Posts in Policy & Abuse Committee
Five Things megidola Said
Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today’s post is with megidola, who volunteers as an Organizational Culture Roadmap Workgroup Head, Policy & Abuse Volunteer & Supurrvisor, and Tag Wrangling Volunteer & Supervisor. How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does? I juggle a bunch of different things within the org, because I like variety! I started out as a tag wrangler, so… Read more
Five Things Whatsit Said
Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today’s post is with Whatsit, who volunteers as a Chair in training for the Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) and a Tag Wrangler. How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does? As a tag wrangler, I make sure that the fandoms I wrangle have properly canonized tags, which helps users find works that have the characters,… Read more
World Password Day: Keeping Your Account Secure
Today is World Password Day, and we’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of some best practices to keep your accounts secure. Last year, AO3 saw a rise in users who lost access to their AO3 accounts due to reused or insecure passwords that were found in data breaches from other sites. In response, our Policy & Abuse committee alongside our Accessibility, Design, & Technology, and Systems committees took steps to recover, secure, and notify the owners of over 10,000 at-risk accounts. Over the past year, we released many new features to proactively make AO3 accounts more secure, including: Automatic confirmation emails notifying… Read more
The OTW is Recruiting for Legal Committee Paralegals, Legal Committee Trademark Specialists, and Policy & Abuse Volunteers
Are you a paralegal interested in helping the Legal Committee carry out its legal advocacy mission? Do you have legal experience, preferably trademark-specific, especially in the EU and US? Would you like to assist AO3 users by resolving complaints? The Organization for Transformative Works is recruiting! We’re excited to announce the opening of applications for: Legal Committee Paralegal – closing 22 April 2026 at 23:59 UTC Legal Committee Trademark Specialist – closing 22 April 2026 at 23:59 UTC Policy & Abuse Volunteer – closing 22 April 2026 at 23:59 UTC We have included more information on each role below. Open roles and applications will always… Read more
Spambot Comments on AO3
NOTE: This is a living document and will be updated in response to changes and new types of spam as observed by OTW volunteers. LAST UPDATED: July 23, 2026 As AO3 continues to grow, there has been an increase in the amount and variety of spambots that attempt to harass or scam users. Spambots may try to imitate other users and even AO3/OTW volunteers to appear more realistic. This post shares a brief update on how we’re working to combat this issue, what types of spam we’ve seen, and what you can do if you encounter spam comments on AO3. What We’re Doing Protecting our… Read more