know how it feels to just lose everything?”

“No shit,” they huffed, hitting the glassy crystal on his head.

“Then get the stick out of your ass and stop bottling it up. It looks like you and your friends have been through a lot, didn’t the spooky ladies kill a man? You can’t be strong for everyone if you aren’t taking care of yourself!”

“Have you seen Orym? Or Laudna? Imogen? Fucking hell even Chetney. Fearne? Do you know who is after her? Hell, even Letters. They all have so much shit going on, I can deal with my shit on my own. Now. Fuck. Off.”

Deanna sighed sitting down at an empty table off in the corner and deconded Ashton over.

“Least I can do is offer you some company, even if you don’t talk about it right now.”

Ashton begrudgingly sat, arms crossed on the opposite side of the table.

“You drink,” Deanna asked, producing a large bottle of a certainly fucked up type of alcohol.

Ashton let out an exhausted laugh and took the offered bottle. They pulled out the most jank ass Taste of Tal'Dorei shot glass and poured some of the murky liquid into the glass and quickly shot it back.

They sat in amicable silence for a few minutes before finally, Ashton said, “So what the fuck is up with you and Chetney?”

#critical role #campaign three #bells hells #cr brainrot #critical role draddles #cr fanfic #ashton greymoore #brought to you by the great ao3 shutdown of july 10th 2023

[ineedahugtm]

Dear diary,

It’s been approximately 2 hours since I’ve found out that ao3 has been down. I don’t think I can go on for very much longer. I keep typing the url into the address bar on safari before realizing that it’s still down and it’s only been 2 minutes since I last tried.

May god help us

#this is getting ridiculous I know it’s only a fanfic website BUT THOSE WERE GOOD FICS DAMN IT #guys we got to donate extra money for ao3 this year cause of how much the staff is helping to file our fanfic addictions #ao3 shutdown of 2023 #actually though don’t try logging in or accessing the site cause it only creates more requests and hurts the website #ao3

[ao3-shenanigans]

RB for bigger sample size!

Thanks!

#ao3 #ao3 shutdown 2023 #ao3 attack #stickers #pins #enamel pins #perhaps #poll #ao3 back at it baby! #archive of our own

[cursed-clock-shop]

Mortimer Mortimer would not have survived the ao3 shutdown of 2023.

#IT'S BACK UP AND I'M LITERALLY JUMPING FOR JOY RN #YIPPEE AND GO READ MY FICS #failure: a love story #failure a love story #mortimer mortimer #autism #adhd #ao3 shutdown #The Ao3 Shutdown of 2023™

[viago-vamps]

i know it’s old news at this point but the fact russians tried to get the gays angry at muslims through shutting down ao3 is the funniest shit ever. like the most prized possession of us queers are our fanfictions, nothing else matters to us. 

#they really though fanfic would bring out our darkest evils #in a way it does #but not how they expected #online terrorism #hacking #i do realize there is more nuance #but god it's so funny #ao3 #ao3 shutdown #i survived the ao3 shutdown of 2023

[chaosoftheages]

A round of applause for AO3′s hard work during yesterdays attack.

And to the attackers...

I hope your headquarters is burning to the fucking ground your buried 6 feet under right now.

#fuck covid #reblog if you survived the great AO3 shutdown of July 10 2023 #This was the real pandemic #ao3 #I can finally update my damn fic ppl haven't seen an update from me in 3 fucking days

[audreyareese]

I think everyone should receive a tumblr badge for surviving the 26 hour ao3 shutdown

#tumblr badge #ao3 shutdown #july 10th 2023

[nothoughtsjustmhaandotherthings]

If AO3 makes "I survived the shutdown of July 2023" t-shirts as merch I'll be the first in line to buy them.

#archive of our own #ao3 #fanfic #ao3 stuff #archive baby it's so good to have you back #please don't ever do that to me again