Archive of Our Own ^beta

Garlic Press and Poison Pen Press, publishers of Star Trek: The Original Series fanzines including Spockanalia and Masiform D, are importing the zines’ fanworks to the Archive of Our Own (AO3).

In this post:

• A bit of background explanation
• What this means for creators who had work(s) in Garlic Press and Poison Pen Press’s fanzines
• And what to do if you still have questions

Background explanation

Spockanalia (1967-1970) was the very first all-Star Trek fanzine ever published, and Masiform D (1971-1998) was the longest running Star Trek fanzine, so Open Doors is delighted to be preserving these fanzines’ works as part of the AO3 Fanzine Scan Hosting Project (FSHP).

The fanzines to be imported are:

• Spockanalia: Fanlore page and AO3 collection
• Masiform D: Fanlore page and AO3 collection
• The Compleat Kershu Fighter: Fanlore page and AO3 collection

The purpose of the Open Doors Committee’s AO3 Fanzine Scan Hosting Project (FSHP) is to assist publishers of fanzines to incorporate the fanworks from those fanzines into the Archive of Our Own. It is extremely important to Open Doors that we work in collaboration with publishers who want to import their fanzines and that we fully credit creators, giving them as much control as possible over their fanworks. Open Doors will be working with Garlic Press and Poison Pen Press to import the fanzines listed above into separate, searchable collections on the Archive of Our Own. As part of preserving the fanzines in their entirety, all art in the fanzines will be hosted on the OTW's servers and embedded in their own AO3 work pages.

We will begin importing works from Garlic Press and Poison Pen Press’s fanzines to the AO3 after April. However, the import may not take place for several months or even years, depending on the size and complexity of the task. Creators are always welcome to import their own works and add them to the collections in the meantime.

What does this mean for creators who had work(s) in Garlic Press and Poison Pen Press’s fanzines?

We will send an import notification to the email address we have for each creator. We'll do our best to check for an existing copy of any works before importing. If we find a copy already on the AO3, we will add it to the collection instead of importing it. All works archived on behalf of a creator will include their name in the byline or the summary of the work.

All imported works will be set to be viewable only by logged-in AO3 users. Once you claim your works, you can make them publicly-viewable if you choose. After 30 days, all unclaimed imported works will be made visible to all visitors.

Please contact Open Doors with your creator pseud(s) and email address(es), if:

1. You'd like us to import your works, but you need the notification sent to a different email address than the publishers have a record of.
2. You already have an AO3 account and have imported your works already yourself.
3. You’d like to import your works yourself (including if you don’t have an AO3 account yet).
4. You would NOT like your works moved to the AO3, or would NOT like your works added to the fanzine collections.
5. You are happy for us to preserve your works on the AO3, but would like us to remove your name.
6. You have any other questions we can help you with.

Please include the name of the publisher or fanzine in the subject heading of your email. If you no longer have access to the email account the publishers have a record of, please contact Open Doors and we'll help you out. (If you've posted the works elsewhere, or have an easy way to verify that they're yours, that's great; if not, we will work with Garlic Press and Poison Pen Press to confirm your claims.)

Please see the Open Doors website for instructions on:

• importing your works to the AO3
• adding your works to the new collections listed above

If you still have questions...

If you have further questions, visit the Open Doors FAQ, or contact the Open Doors committee.

We'd also love it if fans could help us preserve the story of Garlic Press and Poison Pen Press and their fanzines on Fanlore. If you're new to wiki editing, no worries! Check out the new visitor portal, or ask the Fanlore Gardeners for tips.

We're excited to be able to help preserve Garlic Press and Poison Pen Press’s fanzines!

- The Open Doors team and Devra Langsam

Commenting on this post will be disabled in 14 days. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments regarding this import after that date, please contact Open Doors.

AO3 Tag Wranglers continue to test processes for wrangling canonical additional tags (tags that appear in the auto-complete) which don't belong to any particular fandom (also known as "No Fandom" tags). This post will provide an overview of some of these upcoming changes.

