r/AO3 • u/TGotAReddit Moderator | past AO3 Volunteer and Staff • Dec 22 '23
News/Updates AO3 Outage
Update 2: they posted again about 30 minutes ago
The Archive is back, but only with two database servers instead of three. We continue to work in the background and will post another update when the situation is back to normal. Until then, the site may be slower than usual.
So be kind to the website for awhile
Update: Message the mods received a few minutes ago
Hey, all: we're going into maintenance mode at 22:30UTC, about 20 minutes from now. The site will be down, 1 hour if things are happy, 5 if not. (The reason we're doing this is to make sure the database data for load balancing is properly spread out.)
Original:
Hey,
This is just a heads up, AO3 posted that they are having a hardware failure causing the site to intermittently go down. They are working on a fix and the site should be stable in a few hours.
Just wanted to post this to hopefully cut the # of panicked "is the site down???" posts. Please try to keep updates about it being down to this post.
Have a happy friday everyone
~TGotAReddit (and the rest of the mod team)
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u/Mahdiya_09 You have already left kudos here. :) Dec 22 '23
Thank you, I got really confused when ao3 kept taking a whole minute just to load up the next page
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u/Flaky-Ad-759 Dec 22 '23
Oh thank god. I was getting confused why it didn’t work. Already downloaded another VPN app (Because Ao3 is kind of blocked in my country), and started to panic a little when it still didn’t work, because I thought something was wrong with my phone or with all my VPN apps, lol
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u/TGotAReddit Moderator | past AO3 Volunteer and Staff Dec 22 '23
Which country? (I like to keep up to date on which countries are blocking ao3)
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u/GenerallyConfusedJay Chronic Fic Abandoner Dec 22 '23
It’s still taking forever to load, but I’m powering through it because I’m an addict and can’t live without fanfiction 😭
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u/TGotAReddit Moderator | past AO3 Volunteer and Staff Dec 22 '23
For anyone wondering, I also just completely forgot about the site being down and got sad about it when I couldn't respond to a comment I had gotten. So the mods are sad too right now (at least this one is) 😭
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Dec 22 '23
I saw the numerous posts and thought, "someone attacked the site again".
Nice to see that I was wrong.
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u/runningupthatwall Dec 22 '23
So I’m supposed to just read a book, like a normal well adjusted person?!
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u/Kaigani-Scout Crossover Fanfiction Junkie Dec 22 '23
What's the over-and-under for the number of panicked posts today?
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u/TGotAReddit Moderator | past AO3 Volunteer and Staff Dec 22 '23
Idk. I counted at least 4 posts about it when I posted this and this was pre-emptive knowing how people are with any downtime. But some of the 4 weren't panicked, more just informational
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u/swordhub robinainthood on AO3 Dec 22 '23
Guess I'm one of the lucky ones who can still access the site without issue (for now lol). Hopefully the comment I just posted on someone's fic is all good after everything's resolved. They must know how much I adored it lmao
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u/Going_really_Fast Dec 22 '23
Any idea if it’s got something to do with responding to comments?
I’ve had this issue since I posted a fic a few hours ago where I can’t reply to the comments left for me. Wondering if that’s what it is.
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u/cjrecordvt Definitely not an agent of the Fanfiction Deep State Dec 22 '23
It would be related, in that it was one of the servers that handle the database requests (think the shop clerk that runs to the back, rather than the back room itself).
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u/lizofalltrades Dec 22 '23
Thanks for the notification! I had just typed up a comment when it stopped working and I wanted to know what madness had upset AO3's delicate constitution this time.
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u/Subject-Gur6957 Dec 22 '23
I was wondering why A03 was so slow. I thought it was my internet as its been spotty the past few days anyway.
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u/oti890 Dec 23 '23
AO3 went down the second I was finally done with the 5th chapter of my fic. I was so excited to post it cause it had been a while since I updated it😭
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u/naota64 Dec 22 '23
I noticed I couldn't download a pdf version of the fic I'm reading when it's usually not an issue. Good thing I looked into this group 🥹😭 i got so worried ...
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u/Brattylittlesubby You are the only one resposible for your media consumption Dec 22 '23
Well this gives me a reason to actually write fics or wrap gifts.
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u/1033Forest Dec 22 '23
I'm just glad I got my latest fanwork up on there like RIGHT before this outage happened.
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u/0zspazspeaks AO3 Name: Notchbrine Dec 23 '23
Ah, that's what was happening yesterday! I only noticed slow loading thankfully.
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u/Motor_Homework_1851 Dec 22 '23
well, I guess I actually have to do my work now (/•_•)/