Snowflake Challenge 2026 - Day 4

[gothikmaus]

Challenge #4: Rec The Contents Of Your Last Page

Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!

This will be totally unoriginal, but one of the websites I visit more often is Archive of Our Own, so why not rec it?

Archive of Our Own is the Library of Alexandria of fanfiction and I will forever be grateful to the people behind it. If you get into a fandom "late" or are in a small fandom, interacting with other fans can be quite difficult, but with AO3 at least there's a fanfiction archive, somewhere to start from. I found so many beautiful fics there, and even if a story was posted years ago, I always try to leave a comment, even a short one, because I know how good it feels to get that email notification telling you someone took some of their time to let you know what they think of your story.

Beside that, being an archive, it works differently from social media: there are no algorithms deciding what I should "consume", I can search and filter fics based on my preferences, or even try something I'm not too sure about, just to find out I love it.

I really hope AO3 will be around for a very long time, because fandom wouldn't be the same without it.

Comments

closest thing in terms of permissivness + tagging culture is probably pixiv, but the culture clash..

[stardust_rifle]

I can remember what it was like to discover Ao3 for the first time. I can remember just how insanely excited I was when I discovered all the stuff you could do with the filters (and this was before they added Exclude filters) and also that you could post porn without worrying about the banhammer.

Given the current situation, I keep wondering if an Ao3 for fanart would be possible, but the costs...

Re: closest thing in terms of permissivness + tagging culture is probably pixiv, but the culture cla

[gothikmaus]

AO3 is such a great site. And yes, an equivalent for fanart would be amazing, but I don't think that's ever gonna happen...

[greetingsfrommaars]

long live ao3!

I know how good it feels to get that email notification telling you someone took some of their time to let you know what they think of your story. totally, and i find that receiving that years later is also a special good feeling as well! sometimes with a side of "how did you even find this?" haha

[gothikmaus]

Well, AO3 makes finding old fics easier, you just need to choose the right filters. But you're right about receiving comments of old fics, sometimes I get a comment and I'm like "Oh, I totally forgot I wrote this!" XD

[silveradept]

AO3 is a very important piece of fandom history, and is slowly collecting as many of the other pieces of fandom history as it can. Without it, we'd all still be looking and trying to figure out where the works are.

It is very lovely to receive comments on old works - and it often means re-reading it and feeling good about having written it, still.

[gothikmaus]

I remember what it was like to hunt for fics from one website to another, AO3 has made things so much easier.

And yes, sometimes when I get comments on older fics I re-read them and it's always such a nice feeling.