Previous Tag Wrangling updates can generally be found the @ao3org Tumblr. While we plan to announce No Fandom tag updates on AO3 News going forward, this may not be true of all wrangling updates. It's likely some updates may remain solely distributed via the @ao3org Tumblr, especially those that only affect one or two fandoms. The way we distribute updates is subject to change as we work through this new process.

These discussions were the result of internal follow-up discussions related to January's updates. They involve creating new canonical No Fandom additional tags or updating the format of older canonical tags, but none of these updates will change the tags users have added to works. If a user-created tag is considered to have the same meaning as a new canonical, it will be made a synonym of the canonical tag, and works with that user-created tag will appear when the canonical tag is selected.

In short, these changes only affect which tags appear in AO3's auto-complete and filters. You can and should continue to tag your works with any version of these tags you prefer to use.

Reader and Reader-Insert-related Canonicals

During this round of updates, we tested a discussion method which permitted many related canonicals to be canonized at once, instead of each canonical having its own separate discussion period. This allowed us to canonize over 200 additional tags from one discussion.

Consequently, we've canonized many additional tags related to Reader-Insert. All Reader-Insert modifier tags will be subtags of Reader-Insert. The full list is available via tag search.

Pregnancy-related Canonicals

As mentioned in the last update, we will create a canonical for Trans Mpreg | Trans Male Pregnancy. We will also create a new canonical for Past Trans Mpreg | Trans Male Pregnancy, which will be made a subtag of Trans Mpreg | Trans Male Pregnancy.

To improve clarity, we will also be decanonizing the current canonical Fpreg and canonizing two new tags: Female Pregnancy and Fpreg | Female/Female Pregnancy. Tags which are currently synonyms of Fpreg will be made synonyms of Female Pregnancy or Fpreg | Female/Female Pregnancy as appropriate.

Lastly, we will be making 3 new canonical tags related to pregnancy in Omegaverse settings:

• Omegaverse Omega Pregnancy
• Omegaverse Alpha Pregnancy
• Omegaverse Beta Pregnancy

In Conclusion

These are just some of the changes we are making to No Fandom canonical additional tags. Some of these changes have already been implemented, while others are currently underway. Creating and renaming tags requires a lot of work from wranglers to implement, so large changes will likely take some time to complete after this post has been published.

While we won't be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future on the tags we believe will most affect users. If you're interested in the changes we'll be making, you can follow AO3 on Bluesky @wranglers.www.ao3.icu, Twitter/X @ao3_wranglers, or Tumblr @ao3org for future announcements.

You can also read the previous updates on tags updated and created through this process, linked below:

• Update on "No Fandom" tags
• Another Update Regarding "No Fandom" tags
• More Updates to "No Fandom" Additional Tags

For more information about AO3's tag system, check out our Tags FAQ.

Lastly, in addition to providing technical help, Support also handles requests related to how tags are sorted and connected.​ If you have questions about specific tags, which were first used over a month ago, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post.

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan-run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

The Organization for Transformative Works's April membership drive is over and we are delighted to say that we are finishing with a total of 269,766.01 USD raised, far exceeding our goal of 75,000 USD. These donations came from 8216 people in 82 countries: thank you to everyone who donated, as well as all of you who posted and shared the news about the drive!

We are particularly pleased that 7064 of donors chose to take up or renew OTW membership with their donation. The OTW would not exist without its users all around the world, and your continued support for us is our absolute pride and joy! We are so glad to know that our ongoing mission to support, protect, and provide access to the history of fanworks and fan culture continues to resonate with the people that matter most of all: the fans themselves.

If you were intending to donate or join and haven't yet done so, don't worry! The OTW accepts donations all year round and you can always choose to become a member with a donation of US$10 or more. Memberships run for one calendar year from the date of your donation, so if you donate now you'll be able to vote in the 2025 OTW Board elections, which will take place in August. And our exclusive thank-you gifts are available whenever you donate!

