The Russos Said That That Scene Between Peter And Tony Was An Improv By Tom And Then You Remember That

Shout out to all your internet friends who are gone.

Those messenger screen names that haven’t logged on in ages, some before detailed profiles were a thing on those services.

Those emails that are long since abandoned, some with domains that no longer exist.

Those online friends you knew years ago and who then helped shaped you in some way, who you just can’t FIND anymore.

Those people who once were, and hopefully still exist IRL, that seem to have no known internet life anymore.

And those who have actually passed on, and their online lives are now a memorial to them.

I miss you all. I hope life is/was kind to you, and maybe one day, we’ll somehow connect again.

Hogwarts House Sub-Types

Everyone who knows Harry Potter knows by now that, while a lot of stock is put into houses, there are more than four types of people and the four houses therefore lead to some oversimplification. I came up with these sub-types for one of the stories I’m writing, but thought I’d share them outside of it because I’ve never run into anything quite like this before.

Note: Within each house, you will have people who do not fit neatly into a sub-type listed here. Those people usually have a mixture of traits from different sub-types within their house, and are often the ones viewed as most stereotypical of their house. I call these “All-Rounders”.

Ravenclaw

Lost in Thought - Ravenclaws who often get pulled away with an idea. Sometimes, these runaway-thoughts lead to the exclusion of everything else around them, and can cause the Ravenclaw to forget what they were doing. These Ravenclaws are the most likely to be labeled as ‘dreamy’ or ‘eccentric’.

Experimental Method - Ravenclaws who enjoy putting things to the test, and refuse to accept something as true if it hasn’t been appropriately supported with evidence. When someone suggests an idea as truth (like this list), these Ravenclaws may wonder if the idea would stand up to scientific rigor.

Walking Library - Ravenclaws who love to read and learn from books. They tend to have a very good memory for what they’ve read, and will often share this knowledge without prompting. 

Experts - Ravenclaws who have a particular topic they are interested in, and are learning everything they can about that topic. Often, they have knowledge in one or two areas well beyond the expected level for their age and education but are perfectly average or even below average in every other subject.

Banned Books - Ravenclaws who believe no knowledge should be forbidden, or at least not to them. These Ravenclaws aren’t afraid to study dangerous or illegal topics, even if they should be. Not every Banned Books-type Ravenclaw will end up with the wrong crowds, but this is the type of Ravenclaw most likely to go there.

Hufflepuff

Social Justice Warriors - These Hufflepuffs recognize the unfairness in the world, but don’t accept it as natural and unchangeable. When these Hufflepuffs say something isn’t fair, it isn’t an empty complaint. They want change, and will usually put in the work or organize the group to make it happen.

BFF Defense Squad - These Hufflepuffs live out the words, “If you mess with my friends, then you mess with me.” They are extremely loyal and will go to corresponding lengths to defend and life up the people they love.

Soft Slytherin - These Hufflepuffs are so ambitious that others sometimes wonder why they weren’t sorted into Slytherin. Usually, the ruthlessness associated with Slytherin is traded out for Hufflepuff’s brand of hard work. These Hufflepuffs are less likely to take advantage of shortcuts on the way to their goals than someone sorted into the house of snakes.

“I can do anything, but not everything.” - These Hufflepuffs know that with enough hard work, any goal is achievable. They prioritize well, and will likely go far in the areas they choose to develop.

“I can do EVERYTHING.” These Hufflepuffs work just as hard as the second type, but fail to prioritize or focus their work. This often leads to having many unfinished projects, or burning out from overwork. 

Gryffindor

Hero(ine) - These Gryffindors will rush into a situation where someone needs help, regardless of the context. They cannot stand by while someone else is in danger or hurting. These Gryffindors have hearts of gold, but often end up hurt or in trouble because of this tendency.

Adrenaline Junkie - These Gryffindors love to take risks of any kind. They enjoy doing things that prove or display their bravery. Often this is in front of an audience, but it can also be proof to themselves. This category of Gryffindors is likely to produce athletes and performers because of this thrill-seeking behavior. 

Strong and Silent - These Gryffindors have a quieter type of bravery. They stand up for those who need it and do the right thing without drawing attention to themselves. Often, this means they are underappreciated or not seen as brave. 

Shaking Hands - These Gryffindors are the ones who struggle, but keep trying. They are afraid, but bravely push on. The right thing to do is not obvious to them when it seems to be to others, but they do their best every day. Shaking Hands Gryffindors are related to type three in that they aren’t recognized enough for their bravery.

Big Head Boy - These Gryffindors associate themselves with the Hero-types, the well-known Adrenaline Junkies, and the other desirable types of Gryffindors, but don’t do the same level of work to back this up. This can lead to them getting arrogant, becoming irritating to those around them, or even bullying.

