#Transformative works policy

[anneapocalypse]

Transformative Works Policies and How to Make One

With the concern flying around about readers plugging fanfics into AI/chatbots/machine learning models, it might be a good time to bring up the concept of a transformative works policy for your blog, your AO3 account, and wherever else you do fandom.

A Transformative Works Policy is a statement of what you are and aren't comfortable with in terms of other fans transforming your fanworks.

Honestly I have no idea how widespread the AI thing actually is and how many people are just trolling, but it doesn't ultimately matter here. Unfortunately, there will always be bad actors who will disregard creators' wishes regardless of what you say, but fortunately, there are also a lot of well-intentioned people who might not know better but will respect your boundaries if you state them clearly. So a clear statement is a good place to start.

There are other benefits to having a transformative works policy! Most podficcers love being able to look and see that an author has permission posted. If an artist feels inspired to draw something from your fic, or a writer wants to gift you a fic about your OC meeting their OC, a posted policy can tell them if that's something you're okay with.

Some things a TWP can cover include:

podfic

fic remixes

art inspired by your work

fic inspired by your work

art of your OCs

fic of your OCs

borrowing your headcanons

translations of your fic or meta

Now's probably a good time to add AI/machine learning tools to that list, if you haven't already.

If you'd like to see an example policy, here's mine. Feel free to borrow and adjust to your preferences.

I do give permission for people to use meta or headcanons I've written about for a fic or other fanwork as long as you credit and link back to me for it. (And please tag me so I can see it!)

I do give permission for transformative works such as podfics, translations, illustrations, etc to be made of my fanworks (OCs included) by humans, under the condition that you give credit, link back to my work, and let me know about it so that I can come appreciate your work!

I do not give permission for any of my works to be reposted in their entirety on sites where I have not chosen to post them myself. 

I do not give permission for any of my fanworks to be fed into AI, machine learning tools, et cetera, in whole or in part, for any reason, under any circumstances.

[senlinyu]

Hello, Sen! I just want to start off by saying that I absolutely love your work. I have been a fan for years now and I can say that Manacled remains the most beautifully tragic piece I've ever read. You destroyed me and I love you for it so like, kudos 🤣

I have recently started the hobby of binding and I know that due to people taking advantage and profiting off your work, permissions have changed. (Which I fully support and respect). From my understanding, one is able to only bind for ones self or as a gift. What is unclear is if I were to bind a copy and trade it for a different book from another collector, would that be violating your term? I'm sure you get a million messages a day so I apologize for taking your time, I just want to make sure I am doing this correctly and respectfully.

Thank you for your work and your time,

Karlye Moore

I think that's fine. I'm really not trying to like micromange about this, the reason I had to include giveaways in things I wasn't permitting anymore was because it became a re-occurring pattern that binders would do a big splashy 'Manacled' giveaway, and then after accruing a bunch of followers from it, they'd open commission with really opaque pricing that people had to fill out forms and submit information to even get, or a patreon, and then I'd start getting messages about their pricing, or different aspects of my work being behind a paywall, and it just became this really uncomfortable feeling of my story being used as business platform starter, and there wasn't really any way to stop that from constantly re-occurring except saying that my stories can't be used for giveaways.

But a personal exchange/gift to a friend, that's fine. I don't have an inherent issue with giveaways, or bookbinders wanting new followers, its just the only means I have to try to tamp down on the more predatory practices, and there's not really any way to prevent only that. I really hate that type of collective punishment but I just felt very out of options.

[gemgirl28]

Just used this Fanworks Permission Statement Builder to establish my transformative works policy for my fics. View it on my ao3 profile.

[serenaew]

Where to find me, and what to find...

Hello, and welcome to my blog! I'm happy to see you here!

Recent happenings:

(updated 12/06/2024)

My Dear Podficcer letter can be found here.

Find my most recent interview with @snapecentric linked here:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/snapechat/episodes/39--SerenaEW-e2i2lmt

The @severitus-big-bang 2024 HAS BEGUN!!

Snape Fan Spotlight (interview) on Always Snape! https://alwayssnape.com/forum/topic/snape-fan-spotlight-serenaew/

Updated my permissions statement: still BP for all fanworks, however, no crossposting and no feeding to AI without my express permission.

