archersangel | Network

It's Thursday or as we like to call it, Friday Eve. It's been a weird week thank to the snow. Work has been almost quiet, and we've had the ups and downs of the week. Yesterday was definitely more of an up. With a little luck, we'll end the week strong.

I got up and texted a dude that my BIL's sister had used. He texted me back by 8am and got the info about the job. He quoted more than the first dude who ghosted, which I didn't care even a little bit about. He said he'd be over around 12pm, so I let my boss know I might need to step away for a few minutes right before lunch.

Then, I went to work. At 9:30, I got ahold of the pharmacy, which was indeed open. Whoohoo! They said they'd get my meds together and deliver them to me! Double Whoohoo!

At around 11:30, I got a text that the dude who shoveled our snow was going to be there at 12:45. Cool. During my lunch, that's awesome, I can go out and meet him and observe a bit. Then, at about 12:15, he texted saying that he had a flat tire. Ooookay. Starting to worry about being ghosted again, but he says he'll be there as soon as the flat is fixed.

At 12:55, he says he's on his way and will be here in 10 minutes. To my utter shock, in 10 minutes, Emmanuel pulls up in his truck and gets to work. It took him 1 hour to dig both cars completely out. Then, we moved them down to the far end of the parking lot so that the maintenance could plow the spots clear.

While Emmanuel was working hard, my prescriptions showed up. Trpple Whoohoo!

I finished up work, and headed out to pick up my sister from work, as she had to Uber in with her car stuck. Fortunately, since schools were out, the traffic wasn't horrible. After that, a trip to the dispensary, and then home to rest after what was an eventful day.

I ran out of my sleep pills, and tried Jess' "Relaxing Peppermints" made by Dixie. Let me tell you, those fuckers are so relaxing that I switched to them from the sleep tablets. They knock me out fast and hard. I approve of this. I did have to switch up the time that I take them. The sleep tablets took forever to kick in. But these are super fast. Last night, I was antsy. I took my pills, and we started an episode of Shmanners, and I was just out about 10 minutes in. That's better than the prior two nights where I fell asleep before we did a podcast.

I don't like the second book in the Empyrean Series as much, though it's still very readable. Mostly I dislike the addition of a bog-standard mean girl who's after the main character over stealing her man. (The man broke up with her before he started dating the main, so it's just her being jealous about losing so much power.) It's just not the most pleasant to read. I'm still reading it, it's just annoying. Hopefully the third book will be better.

98 days to Alaska! I need to start getting out some cash, so that I'm better able to tip. I figure it'll take a few visits to get everything I need. I need some $5, $10, $20s and some $50's.

the little bills are for the waiters and bartenders and housekeeping in the pre and post hotels, the $20s are for the cabin stewards and then the 50's are for the drivers. All totalled, I want about $1400 in cash to go with, mostly small bills.

I could just go into the bank, but I'd prefer not.

Today, we're going to have a nice day, which will be quiet and pleasant, right?

Time to put on pants! Everyone have an outstanding Thursday!

nanila posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

dine

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

ao3_news_feed

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34211

Spotlight on Tag Wrangling

Background

Over the last year, Tag Wranglers have been actively discussing how to make fandom metatags more useful to users, both to find the content they're looking for and filter out the content they aren't. Since our last update, these discussions have now concluded, and we want to provide an update about how our guidelines have changed.

Fandom metatags allow Tag Wranglers to connect groups of related fandoms together so that they can be more easily filtered on as a group. For example, if you're interested in all works related to Game of Thrones (TV), including the related novels or the 2014 video game, you may be interested in filtering on its metatag: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms. Filtering on the metatag means that you will find all the works tagged with the metatag itself or tagged with any of its individual subtags. In addition to this, having a group of fandoms connected together as a metatag and subtags means that selecting "Exclude crossovers" in the sidebar will not exclude works tagged with more than one subtag, and that selecting "Show only crossovers" will not include works tagged more than one subtags.

Metatags are different from merging ("synning") tags. When two tags are merged, the filters will treat them as if they are the same tag. When they are moved together under a metatag, each can still be filtered out individually from the metatag.

Guidelines update

Following extensive discussion, we have updated our guidelines related to fandom metatag trees, including when to create a metatag for related fandoms, when to merge closely related fandoms into one fandom tag (such as merging an anime and a manga), and when to split out subtags from a currently merged tag. The below paragraphs detail these updates and link to where you can find more information.

