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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Pretty_Handsome Tue 31 Oct 2017 03:30PM UTC

I hope it wasn't racist/homophobic/sexist stuff from t_d, 4Chan or the such...

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1. AnonEhouse Tue 31 Oct 2017 03:39PM UTC
  
  I saw four of the accounts, and it was just commercial, the ones I saw were all about streaming sporting events. AO3 mentioned that there were also ads for illegal downloads of movies.
  Still messed things up, but at least it wasn't intentionally offensive.
  
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KP_and_her_fics Tue 31 Oct 2017 03:53PM UTC

So sorry about that :( Hope you'll be able to fix it. Some of my friends need an invitation from me, but I've got none and surely can't request new ones.
And sure I'd like AO3 never had such problems. Good luck solving them!

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OracleofDoom Tue 31 Oct 2017 04:35PM UTC

What if you changed the way Invitations are handled, so that currently registered users may invite people they know? Then newcomers essentially have a reference to vouch for them. Just a thought. I don't have anyone I'm itching to invite. I just thought I'd make the suggestion as a way to help mitigate spam accounts.

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1. AnonEhouse Tue 31 Oct 2017 05:16PM UTC
  
  I'm not a volunteer, but one of the AO3 peeps did say earlier that they had to shut down the 'friend invite' system due to abuse and spam.
  I guess once a spammer gets an account (which they could get from an honest user by lying and working on their sympathy), they were abusing the system to get invites for other spammers.
  I tried to think of ways it could work- like only allowing users who had posted X number of works over X amount of time X number of guest invites per year. That way, you'd have to earn the right to have guest invites and you'd be more careful about giving them to actual fans.
  I used to have an extra invite, and when there was a temporary halt to the invite queue (at that time due simply to server load) several people asked me for it. I checked them all out, and gave it to the person I knew had posted actual fan works elsewhere.
  
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2. 1. OracleofDoom Tue 31 Oct 2017 05:44PM UTC
    
    Giving users a finite number of invites, or just having them earn them over time seems like a possibility. But I've only been here a few months, so I'm not really necessarily up to date with what has been tried already, and with what specific issues have arisen from them.
    I do love this site and I am all in favor of doing what needs to be done to keep it a nice place.
    
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  2. 1. Diamond_Raven Wed 01 Nov 2017 03:58AM UTC
      
      When the site first launched, users were given invitations to invite other people, but that got out of hand because the staff couldn't control the number of new accounts being created (they couldn't control when the invitations were used to create new accounts). It caused a big strain on the servers, so that's when AO3 implemented the invitation queue and stopped issuing gift-invites to current users. This way, they can control how many new accounts are being created and they can keep the traffic flow on the site stable so the servers don't overload.
      
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    2. 1. CactusAss Thu 02 Nov 2017 09:28PM UTC
        
        This was really informative,, thank you :)
        
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EmmsyWhimsy (Guest) Tue 31 Oct 2017 07:08PM UTC

*Sigh* Just my luck. After years of lurking and reading, I finally decide to write a story and post it here only to find that they have only just now closed down new membership.
Is there anything that members (or even non-members like myself who want it fixed so we can join) can do to assist? Would us hunting down spammers help? Or even coming up with a way/code to hunt for spammers? If I were to go find a bunch and report them, would that be helpful or harmful?

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1. LadyOscar (AO3_ADT) (Official) Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:47PM UTC
  
  Hi, EmmsyWhimsy,
  Our developers are currently working with our abuse and support teams to design and implement solutions. In the meantime, you can help by reporting spam works to Abuse using the "Report Abuse" link in the site footer.
  Best,
  Lady Oscar
  Archive development team
  
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2. 1. EmmsyWhimsy (Guest) Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:50PM UTC
    
    Thanks! I have a list of 7 spammers to report thus far.
    
