Resignation of OTW Directors

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2023-07-27 19:24:18 UTC

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Bullhorn and the words 'OTW Announcement'

The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) is saddened to announce that Antonius Melisse and Natalia Gruber have resigned from the Board of Directors. Antonius's term was already scheduled to end in a few months, with his seat on track to be filled at the end of the current election season. However, Natalia still had two years to her term. Her seat will be added to the number of seats to be filled in the upcoming election.

Because the number of Board vacancies is now the same as the number of candidates, this year's OTW Board election will be uncontested. However, the election will still happen, on August 11 - 14, and OTW members will elect three candidates to serve a full-term (3 years) and two candidates to serve partial terms.

We would like to thank Antonius and Natalia for their service as members of the Board and wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

Edited to add: Board director Alex Tischer has also resigned from the OTW Board effective July 27th.

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

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Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Fri 28 Jul 2023 11:25PM UTC

Will the present board and staff do anything about the statement that former candidate Emyn A. has issued regarding active volunteer, Dhobi Ki Kutti? Emyn has not only agreed with the wrongful CCAP that was issued to Kutti, but - as someone who is no longer affiliated with OTW per their resignation - has effectively issued a threat to one of your active volunteers. The statement is slanderous especially as it's aimed at a vulnerable volunteer within your organization, but is phrased in such a way and clearly shows the intent of inciting a harassment campaign against Kutti for speaking out against Alex; branding her as an aggressive person for speaking out against racist behavior and policies as if she's some threat to OTW for not tolerating racist treatment. To put it blatantly, this is a racist attack against one of your active volunteers that is in support of the CCAP that only sought to silence Kutti for speaking on important issues.
Will OTW do anything about this, or are you just going to leave Kutti vulnerable the same way you abandoned Tiffany G. last year?

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1. whatwitch Sat 29 Jul 2023 12:12AM UTC
  
  The link you've put is broken for me btw
  Confused on a couple things so: did Emyn A. withdraw from the OTW or just their candidacy? He's no longer affiliated with OTW?
  It's unexpected since he ran on a platform of hiring a diversity consultant and implementing major tags for bigotry/racism (and AI), and trying to reduce volunteer burnout iirc. I'm disappointed if so. Where can I read more about it if you don't mind?
  
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2. 1. Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Sat 29 Jul 2023 12:24AM UTC
    
    That's weird, must've messed up the html or something. Sorry bout that
    https://yishaqeni.tumblr.com/post/724071796333248512/why-i-left-the-otw-and-ended-my-board-run Here's the link again.
    That's Emyn's statement about Kutti. Here are two responses regarding it:
    https://stopthatimp.tumblr.com/post/724119810591670272/i-dont-disagree-with-the-ccap-that-was-sent-to
    https://pretty-weird-ideas.tumblr.com/post/724130144570245120/the-fact-that-a-majority-of-the-board-resigned
    To summarize quickly here? Emyn both withdrew from the candidacy for the Board positions at OTW, and quit as a volunteer. His statement just clarified that the reason was because he felt "threatened" by Kutti's tone and how she called out the organization's structural racism. It's starting to become suspected that he may have been one of the ones to report her and earn her the CCAP. The concern is that this post - and given his supporters - it's likely that Kutti is at risk because of his actions. He resigned before Audrey did, yet now posts this statement after Kutti's? It's clearly intentional on his part and looks as if he aims to start a witch hunt against Kutti in the same vein as what happened to Tiffany G. So there is a lot of genuine concern for Kutti's safety now that this has been published.
    
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  2. 1. whatwitch Sat 29 Jul 2023 12:46AM UTC
      
      I see. I'm disappointed.
      In a FUNCTIONAL organization, leadership would be able to address volunteer concerns and discomfort with conversations around race, while helping manage their reactions, moderate discussions, and ensure their vols' safety.
      It reads to me as though Emyn saw the leaks, went into panic mode for valid worries on their personal safety (although I don't believe Kutti or others would have intentionally leaked any identifying information -- their position as a minority worried for their safety is valid, but imo the assumption that other minority vols would leak their personal info from pettiness isn't), and since the org leadership was stonewalling everyone and not communicating or handling things AT ALL, they felt they had to resign...and they're now projecting their outrage which should be towards the Board and leadership, towards Kutti. Because she is the one who is actually visible and communicating. Whereas approaching the Board just doesn't work apparently.
      It's messed up that he also singled out her rather than the other people they mention have leaked internal conversations. Again she's the easiest target for their misplaced fear and anger.
      I see Emyn's statement as indicative of more failure on the part of the OTW to ensure the safety of its volunteers. Like, OF COURSE he's afraid they won't protect vulnerable volunteers from doxxing and IRL threats, when they were so lax with the Chinese vols' safety and fuckin lackadaisical in their support of vols following the CSAM attacks! They even encouraged paranoia by suspending and blaming Azarias even after reinstating her. I agree that volunteers don't seem to be safe or protected by the org...but NOT because of one person leaking internal official communications. It's due to structural failure and leadership failure. I think Emyn needs to take a step back and ask, am I lashing out at the easiest target from fear? (Yes.) I'm glad they're not running or involved anymore.
      
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    2. 1. Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Sat 29 Jul 2023 02:17AM UTC
        
        I'm fully glad that they're no longer involved in the running; I just find their current behavior and appalling. If they were so concerned about the threats to the present volunteers, they should not have turned around and lashed out at a vulnerable volunteer and become a genuine threat to those that stand by Kutti. This is absolutely a product of the board's failure to ensure the safety of their volunteers (like with the CSAM/CSEM attack, or Alex demanding that Chinese volunteers risk their own safety), and Emyn is taking it out on a volunteer? Especially going as far as saying that he agrees with the CCAP issued towards Kutti to silence her?
        It's irresponsible beyond belief. Obviously I'm sympathetic to their concerns around homophobia especially as a queer person myself, but how they acted was without a doubt deeply racist towards Kutti. They've positioned themself as for the safety of OTW volunteers while simultaneously acting in such a way that puts a volunteer of color in a very dangerous situation. I'm genuinely worried about Kutti's safety with what happened to Tiffany G., and OTW needs to ensure her and the other volunteers' safety - including and now especially from former volunteers inciting a harassment campaign through extremely charged statements against people who call out racism in the organization.
        EDIT: this is now further fucked given it turns out that someone on the committee chair or a board member has leaked an email to Zixin about confidential election questions. Azarias' comment is below with the proof, but it sure is horrific that Kutti was reprimanded for publishing non-confidential information while this has gone unchecked and Kutti is now at risk.
        
        Last Edited Sat 29 Jul 2023 02:21AM UTC
        
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      2. aroceu Sat 29 Jul 2023 02:40AM UTC
        
        For clarification, I think the issue is (and azarias/other volunteers feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) that a Board or Committee chair asked a question in today's candidate chat about an incident that happened in a private/locked channel. It was bringing a private incident that only select volunteers knew about to an extremely public event (the candidate chat, wherein anyone can join the Discord), and is incredibly hypocritical that it got approved and passed on to Zixin, while Kutti received a CCAP reprimand for sharing an email that all volunteers received in a mere comment on a Transformative Works news post.
        
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        Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Sat 29 Jul 2023 03:03AM UTC
        
        Yup, that is exactly the issue. I added the edit as I learned of the situation because it runs extremely ironic given the situation I originally posted about. It's a horrific situation and shows the deep hypocrisy of the organization.
        
