end-otw-racism

[end-otw-racism]

OTW Board Meeting on July 20!

The OTW has announced the next public Board meeting will be held on July 20 from midnight to 1:00 UTC. For some that will actually be the 19th, though, so be sure to check what time that is for you.

The posted agenda:

Decisions made since the last public board meeting

OTW Board Election

Updates to the Board Year Roadmap

Updates to the OTW Culture Roadmap

Any other business (Questions & Answers)

Meetings are held in the OTW Discord server and last approximately an hour. The Board will address the agenda first, and once that business is concluded they will take at least ten questions. Questions that are not answered during the meeting will be combined and posted as weekly Q&A threads in the ⁠#questions-answers channel starting two weeks after the most recent public meeting.

For this meeting, there is the option to send in questions in advance through a Google Form. You'll need to be logged into a Google account in order to submit a question, and only one question per person will be accepted. Questions can be submitted up to three days before the meeting begins or until fifty questions have been submitted. At that point, the form will be closed.

Because procedures may continue to change, we recommend reading through the OTW Discord's Community Guidelines in the #rules channel to familiarize yourself with the details of how meetings will be run. 

We hope to see you there!

--The Fandom Against Racism Team

[end-otw-racism]

OTW Board Meeting on April 26!

The OTW has announced the next public Board meeting will be held on April 26 from 15:00 to 16:00 UTC. For some that will actually be the 27th, though, so be sure to check what time that is for you.

The posted agenda:

Decisions made since the last public meeting

Updates to the Board Year Roadmap

Strategic Planning One Year Implementation Report

Any other business (Questions & Answers)

Meetings are held in the OTW Discord server and last approximately an hour. The Board will address the agenda first, and once that business is concluded they will take at least ten questions. Questions that are not answered during the meeting will be combined and posted as weekly Q&A threads in the ⁠#questions-answers channel starting two weeks after the most recent public meeting.

For this meeting, there is the option to send in questions in advance through a Google Form. You'll need to be logged into a Google account in order to submit a question, and only one question per person will be accepted. Questions can be submitted up to three days before the meeting begins or until fifty questions have been submitted. At that point, the form will be closed.

Because procedures may continue to change, we recommend reading through the OTW Discord's Community Guidelines in the #rules channel to familiarize yourself with the details of how meetings will be run. 

We hope to see you there!

--The Fandom Against Racism Team

[end-otw-racism]

On Your Left! — Changes to Captain America Fandom Tags

Repost of our statement on the original thread.

We here at End OTW Racism oppose this decision.

Not only is this inconsistent with their existing policies, but it’s also unnecessary, unasked-for, and causes issues for those already writing about Sam Wilson as Captain America. 

Primarily, we’re concerned that there are many Sam Wilson fans and many MCU fans of color in the comments declaring that they oppose this decision, which raises questions: who asked for this? How did this become such a pressing concern that it needed to happen now? Who decided this? Given the cultural context of pushback against having Black actors cast in roles originated by white actors, including the #NotMyCap movement, this decision seems to cater to the worst of fandom, further marginalizing stories about Black characters and treating stories about white characters as the “neutral default.”

We, the team behind End OTW Racism, wanted to speak on this issue not because we’re personally invested in the MCU fandom, but because we wanted to use this opportunity to highlight how AO3 specifically (and the OTW generally) makes institutional decisions that uphold racist biases, perhaps without even intending to do so. We’re also concerned at the lack of transparency behind this decision - there is no indication how or why this decision has been made, nor by whom and what spurred them to decide this now, in a current cultural and political climate that’s grown ever more hostile to Black people.

Regarding their existing policies: they cite James Bond as example, but James Bond films often change continuity with each successive actor, and Sam Wilson as Captain America exists in the same continuity, timeline, and universe as Steve Rogers as Captain America in Disney’s MCU. Moreover, there are several counter-examples where fandoms aren’t split off into a new tag when a new lead is introduced to the same storyline/continuity - as mentioned in the comments on this post, AO3 hasn’t done this for Bridgerton or Doctor Who (among others). 

