cimorene | Reading

Purrcy finds a little taste from the bathroom faucet is one of the finest of vintages worth one of the cutest of bleps.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands in the bathroom sink, looking toward the camera and away from the faucet for a moment to swallow the water he's been licking up. His tongue is visible in a teeny dark pink blep.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands in the bathroom sink, looking toward the camera and away from the faucet for a moment to swallow the water he's been licking up. His tongue is visible in a teeny dark pink blep.

Purrcy was settling down to nap just where the precious, slanting rays of winter sun crossed the bed. Savoring every one.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby is curled up on a blue and white bedspread, his tail covering his nose. A beam of sunlight falls across his face, illuminating his speckled fur and slitted yellowish eyes

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby is curled up on a blue and white bedspread, his tail covering his nose. A beam of sunlight falls across his face, illuminating his speckled fur and slitted yellowish eyes

We celebrated Dirk's 70th birthday early, on Tuesday (because that's when E&P could come), and this time we plotted to give him Major Presents:

- E&P got him a DVD/blu-ray player (plus cords)
- I got DVD or blu-ray sets of all New-Who Doctors

Take THAT! Disney/BBC, which have between them ensured that no New Era Doctor Who (except Gatwa) has been available to stream outside the UK for months running now, leaving his money just sitting there on the table, and have now contrived to *lose it forever* because he's never going to pay to stream it again. Also, the sets turn out to have all kinds of extra material he's never seen before, he's super happy.

Disney continues to shoot themselves in the foot inexplicably: the Doctor Who spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea just finished in the UK where it got really high ratings, Disney has the rights in the US, they haven't shown it & haven't said when they will. Dirk is very respectful of IP generally speaking, but I've DLed the eps via UK friends and am just waiting for him to snap and say Fuck Disney.

Beth decided she didn't want to go in on the big Doctor Who present, she bought him a trilobite fossil to keep on his desk. Excellent choice, also made him super happy and feeling very Time Lord-y as he plays with it while watching Doctor Who commentary during work breaks.

We don't really give presents anymore, because it stresses me out so much: it always took so much of my time and mental energy through the fall, it always made me very anxious, the payoff just wasn't worth it because I couldn't relax completely when enough to appreciate what I was given. Dirk's happiness this time *almost* makes me want to reconsider ... almost.

My brother came Christmas afternoon, had a simple dinner with us, hung around and chatted on Friday, ended up sleeping on our sofa instead of at his nearby hotel because the roads were so icy by 6:30. We didn't get the weight of snow we'd been expecting, but the ice was BAD. Fortunately his drive back to NYC in the late morning was OK. And now the temperature is on a steady rise and everything will wash away tomorrow.

otw_news_feed

Posted by Caitlynne

https://www.transformativeworks.org/otw-signal-december-2025/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=274344

Every month in OTW Signal, we take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including issues related to legal matters, technology, academia, fannish history and preservation issues of fandom, fan culture, and transformative works.

In the News

Why some people are devoted to particular aspects of popular culture is a fundamental query in fan studies research. One common and familiar answer is that fandoms are like religions. A recent article offers a different approach to understanding the emotional intensity of fan devotion, suggesting that while fans often describe their devotion in terms that sound religious, this comparison “has some lingering issues that hamper the field.” The authors contend that we can compare specific elements of fan experience (e.g., rituals, symbols, shared practices, and collective identity) to “sacred experiences” without needing to imply that fandoms are literal religions.

We believe it is more accurate to conceptualize fan devotion as part of a broader landscape of sacred activities that transcend the concept of religion.

Elliott and Mowers assert that their results provide powerful evidence that many fans experience their interests as sacred.

Their interests occupy a unique and special place in their lives: They derive purpose and inspiration from them, they learn important values from them, they involve something powerful and important, and they inspire them to believe in something larger than themselves.

To support this claim, the researchers analyzed information gathered from surveys, interviews, and fan experiences at Comic Cons and identified a new framework for determining what makes fan experiences sacred-like. They argue that by studying and measuring these “sacred dimensions,” especially in contexts like conventions where fan devotion takes on almost ritual-like patterns, scholars can reevaluate the religion metaphor, focusing instead on analytic models that consider the complexity of fan experience. Through this process, researchers can better understand fan devotion and how fandom is shaped by this collective identity. This analysis helps frame fandom as a cultural practice with emotional, symbolic, and communal depth.