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        whatwitch Sat 29 Jul 2023 02:50AM UTC
        
        Again, I think Emyn probably didn't know about that leak, and chose to target the most vocal and visible person. It's very upsetting because I can sympathize with the fear up to a point, but like -- he's sooooo close to getting it. His post laid out so many things wrong with the org -- and then he went after one individual person. Whose actions they partially admit are justified. I get that those particular leaks may have been the last straw for them, but they laid out a whole buildup of problems before that which have nothing to do with Kutti. Plus seeing someone's anger at racism as too "aggressive" is motivated as heeeeelll like c'mon
        
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      3. stormyseasons Sat 29 Jul 2023 05:22AM UTC
        
        It certainly sounds like it. And like more of the 'blame the whistleblower for everything'. If Emyn had valid reasons for their safety, then they have valid reasons for their safety, fair enough... but blaming another person who isn't the persons in power creating the unsafe environment? Who happens to be of another persecuted minority? What, is this another round of 'if I kick the assigned victim no one will kick me' going around?
        
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      4. whatwitch Tue 01 Aug 2023 02:13AM UTC
        
        It's aggravating how they chalk Tischer's rude/blunt etc. behavior up to cultural differences, but someone objecting to racism needs to be more civil. When communicating in another language and over text/writing, yeah, you might come off as rude without meaning to, sure. But only one person gets this consideration from him. It's a pretty clear bias to me, maybe unconsciously and maybe deliberately racist. It's telling as far as who is afforded grace and benefit of the doubt in their tone.
        "If I kick the assigned victim no one will kick me" sounds like exactly the mentality of someone in an abusive dynamic...whether family, work, school, religion etc. If you bully the bully's target then it takes focus off you...And if you're stuck in a situation where you're constantly bunkered up against potential attack (and bullies are good at maintaining that atmosphere), you're primed to lash out in defense
        I also don't know why they ran if they were so concerned for their privacy, since Board members run under their legal names. It's valid to say "actually I'm not ready for this" and leave it at that.
        
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    3. Rambert Mon 31 Jul 2023 01:08PM UTC
      
      WOW I am so glad Emyn left because I unfortunately thought he was a good candidate prior to knowing about all this context surrounding his withdrawal. I appreciate you taking the time to share this stuff and am disgusted that yet again there is more bad behavior being revealed about a prospective OTW board member!
      
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RoyanderBivolt Sat 29 Jul 2023 12:31AM UTC

Finally some decent restructuring. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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azarias Sat 29 Jul 2023 01:37AM UTC

Hi! Quick question! How dare you discipline Kutti for sharing an all-hands email about volunteer safety, when a committee chair or Board member leaked the contents of a confidential leadership chat to target one of the current Chinese-speaking election candidates? This question had to go through at least one committee for approval before it was even asked of Zixin!

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1. pretty_weird_ideas Sat 29 Jul 2023 02:02AM UTC
  
  +1
  
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2. aroceu Sat 29 Jul 2023 02:14AM UTC
  
  +1
  
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3. Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Sat 29 Jul 2023 02:20AM UTC
  
  +1 like, what the fuck??? Especially with Emyn now going after Kutti as if she's some horrifying threat posed to the organization
  
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4. RoyanderBivolt Sat 29 Jul 2023 04:30AM UTC
  
  +1 what the everloving Christ?? The more I hear about the shit going on with the OTW board and volunteers the more I want to never ever even think of trying to get involved with the committee. Like goddamn, the amount of abuse and passive aggressive high school-esq bullying that's coming to light about how the people in charge behave to their volunteers who are expected to just take it (for free !!!) Is beyond mind boggling for me.
  Why the hell did it take this long for anything to be done?
  
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5. Prismatic Bell (PrismaticBell) Sat 29 Jul 2023 04:40AM UTC
  
  1+
  
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6. Lady_Ganesh Sat 29 Jul 2023 01:58PM UTC
  
  + 1
  
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7. gothichobbit Sat 29 Jul 2023 07:34PM UTC
  
  +1
  
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hypnodisc Sat 29 Jul 2023 12:35PM UTC

I feel great sympathy for everyone whose vision for the otw never looked like the comments section on this post. Rip leadership, pls provide a torrent of all the works in their current state for preservation and archival before the Great Purge begins.

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1. VulcansDarkest Sat 29 Jul 2023 01:48PM UTC
  
  For what it's worth, it's always the same handful of people coming up with everything and anything to complain about. They do it so often I don't read their complaint lists anymore because I don't find them credible. (One was just a long list of allegations with absolutely no proof and I gave up on considering their takes nuanced). They seem to like to spread rumors on just about every announcement post, often entirely unrelated. So, while vocal minorities have destroyed beautiful things before, I have hope that it's just that, a vocal minority of people on this site.
  
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2. 1. PomponikPom Sat 29 Jul 2023 02:47PM UTC
    
    So, while vocal minorities have destroyed beautiful things before, I have hope that it's just that, a vocal minority of people on this site.
    and it's people who fight with white racists being in OTW and demand for a little bit of sympathy, tolerance and better being, but sure it's vocal minority trying to destroy your beloved site 🥺
    
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  2. 1. Muccamukk Sat 29 Jul 2023 03:24PM UTC
      
      Right? No one's trying to destroy the archive! People are asking to be able to interact in OTW spaces without being punched in the face.
      
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    2. 1. PomponikPom Sat 29 Jul 2023 05:57PM UTC
        
        exactly.
        
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    3. VulcansDarkest Sat 29 Jul 2023 11:17PM UTC
      
      A disingenuous take on what I said, but about what I've come to expect at this point.
      I do not trust small groups of people who scream for change but their actions are destructive, rather than constructive. That's the right wing playbook, it doesn't matter what you couch it in.
      Have a good day.
      
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    4. 1. pretty_weird_ideas Sun 30 Jul 2023 04:36AM UTC
        
        I wholeheartedly want to ask about which actions are destructive if the most vocal in this discussion are people who care about the wellbeing of volunteers of color and are also voting membership? Espescially those who are the most caught up and tapped in on the election cycle. It's not fair to claim that POC are somehow being destructive or DARE I SAY "right wing" (which is disgusting to even throw at in a discussion of racism and bigotry). Asking questions and pressing on issues is not the "right wing playbook" that would essentially mean that any politically active group was the "right wing". That's just the rulebook of anyone who wants to get ANYTHING done. Putting "people who are currently abusing the CCAP process, unfairly sequestering volunteers of color, threatening them and throwing their own jobs back in their faces" with "People who loudly ask WHY they are doing this" on the same level is in fact the "right-wing playbook". Just today a candidate was asked a question from what was likely a chair that was intentionally created in an attempt to endanger HER. None of the people in this comment section that are -at best- yelling at AO3 have done anything close to that.
        
        If this happened within any other nonprofit or small business, this would be a problem. It seems like because of the goodwill that the AO3 (rightly earned) some people refuse to understand or internalize the issue. A well-respected nonprofit is discriminating against its volunteers, endangering them, and disproportionately punishing those who speak out about it. If any other nonprofit or small group did all of this while still positioning itself as an international free speech and safe haven for marginalized people, I can promise you that people would not think that being upset was "right wing".
        
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      2. VulcansDarkest Sun 30 Jul 2023 05:32AM UTC
        
        This is the internet. I have no way to know if people are indeed POC, or what their goals are. I see long lists of allegations with precious little proof other than, as another has put it, "he said/she said", which isn't credible proof. It should not be seen as unusual to view such allegations with suspicion, as innocent until proven guilty should apply to issues of this site given its US governance. (I think it should apply to everything, even if it's frustratingly slower than demanding people explain themselves and prove their innocence, or in this case skipping past all that and deciding they're definitely guilty and nothing anyone says will convince people otherwise.)
        The right wing playbook is essentially disrupt, demoralize, distract, which causes destruction. I have seen much disruption, much demoralization, and much distraction from even the issues that are brought up by this group. I have not seen clear solutions, or efforts to put pieces back together after demanding the dismantling of the systems at play. Some lists of demands, certainly, but not ones that take into account the systems as they are.
        Further, the right wing does not allow for any disagreement or thoughts other than that of their group. You implying that everything in the comments are correct and that I should blindly believe everything said in the comment section here, and others also having that strong implication in their responses, strongly reminds me of that. I accept that what people are yelling about could be true. I should however have the right to be suspicious, and to have thoughts that aren't entirely in line with those who are yelling.
        