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan-run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

Ever since its foundation in 2007, the Organization of Transformative Works (OTW) has been run for fans, by fans. We’ve been happily overwhelmed by the continued growing interest and support in our projects from the fans of different generations around the world, and we're extremely grateful for the financial support from OTW members and donors, which has helped us build up a reserve fund while covering our projects' day-to-day expenses.

These funds and your kindness and support are crucial when one of our projects encounters issues, such as the downtime and slowness that the Archive of Our Own (AO3) experienced over the past few months. We’ve been taking important steps to resolve these issues and remain thankful for your support and patience during this period.

While our volunteers have been hard at work keeping AO3 stable, this period has once again proven the strength and resilience of fans. Thanks to your generous donations and continuous support, we have been able to keep AO3 and the rest of our projects, running as a non-profit driven by our volunteers. In light of this, we would like to encourage you to donate and become a member during our first membership drive of this year!

As per usual, we have prepared various donation gifts:

Want to show off your love for AO3 on the go? For a donation of US$100, you can now write down your notes and carry a piece of fandom in your bag with a brand-new 5.5”×7.5” (14 cm x 19 cm) AO3 notebook!

By donating US$45, you can get a random selection from our sticker stash (be prepared for a surprise)!

You can also become a member of the OTW by donating US$10 or more. Keep in mind that being a member of OTW is not the same as having an AO3 account—OTW members can vote for the annual OTW Board elections and their information is not connected to any of their accounts on AO3, Fanlore, or any of our other projects.

You can also set up a recurring donation and save towards the gift of your choice. Once you select the gift you’d like, your future donations can get added to the total, even if your current donation amount isn’t sufficient. Those of you in the U.S. might also be able to double your contribution via employer matching: please contact your HR department to find out if this is an option for you.

Curious about how donations are spent? Visit our past budget posts or annual reports to find out more. If you have any other questions regarding donations and membership, you can visit our FAQ or contact Development and Membership.

While our members and their donations are crucial for us to keep our projects like Fanlore, Open Doors, Legal Advocacy, Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC), and the AO3 running, don’t be discouraged if you can’t contribute financially! We appreciate the endless support and commitment of this community: whether it’s publishing or commenting under a work on AO3, editing on Fanlore, or reaching out to Open Doors about fanfiction archives that are at risk. You can also check out our Volunteering Page to find out how to get more involved through volunteering opportunities.

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan-run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

Through the last year, the OTW Finance team has continued to ensure that the organization's bills are paid, tax returns filed, and standard accounting procedures met. Preparation for the 2024 audit of financial statements is currently ongoing!

The team has also been diligently working to meet the OTW's 2025 needs, and is proud to present to you this year's budget (access the 2025 budget spreadsheet for more detailed information):

2025 Expenses

Archive of Our Own (AO3)

• US$286,821.53 spent so far out of US$625,370.81 total this year, as of March 31, 2025.
• 67.7% of the OTW's expenses go towards maintaining the AO3. This includes the bulk of our server expenses—both new purchases and ongoing colocation and maintenance—website performance monitoring tools, and various systems-related licenses, as well as costs highlighted below (access all program expenses).
• This year's projected AO3 expenses also include US$430,000 to purchase new servers, as well as US$20,000 in server related equipment to increase the capacity of existing servers to handle expected site traffic growth through the year.

Open Doors

• US$1,916.55 spent so far out of US$7,382.51 total this year, as of March 31, 2025.
• Open Doors' expenses consist of hosting, backup, and domain costs for imported fanwork archives, as well as an allocated share of various OTW-wide productivity tools (access all program expenses).

Transformative Works and Cultures

• US$626.80 spent so far out of US$2,564.30 total this year, as of March 31, 2025.
• Transformative Works and Cultures' expenses are the journal's website hosting, publishing, and storage fees, as well as an allocated share of various OTW-wide productivity tools (access all program expenses).
• Additionally, in 2024, the University of Amsterdam provided €1,000 (US$1,061) to Transformative Works and Cultures, which will be used to help fund the Fans of Color Research Prize. One prize was awarded in 2025.

