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Celebrating the OTW's 18th Anniversary

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Published:
2025-09-06 13:34:12 UTC
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18 Years of OTW

September 5 is the OTW's birthday and this year, we are turning 18 years old! To celebrate this event, let's look back at some of the milestones the OTW's projects - AO3, TWC, Open Doors, Fanlore, and Legal Advocacy - have achieved over the years:

  • As the first OTW Project, Legal Advocacy was launched in 2007, the same year as the organization itself.
  • In February of 2008, TWC released its first call for papers! Shortly after, in June, Fanlore was launched.
  • In late 2009, AO3 first went live. Roughly one year later, AO3 reached 10,000 users, with growth of the community accelerating ever since.
  • In 2011, Open Doors was launched, and began importing archives in 2012.
  • In 2015, the first ever International Fanworks Day was observed.

Since then, our projects have only continued to flourish and grow. AO3 has more than 9 million users and 15,730,000 works. Fanlore has nearly 80,000 pages and has seen over 1,657,000 edits. TWC is on its 45th issue. Open Doors has imported more than 100 archives, containing over 164,000 fanworks. Legal Advocacy fights hard for the rights of fans each and every day, responding to dozens of questions every year, filing Amicus Curiae briefs, joining coalitions, and more. All this and more is thanks to the support of fans worldwide; it wouldn't be possible without you!

If you're interested in how you can help, there are many ways for you to support us and our fannish community, and you can learn about some of them today by participating in our 18th Anniversary Bingo! On the card below you can see sixteen ways to contribute to the OTW or one of its projects. Some of these you might already have done, or are doing. You can cross those off!

OTW Bingo Card. 4x4 Squares in order top left to bottom right. Read a Fanlore page. Shared an OTW social media post. Commented under a fanwork this week. Found a press article about the OTW. Checked out our Fan Studies bibliography. Shared some recs with people. Followed the OTW on a social media channel. Read about the history of the OTW. Downloaded a work from AO3. Checked out some recent OTW news posts. Subscribed to OTW news by mail. Created or used a site skin on AO3. Created an AO3 account. Edited or created a Fanlore page. Donated to become a member. Checked out a paper on fanworks.

Once you have a Bingo, we'd love for you to tell us what you did to get it! Tag us on social media using #18YearsOTW or comment below, and let us know. We're excited to hear from you!

If you're looking for other ways you can support the OTW, check out How You Can Help for more ideas!

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