Winner of the Snapedom Awards 2023 in the categories Severitus and Fluffy One-Shot and runner-up in the categories Miscellaneous Art and Angsty One-Shot! Thank you so much!

This is where you can find me:

AO3 (SerenaEW) | AO3 (EleanorPhoenix) | fanfiction.net (*) | Potions and Snitches | Always Snape | Tumblr | Discord | Dreamwidth (*) | LiveJournal (*) | Spotify | The Internet Archive

((*) means I'm not quite active on that platform (anymore))

Masterlists of my content:

Severitus | Snarry | HP: other ships and gen | Other fandoms

Poetry | Podfic | Filk | Meta | WIPs

Friends and mutuals, please don't take offense if you're one of my co-creators and didn't get tagged in the masterlists or my posts. I do very much appreciate you <3

I hope to keep them updated, along with work progress... Last updated mid-Sept 2023.

And PLEASE ask me about all my WIPs!!!! ;-))

Ongoing challenges:

Opus Harry Potter, a HP Classical Music fest (@opus-harry-potter)

Severitus Big Bang (@severitus-big-bang)

Play the List! Bingo (@play-the-list-bingo)

Poem of the week (@poem-of-the-week-challenge)

Assorted prompts: AO3 and P&S

Transformative Works Policy:

You need not ask my permission to podfic, translate, or create any kind of secondary fanworks of my fanworls providing you don't make money from it. If the fanwork you would like to use is derived from someone else's fanwork, please seek their permission.

(Podficcers may alter the wording of the original text slightly for easier line reading, provided the same meaning is preserved.)

If you do, please link back to the original fanwork and mark it as being officially related on AO3. If you cannot post to AO3, let me know with a link to your work and I will make an AO3 external bookmark for you.

I do not agree for my works to be cross-posted to other websites without my permission. I do not consent for my works being fed to Machine Learning / Artifical Intelligence systems without my express, written permission.

Should you find my works anywhere that is not one of the above websites or certain fest blogs/websites, or that was put up under any other name than SerenaEW, Serena W. or EleanorPhoenix, please assume it was not put up with my permission, and please let me know.

Dear Podficcer Letter:

More from and about me:

You can find me on the Fanfic Maverick Podcast, talking Snarry and Severitus, here:

I had the chance to answer some questions by Heatherlly at Always Snape (alwayssnape.com), a Snape-centric fan-site and forum.

It's also about Snape, Snarry and Severitus, and some self-rec <3 Check it out here:

I'm also honoured to be featured on the Snape Chat Podcast! Thank you, @snapecentric, for the wonderful opportunity to chat about all manners of random stuff that I do!

Feel free to drop me an ask anytime! And please let me know if there are any typos or bad links anywhere - I'd be really grateful for that.

Cheers,

Serena

[convexicalcrow]

Intro:

Hello, frens! Call me Lex or Crow, queer, he/they/she pronouns bc gender is weird and fucked. Old Millenial. Australian. Practicing Witch.

This tumblr was mostly set up for Hermitcraft and Empires shitposting, and that's mostly what I'll use it for. I do occasionally post fics and other ramblings, sometimes snippets from streams or from watching episodes, new or otherwise. Lots of art and fic reblogs. And sometimes I post my minecraft builds.

And now that it's Snowflake Challenge time again, i thought I'd do these posts over here and the first challenge is getting your fandom info and links organised, and I really don't have anything like that over here yet, so. Have an intro post. :D

Ships and Fandom Interests:

I'm mainly hyperfixated on Cub and Scar and the ConVex, as well as Sausage and Pearl and their lore, but I also write RenDoc and Ren/Martyn and others when the inspiration strikes.

I am shippy and do occasionally write smutfic and kinkfic, but I do also write gen and platonic fic as well when the story wants that instead. Mostly I am your niche rarepair writer who isn't interested in the big juggernaut pairings. And who wrote skulk Cub before it was canon lmao. XD

Blogs:

Follows come from this account bc I set this up not intending for it to be my main and then I left twitter like an idiot and well. Here we are lol.

I have a sideblog set up @lexstellaris for non-fannish shitposting and other more personal things. No need to follow that unless you want to.

