Bio

Zixin Z. fell into fandom when she became obsessed with Detective Conan and found her way to online fannish forums, though her fannish life probably started earlier when she secretly wrote fanfiction for Dream of the Red Chamber on her exercise books in primary school. Some of her favourite fandoms include Lord of the Rings, The Grave Robbers’ Chronicles (DMBJ Series), Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Final Fantasy XIV. She is also an avid reader of Chinese webnovels.

She started volunteering with the OTW as a tag wrangler (Chinese language track) in March 2019 when she saw the call for applications on OTW’s Weibo account. She later joined the Policy and Abuse Committee in October 2019, and the Communications Committee as one of the Weibo moderators in January 2020. She has also previously worked as an admin volunteer for the Open Doors Committee.

Zixin has a bachelor’s degree in China Studies and a master’s degree in Labour Studies. She currently works for a non-profit which provides educational services to migrant workers’ children and advocates for educational equity while being a cat mom at home and a bird watcher at large.



1. Why did you decide to run for election to the Board?

I decided to run for election for several reasons. The first and foremost reason was planted in my heart in 2020: I want to support volunteers from minority groups. As an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) speaker and East Asian fan, I have experienced difficulties and frustrations brought by miscommunications. I would like to be able to offer my help and support when other volunteers find themselves in similar situations. In the past four years, the OTW has become a hugely important part of my life, and I have made some of the best friends I could ever meet in my life among my colleagues. I genuinely hope that my efforts can truly improve the experiences of my fellow volunteers.

I also want to facilitate changes at the structural level to set up clearer regulations to strengthen accountability for Board members, Chairs, and other supervisory positions, as well as to provide volunteers with resources to foster an environment where all volunteers feel free to express their thoughts.

Last but not least, with the OTW’s rapidly-increasing size, it is necessary for us to transition into a more professional organisation by relying on more than volunteer labour in fields such as human resources. If elected, I hope I can push forward the transition with the help of the relevant committees.

2. What skills and/or experience would you bring to the Board?

I can bring my communication skills to my work on the Board. During my work as the Weibo moderator, I received all kinds of comments and questions from users about the OTW and its projects. I have learned to identify what a user is asking exactly, what type of answer would be most beneficial to them, as well as how to effectively translate and convey the question to relevant committee members for input when the information is outside my purview. I have also developed my ability to work under pressure, as I would occasionally face a rapid increase in workload when there are heated discussions related to the OTW. Working in multiple committees has also helped me understand OTW structure from different perspectives, which I believe would be beneficial experience for a Board member.

I also have experience supervising and training volunteers. I have established and supervised workgroups in the non-profit organisation I work for during the day. I have designed from scratch induction and training materials for volunteers, organised training sessions, and overseen the day to day operations of the workgroup project. I have assisted volunteers who had difficulty in completing their tasks, redistributed workload based on availability, and optimised the workflow with volunteer feedback. I can apply my practical experience in a non-profit made up of thousands of volunteers and a small portion of paid staff to my work on the OTW Board.

3. Choose one or two goals for the OTW that are important to you and that you would be interested in working on during your term. Why do you value these goals? How would you work with others to achieve them?

The first major goal I would strive to achieve is to encourage communication and documentation, because I think it is important to increase the level of transparency within the OTW to increase inclusivity and work efficiency. In terms of communication, I would like to explore establishing more open lines of communication with volunteers when organisation-wide decisions may impact their committee, so relevant parties can directly involve themselves in decision-making processes with Board and not via their Chairs as intermediaries. I also want to prioritise the documentation of major decisions and the reasons behind them, so that future volunteers can have a better understanding of past choices and feel empowered to build upon those decisions. Increased documentation can also mitigate the loss of institutional knowledge from volunteer turnover.

My second goal, which I have longed for for years, is to improve the accessibility of the Archive of Our Own (AO3) for non-English speakers. Interacting with Chinese-speaking fans every day, I know how intimidating it can be to navigate a website in a language they might not understand at all. At the time of my writing, more than 11% of works hosted on AO3 are tagged as non-English languages – constituting a total of more than 1.2 million works While localisation of the interface may take significant effort and a longer time than I would have on Board, I have been considering alternative ways of helping non-English speaking fans by creating tools (such as userscripts) that localise some or all of the interface through collaboration of Committees including but not limited to Translation, Accessibility, Design, & Technology (AD&T), and AO3 Documentation.

4. What is your experience with the OTW’s projects and how would you collaborate with the relevant committees to support and strengthen them? Try to include a range of projects, though feel free to emphasize particular ones you have experience with.

I registered my AO3 account back in 2014, but I never really used a lot of its functions other than searching and reading fics before I joined the OTW. My volunteer experience so far has been either as a part of AO3 (Tag Wrangling and Policy & Abuse), or closely related to AO3 (introducing Archive functions and answering related questions from users on Weibo). I would love to learn more about other OTW projects and discuss with relevant Committee or Team members about how Board can better support them.

As for specific ways of support that I can think of, from my experience in Tag Wrangling and Policy and Abuse, assisting Committees in setting up additional administrative roles might be helpful. These roles can help committees manage projects that they have been working on but could not reach the desired outcome in a reasonable timeline or update documentation on policy and practice. At the moment, current volunteers are often occupied with completing short-term goals like taking care of their immediate workloads. As a result, administrative duties are usually either concentrated in the hands of Chairs or left up to any volunteer who has the spare energy to tackle a task. The lack of formalised structure as well as compounding duties for Chairs means that people are often short on time and energy needed to address long-term projects necessary to accomplish structural change.

5. How would you balance your Board work with other roles in the OTW, or how do you plan to hand over your current roles to focus on Board work?

If elected, I am planning to take a hiatus from Tag Wrangling (and potentially Policy and Abuse) to prepare myself for the increased workload when Board induction begins. After a few months, I would have a better idea of the amount of work Board entails, and if I should reduce my workload through various means. For example, I can reduce the number of fandoms that I wrangle, or suggest to my Chairs that we recruit an additional volunteer to share the workload for Weibo moderation. If the workload on Board doesn’t allow me to continue working in my current Committees even in reduced capacity, I will consider leaving one or more of my committees.

Board Work I

What committees have you worked with, and for how long? What have you especially enjoyed about them?



I have worked with Tag Wrangling Committee for 4 years and 3 months. (How time flies!) What I enjoyed most about tag wrangling is that I can create canonical tags for users to tag/filter! It gives me a tremendous sense of satisfaction when I notice creators using the tags I canonised or when users use them to filter search results.

I have worked with Policy and Abuse Committee (PAC) for 3 years and 10 months. I like volunteering for PAC because I could contribute my time and effort to provide a better fannish environment for AO3 users. I am genuinely happy when Terms of Service violations are appropriately addressed to reduce harm to other users, or a user updates their warning tags so that others can better use the filter functions to curate their experiences.

I have worked with Communications Committee as a Weibo moderator for 3 years and 6 months. I enjoy seeing users reacting to OTW updates and learning more about our project via my posts! I also find it very meaningful to introduce Chinese fandoms to my OTW colleagues and make recommendations. As I mentioned in a news post from 2021, I’m glad I could contribute to widening the bridge between the OTW and non-English speaking fans.

While I no longer work with Open Doors Committee (OD) now for personal reasons, I used to volunteer for OD for 6 months. I have always admired what the committee does – to preserve archives that are no longer available online, to store and digitise fanzines and make them accessible to a wider audience. I am honoured to have been a part of the mission and contributed to the archive preservation processes.

Where did you get most of the knowledge and preparation in order to know running for board is a good fit for you? Did you feel prepared enough by Board/elections? Do you personally believe that people with no concrete professional experience (such as college students) are apt to serve on the Board of Directors of a US non-profit?

I learned a lot about how committees operate by entering and observing public channels of committees on our work chat software. I have also attended or read the transcripts of Board meetings to have a better understanding of Board’s day-to-day work. I am also very grateful that previous Board members and Elections Committee’s candidate liaisons have provided me with information and advice with regards to running for Board election and what to expect if I were elected, and even at this early stage in the election I have already received lots of support from my colleagues! So yes, I do feel prepared by Board/Elections.

