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otw_news_feedEvery month in OTW Signal, we take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including issues related to legal matters, technology, academia, fannish history and preservation issues of fandom, fan culture, and transformative works.
The recent swell of traditionally published novels with roots in fanfiction has left many questioning the legality of commercialized fanworks. In The romance of fair use and fiction, Rutgers Law student and OTW documentation volunteer Ally Duong explains how copyright law protects such novelsâand why.
Fanfiction culture has proved fertile ground for artistic expression. Copyright law nurtures that creativity by protecting an authorâs particular expression rather than the underlying ideas. Humans have always retold familiar stories. Shakespeare borrowed plots. West Side Story reworked Romeo and Juliet. Countless romances owe something to Pride and Prejudice. Copyright does not demand that each new book emerge from a cultural vacuum. If it did, creativity would be stifled and expression severely limited on the grounds that practically no story is entirely original.
But Duong notes that while copyright law “leaves little doubt that such books are legal to sell”, legal tension between fanfiction and traditional publishing persists.
So is the case closed on traditionally publishing fanfiction? Probably not, because publishers are pushing the envelope, particularly with the latest trend of reworked Dramione fanfiction, beginning in 2025 and now in full swing. … Publishers are using marketing tactics that directly target Dramione fans, riding the coattails of the Harry Potter intellectual property, with some cover designs and promotional materials winking at the pairing through silver-haired men, curly-haired women, and so on.
Regardless of how courts might ultimately judge these blurred boundaries, Duong believes that what draws readers to these novels isn’t the Harry Potter franchise itself, but the enemies-to-lovers romance. They conclude that “reworked fanfiction, fueled by nerdy devotion, [has] rightfully found a place on bookshelves and in readers’ hearts.”
In another enemies-to-lovers story, Your Fancam Is Their Marketing Plan examines how fan edits are winning over corporate hearts.
Studios are no longer ignoring fandomânow, they pursue it. … Yet, this new relationship has blurred a boundary that once defined fandom culture. Fan works may slowly come to form the bedrock of the entertainment industryâs marketing and PR machine, but it once began as an independent, often oppositional, form of participation.
In the early days of the internet, increased visibility of fannish activities drew an adversarial corporate eye. Now, as short, punchy fan edits reach millions via TikTok and other social media platforms, the paradigm is shifting. “Fan editors are getting hired, fan edits are shaping marketing campaigns”âa courtship some fans experience as validation, violation, or both.
[Derek, an avid fan editor] also sees the growing acceptance of fandom as a positive change. “There can be a tendency for studio execs or critics to look down upon fans,” he says. “News flash, [fandom] is very human. This is how people engage with things.”
However, he worries about what happens when corporate interests become too embedded in fan spaces.
“You have studio-commissioned fan edits versus people who are still doing this for the love of the game,” he says. “It becomes less of a democratic system of people sharing what they like and more of an extension of the studio marketing.”
The article notes that “the OTW explicitly emerged in response to concerns about commercialization and corporate control over fan creativity.” And as fandom adapts to a changing landscape, the OTW remains steadfastly by fans, for fans.
As internet culture evolves, so does the OTW’s social media presenceâas of June, the OTW can be found on RedNote! Over the past two years, we’ve also added TikTok and Bluesky accounts.
In July, we said a fond farewell to our LiveJournal account. First established in May 2007âmaking it the oldest OTW social media accountâit will remain accessible as an archive of the news and discussion that was shared there.
For a full list of places we’re active, check out Where to Find Us!
We want your suggestions for the next OTW Signal post! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or news story you think we should know about, send us a link. We are looking for content in all languages! Submitting a link doesnât guarantee that it will be included in an OTW post, and inclusion of a link doesnât mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.
otw_news_feedEvery month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today’s post is with Magda (she/her), who volunteers as a TikTok Moderator.
I think Communications in general does an amazing job of making the OTW a bit more accessible to the average user â we get so many people commenting on our videos who are surprised that âoh, this is the official OTW TikTok!â Archive of Our Own (AO3) and other OTW projects have obviously gotten so much more popular in the last couple years, and a lot of people are interacting without even knowing there is an organisation fully staffed with dedicated volunteers making all of this happen behind the scenes. And I think itâs important for all of these new people in fandom to know what the OTW does and stands for, if only to realise that what theyâre joining is a community, not a content machine.
However small their contribution, every single OTW volunteer is making this great work happen, and as a Communications volunteer, Iâm super happy and proud to be able to spread the word. I think TikTok is a particularly interesting social media platform for the OTW to be on, since an average post will reach way more new viewers than followers â which obviously comes with its own challenges, but is really great for spreading the word and reaching wider audiences!
