Posted by Lute

https://www.transformativeworks.org/otw-signal-july-2025/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=266282

Every 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.

In the News

A recently published study in Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications finds that fanfiction readers are more likely to click on stories that feel familiar, but they enjoy those stories more when there is something novel about them.

Balance theory, a widely accepted theory in psychology, suggests that for a creative work to be successful (widely enjoyed), it needs to find the middle ground between feeling comfortable and familiar, yet be novel enough to still be interesting.

Using Archive of Our Own (AO3) as their primary source, researchers analyzed metadata from over 670,000 fanworks across 23 fandoms. They measured a story’s novelty by comparing its content against other stories in the same fandom and measured success primarily with a ratio of hits to kudos, then compared the two datasets.

Researchers found that contrary to balance theory, the middle ground between familiar and novel does not guarantee success for fanfiction. Their research shows that stories that were more familiar tended to get more clicks, but it was stories with more novelty that had a higher hit to kudos ratio.

“Although high-novelty works tend to be read by fewer people, those who read are more likely to express their enjoyment.”

This study highlights that in fandom spaces, success isn’t completely defined by reach or popularity. A fic that is deeply enjoyed by a small audience can still be meaningful and impactful.

In “The K-popification of F1”, Teen Vogue looks at how a new wave of Formula 1 fans are reshaping the fandom. What was once considered to be a niche, male-dominated sport has become home to fan practices typically found in K-Pop communities. From fashion to fanvids, fans are engaging with the drivers and teams in a novel way:

In many ways, F1 has evolved from a legacy motorsport into something that feels more like a multimedia pop franchise. F1 drivers are no longer just elite athletes behind the wheel; they’re fashion muses, meme material, and, in the eyes of a growing Gen Z fanbase, idols. It’s no surprise the sport has drawn fans from other hyper-engaged fandoms.

Many fans in this new wave were introduced to Formula 1 through digital platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Netflix’s Drive to Survive, rather than traditional sports media. These platforms offer a behind-the-scenes look at the sport’s personalities, drawing in fans who may have never watched a race otherwise. These fans are bringing with them expectations shaped by K-pop fandom culture. They seek direct access to the drivers beyond the track, emotional narratives, and authentic representation.

This push for greater inclusion and visibility has helped lead to initiatives like the F1 Academy, an all-women racing series that reflects the changing face of the sport’s audience. It shows that the sport is starting to recognize how important diversity and representation are to its future.

These fans aren’t just redefining what it means to be an F1 supporter. They’re showing that fandom can be a powerful, intentional force that helps reshape the media it connects with.

OTW Tips

AO3 embraces the richness and diversity of fan-created content. Whether works include ship names, inside jokes, or niche tropes, the OTW values the creative freedom of its users while maintaining a commitment to ensuring AO3 remains a welcoming and navigable space. AO3’s Content Policy is designed with maximum inclusiveness of fanwork content and user safety in mind. Violations of the Terms of Service, including the Content Policy, are administered by the Policy and Abuse committee, which handles reports and concerns in accordance with AO3’s Terms of Service (TOS).

For more information on how our Terms of Service is applied, check out the Terms of Service Spotlight series or refer to the TOS FAQ.

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 doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in an OTW post, and inclusion of a link doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

https://www.transformativeworks.org/otw-signal-july-2025/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=266282

Posted by Nat

https://www.transformativeworks.org/otw-members-check-your-email-for-voting-instructions-5/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=266205

At this time, all members of the OTW who are eligible to vote should have received an email linking to the voting instructions for 2025. The subject line was “Voting Instructions for Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) Board Election”. Please note that anyone who didn’t receive this email is not on the voter rolls this year and will not receive a ballot.

The voting instructions email contains a link to a test version of the ballot. Please follow that link to make sure that the page displays correctly and the candidates are visible. If not, please ensure you are not blocking JavaScript from ajax.googleapis.com, bootstrapcdn.com, and/or opavote.com.

If you are an OTW member and didn’t receive this email, please do the following:

1. Check your spam folder.
   • If you use Gmail, check your Social tab.
   • If the email is marked as spam, unmark it. Otherwise, you will not receive your ballot, as it will end up in spam as well.
2. If no email is present, open your donation receipt and check the date.
   • To vote in this election, your receipt must be dated between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, inclusive of both dates. Receipts are dated in UTC. Please check your receipt for the date of your donation. You won’t be eligible to vote if your donation was made after midnight UTC on July 1.
   • If you paid by check, your membership is measured by the arrival date of the check.
3. If your donation was made during the eligible time period, make sure you checked the box to become a member. Membership is voluntary for those who donate at least $10; only members can vote.
4. If you did become a member, make sure you neither marked any email from the OTW as spam nor opted out of OTW emails or last year’s ballot. If you did so and would like to vote this year, you’ll need to follow step 5 below.
5. If you donated at least $10 during the eligible period and you checked the box to become a member, please fill out the Elections Contact Form and select the topic “Is my membership current/Am I eligible to vote?” Make sure to include the email you used when donating.
   • Membership has no connection to being a user of AO3 or Fanlore. Please don’t give us your AO3 or Fanlore username – we have no way of knowing who that name belongs to, and we don’t want to know.