Asks:

Feel free to submit asks if you have questions, or there there's something you want me to discuss, or you want to throw fic prompts at me. :D I have a tag for all my ask responses if you want to look through that as well.

AO3:

You can find my fic posted on AO3 here under the name orphancrow.

I have been posting fic on AO3 under other accounts for a long time, and I mostly adhere to AO3's guidelines when rating my fic. So you may find kinkfic and other sexual content in my M-rated fics as well as my E-rated fics bc both are designed for adult content, but this will always be clear from the tags so there shouldn't be any surprises. I know I differ from some of the fandom on this, but it's how I do things, and I want to be upfront about that.

Transformative Works Policy:

If you wanna write fic or draw art inspired by my works, that's totally fine with me, just link back to the works that inspired you. I'm also fine with anyone wanting to podfic my works or translate them into other languages, as long as there's a link back to my original works.

You can find this in my AO3 profile as well.

Tags and Projects:

#spoilers - I'm (mostly) consistent in using the spoilers tag for any new eps or current streams I'm posting about so feel free to block that if you're not interested in knowing. I mostly use this for eps just released if I'm watching them then.

#fanfic - Fanfic posted on this account can be found under the fanfic tag. This does include stuff I've posted to AO3 as well, some of which is stuff I've edited and tidied up after posting it here.

#vex magic grimoire - If you're interested in the Vex Magic Grimoire, I have a tag for that where you can follow the progress of that grimoire. The concept behind it is that it's being written mostly by Pharaoh Cub in s7, with inputs from Scar, and it's exploring and explaining Vex magic and potions and a bunch of my Vex lore.

I have also started an archive for the grimoire pages over here at the Liber Vex archive. It's just simple links back to tumblr rn, but it'll be more of a full text archive in time. New pages will be updated there and I'll link this at the end of each new post as well, so keep an eye on that site if you want to keep up with all the lore.

#minecraft builds - All my minecraft screencaps and builds are housed under this tag. I play mostly java these days. I currently have two worlds I'm working on:

#villa hekatea - This is a Java solo world, seed -6478546301100136766. I mostly play this as survival, but it's become a bit of a crevival world, as sometimes I just don't have the energy to grind resources in survival, so I build in creative instead. It's its own personal mix of builds for particular gods, and just whatever else I want to do. Current project is a woodland mansion base near a mountain that I cannibalised for ores early on.

#hctcg smp - This is the Creo minecraft server, where I have a big desert base inspired by ancient Egypt as well as Pharaoh Cub and other things.

[voldylockswrites]

Transformative Works Policy

Disclaimer

All characters depicted in my works are the property of the respective original creators. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from any of my transformative works.

Transformative Works Policy

Ethical transformative works are crucial for the protection of fandom. For that reason, my Transformative Works Policy is firm.

Translations

Translations of my works are permitted, but must meet the following criteria.

a) You must link my original work.

b) You must not profit from the translation in any sense, including use of paywall services or subscription tiers.

Note: I encourage all translators to contact me and provide links to their translations. I will happily link them to the original work on AO3.

Digital Artwork

Artwork inspired by my works is appreciated and encouraged. If you are able to, please link to my original work wherever you share your art. 

Transformative artworks based on my works may not be for profit, including by way of paywall services or subscription tiers.

Physical Artwork/Merchandise

Physical artwork based on my works is permitted. Transformative artworks based on my works may not be for profit nor be acquired by way of profit, including by way of paywall services or subscription tiers.

Bookbinding

Bookbinding my works is permitted under limited criteria. Please ensure bound books meet these guidelines.

a) Bound books of my works must be for personal use or personal gifting.

b) Bound books of my works, including typesets, labor, or other materials, cannot be for profit. This includes paywall services or subscription tiers.

c) You may not use for-profit printing services to acquire bound copies of my works.

d) You may not use/create bound copies of my works for commissions, giveaways, prizes, raffles, fundraisers, etc.

e) You may not solicit donations for your fandom efforts on your profile, webpage, etc. when posting in association with my works.

