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[eartshoujo38]

How to recover fic deleted from AO3 that’s NOT on the Wayback machine

Sharing this because I just found out about this and it blew my mind.

The short version of it is: The Wayback Machine is not the only backup/archive of AO3 content out there. It’s just the most user-friendly and immediately browsable.

THIS database on Archive.org contains most AO3 fics as text files, including plenty that are not Waybacked: https://archive.org/details/AO3_final_location

What you’ll need: A browser for .sqlite3 files such as DB Browser for SQLite, an archive manager (e.g. WinRar or 7zip), good internet download speeds, and potentially a LOT of free GBs in storage space.

Not needed but heavily recommended: A download manager such as HTTP Downloader (so you don’t lose the entire download the second your internet stutters).

1. Click here to get to the archive’s files. It’s going to look something like this:

ao3_current.sqlite3 and ao3_old_files.sqlite3 are metadata files. The .zip files contain fic, most of them in simple .txt format. The metadata files tell you which fic is in which zip.

The “current” metadata file is recent backups. The “old” metadata file seems to be fics archived until 2020ish.

2. First, download either ao3_current.sqlite3 or ao3_old_files.sqlite3. Now launch DB Browser for SQlite, then File > Open Database Read-Only > open the sqlite3 file. Now click on the Browse Data tab.

3. It’s going to look like this.

4. The “Filter in any column” field can be used for keyword searches in, well, any column of this table. Be warned, it takes a while to update, give it time, it’s indexing.

5. Here I searched for all fic which gets a hit for the “Avengers” keyword (usually fandom). You can also search for a specific title, author, description, etc.

Let’s try to locate the first fic on the list. Click on the field on the left - row 1, column 1.

On the right you’ll see the full content of that cell. The most important thing here is the start - ao3_01. This means that the fic is located in ao3_old_files_part01.zip.

6. Download ao3_old_files_part01.zip and open it with your archive manager. It’s 5.5 GB. This will take some time.

7. There are multiple ways to find the fic within the zip file. Probably the easiest way is to use your archive manager’s search/find function to locate the fic by keyword - author is a good bet here, or title if it’s unique enough - and extract that. This way you don’t have to extract the entire archive. Be sure to add a wildcard operator (*) on either side of the keyword.

8. Extract the file and you’re done. Note: It will probably be in .txt format, and might be in one giant block of text. Just select-all and paste it to a proper word processor to restore the paragraph formatting.

+ I suppose if you’ve got like a free TB of space you could just skip the metadata step and download all the zip files and unzip them and use a command line search tool for keywords, too. This will work with keywords like title, author and fandom that are part of the file title. The metadata file just contains additional info, like character fields, description, etc.

This isn’t a perfect remedy, there are still fics that got deleted before they could get archived here. But it seems more complete than the stuff on the Wayback Machine on average.

[eartshoujo38]

Please Help Me Find a Stucky Fanfic!

I once read a Stucky fanfic, but I can’t remember the title or the author’s name. The fic was about Steve from the Captain America comic canon, who lost his Bucky in the plane incident and ended up in the future. He tries to move on and adjust to the future, but he can’t fully shake his grief. His teammates notice this and try to help him.

Tony Stark then builds a time machine, allowing him and Steve to go back to the plane incident and save Bucky. That scene was really memorable, and the author even included a comic panel where they rescued Bucky. Bucky loses his left arm, but they manage to save him and bring him to the future to recover. Steve stays by his side while he’s unconscious. When Bucky wakes up, he talks to Tony about the future and his new arm. He also asks Tony why Steve seems so different from the one he remembers (since Bucky remembers Steve as more upbeat, and he’s surprised to meet this more somber version of him).

Steve is happy that Bucky is now in the future with him, but at some point, he pulls away and shuts himself in his room? I don’t really remember this part. Then Bucky drags him out for a walk around the city. They go to the outskirts or maybe the woods? And just relax there. I don’t remember this part clearly because it leads to the ending.

I suspect the fic might have been deleted by the author because I can’t find it in the tags or my AO3 history. If it really has been deleted, I regret not downloading it sooner... 😭

[eartshoujo38]

Kinda flopped but anyway

Oil on 10*12' canvas

[eartshoujo38]

Happy Valentine’s Day

[eartshoujo38]

Memory of snow

I just wanna draw snow_( :P」∠)＿

[eartshoujo38]

Another year of Stucky, here we go!!! 

Thank you all for coming on this journey with me ❤️❤️❤️

[eartshoujo38]

Kiiiiinda made a cover for my comic owo

[eartshoujo38]

Captain America & Bucky #620

[eartshoujo38]

bucky barnes + chest harness

[eartshoujo38]

The bigots can try to take whatever they want, but there will always be those willig to stand up to injustice. We’re more than costumed mystery men–we’re symbols! The bravest thing you can do is to live without fear.

By being visible, by being proud, we fight back.

↳ Apollo & Midnighter in DC Pride 2023

[eartshoujo38]

I'll take all of it thanks :D