Concrete professional experience is not a requirement for Board election candidates, neither is a university degree. I think the qualities and skills expected from an ideal Board member (communication skills, time management ability, sense of responsibilities, etc.) can be obtained through various ways. While a person with longer professional experience might be more capable of meeting these expectations, I would not assume that a person with no concrete professional experience does not have these qualities. If a volunteer has learned a lot about OTW’s operations from their volunteering experience, and is willing to take on the responsibility of being a Board member, I would love to see them run for election and express their visions even if they do not have any professional experience.

What techniques do you use to manage pressure on yourself? How would you handle stepping up into a more visible and personally accountable position? Tell me about a time you had to manage a particularly heavy workload. How did you handle it?

Personally, when I’m faced with pressure and want to reduce my stress level, I would chat with my friends about the issue at hand – making myself feel heard and supported can usually help me feel significantly better. I understand that due to confidentiality reasons I could not share details of Board work with non-Board members, but I have already made friends with my brilliant fellow candidates and I’m sure I can count on their support if we are elected. I understand that being a Board member is definitely a more scrutinised position with significantly greater personal accountability, and I would make use of the induction period to learn more about how to adjust to the new roles and responsibilities as well as consult the advice of personnels with more experience, such as previous Board members and Committee Chairs.

I handled a particularly heavy workload in Spring 2020 when connections between AO3 and Mainland Chinese users were cut off, which was almost immediately after I joined Communications Committee. As one of the two OTW Weibo moderators, I had to quickly learn how to forward questions to the right person, draft boilerplates for frequently asked questions, and explain geopolitical backgrounds and nuances to my non-Chinese speaking colleagues while being a full-time student and writing up my dissertation.

I managed to maintain a reasonable schedule and peace of mind most of the time by forcing myself to have a certain period of time every day away from digital devices to reduce my anxiety level. My co-mod and I have also actively seeked help from other Chinese-speaking volunteers when we realised the overwhelming amount of DMs was consistent (which indeed lasted for several months), who have graciously taken up the duty of helping us sort out DMs and flagging messages that needed particular attention.

The Board is the nominal head of the OTW, which means that there is no Chair or other supervisor telling you what work to take on or what your priorities should be. Explain your comfort level with that kind of work and how you think you would handle that scenario. As a board member, how would you handle situations where you encounter an unfamiliar area, such as legal issues?

While Board members do not have supervisors, I believe Board does have to find a balance between completing everyday tasks (e.g. answering contact form questions, approving Finance requests) as well as making progress on long-term projects (e.g. AO3 Terms of Service update, Diversity and Inclusion consultant recruitment). I have also read the platforms of other candidates and am excited to see their visions for a future Board. If elected, I look forward to discussing with other Board members about planning projects, setting up internal deadlines, and distributing workload based on individual strengths and experiences. I hope that we could work together efficiently as a group to better serve the OTW, its volunteers, members and users.

If I encounter an unfamiliar area, I would first seek the advice from other Board members to see if any of us are equipped with expertise on the matter. If no Board members are familiar with the issue at hand, I would identify which committee(s)’ work is most relevant to the issue and consult the Committee Chair(s). If the Chair(s) could not solve the problem either and there aren’t any appropriate personnel within the OTW, I would consider seeking external support.

Explain in your own words what “fiduciary duty” means for a US non-profit. Are you comfortable with that level of legal commitment? Does being on the Board of Directors of a US nonprofit pose any risk to you or your family in your country? Have you discussed this risk with your loved ones?

In my opinion, having fiduciary duty for a non-profit organisation means a person has to put the best interest of the organisation as priority. I am comfortable with this level of commitment. I have worked professionally in other non-profits with a Board of Directors, and I have interacted with some of them to understand such commitment. While the role of the Board is not exactly the same as that of the OTW, it nevertheless resembles the level of responsibility the position entails.

I have done research on relevant laws and regulations in my country, and being on the Board of a US non-profit organisation is not against any as long as the organisation does not operate in my country. At the moment, none of the OTW servers are located in my country, and all volunteering activities are online. I don’t think this is likely to change within my term. I also don’t think running for Board would pose more risk to me than my current capacity as a volunteer, as I am already volunteering under my legal name and have it listed on newsletters before declaring my candidacy. I have discussed my decision with my family, and they have expressed their support.

How might the OTW better support fanworks and fan culture which is hosted in places other than AO3? Do you believe the organization has a responsibility to do so?

I believe that the OTW has a responsibility, as protecting fanworks is a part of our vision as an organisation, and some of our projects are aiming to realise this vision. One of the means of support the OTW provides for fanworks hosted outside AO3 is the Open Doors project. It facilitates not only online Archives’ preservation by coordinating with archivists to migrate fanworks on AO3, but also physical fanzines and other artefacts by the Fan Culture Preservation Project which cooperates with university libraries to establish special collections for fanzines or the recent Fanzine Scan Hosting Project which hosts digitised fanzines on AO3. I also believe that by advocating for the legitimacy and interest of transformative works such as filing briefs in copyright-related court cases and submitting comments to Copyright Act discussions or reviews, the Legal Advocacy team can also create a more welcoming and liberal environment for fan creators and fan culture in general. Fanlore is also a place for fans to document their culture and preserve fannish history.

Should these committees wish to expand their projects to better support fans, I am more than willing to provide any support within my ability to help them. I would also be open to suggestions from volunteers, members, and users on how to better support fanworks and fan cultures, and discuss with other Board members regarding the feasibility of the suggestions.

Many of you mentioned large, exciting projects such as paid HR, DEI consultants, and new mandatory tags. If you encountered roadblocks for these plans, how would you ensure that you can still fill your campaign promises, and how would those new strategies be communicated to OTW members?

If I encounter roadblocks, I would try to solve the issue at hand to continue the project or seek alternative methods. For example, if the problem is that the OTW is slow to get started and move on with projects, I might suggest setting up clear timelines and reminders (Volunteers and Recruiting Committee has set an excellent example for the Human Resource Outsourcing plan). If the problem is that there are conflicts of interests among committees, I would consult other Board members to determine the priority and try to ensure at least the essential part of the project is not stagnated, while seeking if there are alternative solutions to meet the needs of committees.

In terms of communications, I think it’s possible to increase the portion of updates on Board work in the monthly external newsletters. Another way to facilitate communication is to provide updates in public Board meetings. I think Board can take the opportunity to exchange feedback between the OTW and its members and users. I hope that future Board meetings could be better moderated by non-Board volunteers and prepared in advance so as to improve efficiency.

What are your thoughts on PAC and how to improve things there in response to the current controversy?

As a PAC volunteer, I think the committee does have a number of serious issues that need to be addressed. Due to the limited number of volunteers and the comparatively large ticket (user complaint) amount, we are constantly faced with a backlog of unresolved tickets. The situation has caused volunteers to feel frustrated and burned out, and for some to leave the committee. I am very sorry to see my colleagues experiencing this every day. While what I suggest here by no means represents the entire committee, I think the following stuff might be helpful to address at least some of the issues.

As I have mentioned in my candidate platform (Question 4), I think it would be helpful to introduce administrative roles to the committee to help with miscellaneous tasks not directly involving processing tickets that volunteers are taking on, to relieve the burden of current volunteers. I also hope that the current Terms of Service (ToS) update process undertaken by Board and Legal can help PAC volunteers with certain types of tickets that might be hard to act on, giving the committee more liberty in decision making and improve the experience of volunteers and users alike. I also think providing mental health support and/or resources would be helpful for the committee. I understand that it can be a difficult and complicated process since we are volunteering online across different countries, but I hope with the new HR outsourcing project, we can reach the goal step by step.

From a broader perspective, I also think it is important for the OTW to develop a more coherent protocol to handle emergency situations, so that in case such a situation happens again in the future, volunteers would have a clearer expectation of what to follow and how to take action.

