AO3 Celebrates 10 Million Registered Users

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Published:

2026-02-06 17:04:05 UTC

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10 Million Users!

What do the country of Portugal, the city of Seoul, and the Archive of Our Own (AO3) have in common? They are all home to more than 10 million people! That's right: AO3 has surpassed 10 million registered users this month! We at the Organisation for Transformative Works (OTW) are delighted to share this incredible milestone with you.

Even as the community is growing year by year, the active exchange of creations and ideas between fans remains as a cornerstone of fan culture. Whether it's gifting each other fanfic, recording a podfic of your favorite story, or putting together a reclist of fics—no fandom thrives without the myriad ways fans share their passion with one another. In today's world, where ideas are just one more commodity, and content is curated for maximum revenue, it's more important than ever to appreciate and celebrate these aspects of fan spaces.

One way to let other fans know you appreciate the love and hard work they pour into their creations is commenting on their work. In celebration of this milestone, we have prepared a Bingo all about comments! Below you can find the bingo cards in both a square and vertical format.

10 Million AO3 Users Commenting Bingo 2026

You can fill out as many bingo squares as you want—the more comments, the merrier! Let us know on this post or on social media which Bingos you scored.

Happy commenting, and a huge thank you to everyone who helped us reach this milestone!

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

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MossyOak Fri 06 Feb 2026 05:29PM UTC

WOW! Congrats!

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invisible_inkpot Fri 06 Feb 2026 05:40PM UTC

'AI will take over,' they said; no; ao3 will take over

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1. tynnamisu Fri 06 Feb 2026 07:22PM UTC
  
  REALLLL let the fanfiction revolution begin :)
  
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2. 1. MysteriousMihai Fri 06 Feb 2026 09:11PM UTC
    
    Alerta, alerta, fanfictionista! :D
    
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  2. argus Sat 07 Feb 2026 03:38AM UTC
    
    The revolution will not be televised. It will be posted!
    
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  3. 1. mamaris Sat 14 Feb 2026 10:49PM UTC
      
      Yes!!!
      
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  4. Unique_CremeGlace Sun 08 Feb 2026 04:55AM UTC
    
    Vive la revolution!!!
    
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3. WahItsOctavia Fri 06 Feb 2026 08:45PM UTC
  
  Billions must fic
  
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4. 1. strawberry__frog Sat 07 Feb 2026 03:07AM UTC
    
    giggling what is that profile picture
    
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5. palettes Sat 07 Feb 2026 02:03AM UTC
  
  amen
  
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6. Stiletto_41 Thu 12 Feb 2026 02:07AM UTC
  
  AI is taking over ao3.
  
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Pixelverse48 Fri 06 Feb 2026 05:54PM UTC

Congrats on 10 million!

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ningningisqueen Fri 06 Feb 2026 05:59PM UTC

Stay peak twin 🥹✌️

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GeometryLemmy Fri 06 Feb 2026 06:00PM UTC

Congrats! 🥳

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Book_lover9000 Fri 06 Feb 2026 06:04PM UTC

YAY :D

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FanficsByNerea Fri 06 Feb 2026 06:09PM UTC

❤️❤️

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Masterette Fri 06 Feb 2026 06:16PM UTC

yoo this is so awesome! 10 million people are here now! :D

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Zestyzigzagoon Fri 06 Feb 2026 06:23PM UTC

I love the idea of a comment bingo card, what a fun way to encourage interaction and community within fic spaces! Congrats on 10 million!!! 💕🎉💃

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Michelle Fri 06 Feb 2026 06:35PM UTC

This user, who registered in 2008 when AO3 was the size of some rural village, says: Congratulations! Go, AO3!!!

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1. aster_0312 Fri 06 Feb 2026 08:36PM UTC
  
  the concept of people having ao3 accounts before i was even alive is insane to me omg
  
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2. 1. DoctorDizzyspinner Sat 07 Feb 2026 03:23PM UTC
    
    It's even more insane to me that people exist on ao3 that were born after 2008. I'm only in my early 20s I should not be feeling old
    
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  2. Michelle Sat 07 Feb 2026 05:35PM UTC
    
    The wildest/funniest comment I ever got for one of my fics was: "I just realised I was three when this was written." The mind just boggles :)
    
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  3. 1. Snowgrouse Sat 07 Feb 2026 06:59PM UTC
      