For me personally, itâs finding fleeting moments across the week to log on and beta scripts, sign off on videos, approve any comments, etc. This is usually five minutes I have while waiting for the train or for the water to boil for my coffee. It greatly depends on my schedule and state of mind how many of these moments I find in any given week, but I try to do as much as I can. And then on the weekend, Iâll have a longer work session where I sit down to complete the bigger tasks like writing scripts and editing videos.
Iâve been an AO3 user for a looooong time, but I wasnât super aware of all the work that goes on behind the scenes until last year. I was doing a project on fanbinding during my MA in journalism, and I got in touch with the OTW for comment on the legality of the whole thing. I got a lovely â and speedy! â response from Legal as well as the opportunity to interview Rebecca Tushnet. The thing about being a student journalist and trying to get people to agree to an interview is⊠not many people do. Everyone is extremely busy, I get it, but sometimes it can be discouraging. I loved my experience with the OTW, and Iâve always been a nerd when it comes to fan culture, so I made it a point from then on to make every single project about fandom in one way or another. My lecturers loved it (heavy sarcasm, although I think they learned to appreciate my passion after a whileâŠ). Iâm going to use this as an opportunity to shout out Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC) as well â an amazing resource for anyone doing any kind of research into fannish things.
Anyway, by the time recruitment opened for social media mod roles at the OTW, it felt like a natural progression for me, so applying wasnât even a question.
This is probably a boring and predictable answer, but juggling everything â a full time job, personal projects, and keeping up with not only my tasks as an OTW volunteer but also trying to keep up with everything else thatâs going on within the organisation. It is genuinely wild (and amazing) how much work goes on within the OTW.
I started writing fanfiction over a decade ago â before I even learned English, I would write cringy Violetta fanfic in Polish and post it on a personal fansite. I wrote fanfic quite regularly right up until I started university. These days, I donât get to do it as much â I only write when something genuinely moves me to a point where I just canât stop myself from writing something (like Project Hail Mary most recently â it wonât leave me alone, someone help).
These days, my main fannish creative outlet is FANMADE â an indie magazine about fan culture, which I run alongside some amazing writers and artists. I dreamed up FANMADE as my final uni project over a year ago, and I just couldnât let it go after graduation. Weâre still here a year later, the team has grown significantly, and itâs so much work, but itâs also so much fun. Shameless plug incoming (but I was told it was okay, haha) â I encourage anyone who is slightly unhinged about fan culture to check it out. Itâs very much a work in progress, but we are getting better with each issue â and above all, itâs a labour of love, as most things in fandom are.
Now that our volunteerâs said five things about what they do, itâs your turn to ask one more thing! Feel free to ask about their work in the comments. Or if you’d like, you can check out previous Five Things posts.
otw_news_feedAO3 Tag Wranglers continue to test processes for wrangling canonical additional tags (tags that appear in the auto-complete) which don’t belong to any particular fandom (also known as “No Fandom” tags). This post overviews some of these upcoming changes.
In this round of updates, we continued to adjust existing canonical “No Fandom” tags to add or remove new subtag and metatag relationships. We also continued to streamline creating new canonical tags, prioritizing more straightforward updates which would have less discussion compared to renaming current canonical tags or creating new canonical tags which touch on more complex topics. This method also reviews new tags on a regular basis, so check back on AO3 News for periodic “No Fandom” tag announcements.
None of these updates change the tags users have added to works. If a user-created tag is considered to have the same meaning as a new canonical, it will be made a synonym of one of these newly created canonical tags, and works with that user-created tag will appear when the canonical tag is selected.
In short, these changes only affect which tags appear in AO3’s auto-complete and filters. You can and should continue to tag your works however you prefer.
The following concepts have been made new canonical tags:
Additionally, we continued to adjust existing canonical tags to add or remove new subtag and metatag relationships, which help users find related content and filter in/out content as they browse works on AO3.
We recently held guideline discussions about how to handle the canonization of relationship tags associated with Original Nonbinary Character(s). You can view the changes made to wrangling guidelines in the section on Original Characters. As a result of this update, we have canonized and/or updated the following tags:
While some of these tags may be tags and concepts you’re intimately familiar with, others may be concepts you’ve never heard of before. Fortunately, our fellow OTW volunteers at Fanlore may be able to help! As you may have seen in the comments sections of previous posts, Fanlore is a fantastic resource for learning more about these common fandom concepts, and about the history and lore of fandom in general. For the curious, here’s a quick look at a few articles about concepts related to this month’s new canonical tags:
While we won’t be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future about tags we believe will most affect users. If you’re interested in the changes we’ll be making, you can continue to check AO3 News or follow us on Bluesky @wranglers.archiveofourown.org or Tumblr @ao3org for future announcements.