What further steps would you do to foster a welcoming and safe environment for users and fans? Many people find the current process for volunteering with the OTW to be unclear or difficult; how would you like to change the current recruitment process to bring in more – and more diverse – volunteers? What would you propose the Archive to do to protect/support volunteers?

In terms of fostering a welcoming environment, I would like to increase the degree of transparency of the OTW to the public by extending our methods of communication and improve the feedback process through means I have mentioned in my answer above regarding communicating new strategies to OTW members. I also believe that as a Board member, continuing the ToS update and asking for feedback from PAC can allow our volunteers to better counter harassment behaviours on the Archive.

Regarding the recruitment process, I think one of the reasons people find the process unclear might be that the OTW only opens recruitment for a certain number of days each round, and between two recruitment rounds, the “Volunteer” page would not show any position descriptions. So if a person misses the application window, they might not know what position descriptions are like. I would discuss with Volunteers and Recruiting Committee as well as Webs Committee to see if it is possible to list past recruitment posts on the page for potential applicants’ reference. I’m also thinking of creating a mailing list for recruitment notification, so that interested applicants can subscribe to the list in order to receive recruitment announcements in case they do not regularly visit the OTW/AO3 websites.

The Archive is one of OTW’s projects that is run by multiple committees, itself functioning as serving the user rather than protecting/supporting volunteers. If I were elected, I would propose that Board of Directors support Volunteers and Recruiting Committee in facilitating the HR outsourcing project, in order to set up a more coherent personnel conflict resolution process. I would also propose to review the procedure for dealing with volunteers violating the Code of Conduct, and last but not least, always be open to volunteer feedback and advice.

Features & Content Policy

Would you be in favor to expand further features of the Archive to improve user experience? If so, what features do you think Ao3 needs to add or improve? What AO3 features would you prioritize to help people avoid what they don’t want to see?



Yes, I agree that Archive of Our Own (AO3) can and should expand its features to improve user experience! As I have mentioned in my platform (Question 3, Paragraph 2), I think it would be very helpful for non-English speaking users if they could browse the website in their mother language. Personally, I would also like to have a list of my kudos records, but I understand that to add features would require a great amount of work for the Accessibility, Design and Technology (AD&T) volunteers, and there are similar workarounds to these feature requests. For example, there are unofficial tools that allow users to see if they have opened or kudosed a certain work in search results. The “Unofficial Browser Tools” section in AO3 Frequently Asked Questions is a great place to find resources to satisfy one’s need for features that are not available on the Archive yet!

As for features to help people avoid certain contents, I think the most direct way to do so is to check off the Archive warnings if they do not wish to see one or more categories under current warnings. AO3’s Terms of Service (ToS) requires creators to tag their works with appropriate Archive warnings (see ToS IV.K. and FAQ). If a user believes a work lacks sufficient warning, they can contact Policy and Abuse Committee (PAC) by submitting the contact form (temporarily closed as of 13 July 2023 due to DDoS attack). If what they wish to avoid is not included in Archive warnings, they can use Additional Tags to filter out contents. There are also unofficial tools such as AO3 Saved Filters and AO3 Savior so that users don’t have to enter the same search filter every time.

Do you support adding additional mandatory archive warnings (for example, warnings for incest and slavery), and do you think this is feasible?

I think whether to add additional Archive warnings or not and the feasibility of doing so depends on the specific warning proposed. According to the ToS, if a user reports a work to have insufficient Archive warning, PAC is obliged to investigate and determine whether said work contains contents relevant to the Archive warning or not. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that any new Archive warnings added to AO3 are very clear and can be investigated and lead to reasonably consistent conclusions each time. In the examples given, I don’t think “Incest” has an easy standard if it is added to Archive warning. The definition for incest is different in different time and cultures. In China, marriage between cousins was not considered as incest in the past, however it is generally believed to be incest now. If there’s a work where 2 cousins get married is set in Ancient China, should the creator be asked to add “Incest” warning?

Another important factor to consider for adding Archive warnings is that the proposed content should be viewed as something that readers need to know in advance in most cultures. Again, taking “Incest” as an example: while some English-speaking fandoms might consider it as a problematic trope, incest (especially sibling incest) can sometimes be quite common in most East Asian fandoms as far as I’m aware. I understand the feeling that users might want to avoid seeing incest-related works and might not be satisfied with the existing tag filter, but adding it to the Archive warning list would feel like adding “Mafia AU” to the list for some East Asian fans. At the moment, I do not think it is feasible to add new Archive warnings; however, I am open to exploring alternative methods for addressing these issues.

What is your stance on AI scraping/learning from the Archive and AI produced works on OTW platforms?

Regarding AI scraping/learning, I believe and support that fan creators should reserve the right to decide if they want their works to be included in AI learning dataset. Currently, using AO3 works in AI training sets for learning purposes is not against U.S. laws. Our Legal Committee has also presented this stance to the U.S. Copyright Office. Meanwhile, if there are new technologies to protect the website from unwanted scraping, I would actively look into it and consult my colleague in Support and AD&T to see if they are feasible to implement.

Regarding AI-produced works, I don’t consider the content a violation of AO3 ToS. Due to policy-related reasons which I will elaborate in my answer to the question below, it is very likely that AI-produced works will be allowed and stay on the Archive if there is no significant development to the technology which alters the ethical and/or legal nature of AI-produced works.

While I don’t agree that companies such as OpenAI should use fanworks to train AI models without the creators’ consent, I also don’t think the person using the model should be responsible for it. It is also worthy to mention that AI models can be a useful tool for non-native speakers to beta their works in English, to translate their materials, and to communicate with other fans. Some users rely on AI models to generate a trope or offer writing suggestions, which makes their work only partly produced by AI and partly by their own effort. Banning AI-produced works might hinder the maximum inclusivity principle, as it may discourage creators who edit their works with spelling or grammar correcting tools from posting.

In your opinion, what would a sensible policy regarding ai-generated content on AO3 look like? How would you enforce this policy such that NO human fic writers are harmed in overzealous attempts to reign in ai-generated content, as seen on art platforms which attempted an ai ban? Do you think AI is something that PAC can accurately detect and regulate/restrict?

I would like to start my response by answering the last question: no, I don’t think PAC can accurately detect if a work is created by AI models. As far as I know, there is no AI detector that can tell if a content is AI-generated with 100% success rate. I also don’t believe that any person can determine whether a fanwork is created by AI. Even if a work is written in the tone of AI models and the creator claims that it is AI-generated, it is still possible that the person is trying to mimic AI’s writing style.

Therefore, I don’t agree that the Archive should ban AI-generated works, because there are no effective ways nor any reliable tools for PAC to enforce such policy. For the same reason, I also don’t think that it should be added as a new Archive warning, because mandatory warnings have to be enforceable as well. There has not been a canonical Additional tag for AI because Tag Wrangling Committee has paused No Fandom Freeform canonisation for several years due to various reasons such as tech limitations. The Committee is going to reopen discussions on the topic soon, and “Work Created with AI” is one of the top priorities on the list. After the canonical additional tag is created, users can more conveniently filter contents that they wish to avoid.

Since adding additional tags is completely voluntary for creators, it would also reduce the possibility of potential harassment. If a user witnesses a person harassing creators for posting AI-generated content on AO3, they can always report the ToS violation to PAC.

How do you feel about AO3’s principle of maximum inclusivity of fanworks? Are you willing to uphold AO3’s commitment to protecting content that many consider controversial or problematic? Where do you personally think the line should be drawn with respect to AI, racism, etc? What are the candidates thoughts on content currently being hosted on the site, including the Archive level Minor warning, and how it relates to the sites availability in various countries?

I think maximum inclusivity is one of the most fundamental principles of AO3 and OTW, and it is important for the OTW and AO3 to uphold this principle. I have upheld the commitment in my work in PAC as we often receive user reports of works containing controversial topics that do not violate AO3 ToS, and we would explain our principle and why such works can stay on the Archive to reporters. I am willing to expand said commitment to my future Board work if I am elected.

For my opinions on AI, please see my answers to the above two questions. Regarding racism and other controversial topics, I think the line should be drawn where the content is explicitly harassing other users, be it an individual or a group. Maximum inclusivity can only be sustained by mutual respect. It does not mean that AO3 tolerates harassment.

