No, they don't. They never do and never have. I've been here since 2016. This whole "discourse" became prominent in 2020 for reasons I'm sure I don't need to explain. All the way back then I asked them for proof. It's 3 years later and I have never, seen, EVER, ANYWHERE, these people actually provide examples of the "racist harrassment" this site is supposedly rife with.
What have I seen on this site? In my casual browsing (over many years), a tiny handful (can literally be counted on one hand) of troll fics featuring Adolf Hitler and Anne Frank and things like that. Offensive? Well, given it's all too obviously just some stupid kid trying to be edgy, not to me. I'm sure they would be to a lot of people tho. Does that mean they should be banned? Well, given this is a site which freely allows graphic child rape erotica, not unless AO3 is going to start banning a whole lot of other content as well, which would mean going down exactly the slippery people are warning about, and end up just like ff.net (i.e. practically dead).
I encounter content I find disgusting, offensive or just extremely poorly-written on this site every day. Does it annoy me? Do I wish I didn't have to see it? Yes. Do I whinge for that stuff to be removed? No. Blocking and muting were long-overdue but vital tools. The ability to permanently blacklist tags is something that should be added pronto (I'm aware of web extensions; those don't work on mobile, which is where I do my browsing and reading). This is the way to deal with things. More power to the users, not the moderators.
For whatever it's worth, I am not straight, not white not "neurotypical" and these people do not fucking speak for me. I write dark, toxic, depraved, EXTREMELY graphic and kinky smut. Usually some flavour of dubcon or noncon. I use this site because it's literally the only platform that allows me to post anything and everything I write, without it being manually filtered/reviewed by someone's else's scrutiny and judgment. I've tried looking elsewhere. There is nowhere else, or at least nothing with a comparably large size, reach and community and certainly nothing with as good an interface (you only realise what an absolute godsend once you try to navigate sites without it). I would not be a fanfic writer without AO3. I am so grateful AO3 exists and it would break my heart to see it change its stance of including anything that doesn't violate US law, and become just another FF.net or Wattpad. If that happened, I don't know where I would go. I might even stop writing fanfic altogether. So I pray to every power in the universe these people don't win.
Fucking this! I feel like people have been wishing for this for ages. Updates and coding are daunting tasks, I understand so naturally it's not going to happen overnight but OTW really needs to implement this - preferably soon. It makes me a little curious about their priorities when blocking and muting were functions that took a very long time to implement considering how old the Archive is.
We can have favorite tags, so why not a tag blacklist?
Indeed I too would love for them to keep the archive open and lawless as well while also giving users the power to curate their experience.
"Indeed I too would love for them to keep the archive open and lawless as well while also giving users the power to curate their experience."
This exactly. Let people post what they want to post, see what they want to see, and interact with who they want to interact with. Then everyone should be happy. Anyone who isn't is a puritan police stater on a power trip.
This discussion about "censoring vs moderating + slippery slope argument" reminds me of the whole Tiffany G drama from last year. Where this supposed veteran of the site ran for election as director of the board and wanted to "make the site more palatable" for China since, ostensibly, the Archive is banned there. It caused a massive shitstorm and absolutely no one was on board. Even a petition was made.
She never specified what exactly she wanted to change but active censorship was inferred. The whole thing was so surreal, it makes me wonder if it was just one big elaborate troll.
Honestly, talks about censorship and whatnot wouldn't and shouldn't be a hot topic if the OTW just gave the users more power.
I didn't hear about this controversy, but the only reason Chinese users were coming here at all was for the slash I believe (the CCP not being a fan of men bumping uglies even though it's not technically illegal anymore there). So if they censored that out (which would wipe out, what, half the site's content? Certainly every bit of it I've ever contributed lol), they'd be removing the one (or at least the main) appeal for Chinese fangirls in the first place lol
"Honestly, talks about censorship and whatnot wouldn't and shouldn't be a hot topic if the OTW just gave the users more power."
