fiercynonym put together an excellent Twitter thread of questions for OTW regarding its anti-racist work (or lack thereof), and I got permission to compile it here and share it with you. It's my hope that if we ask these questions and keep asking until we get answers, the OTW might finally make an effort to keep us informed about the work they're doing to fight racist harassment on its platforms without us having to ask first. I say pick a question you feel strongly about and ask the OTW Board for the answer.

These will also be excellent questions to ask at the next quarterly public OTW Board meeting, which should happen some time in April. I'll let you know when as soon as it's scheduled.

Now, here's fiercynonym's thread in its entirety. I've included the links, described images, and embedded quote retweets. If something's funky, let me know.

for folks who are planning to give otw feedback on their inaction on racism, here are some questions that you might consider posing to them... 🧵

— deepa 🪔 (@fiercynonym) January 17, 2023

- what is the hold up on finding a diversity consultant now that an officer has been appointed to research options? is it an issue of funding, decision-making, prioritization?

- how did otw settle on the path of hiring a diversity consultant in the first place? it was by no means what all fans of color were calling for in 2020, & there were many other options for action to take. why a consultant?

- given the delays in hiring a consultant, does otw still think it is a good idea? what criteria are otw using to determine whether to continue on this pathway or try something else?

- why has otw taken little other action on items that fans of color like stitch have outlined? these do not require a consultant to implement - why not start on those now? [Link to Stitch's Over A Year After the OTW/AO3's Statement of Solidarity: Where Are We With That Anti Racism?]

- has otw done any kind of outreach to fans of color to determine what steps to take and how to prioritize them? if so, can they begin that now?

- given the delays and inaction, what does otw intend to do to be accountable for their failures, prove their commitment to anti-racism, and work to rebuild trust with fans of color?

- where is otw on the appointment of a (volunteer) paid staff officer to figure out how to hire paid staff?

this is the last i had heard about it, in summer 2022

what about the paid staff officer position?

since last year, the only reference i'm able to find for this position is in otw's 3-year vision statement, which was also released in july 2022. i can find no timeline for filling that position. https://www.transformativeworks.org/otw-vision-statement-2022-2025/ [Screen grab from the OTW Vision Statement 2022-2025:

Paid Staff
We will explore models for incorporating into our structure a limited number of paid staff positions that will not replace volunteer roles, but instead provide necessary infrastructure to keep our work sustainable within a majority-volunteer organization. A Paid Staff Officer will be appointed by the Board to manage next steps towards incorporating paid staff.]

— deepa 🪔 (@fiercynonym) October 16, 2022

- otw's 2020 statement on racial justice included this bullet about updating their terms of service to better address harassment. where is otw on working on that? [Link to: Statement from the OTW Board of Directors, Chairs, & Leads with the following bullet point attached as a screen grab:

• Reviewing our Terms of Service and potentially drafting revisions that will allow our Policy & Abuse team to address different types of harassment not covered under the current Terms of Service.]

(the last time someone i know asked otw this, their question was rerouted to the wrong committee, and they received a condescending template answer that didn't address the actual question)

I wasn't expecting much from AO3 Support tbh, but I'm exploding a little with rage at how much they did not read my suggestion to update their TOS. This is the very definition of a template reply that completely misses every single point I made in the 1000 characters allowed. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/4dvpvuK1xu

— naye (@unnaye) June 13, 2022

- after the horrible sinophobia and racism faced by one of the candidates for the otw board last summer, what does the otw elections committee intend to do to protect future candidates & prevent the spread of racist misinformation about candidates?

- where is otw on investing part of their $1 million surplus so that it can generate revenue? this has been in board plans for almost three years - have investment options been researched and finalized yet?

yesterday i was told that another ~25% is intended to be invested so that otw can generate some revenue off it, but that they have not had time to research investment portfolio options yet.

tj was told the EXACT SAME THING a full year ago. https://twitter.com/biheretic/status/1449491018823479304

— deepa 🪔 (@fiercynonym) October 16, 2022

- if otw still doesn't have plans for much of their $1 million surplus, do they intend to change anything for their next (april?) donor drive so that they are not raising money that will just sit there, for example reducing the $10 membership fee?

oh look it's talk about otw's finances hour again! let's do this again, but with even MORE detail, lest anyone say i'm uninformed about this shit lmao.

the problem is not the mere FACT that otw has more than $1 million in reserves. the problem is two-fold. 🧵

— deepa 🪔 (@fiercynonym) October 16, 2022

- given that otw's abuse team was, for years, headed by someone who herself was known for writing a racist screed about fandom (franzeska), what has changed in the abuse team protocols & culture since her departure to ensure that people reporting racist abuse can be helped?

these are literally just off the top of my head (granted i have thought a lot about this in the past but still). if other fans of color have questions they think would be helpful to raise, reply here and i can rt/share! i will also add more if i think of them

oh of course i've already thought of more lol

- what goals does the otw have for a diversity consultant? what do they hope the diversity consultant will be able to provide?

- given that DEI [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] processes are only as good as the org's own commitment to anti-racism and following a consultant's guidance, if otw does move forward with a consultant, how can the org commit to actually implementing the consultant's recommendations?

(in other words, how can otw commit to not just having a consultant be there to "check the boxes" and to say that otw did something on racism by hiring them?)

Thanks again to deepa for doing this work and sharing these questions with us, and for allowing me to share them with you. Please take a moment to retweet deepa's thread or boost this post, and, if you can, please contact the OTW Board and let them know how you feel about their inaction and lack of transparency in this area, and ask them a pointed question or two about what they're doing to protect BIPOC fans.