If the “Minor warning” in the question refers to the Underage warning, then I think these contents do have a place on AO3 just as other works. I understand that in some countries, consuming fictional content containing underage sex is illegal. However, it is not possible for the Archive to abide by laws and regulations in every country where our users live. The OTW is incorporated in the U.S., and only has to abide by U.S. laws. Neither of the countries where AO3 is banned has stated their reason for the ban was specifically due to Underage content hosted on the Archive. For users living in countries that prohibit consuming fictional explicit underage content, I recommend that they avoid clicking into works tagged with said warning. They could also use the unofficial tools mentioned above to save their search preferences.

What measures will you take to better protect creators from harassment on Ao3? Would you implement methods to protect creators from harassment in Bookmarks? Eg. Creators can set “disallow/hide comments or tags on public bookmarks or when a user changes their private bookmarks with notes to public”. Or options to delete or respond to bookmarks?

For general measures to protect creators on AO3, I think expanding the size of PAC would increase our efficiency in dealing with harassment reports, as we are currently understaffed: PAC have lost a number of volunteers after the CSEM attack in May 2022, and we had to postpone our recruitment plan due to the attack and other reasons. I also hope that the ToS update can give PAC clearer guidelines in determining harassing content, so that we can better support creators and other users.

I do agree that harassment in bookmarks is an issue that needs to be addressed! Unlike comments, creators cannot choose to disable or moderate bookmarks on their works. At the moment, creators only report bookmarks after the fact to prevent further harassment. Since there’s currently no way to report a bookmark directly, the creator could only do so by reporting the work itself or the harasser’s userpage. I think it would be more convenient for users to report bookmarks if there’s a way to report specific bookmarks.

Another solution in my personal opinion would be to extend the block function to bookmarks. This way, if the creator does not wish a certain user to leave public bookmarks on their works, they can choose to block said user, and all public bookmarks this user leaves on their works will become private bookmarks, stopping further possibilities of harassment. Extending the block function to bookmarks instead of giving creators the options to disable, delete or respond to bookmarks also prevents AO3 from reducing an important Archive function for readers.

Preserving fan culture is a OTW mission, but when preserving & recording history, how do you think say Fanlore can acknowledge, warn or prevent replicating of harassment & hate speech? In your volunteer experience, what resources are available for volunteers & users on what to do when encountering such cases?

I am not a Fanlore volunteer, and I do not use Fanlore frequently or edit content on the wiki, so I can only discuss it from my limited knowledge of the project and inputs from my colleagues. In terms of fannish history preservation and record, I think it is important to strive for accuracy and record all relevant narratives while upholding to standards of the least amount of harm toward fans, fanworks and fan communities. That being said, harassment and hate speech is not a part of the future for a fandom we would like to see, but I don’t think it is beneficial to combat them by erasing these histories from the wiki.

Fanlore volunteers introduced me to their Plural Point of View Policy, which acts as a guidance for editors to stay objective and inclusive. Anyone can register a Fanlore account and edit the wiki content, so if a person has concerns about a certain article, they’re welcome to offer their input and discuss with other editors in the article’s Talk page, or edit it directly. I think it would be helpful if Fanlore could develop certain labels for articles that contain harassment & hate speech materials to better warn readers of triggering content. However, I understand that deciding whether or not to adopt a new policy and the implementation process requires careful discussions, which would take time and effort of Fanlore volunteers and editors.

Fanlore volunteers suggested that the Talk page is a great place for editors to discuss their opinions on certain articles when there are controversial topics. Fanlore also has a Discord server for editors and volunteers to hang out and communicate. If there are any additional resources Fanlore would like to have, I would try my best to provide such resources if I am elected.

How important do you think it is to focus on making sure the AO3 software continues to be developed and improved so other people can set up their own archives with their own content and conduct policies?

While it would be nice to have ready-to-go AO3 software for other fans to set up their own Archive, there are limitations on feasibility. First of all, the complexity of the Archive code requires current volunteers to focus on maintaining the Archive itself rather than working on making the software more accessible to other archivists. AO3 is in beta, meaning that we’re still in the process of developing and testing features. If we are to provide a more accessible software package, I hope it will be the more stable, well-rounded version in the future.

That being said, AO3’s code is publicly available on Github, and if anyone wishes to set up their own archives using AO3’s code, they are free to do so at any time! I do want to point out that AD&T volunteers informed me that given the Archive’s complexity, using our code to build another archive might be more difficult than using an existing web content management system such as WordPress. Therefore, using the Archive’s code as the foundation may require the developer to be more equipped in IT, coding and web-building knowledge. Regardless, to my knowledge, there are at least two archivists who have used AO3’s code to build their own archives (I truly admire the efforts they have taken and the hours of work they have spent building their own archives using our code), and I would love to see this number grow!

Comment bots at AO3 are a growing problem. While some of the fixes for that are “better spamblockers,” would you be willing to promote something like OpenID to allow comments from people without AO3 accounts?

There has been high volumes of spam comments in the past several months indeed! But I do think that our spamblocker, Akismet, is doing a relatively good job in blocking spam comments. Generally, a certain spam pattern can be effectively blocked under a reasonable amount of time. We have also shared information about spam comments with our users on social media to avoid confusion. Currently, if a creator is worried about getting spam comments, the most effective way is to change the work setting to “Only registered users can comment”. Enabling comment moderation can also avoid having spam comments shown in the work’s comment section.

According to information provided by AD&T volunteers, AO3 used to allow users to log in using their OpenID accounts, but we stopped supporting it 8 years ago because only very few users chose to do so. I am not familiar with OpenID, but if registering an OpenID account only requires one email verification, then it might not be that difficult for spammers to mass-register OpenID accounts and then leave spam comments on AO3 even if we add OpenID as a requirement for leaving anonymous comments. I think one of the more effective ways to prevent spam is to enable reCAPTCHA, but as far as I’m aware it is not the most user friendly tool and is very likely to reduce site accessibility.

Fandom cultures can vary significantly. How would you best reflect the specific fandom’s expectations in tag canonization and synning? May I please know if you support speeding up the conversion of large and small non-canonical tags into Canonical ones? Canonical tags make it easier to include or exclude works from search.

In tag wrangling, each wrangler assigns specific fandoms of their choice to themself and takes care of the character, relationship and additional tags in their fandoms. Usually, the wrangler would choose fandoms they are familiar with and have general knowledge on the fandom’s practice and preference such as character name choices and usages of additional tags. In this case, they can canonise tags customised to the fandom’s needs in addition to following Wrangling Guidelines. If nobody wrangling a certain fandom is familiar with the fandom, they would still research the canon and the fanworks to see which format works best for users. If a user thinks a certain tag is not correctly formatted, they can always contact Support Committee to offer suggestions.

Currently, graduated wranglers are expected to wrangle tags in their fandoms at least once every two weeks and keep the tags under one month old. This is because different fandoms receive vastly different volumes of tags: some fandoms have thousands of incoming tags every week that require multiple wranglers checking the bin frequently, while smaller fandoms may only occasionally receive a couple of tags. Each wrangler also has their own pace for wrangling: some prefer to do a bunch of wrangling on the weekend, while some others tend to wrangle every day. I think the current timeframe standard for tag canonisation (one month) is a reasonable expectation on volunteers considering the variety in workload and workstyle. Again, if a user notices a tag that hasn’t been wrangled (attached to a fandom) for a prolonged period of time, they can contact Support.

No Fandom Freeform Canonical tags’ canonising process has been suspended as I mentioned above, but the discussion will resume soon and I hope new canonicals will help users better filter works in the future.

Recent Discussions

What’s the biggest problem currently facing the OTW? What is the priority for the Archive to do in general, and how would you see this happening?



As I mentioned in my platform (Question 3, Paragraph 1 and Question 4, Paragraph 2), I think the Organisation for Transformative Works (OTW) lacks effective communication, documentation, and project management. Without these tools, it can be hard to implement changes on a structural level if an organisation fails to facilitate open and constructive communication, record its decision-making process, or coordinate between committees as this structural inertia allows detrimental situations and outdated policies to fester.