Fanlore

• US$15,556.57 spent so far out of US$34,188.35 total this year, as of March 31, 2025.
• Fanlore's expenses are its share of allocated server hardware, maintenance and colocation costs, as well as its portion of various OTW-wide productivity tools (access all program expenses).

Legal Advocacy

• US$72.45 spent so far out of US$2,572.45 total this year, as of March 31, 2025.
• Legal's expenses consist of registration fees for conferences and hearings and funds set aside for legal filings if necessary, as well as an allocated share of OTW-wide productivity tools (access all program expenses).

Fundraising and Development

• US$13,516.79 spent so far out of US$122,896.79 total this year, as of March 31, 2025.
• Our fundraising and development expenses consist of transaction fees charged by our third-party payment processors for each donation, thank-you gift purchases and shipping, outreach work by volunteers at various fan conventions, and the tools used to host the OTW's membership database and track communications with donors and potential donors, as well as an allocated share of OTW-wide productivity tools (access fundraising expenses).

Administration

• US$33,497.25 spent so far out of US$127,869.36 total this year, as of March 31, 2025.
• The OTW’s administrative expenses include hosting for our website, trademarks, domains, insurance, tax filing, and annual financial statement audits, as well as productivity, management, and accounting tools (access all admin expenses).

2025 Revenue

• The OTW is entirely supported by your donations—thank you for your generosity!
• We receive a significant portion of our donations each year in the April and October fundraising drives, which together will account for about 33.0% of our income in 2025. We also receive donations via employer matching programs, royalties, and PayPal Giving Fund, which administers donations from programs like Humble Bundle and eBay for Charity. If you'd like to support us while making purchases on those websites, please select the Organization for Transformative Works as your charity of choice!
• Thanks to your generosity in previous years, we have a healthy amount of money in our reserves, which we can use to pay for larger than usual purchases and keep on hand for legal contingencies. As mentioned previously, we plan to continue to upgrade the capacity of the Archive's servers, which significantly increases server equipment and server hosting expenses. The growth of the Archive and other projects of the OTW also requires more volunteers and administrative support, further increasing expenses. The budget spreadsheet projects a withdrawal of US$250,000 from reserves to cover the costs that exceed the amount of revenue projected to be received this year. This amount may be withdrawn as needed during the year.
• US$104,626.71 received so far (as of March 31, 2025) and US$680,350.00 projected to be received by the end of the year.

Got questions?

If you have any questions about the budget or the OTW's finances, please contact the Finance committee. We'll get back to you as soon as possible!

To download the OTW's 2025 budget in spreadsheet format, please follow this link.

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan-run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

I. SPOTLIGHT ON GOVERNANCE

Board finished their letter for the 2024 Annual Report. They also approved the OTW signing another letter opposing online ID checks, approved several payment requests, and began planning for their next public Board Meeting. They also continued work on multiple ongoing projects with the Board Assistants Team and Roadmap Team, including Crisis Procedures, Cybersecurity Audit, and Paid Staff Transition projects.

Based on the lessening workload for the Webs committee and following internal discussions with multiple committees, Board announced in late February that Webs would be decommissioned. Moving forward, Systems will handle requests that would have gone to Webs and take over the remaining duties of Webs.

II. AT AO3

In March, Accessibility, Design & Technology focused on deploying bug fixes, improvements for tag wranglers, and groundwork to enable translation of email text. They also announced comment rate limits would be put in place for logged in users, aimed at preventing spam comments.

Open Doors finished importing the older works of Due South Seekrit Santa, an annual Due South gift exchange!

In February, Policy & Abuse received 2,807 tickets, while Support received 3,709 tickets. Tag Wrangling wrangled over 470,000 tags, or approximately 1,100 tags per wrangling volunteer.

