Posts by Jess H
A Statement on Malicious Email Attacks Against OTW Volunteers
Since May 3rd, the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) — the nonprofit behind AO3, Fanlore, and other projects — has been dealing with malicious attacks aimed at the organization and its volunteers. We wanted to share with you some of what’s been happening, as well as what we’re doing to contain it, and how it may affect our response times to your inquiries and our workload in general. Above all, we need to ask for your patience, because these are complicated times for all of us at the OTW. An unknown attacker has been sending our volunteers threatening emails with illegal child sexual abuse material… Read more
2022 Election Timeline and Membership Deadline
The OTW Elections committee is pleased to announce that the timeline for the 2022 election for new members of the Board of Directors has been posted! This year’s election will be held August 12-15. This means that the deadline for volunteers to declare their candidacy is June 17. As usual, the election membership deadline is June 30. If you’re interested in voting, please make sure your membership is active as of that date. Please note that your donation receipt will be dated in US Eastern Time, so if your donation is listed after 19:59 on June 30, 2022 on the receipt, you won’t be eligible… Read more
Three U.S. Legal Issues To Watch
OTW Legal is tracking and participating in three current developments in U.S. law that could affect fans: (1) Fan-unfriendly proposals to change trademark law; (2) Attacks on LGBTQ+ expression online; and (3) Proposals to mandate technological copyright filtering on the Internet. We will keep advocating for fans in these areas, and in some cases, there are things you can do if you’re in the U.S.! If you want to know more, read on. (1) Fan-Unfriendly Proposals to Change Trademark Law The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill with the misleading name of “SHOP SAFE” that would place barriers and restrictions on online marketplaces,… Read more
Thanks for Participating in International Fanworks Day 2022
Another International Fanworks Day has gone by and once again, we at the Organization for Transformative Works are grateful for the enthusiasm and participation of our visitors. IFD is all about celebrating the creativity of the fandom community and it was on full display this year! The theme for #IFD2022 was Fandom Classics, and we encouraged you to post remixes of or tributes to classic fanworks as well as to to recommend your favorite fandom classics in our Feedback Fest. We’re blown away by the number of recommendations we received: easily enough fanworks to keep us busy until IFD 2023. We’d also like to thank… Read more
It’s International Fanworks Day 2022!
Hurray! It’s International Fanworks Day, our annual opportunity to celebrate all things fanworks and fandom. As is now traditional every February 15, the OTW will be celebrating with a chatroom games marathon, hosted on Discord: you can find all the details below. And remember to check out our previous post for details of the rest of our #IFD2022 celebrations! About the IFD games session The OTW’s chatroom games session is a 30-hour party that lasts from 21.00 UTC on 14 February until 03.00 UTC on 16 February. The times listed below are in UTC, but you can click the time to find out how that… Read more