Public Feedback for AO3 Terms of Service FAQ

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2012-11-25 20:14:53 UTC

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The Content Policy workgroup is presenting a set of proposed changes to the Archive of Our Own’s Terms of Service and Frequently Asked Questions. These are largely clarifications and changes made to deal with functionality as the Archive has developed. This post marks the start of a two-week public comment period. The Content Policy group will track any comments or questions made here and will then evaluate if further revisions need to be made.

The content change files are available in either a FAQ revision PDF and and ToS revision PDF or a FAQ revision doc file and ToS revision doc file format and will show proposed changes to the language at different points in the document.

The proposed changes do not include any discussion of meta, which is still under review by the Board. This document is mostly a matter of language cleanup and putting the answers to some common Support questions in the AO3’s FAQ.

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Beatrice_Otter Mon 26 Nov 2012 12:34AM UTC

In "Why do you use cookies?" the draft says "...for example, you may have to affirm that you are of age to see explicit content across each chapter of an eighteen-page epic." It would be clearer if it said "for example, you may have to affirm that you are of age to see explicit content across each chapter of an eighteen-chapter epic."

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1. admin-tushnet (Guest) Wed 28 Nov 2012 10:10PM UTC
  
  Thanks! We are revising that answer to make it clearer that accepting cookies, at least for the duration of a session, is going to be increasingly important to the basic functioning of the site, so the example may disappear completely, but if it doesn't I will make the change.
  
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sarken Mon 26 Nov 2012 07:55AM UTC

On the FAQ revision, it says:
What about “directors’ cut” or “commentary” versions of my own fanworks?
We consider those versions of your fanworks, so post them as you would any other fanwork, though you should tag them to indicate the difference between the original and the “DVD-style” version.
This seems to indicate that tagging is the only acceptable way to differentiate between the two. Is that the case? I both hope and suspect it isn't, since the Archive tries not to be prescriptive about the use of Additional/Freeform Tags. Including something like "[DVD Commentary]" in the work title or putting it in the summary would seem to work just as well as using a tag. If it's just a matter of phrasing, I hope you'll consider revising the language; on the off chance that it's a matter of policy, I hope you'll reconsider.
ETA: I've been worrying about the tone of this for like two hours now, and I just want to apologize if I came off as abrupt when I was aiming for succinct. /o\

Last Edited Mon 26 Nov 2012 11:38AM UTC

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1. admin-tushnet (Guest) Wed 28 Nov 2012 10:13PM UTC
  
  Thank you! Excellent point, and well said--we do want users to have choices like this.
  
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briar_pipe Wed 28 Nov 2012 12:26AM UTC

Woohoo, updates! These look fabulous!
All of my comments refer to the use of "story"/"fic" or "author" instead of "work" and "user"/"creator". I'm sure there were a lot of those to remove!
TOS I.G.1 - "Story" was changed to "Content", but "written" is still in the sentence before.
FAQ - "nifty formatting" says "we will not be allowing javascript in stories" (emphasis mine)
"rules for user icons" says "We do anticipate eventually hosting fanart and treating it like textual fanworks, governed mainly by ratings and warnings rather than by content restrictions." The archive allows embeds of fanart, even if it's not hosted, so this might be confusing to users who are aware of that. It also ignores video and other visual mediums, like photos of cosplay. Perhaps "fan-created images"?
Same problem for "Why is "underage" defined...".
"What should I do about recs/commentary" says "authors" in the reply.
"What do you mean by 'collections'?" - the examples in the response are very fic-oriented.
...And that's it. So impressed by all your hard work, Content Policy workgroup! *\o/*

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1. kelcat Wed 28 Nov 2012 05:57PM UTC
  
  Would photos of cosplay really be considered a fanwork for AO3 purposes?
  
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2. 1. briar_pipe Wed 28 Nov 2012 07:17PM UTC
    
    There are enormous sites and fan communities devoted to them, not to mention the live performances at cons and harajuku every Sunday. I can't speak for the board, but I see no real difference between that and photos of fancrafts, or visual stories created by posing action figures. I doubt anyone would bother archiving their photo sets here, but they might use them as part of a multimedia work, or in a video, or again, as a visual story.
    Other than meta and works which are not sufficiently transformative, I haven't seen the archive imply exclusion of any fanwork. The team is actively removing the lingering "story/fic/author" bits, which I think is awesome.
    (Ooooh, wait, I just found two! Iron Man Helmet and Captain America costume. I'm sure there are others around here as well.)
    
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  2. 1. kelcat Wed 28 Nov 2012 07:38PM UTC
      
      Ah, that makes sense! It just hadn't even occurred to me that they would be considered a fanwork, but I can see now why they'd fall under that definition. Thanks!
      
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    2. 1. briar_pipe Wed 28 Nov 2012 07:44PM UTC
        
        ^_^ IDIC, fandom is awesome!
        
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3. admin-tushnet (Guest) Wed 28 Nov 2012 10:15PM UTC
  
  Thanks! We'll take a look at all these.
  
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Hoborg Thu 29 Nov 2012 05:34PM UTC

These comments apply to the ToS itself.
Typo in section G, paragraph 1: "Repeat, we do not own your Ceontent" - remove the first E from the last word.
Substantive comment on section A, specifically the choice-of-venue provision (which I do realize was already there): I think it's reasonable for the OTW to specify that it should only have to defend itself in New York, but I do not think it's reasonable for the OTW to specify that its users should have to defend themselves in New York regardless of where they actually live. In other words, I'm fine with "if you want to sue the OTW you have to do it in New York" but not with "if, G-d forbid, you should give us cause to sue you, we will just go ahead and do it in New York and possibly the first thing you'll hear about it from thousands of miles away is when your wages get garnished to satisfy the default judgement." [Something not unlike this actually happened to a friend of mine. They got it straightened out but it was not cheap.] It's true that the OTW does not necessarily know which courts have personal jurisdiction over any particular user, but there are perfectly good common-law procedures for finding out.
(The choice of law provision is just fine. It is not necessary to insist on a particular venue to make a choice of law provision stick; courts apply "foreign" law all the time.)

Last Edited Thu 29 Nov 2012 05:38PM UTC

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1. admin-tushnet (Guest) Tue 11 Dec 2012 01:09AM UTC
  
  Thanks for your feedback. It's the default rule in American law that the plaintiff may choose her forum. The TOS largely codifies that, and we don't expect to change that at the present time.
  
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(Previous comment deleted.)
1. admin-samuel (Guest) Mon 03 Dec 2012 03:30PM UTC
  
  Hi, Tonya:
  For security reasons, we cannot reply to account information in public comments such as this. I've copied your information down into our Support Ticket system and we will be getting back to you shortly. In the meantime, for your account protection, I will have to delete your above comment. If you have any other questions, you can always contact us at our Support Form.
  Best,
  Sam J.
  AO3 Support
  
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birggitt Thu 13 Dec 2012 09:48PM UTC

I don't know if it's me, but I can't access to any of the files with the proposed changes :(

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