Metatag guidelines

Moving forward, Tag Wranglers may connect related fandoms using a metatag if there are at least two canons already canonized on AO3 that are:

Closely related adaptations;
The same story adapted across different media; or
Canon with official prequels, sequels, or other related adaptations set in a shared universe.

Whether a fandom metatag is created will vary based on the specific fandom. Not all fandoms will require a metatag, even if they fit the above criteria, and some fandoms with complex and sprawling canons may require multiple levels of metatags. Fandoms that do not fit one of the above criteria can be evaluated for a metatag on a case by case basis, focusing on what would be most useful to the majority of its fans. Tag Wranglers are fans of these canons as well and may base their decisions on a variety of factors such as whether the fan base generally considers these separate canons as distinct, or to what extent fans of different adaptations overlap.

Existing metatags, such as Star Wars - All Media Types or Marvel will not be required to match these rules or formats. These formats and guidelines will be applied to newly created fandom tags or existing tags if Tag Wranglers or users request changes.

In addition to determining when a metatag may be created, Tag Wranglers have also identified some circumstances where a metatag would not be beneficial to the majority of fans and therefore these fandoms will be canonized separately, not linked by a metatag. These are generally fandoms that are not closely related, such as:

Fandoms which are only connected by minor crossover events
Fandoms which share a performer, director, or creator/creative team but are not related through a shared continuity, shared characters, or other shared elements

You can find the full list of situations where Tag Wranglers decided a metatag would not be beneficial in the Metatag Wrangling Guidelines.

Fandom merging guidelines

Similar to determining which existing tags should have a metatag and don't currently, existing tags that have multiple adaptations merged together into one fandom tag may instead canonize their adaptations and subtag them to a metatag if they meet the guidelines above for when to create a metatag. These will also be handled on a case by case basis based on what is most appropriate for the fandom.

Finally, Tag Wranglers reviewed their guidelines on when to merge fandom tags for two related adaptations into one shared fandom tag (e.g. fandom tags like Naruto (Anime & Manga)), partially in relation to anime and manga fandoms. Going forward, when requested by users and/or Tag Wranglers, fandom tags for nearly identical adaptations may be merged if it is determined that this will be what is most useful to AO3 users. These requests will always be examined on a case by case basis.

Canonizing adaptations separately will remain the default, as it's much easier to merge later if appropriate than it is to separate them. This is particularly true in the case of ongoing canons where it's highly possible that the adaptations may diverge in plot, character development, etc.

Changes in progress

As part of these guideline updates, we've already begun processing some commonly requested metatag and fandom changes. The below list represents a small sample of changes that we've already made in response to requests from Tag Wranglers and users. This is not a comprehensive list of every change we have made or will make, but these examples show how the above changes may look in practice.

Metatag change examples

魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Modao Zushi - Moxiang Tongxiu & Related Fandoms has been made a canonical metatag, with the following fandoms subtagged:
Good Omens - All Media Types has been made a canonical metatag, with the following fandoms subtagged:

Fandom merging examples

Other fandoms that have recently been updated to merge separate medias, add a metatag, and/or split out subtags to form a new fandom tree include: How to Train Your Dragon, KonoSuba, A Certain Magical Index, Uma Musume, Nine Worlds Series - Victoria Goddard, Monogatari Series - Nisio Isin, and Solo Leveling.

The above changes are already live on AO3, and others will be made in the coming days as wranglers and users request changes to their fandom's structure in connection with this change.

Have questions or want to request a metatag change?

You can find these specific guideline updates on our Metatag and Fandom Wrangling Guideline pages. As mentioned above, other fandoms may already be discussing making changes. These discussions will also include requests from users who've previously submitted feedback to Support. If you have submitted a request within the past six months asking for a metatag or merger to be considered, there is no need to submit another request at this time as your request is already being reviewed.

For more information about AO3's tag system generally, check out the Tags FAQ. To learn more about Tag Wrangling, refer to the Tag Wrangler position description or the committee description.

If you have questions about specific tags, want to request a change to your fandom's metatag, or have other questions about this change, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post. Support handles questions and requests related to how tags are sorted and connected in addition to providing technical support to AO3's users.

