Update: Invitation requests remain disabled for the time being

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2017-10-30 22:44:17 UTC

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Last weekend, we had to disable new invitation requests to address an influx of accounts flooding the Archive with spam works. While our Abuse team has been banning these accounts and deleting thousands of spam works, the problem persists and would most likely get worse if we sent out invitations again.

We have decided to keep the invitation queue closed for the time being while we take steps to prevent spam from being posted in the first place. This means you will not be able to create an account unless you have previously received an invitation from either a friend or our automated queue. (If you requested an invitation before October 22 and have not received it, please check your spam folder and, if you use Gmail, your "Social" tab. If you are still unable to find your invitation, you can contact Support with your specific request.)

We very much regret denying invitations to legitimate users, but as the amount of spam being posted is affecting everyone's user experience, we currently see no other way to address the problem.

We will reopen invitation requests as soon as we can, although we do not have an estimated date at this time. When requests have been reenabled, the "Get Invited!" link will return to the homepage, and the Invitation Requests page will include a form to add yourself to waiting list. (The option to request invite codes for friends has been disabled since the last spam wave, and we have no plans to bring it back in the foreseeable future.)

Any updates will be provided on this post and our @AO3_Status Twitter account. For more information on the Archive's invitation system, refer to our Invitations FAQ.

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Snowgrouse Tue 31 Oct 2017 02:54AM UTC

Psst, new folks... you *can* read and comment without an account. I don't know the exact stats, but from what I've seen, only a very small percentage of fics are ever locked so that they can only be read by Archive members.
If anything, it's the readers who are a quiet lot and don't comment much. Most just get their kicks off a fic and run, and never really use the commenting option or even give kudos anyway. Wasn't it like only 0.2% of readers who comment or something? So it's a bit ironic how now people are really desperate for the accounts they'll hardly use (but I hope against hope this'll change)!
But anyway. Hope this will help people appreciate even having that option, whether they're account holders or not. While you guys wait for your accounts, why not go leave a comment on a fic you love in the meantime? There are writers whose day you could really make by doing that. One way to combat the trolls:)

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1. floranocturna Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:39AM UTC
  
  Very true, to read and leave kudos you do not need to be logged it. Hell, you can even comment without having an account. So most of the silent readers should not be affected by this. *sarcasm mode off*
  Still, I do hope that this gets resolved soon, because as of now AO3 has been my safe haven in terms of spam and I really hope the staff manages to keep the trolls and bots outside!
  
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2. DragonDreads Tue 31 Oct 2017 10:32AM UTC
  
  Wish we could leave kudos on comments.
  Here's one anyway
  **~** KUDOS **~**
  
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Tozette Tue 31 Oct 2017 03:09AM UTC

Thank, you AO3 staff, for your hard work! Good luck resolving this issue.

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DrachmaSolaris Tue 31 Oct 2017 03:20AM UTC

Yes, its a somewhat harsh decision, but its preferable than lose control. I hope this issue can be solved soon, I love this page.

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TheTinyManatee Tue 31 Oct 2017 04:03AM UTC

ii don't even remember getting invited onto the website when i joined years ago, has that always been a feature??

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1. Qem Tue 31 Oct 2017 04:51AM UTC
  
  Yes, it's always been a feature with limiting the amount of accounts that can sign up on a daily basis, through an invitation queu. (Though it's also possible for anyone to sign up for an invitation and it may have been you signed up when the queue was quite short.)
  
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2. 1. AnonEhouse Tue 31 Oct 2017 05:08AM UTC
    
    Also, sometimes sometimes you could join AO3 by participating in a fic challenge, in which case the organizers got the invitation for you. I'm pretty sure that's how I joined AO3. Not sure how that worked, but I think it was faster than waiting in the invitation queue would have been.
    I don't know if that's still a possibility- it was a long time ago.
    
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Account Deleted Tue 31 Oct 2017 04:23AM UTC

The idea that people are spamming a Fanfiction site/archive is just so hilarious to me
Like why what are they getting out of it
Keep up the good work and good luck
Question dose this have a lift date or is it just until further notice I have a friend who wants to become a member

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1. JeannieXCBronze Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:55PM UTC
  
  Probably just whenever they fix it. it's still an until further notice so...
  
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BrittDub1 Tue 31 Oct 2017 04:25AM UTC

Wow ALL I gotta say is why... Well I hope there is something you guys will be able to do to stop that and let real authors join again

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offbeat_lover Tue 31 Oct 2017 04:37AM UTC

Thank you all for your hard work to make sure this site stays free of spam trolls. I'm sure this is a nightmare for you, but please know your diligence and hard work are appreciated.

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Aauron Tue 31 Oct 2017 05:36AM UTC

If these are largely bots, then there are ways of detecting those. Like the "are you a robot" captcha stuff. If its people, then I know that there is also spam detecting auto mod software that can be used.
Disqus has their own methods for this: https://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/466244-dealing-with-spam
Its ok to post a link right?