The Bond parallel is further irrelevant because the actors are all playing a character with the same name. Captain America is a title that multiple characters have assumed. In other fandoms, when there are multiple characters with the same title (such as Doctor Who and Black Panther), current practice seems to be to use character and freeform tags to disambiguate, which many commenters on this announcement confirm.

The cited existence of non-MCU Captain America films also doesn’t hold water, as The Flash seems to be disambiguated just fine with its myriad of tags, including The Flash (Movie 2023), The Flash (TV 1990), and The Flash (TV 2014). Many other comic books and comics adapted into tv and film likewise don’t seem to suffer from having multiple continuities and multiple actors as leads of similarly-titled projects, sometimes released simultaneously. Changing the tag to “Captain America (MCU films)�� would disambiguate between MCU/non-MCU film continuities very well, without needing to isolate “Sam Wilson as Captain America” stories away from the rest of the MCU films in which he plays such a prominent role. 

This decision also seems to default all existing MCU Captain America stories to the Chris Evans as Captain America tag, which requires all authors who’ve written about Sam Wilson as Captain America to do the labor of “fixing” their stories, as if they’ve been the ones to mistag their work. This also doesn’t take into account the many Alternate Universe stories and such that may feature Sam Wilson as Captain America prior to him taking on the mantle in canon, putting those authors in a bind as to where their stories “belong.”

We encourage those who are similarly opposed to this decision to write to AO3 with their concerns: https://archiveofourown.org/support

If you need a sample script, you are welcome to use or adapt the following: 

Dear Tag Wrangling Team,  I am writing to you to express disapproval of the planned changes to the Captain America tag by splitting it into “Captain America (Chris Evans Movies) ” and “Captain America (Anthony Mackie Movies)” and to encourage the OTW to change the tag to “Captain America (MCU)” instead.  Sincerely, [Your Name]

[end-otw-racism]

We here at End OTW Racism oppose this decision.

Not only is this inconsistent with their existing policies, but it’s also unnecessary, unasked-for, and causes issues for those already writing about Sam Wilson as Captain America. 

Primarily, we’re concerned that there are many Sam Wilson fans and many MCU fans of color in the comments declaring that they oppose this decision, which raises questions: who asked for this? How did this become such a pressing concern that it needed to happen now? Who decided this? Given the cultural context of pushback against having Black actors cast in roles originated by white actors, including the #NotMyCap movement, this decision seems to cater to the worst of fandom, further marginalizing stories about Black characters and treating stories about white characters as the “neutral default.”

We, the team behind End OTW Racism, wanted to speak on this issue not because we're personally invested in the MCU fandom, but because we wanted to use this opportunity to highlight how AO3 specifically (and the OTW generally) makes institutional decisions that uphold racist biases, perhaps without even intending to do so. We’re also concerned at the lack of transparency behind this decision - there is no indication how or why this decision has been made, nor by whom and what spurred them to decide this now, in a current cultural and political climate that’s grown ever more hostile to Black people.

Regarding their existing policies: they cite James Bond as example, but James Bond films often change continuity with each successive actor, and Sam Wilson as Captain America exists in the same continuity, timeline, and universe as Steve Rogers as Captain America in Disney’s MCU. Moreover, there are several counter-examples where fandoms aren’t split off into a new tag when a new lead is introduced to the same storyline/continuity - as mentioned in the comments on this post, AO3 hasn’t done this for Bridgerton or Doctor Who (among others). 

The Bond parallel is further irrelevant because the actors are all playing a character with the same name. Captain America is a title that multiple characters have assumed. In other fandoms, when there are multiple characters with the same title (such as Doctor Who and Black Panther), current practice seems to be to use character and freeform tags to disambiguate, which many commenters on this announcement confirm.

