Archive of Our Own ^beta

In the past few weeks, the Archive of Our Own's Support Committee has been receiving a number of requests for assistance with an app that creates a paywall block after more than one hour of daily reading. We have no control over this (or any) mobile app, and do not approve of any paywalling of AO3 content. This is not the first time users have had problems with unofficial apps. For various reasons, the Archive is not developing a mobile app, so any app you may find available is unofficial and might even pose a security risk to use.

The AO3 site is always free to use through a web browser on any and all devices, including mobile devices. One of our core tenets is protecting fans and fanworks from commercial exploitation, so we don’t have ads or charge anyone to use the AO3, and we don’t approve of other people charging you money for AO3 content.

Because we haven't developed a mobile app ourselves, we are okay with individuals creating unofficial apps, provided that these apps clearly state they are unofficial, refrain from using our logos, and do not charge users for their usage. Forcing people to pay to use those apps is a violation of the AO3 Terms of Service section 1.D.5.

Please let other fans know that we are not connected to any apps they may find, and we are unable to assist them should they have issues with them. Remember AO3 is always available for free on your browser!

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

As many readers know, Twitter has been undergoing changes which are destabilizing the platform, and there have been reports of frustrating user experiences as services are reduced. This is leading some individuals and organizations to explore other social media options.

The OTW has various accounts at Twitter for our individual projects as well as the OTW as a whole. We will be evaluating how Twitter fits into our news distribution efforts as the site changes continue.

During this time of possible transitions, we are taking the opportunity to remind readers and followers both where else you can find us, as well as to caution fans about new unofficial accounts that may start popping up.

Official vs. Unofficial Accounts

Many people choose to subscribe to OTW news either through their social media accounts or through feed readers. It is important to check, however, if those accounts are actually ours.

On occasion, fans will set up unofficial social media accounts, either on the same platforms we use or in spaces where we have no accounts. Unofficial accounts sometimes make that status clear and sometimes they don't. Similarly, fans on various platforms have set up RSS feeds of our news posts. These feeds are automated accounts and there is no one running them. The information may also only be available temporarily, and while they include official news, they are not controlled by the OTW and you can't reach us there.

The best way to check whether a social media account is official is to visit the ‘Where to Find Us’ page at the OTW website. This lists our live accounts across all platforms. If you're not subscribed to one of those, you are not following an official account.

Contacting Us

Official accounts are individually posted to by the Communications Committee. While we receive comments and questions on those platforms, these accounts are not always moderated and the platforms themselves may restrict our responses in different ways. To ensure that we receive your question or comment, it is therefore always best to get in touch with us through our contact form. Questions or comments regarding the Archive of Our Own should be sent to the Support team

If you're not sure who to direct your question to, try Communications, and if we don't have the answer we will send your message on to the OTW team who can help you.

The OTW can be contacted in 46 languages, something which is also facilitated by using our contact forms.

Access to Our Accounts

We are aware that people may have barriers to accessing our sites, whether it's a social media account or the OTW website itself. This is one of the reasons why we maintain official accounts in multiple locations.

While for many these restrictions may be due to local blocks from a school or business, there are also different nations which either temporarily or permanently block particular internet addresses.

If you are unable to follow us at one platform, hopefully another one of our sites will be available to you. We are always examining additional locations for official accounts in order to best reach fans, and you are welcome to send us suggestions. Although current staffing or workloads may prevent us from expanding in the near future, we will keep requests in mind as part of long-term planning.

Spread the Word!

It is tremendously helpful to the OTW when fans help us to share information either about our organization and projects or particular news releases. So please, help us reduce misinformation and boost relevant content by pointing people to our official accounts. You can also let other fans know what sorts of information they can find at our website, and that they can reach us through our contact forms. And if you come across unofficial accounts which are not listed as such, do let us know.

Thanks for your help!

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

[Edited on November 30, 2022, 13:07 UTC: Due to off-topic replies, comments on this post have been disabled.]