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        pretty_weird_ideas Sun 30 Jul 2023 07:31AM UTC
        
        I just want to point out that these are not allegations or rumors without proof. These are things that well-respected and currently enstated candidates and volunteers have said about the OTW. In fact, it seems like you have not properly caught up on the OTW's announcements, volunteer Q&A, or the election in general if you are willing to ignore when entire groups of candidates come out and state that they were victims of racist mistreatment by other members in the AO3 staff, or specifically cite the fact that the previous board's missteps regarding race are informing their candidacy. Jennifer H was in fact openly speaking out against Alex, and Zixin also had made several statements regarding Alex Tischer's mistreatment of Chinese Volunteers. This is not a kept secret at the OTW whatsoever. The OTW's election board would absolutely not stand for candidates to openly state that they were victims of racist mistreatment, or explain that they were being openly victimized if these situations weren't true, they have a neutral election to run. Mind you, if a situation happens between 2 people, and both people agree it happened, it seems pretty odd to attempt to say it didn't. In the case of Alex Tischer, Alex has openly said that these situations have happened.
        You can start an argument on whether or not what was said is racist, but you cannot disagree that it happened when all POSSIBLE witnesses said it did. Same thing with Kutti, not only did Emyn A. imply that everything that Kutti spoke about was true in an attempt to start a witchhunt against her for exposing these situations, but all day today the question of "How do we make sure that the CCAP isn't used in a discriminatory manner" was asked during the Candidate chat and was ANSWERED by the candidates. Again, if the candidates and the larger OTW thought that these allegations were absolute garbage, why does everyone involved state that it happened? People who legit think that the actions of the OTW are not contributing to systemic racism have admitted that the situations on paper have at least happened.
        I question what alternative source you are looking for if everyone in the OTW is in agreement that the situation itself happened, and people who legitimately think that the behavior isn't wrong have no problem admitting that the events did at least happen. If 100% of the people, including Alex Tischer are stating that they told Chinese volunteers to "leave" in response to posting that information to the Weibo account, who is going to disagree? The Ghost of Christmas Past? You are the only person who is in disagreement that what Alex Tischer did/said was done and said. In regards to Alex Tischer, they plead guilty fullstop.
        Also people have been describing solutions for months now, it is now month 3 of this specific discussion, after years of it being revived and being silenced. The candidates themselves have discussed the fact that the OTW has a systemic racism problem, and possible solutions. Again I find it difficult that we're supposed to ignore well-respected volunteers in good standing because there's a possible ghost dude who doesn't exist who isn't sure if it happened. If a volunteer within the OTW genuinely has evidence that tens of current and former volunteers and the candidates themselves are lying, where are they? It's anti-intellectual to even suggest that we should trust the possibility that a nonexistent guy has proof instead of the well-versed people who are standing right in front of us. If there's counterevidence I would like to see it.
        
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        VulcansDarkest Sun 30 Jul 2023 01:41PM UTC
        
        You clearly didn't read this whole thread if you missed the beginning bit where I specifically said that due to other instances ending up being full of rage and nothing else I've given up on reading through the links people do so love to provide. So no, I'm not up on all the details. Because I do not trust small groups that yell constantly about issues that, most of the time seem to have resolved in one way or another, or had little evidence, or perhaps most importantly things that simply take longer than people are demanding they do. Because unfortunately, many things take a long time to do.
        So yeah, no. I haven't read the transcript on this one. I never hid that at all. As such, if you'd been paying attention, you'd know I've been generalizing based on my engagement with these comment sections up till now. You are giving me vibes of the sort of group that has a discord that tracks the bad people who say anything you don't like and sic each other on people in the comment section. (Which I suppose I should be grateful it's not doxxing, but, here we are.) That is reason enough to be suspicious of everything you guys say and do. If you're going to be spamming the comment section here all the time, at least be sure every time you do so is credible. 'Cause I can't be the only person who saw some of the things that have been hammered at said and gone "well, that ended up being nothing but causing a great deal of trouble" so. Yeah.
        Anyway. I wish you all the loveliest of days.
        
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        Elf (Elf_Herself) Sun 30 Jul 2023 06:46PM UTC
        
        If you're going to be spamming the comment section here all the time, at least be sure every time you do so is credible.
        How "credible" can it be if you won't read the evidence? If you're making judgements based on how angry people sound while refusing to read the details of what they're angry about... of course they come off as just having "bad vibes."
        This isn't even a case of "he said/she said; how can I know who's telling the truth?" There's very little disagreement about what happened - the disagreements are about intent and interpretation, but none of that is going to make sense if you refuse to to find out what happened in the first place.
        You sound like you're saying "I don't know what went down, but YOU are really upset about it and the other people are being quiet, so it must be resolved and you must be just over-reacting."
        • Absolutely nobody is denying that there are deep, systemic problems in the OTW.
        • Some of those problems have a much stronger adverse effect on BIPOC volunteers and fans at large than on White volunteers and fans. (I don't think anyone's denying that, either.)
        ...There are arguments about whether that counts as "racism," which I think is a stupid argument, especially since some White people are using that as an excuse to avoid fixing the problems.
        
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  3. Giwiidabimin Sat 29 Jul 2023 06:08PM UTC
    
    This comment section is in fact full of allegations with links to documented proof of such things, but I guess it's better to deny that's what's happening so you can continue to say marginalized people are a threat to you and people like you.
    
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ThePighead Sat 29 Jul 2023 01:33PM UTC

Me: "Oh, other Board members who resigned... hey, why don't I look at the comments just to see?"
Me after looking at all the comments: "Sooooo, a board director got called out for racism, the person who did the call-out has been treated like trash by those who should have fix that and apparently, it's not the first controversy involving the Board. Golly gee, I, for one, am very happy to hear about this, this is so great!"
(I'm very grateful that a lot of people provided context behind what seemed to be a total fiasco and it's good that Tischer resigned, but goddamn. This is, and I can't find a more polite way to say it, disgraceful.)

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1. Lady_Ganesh Sat 29 Jul 2023 02:00PM UTC
  
  Not exactly a culture of transparency going on here, huh?
  
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2. 1. stormyseasons Sat 29 Jul 2023 03:26PM UTC
    
    To say the least. And there aren't exactly many ways to make our concerns heard without said concerns disappearing into a black box of 'fill out form, we'll get to you later, whenever that is'. Or many ways to find out if there are problems, and if there is anything that can be done to help with those problems, other than just taking it on faith that OTW leadership has everything in hand.
    And if someone believes that nowadays, someone else definitely has a nice stretch of hypothetically wonderful property to sell them.
    Not to mention as well the utter fiasco of communications too.
    
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  2. 1. ThePighead Sat 29 Jul 2023 03:40PM UTC
      
      Everything has been (well) said with this comment, I think.
      
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    2. Lady_Ganesh Sun 30 Jul 2023 03:07AM UTC
      
      Yeah, as others have said, it's a classic sick system. People get used to doing runarounds because there's no way to do things the 'right' way, then get chided for doing runarounds. Or the problem just hobbles along until it breaks.
      