The cited existence of non-MCU Captain America films also doesn’t hold water, as The Flash seems to be disambiguated just fine with its myriad of tags, including The Flash (Movie 2023), The Flash (TV 1990), and The Flash (TV 2014). Many other comic books and comics adapted into tv and film likewise don’t seem to suffer from having multiple continuities and multiple actors as leads of similarly-titled projects, sometimes released simultaneously. Changing the tag to “Captain America (MCU films)” would disambiguate between MCU/non-MCU film continuities very well, without needing to isolate “Sam Wilson as Captain America” stories away from the rest of the MCU films in which he plays such a prominent role. 

This decision also seems to default all existing MCU Captain America stories to the Chris Evans as Captain America tag, which requires all authors who’ve written about Sam Wilson as Captain America to do the labor of “fixing” their stories, as if they’ve been the ones to mistag their work. This also doesn’t take into account the many Alternate Universe stories and such that may feature Sam Wilson as Captain America prior to him taking on the mantle in canon, putting those authors in a bind as to where their stories “belong.”

We encourage those who are similarly opposed to this decision to write to AO3 with their concerns: https://archiveofourown.org/support

If you need a sample script, you are welcome to use or adapt the following: 

Dear Tag Wrangling Team, 

I am writing to you to express disapproval of the planned changes to the Captain America tag by splitting it into "Captain America (Chris Evans Movies) " and "Captain America (Anthony Mackie Movies)" and to encourage the OTW to change the tag to "Captain America (MCU)" instead. 

Sincerely, [Your Name]

On Your Left! — Changes to Captain America Fandom Tags

Hello! In the near future, Marvel tag wranglers will be updating fandom tags on AO3 to separate the upcoming Captain America movies featuring Sam Wilson as Captain America from the trilogy of films with Steve Rogers as Captain America.

To do this, we will be renaming the fandom Captain America (Movies) to Captain America (Chris Evans Movies) and creating a new fandom named Captain America (Anthony Mackie Movies). Both will be made subtags of Marvel Cinematic Universe and Captain America - All Media Types.

In summary:

Captain America (Chris Evans Movies) will refer to the 2011, 2014, and 2016 movies featuring Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter, and Bucky Barnes. 

Captain America (Anthony Mackie Movies) will refer to the 2025 movie Brave New World featuring Sam Wilson and Joaquín Torres. This fandom tag will also refer to any sequel Captain America movies starring Sam Wilson in the title role.

Fans interested in reading about both movie series can include both Marvel Cinematic Universe and Captain America - All Media Types in tag filtering. The current fandom tag for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (TV), which is a subtag of Marvel Cinematic Universe but not Captain America - All Media Types, will also be unaffected by these changes. We’ve included more details of our reasoning below, which better explains why we’re making this change.

Why are you making two separate fandom tags? Can’t everyone just keep using “Captain America (Movies)”?

Despite both having the superhero name “Captain America” and the same continuity, fundamentally the main character has changed between the original trilogy and the new 2025 movie. We also wanted to hopefully make it easier for fans to differentiate between which movies and continuities they’re discussing. Many Sam Wilson fans will likely want to filter for the movie where he’s the central focus; conversely, many Steve Rogers fans will likely want to filter out movies where he doesn’t appear. 

We’re specifically using “Chris Evans” and “Anthony Mackie” in the fandom tags as they’re the most recognizable and consistent aspect of the movies. There’s no consistent set of directors between all Chris Evans Captain America movies, and actor names are much more recognizable than including multiple years in the fandom tags. This style of making fandom tags named after actors is similar to other fandoms on AO3. For example, there are many James Bond movie fandom tags which differentiate via the actors’ names. 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is also not the only time Captain America has been adapted to the big screen: there’s a 1944 movie starring Dick Purnell, a 1979 movie starring Reb Brown, and a 1990 movie starring Mat Salinger. The current fandom tag Captain America (Movies) is worded in a way that technically encompasses these unrelated movies as well. It doesn’t make sense for these unrelated continuities to share one fandom tag, so we would have changed the existing Captain America (Movies) tag to be more specific regardless of the release of Brave New World. 