III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW

Fanlore continues to host monthly themed editing challenges, with April's focusing on expanding stubs. They also prepared for their upcoming themed month for May: Creatures!

Legal responded to a number of user queries in March and has been closely tracking many legislative proposals that could affect fans and fan expression online.

TWC announced the publication of Volume 45 of Transformative Works and Cultures, a special issue on Sports Fandoms, guest-edited by Jason Kido Lopez and Lori Kido Lopez.

IV. PREPARING FOR DRIVE

In March, Development & Membership prepared for the April membership drive; they worked with external vendors to order new premiums, and collaborated closely with Communications and Translation to prepare news posts.

In preparation for the April membership drive, Finance worked on finalizing 2024 accounting and the 2024 budget.

V. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE PEEPS

Volunteers & Recruiting conducted recruitment for 3 committees in February: Open Doors, Policy & Abuse, and Tag Wrangling. From February 19 to March 18, Volunteers & Recruiting received 128 new requests and completed 117, leaving them with 66 open requests (including induction and removal tasks listed below).

As of March 18, 2025, the OTW has 862 volunteers. \o/ Recent personnel movements are listed below.

New Committee Chairs/Leads: Brian Austin (AD&T), Bilka (AD&T QA&T Lead)
New AD&T Volunteers: Bilka (Senior Volunteer)
New Communications Volunteers: Aditi Paul, Caitlynne, and callmeri (Media Outreach Volunteers); an (Posting Specialist)
New Fanlore Volunteers: 1 Chair Assistant

Departing BAT Volunteers: 1 Project Specialist
Departing Communications Volunteers: 1 Posting Specialist and 1 Graphics Designer
Departing Communications News Post Moderation Volunteers: Kate G (Moderator)
Departing Development & Membership Volunteers: 1 Convention Specialist
Departing Fanlore Volunteers: 1 Graphics Designer
Departing Open Doors Volunteers: 1 Import Assistant
Departing Policy & Abuse Volunteers: 1 Volunteer
Departing Tag Wrangler Volunteers: antonomasia (Tag Wrangling Supervisor and Tag Wrangling Chair Assistant), Lou Stina Forest and 1 other Tag Wrangling Volunteer
Departing Translation Volunteers: Sil (Translator)
Departing TWC Volunteers: 1 Copyeditor

For more information about our committees and their regular activities, you can refer to the committee pages on our website.

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan-run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

March brought a handful of noteworthy changes to AO3 in addition to the usual assortment of bug fixes and enhancements: we increased the maximum tag length from 100 to 150 characters, expanded the wrangling status options in tag search, and added the ability to have your invitation resent if it didn't arrive. Then we wrapped up the month with some changes to help combat an increase in spam, including spam checks on new users' comments and a rate limit on comments from all logged-in users. Thank you and welcome to first-time contributor Metallicity!

Credits

• Coders: Bilka, Brian Austin, EchoEkhi, Indes, james_, lou, lydia-theda, Metallicity, Sarken, slavalamp, warlockmel, weeklies
• Code reviewers: Bilka, Brian Austin, james_, redsummernight, Sarken, slavalamp
• Testers: Bilka, Brian Austin, C. Ryan Smith, calamario, choux, Claire P. Baker, Deniz, Dre, Lute, lydia-theda, Rhine, Runt, Sam Johnsson, Sanity, Sarken, spacegandalf, Tal, Teyris, therealmorticia, Vio, wichard

Details

0.9.399

On March 7, we increased the maximum length of tags from 100 to 150 characters and made it possible to resend unused invitations, among some other smaller fixes.

