Comment on Proposed Content Policy ToS and FAQ changes

  1. sanders Sun 30 Jun 2013 10:23PM UTC

    edited to correct use of 'archive' when I meant 'organization'

    I actually do care about the inclusiveness, as does the rest of the current Board. It was pretty important to me to get that statement out there as a step in stating that everyone should be welcome here. Honestly, I also take it with a grain of salt because I know we aren't fully there yet by any means. But it's the principles we're working from and working toward, and for this organization, it's a pretty big step toward acknowledging and respecting that fandom's not a very white, very western, very female, very fic-based thing. It's also a step toward being held accountable to those principles.

    Also, between you, me, and the internet, pretty much any diversity statement can be a bit dodgy. Organizations can always go either way from them, by failing big time to live them out, or by making successful steps forward. On the inside of the org, we're making steps forward that I fully support as a queer, poor, semi-able bodied woman of color with a wide-range of fannish interests. We've taken steps backward, too, and it's all a learning experience.

    As for being built around text functionality... that's a huge can of worms that I'm hesitant to open, but I'm going there anyway. Bluntly, it's an echo of bias in how the Archive was intially conceived and in how the organization functioned. There were more fic writers and fic fans involved because of where and how the org started, and distinct biases in ideas of who and what constituted fandom and fannish practices. That's evolving. We have more, and more vocal, podficcers and fan artists as volunteers, staff, and Board members. We have more people inside the org who have questioned and are questioning how work on the archive is prioritized. I'm not going to lie, it makes me furious that we prioritized work on challenges over things like having a translation interface or developing adequate means for hosting artworks. Those decisions were driven by several factors: complexity of coding, interest in the work, perceived immediacy of the need, to name a few; and those decisions weren't always in the best interest of either the org as a whole or AO3 in particular.

    I'm absolutely not going to bring up bandwidth. I think it's a flawed argument, even to my non-tech eyes and ears, and one I don't have the background to get into in any more than a surface way. I will say that I think we've made mistakes in the way the organization has grown, but it is what it is. We weren't working from any model, but from the ground up and just trying to get *something* we could call our own. We also didn't have an organizational structure that directed that growth, but allowed it to sort of chase the shiny object. That's changed and is continuing to change.

    Coming to work types now is part of a collective feeling that we've gotten to a stable enough place, and an immediate enough need, to do it. From this side, I don't see that progress stopping. There are people too doggedly determined at all levels of the org to push it through, and who have a different vision of what constitutes fanworks.

    Last Edited Mon 01 Jul 2013 12:41AM UTC

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    1. Pslasher Fri 12 Jul 2013 07:49PM UTC

      I just want to take a moment to thank you - as an AO3 user and as a Tag Wrangler - for taking the time to engage with us like this. I understand what you mean when you say you forget that the public doesn't know everything you do, I do that sometimes, too. I also understand the huge time commitment you and many of the coders have, even though it is much greater than my time commitment. It's hard to hear people speak poorly of an organization and an effort and a dream like the AO3, because you know first hand the difficulty of making it happen. The blow-up two years ago was hard for those reasons, but necessary. I - as a user and volunteer - appreciate your efforts to reform and bring the org priorities in line with what the users need and want. As a user I know it's hard not to be impatient at times, so thank you for letting us know a little more behind the scenes and for candidly talking about the Org's shortcomings. It does make the waiting easier.

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