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I. OTW'S 19TH ANNIVERSARY
On September 5, we celebrated the OTW's 19th anniversary! \o/ Our announcement spotlighted where you can find us, such as the OTW's social media accounts and additional news outlets. We also challenged fans to participate in an anniversary drabble challenge.
On Fanlore, fans collected special teddy bear-themed badges while completing the site's annual Stub September challenge, including special OTW-themed editions for the OTW’s anniversary.
For October, Fanlore is celebrating conventions with Contober! They'll be highlighting terminology, activities, and events related to conventions, and would love fans' help expanding convention pages on Fanlore. Check out Fanlore's conventions category or follow along on social media for themed posts all month long.
II. ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN
In September, Accessibility, Design, & Technology deployed version 1.7.0 and 1.8.0, alongside ongoing coding and reviewing work.
Open Doors finished multiple imports in September—thank you to both Open Doors volunteers and external moderators for their work this month!
They also announced the import of Cardie-ologist & Henrietta Wotton's memorial archives.
In August, Policy & Abuse received 6,464 tickets. Support received 4,795 tickets, partially due to a continued increase in account recovery-related tickets as explained in last month's newsletter.
User Response Translation completed 99 requests from Policy & Abuse and Support, and Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately over 658,000 tags, or around 1,500 tags per volunteer. They also announced 14 new canonicals in their September news post.
III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW
On September 15, TWC published No. 49 of Transformative Works and Cultures, their general issue, containing eleven full essays, eight Symposium essays, and three book reviews.
Translation completed their latest round of recruitment, with Basque re-joining their list of languages.
Legal has responded to several fan queries about law and fandom, and is carefully watching legal proposals in the U.S. and around the world.
IV. GOVERNANCE
Board has been preparing for their new term beginning October 1, welcoming new directors Jennifer Howard, Rebecca C Moritz, and Theodore Bloyd, and saying farewell to departing directors Anh Pham and Qiao Chu. Board Assistants Team has been supporting them with turnover, creating additional training documentation, and preparing for the October Board meeting.
Organizational Culture Roadmap has been collaborating with Communications to prepare a future news post series and working with ICCR to finalize procedures to handle compromised volunteer accounts and other situations that necessitate urgent access removal.
Strategic Planning has been wrapping up the 2023-2026 strategic plan overview by finalizing progress updates on goals and making notes for the next strategic plan.
V. OUR VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers & Recruiting conducted recruitment for five committees: Accessibility, Design, & Technology; AO3 Documentation; Communications; Open Doors; User Response Translation; and Volunteers & Recruiting. They also completed an internal audit of their internal volunteer induction and removal procedures.
From August 23 to September 16, Volunteers & Recruiting received 239 new requests, and completed 280, leaving them with 53 open requests (including induction and removal tasks listed below). As of September 16, 2026, the OTW has 1,106 volunteers. \o/ Recent personnel movements are listed below.
New Directors: Jennifer Howard, Rebecca C Moritz, and Theodore Bloyd
New Committee Chairs/Leads: corr and peaandsea (Volunteers & Recruiting Chairs) and Whatsit (Policy & Abuse Chair)
New BAT Volunteers: 2 Volunteers
New Fanlore Volunteers: 90Percent Human (Team Coordinator), 1 Discord Moderator, and Copywake, Reg, RosaNooktown, and 2 other Policy & Admin Volunteers
New Finance Volunteers: Elizabeth Wiltshire and Harlan Lieberman-Berg (Bookkeepers)
New Open Doors Volunteers: 1 Import Assistant
New Support Volunteers: anticle, eldfjall, gloriouscacophony, Hugo, kenny 1883, Lily M, Maria Sage, Nio, Ooggieboogiesboys, Teddy Naleen, whynothana, Yara, and 6 other Volunteers
New Tag Wrangling Volunteers: AJ, ajbee, Alec, Amethyst, Annabel, Arii, Ays, blagi, Caira, Candylotor, CB, Chorus, Cloudy, DanDan, DaniB, Daphcres, Dayao, E11L, emberyuki, EmilyMaria, Estel, Evon, Fallguy, Fang, Fengnuan, feyscape, freak20375, Huanzhu, hyckleren, Julia G, Jule05, kirinki, LaisQuack, Lindsey-Y, Lisweetjuices, Lucy Stars, Luvsni, Mandyjie, marshiestars, Merryvair, Morgalion, Nikki Rain, Novic, Peach S, Pilzchen, RespectedWhaman, Reverie, Robinade, rubberorange, ShadowSanctum, Soph, SuddenlyLee, Wallace, Winho, yataga, and Yoshi (Tag Wrangling Volunteers)
New Translation Volunteers: ainotski, Demkó, dila, Evie E, Hana Maze, Katari, lawmag, Markell, Nasumica, ToothOfTheRose, Tuva Boman, Zeina, and 7 other Translators
New Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteers: ambiverti, HannaC, MapleLynn, sonofasaxophone, and 2 other Volunteers
Departing Committee Chairs/Leads: Brian Austin (AD&T Chair) and 1 Translation Chair
Departing Communications Volunteers: callmeri (Posting Volunteer) and 1 TikTok Moderator
Departing Fanlore Volunteers: 1 Chair Track Volunteer
Departing Open Doors Volunteers: 1 Administrative Volunteer and 1 Digital Collections Intern
Departing Policy & Abuse Volunteers: 1 Chair Track Volunteer, 1 Supervisor, and 1 Volunteer
Departing Support Volunteers: John Pork and 7 other Volunteers; 1 AD&T Liaison Volunteer
Departing Tag Wrangling Volunteers: PhoenixAsh, Wicked, and 3 other Tag Wrangling Volunteers
Departing Translation Volunteers: 1 Volunteer Manager
Departing Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteers: corr and peaandsea (Chair Assistants), and 1 Volunteer
For more information about our committees and their regular activities, you can refer to the committee pages on our website.
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.