#i actively don't want this to be number 1 on ao3's list of priorities y'all have so much more important stuff to do. however

[cicelythereaper]

I can see the logic behind this change. I still want to point out a problem with the way it has played out in the former "Irish Mythology" and "Welsh Mythology" tags. These tags have never been primarily used for fanfiction concerning the pre-Christian beliefs of the inhabitants of Ireland and Wales: the vast majority of the time, they've been used for fics dealing with medieval and early modern literature, and oral folklore, from those places. So we've gone from having misleading tags to having tags that are wildly inappropriate for the majority of material in them. A straightforward 1=1 switch is not going to work here! The previous tags drew no clear lines between "pre-Christian beliefs of a certain region" and "later literature of that region, which may include folkloric beliefs and the supernatural". The new tags specify only the former - so we now have no tags for the latter!

(Sidenote: the Medieval Welsh Literature tag, which was previously synned to 'Welsh Mythology', has now been canonised as its own tag, but is too small to be used to filter works - which means that people can't use it to find things, y'know, the way fandom tags are normally used. Second sidenote: I'm pretty sure 'Llên a Chrefydd yr Hen Gymraeg' is ungrammatical, though I'll defer to more fluent speakers on that one.)

I know for a fact you have had multiple support tickets come in about this. I also know Support staff are eternally busy and especially busy and stressed recently, and this is far from the most urgent thing on AO3's plate right now, so I'm not in a hurry. But I would love to hear an acknowledgement that the people making these decisions are aware of this problem and plan to at some point think about what to do about it.

Updates to AO3 "Mythology" Fandoms

Hi AO3 users! You may have noticed that recently, fandoms previously canonized as "Mythology" are being updated to "Religion & Lore". This renaming project is part of a wider ongoing process on AO3 about respectful treatment and naming of various religions, spiritual beliefs, faiths, and collections of folklores belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition. This includes both major and minor religions, as well as reconstructionist, ancient, and modern religions.

In the coming months, the term "Mythology" is being phased out of canonical fandom names. This is because of its potential for use as a disparaging term, and the way in which it is used primarily for religions which are already under-represented. Since "mythology" has connotations of being fictional or inferior to the religious beliefs of the speaker or writer, and is unfortunately used in this way by some, the decision has been made to replace this term with something that the Wrangling Committee believes is more inclusive and less derogatory.

After extensive discussion between individuals from varying religious backgrounds and beliefs, including wranglers representing the various fandoms which were being covered, it was felt that "Religion & Lore" was an appropriate and neutral way to describe the bodies of faith, belief, knowledge, and tradition associated with many of these religions which were ancestrally imparted and regional in nature. It is also hoped that this will decrease ambiguous or confused use, allowing people to more accurately describe their works and find works in which they are interested moving forward.

The use of "Ancient" in many of these fandoms' names reflects that these countries still exist but now have different predominant religions or spiritual beliefs. For example, Ancient Greek Religion & Lore (as Greece is now a predominantly Christian country) or Ancient Egyptian Religion (as Egypt is now a predominantly Muslim country). Because "Norse" does not refer to an extant country, region, or culture, it is not necessary to specify that it is historical or ancient in nature.

The names of these fandoms will also have the native language piped, if the English-language demonym is significantly different from the native-language demonym or if there is a culturally specific term based on consultation with individuals who speak these languages as a first language. We hope to give representation to the language of the source culture by doing so.

Each of these changes has been and will continue to be carefully researched and discussed with traditional knowledge keepers and researchers from the cultures represented in the fandoms under discussion.

Many religions face the issue of texts being written long after their events occurred. Unfortunately this is something which is shared across many religious fandoms; AO3 seeks to treat these religious fandoms equally. Care has been taken in researching characters relating to these fandoms, and character tags will be canonized or made a synonym on a case-by-case basis. Fandom tags that are currently synned to the Ancient religious fandoms have been checked as thoroughly as possible to ensure that they are not referring to modern folk tales, and where possible such relatively modern folk tales are canonized as their own fandoms.

(From time to time, ao3org posts announcements of recent or upcoming wrangling changes on behalf of the Tag Wrangling Committee.)