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  2. gangnam_stiles Wed 01 Nov 2017 07:21PM UTC
    
    And what about spam comments? Will it be helpfull if we report those, too?
    If yes, i hope it doesn't make a difference which language the spam's in?
    
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  3. 1. sarken (AO3_ADT) (Official) Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:01PM UTC
      
      Hi, gangnam_stiles!
      It's definitely helpful if you report spam comments! You can report them no matter what language they're in.
      If the spam comments are on your own work and were left by a spammer without an account, there should be a "Spam" button on the comment that you can use to mark it as spam.
      If you find spam comments on someone else's work, or if the spam comments are left by a logged in user, you can follow the "Thread" link on the comment and then use the "Report Abuse" link in the footer to report it directly to Abuse.
      Sarken
      Archive development team
      
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3. enchantedsleeper Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:49PM UTC
  
  Hey, I have one invite code going spare, if you'd like it? You'd have to let me know your email address, or we can find a way to communicate on another platform, but the offer is there :) ~enchantedsleeper
  
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4. 1. EmmsyWhimsy (Guest) Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:56PM UTC
    
    That would be awesome, if possible -- thanks! I'm hesitant to post my email on here (particularly given that the subject of this thread is spam) -- maybe we are both on another platform? You're not on fanfiction.net by any chance, are you? I used to post Marvel and Mentalist stuff there occasionally, but decided I like AO3 better. Other than that, Pinterest is about it for accounts that I can think of and still know my password to.
    
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  2. 1. enchantedsleeper Tue 31 Oct 2017 09:05PM UTC
      
      Hey! Yes, I'm on FF.net under the same username. Send me a PM there! :3
      
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    2. 1. EmmsyWhimsy (Guest) Tue 31 Oct 2017 09:44PM UTC
        
        Done! Thanks!
        
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5. Random+person (Guest) Fri 03 Nov 2017 11:30PM UTC
  
  I feel you, buddy.
  I'm thinking the same thing. Is there a way to hunt for spam posts and report the users?
  Like some sort of search?
  
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basedangie Tue 31 Oct 2017 07:46PM UTC

Is there anything we as members can do to help with this? I see a lot of works with the type of spam you're trying to combat, but I don't see any feature to report them. Thanks for all your hard work!

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1. LadyOscar (AO3_ADT) (Official) Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:51PM UTC
  
  Hi, basedangie,
  You can report spam works to our Abuse committee using the "Report Abuse link in the site footer.
  Best,
  Lady Oscar
  Archive development team
  
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RedGlassesGirl Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:05PM UTC

Translation spanish (I did this to keep some friends updated about he issue, if it's of any use for you please take it)
"(Publicado el 30/10/2017)
El fin de semana pasado tuvimos que deshabilitar los pedidos de nuevas invitaciones para ocuparnos de una excesiva cantidad de spam posteada en el Archivo. Mientras nuestro equipo de Abusos continua baneando esas cuentas y borrando cientos de trabajos spam, el problema persiste y podría empeorar si volvemos a otorgar invitaciones.
Tomamos la decisión de mantener el queue (lista en cola de espera) de invitaciones cerrado por el momento mientras tomamos medidas para evitar que el spam sea posteado en primer lugar. Esto significa que no podrán crear nuevas cuentas a menos que hayan recibido una invitación previa de un amigo o de nuestra lista de espera automática. (Si pediste una invitación antes del 22 de Octubre y no la recibiste, por favor revisa tu carpeta de spam y, si usas Gmail, tu pestaña “Social”. Si aun eres incapaz de encontrar tu invitación, puedes contactar al Soporte especificando tu problema). Lamentamos muchísimo negar invitaciones a usuarios legítimos, pero la cantidad de spam que está siendo posteada está afectando la experiencia de usuario de todos, no vemos otra solución por el momento para encarar este problema.
Reabriremos las invitaciones apenas nos sea posible, sin embargo no tenemos una fecha estimada en este momento. Cuando los pedidos sean rehabilitados, el link de “Get invited!” volverá a la pagina principal, y la pagina de Invitation Requests incluirá un formulario para que te agregues a la lista de espera. (La opción de solicitar códigos para amigos ha sido deshabilitada desde la ultima ola de spam, y no tenemos planes de volverla a activar en un futuro cercano).
Cualquier actualización será provista en este post y en nuestra cuenta de Twitter @AO3_Statuts. Para obtener mas información sobre el sistema del Archivo, visiten el Invitations FAQ."