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1. Foxglove87B Tue 31 Oct 2017 12:03PM UTC
  
  The "are you are a robot" captchas are called ReCaptcha and made by Google: among other things, they are used to track people, get free mechanical turk work, and softban IP adresses with the "you're doing too much" reply.
  They are one of the worst solution for users, just see how people still prefer the legacy captcha over at 4chan: barely readable text is still better than having to click through 20+ images for an arbitrary amount of times.
  
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2. 1. liseraptorknight Wed 01 Nov 2017 05:34AM UTC
    
    At this point, a captcha system might be the last resort the site has. ReCaptcha does stink though.
    
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  2. 1. Foxglove87B Wed 01 Nov 2017 10:26AM UTC
      
      There is at least one malicious site that bypasses captcha all the time, don't remember the name but it was founded somewhere on 8chan furry boards to scam patreons
      
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    2. 1. liseraptorknight Thu 02 Nov 2017 02:51AM UTC
        
        I must be really out of the loop.
        
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  3. Aauron Wed 01 Nov 2017 04:18PM UTC
    
    Not all image selectors for detecting bots are the same. There are some that just give you an option of 4 - 5 images to choose, and you have to choose the two correct images that it identifies. Only once per time.
    
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  4. 1. Foxglove87B Thu 02 Nov 2017 11:33AM UTC
      
      Choosing two images out of five can be done in (5*4*3/2) = 30 ways, which is too low and can be brute forced by bots.
      Image selection captchas are fundamentally inefficient at separating bots from humans, most of the time they are a thinly veiled excuse to get free work out of the users, and they have significantly higher bandwidth costs than other methods.
      
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  5. neobionic Thu 02 Nov 2017 09:13AM UTC
    
    dreamwidth just use a bunch of simple questions as captcha. maybe that could work?
    
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  6. 1. Foxglove87B Thu 02 Nov 2017 11:28AM UTC
      
      It might take some effort for it to work well in other languages and in audio form but your idea is the best I've seen so far
      
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3. sarken (AO3_ADT) (Official) Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:11PM UTC
  
  Hi, Aauron!
  Thanks for the suggestion and the link -- I'll make sure the rest of the development team sees it!
  Sarken
  Archive development team
  
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Saudade_Sehnsucht Tue 31 Oct 2017 05:42AM UTC

This might be a really radical suggestion, but do you have a way to void all invitation requests people already have or completely torpedo the queue clean and start over?
And also, maybe have a day where you encourage users to hunt down accounts- Like AnonEhouse suggested below?

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1. sarken (AO3_ADT) (Official) Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:17PM UTC
  
  Hi, Saudade_Sehnsucht!
  The queue is currently empty, but we do have ways of clearing it without sending invitations if necessary.
  Regarding AnonEhouse's spam hunt suggestion, our main issue is preventing the spammers from getting accounts in the first place. AO3 users have been very helpful when it comes to letting us know about spam works, so we feel an organized spam hunt is unnecessary at this time.
  Sarken
  Archive development team
  
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SaraTheLazyCat Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:11AM UTC

OMG this is really infuriating and upsetting. Stupid spammers are making it really unfair for so many people. I feel really sorry for the staff who have to deal with this :(
Why can't we just have nice things without getting them ruined by others :(
I wish the team all the best and hope the spam will stop soon!
(though knowing the internet, I doubt it will T-T )

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BigSister Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:29AM UTC

What's an invitation?

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1. AnonEhouse Tue 31 Oct 2017 02:41PM UTC
  
  An invitation is an alpha-numeric code (each one is unique, generated for a single time use) that must be applied before a user account can be generated at AO3.
  AO3 controls invitations to try to keep site growth within manageable levels. Several times in the past invitations have been temporarily halted simply because the site couldn't handle much more load.
  The spam influx is a different sort of problem, but stopping invitations is part of the way the need to deal with it.
  
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draph91 Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:52AM UTC

spam works?

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Ana (Guest) Tue 31 Oct 2017 09:29AM UTC

I don't know how practical this suggestion is, but maybe a button to mark a story as spam might be a good way to unburden you guys from looking for the spam all by yourself.
To not get false spam claims you might only let registered users use the spam button and a false claim leads to an account deletion (to make sure the button is not abused).
but that is just an idea. sad that asshats are doing this.

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1. Qem Tue 31 Oct 2017 12:18PM UTC
  
  That feature already exists with the report abuse button in the footer (although I think it is already limited to user accounts - not sure as I’m always logged in as a user) but it’s not always enough. Basically if a user is reporting a spammer, it means that the spammers have already gotten through and they may have posted quite a bit of spam.
  
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2. 1. Just a note (Guest) Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:22AM UTC
    
    Just to quickly clarify: actually you can send abuse reports without being logged in or registered, you're just asked to fill in an email address so the Abuse team can get back to you.
    
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RichardGraysonPercyJackson Tue 31 Oct 2017 11:14AM UTC

So I'm fairly new to AO3. What do they mean by spam accounts?