Most importantly, if your voting instructions email bounces, gets marked as spam, or you opt out, you will not receive a ballot for this year’s election, and you may not receive a ballot next year. Similarly, if any of those things happened to last year’s election emails, you will not receive a ballot this year. Therefore, if you previously opted out of OTW emails or marked them as spam and would like to vote, fill out the Elections Contact Form and select the topic “Is my membership current/Am I eligible to vote?”

https://www.transformativeworks.org/otw-members-check-your-email-for-voting-instructions-5/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=266205

Posted by callmeri

https://www.transformativeworks.org/2025-candidate-qa-and-chat-round-up/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=266153

The election season is in full swing! As part of the election season, we have a chat with our candidates coming up soon. You can also find links to the candidates’ answers to your questions at the bottom of this post.

Chats

There will be one public chat with all three candidates that will last 90 minutes. Chats will take place in our public chatroom (Discord).
It is scheduled for:

• Saturday, August 2, from 21:00 UTC to 22:30 UTC – Live chat with all candidates (What time is the Candidate Chat where I live?)

During this chat, chat attendees will have the opportunity to ask the candidates questions not already covered in their platforms, bios, and Q&A, as well as to ask individual questions of specific candidates. New questions will only be accepted for the first hour of the scheduled chat time to make sure candidates have time to finish them all.

We hope that you can join us for this chat!

Please note that though the link to the public chatroom is already active, chatting capabilities will not be enabled until approximately half an hour before the chat begins.

Read on to learn more about using Discord.

• On the login page, you’ll need to provide a screen name.
• Once you enter the server, you’ll find a list of users on the right and a list of chat rooms on the left. Settings are available via the gear icon on the lower left, near your screen name; there you can choose, among other options, whether you prefer a dark or light chat room appearance.
• There are three rooms available to chat attendees who are not candidates or Elections Committee volunteers: general, candidate_chats, and open_chat.
  • General is where you’ll find a list of rules for the chats. Please read through these carefully before entering the other two rooms.
  • Candidate_chats is where the candidates will answer questions and debate amongst themselves. Only the candidates and moderator will be able to chat in this room.
  • Open_chat is where all attendees can participate and talk to each other. We ask that you try to stay on topics related to the election. A moderator will be in the room, so if you have a question for the candidates, you can signal the moderator with o/, the candidate’s name, and the question. Use o// if it’s a follow-up question to the current discussion.

Q&A

When we posted the Board candidates’ bios and platforms, we asked the public to submit additional questions for them. Once again, our sincere thanks to everyone who did so! We have already posted candidate answers to Q&A questions.

To navigate answers by individual candidate, please use the links below:

C. Ryan S.
Elizabeth W.
Harlan L.B.

https://www.transformativeworks.org/2025-candidate-qa-and-chat-round-up/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=266153

Posted by Caitlynne

https://www.transformativeworks.org/ao3-releases-0-9-414-0-9-419-change-log/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=266087

Over the past few weeks, we completed several important infrastructure updates including upgrading to Elasticsearch 8, finishing the transition to Rails 7.1, and migrating the bookmarks table to create room for more bookmarks. We also made some user-facing improvements, such as fixing various access and display bugs; clarifying some error messages, form labels, and page titles; and adding chapter numbers to comments in your inbox. Special thanks and welcome to first-time contributors Abhinav Gupta, hk-contribs, TemperedPetals, and Vemmy RM! We’d also like to thank Dhiraj Mishra for reporting a security issue.

Credits

• Coders: Abhinav Gupta, AliceLsr, Bilka, Brian Austin, calm, ceithir, Connie Feng, EchoEkhi, Hamham6, hk-contribs, kitbur, sarken, slavalamp, TemperedPetals, Vemmy RM, weeklies
• Code reviewers: Bilka, Brian Austin, ceithir, Coding-Hen, Hamham6, sarken, weeklies
• Testers: Bilka, Booksarelife, Brian Austin, Caitlynne, calamario, choux, Deniz, Keladry, LilyP, Lute, lydia-theda, Sam Johnsson, Sanity, Teyris, therealmorticia, wichard

Details

0.9.414

In the process of installing the new Elasticsearch servers, we upgraded to Elasticsearch 8 on June 24!