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3. Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Sat 29 Jul 2023 05:32PM UTC
  
  Not to mention a candidate who resigned both from candidacy and as a volunteer a while back attacked the volunteer who called out the racist stuff in such a way that it would inevitably start a witch hunt against the volunteer, then admitted that they had conflated two different people but still stuck by the decision.
  You can thank Emyn A. for that. Someone who supposedly stands for the protection of volunteers, yet "felt threatened" by a volunteer of color pushing back against racist treatment she's dealt with and then he proceeded to threaten the active volunteer.
  
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4. 1. ThePighead Sat 29 Jul 2023 06:14PM UTC
    
    Yeaaaaaaah, I saw talks about that in this comment' section. Frankly, far from being the best behavior (and again, I'm saying it politely).
    
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  2. 1. Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Sat 29 Jul 2023 07:16PM UTC
      
      Feel that, my language is extremely restrained right now. It's not a good situation and I'm worried about the volunteer, Kutti.
      
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    2. 1. ThePighead Sat 29 Jul 2023 08:54PM UTC
        
        I think we can all be, because after such a situation... yeah, how do you keep going after that?
        
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azarias Sat 29 Jul 2023 03:44PM UTC

Hey, Zixin decided to share more, and the actual question was worse than we initially got to see! https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/604574.html?thread=3707081118#cmt3707081118
That's an attempt to get her arrested!
Only someone who was a chair or Board member in 2020 could have asked this question, which is a small pool of people. For what it's worth, I don't believe Alex is responsible, because Alex has always been proud to be an asshole and doesn't hide behind anonymity. Alex is not the only racist in the OTW; Alex is not even the WORST racist in the OTW.
In any functional organization, someone in leadership targeting a worker in a racialized way, with or without an attempt to direct state violence at them, would be an EMERGENCY. If not for moral reasons, then at least for the legal protection of the organization, which is making itself vulnerable to lawsuits with reckless abandon. It would not just be something employees are expected to roll with. In the OTW, it's happened twice just this week.

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1. stormyseasons Sat 29 Jul 2023 03:54PM UTC
  
  Or worst than arrested!
  What the hell is up with these people? Directing state violence at others? Expecting such acts of ... of ...
  I have no words polite enough for this public comment area for this. It is absolutely disgusting.
  
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2. 1. Prismatic Bell (PrismaticBell) Mon 31 Jul 2023 01:55PM UTC
    
    I'll say it for you and risk the comment removal:
    It is an act of anti-Chinese racism, full stop, and it's fucking inhuman.
    It could be interpreted, from a moral standpoint, as attempted murder, because this is an attempt to SWAT someone.
    
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3. switchwitchbitch Sat 29 Jul 2023 05:03PM UTC
  
  Arrested or questioned *at best*. It's an attempt to get her disappeared.
  Board 2020 members are listed in elections history; fanlore has the history of committee chairs; whoever sent this question is one of those people. They should be kicked from the org if they haven't been already as they're clearly a danger to others
  ETA: one of those people or someone else they've told about it
  
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4. Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Sat 29 Jul 2023 05:29PM UTC
  
  WOW. So not only do they not care to protect their volunteers, they're actively trying to put them in harm's way. At this point, OTW is a completely unsafe work environment for anybody - especially if that person isn't white; especially if they don't live in the United States since their worst offenses always seem to be people from other countries.
  This is disgusting behavior from OTW and that it was someone in a leadership position says a great deal to how empty their "anti-racist promises" were back in 2020 since this is a deep and systemic issue. The only way things will change, it seems, is if leadership is completely removed and replaced with people actively committed to anti-racist practices With A History of commitment to anti-racist practices.
  
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TheAcidJawa Sat 29 Jul 2023 09:01PM UTC

I would appreciate a torrent magnet with all available stories on AO3 please. So much was lost in the old purges, and honestly, having easily accessible backups is probably something AO3 should've been doing anyways. It wouldn't be terribly hard to automate it, and once the swarm really got going, the bandwidth cost to AO3 would be minimal as seeders carried the load.
Time to go bookmark some fanfiction with hitler in the tags. Distasteful stuff, all of it, and I was surprised that AO3 allowed it, even as I admired their commitment to the founding statement of the Archive (it can't've been easy letting that stuff be), but I guess that means they'll serve as quite the canary in the coal mines. Should probably bookmark some LGBTQ fic as well I suppose, just to make sure it's a real canary in the coal mines, regardless if the mob is right and the christian panic 2.0 is back, or if the counter-mob is right, and they're coming for your stories.
Every time I run into another story that's been purged from another site for various reasons (mostly adult content), I cannot help but feel sad. For the longest time, I thought that AO3 was safe from that, but I suppose I'll have to wait and see.
Frankly speaking, I don't care who runs this site or why, so long as they stick to the founding principles of AO3, which is never censoring stories.
Time to fire up the bulk downloader again. *Sigh*. So troublesome. If this site starts censoring things because some bureaucrat wanted people in mainland china to do things that are gonna get them killed, I'm going to be mad. Well, madder. I'm already mad that someone running a charity was potentially callous enough to suggest someone in mainland china make a charged political statement involving Taiwain.
AO3 has no business being in geopolitics, or any politics at all save for those that advances the mission of AO3.

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1. switchwitchbitch Sat 29 Jul 2023 09:25PM UTC
  
  "If this site starts censoring things because some bureaucrat wanted people in mainland china to do things that are gonna get them killed, I'm going to be mad."
  I'm not really sure how you got from A to B here. None of the problems are necessarily going to lead to ao3 instituting more censorship or changing its core mission, unless you're implying that the government is going to take down ao3. Or that board members from other countries are going to change everything and introduce censorship They aren't. In fact, I think that living in a place where this type of speech is restricted and still choosing to volunteer for ao3, at personal risk, shows more commitment to the founding principles than not. I don't think "restructure ao3 so that it isn't racist and unsafe to people who volunteer there" is going to lead to censorship of the content on the site. They're still funded by donations; they don't have to conform to content guidelines for advertisers. Most people are worried about the safety and health of those who volunteer or those who want to use the site without being harassed, not stories being censored. The entire Board has resigned once before and ao3 didn't die. No need for doomsday predictions yet.
  Re: downloads -- there's a site that is a clone of ao3 I believe! Though I forget the name. Haven't used it. But it exists for in case something happens to the site, like the DDOS attack. (Not affiliated with OTW afaik)
  Of course, if you want to make your own archive of Hitler fanfic, and maybe call it the archive of offensive omegaverse or something, I'm sure you could, since ao3 is open source 💀
  
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2. 1. aroceu Sat 29 Jul 2023 09:32PM UTC
    
    Pretty sure they just want all 11 million works on this site, which is fucking bonkers.
    
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  2. 1. TheAcidJawa Sat 29 Jul 2023 09:41PM UTC
      
      Why? I have an entire archive of FFnet (according to when the archive was made). About 7 million text files. It's only 300 GB as long as it's straight .txt. That's pretty managable.
      EDIT: to clarify, this is a pretty easy backup solution. Have an index of some sort available for download, divide the archive into manageable chunks, throw it up into the air. A swarm would perpetuate this, and if one of your favorite stories ever went missing, you'd just have to download the index, figure out what chunk your story is in, and then download and unpack the chunk. I'd need to think about how such a backup solution would account for fics that are being updated, and media like photos are definately not okay to be backupped this way into order to protect seeders from CSEM, so text-only is important, but if you already have the data, and you have the bandwidth, there is no reason not to perma-seed. Things like this is literally what torrent clients are designed for, with the caveat that it needs to be broken up into archived chunks so a client doesn't choke and die on 11 million files.
      Like, it took me over a month to download that FF.net archive, but it had so many old stories that are plastered all over TVtropes with a 'vanished from internet, please relink if found' within the archive.
      I was actually super impressed when I found it. FF.net is not very friendly to archivers, and some of the bypasses for the captcha system are legitimately a work of art. It took a dude two years to archive the entire site. What a madman.
      
