bits and bobs

[quietmoon]

*clasps hands* I have finally gotten to the end of my reading page. I wish it went on past the last two weeks, since I know I've missed a lot even before then, but maybe it's a blessing in disguise lol. At least now I can say I'm relatively caught up.

Calling all BIPOC — goss 
But over the years, many BIPOC have left these platforms or Fandom altogether. And I really miss having those kinds of interactions, and hearing these particular voices.
I'm curious about how many of us are out here still, whether actively posting on DW or simply lurking. Maybe you are wondering too! So I am putting up this poll, in the hopes of reaching out to and connecting with as many BIPOC fans here on DW as possible.

Signal Boost: Discussions of racism in fandom, and what to do about it in regards to OTW/AO3 — muccamukk 
I haven't read this yet, but I'm throwing it here so I remember to.

And lots of events and such happening, too:

• sunshine_challenge is starting on 1st July! It's no secret that I love this challenge and it's chilly sibling, and I'm excited to participate and maybe make some friends next month! (Maybe I'll even participate during the actual event for once. Who knows.) If you want to hit the ground running, the comm has a post on journal housekeeping with a neat little checklist up right now.
• indie_games has opened! I am beyond excited to see some video game chat happening on here! I have my old personal gaming comm but it's been due an overhaul for ages. I might scrap it all together and throw all my gaming stuff on here or, now that indie-games exists, there! If you got the Itch bundle this comm might be of particular interest to you, as the games from there are the focus right now.
• hc_bingo sign-ups for Round 11 are open! I haven't participated before, but the deadline is generous (up to January, with amnesty extending into June) and I did tweet the other day about taking a break from my longer projects and taking a stab at a prompt list to fight writing nerves. *rubs chin*
• fandomgiftbox sign-ups close on 21st June. Looks very fun ♥
• A Femslash Creating Fest is running on elasticella's journal until 22nd September, with the possibility of continuing after. I wasn't initially thinking I'd participate, but then I saw this keyleth/raishan prompt, and my mind completely ran away with me... I'll try, at least!
• recthething: This is a comm for reccing fanworks you love and requesting recs for fanworks you're looking for. This looks to be a more general reccing comm as compared to the specific/themed ones I've seen so far. Definitely of interest to me.
• fffc is running a 100 Prompt Challenge with lots of different tables. The 'weird ao3 tags' table in particular caught me eye lmao.

For those also participating in getyourwordsout, reminder that the deadline to change pledges is 23rd June. After pledging unrealistically high the past few years, I decided to go with 150k for this year, and the way things are turning out, I'm considering moving a step down from that too to 75k. xD I'm not wholly decided yet but I'm thinking about it.

Comments

[enemytosleep]

It's an interesting thread because I was part of the LJ fanfic boom, and there was definitely a compulsory "add trigger warnings" baked into the communities there that spilled onto personal pages and other sites (like A/N on FFN and elsewhere). If you didn't post triggers and someone asked you to, it almost always happened without fuss. Mods would remove posts that didn't adhere to the rules.

When AO3 first started, the tagging system was not explained well and practices were not carried over. People used only The Big Four (violence, death, non-con, and underage) and character tags for the most part. I went offline for 6 years starting in 2013, and when I came back, AO3 tags had evolved something akin to Tumblr tags. The Big Four remained the only archive warnings.

I get that it's tough to enforce new labels on older stories, and that could be covered with a site wide: everything posted before 2021 may contain such topics as (racism/slavery/incest) with no warning, and should be consumed at the reader's own risk. Then have Abuse Team enforce the new tags moving forward.

Or as the one petition said, adding a block button to reduce harassment and remove problematic authors from your newsfeed who aren't tagging for your triggers.

[quietmoon]

This makes me wonder about how much creations are affected by their environment - how tagging culture in fandom has been affected by the tagging system of AO3.

I like this idea. I wish they'd implement it. I read the OTq

edit: I'm so sorry, my cat walked across my keyboard and sent the message prematurely orz

I was saying, I read the OTW's statement, and my main takeaways were that I was glad they'd actually responded, at least now instead of months from now, wishing this had all happened earlier (a frustration I know probably isn't helpful but I can't help feel it), and both a hope that they'd tackle this issue of ignoring the needs and pain of the people of colour in fandom and (again) frustration at the vague wording surrounding what I thought were the most important parts, the current warnings and Terms of Service.

Baby steps is still moving forward, though. I am happy to see that.

Tell me what you think of their statement?

[enemytosleep]

I felt like the latest OTW statement was mostly fluff. They said a lot of words, but a lot of it felt like a hollow acknowledgement that they have hard these concerns and are sorry they haven't yet taken action. I hope they can follow through with some of the actions they laid out. I understand some of it is more involved and will take time, but some things should not be that hard to implement (me, not a programmer, but speculating against the prevalence of certain features on every other platform).

[quietmoon]

I think the fact that it took a big uproar (and not just from the same fans of colour who've been talking about this for years already) to actually get them to listen is frustrating, but I hope they do mean to make genuine and pointed change >.< Yeah, I hope so too. I think they want to go the route of 'it's easier to add than take away', maybe? *shrugs* I don't know.

Fingers crossed, anyway. -.-

[enemytosleep]

I'm seeing more and more posts discussing the merits of a warning system versus giving readers better tools to curate their feeds (block buttons), and I'm leaning toward the block button. As someone who I can not recall their username said (else I would credit them), JKR would not warn her audience for transphobia or antisemitism, so how can we rely on racist/problematic authors to warn for these types of practices. There are also the writers who are unintentionally participating in hurtful tropes who would not know to warn against it (or better yet, find new ways to engage with those characters). But yes, I do hope that they decide to do something meaningful to help create a safer experience for everyone there.

[quietmoon]

I see your point! Absolutely, a self-appointing system wouldn't help to tackle internalised or unintentional racism, nor would it incline those who are writing it unwittingly to risk tagging with it. We'd probably see a small rise in Choose Not To Warn warnings.

I think, for me, the visibility of action is really important here. It isn't just the curation for the individual, but an acknowledgement from the collective (i.e. OTW and by extension those using warning systems put into place) of the existence of racism within fiction, and the necessity to warn fans for it. I'd like for people to see that it's taken seriously; for it to be as visible as Non-Con and Underage warnings are. I also think it would be helpful in bringing about an awareness and culture of recognising what actually is racism in fanfic and fandom. When people see a fic with a warning for racism, but don't register anything themselves, that might create a disconnect where they'll actually think critically about 'well, why was it tagged with that? what is it that my radar is missing?'

That isn't to say I don't also agree with all you've said regarding a blocking tool, and such. I would want both, ideally - and there's no reason why they can't exist in tandem, as they don't even exist in the same sphere of experience. ^_^

[enemytosleep]

Yes, these are such good points about changing the culture to make things more visible, and to create an awareness that hopefully leads to more conscientious tagging and warning. Start with blocking features, progress to awareness and greater visibility. I do not envy the folks in charge!

I also super appreciate your thoughtful replies and your willingness to discuss this with me.

[quietmoon]

Haha, me neither. :')

Of course! I really enjoy our conversations about this, thank you ♥