Podficcing/Audiobooks

Podficcing my works is permitted under limited criteria. All podfics of my works must meet these guidelines.

a) Podfics/audiobooks may not be for profit. This includes paywall services, subscription tiers, and ad revenue.

b) You may not solicit donations for your fandom efforts on your profile, webpage, etc. when posting in association with my works.

Transformative Written Works

Transformative written work based on my work is permitted under limited criteria. Please follow these guidelines.

a) Transformative works must not be for profit. This includes paywall services or subscription tiers.

b) Transformative works may not be a continuation of any of my unfinished works without explicit permission. 

c) You may not solicit donations for your fandom efforts on your profile, webpage, etc. when posting in association with my works.

d) Transformative works may not plagiarize my works.

e) Usage of Artificial Intelligence such as ChatGPT must be disclosed when posting transformative works based on my creations.

If you have inquiries about my policy, please contact me via Tumblr or at ladyvoldywrites@gmail.com.

[mspolapotter]

I reserve the right to authorize, prohibit or control the creation of any type of derivative work based on any of my preexisting works, including, but not limited to, reproductions, adaptations, translations, modifications, and any other processes resulting in the transformation of my preexisting works into any form of media.

Please understand that the work I put out is created in my own time and of my own free will, and is done for nothing other than my own enjoyment and those of the people who encounter them. I do not make any profit from my fics, be it in the form of direct/indirect payment to myself or other people.

GENERAL POLICIES

- Please do not put anything involving/inspired by my fics behind a paywall or put them up for sale or auction or any other processes which involve the exchange of currency. If you would like to include my fic for a charity drive, please do not assume you have express permission to do so just because it's "your copy". I as the author reserve the right to my intellectual property.

- If you want access to my work beyond reading it on any platform on which I have made them available, the least I would expect is that you put in the time and effort to know and respect me as an actual person. ALWAYS ASK ME FIRST.

BINDING AND TYPESETTING

- I do not allow any binding or typesetting any of my fics unless it's by someone I have a personal relationship with, online or offline. I would like for you to let me know first that you are planning to MAKE a bind or typset of my fic and I would appreciate a copy (of the typeset at the very least). Please do not outsource binders or typesetters. I do not allow commissions of my fics.

MERCHANDISE

- If you're a hobbyist/artist looking to make something based on my fic, please let me know first before doing so. Please do not sell it.

- I do not allow anyone to SELL, DONATE to later be sold, PUT UP FOR AUCTION or any other process involving an exchange of currency any sort of merchandise based on my fic.

FANART

- Any artist is welcome to create fanart based on my fics. I would love to see it as well. However, please do not sell/put up for auction/ask for donations for fanart based on my fics.

- Please do not commission fanart based on my fics.

PODFIC/AUDIOBOOKS

- Please ask me first if you would like to create a podfic or an audiobook of any of my fics.

- Please let me know of any editing notes or changes that need to be made. Do not change anything without permission.

COLLECTIONS

- Non-fest works added to any collection will always be subject to my approval. As of the moment, I do not approve any of my non-fest fics being added to collections unless it's by someone I have a personal relationship with. Please use the bookmark feature and be reminded that I can see the notes.

TRANSLATIONS

- Please ask me for permission before putting up any translations of my fics. I generally allow them, provided the translator has evidence of prior fic translation work with zero issues. I would also be asking for the link and for it to be properly labelled as a translation of my fic.

GOODREADS

- Please do not put up any reviews of my fics outside the platforms on which I have made them available. I will report them.

Latest version APRIL 18, 2023. My DM's are open. Further inquiries here: mspolapotter@gmail.com

[transformativeworks]

A new comment moderation policy applies to OTW and AO3 news posts. We encourage readers to comment but want to share what content and behavior will be drawing the attention of our moderators. Read more by visiting https://otw-news.org/mr3mbdhe or through any of the language links below.

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[communistkenobi]

It’s so funny when liberals lecture communists about not knowing how anything works, that we need to grow up and face the real world etc, while publicly demonstrating that their political imagination is so deeply impoverished that they genuinely believe the only thing the leader of the most powerful country on the planet in all of human history can do is block a slightly more fascist guy from taking his place every four years

[ao3org]

We've temporarily disabled the ability to request a new account invitation as a preventative measure due to a spam attack. If you already have an invitation, you can still use it! However, anyone currently in the queue will not receive an invitation until we turn it back on.