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    2. 1. TheAcidJawa Sat 29 Jul 2023 10:14PM UTC
        
        Scratch this. Archive not needed. Pre-existing one found dating from early 2022. Only 460 GB large. Very nice.
        
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      2. Yasuda Sat 29 Jul 2023 11:59PM UTC
        
        Would you be able to send a link to both the FFnet and ao3 ones? I'd love to download both, especially if they're in any way navigable.
        
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        TheAcidJawa Sun 30 Jul 2023 12:04AM UTC
        
        This depends on your definition of navigable. There are database files, which are honestly the best way to search these things. It's its a pretty significant number of small files, and a lot of machines just aren't designed to handle this. You could search everything manually, but, well, that would take a very, very long time. The FF.net one took me well over a month to download, over a day to extract, and one the rare occasions I have needed to move it, even on SSD drives it still takes a day to move all seven million files.
        It's not really designed for browsing. If you are looking for a fic and have an ID, things are manageable, but it's much more of a 'grab and throw into caliber' along with 'take pity on these souls begging into the void and throw a text file their way' type of thing.
        
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        (4 more comments in this thread)
  3. TheAcidJawa Sat 29 Jul 2023 09:40PM UTC
    
    I don't really care for it. I read one once. It was pretty awful TBH. But I figure hey, if people are going to start censoring, where would they start?
    By that same token, I don't particularly think that people are going to start censoring. But I've been wrong before, and by now I'm pretty jaded. I don't like how political this all seems, on both sides of the aisle. Been reading through a lot of the logs posted to figure out what happened, particularly the ones here https://synonymous.dreamwidth.org/8886.html . I don't like how much of it is a "he said, she said situation." The slack archives were okay at best, and FWIW, I think they're probably the genuine article, but if you want to show me evidence, I need an archive with a ripping log+checksum, or voice recordings I can do an analysis on. The rest of it is all literally hear-say.
    The stuff that happened with the Chinese volunteers is legitimately disgusting, assuming it happened the way it was claimed it did. The volunteers should have been given warning. People absolutely should be reprimanded for that, and the Archive should implement something to prevent that from every happening again. It's not unreasonable to ask for a minimum of safety if you volunteer for the archives.
    I actually agree with the Board on the Floyd riots. Those are internal US affairs, are inherently political, and have nothing to do with the Archive's stated goals.
    This lady you guys have chased out seems like a real piece of work, TBH, but the other side isn't giving me their side of the story, and no one is giving any evidence, not even a measly little screenshot. I've had way too many people try to gaslight me over the years to trust anything without receipts. In the meantime, I'd like those archives. If no censorship occurs, I will breath a happy sigh of relief. If, for reasons I cannot fathom, people decide my favorite, milktoast, and sometimes extremely progressive stories I like to read need to get the banhammer, well, I'd still have those then too.
    I'm not your enemy. I'm just cynical and suspicious of everyone involved here.
    
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  4. 1. switchwitchbitch Sat 29 Jul 2023 11:50PM UTC
      
      It's important to read and weigh all information for yourself. I would argue that sometimes, there's no other side to the story that can justify someone's actions, because even knowing their reasoning at the time, the actions were still bad and should be condemned. Having someone's side to the story doesn't exempt them from the consequences of their actions. I think we can assume nobody is being held at gunpoint and forced to make racist statements. Barring coercion, the "other side" is going to be whether it was ignorance or malice, and both are bad.
      We will just have to disagree on what is or should be political, I suppose. I read your comment as implying the archive is inherently apolitical or neutral, which I disagree with, but maybe that's not what you're saying idk.
      Anyway, it's always a good idea to back up your favorite fics. Writers can delete without warning after all; I've lost some bookmarks like that.
      
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    2. 1. TheAcidJawa Sat 29 Jul 2023 11:54PM UTC
        
        I suppose I can respect a respectful disagreement.
        If you still have the bookmarks, you can inspect the webpage element and extract a unique story ID. From there, there are a few fanfiction archive repositories that allow you to download a copy of the now deleted fanfic so long as you have that unique story ID.
        Hope this helps, and happy hunting.
        
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      2. switchwitchbitch Sat 29 Jul 2023 11:58PM UTC
        
        Good to know, thanks 👍
        
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3. thelisteners Sat 29 Jul 2023 09:30PM UTC
  
  Please read the candidate Q&A’s. Every incoming candidate for the new Board committed to upholding AO3’s content policies.
  
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4. 1. TheAcidJawa Sat 29 Jul 2023 09:42PM UTC
    
    Will do that next. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.
    
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5. aroceu Sat 29 Jul 2023 09:36PM UTC
  
  A) You are fearmongering, and B) I'm not sure if you have actually read any of the allegations have come out. Volunteer safety is important and is not a threat to the existence of AO3. No one has said shit about censoring anything. I suggest you do some research before making comments like these.
  
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6. 1. TheAcidJawa Sat 29 Jul 2023 09:48PM UTC
    
    I did read the allegations. I do agree with you that the volunteer safety is incredibly important. If you can provide me with actual evidence (even screen caps would suffice) that the AO3 board asked the Chinese volunteers to publically comment on anything to do with Taiwan, please send them my way. I would appreciate it.
    In the meantime, I join you in condemning their after-the-fact indifference to the potential danger their actions put Chinese volunteers in. They should have been warned, and the fact that they were not is disgusting. Policies ought to be implemented to prevent this from ever happening again. I think it's not unreasonable to request that the organization you volunteer for does not recklessly endanger you without fair warning to disassociate. The ex-facto "Just quit, LOL" is not okay either. Blatant disregard for the wellbeing of actual people in totalitarian states.
    I don't mind nailing these people. But I want them nailed for the right reasons, and I'd prefer for people to be unable to wiggle out of it.
    
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  2. 1. stormyseasons Sun 30 Jul 2023 01:12AM UTC
      
      The closest anyone has to screencaps is actually on the various fail_fandomanon posts on dreamwidth, which the synonemous dreamwidth should have linked to. If you're asking why they're transcripts and not screencaps (which can also be easily faked these days with graphic software, much to the grief of anyone who's ever had a social media mob whippedagainst them) - my personal guess is that it's a combination of dreamwidth being text heavy, and anyone posting that kind of thing not wanting to implicate people who just happened to be in said chat program at the moment, or something like that.
      That being said, while it's text transcripts, it's text transcripts that have been corroborated by various people, some of whom have outright said that they're current volunteers, and people who have also publicly stated that they are current/past volunteers e.g. Azarias have also corroborated it. But do bear in mind that you're unlikely to get your desired screencaps - from the outside, what the OTW approach to appropriate security/privacy looks like is to consider everything extremely secret, not to be leaked... (and only now does it seem that people are fed up enough with the problems that keep on not getting solved that they're choosing to blow the whistle, anonymously or otherwise.)
      
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    2. 1. TheAcidJawa Sun 30 Jul 2023 10:30AM UTC
        
        Ah, hello. I wanted to thank you for your concise, polite, and thorough explanation of why the evidence is the way it is.
        I really do appreciate it. There are a lot of people where who see an attempt to correct ignorance, and all they see is the ignorance itself and they act like it's some great sin.
        I'm not necessarily pleased by the lack of things, because say, even if it's edited in photoshop, noise analysis would immediately out any edits (and if your clever, and the editor really didn't know what they were doing, what was underneath the edit), but I do get the lack of evidence now.
        