      I feel that. I just got comments from someone young enough to be my daughter, who said I'd converted her to anal. I was so proud. 😭
      
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    2. 1. HoneyBeeagoner Sun 08 Feb 2026 01:34AM UTC
        
        WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN?? "coverted her to anal" omfg thats so silly
        
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      2. Michelle Mon 09 Feb 2026 06:15AM UTC
        
        Yay! Fandom mission accomplished, I guess :)
        
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      3. Snowgrouse Mon 09 Feb 2026 06:31AM UTC
        
        I aim to bring pleasure, and if my fics can inspire people to experiment and discover new pleasures, I'm over the moon about it :D People underestimate just how much fanfic can do in so many respects (beyond the sexy ones, I mean). It's equally heartening to hear readers tell you that your writing's helped them deal with trauma and depression, or helped distract them from physical pain and whatnot--fanfic really is such a great force for good. Here's to another 10 million :D
        
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        Michelle Mon 09 Feb 2026 06:59AM UTC
        
        Absolutely. I've become really allergic to the term "this reads like fanfiction" as a signifier of lacking in quality. Yes, sure. A lot of fanfiction is bad, but it has every right to be. Every person coming to fanfiction spaces is doing so for their own personal reasons. There are teenagers here and old grannies. Some are on their first forays into the writing world, others have been at it for decades. And some are published authors to begin with. But: Fanfiction isn't always bad. Just like published fiction, the quality varies wildly. I've read fics twenty years ago that I still think about because they impacted me in such a profound fashion. And I love that we can do this for each other ... gift each other with ideas and stories and that those stories will stick around. Maybe even after we're gone.
        
        I write fanfiction because I can't get enough of certain characters. I love putting them in situations. I love seeing what they'll do. I write for myself, first and foremost. And I edit stories within an inch of their life until I release them into the wild. Not everyone has to be like this and that's okay. There's space for everyone and everyone will find a story they'll like. And that's what's so wonderful about fanfiction.
        
        Gosh, it's not even 8am and I'm already waxing poetic.
        
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        Snowgrouse Tue 10 Feb 2026 05:20AM UTC
        
        Ayup. When girls write it, it's 'just fanfic' but when boys write it, it's a 'reboot':P And I hear ya about that thing re: fanfics you read 20 years ago still lurking in the back of your mind. I'm often thinking back to the kinds of fics and writers that shaped what I was to become like as a writer; it looks like I'm still influenced by (at least echoes of) some of the zine stuff I used to read way back when. One of my current m/m pairings was of a type that slotted into this style of dark, early slash, simply because of the setting and the characters, and there I go, going over what I wrote and going "whoa, this looks like a really oldschool dark slashfic I could've read in a B7 zine." Not that it was a pastiche, because I put my own twists on it (my sex scenes are a *lot* longer and more detailed than average, for a start), but that kind of dark and troubled mood was there.
        
        IDK about everyone finding the kinds of stories they'd want to read; I think that still applies only to a) popular fandoms and b) popular m/m pairings. If you want high quality het or femslash, most of the time you still have to write it yourself, I find. But, of course, that particular problem encourages some of us to write like maniacs, so someone benefits from that at least:P! For example, that whole anal thing I mentioned earlier was because I was *so* pissed off there weren't enough good, long m/f anal sex scenes out there, written from a female POV and where the women would be enjoying it (not just being punished with it or whatever) and having great orgasms, so I ended up writing tons of it myself--to the point where I became something of a specialist at that art; whoops. And that's just one example of the kinds of themes/tropes/characters/pairings I write because I don't see them often enough in fanfic--or at least written with the same kind of dedication, detail and sensory/psychological immersion that I personally want to read. Feeling like you're starved of the kind of fic that gets you going is one hell of a motivator.
        
        So I definitely get that about "I write for myself, first and foremost." It's great to know that there's always going to be someone else who enjoys the stuff you do, so it's never in a vacuum. And for writers who write their stuff well enough... well, they might end up inspiring a whole genre off the basis of what was, once, just their personal idea or kink or whatever (slash itself being one fantastic example)! And that's one of those things that's so fantastic about fanfic: there are no rules or limits, and you can go anywhere. One could argue that fanfic, in and of itself, is the speculative fiction genre par excellence--just in the realm of characters and relationships, romance and sex, rather than spaceships and alien planets.
        
