A letter to the AO3
Jun. 17th, 2020 04:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sixthlightInspired by my friend labellementeuse, who pointed out that we could be submitting feedback to the AO3 on what they need to improve instead of just complaining about it on Twitter, I sent them the below feedback. You're welcome to take cues from it and write to them yourself - and I encourage you to do so, as the more feedback they get, the more chance that something changes.
It's 2020 and we can do better in fandom than throw up our hands and say 'systems to stop abuse and harassment are censorship, just be nice to each other'.
Dear AO3,
I have been a user of and sometime donor to the AO3 for going on a decade. I love the Archive and the home it gives fandom. However, I want to talk to you about part of your diversity statement - the part that states "No matter your appearance, circumstances, configuration or take on the world: if you enjoy consuming, creating or commenting on fanworks, the Archive is for you."
As with many other things in 2020, it is increasingly obvious that the Archive does not meet the standard it sets in this statement when it comes to - among other things - racism in fandom. As a white person in fandom, I have seen fans of colour express over and over that the Archive does not provide them with a space where they can engage in fandom safely.
This is because the Archive also functions as a social space - through gift exchanges, commenting, bookmarking, and so on. These social tools can be and have been used for harassment. If the Archive tolerates harassment under the guise of free speech - as it currently does, given the many stories I have heard regarding racist content and comments being ignored - it is not a tolerant space for the victims of harassment. If it tolerates racism, it is promoting racism. The Archive is not separate from wider society in this regard. It is part of it and the same rules apply.
I believe the Archive can and must do better. I have three suggestions for features that the Archive urgently needs to work on, if it is to live up to its promise as a home for all fans. The Archive will lose racist fans and harassers over this. It will, however, retain and hopefully bring back people who have not been able to use it as it was intended, due to the behaviour of other users. It is far more important that it seeks to do this than to continue to allow anything in the name of never being able to be accused of 'censorship'. Quite frankly, right now even Reddit has better moderation and abuse tools than the AO3. Ravelry - a knitting site - has been braver in its rejection of racism and hatred. Fandom has wrongs to correct in these regards. If the AO3 is fandom's home, then correcting them starts here.
Firstly: warnings. I know - because I was involved in fandom then - that at the time of the Archive's creation, there was a great deal of debate over what boundaries to set, to ensure that as broad a possible grouping of fans could host their content here. It was ultimately decided that warnings about rape, major character death, and underage sex would be considered major archive warnings. It is past time that 'depictions of slavery' and 'racist content' be added, at minimum; I think it would also be appropriate to add warnings for homophobia and transphobia. These are issues that deeply affect readers and that they should be able to avoid, in the same way readers currently have the ability to avoid depictions of rape. Fandom does not always agree on the definition of non-con/rape, as it will not always agree on these new warnings - but listing them as major archive warnings indicates what the Archive considers the most serious category of content. This is an important signal about what behaviour is and is not welcome on the Archive and one that needs to be sent.
Secondly: blocking. Users must be able to block other logged-in users from commenting on or bookmarking their work, and themselves from seeing blocked users' work in fandom tags. This is a functionality literally every major social site on the internet has. It does not affect anybody's freedom of expression - it merely allows users to not interact with people who have harassed them or who they simply don't want to interact with. I am at a loss to understand why this has not been a priority for the Archive, when it is so crucial to user experience. Again: if you want your statement about everybody being welcome here to be true, they have to be able to protect themselves from intolerant other users. Not everybody who uses the Archive does so in good faith, as with any place on the internet. We must stop pretending 'fan' is synonymous with 'good actor'. We must also stop pretending that 'don't like, don't read' protects fans of colour from racist content, when they cannot avoid seeing it without taking extensive and painstaking action using third-party tools. Make it easy. Let all of us block users we don't want to interact with.
Thirdly and finally: the Archive needs a code of conduct and it needs to be enforced if users consistently breach it. Allowing as broad a space as possible for content does not mean allowing abusive and harassing behaviour. I have spent a lot of time in progressive real-life social spaces and in all of them, the quickest way to drive people away is to allow abusers to act unrestrained because they 'have a right to express themselves'. It *is* possible to distinguish between good-faith differences of opinion and bad-faith harassment. People do it every day. Non-profits do it every day. Yes, this will not stop people creating new accounts and so on; but it is one of the lowest possible bars that could be erected. It is past time to do so.
Thank you for reading this far. I understand that these actions seem difficult and probably expensive and even a change from the way the Archive has operated in the past. We have had ten years of the AO3 now. We know its users will donate to help fix its problems. We know the current system does not protect people from harassment. We know, in 2020, how can we not, that insidious, every-day racism is everywhere and hurts fans of colour every day. We owe it to them, as part of our community, to take steps to change how the Archive has operated in the past so we can be proud of it in the future.
I know I personally will be willing to donate money and provide feedback to make these changes happen as quickly as possible. I know that fans of colour - and many white fans like myself - are waiting to hear that the Archive is willing to take concrete steps. It is my sincere hope that we do not have to wait long.