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7. Giwiidabimin Sat 29 Jul 2023 11:20PM UTC
  
  It's always telling when people frame 'removing fics tagged with hitler' as a threat to lgbtq fics. There's a growing number of people who see any anti-racist action taken (which the end otw racism movement doesn't even call for censorship) as homophobic. Why everyone seems so invested in tying their identity as a queer person to being racist is beyond me, but it is very telling.
  I manage to not do it. So do a ton of other queer people of color.
  but a large contingent of ao3's userbase seems to think being anti-racist will undermine their queer identity. I wonder why that is? (I don't wonder, I think it's very obvious why that is)
  
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8. 1. zoingeroni Sun 30 Jul 2023 09:07AM UTC
    
    +1
    
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  2. 1. herbiecide Sun 30 Jul 2023 09:16AM UTC
      
      +1
      
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  3. Prismatic Bell (PrismaticBell) Mon 31 Jul 2023 02:01PM UTC
    
    +1, and I'm white. My queerness has nothing to do with the racism I was surrounded with growing up, nor with my needing to unlearn it later in life.
    People will really Godwin themselves over the stupidest things while ignoring the actual Nazis in the room.
    
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9. (Previous comment deleted.)
10. 1. aroceu Sun 30 Jul 2023 02:46AM UTC
    
    The AO3 is US-based. If it gets 'censored' for "totalitarian regime-related reasons", then either AO3 has severely broken its original maximum inclusiveness promise, which was fundamental to its origins; or because the US has become a totalitarian regime. There is no reason to make this assumption aside from the fact that some volunteers happen to be mainland Chinese, which they know is a risk that they're willing to take for AO3, not against it.
    
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  2. 1. Lady_Ganesh Sun 30 Jul 2023 02:58AM UTC
      
      + 1
      
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11. Mr_Melancholy Sun 30 Jul 2023 02:51AM UTC
  
  > Time to fire up the bulk downloader again. *Sigh*. So troublesome. If this site starts censoring things because some bureaucrat wanted people in mainland china to do things that are gonna get them killed, I'm going to be mad. Well, madder. I'm already mad that someone running a charity was potentially callous enough to suggest someone in mainland china make a charged political statement involving Taiwain.
  So you never even read the candidate bios and Q&As and are just basing your so-called fear and sadness on the fact that two of the candidates are from China, huh? How fake and performative of you to even dare to pretend to be sad about censorship when it is clear that you couldn't care less about people from countries under authoritarian regimes who are actually making an effort to fight censorship and protect fan cultures by running for board. Stop trying to hide your poorly disguised racism and sinophobia.
  
  Last Edited Sun 30 Jul 2023 02:54AM UTC
  
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12. 1. TheAcidJawa Sun 30 Jul 2023 10:26AM UTC
    
    Wow. You've caught me. What an arguement. Changed my dasterdly ways forever.
    Look, I've dealt with enough people who've tried to gaslight me over the years that this isn't very impressive. Don't put words in my mouth and please come back when/if you are ready to have a civilized conversation instead of throwing haphazard accusations of racism.
    Thank you kindly.
    
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13. Dracothelizard Sun 30 Jul 2023 03:07PM UTC
  
  "If this site starts censoring things because some bureaucrat wanted people in mainland china to do things that are gonna get them killed, I'm going to be mad."
  10/10 Sinophobia there.
  
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14. 1. TheAcidJawa Sun 30 Jul 2023 05:20PM UTC
    
    I could've sworn that I said that I wasn't happy about how they treated the volunteers in the same post if I recall- Aaaand I did. In the next two sentences even. Same paragraph.
    Oh. Okay then. *shrugs shoulders*.
    I respectfully disagree with your views, but I want you to know that even though I don't agree, I still value your thoughts!
    
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Darkfate Sun 30 Jul 2023 12:15AM UTC

I've seen this song and dance before. As another comment said, "Canary in the Coalmine". Also what is this (+1) stuff?

Last Edited Sun 30 Jul 2023 12:17AM UTC

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1. Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Sun 30 Jul 2023 12:44AM UTC
  
  It's just a way that people agree with someone if they don't have anything to add since there's no like system here. +1 is just "yeah, I agree with everything you said and want to show that there is support behind this idea" - it's a pretty old practice that's best equated to the finger point or ^ or "THIS" you see on other sites or even just discord reacts
  
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2. Giwiidabimin Sun 30 Jul 2023 03:15AM UTC
  
  I really wish someone would sit down and explain exactly how being anti-Hitler fic would obviously lead to being anti-queer fic without using a bogus slippery slope fallacy. it's weird need to constantly make the argument of 'if they come for the nazis, they'll come for queer people'. what is it that y'all think queer people have in common with nazis lol
  
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3. 1. DwarfBumblebee Sun 30 Jul 2023 09:54PM UTC
    
    I do worry about a slippery slope kind of thing. Not in a 'censoring racists is exactly the same as homophobia' way, but in a 'the OTW is based in the US, which is currently collecting anti-trans laws like it's a professional sport, and I worry that if they compromise on their neutrality around which fics they host that opens up an avenue for people there to censor the kind of content they don't like because to some people queer people and hitler are equally horrifying concepts' kind of way. Probably I'm overreacting. Hopefully, I'm overreacting. But for that reason, I do worry, and I do think that much more robust blocking tools would be better than starting to delete fic.
    
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  2. 1. Giwiidabimin Mon 31 Jul 2023 01:08AM UTC
      
      Given that the OTW literally exists because of homophobia and transphobia, as a response to it, censoring racist harassment and removing it from your website is not a slippery slope. Every other website does just fine with this, including other archives. the literal wayback archive removes certain content from public viewing even if it is still archived. OTW can very easily, as most websites do, be anti-racist and pro-lgbtq people. It is opting not to because it values being racist.
      deleting fics who's whole text is: here are this authors socials. here's a fic about them being harmed because I don't like them
      is the only solution to these issues. blocking doesn't stop someone from posting a 'fanfic' about a person in fandom they don't like that depicts violence happening to them and encourages others to harass them by linking their socials
      
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    2. 1. DwarfBumblebee Mon 31 Jul 2023 03:14AM UTC
        
        So this comment thread was talking about, like, hitler fanfic, which is not the same thing as doxing real life people. I consider objections to the existence of doxing fics practical rather than moral in nature, and very strongly agree that they should be deleted!
        
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      2. Giwiidabimin Mon 31 Jul 2023 03:24AM UTC
        
        that's the point. people are only calling for what I've explained - things like doxxing and/or targeted harassment via fic. but everyone immediately jumps to: they're taking away my precious hitler fic, which means they're coming for the gays next
        when even if they were to take away hitler fics, there's still 0 danger of taking away lgbtq fics. because otw doesn't want to be anti-lgbtq. however, they have always wanted to be pro-racism. and pro-a lot of other bigotries. the archive project has always been an 'archive of our* own' with our being defined as white queer people.
        even getting the main four tags of character death, rape, underage, and graphic violence was something the original creators of ao3 were opposed to because they didn't like the idea of people being warned in advance of these things so they could avoid it. they certainly were never going to implement anything that would cut down on racist harassment or encouraging racist views. ever. they can't even find it in them to cut down on doxxing and blatant racist harassment and people calling others racial slurs in comments lol there's no threat of white lgbtq people's favorite hitler fics being removed let alone lgbtq fics
        
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        DwarfBumblebee Mon 31 Jul 2023 03:42AM UTC
        
        I was very specifically responding to the "I really wish someone would sit down and explain exactly how being anti-Hitler fic would obviously lead to being anti-queer fic", thing. Possibly I took that question too literally, in hindsight I think it was meant to be rhetorical. I apologise for that. I feel like you want to argue about other topics now, which I am not interested in arguing about (because I generally agree with you on them). I'm gonna leave this conversation now, and I hope you have a lovely day! :)
        
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        Giwiidabimin Mon 31 Jul 2023 12:16PM UTC
        
        I’m not bringing other topics up to argue. My point is they are connected issues. The answer you presented falls apart under the reality and context of the situation.
        