• [AO3-3945] - Tag landing pages now list subtags in alphabetical order. (They used to be ordered by the date they were subtagged.)
• [AO3-6712] - In January 2024, we tried to make it so checking the status of your invitation would give you the option of having it resent to you, assuming you hadn't used it yet and it was sent more than 24 hours ago. Unfortunately, we ran into a performance issue and had to remove the feature. We've fixed the performance problem and now you can resend your invitations for real!
• [AO3-6737] - On the bookmark pages for tags and collections, the section containing the bookmarker's notes and other information was too narrow. We made it fill the available space.
• [AO3-6748] - When using the Low Vision Default skin, the stats in the work meta would be very long and cause horizontal scrolling on narrow screens. We've changed the stats to wrap onto the next line instead.
• [AO3-6791] - Admins used to get a 500 error when trying to access the pseud edit page for a user that didn't exist. Nonexistent pages should give 404 errors, not 500 errors (which occur when there's a bug or other problem), so we fixed the bug and started giving the right error.
• [AO3-6836] - To make testing and translation easier, we made a preview of the email users receive when one of their works has been deleted by an admin.
• [AO3-6867] - Tags can now be 150 characters long instead of 100. That's 50% more tag!
• [AO3-6915] - Our dependency updater bumped our version of nokogiri from 1.18.2 to 1.18.3.

0.9.400

On March 17, we deployed a number of small fixes and improvements for admins. Additionally, we expanded the tag search with a few more wrangling status options.

• [AO3-6544] - To improve our spam checker's accuracy, we've started telling it whether the data we're sending it is from a user or a guest, and what sort of data it is (e.g., a support request or a comment on a news post).
• [AO3-6934] - We updated one of our dependencies to incorporate a security fix.
• [AO3-931] - When someone used an invitation and then later deleted their account, the invitation would have a confusingly empty "Redeemed by" field. Now it correctly says that a deleted user redeemed the invitation.
• [AO3-5498] - When an admin views an invitation, the "Redeemed by" field now conveniently links to the redeemer's account administration page.
• [AO3-6129] - We've added a very low rate limit to the login page for admins for a little extra security. (We haven't had any issues, but it's good to be prepared just in case.)
• [AO3-6313] - The FAQ pages used to tell an admin when the FAQ category was last updated. A reasonable person would think that meant when questions in that category were updated, but it actually only tracked when something like the category's name or position changed. Since this was pretty confusing, we've stopped including that information.
• [AO3-6775] - We now have a handy preview for the email a user receives when they (or their co-creator) delete a work.
• [AO3-6875] - We added three new options to tag search, so now you can filter for tags that are (or are not) synonyms of another tag.
• [AO3-6922] - We updated the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports page to better align with the November 2024 Terms of Service update.
• [AO3-6923] - We updated our DMCA Policy to include an extra link to the Terms of Service FAQ.
• [AO3-6204] - Sometimes, users orphan works with their pseuds attached and later wish they hadn't. We've made it easier for certain admins to remove the identifying pseuds.
• [AO3-6943] - We fixed some automated tests that were failing half the time, which was just plain annoying.

0.9.401

On March 20, we finished off the last part of the Rails 7 upgrade by deploying a single change.

• [AO3-6687] - After we changed cookies to a more modern format in November, we now removed the support for the old format.

0.9.402

On March 24, we implemented comment rate limits for logged-in AO3 users to address an increase in spam comments.

• [AO3-6926] - We changed our rate limiting code to make it possible to specify rate limits per user.

0.9.403

On March 28, we deployed spam checking for comments posted by newly registered users to further combat the spam comments.

• [AO3-6439] - We changed how the code accesses the currently logged-in user to make our automatic tests behave more consistently.
• [AO3-6946] - In some very rare scenarios, the Manage Items page for a collection could show a completely unrelated work instead of the bookmark that was really part of the collection. We've made it always show the right item.
• [AO3-6951] - We bumped our version of reviewdog/action-rubocop from 2.21.0 to 2.21.2.
• [AO3-6933] - We added spam checking for comments from new users on works and admin posts.

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 orphan_account, who has been part of the OTW for 16 years—ever since the beginning! Originally a member of the Accessibility, Design, and Technology committee, they went on to serve with the Policy & Abuse committee for over a decade, before joining the Support committee in 2021.