• [AO3-6259] – We upgraded the Elasticsearch gem to version 8.18.0.

0.9.415

On June 25, we finished off the last remaining parts of the update to Rails 7.1.

• [AO3-6894] – We flipped the remaining configuration values to use the new defaults from Rails 7.1.

0.9.416

Our deploy on July 1 updated older language on the work search and filtering forms from “Author/Artist” to “Creator” and added chapter numbers to comments in your inbox, among other improvements.

• [AO3-6050] – When accessing the Tag Wrangling page showing all relationship tags related to a character, tags would always be shown in alphabetical order, regardless of sort order. Now, tag wranglers can additionally sort through the tags by how many times they were used or by creation date.
• [AO3-6273] – Sometimes, when you used the “Post Draft” button on a draft, the word count of the publicly posted work would be blank. It should now always be the correct number.
• [AO3-6373] – If you blocked a user who had previously commented on your work, you could no longer freeze their comment. We fixed this, so you can now block users and freeze their comment threads in any order without problems.
• [AO3-6735] – We fixed that when you left a comment on an news posts with comment moderation enabled, the resulting comment email would incorrectly tell you that the comment was on a work with moderated comments.
• [AO3-6936] – We changed the browser page title on subscriptions pages to a format that matches other user pages: “username – Subscriptions | Archive of Our Own.”
• [AO3-6971] – We fixed an error that occurred if the “No Fandom” tag didn’t exist, for example in a development installation of the Archive.
• [AO3-7010] – Trying to access the chapter index of a work that’s both in an unrevealed collection and hidden by an admin used to result in an error 500. We’ve fixed that so it now results in a normal permission error.
• [AO3-7017] – If you knew the ID of a draft work or a work restricted to logged in users, you could access a few subpages of the work that revealed its title and blurb. Since that information isn’t meant to be public, we’ve once again restricted access to these pages.
• [AO3-7016] – We updated the gem we use to run database schema migrations of large tables.
• [AO3-5345] – Collection maintainers get an email notification if they run matching in a gift exchange and the sign-ups are invalid. We’ve improved the text of this email and prepared it for translation.
• [AO3-6541] – We changed the works search and the sorting and filtering options to use “Creator” instead of “Author/Artist” to match the terminology used by the rest of the site.
• [AO3-6750] – Comments in your inbox now include the chapter number, so you don’t have to follow the comment link to know where exactly it was left.
• [AO3-6807] – If you tried to use an invalid URL for an external work or in your collection sign-up, you would sometimes get a 500 error. We fixed that so now you will always get a proper error message telling you that the URL is invalid.
• [AO3-6999] – We removed some duplicate code for sending comment emails to admins.

0.9.417 & 0.9.418

On July 3 and July 4, we ran out of rows in the database table that stores bookmarks, so we had to move them to a larger table that can hold them all! Now you can once again add your own bookmarks to the 647 million we already have.

• [AO3-7031] – We migrated the bookmarks table to be able to hold more rows and then migrated all other table columns that refer to bookmarks to also support the larger bookmark IDs.

0.9.419

On July 12, we deployed an assortment of minor changes that included allowing the accent-color property in skins and clarifying some error messages.

• [AO3-6795] – When you were excluding a tag in a search and then made a syntax error when trying to filter those results, you’d get a 500 error. We’ve fixed this so it instead tells you that your query has a syntax error.
• [AO3-6989] – If you tried to view the pseuds list for a user who didn’t exist, you’d get redirected to the People Search page. That made sense in a way, but wasn’t terribly consistent with other nonexistent pages. Now you’ll get a 404 error instead, which makes it easier to check for typos in the URL you entered.
• [AO3-7007] – We fixed a 500 error when a guest tried to add a work to a collection by directly going to the “Add To Collection” URL.
• [AO3-7025] – We fixed a typo in one of the CSS properties in the Creating a Skin help pop-up.
• [AO3-7022] – We changed the default comment setting for news posts to “Only registered users can comment.”
• [AO3-5344] – We prepared the email that you get when your work is invited to a collection for translation.
• [AO3-7019] – You will now get an informative error message if you try to change your username to the same name as you currently have, instead of it silently doing nothing.
• [AO3-7033] – When you access a skin, the skin title is now part of the browser page title.
• [AO3-7041] – You can now use the accent-color property in site and work skins!
• [AO3-6852] – We removed some old unused scripts for testing gift exchange matching.

https://www.transformativeworks.org/ao3-releases-0-9-414-0-9-419-change-log/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=266087