Like we mentioned above, fans interested in reading about both MCU movie series at once can filter for both Marvel Cinematic Universe and Captain America - All Media Types.

Why Mackie Movies instead of Brave New World?

The movie title has already changed several times in between promotion and release. It’s also highly likely Marvel will make sequel movies. Formatting the tag as Captain America (Anthony Mackie Movies) prevents the disruption of renaming the fandom tag in the future. 

We will be creating an Additional Tag for Captain America: Brave New World, similar to how there are Additional Tags for Movie: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Movie: Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). We hope the Additional Tag will help fans filter for specific movies within the broader series of movies.

Why does Brave New World get a separate fandom tag while First Avenger, Winter Soldier, and Civil War would still share? 

Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Captain America: Civil War all encompass the trilogy centering around Steve Rogers. While Captain America: Brave New World is also set in the same continuity, the main character and actor has changed, and the role of Sam Wilson has changed from being a supporting character to the main focus.

It’s likely that Marvel will release sequel movies to Brave New World, which will not receive separate fandom tags and would instead also be covered by the new Captain America (Anthony Mackie Movies) tag. We hope that separating the fandom tags now will prevent the messiness of renaming tags again in the future, and also allow fans to filter for works that focus on the specific Captain America they are looking for. 

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

[end-otw-racism]

An Ongoing Movement

The End OTW Racism movement was originally founded with a singular goal and narrow scope: Hold the OTW accountable to its promise to review and revise their TOS to enable the Policy & Abuse team to better address racist harassment. The organization has since revised their policies to enable greater flexibility and power in addressing TOS violations which fulfills the original intent of the Fandom Against Racism team. 

That said, confronting and overcoming racism within fandom spaces is not a one-and-done deal that can be completely solved  by a TOS change. With the fulfillment of our original goal we have considered the ways we can continue to confront racism within fandom on a more ongoing basis. 

We have determined that the best use of our platform is to maintain a fairly narrow scope on fandom institutions engaging in racist behaviors or policies. Going forward we will endeavor to highlight these instances as they arise and provide people with actions they can take to counter or speak out against these policies. 

While this is a shift in how our team has operated thus far, we feel it is in line with the spirit in which we began. We will maintain our focus on institutions and institutional missteps, not fan or ship wars or individual incidents of interpersonal racism. We will continue to work against racist policies that harm our fellow fans to make fandom a better space for all of us.

-The Fandom Against Racism Team

[end-otw-racism]

OTW Board Meeting on January 26!

The OTW has announced the next public Board meeting will be held on January 26 from 23:00 to 23:59 UTC. For some that will actually be the 27th, though, so be sure to check what time that is for you.

The posted agenda:

Decisions made since the last public board meeting

AO3 Terms of Service Update wrap up

OTW Culture Roadmap update

2024 Board Roadmap wrap up and 2025 Board Roadmap

Any other business (Questions & Answers)

Meetings are held in the OTW Discord server and last approximately an hour. The Board will address the agenda first, and once that business is concluded they will take at least ten questions. Questions that are not answered during the meeting will be combined and posted as weekly Q&A threads in the ⁠#questions-answers channel starting two weeks after the most recent public meeting.

For this meeting, there is the option to send in questions in advance through a Google Form. You'll need to be logged into a Google account in order to submit a question, and only one question per person will be accepted. Questions can be submitted up to three days before the meeting begins or until fifty questions have been submitted. At that point, the form will be closed.

Because procedures may continue to change, we recommend reading through the OTW Discord's Community Guidelines in the #rules channel to familiarize yourself with the details of how meetings will be run. 

We hope to see you at the meeting!

--The Fandom Against Racism Team

[end-otw-racism]

OTW Board Meeting on January 26!

The OTW has announced the next public Board meeting will be held on January 26 from 23:00 to 23:59 UTC. For some that will actually be the 27th, though, so be sure to check what time that is for you.