How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?

Sometimes, writers and artists on AO3 don't want to be associated with one of their fanworks or their fannish identity anymore. If they don't want to delete their works, then they can turn them over to me instead. They can decide to either remove their name from the work entirely or leave behind a pseud identifying them as the original creator. Either way, after the creator confirms the transfer, the work is moved over to my own account so that it won't be connected to their account anymore. I've sworn to never edit a single work under any circumstances, so once a work is in my care, it's preserved permanently.

The exception to this is if the work is in violation of the Terms of Service. I'm not responsible for checking that! If a work with a TOS violation makes its way into my hands and somebody reports it to the Policy & Abuse committee, then PAC volunteers will edit the tags, take down the work, or do whatever else needs to be done to make it compliant.

What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?

Busy, busy, busy! I get requests at all times of the day, although since AO3 is usually busiest between 14:00 to 06:00 UTC, so am I.

When somebody makes an orphaning request, first I'll ask them if they're sure. Then I'll ask them if they're really, REALLY sure, because while I can take over works, I'm not able to give them back—part of my role is forgetting who gave me the work in the first place, after all.

If they agree, then first I’ll edit the bylines on the work. If the original creator doesn't want their name associated with the work at all, then I'll just stick it under my main pseud. If they still want to be credited, I'll make a new pseud that's the same as their name, and place the work on my account under that pseud instead. (For example, here's a work that is ascribed to my good friend, testy.)

Once that's done, I'll take care of the creator's old comments by going through and editing the bylines so that the comments are attributed to me instead. This means that the creator won't be bothered by any comment notification emails. I don't touch the work's comment settings, so if the creator left comment moderation on when they gave me the work, then any new comments will remain unreviewed forever.

I can't edit what is in my works at all, so if somebody decides to leave their contact information in the notes or summary, then there's nothing I can do about it. I do warn people about this ahead of time, however! If you've given me one of your works in the past but you forgot to remove personally identifying information from it, you can ask my fellow volunteers on the Support committee to redact it from the work.

What made you decide to volunteer?

I was just a baby fan back when the OTW was first founded, but I immediately knew how I wanted to help out. Sometimes people just want to be able to move on from a work they made, but I would always feel disappointed when that meant they decided to delete it. After all, our mission as an archive is to preserve fanworks, and I wanted to provide a way for other fans to safely leave their works behind to be preserved on AO3. I feel so fortunate that the OTW has provided a lot of support and assistance over the years to help me preserve over 750,000 fanworks that otherwise might have been deleted by their creators.

Fun fact: I was one of the first ten people to sign up for an AO3 account—my account's user ID is 9! Sadly, most of the others have already deleted their accounts, though :’(

What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?

AO3 has grown to be a lot larger than anyone dared dream way back in the beginning. At the time, we all wanted to build an archive that would last, but we never expected way back then that it would get this big. It's like winning the lottery! Which is to say, it is AMAZING we've all come so far, but along the way there have been some unexpected pitfalls we've had to work around. These days, I have so many works that it can take me a couple of minutes to list them all out when somebody asks!

Probably the biggest challenge has been the sheer number of pseuds I've collected over the years. Because of this, you're not able to see my profile page directly—if you try, it will give you a 404 error, because I have so many pseuds. (But I'm told our technical volunteers are working on this!) Instead, if you'd like to browse the many fanworks that creators have passed into my hands, you can use a work search on my username.

What fannish things do you like to do?

I love reading, viewing, and listening to fanworks of all sorts! No matter how many fanworks I've seen or heard, I always have room for more. A couple of times, people have mistaken me for the creator of the works in my care, but I've never felt the need to make a fanwork myself. At heart, I'm a curator, and I'm happy to keep your works safe.

Happy April Fools! This post was written from the perspective of AO3's orphan account, which is a real account but not a real person. Read our Orphaning FAQ to learn more about the orphan_account, or you can check out previous Five Things posts by our actual volunteers.

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan-run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.