Reports from fan conventions across the globe reinforce the idea that physical gatherings become collective spaces where fans create meaning through shared experiences. In one example, recent reporting on Bengaluru Comic Con highlights the convergence of more than 50,000 fans gathering to celebrate their shared love for fandom. A Times of India article describes fans coming together in a vibrant pop culture playground: cosplaying, celebrating shared passions, and building community through creative expression. “For many attendees, Comic Con was as much about community as it was about pop culture.” In another report, Shefali Johnson, CEO of Comic Con India, explains how the fans are what make Bengaluru Comic Con so special: “People here come to listen, learn, connect and experience.” A story in the Deccan Herald describes the con as “a living mosaic of fandom,” where participation is an act of joy:

For many, the message was simple: this space belongs to everyone, regardless of age, fandom, or experience.

Events like these allow fans from all over the world to connect and share their passions, creating new sacred experiences together and building a strong collective identity.

OTW Tips

Transformative Works and Cultures, a project of the OTW, is an international, peer-reviewed academic journal that seeks to promote scholarship on fanworks and practices. The journal is published at least twice each year and invites submissions of papers in all areas. For more information, visit the TWC website.

Did you know the OTW attends fan conventions? Our volunteers represent the OTW at cons around the world. The OTW’s Con Outreach team, a division of the Communications committee, coordinated attendance at 10 gatherings across three continents in 2025, meeting fans and sharing games, gifts, fic prompts, and of course, our popular rec board, where everyone is invited to take a fic rec and leave one of their own. Our volunteers love to talk about fandom, so come see us and say hello!

Would you like to see the OTW at your local fan convention event? Contact our Communications committee and let us know!

We want your suggestions for the next OTW Signal post! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or news story you think we should know about, send us a link. We are looking for content in all languages! Submitting a link doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in an OTW post, and inclusion of a link doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

https://www.transformativeworks.org/otw-signal-december-2025/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=274344

daegaer

I got THREE lovely fics in Yuletide, two Hut 33 and one Saiyuki Gaiden.

Keeping up with the Fanshawe-Marshalls (8160 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 6/6
Fandom: Hut 33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Archie (Hut 33), Charles Gardiner, Gordon (Hut 33), Joshua Fanshawe-Marshall, Minka (Hut 33), Mrs Best (Hut 33)
Additional Tags: friendship if you squint, Canon Typical Shenanigans

Time flies like a knife (811 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hut 33, Doctor Who (2005)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Minka (Hut 33), Archie (Hut 33), Charles Gardiner, Joshua Fanshawe-Marshall, Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who), Gordon (Hut 33)

Prince of Flowers (790 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Saiyuki Gaiden
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Konzen Douji, Original Characters, Tenpou Gensui, Son Goku (Saiyuki), Kenren Taishou
Additional Tags: gatherings and events, Gods, Attempted Kidnapping, Food, Temptation
Summary: At an event thrown by the Goddess of Mercy, Konzen and his charge encounter a very flowery deity.

All are well worth your immediate attention!

I wrote four fics - I'd say "See if you can guess which", but given the Great Revealing it wouldn't be much of a challenge (wouldn't be anyway - as always, I'm visible from space).

torachan

1. We had a nice lunch at Knott's today. I'm glad we were able to get over there one more time before the end of the holiday season as they have some really good seasonal offerings on the menu right now.

2. No rain! It's so nice to have a dry day. It was sunny but not hot. Looks like we're supposed to have rain again by the end of next week into the week after, but at least we have a few dry days in between.

3. We went over to Handel's tonight to get some peppermint bark ice cream but they are out. The girl at the counter said they might still get some in, but she wasn't sure. At least it's close enough and on the general path of our neighborhood walks that we can pop in here and there to see if they've got it back. We did get some other flavors to bring home, including gingerbread cookie, which I hope is as good as the peppermint bark.

4. I've had some sweaty nights lately (fun) so decided to wash my whole pillow rather than just the pillowcase, but this new pillow is a pain in the ass to wash. Well, the washing is fine, it's the drying. It's got this fiber fill stuff that just does not want to dry, even after multiple goes in the dryer. Finally I hit on the idea of taking the filling out and spreading it out between these four mesh laundry bags we have and drying it like that, which I think will do the trick. For one thing, the mesh bags will get heat to the filling much easier than the thick pillow exterior, plus dividing it into four bags will help spread the filling out so there's not this inner core that's just not getting dry. Fingers crossed! I do have an old pillow I can use tonight if this doesn't get dry, but I've still got a few hours until bedtime.

5. Chloe's such a sweetie. *_*

torachan

Recently Finished
Either Side of Midnight
Sequel to Trust Me When I Lie. This was good, but I do enjoy the Ernest Cunningham series better.