The posted agenda:

Decisions made since the last public board meeting

AO3 Terms of Service Update wrap up

OTW Culture Roadmap update

2024 Board Roadmap wrap up and 2025 Board Roadmap

Any other business (Questions & Answers)

Meetings are held in the OTW Discord server and last approximately an hour. The Board will address the agenda first, and once that business is concluded they will take at least ten questions. Questions that are not answered during the meeting will be combined and posted as weekly Q&A threads in the ⁠#questions-answers channel starting two weeks after the most recent public meeting.

For this meeting, there is the option to send in questions in advance through a Google Form. You'll need to be logged into a Google account in order to submit a question, and only one question per person will be accepted. Questions can be submitted up to three days before the meeting begins or until fifty questions have been submitted. At that point, the form will be closed.

Because procedures may continue to change, we recommend reading through the OTW Discord's Community Guidelines in the #rules channel to familiarize yourself with the details of how meetings will be run. 

We hope to see you at the meeting!

--The Fandom Against Racism Team

[end-otw-racism]

The comments on the OTW news post have been closed, but if you have feedback you'd like to share, you can contact the Board of Directors through the OTW website.

When we started this movement, one of our goals was that the OTW would take on the task of “reviewing the Terms of Service (TOS) to allow the Policy & Abuse team to address harassment that is currently not covered by the existing TOS”. 

With your help, we organized and drew attention to this issue, demonstrating to the OTW the support behind such an action. 

The OTW has now taken this action. They write “We have clarified in the policy that we consider harassment of groups of people (not just of specific individuals) to be a violation; explicitly included interactions with OTW volunteers as an example of something our harassment policy applies to”. Generalizing the Abuse Policy should give the AO3 Policy & Abuse committee greater flexibility to determine how to address TOS violations.

We are proud of what we accomplished together, and we will continue to push for more improvements in the future, so that fandom can truly be a place for all of us.  You can read the proposed changes and comment on this OTW news post with any questions, suggestions, or feedback you might have about the new TOS or TOS FAQ.

[end-otw-racism]

When we started this movement, one of our goals was that the OTW would take on the task of “reviewing the Terms of Service (TOS) to allow the Policy & Abuse team to address harassment that is currently not covered by the existing TOS”. 

With your help, we organized and drew attention to this issue, demonstrating to the OTW the support behind such an action. 

The OTW has now taken this action. They write “We have clarified in the policy that we consider harassment of groups of people (not just of specific individuals) to be a violation; explicitly included interactions with OTW volunteers as an example of something our harassment policy applies to”. Generalizing the Abuse Policy should give the AO3 Policy & Abuse committee greater flexibility to determine how to address TOS violations.

We are proud of what we accomplished together, and we will continue to push for more improvements in the future, so that fandom can truly be a place for all of us.  You can read the proposed changes and comment on this OTW news post with any questions, suggestions, or feedback you might have about the new TOS or TOS FAQ.

[end-otw-racism]

OTW Board Meeting on September 30!

The OTW has announced the next public Board meeting will be held on September 30 from 00:00 to 01:00 UTC. For some of us that will actually be September 29, though, so be sure to check what time that is for you.

The posted agenda:

Decisions made since the last public board meeting

2024 OTW Board Election wrap-up

OTW Culture Roadmap update

Board Roadmap update

Any other business (questions & answers)

Meetings are held in the OTW Discord server and last approximately an hour. The Board will address the agenda first, and once that business is concluded they will take at least ten questions. Questions that are not answered during the meeting will be combined and posted as weekly Q&A threads in the ⁠#questions-answers channel starting two weeks after the most recent public meeting.

For this meeting, there is the option to send in questions in advance through a Google Form. You'll need to be logged into a Google account in order to submit a question, and only one question per person will be accepted. Questions can be submitted up to three days before the meeting begins or until fifty questions have been submitted. At that point, the form will be closed.

Because procedures may continue to change, we recommend reading through the OTW Discord's Community Guidelines in the #rules channel to familiarize yourself with the details of how meetings will be run. 