Do not contact Support if the tags you wish to ask about are less than one month old. Please give Tag Wranglers time to handle new tags and wait to request changes until at least one month after a tag's first use.

Finally, while we know the majority of users find having a metatag helpful, we are aware that not everyone agrees with this due to the limits it creates on filtering. As such, we wanted to provide some advice on how to filter out works tagged with the metatag, if you wish to. Please select "How to exclude works tagged with a metatag" below to expand the instructions on excluding works tagged with a metatag.

How to exclude works tagged with a metatag

You can exclude works tagged with a metatag using the metatag's Tag ID, using the following process. For ease of use, we recommend you do this on a computer rather than on your mobile device.

Begin by finding the Tag ID of the metatag you want to filter out from its source code. Open the works page of the metatag you want to filter out, such as The Hobbit - All Media Types. Right-click on the "Favorite Tag" button, then select "Inspect". In the window that opens, locate the line that says: value="X" name="favorite_tag[tag_id]" where X is the ID of your tag. It should be directly above what is automatically highlighted when you click Inspect.

For this example, the Tag ID for The Hobbit - All Media Types is 541478. This is a fandom tag, so the search operator you'll need is fandom_ids:541478. (You can use this trick for other tag types, just swap the word fandom in fandom_ids for character, relationship, or freeform.)

Next, go to the works page for the specific subfandom whose works you want to read. For this example, we'll use The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien.

In the Filters sidebar, enter -fandom_ids:541478 in the "Search within results" field. This will show you all works tagged with "The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien", except those that are also tagged with "The Hobbit - All Media Types" (viewable here).

If filtering by tag ID is something you want to do often and you'd like to make your life a bit easier, you can use an unofficial script to display the tag ID of all canonical tags directly on the works page (if you're unfamiliar with scripts, you can find more information in our Unofficial Browser Tools FAQ).

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34211

apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260128.html

otw_news_feed

Posted by therealmorticia

https://www.transformativeworks.org/changes-to-fandom-metatag-wrangling-guidelines/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=277276

Background

Over the last year, Tag Wranglers have been actively discussing how to make fandom metatags more useful to users, both to find the content they’re looking for and filter out the content they aren’t. Since our last update, these discussions have now concluded, and we want to provide an update about how our guidelines have changed.

Fandom metatags allow Tag Wranglers to connect groups of related fandoms together so that they can be more easily filtered on as a group. For example, if you’re interested in all works related to Game of Thrones (TV), including the related novels or the 2014 video game, you may be interested in filtering on its metatag: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms. Filtering on the metatag means that you will find all the works tagged with the metatag itself or tagged with any of its individual subtags. In addition to this, having a group of fandoms connected together as a metatag and subtags means that selecting “Exclude crossovers” in the sidebar will not exclude works tagged with more than one subtag, and that selecting “Show only crossovers” will not include works tagged more than one subtags.

Metatags are different from merging (“synning”) tags. When two tags are merged, the filters will treat them as if they are the same tag. When they are moved together under a metatag, each can still be filtered out individually from the metatag.

Guidelines update

Metatag guidelines

Moving forward, Tag Wranglers may connect related fandoms using a metatag if there are at least two canons already canonized on AO3 that are:

Closely related adaptations;
The same story adapted across different media; or
Canon with official prequels, sequels, or other related adaptations set in a shared universe.

Existing metatags, such as Star Wars – All Media Types or Marvel will not be required to match these rules or formats. These formats and guidelines will be applied to newly created fandom tags or existing tags if Tag Wranglers or users request changes.

Fandoms which are only connected by minor crossover events
Fandoms which share a performer, director, or creator/creative team but are not related through a shared continuity, shared characters, or other shared elements

You can find the full list of situations where Tag Wranglers decided a metatag would not be beneficial in the Metatag Wrangling Guidelines.

Fandom merging guidelines

Similar to determining which existing tags should have a metatag and don’t currently, existing tags that have multiple adaptations merged together into one fandom tag may instead canonize their adaptations and subtag them to a metatag if they meet the guidelines above for when to create a metatag. These will also be handled on a case by case basis based on what is most appropriate for the fandom.