A common feature request we have received over the years is the ability to block other users from interacting with you, or hide content by users you specify. This has been something we planned on doing for a while now, and we have been actively working on developing it for the past few months. For that reason, we wanted to give you a brief update on how this work is going:

Blocking vs. Muting

We have been working closely with the Support and the Policy & Abuse teams, who are directly in contact with our users and can help us dig into all the feedback, feature requests and suggestions coming in. This helps us determine how we can satisfy most users' wishes to make their Archive experience safer and more enjoyable without creating new problems in the process.

After some discussion, we've decided to consider the new functionality as two sets of separate features:

• Blocking: preventing certain users from interacting with you
• Muting: excluding content by certain users from your personal Archive experience

In this manner, we can offer our users a set of options to curate their own experiences and add a layer of protection against harassment, without making it harder for people to create and interact with content on the Archive. For example, you might want to mute a user for posting a lot of fanworks about a pairing you don't like, but you're fine with the same user leaving comments on your own works. By separating the two concepts, we'll also be able to deploy an initial, focused set of options while continuing to work on the rest of the functionality behind the scenes.

However, there is a lot to be considered before we can write up the final design document detailing how we want these features to work and how they'd interact with existing Archive functionality. Due to the scope of the change, both of these features come with their own challenges and pitfalls that need to be addressed before we can move forward.

Discussions need to address dozens of little details like, "If a list of search results includes muted content, does the number shown at the top need to be adjusted? How does this interact with the numbers in the filters?" as well as big picture considerations like, "What if a challenge has several mods, each with their own lists of blocked and muted accounts?"

Once we actually start writing the code, we might run into technical issues that hadn't been apparent during the planning stages and that require substantial changes to our plans. As such, we'll only be ready to announce these features when we're certain they're very close to done, which we understand is frustrating for those of you waiting for this functionality.

Money vs. Time

While the OTW has enough money for a contractor to potentially handle the coding (thanks to your generous donations!), to do so in an effective manner, we first need to tell them in really fine detail what we actually want, since we're more familiar with complex features like collections and challenges and have a better idea of the way people use the site and the problems they run into.

This is very often the most complex part of a project of this scope, and something we can’t easily outsource without risking a final result that will cause more issues than it solves.

Additionally, the people who need to be involved in this conversation because they have a lot of knowledge about the inner workings of the Archive and the feedback provided by users over the years, are the same people who are needed to keep the Archive running on a day to day basis, fix bugs, make sure the backend stays up to date, and keep the Support and Abuse teams running smoothly.

All of this is done by volunteers, and sometimes other commitments need to come first to keep the site up and functional. As a result, every large or even medium-sized project takes a long time from an initial idea to the rollout of a new feature.

In the meantime...

While built-in, easy-to-use blocking and muting tools are still a ways off, our Unofficial Browser Tools FAQ lists some third-party scripts that let you filter out unwanted content. We're also working on other important changes to give you more control over your Archive experience.

In the past year, we've added the ability to turn off comments or freeze specific comment threads on your works. We're also working on changes that will allow you to opt out of receiving gifts or collection invitations, the same way you can control others' ability to list you as a co-creator on works. (As with most major changes, there will be dedicated news posts with more information on these changes when they're ready to be released.)

While it has always been possible to use the Archive skin system to hide specific works from yourself, we've recently made it possible to hide all works from specific creators as well. To do this, create a site skin and use the following CSS:

• .work-000 { display: none !important; } to hide a specific work. Replace 000 with the ID of the work you want to hide. The work ID is a series of numbers that can be found in the work's URL. The ID comes immediately after /works/, e.g. https://ao3.org/works/000/chapters/123.
• .user-000 { display: none !important; } to hide all works by a specific user. Replace 000 with the ID of the user whose works you want to hide. A user's ID is a series of numbers that can be found on the user's profile in the "My user ID is" section. A user's ID does not change if the user changes their name.