Exactly, what we need is subsidiarity in action. All power to the people! Really think decentralisation is the way to go, not just with this, but social media in general (e.g. Mastodon or what Jack is supposed to be trying to do with Blue Sky). And in fact with politics and society in general. People in America already seem to be sorting themselves into states by values. Sadly those of us stuck in unitary regimes don't have that option. Why not extend that everywhere, all the way? Like the clades in Neal's The Diamond Age. Wouldn't that be actual, workable, anarchism in practice? Freedom of association. So much needless conflict comes from forcing incompatible people to coexist. But anyway, I'll get off my soapbox.
It shouldn't be *that* hard to have the site filter interface remember your blacklisted tags given someone's already coded a Chrome Extension for it with TamperMonkey...
I tried to be patient throughout that thread, but it was pretty telling that in both cases, the other person fell silent/moved on when asked for evidence. I can see why; the examples cited by their core Tumblr manifesto are more along the lines of generally offensive content rather than actual targeted harassment. It's difficult to avoid concluding that they're simply being coy about what they're actually upset about, and appealing to an allegedly systemic harassment problem to shore up support for an unpopular position, making censorship a core element of the site. I'm skeptical of any movements that are fervently anti-OTW, because it seems like again and again it always comes down to the liberal content policies.
Ah well. I'll keep supporting the archive and voting for board members who will uphold the site's core principles.
Oh, I didn't even see that link. Yeah, of the three examples, the first Transformers one I can possibly give it to them, though from the screenshots all one can tell for sure was that it might have been inspired by the events of 2020, but without appearing to take any stand on it at all, much less an overtly racist one. The second Chinese fandom one was just bizarre and I have no idea what to think or what I was even looking at but it would be a vast stretch to think racism was involved. Just looked like typical weird insensitive porn to me. Almost certainly created by a Chinese fangirl which is just hilarious since this is supposedly about protecting "fans of colour". And the last one they've literally got it twisted around exactly backwards. I happen to have encountered that fic and far from being a "Nazi fic" it's an *anti-Nazi* fic in which the Nazi character gets killed. And it was the *author* who was the victim of harassment at the behest of this "fandom scholar" (and lmao that someone apparently thinks that's a thing). *Everything* these people say is false and in bad faith and nobody should engage with them as if anything else were the case.
It's kind of hilarious that this is what they think constitutes the horrendous deluge of racism driving away Fans of Colour™ from AO3 (by which they actually mean themselves and fellow ideologues and dear Jesus if only it *would* drive them away). I've seen *far* more offensive stuff here in my time. I've literally encountered concentration camp guard rapes Jew porn on here. I think I even saw a fic where Hitler rapes Anne Frank. The Historical RPF 'fandom' is WILD. And actually, lmao, recently I came across one where the blackwashed Ariel from the new Disney live-action Little Mermaid was enslaved and whipped by Prince Eric or something. They're just troll fics and obviously so and not even well done trolls, since they never catch anyone's attention, not even the outrage of the self-designated fandom antiracism crusaders (or jihadists, I guess, would be more appropriate in this case). And it ain't driven me away. As a "fan of colour" (in whose name they're supposedly doing all this) I was a big enough boy to snort in disbelief and click the fuck away. And move on with my day. Like a grown fucking adult.
I found it hard to believe one narrative regarding the alleged systemic harassment of OTW members and/or users because there's conflicting ones and a lot of them with a butt load of minutiae. Was very difficult to pick a side and pick what's true so I stayed away from making a conclusion. I stil have no such thing to dish out.
I agree with you regarding the site's core values. The liberal content policies is something worth protecting. We don't have that freedom elsewhere
I understand that some of the demands was hiring a diversity consultant which, if they do and things go well, why the hell not. I guess I am very apprehensive about that though because I wonder what exactly this person would do and how would it affect the freedom of expression. I can't blame the people thinking that it will lead to censorship. I can't blame the supporters for being upset because it was apparently promised to them.
I think what a lot of this mess comes down to is transparency.
Comment on Resignation of OTW Director
tillwehavefaces Sat 27 May 2023 03:52PM UTC
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LordiTheRailgun Sat 27 May 2023 04:27PM UTC
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tillwehavefaces Sat 27 May 2023 09:48PM UTC
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tillwehavefaces Sat 27 May 2023 04:34PM UTC
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acidbirth Sun 28 May 2023 02:32AM UTC
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LordiTheRailgun Sun 28 May 2023 06:27AM UTC
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