Additionally, we have temporarily disabled the form on the Technical Support & Feedback page and taken the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports page offline. Anyone attempting to access the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports will receive an error page about being blocked from archiveofourown.org, but don't panic -- this is not the case! It's just the default error displayed by Cloudflare. You can continue to access the rest of the site as normal.

Lastly, the Organization for Transformative Works' donation page -- which is hosted by a third party provider -- is currently offline due to a DDoS attack. This is the only donation form the OTW uses, so please be cautious of scammers impersonating AO3 or the OTW to solicit donations. We are unable to take them at this time.

July 11, 2023 - 23:50 UTC

[senlinyu]

hi sen, permission to translate your fanfic called "let the dark in". I am very much in love with her and I wish that other people who don't understand English very well can read and love this fic as I do.

Certainly. I have an open policy on translations, just please credit me as the author and send me a link when you start posting.

[pipermca]

New AO3 Tag Wrangling Policy and the Transformers Fandom

(This is a long one, folks, but I think it's important.)

A new tag-wrangling policy on AO3 has the potential to create some massive confusion and chaos in the Transformers fanfic community, with regards to fandom tags. There is a Reddit post about it here with a focus on anime fandoms, but I want to give some concrete examples for the Transformers fandom on why we DO NOT WANT this, and why I think it's a horrible idea.

The Problem

Basically, AO3 is looking to get rid of the "All Media Types" fandom tag across the board, either by dismantling them or just not maintaining them. The Transformers - All Media Types tag has been an all-purpose tag that you could select when your story doesn't fall into any one specific continuity. Additionally, all most (see below) TF continuities on AO3 are considered a subtag of the Transformers - All Media Types tag. For example, if you look at the link above for all works in the All Media Types tag, you will see fics that are also tagged ONLY with Transformers: Animated, because it falls under the All Media Types tag.

One exception: With the upcoming Transformers: One movie coming out imminently, there will likely be a big influx of stories tagged with Transformers: One. In fact, there are several already. However, it hasn't been linked to the larger Transformers - All Media Types tag yet. I wasn't worrying about it though, because I know these things can take time.

With information about this new tagging policy, however, I'm now wondering whether it'll EVER get linked to the All Media Types tag. If that happens, and when more continuities are developed in the coming years (since you know Hasbro loves creating new universes) this has the potential to cause massive confusion when looking for stories to read.

Searching for Stories with the New Tagging System

So let's say the All Media Types fandom tag isn't accurate anymore, because it no longer includes ALL of the continuities (such as TF:One). You will need to include ALL the Transformers continuities when browsing for TF fics.

How many tags is that? Well, here are all of the tags currently listed under the Transformers - All Media Types tag:

Note that this doesn't include Transformers: One since it hasn't been categorized yet.

You will potentially have to have 40 or more different fandom tags in your search, just in case the author tagged their story with something you weren't expecting.

This massively decreases the findability of a story.

Tagging with the New System

The email response from the Tag Wrangling group (see the linked Reddit post above) seems to be a bit flip in the response to the user's concern. "...encourages creators to tag with the media they intend."

While I appreciate what they are attempting to do, this policy change feels like a solution in search of a problem, especially in larger fandoms with multiple continuities, versions, and media types that are all cross-pollinated in both canon and fanon. While I'm focusing on Transformers fandom, imagine a creator in the DC comic universe writing a story that incorporates bits and pieces from a dozen different reboots.

For example, let's say that I am writing a fic about Ratchet. I am using the setting of the original G1 episodes, but I also am using the characterization of him as a bit of an old man grump. That characterization originated in the Animated continuity, but I want to incorporate bits of pieces of his other characterizations as well (old friend of Optimus from TFP, Ratchet ran a faction-free clinic like he did in the War for Cybertron series, he's got a Decepticon boyfriend like in IDW1 - or maybe even Cyberverse, etc.)

With this new tagging structure, I might potentially have to tag the story with ALL of those continuities. So instead of just slapping down the "All Media Types" tag (and maybe one other fandom tag that matches the characters as best I can), I'll have to analyze my story and try to figure out how best to tag for the characters I used.

