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2017-04-26 23:02:39 UTC

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OTW April 2017 Membership Drive

Thank you for supporting the OTW! Our April 2017 drive has come to a close, and we have raised over US$145,000 from over 5,600 individual donations representing 72 countries. Over 3,040 of these donations came from first-time donors.

This week, we updated you on exciting developments in several OTW projects. We also told you about additional ways you can donate: corporate matching to amplify your impact, and recurring donations to get that amazing thank you gift you'll love!

We would like to recognize all the OTW volunteers working behind the scenes to make this drive, and everything we do, possible. This drive couldn't have been successful without them, or without you. Once again, thank you for your generosity and support as we continue to grow as an organization.

(Although the drive has ended, your donations are accepted at any time.)

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RileeTheRiddler Thu 27 Apr 2017 03:23AM UTC

Since y'all got more than the goal, what are you doing with the extra money?

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1. jairolas Thu 27 Apr 2017 05:35AM UTC
  
  Cocaine
  
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2. Yuechiang (OTW_Finance) (Official) Thu 27 Apr 2017 06:08AM UTC
  
  Hi RileeTheRiddler,
  The unexpected influx of donations means that the OTW can plan for more long-term projects, such as enabling the AO3's development team to hire contractors for more coding projects. It will also allow the Finance Committee to explore various options regarding investing excess funds safely and reliably, giving the OTW a more stable financial future. We'll also be able to cover any unexpected costs, like emergency hardware replacement.
  Thanks for your comment!
  Yuechiang
  OTW Finance
  
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3. 1. Agogobell28 Tue 02 May 2017 10:08PM UTC
    
    I hope that if you invest the excess money, you don't invest it in fossil fuels.
    
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hana_ginkawa (josilverdragon) Thu 27 Apr 2017 05:08AM UTC

Woohoo! Glad you made your goal plus some!

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Nessa_T Thu 27 Apr 2017 06:57AM UTC

:) AO3 has been so amazing. I'm glad that I was able to contribute back to the website.

Last Edited Thu 27 Apr 2017 06:58AM UTC

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silenceinmolasses Thu 27 Apr 2017 09:16AM UTC

This is fantastic! I am so proud of everyone <3

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FanGirlMiv Thu 27 Apr 2017 02:34PM UTC

Amazing support! I hope this will continue forever.

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TempestCain Thu 27 Apr 2017 02:57PM UTC

\o/

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Sezso Thu 27 Apr 2017 04:07PM UTC

The last time there was a donation drive, there was a lot of talk of hiring a coder to help fix the AO3 code. How is that progressing? Has there been updates on that front? Sorry if I missed it being posted somewhere obvious.

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1. D (Guest) Thu 27 Apr 2017 04:14PM UTC
  
  They usually put that sort of update in the Change Log posts, like the one they just posted: http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/6903
  
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Erinnyes Thu 27 Apr 2017 06:23PM UTC

Is there any motion on the OTW store? I'd love to buy a few of the mugs, but I'm not ready to throw $150 on the table for them. Thanks!

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1. Spyre Mon 01 May 2017 04:40PM UTC
  
  Ditto.
  
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DrafteeDragon Thu 27 Apr 2017 07:19PM UTC

AO3 deserves each penny

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NetRaptor Thu 27 Apr 2017 10:16PM UTC

I signed up like the day before your drive started, and I was astonished to see you make your goal in THREE DAYS. This must be a very dedicated community, and I'm happy to have joined it. Congratulations on the successful drive!

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Snowgrouse Thu 27 Apr 2017 11:17PM UTC

