I. Happy Anniversary!
There were two major anniversaries this September. The first one was the 11th anniversary of the founding of the OTW. Communications celebrated this with some fun graphics and a scavenger hunt trivia contest where people searched for information about the OTW’s projects over the past year. Congratulations to MemeKon, who won the contest and will be receiving a copy of Check, Please! Year 2.
The other anniversary was that of Transformative Works and Cultures. The TWC committee published the 10th anniversary issue of the scholarly journal, Volume 28: The Future of Fandom. Just in time for this release, the journal got a shiny new server. Thanks to everyone for your patience while we settle into our new home and fix a couple issues.
II. At the AO3
It’s been a month of behind-the-scenes work at the AO3. Accessibility, Design & Technology is busy preparing for upcoming changes later in the year. Systems added some new Archive servers. And Open Doors is pleased to announce the completion of the import of the Pretty Lights collection.
In front-end news, AO3 Documentation added a new FAQ about Tag Sets.
Support received 1,084 tickets during September, 50% below the monthly average. A shout-out to Translation, who helps with roughly 10% of all Support tickets! By contrast, Policy & Abuse received around 5,700 tickets this month, though approximately 4,900 of them were spam. Lastly, Tag Wrangling wrangled and raked about 218,190 tags during August (September totals available in the next newsletter).
III. Legal Advocacy
Legal has been hard at work this month helping fans who are concerned about proposed copyright legislation in the European Union. In addition to responding to many questions from fans, they also published two news posts about the legislation. The first post explained the legislation, including Article 11 and Article 13, and why it was unfriendly to fans. The second post, made after a vote on the wording of the legislation, explained how AO3 and other fandom-heavy sites might be affected if it becomes law.
IV. It’s All About the Peeps
As of 28 September the OTW has 679 volunteers. \o/ Recent personnel movements are listed below.
New Committee Chairs: Ori (Translation), Kate Flanagan (Fanlore)
New Committee Staff: Tuba Terry (Systems), Elizabeth Chicken (Systems), Wyatt Parsons (Systems), Rachel Bussert (Systems), and 2 other Systems staffers; Isabella Ruffalo (Open Doors), Pete Hicks (Open Doors), telescopicpoems (Open Doors), Kate Flanagan (Open Doors), and 2 other Open Doors staffers; ioana and 1 other Translation staffer
New Tag Wrangler Volunteers: Afi, Beth Boisvert, cageot, Cait Sidh, Cecilia, Chrome, confxzzled, EmpressKat, Felicia W., Haley O’Neill, Hope, JackalMidnight, Kaylie, lovemelikesunday, Mayari, Miss Saucy, NatashaK, nctuwu, Novile, OneSweetMelody, Renquise, sapphire2309, sopor, speakingmermish, sybaritick, TarryKnight, Tori Estel, Vasileios Pasialiokis, waveridden, waywardtrekkie, Zip
New Translation Volunteers: 1 volunteer
Departing Committee Chairs: Lauren Hanna (Communications)
Departing Committee Staff: Molly S (AO3 Documentation), and 1 other AO3 Documentation staffer, afterandalasia (Policy & Abuse) and 1 other Policy & Abuse staffer, 1 Strategic Planning staffer
Departing Tag Wrangler Volunteers: 2babyturtles and 1 other volunteer
Departing Translation Volunteers: Anna Morbach, monnwilk, Nakamura, nanabanana
For more information about the purview of our committees, please access the committee listing on our website.