To improve means of communication, I think it’s possible for committees to try to hold open house meetings to internal volunteers and answer potential questions (like some committees already do), so that volunteers can have a better understanding of what roles other committees play in the OTW. I also hope that Board can adjust the public meeting’s pace, so that they could share more information with members and users during the limited time.

In terms of documentation and project management, I have proposed that the OTW recruit administrative staff for committees and Board, and the staff can focus on documenting, assigning tasks to volunteers (for some committees), and monitoring project progress. In this case, volunteers can focus more on their non-admin work and reduce burnout of Committee Chairs and other supervisory positions. I also think that if there were staff dedicated to documentation, then some of our current documentations could have been more up-to-date and volunteer-friendly. While I cannot speak for other volunteers, I personally find myself much more efficient when there are external reminders for my long term tasks and could discuss with me when I encounter roadblocks, where admin staff could turn out to be helpful in long term project management.

Would you be in favor of creating a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee? Why or why not?

I think Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is part of the essential volunteer experience, and ensuring that volunteers are not abused by any forms of discrimination is one of the responsibilities of our Volunteers and Recruiting Committee. I have learned that the committee is seeking to expand its ability to resolve personal conflict by hiring an external Human Resource (HR) firm, and while I am by no means an expert on diversity and inclusion studies or HR, I think it would be sensible to consult the HR firm’s opinion on how the OTW should handle this issue before we begin the process of hiring aDEI consultant. If both Volunteers and Recruiting Committee and the HR firm believe that it would be a good idea to create a new committee focusing on DEI issues, then I would certainly be willing to take it into consideration and propose it to the DEI consultant for their suggestions.

Personally, I think it’s more feasible to create a DEI subcommittee under Volunteers and Recruiting, but I understand that members and volunteers might have different opinions on the matter, and I will of course seek advice from other Board members and volunteers with more expertise on US non-profit management.

The cost of becoming a member/voting in elections is prohibitive for many users, particularly disabled, international and POC ones. Do you have any ideas about how this could be improved to make the otw more inclusive and less privileged?

As far as I know, I don’t think the OTW donation form is incompatible with screen readers. During last week’s DDoS attack, I learned that CAPTCHA might not be accessible to some browsers or devices. While I am not familiar with Cividesk (the current donation platform utilised by Development and Membership Committee), I am happy to consult with the committee regarding if the OTW can use another form of verification for the donation form to make it more accessible to potential members. If there are any other concerns about disability access that I haven’t thought of, members and users are always welcomed to contact Development and Membership Committee using their Contact Form.

Currently, the form accepts donations from Credit Cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover), PayPal and by check for US residents. I do think that the current payment range covers most of the payment methods in many countries as long as an individual has a bank account, but iI would be more than happy to discuss the feasibility of adding other payment methods with the Finance Committee and the Development and Membership Committee to increase access.

I’m not sure how being a person of colour (POC) might affect one’s ability to become an OTW member, but if the question is related to personal income, then I think it’s possible to reconsider the minimum donation threshold to become an OTW member. The OTW is not in as dire need of funds as we were 15 years ago, and we have been looking for means to expand our membership base. I am open to consulting the Finance Committee’s opinion on our financial status and donation patterns as well as on any potential legal implications.

What challenges do you see presented to the OTW by its growing international userbase and volunteer pool, and how do you plan to address them? English dominance within OTW has been a longstanding topic of discussion. What actions have you taken, or do you plan to take in the future, to make OTW a more welcoming and accessible space for volunteers and users who do not speak English as their primary language?

I think one of the challenges for our international user base is the language barrier. Since the interface for AO3 and Fanlore is English-only, sometimes it can be difficult for fans whose first language is not English to navigate the websites. As I have proposed in my platform (Question 3, Paragraph 2), I think it would be useful for international users if we could support other languages for AO3. My fellow candidate, Fanlore & Open Doors volunteer Anh, also proposed localisation of Fanlore and TWC in her platform (Question 3), which I believe would be very meaningful for documenting international fandom culture and fannish history.

As for the volunteer pool, I know from my own experience that there are oftentimes misunderstandings between volunteers from different cultural backgrounds, which may negatively impact relationship building and hinder work efficiency. I think it is important for all volunteers, but for Chairs and Board members especially, to be aware that not all of us come from the same cultural context so that we can approach miscommunications with grace. We have to remain open to suggestions, questions, and advice in order to facilitate an organisational environment that respects our differences. This is the kind of internal cultural change I would like to foster.

In the past, I have coordinated with other volunteers as the Weibo co-moderator to design an external script for AO3 that translates the “Post New Work” page to Chinese, making it more convenient for Chinese creators to easily post their works, which was well received after we advertised it on Weibo. This is also the inspiration for my suggestion that in the future, userscripts or alternate-language site skins could be temporary solutions for non-English speakers before AD&T Committee is able to dedicate the necessary time and effort to developing robust non-English interfaces.

Recently, we’ve seen disagreements about how the Legal team handled various problems. How will you clarify to everyone what Legal’s role is, and make sure their actions are within that scope and are documented so their decisions can be reviewed?

OTW’s Legal Committee introduces their project, Legal Advocacy, on their project site, which includes some of the major activities of the committee. Outside the project, the committee also provides miscellaneous legal assistance to other OTW committees.

When the committee encounters legal matters outside of copyright law, as far as I know of, there have been past cases where the committee seeked assistance from external agencies. I think it’s definitely necessary to seek help from outside when none of the Legal Committee volunteers are capable of handling a situation where their own professional knowledge is not enough to solve the problem. I do not know the frequency of seeking external legal assistance, but if it is on a frequent basis indeed, it might also be worth considering recruiting new members to the committee outside the field of copyright law. I also believe that it is Board’s responsibility to assist the Legal Committee where possible and evaluate their decisions to ensure that they are not acting against the interest and wellbeing of the OTW or its volunteers and users.

As for documenting the committee’s actions, I agree that it would be helpful for org-wide transparency if the Legal Committee had more documentation for other volunteers to learn about their activities. I understand that the committee members might be preoccupied with other tasks and cannot focus on documentation. I think this is where administrative staff would be helpful for committees to keep up-to-date on documentation.

Do you believe there should be any restrictions on people with a history of harassment running for Board? Do you believe there should be any restrictions on people with a history of harassment becoming committee chairs?

I don’t think people with a history of harassment should be prohibited from undertaking or running for managerial positions such as Board of Directors and Committee Chairs in the OTW. This is because I believe that people can always change for the better, and if someone showed that they have learned from their past behaviour and corrected their actions, then having a history of harassment does not necessarily mean that this person will harass other volunteers again in the future.

I do think what’s more important than considering any restrictions on Board Elections or Chair assignments is to make sure that volunteers that harass others and thus violate the OTW Code of Conduct (“Work Environment” section) are explicitly informed by Volunteers and Recruitment Committee (and potentially an external HR firm in the future) that their behaviour is not tolerated in the OTW, and they must refrain from it in the future. If they repeat this kind of behaviour, they will then have to face whatever consequences the internal policy specifies.

While I understand that the Board of Directors holds a special legal status under U.S. Corporate Law and that it can be contentious to enforce internal policy with regards to Board members when it might lead to leaving their volunteer position, I nevertheless believe that it is of great importance to extend the internal policy to Board members, and update the bylaws if necessary. This is because Board members should face the same consequences as other volunteers if they harass others in the OTW, and it’s not reasonable for them to have any privilege on this matter.

A long-standing issue in the OTW is that chairs often prefer to avoid conflict and never discipline their volunteers. Do you have any ideas for how to solve this issue?

I don’t know the situation in other committees, but from my personal experience, I don’t feel that my Committee Chairs would decide not to communicate with volunteers simply because they wish to avoid conflict. If this kind of phenomenon does exist and I am elected to Board, then I think I would reach out to Committee Chairs to ask if there is any support I can provide them with. The upcoming HR Outsourcing project will also address personnel conflict issues, and I am more than willing to work with the HR firm and Volunteers and Recruiting Committee to update our conflict resolution policy to try to prevent this scenario from happening in the future.