And what if you're doing a completely AU version of the story? For example, a humanformers story, or merformers? Using the All Media Types tag along with a Alternate Universe - Human or Alternate Universe - Mermaid tag worked perfectly, since you weren't writing the story to fit into one specific continuity. But now, that might not be an option.

What To Do??

The first thing I would suggest is to contact AO3 (using the Feedback and Support page) and let them know (nicely) that you think this is a horrible idea. Give them some examples on how you use the All Media Types tag to find stories to read, or to help you tag a story. People outside of the Transformers fandom don't always appreciate how absolutely tangled the continuities can be with each other, and providing examples might help them see why this would be a really messy change.

Readers: Be aware that when you are looking in the All Media Types tag, it will no longer show newer continuities. And if AO3 starts dismantling that tag like they suggested they are doing, be aware that some stories won't show up in that tag like they used to. You can also create and then bookmark a custom search page that includes all 40+ continuities. REALLY annoying, but it's a workaround.

Writers: Until they start dismantling the All Media Types tag, ALWAYS ALWAYS tag your stories using Transformers - All Media Types... Especially for newer continuities. This will be especially important if you are writing a Transformers: One story. Right now, anyone who is only browsing the All Media Types tag will not see a story tagged only with Transformers: One. Make sure you're aware of how tags work and how they can affect the visibility and findability of your story.

Epilogue

Ugh. That's a lot of words for a long-weekend Saturday. And maybe I'm overreacting a tiny bit. But my work involves information architecture, and this change just absolutely baffles me. It's almost as though they want to make it harder to find stories. Considering that AO3 won a Hugo partially because of its fantastic tagging system, this change seems like AO3 is doing its best to shoot itself in the foot.

When you have a square hole, a round hole, and a rectangular hole… Yeah, you DO want each peg to go in the "right" hole. But if all of the pegs fit in the square hole, who cares? You got the job done.

I love you @ao3org, but please reconsider this change... Especially for IPs that are as old and are as varied as Transformers.

[alessandriana]

So, hypothetically, if I were to make a cold read of your fic asunder. Would that be alright with you?

Yeah, absolutely! 😊 Just send a link when you're done so I can add it to the fic. :)

[end-otw-racism]

End OTW Racism: A Call To Action

A fan protest against the lack of action from the OTW on addressing issues of harassment and racism on AO3 and within the organization

This is a Call To Action for Fans of Color and Allies

AO3 has acknowledged that they have a harassment & racism problem that its parent organization, the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), needs to address. Currently, people can use AO3 to harass others through fanworks, comments, and tags. Just a few examples include: racist Untamed “spitefic” that used anti-Indigenous slurs and was written specifically to lash out at fans of color; a Transformer fic that used its Black-coded character to reenact George Floyd’s murder in July 2020; someone naming a fandom scholar who criticized their Nazi omegaverse fic in the tags of the fic specifically to incite harassment to the scholar; writers using racial slurs against commenters who pointed out racism in their hockey fic; and so much more.

In June 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, the OTW committed to addressing these issues. It has been nearly three years and they have not yet implemented any of the changes they promised, other than a blocking/muting tool that was already in development before 2020. We need to hold the OTW accountable to their own promises. (See the section further down on “Why Are We Doing This” for even more detail.)

As fans, together, we are powerful. We are organizing to protest the lack of action on promises made by the Organization for Transformative works to deal with issues of racism and harassment on their platform, Archive of Our Own.

We call on fans to do any or all of the following actions any time between May 17 to 31, 2023 to send a message to AO3 and OTW that we will hold them to their promises.

On AO3

Change the title of ten (or more!) of your most recent or most popular fanworks to include ‘End Racism in the OTW’ in the beginning, and provide a link to this post in your summary or first/top creator’s note

Post a new fanwork any time between May 17th to 31st with “End Racism in the OTW” either as the title or at the beginning of the title. The fanwork does not have to be long - it can be a 100-word fic, a quick sketch, a podfic of a ficlet, a 20-second vid/edit, a short piece of meta, etc. In the summary or first/top creator’s note, provide a link to this post

If updating any WIPs with a new chapter, add ‘End Racism in the OTW’ to the title and provide a link back to this post in your summary or first/top author’s note

Update your AO3 icon using the profile pic graphic in our Social Media Toolkit

Plan to maintain these changes until May 31, 2023, or longer if you wish

Send a message to the OTW asking for an update on their 2020 commitments!

