End OTW Racism

The Candidate’s Q&A’s have been posted by OTW and we invite everyone to read through our compilations on TOS and Diversity Consultant updates. We also encourage people to dig further into the candidate’s fuller responses.

In addition, we have put together a few questions and we invite each candidate to answer on any platform they choose. We will boost any responses we receive. Our platform is also open should a candidate prefer to email or DM us.

1. When someone experiences or witnesses racist harassment and abuse within the OTW, or as a user of their platforms, what should they do within the current processes in place? What changes to current processes, if any, would you propose?
2. How does the organization’s current structure inhibit the ability to execute change and how do you plan to deal with it?
3. Will you carry through on the commitment made by the current Board to hire a diversity consultant, ideally before the end of the year?
4. Will you commit to providing regular updates in the OTW monthly newsletter on the process of TOS updates and the hiring of a Diversity Consultant, even if the update is that there is no change?
5. If there is one thing you would like people to know about dealing with race issues/racism within the OTW, what would it be?

We've had reports of the voting information email from #OTW Elections sent on July 22-23 not reaching all recipients. Visit OTW News for instructions on what to do if that's happened to you.

As we mentioned before, the OTW Board election on August 11-14 is now uncontested with five candidates and five open positions on the Board, but it’s still important to vote, as OTW members will elect three candidates to serve a full term (3 years) and two candidates to serve partial terms. Whoever gets the most votes will serve the longer terms, so we encourage everyone who’s eligible to vote to do so!

For more information on voting, check out the OTW page.

endotwracism posted: Candidate Q&A Answers

As part of our analysis of the Candidates Q&A answers with regards towards our goals (specifically: Updated TOS, Diversity Consultant and Transparency) we are presenting the candidates answers to questions related to these topics in a format to allow for ease of comparison.

This post has been updated with candidate answers from the second and third Q&As.

As part of our analysis of the Candidates Q&A answers with regards towards our goals (specifically: Updated TOS, Diversity Consultant and Transparency) we are presenting the candidates answers to questions related to these topics in a format to allow for ease of comparison. These responses are provided as they were given by the candidates and without commentary. Links are provided in the spreadsheet to the original responses.

Q&A 1 - Board Work→

Q&A 2 - Features and Content Policy→

Q&A 3 - Recent Discussions→

Q&A 4 - Board Work II→

[art credit: sciencebluefeelings]

Based on some of the responses we have received to this post, we would like to clarify what our intent is with the summaries and the framework through which we are evaluating the candidates.

There are many ways to fight racism in fandom and within the OTW. Increased support for volunteers, a more diverse group of volunteers and leadership, a Board and leadership that reflects the growing international makeup of modern fandom, more outreach to and support for non-Anglophone fandoms to broaden our community – we agree that these are all fantastic ways to diversify and better fandom. These are ways that we (fandom as a whole) can all work to make fandom better and more welcoming.

However, the fact is that tackling racism is an enormous project bigger than any one campaign or committee. It is a broad, overarching goal requiring many tactics and actions. We do not purport to be capable of doing all or even a majority of them.

From the beginning, our goals and focus have been intentionally narrow: based on concrete, measurable criteria which have already been promised by the OTW and which we feel are fundamental to making continuing anti-racism work possible. There are many related and overlapping issues and goals but these remain our primary targets as laid out in our first call to action:

1. An updated TOS equipped to deal with targeted harassment and policies regarding abusive content.


2. Hiring a diversity consultant.


3. Committing to a policy of transparency with increased communication from the OTW to their user base.

There are many promising candidates for this year’s board, and we feel each candidate brings unique skill sets and perspectives that could benefit the OTW. We find much that is promising in all of their platforms for a variety of reasons. Outreach to non-Anglophone fans, increased demographic and national diversity on the board, tackling AI, support for OTW volunteers, these are all important and relevant issues but outside the intentionally narrow scope of this action and movement.

Our summaries are not intended to be one-stop-shop analyses of the entirety of a candidate’s platform with regards to racism. Just as we have not endorsed any candidates (and we may not), we do not intend to disparage any candidates.

We are conscious that our campaign and the goals we are pushing for may not have made it onto the radars of the candidates in time for them to speak on it, and that there may be language barriers and differing ideas on the vocabulary around racism, anti-racism etc. between us and the candidates. That is why we would love a larger discussion with the candidates on their views with regards to our specific goals and would publish their answers in full, because we are sure they have insights and perspectives that we look forward to taking into consideration.

We have taken time to go over the bios and platforms presented by the current candidates, and will here present our thoughts for each on how we feel they align with our campaign's goals at this stage. We are particularly concerned with how willing and capable we feel they would be in helping the OTW meet its commitment towards developing anti-racist policies and practices. We encourage everyone to read the platforms for themselves, and we look forward to getting to know each candidate more during the question-and-answer period.

Anh P.

Gave no pronouns, the bio uses they/them.