To hide multiple items, you can separate the selectors with a comma: .work-000, .work-149319, .user-000000 { display: none !important; }

For now, this approach only applies to work listings and work search results, not bookmarks. However, we're working to extend it to bookmarks as well, and we'll have a more detailed tutorial once we're done. (Please note that if you've previously hidden works with selectors such as .blurb#work_000, it will continue to work, but it will not automatically carry over to bookmark listings and search results in the future.)

We are sorry this is taking longer than anticipated, and we hope this update could provide a little insight into the reasons for this.

Please bear with us while we sort out the details, and thank you for all your kind words here and elsewhere, especially during this past year. We can't reply to all tweets and comments, but we appreciate your support very much!

In the next few days, we will be adding a new option that allows work creators to turn off comments. The option will be available on the forms for posting or editing individual works as well as the form for updating multiple works at once, and we've done some minor rearranging of the forms to accommodate the new option.

What turning off comments does

Turning off comments will replace the comment form at the end of your work with a notice that says, "Sorry, this work doesn't allow comments."

If your work already has comments, all existing comments will remain accessible to you and anyone who can access your work. You will still be able to delete any unwanted comments or mark guest comments as spam.

Users who have left logged-in comments on your work will also still be able to delete their comments.

How to turn off comments on individual works

In the "Privacy" section of the posting and editing forms for individual works, you will find a set of options called "Who can comment on this work." It will have three options:

• Registered users and guests can comment
• Only registered users can comment (this is equivalent to the old "Disable anonymous commenting" option)
• No one can comment

By default, it is set to "Registered users and guests can comment." To prevent anyone from commenting on your work, choose "No one can comment" and save your changes.

How to turn off comments on multiple works

If you'd like to change the comment settings for more than one work at a time, you can use the Edit Multiple Works page. (Please refer to "How do I edit multiple works at the same time?" for information on accessing this page and selecting works to edit.)

Once you've chosen the works you want to edit, locate the "Settings" section of the form. There will a set of options called "Who can comment on these works," and it will have four choices:

• Keep current comment settings
• Registered users and guests can comment
• Only registered users can comment (this is equivalent to the old "Disable anonymous comments" option)
• No one can comment

By default, it is set to "Keep current comment settings." To prevent anyone from commenting on the works you are editing, choose "No one can comment" and save your changes.

Other options for controlling comments on your works

Please check out our Comments and Kudos FAQ for more information on controlling comments on your works, including:

• Can I edit or delete a comment someone else left on one of my works?
• What can I do if I receive spam/harassing/offensive comments from an Archive user?
• How do I moderate comments on my works?

Update 15 August 06:22 UTC: These changes are now live!

In order to improve security and maintainability, we've overhauled the code for the Archive of Our Own - AO3 login system. As we previously announced, this overhaul caused all users to be logged out. If you know your username and password, you should be able to log in as usual. However, here are a few things to check if you're having trouble.

Have you activated your account by following the link provided in your registration confirmation email?

If you've recently signed up to AO3 and are having trouble logging in, make sure you've activated your account! Within 24 hours of signing up, you should have received a registration confirmation email from [email protected], asking you to activate your AO3 account using the included link. The activation email usually arrives right after creating your account, but some email providers can considerably delay the delivery.

Once you've activated your account, you should receive an activation confirmation email from the same email address: [email protected]. Sometimes, these emails can get lost in spam filters or automated inbox sorting, so make sure you check these as well! If you can't find either your activation request or an activation confirmation email, and it's been over 24 hours since you registered, you can contact our Support committee asking for your account to be activated by an administrator.

If you're trying to log in with your username, is it correct?

To check if a username exists and belongs to you, go to your browser address bar and enter https://archiveofourown.org/users/USERNAME, replacing "USERNAME" with your username. If the account exists, this will take you to its Dashboard. You can then make sure the icon, profile information, or public works or bookmarks for that account are yours.

Please note that usernames can only contain lower- and uppercase letters from A-Z, numbers, and underscores (_).

If you're trying to log in with your email address, is it correct?