Murder Under Her Skin
Second in the Pentecost and Parker series. Just okay. I'll read more in this series, but it's not a priority.

Damn Straight
Another second book in a murder mystery series. This one the Lillian Byrd series. Same as above, I liked it well enough that I'll continue the series, but I'm not rushing out to read the next one.

Star Trek: Lower Decks, Vol. 1: Second Contact
There's a new series of Lower Decks comics! In fact, there's enough issues for a second volume, too, though it's not coming out until next year. My issue with these is the same with every comic based on a cartoon, which is that they're never quite as good as the show. They're enjoyable enough, though.

My Home Hero vol. 20-22

torachan

It was a busy day at the park, being a holiday weekend plus the first sunny day in a while. The park opens at nine and we got down there around 9:45 and the line for parking was super backed up, but thankfully the ADA lot still had a ton of spaces left, so once we finally got to it, it was easy to get a spot. The lines for the front gates were probably the longest I've seen, but still moved pretty smoothly.

( Read more... )

I think this will be our last amusement park visit of the year. We're planning on Disneyland on the 1st, but it's supposed to rain again, so we'll see.

This year my totals are 79 at Disneyland (including 4 at Tokyo Disney), 4 at Knott's, and 2 at Universal Studios. That's a lot! O_o

watersword

Yuletide very pleasant; usually I get a comment on an old fic or two in a fandom someone has rediscovered through Yuletide and gone on a deep dive for, but not this year!

About three or four inches of snow (7-10cm) fell overnight and I shoveled my front sidewalk and steps, because the snow removal guys had done next door but not us (?), and then tromped down to my assigned house in the neighborhood, where I shoveled the longest driveway in Rhode Island and enough sidewalk for two houses and what felt like two flights of front steps. Thank goodness it was light and powdery, and almost all of the above was in good repair so I didn't have to fight the asphalt like last year, but I earned every bite of the steak and eggs and homefries (not nearly as good as last time) at the diner.

And then C. and her kid and I went to the ZOO and saw CREATURES. Macaws! Ibis! Elephants! A two-year-old giraffe who is already trying to fuck the other giraffes in the enclosure (this is a good thing, they want genetically-diverse babies from him) but he's not tall enough yet! An anaconda 99.8% percent in the water in its tank, I wanted to boop its snout SO MUCH. Red pandas that were so fluffy they looked fake. The river otters were having so much fun in the snow and splashing in their pool. The docents were super friendly and the French fries were delicious. Would 100% zoo again.

Then a hot bath and a nap. Bliss.

aethel

1. Fanlore: I was looking over new pages and saw one for Gerard Way/Patrick Stump. I thought I would add some livejournal links, but couldn't find much: gerard_patrick, which turned out to be a barely-used slash community for a different Gerard and Patrick, and two purged usernames not on the Wayback Machine so I can't verify whether they are Bandom communities (patrickxgerard and gerardpatrick). Were there ever any communities, primers, or reclists for this pairing?

Someone also created a new page for KJ Charles fandom and included a discord invite.

2. 2025 reading progress: 112 books.

Since my last post, I've finished four more novels, including one by a new-to-me author: The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi. It's a fantasy novella set in a desert, brutal, anti-authoritarian, possibly Marxist. I need to get my hands on the sequels. Most recently I finished After Hours at Dooryard Books, Cat Sebastian's latest novel. It is set in New York City 1968, but resonates with the present political moment. Nothing dramatic happens to any of the characters, at least not once they are introduced--they all have tragic backstories. Just 300+ pages of people minding a bookstore and not talking about their feelings while American history happens around them. I was genuinely riveted.

Currently reading: Native Nations and Slippery Creatures.

3. I read a new Starsky & Hutch fanfic: Cal's Lounge, Two Thirty-Six AM by triedunture. Highly recommend. It does feature the characters' very dated understanding of sexuality that I've seen mentioned on Fanlore pages--I don't know how accurate it is for real-life 1970s, but it is probably very in character for Starsky & Hutch.

tozka

A puffy snowman sticker on a bright red pole. The snowman has a top hat, red scarf and little red mittens. It’s smiling!

📍Phoenix, Arizona - December 2025 / All Photos / Pixelfed

conuly

Before I say anything, A would like you to know how extremely annoying it is that they played those "Arabian Nights" riffs every time the snake (Barry) appeared, and it would be annoying even if the plot ( Read more... )

They wouldn't shut up about it, so there we go. They're not wrong.

