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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Riari Thu 02 Nov 2017 07:34PM UTC

It's very sad that this site is being attacked by spammers. And it's doubly sad that this happened right now because in Russia fanfic-writers were deprived at once of two sites where they could publish their works. I hope you will soon defeat spammers and open a site for new authors who have lost their creative houses.
I am a reader, and I want to do subscribe and kudos for authors.

Last Edited Thu 02 Nov 2017 07:39PM UTC

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1. Snowgrouse Fri 03 Nov 2017 06:19AM UTC
  
  You can leave comments and kudos without an account. And you seem to be a logged-in user, so why couldn't you subscribe and leave kudos? All Ao3 accounts are the same. And those who don't have accounts can bookmark their favourites for the time being, or use something like del.icio.us for organising their fic bookmarks (which is what a lot of people did before Ao3). The site's undergoing all kinds of b0rkeries right now, but it's better than nothing.
  
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2. 1. Riari Fri 03 Nov 2017 06:35AM UTC
    
    If you are a registered user, you can make a library of authors, this is subscribe. And this library will not perish if the browser's bookmarks are breaks. But I'm worried about the authors who were deprived of their sites for fanfiction. These are talented people, I'm sorry to lose their creativity. I wish you to defeat spammers as soon as possible and start accepting new authors.
    
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3. KP_and_her_fics Fri 03 Nov 2017 10:05PM UTC
  
  And what is the second site? :)
  
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4. 1. Riari Sat 04 Nov 2017 04:25AM UTC
    
    Diary and Ficbook (There is no such panic as was in the Diary, everything is quiet, but many authors are leaving because of inadequate administrators. And readers leave after the authors).
    
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  2. 1. KP_and_her_fics Sat 04 Nov 2017 10:03PM UTC
      
      And what about Ficbook?! I know about Diary, but know nothing about Ficbook... Oh sorry, it's offtopic here... OK, I'll try to find info, 10x.
      
      Last Edited Sat 04 Nov 2017 10:05PM UTC
      
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    2. 1. Riari Sun 05 Nov 2017 03:31AM UTC
        
        Admins lost the little adequacy they had, came up with new foolish rules, and the people began to quietly migrate to other sites. But the sites are few, so many hope for AO3.
        
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Manami (Guest) Thu 02 Nov 2017 07:58PM UTC

*Sniff* to all my bad luck I wanted to sign up on 23rd October (I had an old account long ago, I forgot what name I even used on it though, so I thought I'd rejoin) and now I feel like this is a sign I shouldn't get back to writing OTL

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1. Silex Thu 02 Nov 2017 09:37PM UTC
  
  Don't feel that way, instead look at it as a sign that you should be preparing to post longer works! By the time registration reopens you can have a stockpile of several chapters ready to go, a buffer to maintain a regular update schedule!
  
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Alexis Soutter (Guest) Thu 02 Nov 2017 10:00PM UTC

I would love to create an account once that option becomes available again! Thank you.
-Alexis

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Skye (Guest) Fri 03 Nov 2017 01:15AM UTC

I love this site and have found tons of amazing writers that share similar interests as me and I was hoping to make an account and try writing my own stories but now I'll have to wait. Hope the spamming issue gets fixed soon.

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Sarah (Guest) Fri 03 Nov 2017 03:39AM UTC

When are we gonna be able to make an acc? It’s been over a week, like I’m fr fr bout to give up in even trying on here..

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1. Fluffyboots (Guest) Fri 03 Nov 2017 10:59AM UTC
  
  I'm waiting to make an account as well. A general estimation would be good, a few days, weeks... months? :(
  But on the bright side, hopefully this site will have better security and a lot less spam by the time we can finally join.
  
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Spicy_Onions (Guest) Fri 03 Nov 2017 01:50PM UTC

Ugh I had to choose to try and create an account right in the middle of this mess. I hope this issue gets resolved soon. I've just had a thought though: when invitations are re-enabled a ton of people are going to apply for accounts at the same time. That will probably cause it's own problems. Just a thought.

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1. AnonEhouse Fri 03 Nov 2017 05:24PM UTC
  
  Disclaimer, not an AO3 volunteer, but as I understand it:
  Since all the invitations go through a queue, AO3 controls the rate at which accounts *CAN* be created and they will only send out invites as the site can handle the increase. It'll probably mean longer than usual waiting time to get an invite, but shouldn't cause problems with the site itself, I think.
  You COULD get an invite and hold onto it and not use it immediately, but after waiting on line I think most people would make the account as soon as they got the invite.
  Apparently at least part of the reason they stopped letting users request extra invites for friends was that AO3 didn't know when the guest invites would be used and sometimes this resulted in too many accounts being made at once.
  
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2. 1. Spicy_Onions (Guest) Fri 03 Nov 2017 06:00PM UTC
    
    Ah okay. Thanks. You've been really helpful answering questions people have. Thank you we appreciate it.
    