If you have more than one email address, it may help to go to the New Password page, fill in your email address, and press "Reset Password". If the email you enter isn't associated with an account, you'll be given an error message and no email will be sent. Doing this for all your email addresses can help you determine which one you used for your AO3 account.

You will be able to log in with your regular password even after a reset email is sent (just ignore the email).

Is your password correct?

If you've determined the username or email you're trying to log in with is correct, the problem could be your password. Fill out the form on the New Password page and a link allowing you to change your password will be sent to you.

If you do not receive the email within 24 hours, make sure to check your spam folder or automated inbox sorting. The email will have the subject "[AO3] Reset your password"

Edit (28 December, 10:43 UTC): Due to changes in the way passwords are sanitized, you will need to reset your password if it previously contained the < or > character. (You can continue to use < and > in your password; it just needs to be updated for our new system.)

Is your browser or a password manager automatically entering your username/password?

If you're using your browser's autocomplete or a password manager to log in to AO3, there's a chance the saved username/password combination could be incorrect. To check, delete the pre-filled login information and re-type your username and password manually. Remember to update the autocomplete/password manager entry with the working combination later, to prevent this problem from reoccurring.

Have you tried deleting your browser's cookies?

Sometimes, login issues can be caused by misconfigured or corrupted cookies. Cookies issues may lead to an error message saying that the password or username you entered doesn't match our records, even when they are correct, or a condition where you get a successful login message but are not actually logged in. To make sure your cookie settings aren't keeping you from accessing AO3, check that your browser is set to accept cookies from us and clear your cookies before attempting to access the site again. Instructions for managing cookies differ by browser and browser version, but here are some links to get you started:

• Firefox: Checking Cookie Settings and Clearing Cookies
• Chrome: Clear, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome
• Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
• Edge: Delete cookies
• Safari:
  • Manage cookies and website data in Safari on Mac
  • Clear the history and cookies from Safari on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
• Opera: Clear browsing data and Manage cookies in pages

Have you tried disabling browser extensions/add-ons?

Sometimes, browser extensions or add-ons can interfere with the login process. To ensure your browser settings are not preventing you from logging in, disable any additional software associated with your browser by following the links below.

• Firefox: Disable or remove Add-ons
• Chrome: Install and manage extensions
• Internet Explorer: Manage add-ons in Internet Explorer
• Edge: Adding, moving, and removing extensions for Microsoft Edge
• Safari: Install and manage Safari extensions on your Mac
• Opera: Extensions

Have you tried logging in using a different browser or device?

If you can successfully log in to AO3 using alternative means, the problem you're encountering is most likely a problem with your browser or device, rather than your account. If this is the case, we encourage you to try the steps above in your preferred browser, and if it still doesn't work, let us know of such issues by contacting our Support committee, so that we can investigate further. Please remember to include details about the browser(s) and device(s) you've tried, as well as the problem itself.

Have you tried everything above, and still find yourself unable to log in?

If you've tried all these steps and are still having trouble logging in, please use this contact form to contact our Support committee directly. Do not share any account information in the comments on this post as all comments are public and can be seen by anyone who accesses this page. Comments containing account information will be removed without reply.

As always, please remember to include as much detail as possible about the specifics of your problem, such as error messages received and your browser/device configuration, so that we can troubleshoot most effectively. Also include which of the above steps you have tried, so we can rule those issues out!

Edit (28 December, 10:43 UTC): Due to changes in the way passwords are sanitized, you will need to reset your password if it previously contained the < or > character. (You can continue to use < and > in your password; it just needs to be updated for our new system.)

Now that we've finished rolling out the new search and filtering features, it's time to give our previous series on hidden search operators and neat tricks an update as well.

Works

As before, you can use all of these suggestions in the main search box (in the site header), the "Any field" box in the work search, or the "Search within results" field in the filters. Keep in mind that this input is case-sensitive and the space after the colon is non-optional. Just copy-paste what you need, mix and match as you like, and bookmark the result in your browser for quick access to fanworks perfectly tailored to your tastes!