( Read more... )

ao3_news_feed

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/33951

International Volunteer Day

On December 5, people all over the world observed International Volunteer Day (IVD) to acknowledge the work of volunteer workers everywhere, and their efforts, dedication, and passion. Since its conception in 1985, IVD has invited us to recognize the ways in which volunteers contribute to communities and are at the forefront of many people-led initiatives.

Here at the Organisation of Transformative Works (OTW) we depend entirely on that drive, as our organization is 100% volunteer-run! Our volunteers handle our strategic planning, administration, infrastructure, development, any day-to-day tasks required in running a non-profit organization, and so on. Volunteers aren't just the backbone of the OTW, they are its whole skeleton!

Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of an OTW volunteer looks like? The answer is: It's hard to say! Depending on where in the OTW they are active, their tasks and responsibilities can look very different from those of the next volunteer. Volunteers also work a very wide range of weekly hours, depending on their position(s) and availability: anything from one hour to over twenty hours a week!

For this IVD, we wanted to give you a chance to get to know those volunteers behind the scenes of the OTW and its projects. That is why we sent out a call across our social media for you to send us your most burning questions.

Here are some of those questions with answers from our volunteers!

Questions for Specific Committees

Question for the Policy & Abuse committee:
How often do you deal with people who want to censor something on AO3? Is it a common complaint?
Committee Answer:
AO3 frequently receives complaints about "offensive content", which includes suggesting that we should remove or censor content that is allowed on AO3. In the past five years, complaints about offensive content have consistently been one of the top three types of Policy & Abuse tickets, albeit not the largest. The Policy & Abuse committee regularly publishes a breakdown of the previous year's tickets, which for 2024 can be found here. Information about 2025's tickets will be available in a newsletter early next year.
Question for the Volunteers & Recruiting committee:
What types of things can be done by volunteers? I say this as someone who'd love to volunteer at some point in the future, but have no idea if I have any skill that would actually be helpful.
Committee answer:
The skill sets required from our volunteers depend a lot on the role: There are roles that require some kind of formal education or in-depth knowledge of a specific topic, such as being a lawyer or a financial analyst. Other roles, however, are teaching all required skills during the training period, so for those roles it mostly depends on being the "type" for the role. For us in VolCom (Volunteers & Recruiting Committee), it's more of the latter than the former; for example, our volunteers need to enjoy documentation work and ticking off tasks from to-do lists while being able to do work autonomously. There are many roles in the OTW that look for a specific type of person more than a person with a specific set of skills, or the skills are very transferable: Skills such as project management, navigating tricky interpersonal situations, dividing big-picture goals into actionable items, etc. If you keep an eye on our socials and the news posts, you will see us recruiting regularly. Each role comes with a position description that explains both what the volunteers in this role do, and what is required of applicants, so just watch out for a role that matches your skills and interests!