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Sam (Guest) Fri 03 Nov 2017 05:15PM UTC

I hope things will be fine and hopeful that the problem. Can be fixed cause I really wanna write something,, I hope every thing will be okay there...

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gryffindoristhebest (Guest) Fri 03 Nov 2017 06:09PM UTC

im 14 and love pjo/hoo, basically all Rick Riorda, JK Rowling books etc

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1. Hiiiiiiiiipeople (Guest) Fri 03 Nov 2017 11:08PM UTC
  
  Saaaame, but I prefer Slytherin :)
  
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SamSadi Fri 03 Nov 2017 08:30PM UTC

I know it might not be a complete, and final idea. But what if you were to have them submit a work, for the invitation to Ao3, to help weed out some of the spam. This wouldn't work for every user, as some users are just readers. But to help with new authors coming it might be a temporary solution.
Either that, or have members that are credible, that have works already with the system to be able to refer a member.
Again, these wouldn't be a final solution, but it might help some flow of new authors, and possibly new works coming into Ao3.

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1. Uber (Guest) Fri 03 Nov 2017 11:09PM UTC
  
  That's actually a really good idea. I think it could work as a temporary solution.
  
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2. AnonEhouse Sat 04 Nov 2017 12:25AM UTC
  
  I've been following this post & reading all the comments AO3 volunteers have added.
  The problem with your first thought is that it would require manual verification. A variant suggestion was made that just the first work posted by a new account would be verified -that would be easier than your idea because people who only want to read make up the majority of AO3's users* but it still would be an additional burden on the already heavy workload for AO3's volunteers. (I'm not a volunteer, but I know how long it takes for them to be able to reply when I report problems.) They need an automated system to weed out Spam before accounts are made- I have no idea what they're doing, but I'm guessing they're trying to figure out a way to do this.
  AO3 had in the past allowed current users to request guest invitations that they could give out, but that caused problems, not just because a spammer would get invites, too (fans are generous and not really suspicious), but because AO3 would have no control over when the new accounts were made, which resulted in unpredictable server load at times.
  
  *Data from August 26, 2016 that some wonderful people collated and made into bar graphs.
  http://ao3org.tumblr.com/post/149705819893/inspired-by-this-post-by-toastystats-on-the
  
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3. 1. SamSadi Sat 04 Nov 2017 01:41AM UTC
    
    I understand the first part, and I get that.
    But the second part. I didn't mean, allow the user who invited someone to have full control over it. So, a spammer couldn't just as for an invite, have a member that is established, to invite someone. An author from another site, for instance. And then to be reviewed by the staff/volunteers.
    Or as someone had mentioned, I believe they had mentioned. There could be two forms of accounts. One where you were just a reader, with book marks and history. And then have some way of applying for access to post stories.
    Something similar to forum privileges. Site staff. That accounts could be made, that can't post, unless their permissions were raised.
    I'm not sure if that's possible or not. But it's worth a suggestion.
    
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  2. 1. AnonEhouse Sat 04 Nov 2017 01:49AM UTC
      
      I don't know if AO3 is going to go with anything that requires manual effort. They did say they were considering manual review of first works, but it sounded doubtful.
      I don't know what a 'reader only' account would involve in the way of coding- and since Spammers can spam *comments* as well as works, I guess the limited access accounts would not be allowed to do that, either.
      Which would be sad, because writers like getting comments.
      I wish they would update this post to give us some idea what's going on behind the scenes.
      Anyway, sooner or later someone *official* will read this, but if you want to be SURE AO3 hears your suggestion, use the Technical Support and Feedback link at the bottom of the page to send it to them.
      
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    2. 1. SamSadi Sat 04 Nov 2017 01:55AM UTC
        
        Well, the 'Reader Accounts' Would be able to post comments. But lest say... There be a Captcha to post... Or maybe even a time limit between posts, since reading chapters, usually take more than 5 minutes, that would be a good place to start. Or be allowed so many comments.
        Like fanficiton.net, only allows a user to post one comment per chapter. So they can't spam, or some reason.
        Of course, replies wouldn't count as multiple postings, since that's one of the few ways to communicate with your favorite authors, or fans is through comment sections of stories.
        This would require more thought.
        
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      2. YoshiMunchkin Sat 04 Nov 2017 09:32AM UTC
        
        "Like fanficiton.net, only allows a user to post one comment per chapter. So they can't spam, or some reason."
        "Of course, replies wouldn't count as multiple postings, since that's one of the few ways to communicate with your favorite authors, or fans is through comment sections of stories."
        There are concerns with the idea you raised:
        1. Then what will happen if a spammer abuse the loophole of not counting replies as comments?
        2. IIRC, Ao3 counts replies as comments/posts in an effort to "advertise" the works of the authors. This may lead to confusion on the part of the authors and the readers.
        