What specific actions would you have the Board take to 1) fulfill its commitments made in 2020 to reduce racism on AO3 and across the OTW and 2) continue to expand anti-racist efforts in the OTW? How will you support Black fans, Indigenous fans, and fans of color in feeling welcome on the Archive of Our Own and in avoiding harassment? How do you feel about #EndRacismInTheOTW?

I will ensure that Board continues the Terms of Service review process and grants the Policy and Abuse Committee (PAC) more power in cases related to racial harassment. I will also work with PAC chairs to provide assistance with improving admin tools for ticket investigation. I look forward to supporting AD&T to improve AO3 Collection Search and Filter features as well.

I will also continue the external DEI consultant project and work with the consultant for both short and long term means to reduce racism. Growing up as a member of ethnic minority group in China and having studied in higher education institutions outside mainland China, I understand and have experienced that racism and discrimination can take various forms in different cultures, and the effort of a single consultant (or consulting firm), however effective, is always limited. I think it is important for the us to realise that combating racism is going to be a long term effort and there will always be new problems emerging, but I will try my best to utilise my knowledge and experience to provide support to volunteers of minority groups – this is the very first reason that made me consider running for Board, after all.

I really appreciate that #EndOTWRacism movement raised many fans’ awareness of the problem of racism on AO3 and in the OTW, and through their persistent effort reminded us of the promise OTW leadership made to the public back in 2020. I am also very glad to see that many fans grew their interest in Board Elections and decided to join OTW membership and cast their votes this year through the #VotetoEndOTWRacism campaign! I saw in their Tumblr post that they are collecting questions for the upcoming candidate chats, and I’m looking forward to exchanging my thoughts.

In my experience, problems in institutions can often be traced back to pockets of stagnation, where people who are uninterested in general change have become calcified in a given organization. How would you approach trying to address that kind of organizational stagnation?

Having worked in the OTW for several years, I think most if not all of the volunteers I know, whether they are tag wranglers, Committee Chairs, or Board members, do genuinely hope that the OTW can become a better organisation and we can change for the better. In my opinion, there are several factors that have kept us from actually going for the changes.

Firstly, volunteers responsible for making a certain decision or involved in the discussion might hold different opinions with regards to future paths the OTW is to take, and the difference may cause the issue to be left undecided. To avoid this type of stagnation, I think it would be helpful to set up more open means of communication to encourage more volunteers’ input on the matter if applicable. Perhaps with more volunteers to contribute to the discussion, we could find new common ground and ideas. Introducing admin staff to keep track of discussions and tasks can also help prevent issues left unresolved for a prolonged period of time.

Another factor that I think is relevant to some of the problems the OTW faces is volunteer burnout. This is particularly important for Board members and Committee Chairs, who have to deal with a large amount of administrative work and personnel conflicts in their committees. Sometimes, the chair of a committee holds several positions, even other chair roles or Board duty in the OTW, making them more susceptible to burnout, especially when there’s a sudden increase in their already significant workload. Having administrative staff share the burden of volunteers can be a way to reduce the current time commitment for miscellaneous tasks of volunteers and allow them to focus on other duties that require their skills and expertise.

Board Work II

What’s the main type of Board work you want to do, concretely?



Before I begin my answer, I want to apologise for spending less than ideal time on this set of Q&A responses. I was caught up between health and family issues, which took up the time I originally planned for doing research and outreach.

It’s hard to say what’s the main type of work I want to do, because there are so many! Aside from routine work for Board such as approving financial spendings, I want to increase transparency by exploring more forms of communication both internally with volunteers and externally with members and users. I want to help with the transition of the Organisation for Transformative Works (OTW) into a more professional organisation by implementing structural adjustments such as hiring external staff for Human Resources (HR). I want to establish clearer procedures for holding Board members and Committee Chairs accountable for potential misconduct.

Is the current Board’s collective capacity sufficient? Their multi-year delay to update on a priority issue indicates otherwise. Would you support adding seats or administrative staff to the board? What would allow individual directors contribute more (and more effectively) to the organization?

I think the current Board is facing a tremendous workload compared to the relatively small number of volunteers available. At the beginning of the term for OTW Board 2022, there were 7 volunteers serving on Board. With 2 of them resigning as of May 2023, there are only 5 volunteers remaining at the time of this writing. With some of the 5 volunteers currently on hiatus and some others experiencing real life hardships, I imagine it must be very stressful for current Board members, especially as there have recently been many controversial issues that need the Board to address them.

In an ideal world, having more Board members would of course be nice. In practice, the Elections Committee has spent great effort in finding and supporting candidates to run for Board Elections each year so that the current number of seats can be filled, and I think this would only be harder if we expand the number of Board seats. I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t do this, but pointing out a practical issue that needs to be solved should the decision be made.

As I have suggested in my previous platform answers and Q&A sets, I support introducing administrative roles to OTW Committees, and this includes Board as well. I hope by sharing some of the admin burden of the duties Board members currently shoulder, the admin staff can assist Board in better executing projects and allow Board members to be more focused on other significant tasks.

While I don’t know the details of Board workflow, I think an open and friendly environment that allows discussions to happen rationally without personal grudges, ideas to be raised without fear of retaliation, and for volunteers to feel welcomed and supported is the utmost priority for a positive work environment.

The OTW has a history of distrusting its Board of Directors (most notably demonstrated in the 2015 elections). What steps do you think the Board could take to regain trust, not just with internal volunteers, but also with the broader community of fandom?

I think some of the distrust has grown from lack of transparency and supervision. Therefore, Board could try opening up more transparent communication with both volunteers and members and users in general. This may be done by means such as holding more frequent, high efficiency meetings or improving the speed of responding to inquiries (internally and externally) by recruiting administrative staff.

As a Board member, would you support contracting external subject matter experts to perform an institutional audit, including potentially developing a revamped org chart, with the goal of strengthening internal efficiency and organizational resilience? If not, how would you pursue those goals?

I think it is definitely worth considering! A lot of the problems we are facing now originate from structural dysfunction, and I will discuss with other Board members (and consult non-Board volunteers for their input) if an external audit would be an appropriate solution for the OTW. If any Board members or volunteers offer a better alternative, I would be open to that too. In the meantime, I think it’s also important to support documentation for committees, which would help the external expert to have a better understanding of the organisation.

Serving on the Board of Directors means you will have to work with all committee chairs. How do you plan to handle situations where your priorities do not align with the priorities of committee chairs?

Please allow me to quote my answer from Board Work I:

If the problem is that there are conflicts of interests among committees, I would consult other Board members to determine the priority and try to ensure at least the essential part of the project is not stagnated, while seeking if there are alternative solutions to meet the needs of committees.

Should interpersonal conflict arise, I can utilise the techniques I am going to mention in my answer to the next question.

How would you handle conflict – with volunteers, users, other board members, the OTW’s aims? Are you good at conflict resolution? Especially understanding people’s viewpoints in a text discussion, and explaining and standing up for your own without making stuff blow up. What strategies do you use in those situations?

As English is not my first language, I am always cautious about my comprehension of other people’s messages and try to avoid making assumptions. I have also developed the ability to understand messages in different contexts from my three and a half years of Weibo moderating experience, both of which I think would be helpful in conflict resolution. Additionally, while my work in the Policy and Abuse Committee (PAC) is not exactly conflict resolution, it does involve explaining principles to users who may be frustrated, confused, or upset.

In terms of conflict with other volunteers, I would temporarily stop engaging further in conversations if one of us becomes too heated or hostile, because that usually does no good to problem solving. Instead I would take a step back to cool down and think with an open mindset before I continue to express my point of view and see where there is common ground for both parties.

Considering the evidence that has been brought to light of past board misconduct, if elected, what would you do to make sure such egregious misuse of power cannot be repeated?