General Questions across Committees

How many hours a week do you spend on your OTW volunteer work?
For myself on Systems, it varies. I usually spend at least an hour a day between checking in on alerts, tickets, and responding to any inquiries from other committees internally. It usually ends up being more, as some of those requests are more involved than others. Any time there's an outage or issue, the number of hours usually goes much higher. (FrostTheFox, Systems committee chair)
How do you manage your volunteer time, and do you do the same thing every day like with a day job?
What I do each day varies based on what events are coming up for Board and the OTW! We may be working on research projects, preparing for a public Board meeting, replying to questions from the public, or many other things. The variety is a huge part of why I enjoy what I do honestly. I wouldn't enjoy it as much if it was the same every day. Volunteering for the OTW is nice because by and large, you get to pick what ours and schedule you'd like to have. I personally try and block out sections of my time to work on OTW-related tasks and do occasional checking in outside of this time. (therealmorticia, Board Assistants Team committee chair)
What's your favorite part about volunteering at the OTW?
Assisting AO3 users, most notably Vietnamese and Chinese users, in my capacity as Support volunteer. Some weeks when the stress from my other OTW roles catches up to me, doing Support work and answering Support tickets remind me of the reason why I started this whole endeavour in the first place: I want to give back to fandom and help AO3 users navigate the Archive a little bit easier. (Anh Pham, Support committee)
What's the aspect of volunteer work with the OTW that you most wish more people knew about?
Sometimes the things you think will be simplest are the hardest, and vice versa. Personally, I've had to nix features I really wanted myself because they just wouldn't be practical given our volume of users and current resources. (Accessibility, Design, & Technology committee volunteer)
What does a typical day as an OTW volunteer looks like for you?
I volunteer as an Open Doors Administrative Volunteer and as an Open Doors Chair Assistant. Both are project management-oriented roles: I help manage archive imports and the committee itself! I start my volunteering time by checking on the status of my archives, answering questions as they arise, making sure archive import tasks are progressing along - it's always something different! I also work on various projects for committee management, such as documenting workflows and new procedures or running weekly working meetings. (Kayla, Open Doors committee)
What is your favorite animal? Alternatively, do you have a favorite breed of cat/dog?
Aside from cats & dogs, my favorite animal is a sloth. They’re mood and they sound really funny (look it up on youtube!). Favorite dog breed is airedale terrier, because my boyfriend has one and she’s hilarious. She lives with his mom now that he’s studying/working in my city, and I’ve only seen her a few times, so I’m convinced she thinks I’m some sort of weird extension of my bf that just randomly appears every 6 months or so. (kati, Translation committee)
Do you enjoy reading fanfic? If so, what's your favorite work on AO3?
I do! Finding a favorite was the hardest thing I've ever done and I had to dig through my bookmarks, anything by author hanville would make the cut, to be honest, but my absolute favorite is mosaic broken hearts with this is me trying as a really, really close second. (Camila Lopez, Tag Wrangling committee)
Do you write any fanfic yourself? What do you enjoy about it?
I write so many fics. @.@ It's a lot of fun to explore favourite characters in new ways, and to get to expand the worlds in which they live. I'm also cursed to have very few fandoms in which my favourite characters or ships have a lot of content, so I end up having to make it all myself. (Fun fact: I actually found my partner due to a rare pair!) (C, AO3 Documentation committee)
What fandoms are you (currently) in?
Well, Heated Rivalry obviously. I'm also really into Fallout, The Pitt, and Formula 1 RPF. (I'm not even a sports person. I don't know how I ended up in sports RPF, yet here I am.) (Whatsit, Policy & Abuse committee)
Do you feel glad or proud to see fanfiction in your mother tongue? I grew up in German fandom, and I owe some German fandom writers a lot when it comes to my own existence in fandom. I very much stay away from it now lmao. I can't handle anything remotely smutty written in German, and some peculiarities of fanfiction that I can tolerate in English are a dealbreaker in German, as well as grammar and punctuation. I do love that it exists - fanfiction and fandom in general is an amazing space that should not be limited by the language one speaks. (corr, Volunteers & Recruiting committee)

(For more answers from our volunteers, check out this work on AO3, where we'll post additional replies to each question!)

We are exceedingly grateful to all volunteers who have taken time out of their day to compose answers, and for the amazing work they do at the OTW on a daily basis! They are the lifeblood of the OTW, AO3, and our other projects!

If you too want to become part of the OTW and help out as a volunteer, keep an eye on our recruitment posts! And if you're afraid of missing a post, no worries: You can subscribe to our monthly OTW News by Email service for a neat summary of what's currently happening at the OTW!

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

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/33951

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: happy

torachan

1. It rained a little bit off and on today, but mostly off. Aside from taking a few walks in the neighborhood, we just stayed home anyway, so it didn't really matter, but I've had enough rain for now.

2. Carla made a super delicious dinner tonight. A beef roast and cheesy potatoes, steamed broccoli (the least exciting of the bunch but still tasty), and Alex brought some take and bake garlic bread, which I had a little bit of even though I shouldn't. There was also some of the ube Christmas cake for dessert.

3. Gemma's a sassy girl.

conuly

Winter is icummen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damn you, sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,
So 'gainst the winter's balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing Goddamm.
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.

***

Link

torachan

The rain for this week was predicted to be pretty heavy, so we were prepared just in case, but as it actually got closer, it seemed the worst would be on the 24th, and then lighter rain on the 25th. We still planned to take parkas and umbrellas, but that morning it was dry and the forecast said there might be some light rain in the afternoon, but not a steady all-day thing, so when we got to the park we actually ended up leaving the parkas and umbrellas in the car.

( Read more... )

ao3_news_feed

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/33936

A megaphone with the OTW logo and the words 'OTW Announcement'

In 2020, the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) made a commitment to our users, members, and volunteers that we would work towards making our organization and our projects more welcoming and inclusive to fans of color, and preventing and combating racist harassment on our platforms.

We provided an update on this work in 2023, acknowledging that progress had not been as fast as we had hoped, sharing details of the changes that had been made by that point, and laying out the road ahead.

Today we are delighted to share that we have fulfilled the last of the promises we made to you back in 2020. While we celebrate the hard work and dedication to improvement that has taken us to this point, we also regret that it has taken us five years to get here. We are sincerely grateful for all the support we've received from our users, members, and volunteers to complete this work, and we apologize that it has taken this long to do so.

