Archive FAQ > Contacting the Staff

How do I contact AO3 volunteers?

There are a few different ways you can use to contact Archive of Our Own's (AO3) committees. If you need help figuring out which committee can help you best, check out Who do I contact about my issue?

The Support committee answers technical questions about AO3 and helps users who are having difficulties with the site. They're also the committee that deals with account and identity-related issues, such as Fannish Next-of-Kin, lost account access, or doxxing concerns. To contact Support, select the Technical Support & Feedback link in the footer at the bottom of every page under "Contact Us".

If you're unable to access this form, you can use the backup form on transformativeworks.org.

The Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) is responsible for addressing questions and concerns about potential violations of the AO3 Terms of Service (TOS). All reports to the PAC are strictly confidential. To contact PAC, select the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports link at the bottom of every page under "Contact Us".

If your contact is about something else, such as membership or donations, the Open Doors project, media inquiries, scientific research, or legal matters, please get in touch with our parent organization, the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), using their Contact Us form.

Can I contact AO3 volunteers anonymously?

No, you can't. Both the Support and Feedback and Policy Questions & Abuse Reports forms require that you enter a valid email address. This is so that we can contact you if necessary to discuss your question or concern.

If you access the Support and Feedback or the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports forms while logged in to your Archive of Our Own (AO3) account, your account's email address and username will be automatically filled in. This information can be edited, if you'd like.

Who do I contact about my issue?

You can contact Support using the Technical Support & Feedback form, which is linked at the bottom of every page under "Contact Us", if:

  • You need help or technical support.
  • You've lost your password and no longer have access to the email you used to register your Archive of Our Own (AO3) account.
  • You would like to set up a Fannish Next-of-Kin.
  • You want to report duplicate works.
  • You have a question about a tag.
  • You have a question about an orphaned work.
  • You found a work labeled with an incorrect language.
  • You think an answer in the AO3 FAQ is wrong or confusing.
  • You'd like us to add a question to the AO3 FAQ.
  • You want to tell us what you think about AO3.
  • You want to make suggestions for future developments of AO3.
  • You need invitations for a challenge you are running.
  • You have another issue that isn't listed in this FAQ.

You can contact Policy & Abuse (PAC) using the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form, which is linked at the bottom of every page under "Contact Us", if:

  • You received an email informing you that one or more of your works was hidden or deleted by the PAC, but you can't find or didn't receive the email explaining why.
  • You have a red lock icon next to one of your works.
  • Your account is suspended and you don't know why.
  • You want to check if particular content is permitted on AO3 before you post it.
  • You believe your account has been hacked or that someone is trying to hack your account.
  • You have experienced or witnessed harassment on AO3.
  • You believe that someone plagiarized or reposted your content elsewhere on AO3 without your permission.
  • You want to report a violation of the Terms of Service (TOS).
    • Before you submit an Abuse Report, please be sure that what you're reporting does violate the TOS. You can check this by reviewing the Content Policy and the TOS FAQ.
    • Every report is investigated as fully as possible and should only be submitted once. Don't submit extra reports about the same issue unless you have new information. All reports are treated with the same level of priority, so submitting multiple reports about the same issue won't change its position on the priority list.

Contact our parent organization, the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), through their Contact Us form and select the appropriate committee:

  • Communications
  • Development and Membership
    • You have a question about becoming a member or donating money to the OTW.
    • You have a question about shipping and receiving donation rewards.
  • Elections
    • You have a question about voting or candidates in the OTW elections.
  • Legal Advocacy
    • You have a legal inquiry.
    • You want to file a formal DMCA takedown notice.
  • Open Doors
    • You have a contact to share for a fanwork archive that is at risk.
    • You have old fanzines that you wish to share with AO3.

If you wish to volunteer for the OTW, opportunities are posted on the Volunteer page.

What information should I include in my Technical Support & Feedback request?

