News Post Moderation Subcommittee

Who We Are

The News Post Moderation subcommittee (NPM) is a team within the Communications committee that is responsible for overseeing and moderating comments on all OTW News Posts, both on the Archive of Our Own (AO3) and the OTW website. We ensure that all comments abide by the OTW News Post Moderation Policy so that we can try to provide a space for productive conversation. We also collaborate with other OTW committees to answer user questions and facilitate discussions between users and volunteers.

In addition to moderating comments on AO3 and the OTW website, we also often review News Post drafts, help publish News Posts, and take on other related tasks. As part of encouraging interactive discussion, we also advise committees about potential News Post topics and how they can best respond to comments on their News Posts.

We work hard to ensure that News Posts and the comments on them align with the OTW’s standards and goals. Our efforts focus on fostering collaboration and transparency between OTW volunteers and users who engage with News Posts. We welcome questions about our work, decisions, or policy from anyone and are happy to answer them. If you ever have any questions about what we do, please contact us.

Internal Structure

NPM consists of between 10 and 20 members. It is led by a Lead who oversees all NPM operations, including managing personnel, ensuring project goals are met, and keeping documentation updated. The Lead is responsible for making sure NPM remains accountable to its work and does its job well.

News Post Moderators do the bulk of the committee’s work as they manage the comments made on News Posts, enforce guidelines, and ensure a respectful environment. They respond to questions from the public, bring concerns expressed in comments back to other committees, propose ideas for potential News Posts, and take action on comments which violate our News Post Moderation Policy.

As part of NPM’s collaborative approach, the team also has Liaisons with many other OTW committees to help promote communications and provide assistance in answering user questions. In addition, Liaisons often handle comments related to their committee, provide feedback on questions under their committee’s purview, and offer advice on moderation issues. Liaisons are typically senior committee volunteers with extensive knowledge of their committee’s activities.

Comments on News Posts

Line graph titled 'Comments on News Posts by Year' plotting the number of comments made on News Posts from 2008 to 2023. Begins with a gradual incline from 2008 to 2014 with a peak in 2015 before dipping back down in 2016 and then resuming a sharper rise. High peak in 2020 followed by a smaller peak in 2021 and a large drop in 2022. Ending with a sharp increase in 2023. Data 2008: 82; 2009: 539; 2010: 900; 2011: 1088; 2012: 1707; 2013: 1768; 2014: 2253; 2015: 3557; 2016: 1974; 2017: 2799; 2018: 4104; 2019: 4904; 2020: 7541; 2021: 6160; 2022: 3672; 2023:8413
These numbers include News Posts comments on both AO3 and the OTW website. The peak in 2015 was due to controversy surrounding the OTW Board Election & related events that year. The spike in 2020-2021 is due to a large increase in OTW project visits during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is followed by a dip in 2022 when comments were disabled on all News Posts for several months following a malicious attack against OTW volunteers.

Contact Us

If you want to learn more about the News Post Moderation subcommittee or if you have any other questions, please contact us – we will be happy to hear from you.