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  4. Ser4ph1naslxl Sun 08 Feb 2026 04:05AM UTC
    
    Right omgg
    
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3. Mari_the_squishyyy Sat 07 Feb 2026 03:48AM UTC
  
  I know you've been a while when your username is just a name, you got here EARLY man
  
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4. 1. invisible_inkpot Sat 07 Feb 2026 04:40AM UTC
    
    lol so true
    
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  2. Michelle Sat 07 Feb 2026 05:34PM UTC
    
    I sure did *proud*!
    
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5. liveatsworld Wed 11 Feb 2026 08:34AM UTC
  
  it’s crazy that people had ao3 accounts before i was even born my god
  
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multifandom_fanfic_writer Fri 06 Feb 2026 07:00PM UTC

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

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calibae Fri 06 Feb 2026 07:19PM UTC

ao3 world domination!!!

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1. angel_can_write Tue 10 Feb 2026 11:03PM UTC
  
  YEAAA :D
  
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Lioxly Fri 06 Feb 2026 07:25PM UTC

LETS GOOOOOOOO

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elenaaaa7 Fri 06 Feb 2026 07:46PM UTC

congrats! i really love it here ♡♡♡

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Cherucheriflop Fri 06 Feb 2026 08:00PM UTC

I wish there were more imaisushi(Imai hisashi/ Sakurai Atsushi) works unrelated tho

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dancinqueen Fri 06 Feb 2026 08:03PM UTC

WOOOOOO!!!!

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DespairSystem Fri 06 Feb 2026 08:16PM UTC

The comment bingo is a really interesting way to celebrate this milestone

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Keyblade_Master_DJ102202 Fri 06 Feb 2026 08:29PM UTC

I maybe one of the newest registered users that have appeared since the beginning of this year in 2026, I'm glad that we've managed to have these many users. Some read Kingdom Hearts stories, some read SMG4 stories, and some read big crossover stories like a retelling of LEGO Dimensions or even "The TV Tropes Crossover War" with it making home here on AO3.

Happy reading to everyone that sees my comment!

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1. metaphasia Sat 07 Feb 2026 08:28PM UTC
  
  Okay, now I'm confused ... your user ID is over 32 million ... how are we only at 10 million registered users?
  
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2. 1. Keyblade_Master_DJ102202 Sat 07 Feb 2026 08:51PM UTC
    
    It's my user ID, not my number. There's a difference between the ID and the number of users here. And I've just joined back on the 7th of January this year. If that's the case, then we must have hit over 10 million or more. But I am a new user of this year, not a scam-bot, if I were a scam-bot, I would be posting scam comments on different stories that could be troublesome to those who are gullible enough to be tricked by a scammer for money's sake or even make the computer messed up.
    
    But on the bright side here, it's nice to have a lovely chat with you. No really, from a new user like me to a veteran user like you, it's really nice to have a chat in general with you and me since we work on our own stories and even read some made by other users too.
    
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  2. EchoEkhi Sat 07 Feb 2026 09:09PM UTC
    
    I think database sharding causes the ID to do increments in 5 or something. I know the comment IDs currently increment by 5, don't know about the other tables
    
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  3. 1. Keyblade_Master_DJ102202 Sat 07 Feb 2026 09:23PM UTC
      
      I think you might be right, but I'm one of the new users here.
      
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  4. etoiledunord Mon 09 Feb 2026 02:50AM UTC
    
    The user IDs don't get recycled after accounts are deactivated, so they reflect how many people have *ever* signed up, whereas this celebration is about accounts that are currently active.
    
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  5. 1. OTW_News_Post_Moderation (Official) Thu 12 Feb 2026 01:23PM UTC
      
      Hello,
      
      Just as a point of clarification, user IDs are not recycled. When an account is deleted, the user ID that was associated with that account will never be reused by any future account.
      
      Best,
      Safa
      OTW News Post Moderator
      
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    2. 1. etoiledunord Thu 12 Feb 2026 04:29PM UTC
        
        That’s… literally what I said, though??
        
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desicat Fri 06 Feb 2026 08:30PM UTC

already starting to fill out the bingo card 🥰

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starshine Fri 06 Feb 2026 08:57PM UTC

how exciting! hopefully i find some more good fics with the bingo 😋

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