You can also read previous updates on “No Fandom” tags as well as other wrangling updates, linked below:
For more information about AO3’s tag system, check out our Tags FAQ.
In addition to providing technical help, AO3 Support also handles requests related to how tags are sorted and connected.â If you have questions about specific tags, which were first used over a month ago and are unrelated to any of the new canonical tags listed above, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post.
Please keep in mind that discussions about what tags to canonize and what format they should take are ongoing. As a result, not all related concepts will be canonized at the same time. This does not mean that related or similar concepts will not be canonized in the future or that we have chosen to canonize one specific concept in lieu of another, simply that we likely either haven’t gotten to that related concept yet or that it needs further discussion and will take a bit longer for us to canonize it as a result. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Lastly, we’re still working on implementing changes and connecting relevant user-created tags to these new canonicals, so it’ll be some time before these updates are complete. If you have questions about specific tags which should be connected to these new canonicals, please refrain from contacting Support about them until at least three months from now to give us adequate time to do so.
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guardian_wishlist sign-ups are open!! This is our second annual Guardian event, modelled after fandom_stocking. I love it!guardian_wishlist. Dreamwidth and you all.When a tube or pump bottle (eg, moisturiser) stops delivering
I throw it away
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I will not rest until I've extracted as much product as possible; knives may be involved
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ticky-box full of the big blue wobbly thing that mermaids live in
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ticky-box full of doodling in the margins
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yuletidemods posting in yuletide_adminotw_news_feedOn June 10, the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act. If passed, this bill would require social media sites and AI chatbot services to implement design features and safeguards to protect young users, including a duty to make certain content inaccessible, prevent children under the age of 16 from having social media accounts, and enforce age restrictions for accessing visual pornographic content.
While the OTW supports protecting children from online harms, we continue to strongly oppose age verification laws, which threaten users’ privacy and prevent open access to information. We also share concerns that blanket social media bans risk isolating young people from social and support networks they rely on.
Bill C-34 would establish a new Digital Safety Commission of Canada to set and enforce standards for online safety. The breadth and concentration of power granted to the Commission ââ which consists of just three to five appointed commissioners ââ raises significant concerns that the framework is vulnerable to political influence and regulatory scope creep, laying a foundation for internet censorship. Additionally, the burden of complying with the Commission’s extensive safety and reporting standards, along with fines of up to $10 million CAD or 3% of the serviceâs gross global revenue ââ whichever is greater ââ for violations, risks overwhelming the administrative and financial resources of non-commercial or volunteer-run sites.
Bill C-34 has a long way to go before it is passed into law. Without more details about how platforms will ultimately qualify as regulated services, it is hard to say whether this bill would apply to the Archive of Our Own (AO3); typically, AO3 and other non-commercial sites that do not rely on algorithmic recommendations do not count as “social media” under these types of proposals. Nevertheless, we encourage concerned fans who live in Canada to contact your local MP and urge them to protect access to noncommercial sites, such as AO3 and Wikipedia, and to support freedom of speech and privacy on the internet. We’ll be tracking this bill ââ and the other bills and proposed bills that have cropped up elsewhere ââ as it moves through the legislative process.
Is there a new law that might affect fans or fannish activities in your country? Send us a message about legislation you think we should know about. (Submitting a concern doesnât guarantee that it will be included in a future Spotlight on Legal Issues post.)
lovelokest - I've hit my grooveoglaf_comic_feed - Surprise Partyxkcd_feed - Launchpadotw_news_feed - OTW Signal, August 2026xkcd_feed - Tradeotw_news_feed - Five Things Magda Saidxkcd_feed - Highway Signsotw_news_feed - Updates to âNo Fandomâ Additional Tags, August 2026china_shop - Me-and-media updatecelli - I did the thing!oglaf_comic_feed - Calculuscelli - audiobook progressyuletidemods in yuletide_admin - Draft Schedule: Yuletide 2026xkcd_feed - xkcd store reopeningxkcd_feed - Archery Featcelli - ë°ê°ì”ëë€celli - BTS podfic recsxkcd_feed - Perseidsxkcd_feed - Particle Physics Equipmentotw_news_feed - Canadaâs Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act
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