Socchan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
soc_puppet) wrote2023-05-20 07:22 pm
soc_puppet) wrote2023-05-20 07:22 pm
Entry tags:
Fic: End Racism in the OTW
Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug, Meta
Summary: Adrien, Alya, Marinette, and Nino are transported to a strange space, where they discuss suggested changes to a popular fanfic archive.
AO3 link: Link!
Wordcount: 1000
Ships: Friendship only
Notes: Written for![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
end-otw-racism's Call to Action
Fic: End Racism in the OTW
Picture a blank white space. Suddenly, four teens appear.
"Oof!" "Ack!" "Ohno!" "Eep!"
And fall in a pile.
Slowly, Adrien, Alya, Marinette, and Nino untangle themselves and help each other to their feet. They look around the empty space.
"Where is this?" Adrien asks. "Is Pixelator back?"
Marinette and Alya share a furtive look. "Uh," says Marinette.
Nino shakes his head. "I don't think that's it. Look up there." He points to where some words are hanging in the air.
"End Racism in the OTW, by Socchan," Alya reads. "Oh, I know what this is! I think we're in a fanfic!"
Marinette frowns. "A fanfic?"
"Wait, how would we know we're in a fanfic?" Adrien asks.
"Yeah," Nino interjects. "I thought doing that whole self-aware, fourth-wall-breaking character shtick went out of style in the early aughts."
Alya shrugs. "I mean, maybe? It might be that the author couldn't come up with a better idea. But look at that." She gestures to the words again. "OTW stands for Organization for Transformative Works. It's the parent organization for the Archive of Our Own, one of the largest fanfic hosting sites on the web."
"And they're racist?" Adrien asks, alarmed.
Alya, Nino, and Marinette share a look. "It's... complicated," Alya hedges.
Nino snorts. "Not that complicated."
Alya throws her hands up in the air. "I mean, I kinda get it? I run and moderate a very popular blog about our local superheroes. Moderating can be pretty difficult!" She heaves out a sigh. "That said..."
Marinette nods. "Alya's told me some of this," she explains to Adrien. "It can be tough to figure out what content to allow or not, especially if you've got very lenient rules. Apparently AO3 was founded to host just about everything? But that doesn't necessarily make it a friendly place for everyone, and trying to figure out what counts as abuse or a bannable offense can be tricky."
"Yeah, but look at this," Nino says, holding out his phone. He gestures to the article he has pulled up. "It seems like the author is doing this as part of a campaign to get some concrete steps taken by the OTW. What they're asking for seems pretty reasonable, especially since the OTW made a pledge to do better about racism three years ago."
Adrien peered at the phone. "An update to their harassment policies to address on-site and off-site coordinated harassment; a content policy against deliberately abusive fanworks, making sure it's not targeting accidentally racist stuff; hiring a diversity consultant; and being more transparent about this sort of stuff." He looked up. "That all seems pretty reasonable to me. Is hiring a diversity consultant in their budget?"
"I don't see why it wouldn't be," Alya says. "And they already run fundraisers twice a year; I don't see why they can't raise the goal of their next fundraiser a little bit if a diversity consultant is out of their current budget. I know I'd encourage people to kick in a few extra euros just for that."
"Plus, that part explicitly says in the next three to six months," Nino pointed out. "Their next fundraiser definitely falls in that time frame."
Marinette winces. "I've seen some of the stuff that Alya gets thrown at her for running the Ladyblog. If she wanted to be able to use that as evidence of a harassment campaign by someone on AO3, I think she should be able to!" Nino nods firmly in agreement.
Alya smiles and squeezes Nino's hand, then knocks her shoulder against Marinette's. "Thanks, girl." Marinette smiles back.
"Okay, so we've gone over what it is and why this is important," Adrien says. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
The other three smile at him. "It's here in that same manifesto," Nino says, holding the phone out again. "It's stuff like changing your social media pictures to stuff from their media packet, sharing links to their manifesto, or even writing or renaming fics to 'End Racism in the OTW'. It looks like any title changes only have to last until the end of the month, though obviously any fics written just for that can keep their title."
"And just being there can be a pretty big help," Marinette adds. "Alya is always a huge help to me, whenever I need a sounding board for my anxiety, and I hope I do half as well when she needs to unload about people being jerks on the Ladyblog!"
"Aw, girl!" Alya hugs Marinette. "You are a huge help." She looks at Adrien. "Really, anything you can do to help boost this message would be great," she says. "Fandom is a smaller world than you might think, and you might be surprised at what kind of reach you have!"
"Got it," says Adrien. "I'm pretty sure I can manage at least some of that! You'll let me know if there's anything else you can think of, right?"
Nino punches him lightly in the shoulder. "Of course, dude! We know you've got our backs."
"Maybe keep an eye out for butterflies if the campaign ends up being extended," Alya suggests sardonically.
The four of them sigh. "Yeah," Adrien says wearily, "that makes sense. I can do that."
"Oh, hey!" Marinette says, pointing to the words in the air. "I think we might be done soon!"
"Yeah?" Nino says, looking in that direction. "Huh, whaddya know! Do you think we'll remember this when we leave?"
"Who knows?" says Alya, slinging an arm around her boyfriend's and best friend's shoulders. "It still feels good to talk about, though."
Adrien nods and slings his own arm over Nino's shoulders, meeting Marinette's hand where she has her own arm hanging over Alya's. "Even if we don't remember this exactly, I'm hoping I at least hold onto the message."
