Has it occurred that perhaps the reason it appears āvirtually unchanged since its inceptionā is a feature rather than a flaw?
Think about how many times Tumblr has fucked with something on the back end or even UI and it has HORRIBLY broken this cursed site. Now compare that to AO3, which is one of the most stable fucking web archives I have ever come across and Iāve been doing this internet thing for oh, a couple decades. Sure, it goes down occasionally when thereās an issue that needs fixing (which they always do ASAP), or they suddenly get a craptonne of increased traffic (which, itās pretty ridiculous to get angry at someone for not being able to predict a surge in readership), but they always get on the issue as soon as humanly possible.
I am completely okay with them not changing up features all the time and potentially breaking shit left right and center in some ill-advised attempt to draw a few more eyeballs for āaestheticsā or some finagled feature.
Iām also really okay with them not constantly changing features ala Tumblr. Remember when they swapped the post and delete buttons? Remember any of the multitudes of site-breaking āfeaturesā they have introduced throughout multiple administrations?
Yeah, Iām pretty okay with AO3 *appearing* to be unchanged for 12 years because it tells me one really important thing: theyāre doing a bloody good job. If they really had not done anything and made no improvements over their lifetime, that site would be broken dozens of times over, and unusable. But itās not. As the internet and demands and changes have occurred, they have kept pace and maintained a very stable and reliable platform.
Stable & reliable > new features. Any damn day of the week in my book, but thatās just opinion that no one asked for.