Satsuma @Satsuma@cat.family

#EndOTWRacism rec of the day is chestnut_pod’s exploration of some of the underlying structural issues which have made it so difficult to get the OTW to do anything about racism on Ao3, as well as some of the steps it would have to take to make good on the campaign promises. There’s a lively discussion going on in the comments with various further perspectives on the OTWs structure & how that relates to their continued inaction re:racism

https://chestnut-pod.dreamwidth.org/141175.html

fiercynn is also the co-vidder of a fantastic pan-fandom appreciation vid set to We Didn't Start The Fire which premiered at Vividcon in 2012 but was apparently in the works in since 2008 (!) It's a really lovely, multi-generational look at fannishness, fandom, and the canons fans have connected to over the years:

End Racism in the OTW | We Didn't Start The Fire [vid] (490 words) by fiercynn & Scribe
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Multi-Fandom
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Subtitles: no, but there's a link to the song's lyrics
Summary:

Fifty years of fandom.

Todays #EndOTWRacism rec: fiercynn is working on porting some of her race in fandom meta over from twitter! The first chapter is a summary of the common objections, whenever fans try to do anything about racism on Ao3:

End Racism in the OTW | Fandom, Racism, and OTW: A Collection of Thoughts (441 words) by fiercynn
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: No Fandom
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional Tags: Meta, Antiracism, Racism in fandom, End OTW Racism, Racism on AO3
Summary:

Meta on why addressing racism in fandom - including in the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) and AO3 - matters, and what we can do about it.

Back in June 2020 wistfuljane wrote a fantastic bibliography of the fandom discussions surrounding Black Lives Matter & the OTW Elections which was incredibly helpful at the time but! It turns out she's been keeping it updated: https://wistfuljane.dreamwidth.org/2020/06/15/a-decade-later.html

I won't claim its comprehensive because, well, Fandom has spent a *lot* of time talking about race (and failing to talk about race) in the last decade and a half but hopefully at least it provides some perspective for why so many of the people in #EndOTWRacism talk about it like they've been getting ignored by the OTW (and harassed by the OTW's "supporters") for over a decade and have zero patience left

another rec from the #EndOTWRacism collection—sassaffrassa has cut out the middle-man and posted her meta about ao3 directly to ao3:

End Racism in the OTW (290 words) by sassaffrassa
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional Tags: Meta, End OTW Racism
Summary:

to be anti-censorship you must be anti-racist too

The popular meta-podcast on fandom Fansplaining, did a double episode on race featuring a wide variety of fans back in 2016--I haven't re-listened to hear how they held up but I remember thinking they provided a solid overview of the discussion at the time (particularly if you click through the links in the show notes):

https://www.fansplaining.com/episodes/22a-race-and-fandom

https://www.fansplaining.com/episodes/22b-race-and-fandom

They followed it up with two more episodes in 2020:
https://www.fansplaining.com/episodes/135a-race-and-fandom-revisited-part-1

https://www.fansplaining.com/episodes/135b-race-and-fandom-revisited-part-2

Some more ad-hoc history links for anyone playing catchup:

coffeeandink wrote a parody article skewering fandoms's attempts to avoid taking accountability for racism back in 2006. Point number 1? "Control what your audience sees." So, when the OTW refuses to take any public stances on race & racism, it's playing into tactics that have been called out since before the archive was even founded

https://web.archive.org/web/20060719223818/http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/607897.html

Originally posted for Festivids 2022, eruthros celebrates the 1995-1996 Women's USA Basketball Team, who's campaign for recognition helped spur the creation of the WNBA in 1996. They stuck with it through misogyny, racism, and homophobia, working fulltime as both athletes and activists. As the WNBA's profile continues to rise, it seems fitting to take a few minutes to remember the women who worked so hard to make it happen:

End Racism in the OTW | Vid: Tightrope (384 words) by eruthros
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 1995 - 1996 Women's USA Basketball Team,
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Jennifer Azzi, Ruthie Bolton, Teresa Edwards, Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo, Katrina McClain, Nikki McCray, Carla McGhee, Dawn Staley, Katy Steding, Sheryl Swoopes, Venus Lacey, Tara VanDerveer
Subtitles: yes!
Summary:

you gotta tip on the tightrope (tip, tip on it)

Curious about the title of this fanwork? Read more here!

Three years ago, the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) - the parent organization for AO3 - committed to acting on harassment and racist abuse that can currently happen through the site, including things like including using racial slurs against commenters, posting racist “spitefic” deliberately written to hurt and silence fans of color, naming critics of their fanworks in the tags of their fic to incite others to harass them, and more.

Join us in holding the OTW to their commitment and demanding change that will help keep all of us safer! Read more in our Call to Action, where you can find detailed information on the problem, what we’re demanding from the OTW, and how you can signal boost and get involved.

Has anyone made a #EndOTWRacism recs thread? What are y'all reading/watching/posting

Samuel R. Delany was writing eloquently on the subject of racism in fandom and the need to actively combat it in 1998 ( https://www.nyrsf.com/racism-and-science-fiction-.html ), nearly a decade before the OTW was even conceived of.

Racefail happened in 2009, when Ao3 was still a baby archive.

The OTW admitted they were failing fans of color and committed to making changes in 2020

Why are they still afraid of talking about anti-racism publicly now, in 2023 when we've been talking about the relationship between racism and fandom for, at absolute minimum, a quarter of a century? These are not brand new ideas

I've already boosted some far more eloquent posts by others, but I finally managed to put some thoughts down on #EndOTWRacism and how the OTW seems to have made a habit of dodging accountability by refusing to make any sort of public comment on controversial issues: https://satsuma.dreamwidth.org/25796.html

The short version is I'm in favor of the campaign and encourage anyone who uses the OTW's services (namely, fanlore and Ao3) to take part.

Or, skip my perspective and go straight to the campaign's own call to action: https://end-otw-racism.tumblr.com/post/716978822501875712/fandom-against-racism-a-manifesto

btw if you're going "wait that other URL doesn't seem to be available for my blog????" go to settings/blog/yourblogname and turn the "use custom theme" toggle to ON. No I don't know why subdomains are only available with a custom theme, sorry tumblr's just Like That these days

Quick PSA: If you share me a tumblr link that looks like username.tumblr.com, I can read it! however if instead its formatted tumblr.com/username then instead of actually being able to read your post, I get this highly annoying screen and can't actually read the post you actually sent

If you were just passing along a silly meme or something, maybe it's not worth the effort of double checking that everyone can actually see the post and that's fine whatever. But if you're sending it because you think that the contents are important enough that people off tumblr should be reading them? Maybe double check

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#Ao3TagOfTheDay There Was Only One… Office Couch?