Canonizing adaptations separately will remain the default, as it’s much easier to merge later if appropriate than it is to separate them. This is particularly true in the case of ongoing canons where it’s highly possible that the adaptations may diverge in plot, character development, etc.

Changes in progress

As part of these guideline updates, we’ve already begun processing some commonly requested metatag and fandom changes. The below list represents a small sample of changes that we’ve already made in response to requests from Tag Wranglers and users. This is not a comprehensive list of every change we have made or will make, but these examples show how the above changes may look in practice.

Metatag change examples

魔道祖师 – 墨香铜臭 | Modao Zushi – Moxiang Tongxiu & Related Fandoms has been made a canonical metatag, with the following fandoms subtagged:
Good Omens – All Media Types has been made a canonical metatag, with the following fandoms subtagged:

Fandom merging examples

Other fandoms that have recently been updated to merge separate medias, add a metatag, and/or split out subtags to form a new fandom tree include: How to Train Your Dragon, KonoSuba, A Certain Magical Index, Uma Musume, Nine Worlds Series – Victoria Goddard, Monogatari Series – Nisio Isin, and Solo Leveling.

The above changes are already live on AO3, and others will be made in the coming days as wranglers and users request changes to their fandom’s structure in connection with this change.

Have questions or want to request a metatag change?

You can find these specific guideline updates on our Metatag and Fandom Wrangling Guideline pages. As mentioned above, other fandoms may already be discussing making changes. These discussions will also include requests from users who’ve previously submitted feedback to Support. If you have submitted a request within the past six months asking for a metatag or merger to be considered, there is no need to submit another request at this time as your request is already being reviewed.

For more information about AO3’s tag system generally, check out the Tags FAQ. To learn more about Tag Wrangling, refer to the Tag Wrangler position description or the committee description.

If you have questions about specific tags, want to request a change to your fandom’s metatag, or have other questions about this change, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post. Support handles questions and requests related to how tags are sorted and connected in addition to providing technical support to AO3’s users.

Finally, while we know the majority of users find having a metatag helpful, we are aware that not everyone agrees with this due to the limits it creates on filtering. As such, we wanted to provide some advice on how to filter out works tagged with the metatag, if you wish to. Please select “How to exclude works tagged with a metatag” below to expand the instructions on excluding works tagged with a metatag.

How to exclude works tagged with a metatag

You can exclude works tagged with a metatag using the metatag’s Tag ID, using the following process. For ease of use, we recommend you do this on a computer rather than on your mobile device.

Begin by finding the Tag ID of the metatag you want to filter out from its source code. Open the works page of the metatag you want to filter out, such as The Hobbit – All Media Types. Right-click on the “Favorite Tag” button, then select “Inspect”. In the window that opens, locate the line that says: value="X" name="favorite_tag[tag_id]" where X is the ID of your tag. It should be directly above what is automatically highlighted when you click Inspect.

For this example, the Tag ID for The Hobbit – All Media Types is 541478. This is a fandom tag, so the search operator you’ll need is fandom_ids:541478. (You can use this trick for other tag types, just swap the word fandom in fandom_ids for character, relationship, or freeform.)

Next, go to the works page for the specific subfandom whose works you want to read. For this example, we’ll use The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien.

In the Filters sidebar, enter -fandom_ids:541478 in the “Search within results” field. This will show you all works tagged with “The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien”, except those that are also tagged with “The Hobbit – All Media Types” (viewable here).

If filtering by tag ID is something you want to do often and you’d like to make your life a bit easier, you can use an unofficial script to display the tag ID of all canonical tags directly on the works page (if you’re unfamiliar with scripts, you can find more information in our Unofficial Browser Tools FAQ).

https://www.transformativeworks.org/changes-to-fandom-metatag-wrangling-guidelines/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=277276

pronker posting in

fancake

Fandom: Lord of the Rings

Pairings/Characters:

Celeborn/Haldir of Lothlórien, Celeborn/Galadriel | Artanis, Orophin/Rúmil of Lothlórien, Boromir/Théodred, Aragorn | Estel/Elrond Peredhel, Arwen Undómiel/Éowyn, Frodo Baggins/Sam Gamgee, Elladan/Elrohir/Erestor (Tolkien), Gandalf | Mithrandir/Saruman | Curunír, Gimli (Son of Glóin)/Legolas Greenleaf, Sauron | Mairon/Witch-King Of Angmar, Éomer Éadig/Faramir (Son of Denethor II), Gollum/Gríma Wormtongue, Elrond Peredhel/Glorfindel, Denethor II/Théoden Ednew

Rating: Mature

Length: 7,126 words

Creator Links: AO3 Profile

Theme: Crack Treated Seriously

Summary: Théoden and Denethor hunt the elusive Slash Fairy after she makes them... do things. Over and over. Featuring the horses of Middle Earth, with music by Fountains of Wayne, Celine Dion and Kenny Loggins.