Smiling at each other, the four of them disappear again. In the empty space, we see that the title and byline of the fic have changed to a single word:
--Fin--
Welp, I'm not expecting a lot of kudos for this one! Still, it's important, so I'm gonna do my part.
Summary: Adrien, Alya, Marinette, and Nino are transported to a strange space, where they discuss suggested changes to a popular fanfic archive.
AO3 link: Link!
Wordcount: 1000
Ships: Friendship only
Notes: Written for
Fic: End Racism in the OTW
Picture a blank white space. Suddenly, four teens appear.
"Oof!" "Ack!" "Ohno!" "Eep!"
And fall in a pile.
Slowly, Adrien, Alya, Marinette, and Nino untangle themselves and help each other to their feet. They look around the empty space.
"Where is this?" Adrien asks. "Is Pixelator back?"
Marinette and Alya share a furtive look. "Uh," says Marinette.
Nino shakes his head. "I don't think that's it. Look up there." He points to where some words are hanging in the air.
"End Racism in the OTW, by Socchan," Alya reads. "Oh, I know what this is! I think we're in a fanfic!"
Marinette frowns. "A fanfic?"
"Wait, how would we know we're in a fanfic?" Adrien asks.
"Yeah," Nino interjects. "I thought doing that whole self-aware, fourth-wall-breaking character shtick went out of style in the early aughts."
Alya shrugs. "I mean, maybe? It might be that the author couldn't come up with a better idea. But look at that." She gestures to the words again. "OTW stands for Organization for Transformative Works. It's the parent organization for the Archive of Our Own, one of the largest fanfic hosting sites on the web."
"And they're racist?" Adrien asks, alarmed.
Alya, Nino, and Marinette share a look. "It's... complicated," Alya hedges.
Nino snorts. "Not that complicated."
Alya throws her hands up in the air. "I mean, I kinda get it? I run and moderate a very popular blog about our local superheroes. Moderating can be pretty difficult!" She heaves out a sigh. "That said..."
Marinette nods. "Alya's told me some of this," she explains to Adrien. "It can be tough to figure out what content to allow or not, especially if you've got very lenient rules. Apparently AO3 was founded to host just about everything? But that doesn't necessarily make it a friendly place for everyone, and trying to figure out what counts as abuse or a bannable offense can be tricky."
"Yeah, but look at this," Nino says, holding out his phone. He gestures to the article he has pulled up. "It seems like the author is doing this as part of a campaign to get some concrete steps taken by the OTW. What they're asking for seems pretty reasonable, especially since the OTW made a pledge to do better about racism three years ago."
Adrien peered at the phone. "An update to their harassment policies to address on-site and off-site coordinated harassment; a content policy against deliberately abusive fanworks, making sure it's not targeting accidentally racist stuff; hiring a diversity consultant; and being more transparent about this sort of stuff." He looked up. "That all seems pretty reasonable to me. Is hiring a diversity consultant in their budget?"
"I don't see why it wouldn't be," Alya says. "And they already run fundraisers twice a year; I don't see why they can't raise the goal of their next fundraiser a little bit if a diversity consultant is out of their current budget. I know I'd encourage people to kick in a few extra euros just for that."
"Plus, that part explicitly says in the next three to six months," Nino pointed out. "Their next fundraiser definitely falls in that time frame."
Marinette winces. "I've seen some of the stuff that Alya gets thrown at her for running the Ladyblog. If she wanted to be able to use that as evidence of a harassment campaign by someone on AO3, I think she should be able to!" Nino nods firmly in agreement.
Alya smiles and squeezes Nino's hand, then knocks her shoulder against Marinette's. "Thanks, girl." Marinette smiles back.
"Okay, so we've gone over what it is and why this is important," Adrien says. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
The other three smile at him. "It's here in that same manifesto," Nino says, holding the phone out again. "It's stuff like changing your social media pictures to stuff from their media packet, sharing links to their manifesto, or even writing or renaming fics to 'End Racism in the OTW'. It looks like any title changes only have to last until the end of the month, though obviously any fics written just for that can keep their title."
"And just being there can be a pretty big help," Marinette adds. "Alya is always a huge help to me, whenever I need a sounding board for my anxiety, and I hope I do half as well when she needs to unload about people being jerks on the Ladyblog!"
"Aw, girl!" Alya hugs Marinette. "You are a huge help." She looks at Adrien. "Really, anything you can do to help boost this message would be great," she says. "Fandom is a smaller world than you might think, and you might be surprised at what kind of reach you have!"
"Got it," says Adrien. "I'm pretty sure I can manage at least some of that! You'll let me know if there's anything else you can think of, right?"
Nino punches him lightly in the shoulder. "Of course, dude! We know you've got our backs."
"Maybe keep an eye out for butterflies if the campaign ends up being extended," Alya suggests sardonically.
The four of them sigh. "Yeah," Adrien says wearily, "that makes sense. I can do that."
"Oh, hey!" Marinette says, pointing to the words in the air. "I think we might be done soon!"
"Yeah?" Nino says, looking in that direction. "Huh, whaddya know! Do you think we'll remember this when we leave?"
"Who knows?" says Alya, slinging an arm around her boyfriend's and best friend's shoulders. "It still feels good to talk about, though."
Adrien nods and slings his own arm over Nino's shoulders, meeting Marinette's hand where she has her own arm hanging over Alya's. "Even if we don't remember this exactly, I'm hoping I at least hold onto the message."
Smiling at each other, the four of them disappear again. In the empty space, we see that the title and byline of the fic have changed to a single word:
--Fin--
Welp, I'm not expecting a lot of kudos for this one! Still, it's important, so I'm gonna do my part.