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        SamSadi Sat 04 Nov 2017 01:35PM UTC
        
        I believe, in order to make a good argument, you neglected to read, or neglected to include the part, where I said that part would take more time to think about. Concerning the multiple replies to comments.
        If you are going to quote what I type, I would ask that you quote it, in it's entirety. Instead of utilizing parts of it to make an argument, or to twist it's original meaning.
        Thank you.
        
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Random+person (Guest) Fri 03 Nov 2017 11:54PM UTC

I've seen this thing where a thing for keeping out bots is you have a picture of some letters out in the world like on a wall or a mailbox and you type the words in so I'm thinking that maybe you could have someone write on a peice of paper something like 'Aalz19wqR2' and you could translate the thing asking them to write it in?

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1. SamSadi Sat 04 Nov 2017 01:45AM UTC
  
  I think you mean the Captcha
  
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CANA123 (Guest) Sat 04 Nov 2017 03:06AM UTC

( •̀∀•́ )

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Tiallia (Guest) Sat 04 Nov 2017 05:27AM UTC

You have a very good site! Among sites outside of Russia, only AO3 has many readers for Russian-language fanfics. I wish you to solve the problem quickly and start accepting new authors. We lost one creative house and lose the second, so we hope for AO3.
And I hope not for a very long time waiting for invitations after applying for registration.

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Sofia (Guest) Sat 04 Nov 2017 06:17AM UTC

Hey!I just wanna read fanfictions

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1. Diamond_Raven Sun 05 Nov 2017 11:10PM UTC
  
  You don't need an account to read fic. You can even comment and leave kudos without an account.
  
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iryne (Guest) Sat 04 Nov 2017 09:54AM UTC

Dear all the kind AO3 inhabitants,
I am a regular guest but recently, I had been inactive on most social medias (including AO3) due to some personal reasons. I like reading the stories and I had checked on one of my favorite stories that I bookmarked in my browser. I've already seen the banner but I'm not sure what it meant. Then the story I clicked on showed it could not be seen by a non-member. So I was like, okay, yes, show me how to be one, and IT BLOODY BLOCKED ME.
I didn't make an account because I'm more of a reader than a writer and my stories consist of teacups and rainbows, no one sane would click them. That also secures the spamming part because I can't write one good story for my life (except homeworks, that's one hell of a life-death matter).
I don't intend to disrespect but well, can't blame someone in love (actually you can but that's another thing, and I'm in love with a story), and so I hereby ask for a secret magical gateway to be one of the AO3 members. Please? Because seeing that there is no estimated date I went crazy.
Sincerely,
A hella pissed off fangirl.
;)

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1. iryne (Guest) Sat 04 Nov 2017 10:08AM UTC
  
  I sound really unpatient and bratty omg I'm so sorry. Omg I understand if you ignore me, I apologize.
  
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2. 1. AnonEhouse Sat 04 Nov 2017 02:36PM UTC
    
    I understand frustration. *hugs*
    All I can say is that IF someone reads this thread and offers you an invitation (a LONG time ago current users were able to ask for guest invite codes and could keep them for later use, so there may still be a few around)... don't put your email in this post.
    You'll have no way of deleting it later, and the spammers ALREADY posted a comment in any earlier Admin post, so they could get it & you know, blast your email with spam.
    
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  2. 1. iryne (Guest) Mon 06 Nov 2017 03:47AM UTC
      
      Thank you, you must know how insufferable the pain is for not reading the chapter you've been waiting for ages :"v
      Anyways, thank you for the tip, I'll be sure not to give out any email address. I think I'm going to borrow my friend's AO3 account for the meantime, at least until I can join for myself. Thanks for replying though! :D
      
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Boyf+Riends+4+life (Guest) Sat 04 Nov 2017 04:54PM UTC

I have a work that I want to post, But i don't know how i can do that. Do i have to create an account or something like that to post stuff?

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1. AnonEhouse Sat 04 Nov 2017 05:16PM UTC
  
  You need an account to post works, but currently AO3 isn't giving out new account requests. I don't know when they're going to reopen the Invite Requests- it's been disabled since Oct 23rd and they haven't given any idea when they might begin again.
  If you read the main post on this it will tell you where to find the place to ask for an account, once they start up again. To keep the site stable they limit the number of new accounts that can be made in a day, so once it opens, you add your email to the list, and wait until they send you an invite code (each code is individually generated and can only be used once.)
  They send out invites in the order received, up to the limit per day (I don't know how many that is). Once you're on the list you can check back to see how many requests are ahead of you.
  
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Crystallized_Wolfie (Guest) Sat 04 Nov 2017 07:04PM UTC

Too bad, I really want to make an account

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1. Crystallized_Wolfie (Guest) Sat 04 Nov 2017 07:06PM UTC
  
  I hope this issue is solved soon
  
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