Reccer's Notes: This month's theme is "ideas that are very, very bonkers, but approached with the utmost dedication to making it work within whatever passes for reality in that fandom." Author's dedication is key in this humorous tale of slash spreading like a glorious spready thing in the LOTR world and you'll believe that Denethor and Théoden-King need each other whether they realize it or not. The fairy is merely the mechanism. Just check out the other pairings and revel the night away! I especially liked that femmeslash was included, and also horses.

Fanwork Links: The Slash Fairy Cometh

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: sofa
Current Music: whoosh of properly functioning heater

james_davis_nicoll

RIP Agents Nevada and Alcala, whose reaction to a building-sized rooster was to empty their Mac 10s in its direction, thus ensuring it noticed them.

The player-characters, on the other hand, handled their immediate threat, a truck-sized centipede, more effectively.

( Read more... )

lb_lee

Rogan: In my sickness, I posted that picture of Bob's "Subtext is Overrated" shirt and didn't explain the context of it! In summary: it was advice he gave me the first time he ever met me (though NOT the first time I ever met him).

( Read more... )

Current Mood: nostalgic
Crossposts: https://lb-lee.insanejournal.com/10999.html

musesfool

In case you haven't listened to it yet: Streets of Minneapolis by Bruce Springsteen.

It's in my bsky feed and my tumblr dash and I saw it here on DW first (in a locked post), so I needed to have it here too.

And since I've been listening to it a lot lately, here's Help Save the Youth of America by Billy Bragg. Unfortunately always timely.

*

Current Mood: here
Current Music: Streets of Minneapolis - Bruce Springsteen

silversea posting in

booknook

Happy Wednesday (it's still Wednesday here)! What are you reading?

dewline

...and am keeping busy.

I used to do long-form writing reasonably well.

Current Mood: sleepy

kalloway posting in

fandomcalendar

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

soc_puppet

I don't seem to have made a list of my acquisitions this year for either my birthday or Xmas! ...Perhaps it's because I was so spectacularly underwhelmed 😓

One cool thing that I got was a gift card for a month's full membership at a local, uh. Fabrication place?

Right. So. You know how a bunch of crafts can require specific, really complicated and expensive machinery that a given person may not have the room or money to buy for themselves? Well, this facility is dedicated to housing a lot of that machinery for use by local crafters. Things like woodworking stuff, sewing machines, ceramics wheels and a kiln, a 3D printer, etc.

Anyway, I finally got around to activating my membership and signing up for classes, and my first class is tonight! I wanted to take the ceramics intro class (required to use the ceramics space), but those have been booked up for a while, so I've been out of luck. I did at least find some classes that interest me, and I look forward to learning more stuff for when I might extend my membership in the future.

First class: "Basic Jewelry Hand Tools"
Upcoming classes: "Basic 3D Printing", "Basic Cricut", "Basic Electronics", and "Basic Sewing Machines".

Current Mood: creative

kaberett

The second attempt at a present for my mother has arrived Several Whole Days before I am next going to see her! Hurrah! (About ten days after I'd received a notification that the previous attempt was ready to ship, and I'd be hearing more from the courier Drekly, I... realised I had heard nothing more from the courier. Apparently the parcel evaporated, but the company sent the order back to the workshop as a priority job...)
I successfully exchanged blood for a bowel prep kit! The blood results have not yet shown up in the NHS app, but fingers crossed for them coming through... drekly.
Allotment! Post-bloods I took myself to the plot to empty the compost pail, and accidentally did a whole pile of weeding, thereby establishing that the garlic chives have overwintered successfully (thus far) even if they're looking a bit bedraggled; that I do in fact have a lot of garlic I failed to harvest last year that's coming up merrily now (which I am contemplating redistributing in aid of maybe getting bigger bulbs out of it...); and that there are going to be So Many Beetroot. (Largely self-seeded.) (I did accidentally eat some of the garlic chives, Contra Bowel Prep Instructions, because apparently I Ought Not Be Trusted At The Allotment when I'm on a low-residue diet, BUT I successfully did NOT eat ANY of the spinach or rocket or lamb's lettuce.)
I consolidated enough of my Book Piles to unearth the coffee table! AND THUS we have begun a puzzle, which I am greatly enjoying.
Tinned pears. Tinned pears are always a Treat that is a Small Luxury, and they are especially so this week. ...it is possible that I am going to go through my entire stash.