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1. AnonEhouse Tue 31 Oct 2017 02:49PM UTC
  
  Accounts that post advertisements, or simply lists of keywords, or links, to products and services.
  Occasionally they may even be a 'story', text copied from somewhere else with their product/services randomly inserted throughout.
  It looks useless until you realize that the object is to increase their ranking in searches by appearing many times on the internet.
  
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2. 1. RichardGraysonPercyJackson Tue 31 Oct 2017 04:07PM UTC
    
    Ah, okay, that makes sense.
    Thanks!
    
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Foxglove87B Tue 31 Oct 2017 12:06PM UTC

I hope the problem can be solved swiftly, hard to expand the userbase otherwise.
Have you considered implementing a simple, old style text captcha to invitation requests?
It won't stop all spammers, but it won't annoy actual users either.

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1. sarken (AO3_ADT) (Official) Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:20PM UTC
  
  Hi, Foxglove87B!
  Thank you for the suggestion! Captchas are one of the options we're discussing, but we need to carefully consider how any measures we take to stop spammers will affect legitimate users who speak a number of languages and have a wide range of privacy and accessibility needs.
  Sarken
  Archive development team
  
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2. 1. Foxglove87B Wed 01 Nov 2017 10:13PM UTC
    
    Thanks for the reply, I'm happy to see that privacy and accessibility are important for the Archive.
    
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Ann Huizenga (Guest) Tue 31 Oct 2017 12:50PM UTC

I want to join (I was referred by a friend), but every time I click on Create an Account, it brings me to the page that says invitations are disabled. How, then, do I create an account?

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1. myoonki Tue 31 Oct 2017 01:27PM UTC
  
  Unfortunately you can't for the time being. That's what this page is saying. You create an account through an invitation, which is basically giving them your email. Your email is added to a queue, and they go down the list and send out a limited amount of invitations every day (around 2,000 if I remember correctly). When it's your turn to get one, you're sent an email with the link to finish making your account.
  The issue is spammers have been going through this process, requesting invitations and then filling the servers with promotions to their content/product. Sadly, they won't be returning the invitations until they've gotten a handle of the situation. When there's a significant amount of spamming, it deteriorates the quality of the server, thus bringing down the quality of the site.
  Once invitations are back up, however, you should be able to request your account as usual. Be sure to keep an eye on it, though. It can take a good week sometimes to get an invitation on a regular basis. Now since they've been cut off, it wouldn't be a stretch to expect an influx of invitation requests and it's better to be at the front of the line.
  
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2. 1. zessa Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:43PM UTC
    
    Myoonki's got it. However, if your friend has an account and happened to have a few invites generated on their account. They can give you one of those. Otherwise... you can still comment and give kudos.
    
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Josie (Guest) Tue 31 Oct 2017 01:09PM UTC

When would it be possible for me to put in an Invitation Request, as I am assuming that the list is still down?
If it is possible then please add my name to the list. See my other comment for details.

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1. myoonki Tue 31 Oct 2017 01:30PM UTC
  
  They don't have an expected date, but when it is back up you need to go to the request page and put in your email. I suggest checking in one or two times a day, as it can be a while before you even receive an invite after requesting one.
  
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rarepairheathen Tue 31 Oct 2017 01:25PM UTC

Dang. I hope my daughter is accepted. She received an invite weeks ago in hopes we could publish the collab work we've been writing. Wattpad doesn't allow collab works on there so we hope this is still a viable option to post our upcoming fic.

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1. myoonki Tue 31 Oct 2017 01:28PM UTC
  
  If she already received the invite then she should be able to make her account.
  
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2. 1. rarepairheathen Tue 31 Oct 2017 04:38PM UTC
    
    Thank you, that's a relief.
    
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3. CactusAss Thu 02 Nov 2017 09:26PM UTC
  
  ((I love the concept of writing fanfiction with your daughter. I'm serious when I say that's quality family bonding, and I wish my parents were that cool :) ))
  
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4. 1. rarepairheathen Fri 03 Nov 2017 02:13AM UTC
    
    Aww, well I think so too. My daughter and I are very close and are hardcore fandom nerds. I'm not sure I'm exactly *cool* but I'll take it. XDD
    
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xofrnk_ieroxo Tue 31 Oct 2017 02:43PM UTC

Sorry to hear. I hope you have this sorted out soon. I just told a friend about this website because I love it and I thought she may too. I was so disappointing when I heard and just had to tell her. Anyways I hope this fixes soon.

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1. Diamond_Raven Wed 01 Nov 2017 03:59AM UTC
  
  Your friend can still read/comment/kudos on the site without an account. She can't post her own work or mark favourites or set up subscriptions, but she can still read and give feedback.
  
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AnonEhouse Tue 31 Oct 2017 03:08PM UTC

The Status Twitter account hasn't had an update since the 23rd, when it announced invites would be turned off for a week.
I don't blame AO3 for being too busy to update status, but it does rather limit the usefulness of the Twitter Status.

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1. AnonEhouse Wed 01 Nov 2017 03:07PM UTC
  
  Ok, it's been updated now. It doesn't add any information to this thread, but does say invitations remain disabled for the time being.
  The Time Being is SPOILED ROTTEN. Everyone does things for it!
  
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