Professional fandom
Apologies for the lack of backstory links, I'm typing this from a phone. I think that's the only comment I've made in what I'm linking other than maybe something about php and ruby.

Otw (organization for transformative works) elections are happening right now, and boy is it wanky.

It was going to be unfunny, as you might imagine when three of the six candidates mention volunteer burn out ( http://facetofcathy.dreamwidth.org/229943.html ) in their candidate statements and one candidate Naomi Novik, founding member says she hasn't noticed.

Well if she hasn't noticed it can't be true right?

http://renay.dreamwidth.org/236955.html

Oh. Oh dear.

Add in that Sanders the candidate of colour has kept her main fandom journal for elections, and has a similar platform to the others, is told that she is too angry and has her friends getting anon comments telling them to tell her to watch her tone.

Then shit blows up when they fuck up the skins for "accessibility" when the new default is grey on grey and lots of red.

http://branchandroot.dreamwidth.org/1255716.html#comments

Apparently this was rushed to get the archive ready for Yuletide. Only Yuletide isn't a otw project.

http://fail-fandomanon.livejournal.com/22095.html?thread=99563087#t99563087

But what really has me gobsmacked is this,
from: copracat
Let me make sure I have this correctly:

The chair of the board has been told by someone/s to stop working on a strategic plan for the organisation because she doesn't have the authority to do so.

I'm going to make a cup of tea now.

-----
general-jinjur (the chair in question)

more accurately, i was told that i was dishonest, conspiratorial, and secretive because:

- i asked for volunteers to help gather info and work on preliminaries in an org-wide meeting (org-wide meetings are attended by a large group of volunteers and staff, including at least one representative from every committee)
- discussed how a strategic plan was on the horizon in at least two other org-wide meetings
- hired a staffer (one who, like all our staff, was unanimously board-approved) specifically to work on stakeholder surveys (beginning of 2011 term) as part of preliminary work (staffer wound up with international outreach, as they were best to start that piece).

by doing the above, i secretly formed a cabal without ever giving anyone a chance to participate. also, i failed to do all the work (research and write-up of a proposal for the plan for the process) myself rather than involving anyone or doing any delegation.

just to clarify. (perspectives vary, of course. this is my perspective on events. i officially don't care to argue its accuracy anymore; i have just enough energy and time left to tie up loose ends and write up documentation of the stuff i did manage to accomplish (in 2010. i'm a little behind on docs).)

http://copracat.dreamwidth.org/596794.html?thread=2267962#cmt2267962

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	sandglass 2011-11-14 12:23 am UTC (link)
	Can anyone give like, an outline for what's going on? I don't know anything about the organization or the people involved and I am so lost! (Reply to this)(Thread)

amadi
2011-11-14 10:27 am UTC (link)

The OTW (Organization for Transformative Works) is a fan-run organization meant to provide advocacy for fan works under the concepts of fair use, transformative use (hence the name) and so on. They run Fanlore, which is a fan history wiki. They've provided assistance and testimony or amicus briefing or something to the US Office of Copyright and other legal entities, about the legal status of fanworks. As strange as it sounds, they're taking the position that fanworks are SRS BSNS.

One big part of what they do, and the most labor intensive and publicly obvious segment of their mission, is the Archive Of Our Own (AO3) which is a fan-owned and run archive site for fic and fanart, fanvids, etc. One of the founders (Naomi Novik) built the software that the archive runs, and a cadre of volunteers are responsible for keeping things running. The idea was to have a site 100% owned by people who weren't going to cave at the first C&D letter from the attorneys for whatever big new fandom and delete all the related works in one fell swoop, or who would get all precious about adult material and start deleting accounts.

Things have blown up recently because there's an upcoming election for the board of directors, and there have been some contentious statements. Some candidates (including Novik) seem unaware or unwilling to recognize that the volunteers who've been keeping the archive going are not well-respected and the turnover rate is incredibly high because of it, communication within the organization has been poor, communication from the org to its members and supporters has been poor, basically there's a lot of room for improvement. There's also a dichotomy between candidates who are looking at the future of the organization as a whole and those who are focusing only on the AO3 as important.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	franzen 2011-11-14 05:15 pm UTC (link)
	In far too many ways to count, this sounds like every retail job ever. When turnover is stable at some fixed percentage, that's "life," or "other commitments," or "better offer." When turnover is constant, high, and the people who have left are complaining of burn-out, that is management, lack of strategy, and a sign of implosion. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	amadi 2011-11-14 06:43 pm UTC (link)
	Right. Thus far we've seen that the OTW folks have some pretty strong core competencies. Personnel management and crisis management aren't really among them. It's not at emergency levels just yet, but it's getting there. This is the point where they've got to recognize those weaknesses and work very very hard to address them before everything comes tumbling down. (Reply to this)(Parent)

ekaterinv
2011-11-14 07:20 pm UTC (link)

It's reminding me of a job my dad had that had a turnover rate of one new person per year. It was the kind of professional job that should have been stable and fulfilling, that someone would work at for twenty years or even life. He lasted much longer than anyone else had -- about three years. His boss was evil, and that's not an exaggeration. But it took forever for the board to see through her sucking up to them and get her out of there.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	sandglass 2011-11-14 05:47 pm UTC (link)
	Thank you! That helps a lot. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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