Really glad to hear the drive has been successful! Your work is so important for people like us that this is fantastic news in a world filled with depressing news.
In regards to some of the questions raised in the comments: What I'd like to see would be a robust, long-running, proper survey of what Ao3 users, especially the ones posting works on the site want. Which bugs bug us the most and what our priorities are when it comes to the various functions of the site.
As in, questions like "what are your top five bugs you'd want fixed" with some of the most common ones listed, and some empty boxes for submitting your own. (And an email notification of this survey being launched would get lots of people to contribute, I'll wager, just as with the drive.)
It'd be super beneficial to you guys, and would make us users feel like we were being listened to (not saying that that doesn't go on right now, because you do listen to us, even us naggers:)), and everyone would benefit. If there was, indeed, such a survey on earlier on the Ao3 site itself, I can't remember it. I do remember there was a page somewhere on a different platform where various developers were, indeed, discussing fixes, but I found it difficult to use and more than a little intimidating, to be quite honest--I felt I had to be tech-geeky enough to even figure out how it worked, and to be a known member of the group having the discussions to not be seen as a n00b or a troll, as it seemed like a bunch of people who knew each other, all people actually involved in maintaining the place, so I felt disqualified to say anything lest I came across as an idiot. So the participation threshold was more than a little high. (Before anyone suggests I'm making any accusations of secret BNF cabals or whatever, I'm not; I'm discussing optimal accessibility for the lay user in getting her voice heard.)
So, yeah, I'd like to see that threshold lowered a little. Ideally in the form of a big, general survey of the user population that doesn't require that level of involvement in the archive-running work itself. But what those of us who post works regularly feel about the various functionalities, which bits of the posting page we find the most important and which bugs are the most frustrating ones (for me, having to delete the extra line breaks and spaces that creep into the Summary every time I go to edit anything on the header or, most frustratingly, every time I want to just iron out typos on a one-chapter work), et cetera.
But again, having said that, I understand it's complicated as hell. I know, I know. (Frankly, the day the Summary field bugs get fixed, I might also be wildly ravished by Jaffar, the Master and Loki all at the same time.) But I do have good faith in you guys because bad faith would not help, and would be frankly pointless. ~~Also, I want that ravishment.~~ So consider the idea of a survey a nudge in the bottom of that good faith, of giving all sides more security in the fact that Stuff Is Getting Done. Worth considering Y/N?

Last Edited Thu 27 Apr 2017 11:19PM UTC

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1. D (Guest) Fri 28 Apr 2017 02:20AM UTC
  
  I think your heart is in the right place, but you're asking for a survey to go out to a literal million users and then for volunteers to spend what would be a lot of time to parse the results. I don't think the docs team or the translation team has that kind of time or inclination, and I'm not sure it would result in anything that ad&t doesn't already know. As for Stuff is Getting Done, there are news posts and change logs. Things happen slowly but surely in forward motion. As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.
  
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2. 1. D (Guest) Fri 28 Apr 2017 02:27AM UTC
    
    I really cannot emphasize enough what you're asking. There are one million, one hundred and fifty-eight thousand users. Every news post is translated into at least twenty five languages. If only one percent of users answer, that's still ten thousand responses to sift through. You aren't guaranteed they are all in English, so time and effort translating would have to be taken into account. This archive is run on volunteer time. This sounds like a depressingly hard effort for very little tangible result.
    There is an option at the bottom of every page on the archive to contact Support. If people are really inclined, they can let the archive know about bugs in a proactive fashion.
    
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  2. 1. Snowgrouse Fri 28 Apr 2017 02:33AM UTC
      
      Yeah, I got the point, there's no need to re-emphasise. See my previous answer about the copyright survey having been feasible. And I'm one of those people who have reported those bugs and who contacted support already and who is aware of the complications (half the answers are of the "it's too complicated and we haven't got enough people to poke it"), so my comments aren't coming from a naive, ignorant POV (if one tired of hearing that, especially now that the OTW's got more money at their disposal). My queries are taking the complications into account--if someone's asking those bugs to be fixed in a day, it's not me.
      
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  3. Snowgrouse Fri 28 Apr 2017 02:27AM UTC
    
    Well, they just did the copyright/what people know about fair use survey, so I was thinking of something along those lines--if they can collate and parse something like that, surely a survey of what the users of the site want (which, IMHO, would be more relevant to the site itself and touch *millions*, whereas the copyright stuff's got more to do with the legal advocacy and academia, perhaps) wouldn't be too far-fetched. And yes, I've looked at the change logs; hence my noting that I know it's complicated. Rome wasn't built in a day, but they consulted augurs about where to build and when and what. Another thought I forgot to mention was that even an ongoing log of how people's priorities change and what sort of feedback the site receives and how it changes would be useful--I wouldn't be surprised if one was being kept right now anyway.
    
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Account Deleted Fri 28 Apr 2017 12:56AM UTC

Im sorry I couldnt donate! Im 13 years old k! If I had money I would! ^^

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1. (Previous comment deleted.)
2. 1. Account Deleted Mon 08 May 2017 01:56PM UTC
    
    Lol my security blocked it
    XD
    (Dumbass school shit)
    
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Notyme4awatch Sat 29 Apr 2017 11:16AM UTC

I love this community. Glad, I was able to contribute to the cause. It was a no brainer for me. When I got the email, about the drive... I was like, "Hell yeah, I'm going to donate! "

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OZARKMOON Sun 07 May 2017 08:47PM UTC

Could you post your paypal ID? All links here go to some page I am not comfortable signing into - whereas on paypal, I know it is secure and can just transfer money from surveys to your account directly. Thanks.

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(Previous comment deleted.)
Letswastesomemoretime Wed 10 May 2017 05:45PM UTC

Congrats on getting Muns! I hope it helps you guys!
-letswastesomemoretime (Emma)

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