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  3. switchwitchbitch Mon 31 Jul 2023 02:33PM UTC
    
    Looks like the person who brought up nazis was also worried about "Christian panic" causing the censorship of queer works, and wasn't sure if the current ""censorship"" (/sarcastic quotation marks by me) was from a far right push, or maybe related to KOSA in the US right now? I don't think those issues are equivalent at all, and I think they're misinformed about what's actually happening, and as a queer person I wish people would stop linking us with nazis
    
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  4. 1. Giwiidabimin Mon 31 Jul 2023 05:41PM UTC
      
      That's what to me makes the argument so nonsensical. the people wanting to ban lgbtq fics are not the same people who want to ban RACIST fics. they're the same people who want to ban books about POC. so lumping us in with racists and queerphobes for saying 'it'd be cool if racism wasn't so acceptable and people calling other people racial slurs got suspended' and saying that removing explicitly racist/intending to be harassment type fics would lead to the removal of lgbtq fics and fics about or by poc is completely false and messed up. Because those two groups are inherently at odds lol queer people of color are fully against the people wanting to ban lgbtq fic and fic about poc. meanwhile, OTHER PEOPLE at least agree with these types that these anti-racist types need to be silenced even if they think lgbtq things shouldn't be censored.
      the argument that anti-racism leads to anti-queer rhetoric is complete and utter nonsense.
      
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    2. 1. Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Mon 31 Jul 2023 07:45PM UTC
        
        +1
        
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  5. Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Mon 31 Jul 2023 07:44PM UTC
    
    +1
    
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4. MalcontentCatboy Sun 30 Jul 2023 03:18AM UTC
  
  "+1" posts are Twitter/Reddit behavior. That should explain a lot of it.
  
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5. 1. grommile Mon 31 Jul 2023 08:58AM UTC
    
    More accurately and precisely, "+1" posts are behaviour that you don't see on Reddit and Twitter, because those platforms have better mechanisms for the same concept (upvotes on Reddit, likes and retweets on Twitter).
    
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MalcontentCatboy Sun 30 Jul 2023 03:16AM UTC

It didn't take long for this organization to burn to the ground, did it?
That's what happens when you start encouraging people whose best skill is setting fires.

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1. Darkfate Sun 30 Jul 2023 10:13AM UTC
  
  That is indeed concerning.
  
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2. LugiaDepression Tue 01 Aug 2023 07:26AM UTC
  
  It's highly possible the ao3 will be there even loger than you, so I shouldn't make such a statements about an org that's still running.
  
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Chofanus Sun 30 Jul 2023 05:08AM UTC

After reading the comments on this announcement, I feel like I'm even more confused about what people hope to change about OTW / AO3. I see discussion pertaining to the terrible treatment of volunteers, with links to support claims. I also see some discussion pertaining to censoring the archive. Am I misunderstanding this? Is it the hope of some to remove content from the archive that is not illegal or spam?

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1. that1qb Sun 30 Jul 2023 05:25AM UTC
  
  None of the board candidates want to censor the archive. Those commenting about possible censorship of the archive are not basing their comments on any reasonable concerns.
  
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2. MalcontentCatboy Sun 30 Jul 2023 05:27AM UTC
  
  It's confusing on purpose. I expect that if I tried to explain, I would be censored again, as I already have been. I may be able to summarize it this way: politics has been brought into something that wasn't supposed to be political. It is almost certain that the original purpose of this organization and site have already been lost in that.
  
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3. aroceu Sun 30 Jul 2023 06:00AM UTC
  
  The comments about trying to censor the archive are irrelevant and misinformed.
  The comments about the terrible treatment of volunteers is to draw attention to it, as even though a few of the named perpetrators/enablers have resigned (the ones announced on this news post), there are still many volunteers with power in the org endorsing abusive and racist behavior.
  The things people want to change about OTW/AO3 surround its general culture, the treatment of volunteers of color, and generally better organizational practices - and even though these three board members have resigned, there are still people in the org who continue to reenforce this behavior and mistreatment of volunteers. This may change during the current election as five new Chairs will be on the Board, but it's better to call out the current mismanagement than to be silent about it.
  I hope that answers your questions!
  
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4. 1. Chofanus Sun 30 Jul 2023 06:54AM UTC
    
    I was hoping that was the case. Thanks for your time and help!
    
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  2. 1. Giwiidabimin Sun 30 Jul 2023 12:48PM UTC
      
      The closest you'll come to censoring from the end otw racism movement is a push to have a more coherent abuse policy around fics that are clearly meant to incite racist harassment (like targeting or tagging specific users, or a racist a manifesto encouraging people to go after a demographic or a marginalized person for real). Technically there are policies against this, but they are not enforced properly due to mismanagement of the abuse and support team by the legal team. that's why one of the calls is for an actual TOS with clearly defined rules around abusive content that abuses others. people are characterizing the moderating of actual real world harassment using ao3 as a tool as censorship of queer art - that's why you censorship being brought up.
      
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5. switchwitchbitch Sun 30 Jul 2023 06:03AM UTC
  
  I recommend reading the candidate q&a to know what incoming board members plan to do. I'll try to provide a summary:
  An organized call for change came from "End OTW Racism," which sparked further discussions of how PAC is not allowed to do their job effectively in addressing illegal and spam content. Some people expressed critique about EOTWR's goals or methods, some said that the OTW is too dysfunctional to even act on anything a DEI consultant may find, while others just claimed that they wanted to censor content. They don't seem like they actually want to censor content. Some comments on this post are suggesting that by the incoming Board and the Strategic Plan reiterating their commitment to hiring a consultant on diversity issues, which was promised in 2020, the organization is now doomed to further censorship of content. This isn't the case.
  Apart from that, others inside the organization have brought up ways they've been mistreated with the racism in the organization. In particular, one Board member, Alex Tischer, came under fire. Two other board members, Melisse and Gruber, were on hiatus with their resignations already in the works due to RL stuff. People called for them to either come off hiatus to vote Tischer out or resign. They resigned, and so did Tischer. The election is now uncontested. Some people are drawing unfair connections between two incoming Board members being Chinese and the prospect of ao3 implementing censorship, while others are equating the need for a non-racist work environment to, idk, wanting to purge the archive of all racist works? It's a lot of baseless BS. Others seem to be afraid for the stability of the archive during the upheaval, and want to back up works just in case.
  Tl;dr: some people are claiming that any attempt to fix the OTW's structural and racial issues will lead to censoring the archive.
  
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6. 1. Chofanus Sun 30 Jul 2023 06:52AM UTC
    
    Thank you very much for explaining this to me! I felt like I was missing a big chunk of what was going on, and I was right. I will be sure to read the Q&A. Thanks so much for your time and thoughtful response.
    
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  2. 1. Darkfate Sun 30 Jul 2023 10:44AM UTC
      
      Going of of the Tl:dr of the above comment; Another concern for people is that with the removing of current seats leaves a vacuum that those who don't have the best of interest for the org(it's original goal) could get in, while hiding behind the goal of fighting for virtue and whatnot.
      