If you're already logged in to the Archive of Our Own (AO3) when filling out the Technical Support & Feedback form, your account email address and username will be automatically associated with your request. If this email is incorrect, you won't be able to receive communications from AO3, including a response to your query. If you need to update the email address associated with your account, refer to How can I change the email associated with my account?

You can still submit a Technical Support report if you don't have an AO3 account, aren't logged in, or wish to use a different email address and username. You'll need to enter a valid email address which you have access to, so we can respond to you as needed.

If your question concerns a technical problem, please include as much information about the issue as possible. This may include (but is not limited to):

  • The device you're using.
  • The browser you're using (and the version number).
  • The operating system you're using.
  • A link to the item you're having difficulties with.
  • The steps you took to get the result you're experiencing.
  • The result you were expecting to achieve.
  • The exact text of the error message you received (if any).

For requests to appoint a Fannish Next-of-Kin, both you and the person you have designated will need to contact Support separately: you, to request them as your Fannish Next-of-Kin, and them, to accept the responsibility. You can find out more by reading the Fannish Next-of-Kin FAQ.

What information should I include in my Abuse Report?

When filling out the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form, if you're already logged in to the Archive of Our Own (AO3), the form will automatically fill in the email address and username associated with your account. If this email is incorrect, please update your account email to ensure you receive communications from AO3 in the future, including a response to your question or concern. If you need to update the email address associated with your account, refer to How can I change the email associated with my account?

You can still submit an Abuse report if you don't have an AO3 account, aren't logged in, or wish to use a different email address. You'll need to enter a valid email address which you have access to, so we can respond to you as needed.

If you are reporting a violation of the Terms of Service (TOS), include all relevant URLs in your report, not just the link to the page you're reporting. The "Link to the page you are reporting (required)" field accepts only one link, so if there are any additional links you'd like to mention in your report, they should go in the "Description" field.

Including too many links in the "Description" field may get your report blocked as spam. If you're not logged in and your report is being blocked as spam and you have an AO3 account, the easiest fix is to log in and try submitting the report again using the email associated with your AO3 account. If that still doesn't work or you don't have an AO3 account, try removing the domain information from any URLs. For a fanwork hosted on AO3, this means that you should remove "archiveofourown.org" and start the URL from "/works". This will look something like "/works/00000000", but instead of zeroes there will be the number found at the end of the work's URL.

More information on what type of violations to report and what information to include in your report can be found at the top of the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form page.

If you believe specific content violates the Terms of Service, explain why in your Abuse report. For longer works, please also reference the chapter number and/or include a short quote so the Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) can find the potential violation and resolve your complaint more quickly. For more information on how to report TOS violations, refer to the Abuse Policy and Procedures section of the TOS FAQ.

PAC should also be contacted through the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form if you have been suspended or your work has been removed and didn't receive an email explaining why, or if you believe your account has been hacked or that someone is trying to hack your account.

Is AO3 on social media?

The Archive of Our Own (AO3) has several official social media accounts that you can follow. You can find us at @AO3_Status, @ao3org, and @AO3_Wranglers on Twitter/X, at @archiveofourown.org and @status.archiveofourown.org on Bluesky, and @ao3org on Tumblr.

For information on where you can find the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) and our other projects on social media, visit the Where to Find Us page on the OTW website.

Our News Posts are available here on the AO3 site and on the OTW website. They're also shared on AO3's Bluesky and Tumblr accounts and on OTW's Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Tumblr accounts.

None of our social media accounts can be used for Support requests or Abuse reports. If you need help with something on AO3, please contact Support or Policy & Abuse (PAC) directly using the appropriate form.

Where can I get more information if my question isn't answered here?

Some frequently asked questions about the Archive of Our Own (AO3) are answered in other sections of the AO3 FAQ, and some common terminology is defined in our Glossary. Use the Language menu at the top right of the main FAQ page to find out what's available in your language. You may also like to check out our Known Issues. If you need more help, submit a Support request.

Questions and answers about our Terms of Service can be found in the Terms of Service FAQ. For help regarding the Terms of Service, submit an Abuse Report.

Last Major Update: November 2025