Yours sincerely,
sixthlight.
.
labellementeuse, who pointed out that we could be submitting feedback to the AO3 on what they need to improve instead of just complaining about it on Twitter, I sent them the below feedback. You're welcome to take cues from it and write to them yourself - and I encourage you to do so, as the more feedback they get, the more chance that something changes. It's 2020 and we can do better in fandom than throw up our hands and say 'systems to stop abuse and harassment are censorship, just be nice to each other'.
Dear AO3,
I have been a user of and sometime donor to the AO3 for going on a decade. I love the Archive and the home it gives fandom. However, I want to talk to you about part of your diversity statement - the part that states "No matter your appearance, circumstances, configuration or take on the world: if you enjoy consuming, creating or commenting on fanworks, the Archive is for you."
As with many other things in 2020, it is increasingly obvious that the Archive does not meet the standard it sets in this statement when it comes to - among other things - racism in fandom. As a white person in fandom, I have seen fans of colour express over and over that the Archive does not provide them with a space where they can engage in fandom safely.
This is because the Archive also functions as a social space - through gift exchanges, commenting, bookmarking, and so on. These social tools can be and have been used for harassment. If the Archive tolerates harassment under the guise of free speech - as it currently does, given the many stories I have heard regarding racist content and comments being ignored - it is not a tolerant space for the victims of harassment. If it tolerates racism, it is promoting racism. The Archive is not separate from wider society in this regard. It is part of it and the same rules apply.
I believe the Archive can and must do better. I have three suggestions for features that the Archive urgently needs to work on, if it is to live up to its promise as a home for all fans. The Archive will lose racist fans and harassers over this. It will, however, retain and hopefully bring back people who have not been able to use it as it was intended, due to the behaviour of other users. It is far more important that it seeks to do this than to continue to allow anything in the name of never being able to be accused of 'censorship'. Quite frankly, right now even Reddit has better moderation and abuse tools than the AO3. Ravelry - a knitting site - has been braver in its rejection of racism and hatred. Fandom has wrongs to correct in these regards. If the AO3 is fandom's home, then correcting them starts here.
Firstly: warnings. I know - because I was involved in fandom then - that at the time of the Archive's creation, there was a great deal of debate over what boundaries to set, to ensure that as broad a possible grouping of fans could host their content here. It was ultimately decided that warnings about rape, major character death, and underage sex would be considered major archive warnings. It is past time that 'depictions of slavery' and 'racist content' be added, at minimum; I think it would also be appropriate to add warnings for homophobia and transphobia. These are issues that deeply affect readers and that they should be able to avoid, in the same way readers currently have the ability to avoid depictions of rape. Fandom does not always agree on the definition of non-con/rape, as it will not always agree on these new warnings - but listing them as major archive warnings indicates what the Archive considers the most serious category of content. This is an important signal about what behaviour is and is not welcome on the Archive and one that needs to be sent.
Secondly: blocking. Users must be able to block other logged-in users from commenting on or bookmarking their work, and themselves from seeing blocked users' work in fandom tags. This is a functionality literally every major social site on the internet has. It does not affect anybody's freedom of expression - it merely allows users to not interact with people who have harassed them or who they simply don't want to interact with. I am at a loss to understand why this has not been a priority for the Archive, when it is so crucial to user experience. Again: if you want your statement about everybody being welcome here to be true, they have to be able to protect themselves from intolerant other users. Not everybody who uses the Archive does so in good faith, as with any place on the internet. We must stop pretending 'fan' is synonymous with 'good actor'. We must also stop pretending that 'don't like, don't read' protects fans of colour from racist content, when they cannot avoid seeing it without taking extensive and painstaking action using third-party tools. Make it easy. Let all of us block users we don't want to interact with.
Thirdly and finally: the Archive needs a code of conduct and it needs to be enforced if users consistently breach it. Allowing as broad a space as possible for content does not mean allowing abusive and harassing behaviour. I have spent a lot of time in progressive real-life social spaces and in all of them, the quickest way to drive people away is to allow abusers to act unrestrained because they 'have a right to express themselves'. It *is* possible to distinguish between good-faith differences of opinion and bad-faith harassment. People do it every day. Non-profits do it every day. Yes, this will not stop people creating new accounts and so on; but it is one of the lowest possible bars that could be erected. It is past time to do so.
Thank you for reading this far. I understand that these actions seem difficult and probably expensive and even a change from the way the Archive has operated in the past. We have had ten years of the AO3 now. We know its users will donate to help fix its problems. We know the current system does not protect people from harassment. We know, in 2020, how can we not, that insidious, every-day racism is everywhere and hurts fans of colour every day. We owe it to them, as part of our community, to take steps to change how the Archive has operated in the past so we can be proud of it in the future.
I know I personally will be willing to donate money and provide feedback to make these changes happen as quickly as possible. I know that fans of colour - and many white fans like myself - are waiting to hear that the Archive is willing to take concrete steps. It is my sincere hope that we do not have to wait long.
Yours sincerely,
sixthlight.
.
