**Archive of Our Own (AO3) Faces Another Downtime, Leaving Fan Fiction Aficionados Hanging**

Archive of Our Own (AO3) has experienced its second shutdown in just two days, causing numerous fan fiction aficionados to lose access to their cherished refuge. The site, a sanctuary for both readers and writers of fan fiction, underwent a previous interruption on Sunday evening, limiting access to a vast selection of narratives, including favored genres such as slow-burn enemies-to-lovers and coffee shop alternate universes (AUs).

The disruption was first noted around 5:30 p.m. EST / 2:30 p.m. PST, according to Down Detector, a user-driven outage monitoring service. AO3 promptly recognized the problem on its official status update account on X (formerly Twitter), stating they were looking into the origin of the 503 errors impacting users. Luckily, the matter was resolved within the hour, though not before fans took to social media to convey their yearning for their favorite fics, humorously mourning AO3’s brief hiatus.

Yet, just as fans began to relax, AO3 experienced another downtime on Monday. Reports of the second outage began to pour in at approximately 7 p.m. EST / 4 p.m. PST. At this point, AO3 had not yet officially commented on the situation, but fans once more flocked to social media to express their exasperations and join together in a shared moment of distress.

Fortunately, it seems that the Monday outage may have been brief, as multiple users have since reported regaining access to their stories within the hour.

While no other platform quite replicates the experience AO3 delivers, fans in search of a quick fan fiction fix during outages can explore other alternatives. For those looking for suggestions, several different fan fiction platforms are available to keep you entertained until AO3 is fully operational again.

**UPDATE: Nov. 19, 2024, 11:46 a.m. AEDT**
This article has been updated to indicate that the issues from Monday’s outage appear to have been resolved.