Slytherin

Politician - These Slytherins love the power plays and complicated dynamics often associated with Slytherin House. Usually their goals for their adult life are political in nature, whether that means working in the government or behind the scenes. These Slytherins seek understand what is happening under the surface of every major interaction and read the subtext in everything.

Knowledge is Power. These Slytherins might be accused of secretly being a Ravenclaw. They love to learn, and will study a wide range of topics or look deeply into certain ones. What differs from a Ravenclaw, however, is that these Slytherins are driven to learn by the ways their knowledge can be put to use instead of for the sake of the learning itself.

Problem Solvers - These Slytherins will find the most expedient solution for any problem they are faced with. Often, they will find several effective, quick solutions. When giving a problem to these Slytherins to solve you should always give them all of the constraints you are working within, including moral ones. These Slytherins are not immoral but they often believe that the end justifies the means, so they need to know how far you are willing to go. Regardless of the constraints you give them, these Slytherins will find you an answer.

Behind the Scenes - These Slytherins embody the cunning and sneaky portions of their House’s reputation. Often, you won’t see the work they do or know how active they are. These Slytherins may control the gossip mill in their environment, or be the brains behind a political-type Slytherin. Unless you ask them, and they bring you into their confidence, you’ll never know.

Ruthless Slytherins - These Slytherins will do anything to get what they want. They are related to problem solvers, but don’t bring your problems to them unless you’ve accepted that the solutions they give will benefit them at least as much as they benefit you. This is the type of Slytherin most likely to cause or get into trouble, and then find a way out of it again that leaves them looking squeaky clean.

So, there you have it. There aren’t four types of people - there are twenty-one.

me: you’ve already used this exact turn of phrase two paragraphs ago, that’s too repetitive

me, an intellectual: if I use it three more times it becomes a motif

A town known as the “town of books”, Hay-on-Wye is located on the Welsh / English border in the United Kingdom and is a bibliophile’s sanctuary.

Seriously AO3? I just wanted to get to the next part of the series (the last part ended with a cliffhanger that would get solved in the next part. That's the only thing I remember from when I read it 5 years ago)

Please AO3, get back online. I just wanted to finish my bedtime reading :(

canon: they died

fanfic: fUCK YOU

Hank, why do you have a stark computer? I thought you would've made your own.

Hank: I use a Stark sometimes because I know Tony spies on it, and it’s fun to type weird things into google and watch him freak out and try to decifer what it means. Recently, I’ve been researching “What to do when you have romantic feelings towards shrubs.” Tony didn’t look me in the eye on our last skype call. It’s pretty great.

End OTW Racism: A Call To Action

A fan protest against the lack of action from the OTW on addressing issues of harassment and racism on AO3 and within the organization

This is a Call To Action for Fans of Color and Allies

AO3 has acknowledged that they have a harassment & racism problem that its parent organization, the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), needs to address. Currently, people can use AO3 to harass others through fanworks, comments, and tags. Just a few examples include: racist Untamed “spitefic” that used anti-Indigenous slurs and was written specifically to lash out at fans of color; a Transformer fic that used its Black-coded character to reenact George Floyd’s murder in July 2020; someone naming a fandom scholar who criticized their Nazi omegaverse fic in the tags of the fic specifically to incite harassment to the scholar; writers using racial slurs against commenters who pointed out racism in their hockey fic; and so much more.

In June 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, the OTW committed to addressing these issues. It has been nearly three years and they have not yet implemented any of the changes they promised, other than a blocking/muting tool that was already in development before 2020. We need to hold the OTW accountable to their own promises. (See the section further down on “Why Are We Doing This” for even more detail.)

As fans, together, we are powerful. We are organizing to protest the lack of action on promises made by the Organization for Transformative works to deal with issues of racism and harassment on their platform, Archive of Our Own.

We call on fans to do any or all of the following actions any time between May 17 to 31, 2023 to send a message to AO3 and OTW that we will hold them to their promises.

On AO3

Change the title of ten (or more!) of your most recent or most popular fanworks to include ‘End Racism in the OTW’ in the beginning, and provide a link to this post in your summary or first/top creator’s note

Post a new fanwork any time between May 17th to 31st with “End Racism in the OTW” either as the title or at the beginning of the title. The fanwork does not have to be long - it can be a 100-word fic, a quick sketch, a podfic of a ficlet, a 20-second vid/edit, a short piece of meta, etc. In the summary or first/top creator’s note, provide a link to this post

If updating any WIPs with a new chapter, add ‘End Racism in the OTW’ to the title and provide a link back to this post in your summary or first/top author’s note

Update your AO3 icon using the profile pic graphic in our Social Media Toolkit

Plan to maintain these changes until May 31, 2023, or longer if you wish

Send a message to the OTW asking for an update on their 2020 commitments!

For Readers: leave encouraging comments on fanworks with the "End Racism in the OTW" title to show your support of this initiative.

