Hi, readers!
*hops up on soapbox to shout into the void*
As a fanfiction reader, you may have noticed AO3 is running a banner at the top of the site this week for its fundraiser. The fundraiser isn’t just an opportunity to support the archive. For a single, $10 donation, “you may choose to become an OTW member. Members have the right to vote in organizational elections. Membership lasts for one year from the date of the most recent qualifying donation. If you are already a member, donating US$10 or more today will extend your membership to one year from today. By choosing to become a member you are agreeing to receive emails about OTW elections and a ballot.“
It’s really fucking hard to run even a small fansite for a few hundred members. I’ve done it. It’s thankless, miserable work and you often end up shelling out hundreds of dollars of your own money to keep those small sites running, then lose all your hard work when the site is inevitably forced to closed because four admins can’t afford to keep it running for those few hundred members. The Archive is MASSIVE comparatively. I can only imagine what a beast it is to run. If you can spare the $10, you’ll be getting your money’s worth for the year, I assure you.
Did you know the Archive of Transformative Works does more than just host your favorite fanworks? The Archive is involved in lots of projects! Projects include Fanlore, Legal Advocacy, and a peer-reviewed academic journal, Transformative Works and Cultures, as well as Open Doors, which imports at-risk fanwork archives to AO3 so you can keep accessing fanworks that might otherwise be lost.
Go through your old coats and dig up some quarters, then consider using it to become a member of the Archive because Tumblr could be bought out any time, but the fans run the Archive.
*hops off soapbox*
Thank you so much for this wonderful post! It’s so nice to see people loving on the OTW and AO3.
But, seriously, folks like you who run fansites with a few friends and limited resources are heroes, and the Archive of Our Own wouldn’t exist without you. Dedicated fans prove that we can build a home for what we love, and the founding of the Organization for Transformative Works was possible because of that spirit of passion and hard work.
Which is just one of the reasons why we’re committed to preserving at-risk archives. Our Open Doors team partners with site administrators to import fanworks to AO3 so that they won’t be lost if the original site shuts down. We believe that fannish history and culture is important, and it’s our mission to protect and promote it.
So thank you again for your kind words and for encouraging people to donate. We appreciate every bit of support we get. ♥
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2gado2V