For Readers: leave encouraging comments on fanworks with the "End Racism in the OTW" title to show your support of this initiative.

On tumblr

Reblog this Call to Action with the tag #End OTW Racism

Update your profile pics and banners using the graphics in our Social Media Toolkit

Follow this account for updates and signal boost our posts

On Twitter

Follow @/EndOTWRacism (remove the backslash) and signal boost our pinned tweet

Update your profile pics and banners using our graphics, and change your display name to include #EndOTWRacism

Use sample tweets and graphics from our Social Media Toolkit to tweet about your fanworks, and use the hashtag #EndOTWRacism

Help us make this a long-term campaign - sign up to help with other anti-racism projects and future actions!

What Do We Want?

Since their June 2020 statement, OTW has been working on updating their Terms of Service (TOS) to address racist and bigoted harassment, but with little transparency and only the vaguest of updates. It has been three years since their commitment to this update - we want to see the results of their work implemented in the next 6-12 months. Their TOS updates and complementary policies should include:

Harassment policies that can be regularly updated to address both on-site harassment and off-site coordinated harassment of AO3 users, with updated protocols for the Policy & Abuse Team to ensure consistent and informed resolutions of abuse claims

A content policy on abusive (extremely racist and extremely bigoted) content; by abusive, we are talking about fanworks that are intentionally used to spread hate and harassment, not those that accidentally invoke racist or other bigoted stereotypes

These points are not particularly new and are not our own innovation; please refer to Stitch's article written over two years ago, asking for several of these very things.

OTW has also already committed to various process-based actions for longer-term works towards centering antiracism, including hiring a Diversity Consultant. The last update that OTW published said that the consultant would be hired within the next five years (after already having had three years to work on it since their original commitment). That is not soon enough. We want to see the following process-based actions implemented:

Hiring a Diversity Consultant within the next 3-6 months

Committing to a policy of transparency on this topic, with quarterly updates on the progress of these projects including challenges and their plan for overcoming those challenges. These quarterly updates should be published on OTW News page and newsletters, not solely discussed in Board meetings

Why Are We Doing This?

16 years ago, Astolat famously published her manifesto calling for a fandom Archive of One’s Own. In that time, AO3 has grown to be a central pillar of fandom, likely far outstripping its founders’ original vision. It is more than just an archive now; it is a central hub of the modern fannish experience. AO3 and the OTW must continue to grow and evolve with fandom over time to remain a healthy and functioning pillar of fandom. To that end, there are several areas in which the organization, as it admits itself, is lacking.

In June 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd protests and the uprising of the Black Lives Matter Movement, The OTW published a “This Week in Fandom” referencing the works of Dr. Rukmini Pande and Stitch, among others in which they discussed ‘making change for a better society’ through ‘conversations about race and racism’. In response, Dr. Pande and Stitch submitted a letter to the OTW calling for a more formal public statement than an offhand reference in a News Roundup that only served to call for thoughts and discussion without any indication the organization intended to do anything, policy wise, to address the issues being raised.

Eventually, the organization did remove the references to the works of Dr. Pande and Stitch and then made an official statement on the issue of racism within the organization and AO3. In it, they identified several things they would be prioritizing to combat harassment and benefit users. Some of those have been implemented (notably those that were already under development). However as of this writing, little else has been done especially in regards to:

Improving admin tools for the Policy & Abuse team

Reassessing the current mandatory archive warnings with the possibility of implementing others

And, most importantly, reviewing the Terms of Service (TOS) to allow the Policy & Abuse team to address harassment that is currently not covered by the existing TOS

By their own admission, the current tools and policies of the OTW are not sufficient to deal with issues of harassment and racism.

Several people who were involved in the founding of the OTW, including previous OTW Board members and staff on the original OTW Content Policy Committee, acknowledge that the founding of the OTW in 2008 and early board iterations failed us as a fandom by not doing enough, and by not even considering the way racism is perpetuated in fannish spaces, despite a long history of racism in fandom.