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J. Pierre (Guest) Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:19PM UTC

Hello I am a 1D fan and I have learned about this site wed, I would like to please give me an invitation to be part of this community, I just want to read Larry fics, thank you for your attention.
Postscript 1: I'm not a crazy person to insult or something like that.
Postscript 2: a lot of love for you from Ecuador ♥.

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1. Diamond_Raven Wed 01 Nov 2017 03:54AM UTC
  
  Invitations aren't being given out right now due to the staff fighting spam accounts. Once invitations are opened again, you have to click the 'Get Invited' link on the home page and add yourself to the waiting list.
  
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2. myoonki Wed 01 Nov 2017 04:45PM UTC
  
  You can still read stories without having an account. There are occasionally stories that are locked to only those with an account, but those are very few in number. The majority of stories on this site are open to the public. You can even leave kudos and comments without an account.
  As a reader, this temporary situation only prohibits the "History" feature where a list of everything you've read is complied along with how many times you've read the particular piece, and if it's been updated since. You also cannot bookmark things, but again you are still open to read as many fics as you want as long as the other has restrictions on it that prohibit you from doing so.
  
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JeannieXCBronze Tue 31 Oct 2017 08:38PM UTC

There could be a verification email or a verification code, perhaps? Something that spams or robots cannot do?

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1. sarken (AO3_ADT) (Official) Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:22PM UTC
  
  Hi, JeannieXCBronze!
  Thanks for the suggestion -- I'll pass it along to the rest of the team.
  Sarken
  Archive development team
  
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2. 1. JeannieXCBronze Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:50PM UTC
    
    :)
    
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Nindragon (Guest) Tue 31 Oct 2017 11:04PM UTC

Aww this really sucks. The time when i finally decide to get an account on here too, this happens. I understand though. I hope you guys are able to fix it soon!

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Julie Sæther (Guest) Wed 01 Nov 2017 12:30AM UTC

What about us who already had a user? I have been a user for months and now im suddenly kick out? why?

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1. Diamond_Raven Wed 01 Nov 2017 03:52AM UTC
  
  That doesn't sound like it's related to the spam issue. I'd email Support directly and ask for help.
  
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majorwrll Wed 01 Nov 2017 01:39AM UTC

Despicable evil entities.

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wow_ie Wed 01 Nov 2017 02:47AM UTC

sorry to hear that, honestly i still dont understand what people would want to achieve by spamming n stuff (well except for attention and ads but i mean-)

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Alien Tourist (Guest) Wed 01 Nov 2017 04:50AM UTC

Hi, I've got a suggestion to help combat the spam accounts. In the new form new users have to fill in order to get an invite request why not have 'essay questions'. Questions like; 'what fandoms are you into and why?, or 'what made you decide to join Ao3?" The goal here wouldn't be to evaluate a person's writing skill and much less so their personal tastes in fandom, but rather to have them preform a task that would be simple for someone who legitimately wants to contribute as a writer and reader of fanfic, but a real tedious pain for anyone intending to make dozens of spam accounts manually, and darn near impossible for simple spam bots to do.
Also is it possible to get a ball park figure of when we can expect invitation requests to be available again?