Work Properties

• expected_number_of_chapters: 1 for single-chapter works only
• -expected_number_of_chapters: 1 for multi-chapter works only
• creators: username for works by a particular creator
• -creators: username to filter out all works by a particular creator
• restricted: true for restricted works (if you're logged in to access them)
• restricted: false for public works
• work_skin_id: 277 for works using a specific skin (Homestuck, in this case)
• imported_from_url: xyz for works imported from a specific site or domain
  • xyz cannot start with http://, so use an asterisk instead (e.g. *username.dreamwidth.org)
  • xyz may contain periods and slashes and asterisks, so *username.dreamwidth.org/1234.html and *username* would both be fine
• notes: string or endnotes: string for works with notes or end notes containing a particular string
  • string can be any single word or a phrase enclosed in quotation marks
  • notes: "ball game" notes: peanuts will find works whose notes contain the words "ball" and "game" together and in that order, as well as the word "peanuts"
• summary: string for works with a particular word or phrase (in quotation marks) in the summary
• backdate: true for works that have been backdated
• backdate: false for works that have not been backdated
• otp: true for works tagged with only one relationship (experimental!)
  • can be used by itself or in combination with a specific relationship tag (e.g. chosen from the filtering options)
  • will exclude all A/B works where A/B might only be a side pairing, but also all A/B works with other side pairings
  • will include works with multiple relationship tags if they're all synned to the same canonical tag
• otp: false for works tagged with multiple relationships (experimental!)
• -relationship_ids: * for works with no relationship tags at all
• collection_ids: * for works that are part of a collection
• series.title: string for works in a series whose title contains a particular word or phrase (in quotation marks)
• series.title: * for works that are part of a series
• -series.title: * for works that aren't in a series

Sorting

By work properties

• sort:words to sort works by word count, longest works first
• sort:>words to reverse the sorting order and show shortest works first
• sort:author to sort works by the creators' pseuds, A-Z
• sort:<author to reverse the sorting order and show pseuds starting with Z first
• sort:title to sort works by title, from A to Z
• sort:<title to reverse the sorting order and show titles starting with Z first

By date

• sort:posted to sort from newest to oldest, going by the day they were posted to the Archive
• sort:>posted to reverse that order and show oldest first, going by the day they were posted to the Archive
• sort:updated to sort from newest to oldest, going by the day they were originally published (if backdated) or had a chapter added (this is the default sort)
• sort:>updated to show oldest works first, going by the day they were originally published (if backdated) or had a chapter added

By feedback metrics

• sort:kudos to sort works by amount of kudos, most kudos first
• sort:>kudos to reverse the sorting order and show least kudos first
• sort:comments to sort works by number of comments, most comments first
• sort:>comments to reverse the sorting order and show fewest comments first
• sort:bookmarks to sort works by number of bookmarks, most bookmarks first
• sort:>bookmarks to reverse the sorting order and show fewest bookmarks first
• sort:hits to sort works by number of hits, most hits first
• sort:>hits to reverse the sorting order and show fewest hits first

Within a range

You can also specify a range of works with some of these properties, namely words, hits, kudos, comments, and bookmarks, with the following options:

• words:1000 (works with exactly 1000 words)
• words>1000 (works with more than 1000 words)
• words<1000 (works with less than 1000 words)
• words:1000-5000 (works between 1000 and 5000 words)

Text Searches

Due to the way Elasticsearch 6 handles query strings, putting several words or phrases into the search box will result in a list of works with all of those words in one field (such as the notes, or the title). For example, searching for BTS love will bring up a work with the phrase "I love BTS!" in the notes, but will not find works with the BTS fandom tag and the word "love" in the title.

To make sure that your input is matched against all possible work properties, separate your search terms by an AND, such as BTS AND love or BTS AND puppies AND "slow burn". This will search for any combination of those words in all fields.

However, the search operators above can just be added on, separated by spaces, resulting in a query like Discworld AND library expected_number_of_chapters: 1 sort:>posted to find all single-chapter works with the words "Discworld" and "library" anywhere in the title, tags, notes, or creator's username, sorted to show oldest first.