This post lays out both the progress we've made and the specific ways our 2020 promises have been fulfilled, as well as what is coming next and how we will ensure that our work doesn't stop here.

What We've Done

Since our update in 2023, we have completed the following goals to help protect our users and volunteers against harassment:

Reviewed and updated the AO3 Terms of Service (TOS) and TOS FAQ. You can read more about this update in the news post announcing the TOS review as well as the accompanying review guide. For some key highlights, we:
1. Simplified the language and removed redundancies throughout the TOS in order to improve readability for all users, including those who may have English as an Additional Language (EAL);
2. Generalized the Abuse Policy to provide the AO3 Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) with greater flexibility to determine how to address harassment and other TOS violations; and
3. Reviewed the existing mandatory Archive warnings and considered new ones.
Improved admin tools, particularly for the Policy & Abuse committee so that they can more easily handle Abuse reports.
Implemented improvements to AO3 to help curate your Archive experience, including:
1. Expanded blocking features to cover more situations, including preventing unsolicited gifts from blocked users and preventing kudos from users you've blocked.
2. Further limiting how guest users can interact with you, such as stripping embedded images in guest comments and adding a preference to prevent guests from replying to your comments on other users' works and on news posts.
3. Restarted the creation of "No Fandom" canonical additional tags to allow users to more easily filter in and filter out for concepts as they want. Read more about new canonicals in the Tag Wrangling news posts.
4. Implemented collection tags and improved collection filters.
The Diversity Consultant Research Officer completed their internal review, engaged with contractors, and made a culture audit firm recommendation to the OTW Board in 2023.

Following that recommendation, the OTW contracted with an audit firm and underwent a months-long organizational culture audit that included interviews with volunteers at every level of the organization and in every committee.
The Board, working with the firm and OTW volunteers from several committees, created an Organizational Culture Roadmap of items that need to be addressed and changed to promote a healthier and safer OTW for all our volunteers.
To ensure the completion of these goals, we established the OTW Culture Roadmap Workgroup. This is an independent body from the Board so that this work is unaffected by Board turnover. This work remains ongoing and will continue long beyond this update.

Made multiple changes to the procedures of public Board meetings and Board communications generally, to improve transparency regarding Board work and OTW progress. This includes:

Implemented a new moderation system for public Board meetings, as of the November 2023 public meeting, allowing the Board to address questions raised during public meetings; since the July 2024 public meeting, started addressing questions submitted asynchronously from people who can’t attend the meeting live.
Implemented professional customer relationship management tools for Board work and Board email/communication.
Released bi-weekly internal updates regarding Board and BAT work to OTW volunteers.

Created two new committees and two new subcommittees to better support the completion of these goals and our long-term sustainability as an organization:

Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution: subcommittee responsible for addressing volunteer complaints and conflicts independent from involved committees.
News Post Moderation: subcommittee responsible for moderating comments on AO3 and OTW news posts, ensuring they abide by the OTW News Post Moderation Policy.
Board Assistants Team: committee assisting the OTW Board of Directors with administrative tasks and project management.
User Response Translation: committee responsible for addressing PAC and Support’s translation needs in specific high-need languages.

Completed and published a Whistleblower Protection Policy to outline and enshrine the protections for people who make reports about misconduct in the OTW.

What We're Doing

We know that creating a safer environment for our users and volunteers is an ongoing responsibility, and we remain deeply committed to addressing harassment with both urgency and care. While the steps outlined in our 2020 statement marked an important beginning, we recognise that true progress requires continuous effort beyond fulfilling those initial commitments. We are dedicated to building on that foundation with transparency, accountability, and compassion.

We are committed to and already continuing to work beyond our 2020 promises to ensure that this work does not end here. Some examples of our ongoing commitment include:

Completing the ongoing project to review the OTW Code of Conduct in full, bringing it into line with industry standards and updating it in collaboration with volunteer feedback;
Supporting the ongoing development and growth of the Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution subcommittee;
Working on the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan's Diversifying Spaces goals; and
Making AO3 more accessible for EAL users through our ongoing internationalization efforts. We've recently finished preparing all emails for translation and are continuing to work on other parts of the site.

Moving Forward

Looking forward to the future, we want to maintain our progress in this area and continue to improve transparency about changes within the OTW. We will make efforts to share information about updates like these in the monthly newsletter and our quarterly public Board meetings on Discord (you can also find updates from our quarterly meetings in our meeting minutes).