I want to establish a more coherent system for Board member’s accountability through means such as extending the effect of Constructive Corrective Action Procedure (CCAP, a procedure for dealing with OTW Code of Conduct violations) to Board members. It will require advice from legal expertise and potentially changing the OTW bylaws if necessary, but I think it’s a necessary step towards a more healthy work environment and regaining trust from both internal volunteers and members.

I also want to review the CCAP to see if it can be updated to meet the needs of an organisation much larger and diverse than it was at the time it was drafted, and consult HR on how to ensure each Committee’s criteria for issuing CCAP is consistent.

What would you do to improve transparency of the Board’s actions and processes so that fans outside the org know what the OTW is doing? Board meetings are an hour long, held just four times a year, and frequently end without sufficient time to answer questions. Would you be in favor of holding meetings more frequently, making them longer, or holding special Town Hall type sessions where the focus is on answering questions?

Quoting my answer for the 3rd question above:

Board could try opening up more transparent communication with both volunteers and members and users in general. This may be done by means such as holding more frequent, high efficiency meetings or improving the speed of responding to inquiries (internally and externally) by recruiting administrative staff.

Yes, I would discuss with other Board members regarding the possibility of holding more frequent meetings. One problem for this year’s Board is that we are now going to have Board members living in Asia, so we might have to coordinate another usual meeting time because of time zones (in past years, Board meetings have been at 3/4 am for me).

How to you plan to improve internal org communications so that every volunteer has a chance to be heard, rather than just the loudest voices? For example, do you have plans to do surveys or focus groups of among volunteers?

Some of our committees hold open-house discussions in their public work channel periodically, which I think would be a good way for Board to facilitate more open communication between Board members and non-Board volunteers. For volunteers that prefer to hold conversations in private, personally I would be open to scheduling DM chats (or group DMs if they prefer to communicate with multiple Board members in the DM). I think surveys and focus groups are also nice ways to facilitate communication, and should we adopt these methods I would try my best to design surveys/focus group questions that will give useful feedback, and consult relevant expertise as I do so.

Name another candidate you are looking forward to working with and describe how you believe your skills or experiences will complement each other.

This is so hard to choose because all the other candidates are so capable and passionate, and I would gladly work with all of them! That given, if I have to name one fellow candidate, I’m really looking forward to working with Anh: I have been in awe of how much effort they have put into their platform and Q&A sets, their genuineness towards members and users’ concerns as well as volunteers’ thoughts and opinions, and how they could address them in clear, eloquent language. I believe their documentation skill as a Fanlore volunteer and past experience modding fannish archives are also invaluable to Board.

Candidate Q&A Chat

First up, we have questions submitted in the open Q&A question submission period for specific candidates:

For Zixin, in the past you’ve quit work channels mid-discussion because you disagreed with people. You have shared screenshots of Weibo user conversations in the Chinese chat for advice. Do you believe you would engage in this type of behavior again in the future?

[This question has received some controversy; see here]

Zixin: Thank you for your question! I think there may be some misunderstandings regarding the events you described in your question, and I hope my explanation can alleviate your concerns:

You’ve quit work channels mid-discussion because you disagreed with people.

I don’t remember quitting more than one work channel mid-discussion, and the only occasion I recall took place in a locked channel consisting of only Board Directors, Committee Chairs, Weibo moderators, and a few other relevant volunteers, so I assumed that any proceedings in that channel would be confidential and therefore not shared with other volunteers or the general public according to the Code of Conduct. But since the question is likely raised by a Board Director/Committee Chair who does not feel asking this in public violates OTW’s confidentiality policy, I can try to briefly explain it from my perspective without getting into details of the event. My apologies in advance if my answer causes any volunteers to feel uncomfortable about internal information being shared with the public! This is most certainly not my intention.

At the time of the incident in question, the other Weibo moderator and I had been working under great pressure for almost a week, while facing discriminatory comments in the channel. When yet another request of mine was turned down, I felt that the prejudice and hostility in that channel made it impossible for me to keep working with dignity, so I apologised to the person who turned down my request and left the channel. To be honest, remembering that hostility and discrimination still upsets me even now as I compose this answer and share it here. In the years since the incident, I have had to force myself to gather the courage to open that channel every time I need to discuss relevant OTW business with org leadership. My experience during that week is also the very incentive that prompted me to run for Board election: if the Board fails to respect minority volunteers and protect them against internal racist attacks, then I will stand up as a Board member when this happens again. I don’t want any other volunteer to feel the pain and humiliation that I went through.

A few days after the incident, another chair very kindly added me back to the work channel, and upon returning I also communicated with the first volunteer in private and expressed my regrets to them again personally. I am very sorry if it’s still negatively affecting you or anyone else emotionally. Please feel free to reach me via DM at any time.

You have shared screenshots of Weibo user conversations in the Chinese chat for advice.

Before I clarify my past behaviour, to provide context for non-OTW volunteers, there are various social channels for volunteers to interact outside work channels on our communication software. One of these channels is created by Chinese-speaking volunteers to chat in our mother language, hence it’s being referred to in the question as the Chinese chat. I have double checked with Elections Committee volunteers to ensure that this piece of information can be shared with the public.

Yes, I have shared screenshots I took of the Weibo app with the Chinese chat channel in the past, but from what I recall, the screenshots I shared with the Chinese chat relevant to the OTW Weibo account were comments and reposts under OTW News updates that we posted to the account. While there are no individual links to Weibo comments or reposts (which is why I usually share them by screenshots since it’s more convenient than pointing to a post and describing the comment), these comments can be viewed by anyone visiting the link to the post, with or without a Weibo account. I still don’t think sharing those public comments infringed on the privacy of the Weibo users who made those comments, if that is what your concern is about. I don’t know (and don’t want to assume) if you are the same person who brought this matter to the former Communications Committee Chairs a few years ago, but our ex-Chairs did seriously talk to my co-mod and me about the importance of not sharing private information about users in social channels after it was brought up to them by another volunteer. I have since deleted all files that contained public comments or reposts related to the OTW Weibo account in the Chinese chat, and I have not shared similar screenshots of comments since then. If you still have any concerns about the way I discuss my work in Communications or other committees with other volunteers in Chinese chat or other channels, you are more than welcome to contact me or my Committee Chair(s) at any time!

Having explained the incidents in the question, I’m coming back to the initial question: whether I believe I would engage in this type of behaviour in the future. If I were given the chance to time travel back to the conversation again, I think I would temporarily mute the channel or the chat software in order to disengage and cool down, rather than leaving a locked channel that I could not re-enter on my own. I would also be more cautious about sharing information about users with other volunteers, even if that information is publicly available. I’m sorry for the long response, but I hope this answers your question.

Now this question is for all candidates: what's something you've done in the org that you're proud of?

Zixin: I joined the OTW first as a part of the Chinese Tag Wrangling class, then as a Chinese-speaking volunteer in Policy and Abuse Committee. I am happy that my work in these two committees as well as in moderating the OTW Weibo account helps Chinese-speaking users better curate their experience on the Archive, and expand their understanding on OTW projects!

Thank you for your answers! The next question is also for all candidates: crisis communication seems to be a major pain point right now, with transparency being on many of your ballots. Do you feel adequately prepared for this style of communication?

Zixin: Yes, I am willing to improve crisis communication both within the OTW and between the OTW and the public. I understand that having to be swift in responding to crisis situation can be stressful. But having modded a social media account with more than 290k followers for 3.5 years, I have developed the ability to adjust to pressure within a short timeframe and try my best to be responsive and transparent to users, which I think would be helpful should similar situations occurs during my Board work.

I also think it would be useful to set up clearer internal guidelines on crisis resolution (including communication policy), and make it accessible to all volunteers and shared with them as a part of the induction process, so that volunteers can be better prepared when a crisis arise.

Question for Zixin Z: You have years of experience on four different committees, including working as a mod of the OTW Weibo account and as a PAC volunteer. What unique insights does this depth and breadth of volunteering allow you to bring to the Board?

Zixin: I think my volunteering experience allows me to interact with many committees, which is beneficial to working on Board because it's the Board Directors' duty to support each committee's work. Different committees, which will be needed in Board work because when issues affect multiple committees, it will be important for me to balance everyone's various workflows and priorities.