Bookmarks

We have made some changes to the way bookmarks are stored and displayed, enabling us to differentiate between properties of the bookmarked work and properties of the bookmark itself more easily. As a result, bookmarks now allow for more finegrained searches, but require a little more input to find exactly the bookmarks you're looking for.

Bookmarked Work Properties

In addition to any word or phrase that will be matched against the title, summary, notes, and tags of a work, you can also use the following in the "Search within results" field (for filtering) or the "Any field on work" field (for bookmark searches):

• restricted: true for bookmarks of restricted works only
• restricted: false for bookmarks of public works only
• complete: true for bookmarks of complete works
• complete: false for bookmarks of works in progress
• bookmarkable_type: ExternalWork for bookmarks of external works
• bookmarkable_type: Series for bookmarks of series

Bookmark Properties

Likewise, you can put any word or phrase in the "Search bookmarker's tags and notes" field (for filtering) or the "Any field on bookmark" field (for bookmark searches). You also have the following options:

• private: true to filter for your private bookmarks only (if you're logged in to access them)
• private: false to filter for public bookmarks only
• tag: * for bookmarks with tags added by the bookmarker

Searching and filtering by language

You can use language codes to limit your searches to works or bookmarks in a particular language (or several languages in one search), or exclude items in a particular language. You can use this list of language codes for reference and replace abbreviation with the code for the language you want.

All these options will work in the main search box (in the site header), the "Any field" box in the work search, and the "Search within results" field in the filters, as well as the "Any field on work" field in the bookmark search and the "Search within results" field in the bookmark filters.

• language_id: abbreviation for items in that language
• language_id: abbreviation OR language_id: abbreviation for items in either of those languages
• -language_id: abbreviation to filter out all items in that language

Shortly after we upgraded the Archive to Rails 4.2, users began reporting they were being redirected to the login page when submitting forms (e.g. bookmarking a work, or posting a comment). Our coders were unable to find the cause of this problem and hoped it would resolve itself when we upgraded to Rails 5.1.

Unfortunately, the upgrade did not fix the issue, and further research has revealed this is a bug within Rails itself. The bug mainly -- but not only -- affects iPhone Safari users, and is most likely to happen when submitting a form after closing and re-opening your browser, or after leaving a page open for a number of days.

There's currently no official fix for this issue, but you may be able to work around it by using your browser's "Back" button and submitting the form again. We'll also be implementing a temporary workaround on our end by making session cookies last two weeks. This means it is very important to log out of your account if you are using a public computer. If you simply close the browser and leave, you will still be logged in and the next person to use the computer will be able to access your account.

Once an official fix becomes available, we will apply it as soon as possible. There's no word on when this will be, but in the meantime, we'll keep looking for workarounds.

Update, 23 September 2017: If you have JavaScript disabled in your browser and were getting Session Expired errors when trying to log in, the problem should now be fixed!

We're pleased to announce that after seven months, the Archive of Our Own is once again available on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine!

Late last year, the AO3 suddenly vanished from the Wayback Machine, a non-profit archiving service. We reached out to its maintainers several times during this period, to find out why AO3 pages weren't archived anymore. The project's director contacted us this week and explained the problem.

Rather than excluding only pages belonging to users who had asked for their content to be taken down (e.g. their profile page or specific works), the entire archiveofourown.org domain had been mistakenly excluded. The folks at the Wayback Machine have corrected this problem and the AO3 is available there once more. (Check out the Archive homepage from 2010!)

While the Wayback Machine is a great service, and another useful tool in the efforts to preserve fanworks and fan history, this is a good reminder not to keep all your eggs in the same basket. Download works you might want to read again in a year, crosspost your own works to other sites, and be sure you save back-ups locally and/or with a trusted online service.

If you're concerned about the public availability of your works, check our "How can I hide my works from non-Archive users?" FAQ for information that can help protect your privacy.