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    2. 1. stormyseasons Sun 30 Jul 2023 12:44PM UTC
        
        There's the candidate Q and A, statements, the candidate live chat on discord was yesterday and today, and the transcripts for that will be posted up officially soon. People have also been talking about this in a variety of places on social media as well, though that is harder to notice if it's not happening within your social group. If you're concerned over who will be entering the board of OTW and taking up that considerable task, may I suggest looking those up? Surely firsthand information, or as close as it'll get if you're not personally talking to the person, will allay your fears better than anything the rest of us might wish to say on this comment thread.
        (I will say, though, that if you've missed the months of discussion on this, that it's probably less confusing to do the reading than to come here and drop a one-liner or three. People who already have their tempers riled may not wish to answer politely. Alternately if you're not sure where to start looking for sources, perhaps you would like to ask that instead.)
        
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    3. switchwitchbitch Mon 31 Jul 2023 01:47PM UTC
      
      No problem. It's a lot to sort through, but those are the broad strokes. Synonymous on Dreamwidth and 221loislane on Tumblr both have lists of events, chronology, and relevant links/posts for those looking to do a deep dive into the controversies of the past few months. But for the upcoming elections and immediate future of the OTW I would just read the candidate chats/platforms/qna :)
      
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Tubormill223 Sun 30 Jul 2023 12:39PM UTC

I had no idea AO3 was a democracy 💀

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1. stormyseasons Sun 30 Jul 2023 12:45PM UTC
  
  What do you think it is then?
  
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2. 1. Tubormill223 Sun 30 Jul 2023 01:04PM UTC
    
    I thought it was just a fanfic site, I didn't know there was a board and voting and stuff.
    
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  2. 1. stormyseasons Sun 30 Jul 2023 02:33PM UTC
      
      How did you think the bills for the site servers get paid? Or how the Archive site code got written? Someone has to support that, and organise that, which means group effort, even to the point of officially being an organisation if need be... a non-profit organisation run by volunteers from fandom. Which solicits funds from fandom to keep the Archive and other related projects running.
      
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    2. 1. switchwitchbitch Sun 30 Jul 2023 04:05PM UTC
        
        It's ok that they didn't know. They do now. Maybe they'll get more involved, who knows. I think more people are learning about the workings of the OTW through paying attention to this, which is a good thing.
        OP, the OTW is a non-profit behind ao3, which takes in hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations and membership fees. You can become a member for $10 and get the ability to vote for Board, which runs the nonprofit, and that vote is part of how you get a say in the way things are run.
        
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      2. Tubormill223 Sun 30 Jul 2023 05:08PM UTC
        
        That's really cool! I've been a pretty passive user so I didn't really think about how the site is run, but it makes sense.
        
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        stormyseasons Sun 30 Jul 2023 10:53PM UTC
        
        Apologies, my tone was intemperate last night.
        
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        Tubormill223 Tue 01 Aug 2023 06:55AM UTC
        
        No worries 👍
        
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JoeyDrew Tue 01 Aug 2023 12:35PM UTC

Going to put this here since the post that's about Audrey has the comments closed on it, people weren't "harrassing" Audrey, sure some people might have, but people like us, were upset the board even thought it was okay to let a TERF and racist/TERF and racist supporter on the board/having a high/any position at the AO3/OTW.
Considering that Alex is also a racist, the anti-Chinese comments should have been enough to NEVER let Alex on the board, or should have been what got Alex removed, the AO3/OTW, clearly has no actual care for the BIPOC community, and is just saying/pretending they do it save face. Well, newsflash, it's not working, we aren't puppets that will blindly follow you.

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1. Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Wed 02 Aug 2023 02:47AM UTC
  
  +1, same goes for Emyn who - upon withdrawing and leaving OTW entirely - has made himself into a threat to a current and active volunteer. Seems like you're more in line with the present board by how racist you are, as plenty of comments regarding anti-racism and OTW's behavior have been removed on this announcement and a prior one.
  
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2. 1. switchwitchbitch Thu 03 Aug 2023 02:41AM UTC
    
    I think it's naive and somewhat victim-blamey?to doubt that Audrey got harassment. Actual harassment, not just critical discussions on Twitter dot com. This is the internet, after all. The OTW's lukewarm statement on harassment was laughably late and cowardly, but in general, opposing harassment is good.
    As far as your other point, it would be nice if they could muster the gumption for a statement against harassment of any volunteers period...but. Not holding my breath. In the meantime, if EOTWR hasn't put out anything in support of POC volunteers now would be the time. Would appreciate any links anybody has tlo anything recent from them :)
    
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  2. 1. JoeyDrew Thu 03 Aug 2023 03:30AM UTC
      
      Racists and TERFS aren't victims. If someone's racist, they deserve the consequences of their actions, and supporting a TERF and racist, and getting "harrased" for it, which isn't harrasment. It's rightfully getting called out for being a horrible person.
      
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    2. 1. switchwitchbitch Thu 03 Aug 2023 03:38PM UTC
        
        Don't mistake my comment for sympathy. If anything, conservatives like to label any disagreement with them as harassment. I only said that she may have gotten harassment the public wasn't aware of, and that I don't know if calling that into question serves any purpose as we're unlikely to ever find out what went down.
        ETA: nvm, she's posted about it. Apparently OTW completely mishandled it, too, which...why am I not surprised.
        
        Last Edited Sun 06 Aug 2023 10:52PM UTC
        
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    3. switchwitchbitch Thu 03 Aug 2023 09:37AM UTC
      
      Never mind, found the link I was looking for! :) response in support of kutti I'm really glad they're helping more people get involved in everything! by explaining how to vote and in general boosting different voices on these issues
      
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  3. switchwitchbitch Tue 08 Aug 2023 08:21PM UTC
    
    And I'm also thinking, if that statement was all they could muster for a Republican white woman living in the USA, what can we expect them to do for other more vulnerable candidates? How do they plan to support candidates to run in the future, especially candidates whose race, gender, religion, country etc. may expose them to more risk of harassment? On the most basic level, the OTW is a somewhat controversial non-profit that has experienced multiple cyber terrorist attacks, and should have a better response plan to protect ALL its volunteers, but it's especially baffling when they act all "but how did this happen" when it happens to candidates who put their legal names out there
    
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  4. 1. Enya - End OTW Racism (SHIVASDARKNIGHT) Sat 12 Aug 2023 02:25AM UTC
      
      Well, we already know what their response is and it's what happened to Tiffany G. They stayed silent, did nothing to help her, and when they finally did address the situation a year later, they didn't even refer to her by name. And by all means, this harassment was rooted in really rancid sinophobia and a whole campaign to end her very engagement with social media altogether. And OTW stayed silent.
      We know what the board members from that situation will do when push comes to shove. The new ones had best make it their top priority to do better by their volunteers - especially their VOCs.
      
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3. Rambert Thu 03 Aug 2023 11:00PM UTC
  
  Thank you for giving context on Audrey, I had no idea. If you have any links for further reading I'd appreciate it, but I'll take you at your word here.
  
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ASchmidts Wed 02 Aug 2023 06:24AM UTC

Volunteer work can be very exhausting, so I thank you for volunteering your time and nerves and wish you good luck for your future term. We may not be the easiest userbase to deal with, but this site is a gem worth polishing.
I wish the new board all the best and sincerely hope this site survives. It would be very sad if after fighting off literal technical attacks from the outside, we fell apart from the inside.

Last Edited Wed 02 Aug 2023 06:59AM UTC

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Account Deleted Wed 02 Aug 2023 03:58PM UTC

Keep the site stable, that is all that matters

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