We hope to see you there!

--The Fandom Against Racism Team

[end-otw-racism]

OTW Board Meeting on September 30!

The OTW has announced the next public Board meeting will be held on September 30 from 00:00 to 01:00 UTC. For some of us that will actually be September 29, though, so be sure to check what time that is for you.

The posted agenda:

Decisions made since the last public board meeting

2024 OTW Board Election wrap-up

OTW Culture Roadmap update

Board Roadmap update

Any other business (questions & answers)

Meetings are held in the OTW Discord server and last approximately an hour. The Board will address the agenda first, and once that business is concluded they will take at least ten questions. Questions that are not answered during the meeting will be combined and posted as weekly Q&A threads in the ⁠#questions-answers channel starting two weeks after the most recent public meeting.

For this meeting, there is the option to send in questions in advance through a Google Form. You'll need to be logged into a Google account in order to submit a question, and only one question per person will be accepted. Questions can be submitted up to three days before the meeting begins or until fifty questions have been submitted. At that point, the form will be closed.

Because procedures may continue to change, we recommend reading through the OTW Discord's Community Guidelines in the #rules channel to familiarize yourself with the details of how meetings will be run. 

We hope to see you there!

--The Fandom Against Racism Team

[end-otw-racism]

OTW Board Meeting on July 14!

The OTW has announced the next public Board meeting will be held on July 14 from 13:00 to 14:00 UTC. For some of us that'll be July 15, though, so be sure to check what time that is for you.

The posted agenda:

Decisions made since the last public board meeting

Organizational Culture Roadmap Update

Board Year Roadmap Update

Any other business (Questions & Answers)

Meetings are held in the OTW Discord server and last approximately an hour. The Board will address the agenda first, and once that business is concluded they will take at least ten questions. Questions that are not answered during the meeting will be combined and posted as weekly Q&A threads in the ⁠#questions-answers channel starting two weeks after the most recent public meeting.

For this meeting, there will be the option to send in questions in advance through a Google Form. You'll need to be logged into a Google account in order to submit a question, and only one question per person will be accepted. Questions can be submitted up to three days before the meeting begins or until fifty questions have been submitted. At that point, the form will be closed.

Because procedures may continue to change, we recommend reading through the OTW Discord's Community Guidelines in the #rules channel to familiarize yourself with the details of how meetings will be run. 

We hope to see you there!

--The Fandom Against Racism Team

[end-otw-racism]

OTW Board Meeting on July 14!

The OTW has announced the next public Board meeting will be held on July 14 from 13:00 to 14:00 UTC. For some of us that'll be July 15, though, so be sure to check what time that is for you.

The posted agenda:

Decisions made since the last public board meeting

Organizational Culture Roadmap Update

Board Year Roadmap Update

Any other business (Questions & Answers)

Meetings are held in the OTW Discord server and last approximately an hour. The Board will address the agenda first, and once that business is concluded they will take at least ten questions. Questions that are not answered during the meeting will be combined and posted as weekly Q&A threads in the ⁠#questions-answers channel starting two weeks after the most recent public meeting.

For this meeting, there will be the option to send in questions in advance through a Google Form. You'll need to be logged into a Google account in order to submit a question, and only one question per person will be accepted. Questions can be submitted up to three days before the meeting begins or until fifty questions have been submitted. At that point, the form will be closed.

Because procedures may continue to change, we recommend reading through the OTW Discord's Community Guidelines in the #rules channel to familiarize yourself with the details of how meetings will be run. 

We hope to see you there!

--The Fandom Against Racism Team

[end-otw-racism]

This meeting starts in 20 minutes!

OTW Board Meeting on April 21!

The OTW has announced the next public Board meeting will be held on April 21 from 02:00 to 03:00 UTC. For some of us that'll be April 20, though, so be sure to check when that is for you.

