you said i killed you

AO3 was founded partly in response to a growing trend of fanworks being removed from websites that had previously allowed them. This pattern has been observed numerous times throughout fandom history.

Whenever there are fears about censorship on other sites, AO3 sees an increase in the waitlist for our automatic invitation queue. Regardless of their reasons for joining, we welcome any new user to our site who agrees to abide by our Terms of Service. We will not vet new users for "legitimacy", because AO3 is for everyone.

The OTW has no plans to change the content we allow on AO3, and we stand by our commitment to maximum inclusiveness of fanwork content. We will not remove works unless they violate the AO3 Terms of Service, and we don't make decisions based on how many times something is reported. Users do not need to worry that anyone's works will be taken down due to a baseless report or a mass-reporting campaign, if one were to occur.

The Archive of Our Own (AO3) is home to over 18 million fanworks (as of 26 July 2026) and there's always room for more as long as you follow a few rules and standards.

If you're new to ao3 from wattpad, please read allthingswhumpyandangsty's post about this first. The Archive is different than what you're used to, and for good reason. If this doesn't sound like something you want to participate in that's fine. But for anyone who wants to learn I have tried to condense "AO3 How-To" into four steps:

1.Make an account.

Yes, even if you're only going to read and not post, make an account. You can Bookmark fics and save them as "Mark for Later" so you don't have 40 tabs on your phone that might disappear. Plus you'll see more fics this way because some are only visible to those with an account! You can also subscribe to works or creators so you're notified when they update. You can request an invitation from the Archive or ask in servers and communities if people have invites they want to share.

2. Learn the tagging and filtering system.

All ratings and kinks are welcome on the archive. The site is proship and profic. You do not need to leave out tags or warnings for fear of any work being taken down. Any kink or dark theme you want to explore in a legitimate fanwork* is welcome here.

*The asterisk is to say: legitimate means not a placeholder fic that's blank to save a title, not spam, and not plagarized or otherwise breaking the Archive's TOS.

The most important tags to add to a work are the "Archive Warnings" in the checkboxes you see right after you select a rating. Always be honest here, even if you choose not to add the optional Additional Tags.

Failing to use the Archive Warnings properly is like warning people off your fanworks going forward (at best) and might get your work reported if you say, select General rating, "No Archive Warnings Apply", and then post a dark, violent fanwork (as an example). Tag accurately for what you're posting.

For Additional Tags, you can tag anything graphic, mature, or explicit that feels like it should be a trigger warning. Or other tags that give people an idea of your work's theme, like "Fluff" or "First Kiss". It will help people find what they're looking for!

Sure, sometimes you don't want to spoil the plot and that's why some creators will skip the Additional Tags and instead put content warnings in the End Notes and let people know to look there if they're worried about triggers. Also you can use a catch-all tag such as "Explicit Sexual Content" or "Graphic Violence" to let people know why it might be rated Mature or Explicit, without going into detail if you want. (Note: Not all Explicit works are smut. Sometimes the rating could be for violence or other graphic content.)

@bookwermthings made an ao3 infographic and the first three slides in particular can teach you more about tagging

And for readers remember our cardinal rule: DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ.

This means you are responsible for what you decide to look at on the archive. Learn what things like Dead Dove: Do Not Eat means. You do not get to harrass or report a creator for posting something you personally dislike or disagree with. You can also block or mute an Archive user if you dislike what they post.

AO3 is a non-profit run by volunteers who read all reports of works possibly breaking TOS. You aren't harming a large corporation by reporting every work you dislike. Simply click away and move on. Instead, you can filter things out using the "Exclude" section of the filters that's on the right-hand side of all pages of fanworks.

Proper tags help our fanworks be found by our target audiences and also protect users who do not want to see that material. It's a win/win for all when we use it the right way.

3. Only leave positive comments.

If you enjoyed what you read or saw (or listened to - shout out podfics!) let the creator know by giving them a nice comment. AO3 etiquette is to not give critical or constructive feedback, even if you think you're helping.

Caveat: Some creators may add a note that they are open to critiques. This is the only time you can give this kind of feedback.

Remember notes in a Bookmark are public and can be also seen by the creator. They are not a place to critique the work either (see this bookmark post by @tumbleweedtech)

Basically, leave the kind of comment you would want to receive if it was your work. And remember: the A stands for Archive! This isn't a social media site. It doesn't matter how old the work is you can still comment!!

@dawnfelagund wrote a list of 101 Comment Starters if you need some ideas or @bizarrelittlemew taught us how to leave kudos as an image in the comments!

4. Customize your profile.

This is your space to let people know if your works are open to translation into other languages or having fanworks created that are inspired by your work. You can also let people know where to find you by linking to your tumblr, reddit, or other social media profiles.

Do not (repeat: DO NOT) advertise anything like a kofi or buy me a coffee or say anything about commissions on your profile or anywhere on your works. AO3 is very strict about this. Do not advertise if you are exchanging money for your creations. See this post from @ao3commentoftheday if you want to take commissions and not break TOS.

To edit your profile click on your username on the Archive home page. Navigate to My Dashboard -> Profile -> Edit My Profile. You might want to add an HTML hyperlink if you want outside links to be clickable.

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Need more help?

⋆ Archive of Our Own has an official tumblr: @ao3org to let us know if there's maintenance planned, updates to the site, or news like OTW elections

⋆ @transformativeworks is also ran by the Archive to post milestones, OTW news, and reblog fandom posts

⋆ @ao3commentoftheday is fan-run, not official, but posts helpful resources and guides

⋆ As referenced above @allthingswhumpyandangsty recently wrote a great guide about ao3 vs. wattpad for all newcomers

⋆ @fuckyeahladybug has written a thread of resources to help those switching from wattpad

⋆ @ghoulishbuck wrote a helpful guide with html advice and what ao3 numbers and stats mean and more about which options to choose when posting

⋆ @the-bar-sinister wrote a quick guide to what you can and cannot post on ao3 (link to a reblog version with more additions)

⋆ There are also tumblr communities you can join like AO3 - WRITERS - READERS - FANFICTION or Fanfiction Writers Unite (and probably others) if you want more of a "live help" discussion

I hope this guide is helpful and thank you for reading! Tough to condense 15 years of Archive experience into one post but I tried my best ♡ Shout out to everyone that is linked here for all the great posts you've made about ao3! Please reblog and share this guide in any servers or tumblr communities if you think it's helpful.

Below are a few bonus tips from me to enhance your user experience right out of the gate! ♡

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... Is this a bad time?