synonymous

The first two comments referenced in this thread have been collected across posts already, but the discussion on fail_fandomanon documented here puts them in a clearer perspective.

(link)

In the comments to the AO3 news post, Azarias mentions that they applied and were appointed to be the second Diversity Consultant Research Officer (which I finally figured out is what DCRO stands for) but then had to resign (https://archiveofourown.org/comments/660238867):

The initial attempt to recruit a DCRO internally was in late November 2021. As far as I know, no one applied.

Another recruitment email went out to volunteers in late February 2022. In March, I applied, and Zoe also applied somewhere around that time. I don't have any HR or DEI experience, but I'm a project manager IRL and figured I could fake it, at least to a better-than-nothing extent. I think Zoe's not in HR, either, but she also has a lot of work experience she can marshal. As far as I know, we were the only two to apply, so we were both appointed to do it.

The project kicked off on April 24, 2022. I wound up needing to resign from the project early on, for reasons that had nothing to do with later unpleasantness*.

This actually puts into context a part of her earlier comment on FFA that I didn't quite understand before (https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/596554.html?thread=3654285642#cmt365):

On another note, I got confirmation that my suspension was due to a faction of sitting Directors, Emerita Directors, and chairs who wanted to get rid of me (but couldn't figure out the existing process for doing it) teaming up with a faction who genuinely believed that I committed nine hundred separate felonies across three dozen international borders because I was butthurt at not getting to be the Board's paperwork bitch for the DCRO project that they desperately wish they could bury.

And on a similar note, friend within OTW has told me that Azarias has been one of the most vocal volunteers internally calling for the Board to respond to BLM and keep its commitments to address racism on AO3.

So....it's hard not to conclude that the retaliation against Azarias was at least in part about OTW's leadership not wanting to take action on racism. :/ What a sick system that will go to this length to frame a volunteer rather than actually do anything concrete to address racist harassment on AO3.

subthread 1

I remember the whole resignation from DCRO now. It was ringing some bells and I dememed it: https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/551005.html?thread=3349317981#cmt3349317981

The reaction back then from a couple of OTW volunteers/AO3 users to the whole thing is still bizarre to me upon rereading it. They were behaving like anyone asking for an exemption to a policy when being hired for a newly created role is completely unacceptable, wanky, toublemaking, unprofessional, etc. Which is batshit.

But also reminds me of a different take (which is unfortunately common in non-profits) where some AO3 volunteers are against hiring professionals for certain tasks that can't easily be achieved through volunteer effort alone, because if they're doing it for free, then no one else should be paid. Standards must apply always across the board even when it doesn't make sense.

It's pretty clear that the issues back then exists now, which is why change happens at a crawl in OTW/AO3.

...I get why Board candidates need to switch over to using their legal name for their volunteer work because you want to be able to connect their volunteer record to their eligibility for candidacy and you need legal names to serve on the Board.

But there's no logical reason that Azarias couldn't have used her legal name while having her DCRO hat on. It's not like Board wasn't aware behind the scenes of the connection...

The volunteer name policy is here: https://www.transformativeworks.org/volunteer/otw-name-policy/

all staffers and volunteers use the same name in all places within organization-wide tools

When the initial call for volunteers went out, this was said:

We received a question about legal names in relation to the new Officer role, so to clarify - the Diversity Consultant Research Officer will need to use their legal name in conjunction with the role as other Board Directors and Officers do, and this will appear in some external-facing locations like the OTW website. This can be a shortened version of your legal name if desired - please let us know if you have questions about this and we will do our best to help!

I was asking for a waiver on the single name policy - I was fine being Ms. Wallet Name for DCRO, but wanted to stick to Azarias for PAC for various reasons, and didn't want to publicly (within the org) connect Azarias with Ms. Wallet name. I figured out after the fact that Antonious and I were actually talking about two different things and each thought we understood the other, so it was an honest but annoying mistake.

subthread 2 starting also from "...I get why Board candidates need to switch over..." from above

Yeah, I didn't agree with the Board's decision and I thought the reasoning (based on what the volunteers were saying on meme) was poor, but at the same time, it's within the Board's remit to make that call. Azarias seemed to accept it as well and even said in quoted part above that their resignation is unrelated to the current unpleasantness...

Well, their reason for resignation is unrelated, but as they mention in a footnote (which, sorry, I didn't include in my quote) that the resignation did lead a "faction" to believe that Azarias was capable of disseminating CSEM out of, what, bitterness?

The Org's not serious about it. They act as if CSEM is just gross images that shock people to look at, like goatse. Sure, nobody wants to see that, but it's just pictures, people are being too dramatic.

In reality, CSEM is a record of a crime morally about on par with murder, and disseminating the material is perpetuating the crime. It causes real and severe psychological damage to people who see it, in addition to the children who were abused to make it.

The OTW just can't parse, organizationally, that this is a serious topic with serious consequences. Of course someone would get butthurt and throw CSEM around, it's just wanky trolling.

subthread 3 (from "I remember the whole resignation from DCRO now...")

So basically what happened was:

* OTW opened up a role that required using your legal name
* You asked if you could take on that role without doxxing the fannish identity you were already using in other OTW work
* They said yes
* They changed their minds and said no
* And a bunch of weirdoes acted like you were the unreasonable one?

More or less. I'm not entirely sure they changed their minds. We might have been talking past each other, each thinking we were agreeing to something different. But evidently me being annoyed about that was one of the reasons Board suspected me of the CSEM attack, so.

* - This note is azarias's on the aforementioned AO3 comment, in which she states: "* j/k evidently the Board thought I was so buttmad about resigning as DCRO that I'd distribute child pornography to a thousand people for spite, so I guess it was related. But I only learned that like three weeks ago." (full comment documented here)