“What’s happening with AO3? Fan fiction readers are not okay as outage drags on longer than planned”

Key points

• AO3, a major fan-fiction repository with about 18.8 million stories, went offline.
• The outage began October 29 with a maintenance notice from AO3's nonprofit operator.
• Initial 12-hour downtime was followed by an estimated 2 to 4 weeks for restoration.
• AO3 reported a security incident; data integrity remains, but some user data may be compromised.
• Other platforms like Tumblr and Wattpad offered support and migration guidance during the outage.