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Letter to AO3 re: Recent Board Statements
Oct. 23rd, 2021 11:02 amAs some people have probably seen, AO3 posted their minutes from the last board meeting. I won't quote here what they said because other, much more well spoken and BIPOC people have already said what needs to be said and I would rather uplift their voices than blunder my way through. Racism has been an ongoing problem in fandom for years, decades. AO3 is not only not helping to alleviate BIPOC fans' troubles, they are actively making them worse.
I've been struggling to figure out what I, a white fan, can do to help (other than support my BIPOC friends, uplift BIPOC voices, criticize my fellow white fans, and generally make sure that I'm working on decolonizing my own world view. After this particular news broke onto my feed last night I struggled and was ready to pull all of my works from AO3. To no longer support an organization that further harms other people. I've decided to hold off on that for now.
This morning I wrote a letter to AO3. Thanks so much to a friend of mine for letting me see his letter and use it as a guide. My letter is as follows:
I'm incredibly disappointed in AO3's continuing treatment of BIPOC fans, writers, and creators. "Outside groups." "Unfavorable changes for creators." "Censorship guidelines." "Remain committed to inclusivity of content." and other such statements treating BIPOC fans as "outsiders" or as antagonistic show, at the most generous, an ignorance of fannish history and historical and current world events, and more likely show an unwillingness to engage with any issues in these vectors that borders on blatant white supremacy. I understand there is a balance to enact as a fan run archive but allowing ad enabling, both at a user level and at a structural level, harassment and abuse via the tagging and commenting system as well as questions and answers such as the one in this board meeting is protecting no one but the harassers and making fandom less for everyone and more for a privileged few. I expected better. All of us expected better.
Now is the time for real, actionable change. Something needs to give and I only hope that it is AO3 growing into a better, more inclusive organization.
If I do reach the point where I no longer feel comfortable hosting any of my works on AO3, please know that you will always be able to find them here. I don't want to take them down so much as move them to a space where they won't be contributing to an organization that causes harm to others.
I've been struggling to figure out what I, a white fan, can do to help (other than support my BIPOC friends, uplift BIPOC voices, criticize my fellow white fans, and generally make sure that I'm working on decolonizing my own world view. After this particular news broke onto my feed last night I struggled and was ready to pull all of my works from AO3. To no longer support an organization that further harms other people. I've decided to hold off on that for now.
This morning I wrote a letter to AO3. Thanks so much to a friend of mine for letting me see his letter and use it as a guide. My letter is as follows:
I'm incredibly disappointed in AO3's continuing treatment of BIPOC fans, writers, and creators. "Outside groups." "Unfavorable changes for creators." "Censorship guidelines." "Remain committed to inclusivity of content." and other such statements treating BIPOC fans as "outsiders" or as antagonistic show, at the most generous, an ignorance of fannish history and historical and current world events, and more likely show an unwillingness to engage with any issues in these vectors that borders on blatant white supremacy. I understand there is a balance to enact as a fan run archive but allowing ad enabling, both at a user level and at a structural level, harassment and abuse via the tagging and commenting system as well as questions and answers such as the one in this board meeting is protecting no one but the harassers and making fandom less for everyone and more for a privileged few. I expected better. All of us expected better.
Now is the time for real, actionable change. Something needs to give and I only hope that it is AO3 growing into a better, more inclusive organization.
If I do reach the point where I no longer feel comfortable hosting any of my works on AO3, please know that you will always be able to find them here. I don't want to take them down so much as move them to a space where they won't be contributing to an organization that causes harm to others.