My work in PAC and Comms interacts with users directly, so it gives me the opportunity to understand what users' concerns are and their expectations for the org. My work in the 2 AO3 committees (tag wrangling and PAC) allows me to learn how the Archive - one of our biggest project - is run by the volunteers behind the scenes, so I can help the Archive going forward both from a user's perspective and from volunteer's perspective. My past work in Open Doors also allows me to better understand workflows in different committees, which would be beneficial to Board work as well.

The next question is for all candidates:
How would you improve disciplinary practices to ensure they are working to prevent discrimination not reinforce it?

Zixin: I think it is important to set up a clear standard for disciplinary practices across committees within the OTW, so that volunteers have the same expectation for behavioral standard even if they are from different committees (aside from special committee requirement, e.g. PAC has a stricter rule regarding confidentiality compared with other committees I have worked in).

It's also important to ensure that the party issuing the disciplinary action is neutral in judging individual cases, to avoid potentialities of retaliation. I think we can consult the external HR service regarding how to best reflect this in our policy.

Last but not least, when a volunteer feels that the disciplinary practice they received is biased, there should be an accessible venue (made widely known to all volunteers) for relevant complaints or appeal, which should be resolved in a timely manner.

Thank you for your answers!
We again have a question for all of you here:
There is a perennial problem with volunteer burnout, retention, and recruitment across many committees of the OTW. What steps, if any, do you think board can take to aid committees with ensuring that volunteers are supported appropriately?

Zixin: I think Board could proactively reach out to committees and volunteers, to listen to their needs and what support they would like to have (e.g. improve work tools, expanding committee size, etc.). Board could also set up venues for volunteer feedback on how Board could aid them in their volunteering experience, so that it would be easier for voices to be heard, and therefore hopefully mitigate some of the causes of burnout.

Via this type of communication, Board members can also be more familiar with the daily work of committees we ourselves are not in, and thus be more empathetic with volunteers and support them when needed.

The next question is for all candidates:
Right now, there's no time or task tracking in most committees, and because of that, it's hard to figure out how much work it takes to run the OTW. How would you approach getting useful info about hours spent on various projects/committees?

Zixin: I agree that it's important to have a more accurate understanding of volunteers' time commitments in order to allow our projects to develop sustainably! While the OTW does not require volunteers to track the number of hours they spend on volunteering, most (if not all) positions have a suggested number of hours per week in their position description (available when the position is open to recruitment) as an indicator of the amount of time a volunteer is expected to be devoted to.

I think it would be useful if during the documentation review and update process, the suggested hour section can also be reviewed to reflect the position's actual workload recently. Besides, some committees do have different ways of tracking volunteer works instead of number of hours, and it would be in the interest of the committee to adopt whichever methods they found most useful. Of course, I think Board should include this as a part of our inquiry with the external HR as well!

Here's our first question of the chat: It's become apparent that there are missing checks and balances within the OTW to hold those in leadership positions accountable for misconduct. Should you be elected, what first steps would you take to cover these gaps?

Zixin: I think the first step I would like to take is to review the Constructive Corrective Action Procedure (CCAP, a procedure for dealing with OTW Code of Conduct violations) to extend its effect to Board Directors, as I have explained in my Board Work II Q&A: https://elections.transformativeworks.org/zixin-zs-2023-qa-board-work-ii/

I also think it is important to ensure that the party responsible for disciplinary practices is neutral and would not stand against the interest of non-leadership volunteers. See my answer from the first live chat for details: [transcript]

I am also looking forward to working with OTW Committee Chairs and project leads on improving leadership accountability, as I believe this is a subject they are also dedicated to!

And for Zixin: How does your experience managing the Weibo account influence your views on OTW communication strategies?

Zixin: First, I want to point out that OTW's Weibo account is a bit different from other social media platforms as it is currently the only non-English channel we have. Therefore, the Weibo moderation team does relatively more outreach than other social media moderators, e.g. we can answer user questions about AO3 and other OTW projects in comments and DM, or translate and post AO3 status updates, according to the current policy of the committee. We would also post most news announcements in its full translation, as Weibo allows a higher word count and it improves accessibility for Chinese users who may not have access to our websites.

I think what I gained from modding Weibo is that the OTW should put our users and members' need as a priority, and try to be as transparent as we can as a part of our responsibility. It is also important to open up more accessible channels for outreach and communication for both English and non-English speaking fans to engage with OTW activities, as I have seen many users (and other committees) benefited from having a channel to contact us in a way that is more accessible to them!

Thank you! Our next question is for all candidates. One of the issues that the OTW has historically faced is a lack of people willing to step into leadership roles such as Chairs and Board. Do you have any thoughts about how to either encourage more people to take on those roles or make those roles less scary to volunteer for?

Zixin: I definitely agree that it's an issue that the OTW needs to solve! I think one way to reduce burnout (and thus makes these roles less scary) is to reduce the amount of work Board and Chairs have to do, by introducing admin staff to committees and Board. This can also allow leaders to focus more on non-time-sensitive tasks that need attention.

Another way is to recruit more chair-track volunteers and chair assistants, so that volunteers could have the opportunity to learn how chairing a committee is like, and get familiar with the process if they are interested in such position. It can also help prevent emergency situations where a committee's chairs suddenly have to leave the org and there are no volunteers prepared to take up their place.

Thank you for all of your answers! Our next question is about siloing.
OTW volunteers often point to "silo'ing" (aka a relative isolation between one another) of the org's committees as a pervasive issue. What do you think could be done to counteract this, improve communication and relations between parts of the OTW, or the general knowledge of how the various committees and projects work?

Zixin: As I have mentioned in my Board Work II Q&A (https://elections.transformativeworks.org/zixin-zs-2023-qa-board-work-ii/), I think holding open-house discussions about committees' work would be a good way to encourage inter-committee communication!

It would also be nice if the OTW-wide induction process could include more information (e.g. composing wiki pages for new volunteers, introducing them to committees' public channels and how their committee's work relates with other committees) on each committee's work (or provide an optional training module for those interested), so that volunteers can have the chance to be introduced to the wider org outside their committee.

Thank you for your answers! Our next question related to Board Director hiatuses. How would you (all) come up with a hiatus procedure for board members that balances their personal needs with their responsibilities to voters?

Zixin: I think it's definitely understandable for Board members to run into occasions where they have to prioritise their life outside the OTW, and therefore it's important to have a formal hiatus procedure for Board so that Directors can feel their duties are taken care of by their colleagues when they could not.

I think a standard for hiatus procedure should include the maximum allowed time period of hiatus (so that Board members wouldn't take an infinite hiatus and still take up a Board seat); change in quorum for Board so that members wouldn't be expected to return to org work while on hiatus; if the person taking the hiatus has a special role (President or Secretary) or other particular tasks, how that role or task should be transitioned to other Board members before the hiatus begins in the ideal case (unrelated to hiatus procedure, but it's also useful to have workflow documentation for the transition to be smoother or in case the person has to go on hiatus under an emergency).

Thanks you all! That was a tough question. On a lighter note, for our final question in this chat, a member of the audience channel would like to know, what's the most interesting or surprising thing you have learned about the org during this election campaign?

Zixin: When I composed my platform responses, I asked a few volunteers to beta read my draft. In the third question for my platform (https://elections.transformativeworks.org/zixin-z-s-bio-platforms/), I mentioned that I want to improve AO3's accessibility for non-English speakers. From my understanding, establishing a multi-language interface would take up a lot of effort, which is why I proposed developing external tools as an alternative to this. I was very surprised when one of my beta readers informed me that the process can actually be shortened significantly if we have paid staff for Accessibility, Design, & Technology (AD&T) Committee, which I imagined would take a decade with volunteer efforts.

This makes me further believe that, as the OTW has grown to a size significantly larger than when it's founded, it is important for us to transition into a more professional organisation to meet the increasing need of fans (not only in language support but many other aspects as well). I think it can also allow for a better environment for volunteering experience and avoid volunteer burnout!