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/01/28/protest-music-from-bruce-springsteen-and-billy-bragg/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59258

Watch on YouTube

When the history of the moment is said and done, there are going to be people who wished they had been on the same side as Bruce Springsteen and Billy Bragg, and some who will lie that they had always been. But they will know the truth, and so will others. It won’t be forgotten.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/01/28/protest-music-from-bruce-springsteen-and-billy-bragg/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59258

casemod posting in

fandomcalendar

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3200/

Some of the atoms in the molecule are very weakly bound.

https://xkcd.com/3200/

celli

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

otw_news_feed

Posted by Caitlynne

https://www.transformativeworks.org/otw-signal-january-2026/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=277270

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

As part of Copyright Week 2026, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) highlighted a broken aspect of U.S. copyright law: statutory damages. These are fines imposed on platforms and users for copyright infringement, and because there is little guidance on how to calculate them, they can far exceed the amount of actual financial harm—up to $150,000 per work. For the many internet users whose online presence relies on re-use, this creates steep risk and encourages online censorship.

Massive, unpredictable damages awards for copyright infringement, such as a $222,000 penalty for sharing 24 music tracks online, are the fuel that drives overzealous or downright abusive takedowns of creative material from online platforms. Capricious and error-prone copyright enforcement bots, like YouTube’s Content ID, were created in part to avoid the threat of massive statutory damages against the platform. Those same damages create an ever-present bias in favor of major rightsholders and against innocent users in the platforms’ enforcement decisions. And they stop platforms from addressing the serious problems of careless and downright abusive copyright takedowns. […]

“But wait”, you might say, “don’t legal protections like fair use and the safe harbors of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act protect users and platforms?” They do—but the threat of statutory damages makes that protection brittle. Fair use allows for many important re-uses of copyrighted works without permission. But fair use … can sometimes be difficult to predict when copyright is applied to new uses. Even well-intentioned and well-resourced users avoid experimenting at the boundaries of fair use when the cost of a court disagreeing is so high and unpredictable.

The EFF proposes a fairer system: limit statutory damages to a multiple of harm or eliminate them altogether in cases of good-faith fair use.

The EFF has a long history of tackling problems in U.S. copyright law. In 2008, with support from the OTW, the EFF petitioned the U.S. Copyright Office for an exemption to the DMCA’s anticircumvention provisions in order to allow noncommercial remix artists, such as vidders, to break DVD encryption for the purpose of obtaining short, high quality clips for inclusion in noncommercial remix videos. The EFF and the OTW, along with New Media Rights, continue to file renewal petitions to keep this exemption active.

The OTW received a request from an Advanced Placement high school student who is conducting a study about the effects of fanfiction and fandom on interpersonal development. To take part in this study, fans can answer a survey about the fandoms they are involved in, the fanfiction they read, and their experiences interacting with other fans. For more information, please visit the survey link above.

This study is being conducted as part of the Advanced Placement Capstone Diploma Program and is being supervised by Stephen Westbrook. Questions about this study can be directed to Stephen Westbrook.

AO3 and the OTW are not endorsing this project, but we are signal-boosting this link for informational purposes.

OTW Tips

International Fanworks Day (IFD) is just around the corner on February 15th! This year’s theme is Alternate Universes (AU), and we’d love to hear from you—what are your favorite AUs, your go-to AU categories, or treasured headcanons? Tag your posts with #IFD2026, and we may signal-boost them on our OTW social media accounts!

P.S. Today (January 28th) is the last day to let us know about any events you’ll be running in your community for this IFD! You can submit your events through this form.

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-january-2026/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=277270