On tumblr

Reblog this Call to Action with the tag #End OTW Racism

Update your profile pics and banners using the graphics in our Social Media Toolkit

Follow this account for updates and signal boost our posts

On Twitter

Follow @/EndOTWRacism (remove the backslash) and signal boost our pinned tweet

Update your profile pics and banners using our graphics, and change your display name to include #EndOTWRacism

Use sample tweets and graphics from our Social Media Toolkit to tweet about your fanworks, and use the hashtag #EndOTWRacism

Help us make this a long-term campaign - sign up to help with other anti-racism projects and future actions!

What Do We Want?

Since their June 2020 statement, OTW has been working on updating their Terms of Service (TOS) to address racist and bigoted harassment, but with little transparency and only the vaguest of updates. It has been three years since their commitment to this update - we want to see the results of their work implemented in the next 6-12 months. Their TOS updates and complementary policies should include:

Harassment policies that can be regularly updated to address both on-site harassment and off-site coordinated harassment of AO3 users, with updated protocols for the Policy & Abuse Team to ensure consistent and informed resolutions of abuse claims

A content policy on abusive (extremely racist and extremely bigoted) content; by abusive, we are talking about fanworks that are intentionally used to spread hate and harassment, not those that accidentally invoke racist or other bigoted stereotypes

These points are not particularly new and are not our own innovation; please refer to Stitch's article written over two years ago, asking for several of these very things.

OTW has also already committed to various process-based actions for longer-term works towards centering antiracism, including hiring a Diversity Consultant. The last update that OTW published said that the consultant would be hired within the next five years (after already having had three years to work on it since their original commitment). That is not soon enough. We want to see the following process-based actions implemented:

Hiring a Diversity Consultant within the next 3-6 months

Committing to a policy of transparency on this topic, with quarterly updates on the progress of these projects including challenges and their plan for overcoming those challenges. These quarterly updates should be published on OTW News page and newsletters, not solely discussed in Board meetings

Why Are We Doing This?

16 years ago, Astolat famously published her manifesto calling for a fandom Archive of One’s Own. In that time, AO3 has grown to be a central pillar of fandom, likely far outstripping its founders’ original vision. It is more than just an archive now; it is a central hub of the modern fannish experience. AO3 and the OTW must continue to grow and evolve with fandom over time to remain a healthy and functioning pillar of fandom. To that end, there are several areas in which the organization, as it admits itself, is lacking.

In June 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd protests and the uprising of the Black Lives Matter Movement, The OTW published a “This Week in Fandom” referencing the works of Dr. Rukmini Pande and Stitch, among others in which they discussed ‘making change for a better society’ through ‘conversations about race and racism’. In response, Dr. Pande and Stitch submitted a letter to the OTW calling for a more formal public statement than an offhand reference in a News Roundup that only served to call for thoughts and discussion without any indication the organization intended to do anything, policy wise, to address the issues being raised.

Eventually, the organization did remove the references to the works of Dr. Pande and Stitch and then made an official statement on the issue of racism within the organization and AO3. In it, they identified several things they would be prioritizing to combat harassment and benefit users. Some of those have been implemented (notably those that were already under development). However as of this writing, little else has been done especially in regards to:

Improving admin tools for the Policy & Abuse team

Reassessing the current mandatory archive warnings with the possibility of implementing others

And, most importantly, reviewing the Terms of Service (TOS) to allow the Policy & Abuse team to address harassment that is currently not covered by the existing TOS

By their own admission, the current tools and policies of the OTW are not sufficient to deal with issues of harassment and racism.

Several people who were involved in the founding of the OTW, including previous OTW Board members and staff on the original OTW Content Policy Committee, acknowledge that the founding of the OTW in 2008 and early board iterations failed us as a fandom by not doing enough, and by not even considering the way racism is perpetuated in fannish spaces, despite a long history of racism in fandom.

It has been nearly three years since the original commitment by the organization with little visible, measurable progress on these three crucial issues and a complete lack of transparency on where they are in regards to even beginning to deal with these issues. In fact, in Q&As, it was heavily implied by a member of the board that those calling for OTW to deal with issues of racism (which OTW had already acknowledged as a problem!) were not really fans but outside agitators.

This has cast significant doubt on the organization's sincerity and commitment to their stated goals, and on their position as leaders of a central fan tent-pole. Fans of color are not outsiders. They are right here, members of our community, and they are being harassed and targeted and driven out while space and platforms are being given to racists.

We, as fans of color and our allies, find the current state of fandom and current actions (and lack thereof) unacceptable. Fandom is our space, all of ours. We, as a fandom, have a right to a racism-free space and have a duty to our fellow fans to create that space. Unlike so much of the world, this is a space we can control and make better. It is a space we must make better. To read even more about this movement, visit our FAQs.