It has been nearly three years since the original commitment by the organization with little visible, measurable progress on these three crucial issues and a complete lack of transparency on where they are in regards to even beginning to deal with these issues. In fact, in Q&As, it was heavily implied by a member of the board that those calling for OTW to deal with issues of racism (which OTW had already acknowledged as a problem!) were not really fans but outside agitators.

This has cast significant doubt on the organization's sincerity and commitment to their stated goals, and on their position as leaders of a central fan tent-pole. Fans of color are not outsiders. They are right here, members of our community, and they are being harassed and targeted and driven out while space and platforms are being given to racists.

We, as fans of color and our allies, find the current state of fandom and current actions (and lack thereof) unacceptable. Fandom is our space, all of ours. We, as a fandom, have a right to a racism-free space and have a duty to our fellow fans to create that space. Unlike so much of the world, this is a space we can control and make better. It is a space we must make better. To read even more about this movement, visit our FAQs.

[cognitivejustice]

Restoring Indigenous aquaculture heals both ecosystems and communities in Hawai‘i

For generations, native Hawaiians have understood that their aquaculture systems, fishponds known as loko i‘a, serve as nurseries that seed fish populations in surrounding waters. For the first time, a team of scientists from the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) have modeled this feat of Indigenous science in a study.

“We are using science to translate ‘ike kupuna, or Indigenous knowledge, into policy,” said study co-author Kawika Winter, an ecologist at HIMB and He‘eia National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR).

“The value of this paper is that it’s one of the first, if not the first, to really show that there are ways to do aquaculture in ways that benefit the system around it.”

In partnership with He‘eia NERR and Paepae o He‘eia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to stewarding the He‘eia loko i‘a, an ancient Hawaiian fishpond enclosing 36 hectares (88 acres) of brackish water, the team simulated different restoration scenarios in Kāne‘ohe Bay on O‘ahu Island based on a simplified food web. The study found that restoring more of the bay into fully functional loko iʻa would grow fish populations not just within the ponds, but across the bay.

“Aquaculture has a really bad reputation for basically destroying areas around it, but those are commercial approaches to aquaculture that aren’t holistic in their thinking or values-based like Indigenous management,” Winter said. “Rather than ensuring the health of the system, commercial aquaculture is concerned with maximizing profits.”

Winter attributed the success of the loko i’a design to Indigenous thought processes: “Indigenous thinking is operating within the opportunities and constraints of this system and figuring out a way to make things abundant within that context, sometimes even increasing abundance beyond natural levels.

Restoring ecosystems and relationships

Since co-founding Paepae o He‘eia in 2001, study co-author Hi‘ilei Kawelo, a sixth-generation Hawaiian from Kāne‘ohe Bay, has witnessed thousands of volunteers transform the He‘eia loko i‘a.

With the ongoing restoration, Paepae o He‘eia has seen both the aquatic environment and participants’ well-being improve with increased access to traditional foods, strengthening their relationship to place, and fortifying their family and community relationships. “For me and for a lot of our employees, this is one of our outlets, if not our primary outlet for exercising aloha ‘āina [love of the land],” Kawelo said.

“‘Āina is so important, because it is a term for a system that has the nature and its people in an inseparable reciprocal relationship,” Winter said. “The concept is core to this work because it’s about getting back into a way of thinking where there is no separation between the lands, the waters and us.”

While the overarching goal of Paepae o He‘eia and other fishponds is to revitalize Hawai‘i’s extensive Indigenous aquaculture system, Kotubetey said he knows the work may take generations.

[cubbihue]

Is there a reason you sometimes draw Timmy with a crown and other times with his hat? Can they only wear one head item at a time or does Timmy just prefer to not wear the crown unless at work?

Yup!! Fairies can't hide or remove their crowns, so they opt to transform it into their desired head wear! As a result, they can only wear 1 head object at a time, be it either hat, helmet or crown. The Pixies are the one Court who loves Crown fashion the most!!!

Timmy reserves his crown for strictly work, such as meeting Jorgen under a professional setting, or pitching a policy change to the Fairy Council. He doesn't like how it shimmers above his head. The pink hat is just.. most familiar for him. Even if he can't place why.

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