We appreciate your ongoing support and patience throughout these efforts, and we offer our sincerest apologies for the extended time required to fulfill our promises. Although progress has been slower than anticipated, we are very excited to share that our major goals are now complete and we are committed to continuing improvement into the future.

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/33936

conuly

And very heavy on the dudes. I'm not sure if women don't go into this sort of thing, or if they're just too classy when they do it, and thus don't get onto the playlist. Though I guess it would be strange for lesbians to sing an ode to Jingle Bell COCK. (Emphasis all theirs, and totally unnecessary. We know where the song was going.)

Anyway, in honor of this, I'm posting three belated Christmas videos. The last is Boynton and totally SFW.

Watch on YouTube

This one won't let me embed it.

tozka

Happy Friday! Here's some links-- deliberately focused on positive things, to give some end-of-year cheer.

Media of Various Types

LibraryThing has a Winter Holiday Hunt game running through January 6th
The Daily Spell is a (free, indie) word puzzle game with weekly stories and daily installments
Public Domain Day is coming up on January 1st! Another Lord Peter Wimsey book is going PD which is exciting
Here's some Hugo nomination ideas from ladybusiness
DEMO FEST 2025 is out and there's some great punk songs here you can listen to for free. I put some of my recs here, if you need a place to start

Food & Crafts & Art

These amazing cookies designed as ancient artifacts!
Echo Zines has a great list of craftivism Youtube video recs as well as some of their own knitting projects
MyTeaDB -- so you can track your tea collection! If you go to the New page you can see examples of how it works
Little Golden Notebook has some amazing fiber art pieces

Social Media

Green Grimoire (Youtube) is a Druid couple who make videos about homestead-y things and van travel, with a pagan bent
Ruth Mottram (Pixelfed) is a glaciologist and posts photos of her work! She's currently in Antarctica now! She also has a blog; here's a recent post about heading down to Antarctica earlier this month
And an event: Fediverse Punk Month (January 2026) -- a call for punks (and other subcultures) to leave Meta platforms and build communities in the Fediverse instead

RSS Feeds

mixed color (RSS) a great blog about embroidery, sewing, dying, etc!
Winnie Lim (RSS) writes very enjoyable blog posts about life and the things that happen therein
sortition social is a community RSS feed reader! It selects a random feed from their (user-submitted?) database and added to the timeline for 7 days

<- previous linkspam | link library | all link posts ->

otw_news_feed

Posted by therealmorticia

https://www.transformativeworks.org/update-on-our-2020-commitment-from-the-otw-board-chairs-leads/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=274336

Today we are delighted to share that we have fulfilled the last of the promises we made to you back in 2020. While we celebrate the hard work and dedication to improvement that has taken us to this point, we also regret that it has taken us five years to get here. We are sincerely grateful for all the support we’ve received from our users, members, and volunteers to complete this work, and we apologize that it has taken this long to do so.

This post lays out both the progress we’ve made and the specific ways our 2020 promises have been fulfilled, as well as what is coming next and how we will ensure that our work doesn’t stop here.

What We’ve Done

Since our update in 2023, we have completed the following goals to help protect our users and volunteers against harassment:

Reviewed and updated the AO3 Terms of Service (TOS) and TOS FAQ. You can read more about this update in the news post announcing the TOS review as well as the accompanying review guide. For some key highlights, we:
1. Simplified the language and removed redundancies throughout the TOS in order to improve readability for all users, including those who may have English as an Additional Language (EAL);
2. Generalized the Abuse Policy to provide the AO3 Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) with greater flexibility to determine how to address harassment and other TOS violations; and
3. Reviewed the existing mandatory Archive warnings and considered new ones.
Improved admin tools, particularly for the Policy & Abuse committee so that they can more easily handle Abuse reports.
Implemented improvements to AO3 to help curate your Archive experience, including:
1. Expanded blocking features to cover more situations, including preventing unsolicited gifts from blocked users and preventing kudos from users you’ve blocked.
2. Further limiting how guest users can interact with you, such as stripping embedded images in guest comments and adding a preference to prevent guests from replying to your comments on other users’ works and on news posts.
3. Restarted the creation of “No Fandom” canonical additional tags to allow users to more easily filter in and filter out for concepts as they want. Read more about new canonicals in the Tag Wrangling news posts.
4. Implemented collection tags and improved collection filters.
The Diversity Consultant Research Officer completed their internal review, engaged with contractors, and made a culture audit firm recommendation to the OTW Board in 2023.