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1. sarken (AO3_ADT) (Official) Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:05PM UTC
  
  Hi, Alien Tourist!
  Thank you for the suggestion! Stopping spammers before they can register is definitely the ideal, 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.
  Unfortunately, we can't yet estimate when the queue will be back on.
  Sarken
  Archive development team
  
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2. CactusAss Thu 02 Nov 2017 09:45PM UTC
  
  okay.. it's a good idea in theory,, but like, couldn't you have like a dozen or so different answers you alternate copy-pasting between when making different accounts (for spammers I mean,,)?? I remember there's a music review website called like, "slice of pie" or something like that, and basically you write reviews and get like, 2 cents every review.. so what people would do, is they would create a java program, and it would basically create a review for the user, after filling out the form (like,, "the music's tempo was: a. slow b. medium c. fast,, ect, ect..).. and just from answering those questions, it would give you different versions of the same paragraph, and people would use these as their reviews. (is it really worth two cents though?? that was rhetorical, obviously not. ) BUT I digress.. What I'm trying to say is, what's to stop someone from making a program like that, but for the purpose of getting past the essay questions? That's just my thinking. ((also, wouldn't it be a pain in the ass for someone to have to look through all those answers?? that poor person))
  reading through this I'm just like, "wow you could have worded a lot of things better", but I hope maybe this made some sense??
  
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3. 1. Alien Tourist (Guest) Fri 03 Nov 2017 09:03AM UTC
    
    Hey Sarken thank you for replying to my post, and you're quite right about none English speakers, I certainly wans't suggesting we exclude them.
    CactusaAss, wow sheesh I guess where there's a will (and there usually is whenever money is involved) there's a way. But the concept of having some kind of a task to be preformed that is easy for human and difficult for bots I think might be the best solution, to significantly decrease spam accounts is key. There's always the old fashion Captcha method and the various iterations of it. These are my personal favorites.
    http://sweetcaptcha.com/
    https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-math-captcha/
    Of course they could also give users the option to link an account to a phone number, I don't think it would be fair to have it as a requirement since as Sarken mentioned it's important to consider an individuals privacy needs, and well not everyone has a mobile phone, but perhaps this could be a method to help people get through the screening procedures faster.
    I don't know just throwing out ideas.
    
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AnonEhouse Wed 01 Nov 2017 05:04AM UTC

I wonder if crowd-sourcing spam hunting would help?
Maybe something like 'for every confirmed Spam *account* a user is the *first* to report, they get one invite code they can keep and give to friends?'
That should keep it to manageable numbers and make it a competitive sport. To be fair, they should get a reply letting them know if they were first and get the 'prize'.

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1. enchantedsleeper Wed 01 Nov 2017 07:34AM UTC
  
  1) I think you're underestimating the number of spam accounts that are afflicting AO3. They wouldn't have turned off the invite queue if it wasn't serious. Thus it's not something that can be tackled via manually reporting.
  2) The spam "hunt" would take too much volunteer power to run; that is also not practical. And there are a lot of things that could go wrong with the idea to boot (like legitimate accounts being reported).
  
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2. 1. AnonEhouse Wed 01 Nov 2017 02:54PM UTC
    
    There are an awful lot of users versus a very small number of volunteers working at Abuse so I can see that the invite queue had to be shut down because they were swamped in having to both track down and delete spam accounts and posts.
    They wouldn't have to change much, since the spam reporting system already exists and is open to all users.
    There is already a policy in place to punish false abuse reports and since the spam account would have to be verified before getting the extra invite code there would be no benefit to misusing the process. When I reported spam the Abuse volunteers verified it and then emailed me to let me know they'd taken action (of course you could not report anonymously to do this, because they'd need an email to contact you).
    The only difference would be creating a one-for-one account exchange reward - for each verified spam account reported, the first reporter would get an invite code. They'd have to keep track of which report was first, that's about it.
    There may be practical objections to this, or coding objections, or possibly even problems with AO3's non-profit status (I doubt that, invite codes have no monetary value, giving them out saves time, that's all) but I think it worth consideration.
    
