Archive of Our Own (AO3)
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 3 web fiction platforms
Recommended as a free, community-run fiction archive with a strong tagging system and no algorithmic feed; critics object to some hosted content.
Recommended as a free, community-run fiction archive with a strong tagging system and no algorithmic feed; critics object to some hosted content.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 85%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Preserves a large body of fan fiction
“AO3 continues the human tradition of retelling stories, and we should celebrate that.”
Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “Archive of Our Own” “a highly concentrated collection of art created simply out of passion”
Comment from 30 Oct 2026 in “AO3 down 2-4 weeks after security incident; user database theft not ruled out” “is where a tremendous amount of such fiction is archived”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “What will enter the public domain in 2026?” Detailed tagging instead of algorithmic feed
“AO3 is brilliant, which it is: give people a way to ontologize themselves and the result is amazing.”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Is Show HN Dead? No, but It's Drowning” “praise be for AO3 having no news feed/algorithm, and instead an incredibly intricate tagging system”
Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “Archive of Our Own” Run by people who care
“This is our space to do our thing, precisely because if it was someone else's space sooner or later they, at least ostensibly for good reasons, prioritize something else over our thing and it's destroyed.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “What will enter the public domain in 2026?” “It's nice to have a place where the people who run it actually care.”
Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “Archive of Our Own” Resists censorship and outside priorities
“This is our space to do our thing, precisely because if it was someone else's space sooner or later they, at least ostensibly for good reasons, prioritize something else over our thing and it's destroyed.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “What will enter the public domain in 2026?” “It was founded precisely because LiveJournal started censoring sexually explicit fanfiction”
Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “Archive of Our Own”
Other web fiction platforms people recommend
The two most recommended other web fiction platforms, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archive of Our Own (AO3)This page | 11 | 2 | 85% | 4 | — | Approved |
| SCP Foundation | 9 | 1 | 90% | 4 | — | — |
| Royal Road | 6 | 1 | 86% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“AO3 allows me to export stories as epub so I can then read them on my eink reader”
“a highly concentrated collection of art created simply out of passion”
“switch to reading those on AO3 because FFN is falling apart”
“It's nice to have a place where the people who run it actually care.”
“The policy is unsafe by design.”
“It was founded precisely because LiveJournal started censoring sexually explicit fanfiction”
“I disapprove of how much underage material they host.”
“AO3 continues the human tradition of retelling stories, and we should celebrate that.”
“praise be for AO3 having no news feed/algorithm, and instead an incredibly intricate tagging system”
“remember Friendster, MySpace, LiveJournal, AO3, etc.?”
“AO3 is brilliant, which it is: give people a way to ontologize themselves and the result is amazing.”
“it is somewhat of a safe space for all kinds of disparaged groups, women in general being the biggest of them”
“This is our space to do our thing, precisely because if it was someone else's space sooner or later they, at least ostensibly for good reasons, prioritize something else over our thing and it's destroyed.”
“is where a tremendous amount of such fiction is archived”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.