Following that recommendation, the OTW contracted with an audit firm and underwent a months-long organizational culture audit that included interviews with volunteers at every level of the organization and in every committee.
The Board, working with the firm and OTW volunteers from several committees, created an Organizational Culture Roadmap of items that need to be addressed and changed to promote a healthier and safer OTW for all our volunteers.
To ensure the completion of these goals, we established the OTW Culture Roadmap Workgroup. This is an independent body from the Board so that this work is unaffected by Board turnover. This work remains ongoing and will continue long beyond this update.

Made multiple changes to the procedures of public Board meetings and Board communications generally, to improve transparency regarding Board work and OTW progress. This includes:

Implemented a new moderation system for public Board meetings, as of the November 2023 public meeting, allowing the Board to address questions raised during public meetings; since the July 2024 public meeting, started addressing questions submitted asynchronously from people who can’t attend the meeting live.
Implemented professional customer relationship management tools for Board work and Board email/communication.
Released bi-weekly internal updates regarding Board and BAT work to OTW volunteers.

Created two new committees and two new subcommittees to better support the completion of these goals and our long-term sustainability as an organization:

Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution: subcommittee responsible for addressing volunteer complaints and conflicts independent from involved committees.
News Post Moderation: subcommittee responsible for moderating comments on AO3 and OTW news posts, ensuring they abide by the OTW News Post Moderation Policy.
Board Assistants Team: committee assisting the OTW Board of Directors with administrative tasks and project management.
User Response Translation: committee responsible for addressing PAC and Support’s translation needs in specific high-need languages.

Completed and published a Whistleblower Protection Policy to outline and enshrine the protections for people who make reports about misconduct in the OTW.

What We’re Doing

We are committed to and already continuing to work beyond our 2020 promises to ensure that this work does not end here. Some examples of our ongoing commitment include:

Completing the ongoing project to review the OTW Code of Conduct in full, bringing it into line with industry standards and updating it in collaboration with volunteer feedback;
Supporting the ongoing development and growth of the Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution subcommittee;
Working on the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan’s Diversifying Spaces goals; and
Making AO3 more accessible for EAL users through our ongoing internationalization efforts. We’ve recently finished preparing all emails for translation and are continuing to work on other parts of the site.

Moving Forward

https://www.transformativeworks.org/update-on-our-2020-commitment-from-the-otw-board-chairs-leads/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=274336

cimorene

I've been drinking Decaf Twinings Earl Grey and some herbal blends. I tried the Finnish specialty teashops that I have ordered loose leaf from in the past, but they didn't have any decaf tea that I wanted, let alone decaf chai and matcha, which was what I was looking for.

Today I finally made an attempt with various search terms and discovered that it's pretty easy to get decaf matcha in the US, but I couldn't find a single shop selling it in Europe, not even in the UK. I did find a shop that sells decaf chai, but it seems to be because it's the EU branch of a Canadian company. Also Wax and I both got rage headaches from the horrible pseudoscience and health food marketing gobbledygook on the websites I kept landing at. Ugh!! Why are they taking over tea😭. It's TEA!

Now, I could get my family to send me some matcha powder, but the cost of shipping from the US is prohibitive, IMO, for a consumable product that you would want periodic refills of.

So maybe it's better to not even bother getting a milk steamer... IDK if it's worth it for primarily coffee lattes and the occasional chai? Maybe it is. I hadn't even had a matcha latte till ten years ago and I did like the other kind back then...

I guess I'm just really annoyed by the lack of availability. This is a global economy in all the bad ways but I can't get decaf matcha or Reese's Pieces!

Current Mood: Can't believe this
Current Music: I don't have a tea tag??

Profile

Cimorene

December 2025

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Page Summary

mecurtin - Two Purrcies; celebrations
otw_news_feed - OTW Signal, December 2025
daegaer - Yuletide!
torachan - Daily Happiness
torachan - Weekly Reading
torachan - 2025 Knott's Trip #4 (12/27/25)
watersword - *yawn*
aethel - misc. updates
tozka - photo: spotted on my morning walk
conuly - Finally saw Zootopia 2!
ao3_news_feed - International Volunteer Day
princessofgeeks - A few random thoughts about Heated Rivalry
torachan - Daily Happiness
conuly - Ancient Music by Ezra Pound
torachan - 2025 Universal Studios Trip #2 (12/25/25)
ao3_news_feed - Update on Our 2020 Commitment from the OTW Board, Chairs & Leads
conuly - Jenn's chosen playlist yesterday was gay Christmas themed
tozka - public domain day, ancient artifact cookies, antarctica
otw_news_feed - Update on Our 2020 Commitment from the OTW Board, Chairs & Leads
cimorene - Decaf tea is close to the clean eating abyss

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