Anh P. identifies the OTW's lack of transparency as a direct symptom of its current structure and human resource management not being up to the task of managing its 900+ volunteers, but does not offer solutions in their platform at this time. Their main focus seems to be reaching out towards new fans, particularly in non-English-language fandoms, for which their international, non-Anglo background and perspective are well-suited. However, they do not specifically acknowledge racism as a distinct problem nor do they indicate that they would prioritize anti-racist goals. They do not mention the Terms of Service (TOS), Policy and Abuse Committee (PAC), or their position on a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) consultant, nor do they state a position on using funds towards hiring anyone for that position.

Audrey R.

Gave no pronouns, the bio uses she/her.

Audrey R. has experience within the organization and has a background in policy and nonprofit work, which could translate well to the Board. The work she has done has been on the Strategic Planning committee, which has worked at a particularly slow pace (6 years for implementation of the strategic plan), which she acknowledges “does little to address immediate needs.” Her stated primary reason for running is to protect fandom from AI which, while admirable and important, is not our focus – and to that end, she does not mention racism or harassment at all. She expresses willingness to have paid employees and calls for a conflict resolution management system for volunteers.

Jennifer H.

Pronouns: she/they.

Jennifer H. specifically addresses the importance of communication with the OTW’s user base. She also speaks to the need for complete structural reform. Her platform indicates an experienced perspective on what she can accomplish as a Board member and a willingness to do the hard work to make things better. We find their platform promising in that they are directly addressing issues we have raised, show these issues to be a priority, and express an understanding of the difficulty of the road ahead, but a willingness to do the hard work anyway. She seems to have a bit less experience working for the org, having only joined in 2022, but that is not necessarily a point against them.

Kathryn S.

Gave no pronouns, the bio uses she/her.

Kathryn S. has experience in nonprofit work and community activism, implementing DEI efforts and Human Resources (HR) experience which seem to make her a good fit for the Board and realizing our goals. She explicitly prioritizes the hiring of a DEI consultant along with an HR position. She does mention “recent controversies” in her platform, though she does not specify which ones. Her experience with the OTW is significant, at 9 years.

Qiao C.

Pronouns: she/her.

Qiao C. also brings an international fandom perspective and focuses primarily on the importance of communication inside and outside the organization. She makes a very brief mention of updating the TOS. She does indicate she would like to hire an HR professional, but her platform – while it mentions the recent protests and spends time discussing diversity issues – makes no explicit mention of racial issues outside bringing in more diverse volunteers. We do feel that more diverse voices within the OTW are important, though diversity alone is not going to solve the issue of racist harassment currently allowed in the OTW’s policies and enforcement practices. There is nothing else in her platform that speaks to dealing with racist harassment, updates to the TOS, or hiring a DEI consultant.

Zixin Z.

Gave no pronouns but the bio uses she/her.

Zixin Z would also bring an international presence to the board. She mentions the need for structural change, paid positions, and increased documentation to prevent the loss of institutional knowledge. She also mentions the need for outreach towards non-English-speaking fans and has a desire to provide support to volunteers from minority groups. She does not mention racism, racist harassment, or hiring a DEI consultant in her platform, so outside the outreach and support she mentions, there is not enough for us to conclude that these would be priorities for her.


[Edited July 10,2023. Revised Zixin Z.’s position on outreach to be “towards non-English speaking fans and has a desire to provide support to volunteers from minority groups” and added “outside the outreach and support she mentions” to the subsequent sentence. Original stated the outreach would be towards “Chinese-speaking fans”.]

[Alt text: Image of a two-toned brown owl typing at a laptop in a cartoony style, image credit sciencebluefeelings]

The deadline to submit questions for the candidate Q&A is this Sunday!

In order to qualify, questions must be received by 11:59 pm UTC on June 25 (what time is that where I live?). Every candidate running for the OTW Board will answer each question, and their answers will be posted to the OTW Elections Blog in July.

This is a great opportunity for those that want to get involved with our cause to make OTW’s efforts to address racism and racist harassment a topic of discussion in this election. By submitting questions on how the candidates plan to address racism during their term we can get a feel for the candidates’ stances on this issue, which will be essential when voting. We encourage everyone to take some time and submit questions on this topic. And anyone can submit questions! You don’t have to be an OTW member to get involved. All you have to do is load up the Elections form, select “Candidate Q&A” from the drop-down menu, and send those questions in.

Note that some restrictions may apply! Specifically these:

• Questions can be a maximum of 50 words long.
• Questions must not be repeats of questions from the Platforms. This is to allow candidates to spend their time answering new questions.
• Similar questions will be grouped together so candidates don’t have to repeat themselves. Elections volunteers will decide which questions are similar enough to group.
• If you have a follow-up to a Platform question, please specifically mention that it is a follow-up so it isn’t treated as a repeat.

Tip: You can find these rules on the 2023 Election Candidates Announcement as well as links to each candidate’s platform.

What's next? June 30th is the last day you can become a member and still vote in the upcoming election. Find out more at the OTW's Election Timeline 2023.

[Alt Text: Image of a two-toned owl in flight with a text bubble that reads “Fandom Against Racism” in a cartoony style. image credit sciencebluefeelings]

– The Fandom Against Racism Team (& making their debut, our new owl friend!*)

*If you’d like to help us name our new owl friend (pronouns they/them), drop us a suggestion and we’ll pick the one that suits them best!