The currently planned agenda:

Decisions made since the last public board meeting

DEI and organizational culture update

Organizational Culture Roadmap

Any other business (Questions & Answers)

Meetings are held in the OTW Discord server and last approximately an hour. The Board will address the agenda first, and once that business is concluded they will take at least ten questions.

Questions should be asked in the #open-chat channel where they will be collected by moderators and added to the ⁠#questions-voting channel. There, they will be upvoted by meeting attendees and then answered in order of descending emoji count. The Board requests that questions be reasonable and polite, under 50 words, and that each person only submits one. Questions that require Board members to read and respond to any linked posts will not be accepted.

Unanswered questions will be combined and posted as weekly Q&A threads in the ⁠#questions-answers channel, starting two weeks after the most recent public meeting. This means if your question isn't covered in the meeting, there's still a chance it'll be answered later.

The full Community Guidelines can be found in the OTW Discord's #rules channel, and we recommend reading them to familiarize yourself with how the meeting will be run.

We hope to see you there!

--The Fandom Against Racism Team

[end-otw-racism]

This meeting will start in the OTW Discord in 9 hours!

OTW Board Meeting on April 21!

The OTW has announced the next public Board meeting will be held on April 21 from 02:00 to 03:00 UTC. For some of us that'll be April 20, though, so be sure to check when that is for you.

The currently planned agenda:

Decisions made since the last public board meeting

DEI and organizational culture update

Organizational Culture Roadmap

Any other business (Questions & Answers)

Meetings are held in the OTW Discord server and last approximately an hour. The Board will address the agenda first, and once that business is concluded they will take at least ten questions.

Questions should be asked in the #open-chat channel where they will be collected by moderators and added to the ⁠#questions-voting channel. There, they will be upvoted by meeting attendees and then answered in order of descending emoji count. The Board requests that questions be reasonable and polite, under 50 words, and that each person only submits one. Questions that require Board members to read and respond to any linked posts will not be accepted.

Unanswered questions will be combined and posted as weekly Q&A threads in the ⁠#questions-answers channel, starting two weeks after the most recent public meeting. This means if your question isn't covered in the meeting, there's still a chance it'll be answered later.

The full Community Guidelines can be found in the OTW Discord's #rules channel, and we recommend reading them to familiarize yourself with how the meeting will be run.

We hope to see you there!

--The Fandom Against Racism Team

[end-otw-racism]

This may be a question with a very obvious answer I guess, but does reading on ao3 support otw?

If you define support as “support monetarily,” then no, reading fics on AO3 does not support AO3. AO3 is a non-profit, which means that it does not generate revenue from use. Rather, use costs AO3 money. 

We’d also like to re-emphasize here that we utilize AO3 as both authors and readers. This is why we’re advocating for the OTW to do a better job protecting its users and volunteers!

[end-otw-racism]

OTW Board Meeting on April 21!

The OTW has announced the next public Board meeting will be held on April 21 from 02:00 to 03:00 UTC. For some of us that'll be April 20, though, so be sure to check when that is for you.

The currently planned agenda:

Decisions made since the last public board meeting

DEI and organizational culture update

Organizational Culture Roadmap

Any other business (Questions & Answers)

Meetings are held in the OTW Discord server and last approximately an hour. The Board will address the agenda first, and once that business is concluded they will take at least ten questions.

Questions should be asked in the #open-chat channel where they will be collected by moderators and added to the ⁠#questions-voting channel. There, they will be upvoted by meeting attendees and then answered in order of descending emoji count. The Board requests that questions be reasonable and polite, under 50 words, and that each person only submits one. Questions that require Board members to read and respond to any linked posts will not be accepted.

Unanswered questions will be combined and posted as weekly Q&A threads in the ⁠#questions-answers channel, starting two weeks after the most recent public meeting. This means if your question isn't covered in the meeting, there's still a chance it'll be answered later.

The full Community Guidelines can be found in the OTW Discord's #rules channel, and we recommend reading them to familiarize yourself with how the meeting will be run.

We hope to see you there!

--The Fandom Against Racism Team