    Last Edited Wed 01 Nov 2017 03:00PM UTC
    
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3. Foxglove87B Wed 01 Nov 2017 10:41AM UTC
  
  Your plan has the fault of letting spam accounts through in the first place, which means that no matter how fast users report them they'll always be back, day after day.
  Keep in mind they are probably managed entirely by bots, so you can't just hope they give up out of frustration.
  
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4. 1. AnonEhouse Wed 01 Nov 2017 02:57PM UTC
    
    Of course it would be far preferable to stop them ever being created, but a back up plan to get the ones that slip through might help reduce the workload on Abuse volunteers.
    It's an arms race- for every leak you plug preventing spam accounts, there's a spammer out there trying to come up with a workaround.
    
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5. sarken (AO3_ADT) (Official) Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:12PM UTC
  
  Hi, AnonEhouse!
  Thank you for the suggestion! Unfortunately, as others have pointed out, 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 an organized spam hunt is unnecessary at this time. (But if you see any, please do report it to Abuse!)
  Sarken
  Archive development team
  
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WaterMystic277 Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:23AM UTC

Oh jeez that sucks

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Kuraiummei Wed 01 Nov 2017 03:14PM UTC

Thank you for your hard work protecting the community! <3

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Shywriter33 Wed 01 Nov 2017 04:35PM UTC

I had just made this account yesterday, and i am confused onto why it suddenly got disabled, i know i did not spam this site, but i hope it will be fixed. Thank you.

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1. AnonEhouse Wed 01 Nov 2017 07:49PM UTC
  
  That sounds like a problem you should ask Technical Support about- scroll down to the Contact Us, and click on Technical Support and Feedback, and explain your problem to them.
  Posting it here doesn't get directly to the people who might be able to help you.
  
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Greenfrogger Wed 01 Nov 2017 05:40PM UTC

If we find spam - is there something we can do about it or should we just report it. If Reporting it, where to?

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1. AnonEhouse Wed 01 Nov 2017 07:46PM UTC
  
  I'm not a AO3 volunteer, but this question I can answer. When you see anything that you think should be reported as a violation of the terms of service, you should just report it to AO3 Abuse and let them handle it.
  If you see what looks like a spam post, click on the work to open it, and then scroll down to the 'report abuse' under 'Contact Us' at the bottom of the page. You can report it from there easily.
  
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2. 1. Greenfrogger Wed 01 Nov 2017 09:10PM UTC
    
    Thank you for the answer. Maybe you know an answer to this question - do these spammers tend to only hit fandoms that have a large number of writings? The one I read the most has only about 350. Do you also know if the spam would use the current date (i.e. November and/or October, 2017) or would they change it to be earlier?
    Thanks
    
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  2. 1. AnonEhouse Wed 01 Nov 2017 09:16PM UTC
      
      I have no idea about how the spammers select targets. I tend to think it's random, and whatever is easiest for their 'bots. They didn't make any effort to disguise the content on the ones I saw, so I don't know that they'd bother to use the backdate function, either.
      It doesn't really matter to us users which fandoms they hit, they mess up site performance for everyone.
      
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    2. 1. CactusAss Thu 02 Nov 2017 09:48PM UTC
        
        dude,, I know you keep saying "I'm not an AO3 volunteer",, but you've been so helpful to people!! and answered so many questions!! thank you! seriously!
        
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      2. AnonEhouse Thu 02 Nov 2017 09:59PM UTC
        
        I just love AO3, and want to help. :^)
        Your icon is adorable. It's hypnotizing me. :^)
        
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        (3 more comments in this thread)
airena (Guest) Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:36PM UTC

I have a couple of stories that I am writing that I would like to post here.

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1. floranocturna Wed 01 Nov 2017 08:47PM UTC
  
  Unfortunately I guess you will have to wait until this avalanche of spammers has been stopped and the queue for the invites is open again. Hopefully it will not be too long. Of course I'm only a normal user, not an AO3 volunteer, so that's as much as I can tell you.
  
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