Archive of Our Own ^beta

AO3 Tag Wranglers continue to test processes for wrangling canonical additional tags (tags that appear in the auto-complete) which don't belong to any particular fandom (also known as "No Fandom" tags). This post will provide an overview of some of these upcoming changes.

In this round of updates, we continued a method which streamlines creation of new canonical tags, prioritizing more straightforward updates which would have less discussion compared to renaming current canonical tags or creating new canonical tags which touch on more complex topics. This method also reviews new tags on a regular basis, so check back on AO3 News for periodic "No Fandom" tag announcements.

None of these updates change the tags users have added to works. If a user-created tag is considered to have the same meaning as a new canonical, it will be made a synonym of one of these newly created canonical tags, and works with that user-created tag will appear when the canonical tag is selected.

In short, these changes only affect which tags appear in AO3's auto-complete and filters. You can and should continue to tag your works however you prefer.

New Canonicals

The following concepts have been made new canonical tags:

• Abandonment Issues
• Childhood Friends to Lovers
• Friends with Benefits to Lovers
• Enemy to Caretaker
• Enemies with Benefits
• Father/Daughter Incest
• Mother/Son Incest
• Roommates to Lovers
• Clit Play
• Cosmic Horror
• Eldritch Horror
• Cottagecore
• Crying During Sex
• Cryptids
• Defecation
• Diarrhea
• Messing | Soiling
• Dominant Character
• Feather Preening
• Field Medicine
• Humans are Space Orcs
• Humiliation Kink
• Love Languages
• Not Edited
• Past Trauma
• Pussy Spanking
• Self-Deprecation
• Self-Sabotage
• Soulmate Goose of Enforcement
• Sugar Baby
• Sugar Mommy
• Wound Care

In Conclusion

While all these new tags have already been made canonical, we are still working on implementing changes and connecting relevant tags, so it’ll be some time before these updates are complete. We thank you in advance for your patience!

While we won't be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future on the tags we believe will most affect users. If you're interested in the changes we'll be making, you can continue to check AO3 News or follow us on Bluesky @wranglers.archiveofourown.org or Tumblr @ao3org for future announcements.

You can also read previous updates on "No Fandom" tags as well as other wrangling updates, linked below:

• Past "No Fandom" Additional Tags Updates & 5 Things Said by Wrangling Volunteers
• Past Fandom-Specific and "No Fandom" Tag Wrangling Change Posts & Announcements

Got Questions?

For more information about AO3's tag system, check out our Tags FAQ.

In addition to providing technical help, AO3 Support also handles requests related to how tags are sorted and connected.​ If you have questions about specific tags, which were first used over a month ago and are unrelated to any of the new canonical tags listed above, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post.

Lastly, as mentioned above, we're still working on connecting relevant user-created tags to these new canonicals. If you have questions about specific tags which should be connected to these new canonicals, please refrain from contacting Support about them until at least two months from now.

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.

Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer's personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today's post is with ladydragona, who volunteers as a Tag Wrangler.

How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?

As a Tag Wrangler my job is to make sure the tags users use on their works are connected (‘synned’ or made a synonym) to the Canonical (Official) tag they most closely relate to, which allows users browsing the Archive to filter for and search for these tags! I also create new Canonical tags when specific concepts have been tagged repeatedly enough and move tags that can’t be synned anywhere, either because too many concepts are in one tag or there just isn’t one to syn it to, to their appropriate fandom.

What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?

I work a lot of hours at my irl job so most of my volunteer work has to happen around that. I try to wrangle tags for at least an hour every day after work while Wrangling parties are hosted some weekends so I'll usually try to attend those which means I'll spend more time wrangling then.

What made you decide to volunteer?

I've always loved fanfiction and, having experienced a handful of archive purges, I wanted to be involved and help maintain this site that I love so much. When I saw a Wrangler Q&A on Tumblr I realized it was possible for normal fans like myself to volunteer and help and that Q&A really made wrangling seem to be a fun thing to do.

What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?

My biggest challenge would probably be time-management. I'm prone to getting very focused on what I'm doing and not realizing just how much time has passed, as well as wanting to do more than I realistically have the time for. I often have to set timers to remind myself to go eat or go do something else.

What fannish things do you like to do?

My main fannish activity is writing fic! In fact, I've posted over two million words on the archive in the last 6 years and don't see myself stopping any time soon! When not writing fic or volunteering I also share fanart and metas on social media as well as help my fellow fans brainstorm their own fics in various discord servers. I like being involved in my fandom's community and have made some of my bestest friends that way.

Now that our volunteer’s said five things about what they do, it’s your turn to ask one more thing! Feel free to ask about their work in the comments. Or if you'd like, you can check out previous Five Things posts.

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.

AO3 Tag Wranglers continue to test processes for wrangling canonical additional tags (tags that appear in the auto-complete) which don't belong to any particular fandom (also known as "No Fandom" tags). This post will provide an overview of some of these upcoming changes.

Previous Tag Wrangling updates can generally be found on the @ao3org Tumblr and, for No Fandom tags, AO3 News. While No Fandom tag updates are generally announced on AO3 News as well as the @ao3org Tumblr, this may not be true of all wrangling updates. Some updates may remain solely distributed via Tumblr, especially those that only affect one or two fandoms. The way we distribute updates is subject to change as we work through new processes.

In this round of updates, we continued a method which streamlines creation of new canonical tags, prioritizing more straightforward updates which would have less discussion compared to renaming current canonical tags or creating new canonical tags which touch on more complex topics. This method also reviews new tags on a regular basis, so check back on AO3 News for periodic "No Fandom" tag announcements.

None of these updates change the tags users have added to works. If a user-created tag is considered to have the same meaning as a new canonical, it will be made a synonym of one of these newly created canonical tags, and works with that user-created tag will appear when the canonical tag is selected.

In short, these changes only affect which tags appear in AO3's auto-complete and filters. You can and should continue to tag your works however you prefer.

New Canonicals

The following concepts have been made new canonical tags:

• Biting Kink
• Co-Parenting
• Platonic Co-Parenting
• Fangs
• Fighting as Foreplay
• Forced Proximity
• Friends to Enemies to Lovers
• Lovers to Enemies
• Strangers to Friends
• Strangers to Friends to Lovers
• Incontinence
• Kabeshiri | Stuck in a Wall
• No Use of Y/N for Reader-Insert
• Praise
• Purring
• Phone Sex Operators
• Alternate Universe - Sex Cam Workers
• Sex Cam Workers
• Sexual Free Use
• Soft

Other Updates

While all these new tags have already been made canonical, we are still working on implementing changes and connecting relevant tags, so it’ll be some time before these updates are complete. We thank you in advance for your patience!

While we won't be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future on the tags we believe will most affect users. If you're interested in the changes we'll be making, you can continue to check AO3 News or follow us on Bluesky @wranglers.archiveofourown.org or Tumblr @ao3org for future announcements.

You can also read previous updates on "No Fandom" tags as well as other wrangling updates, linked below:

• Past "No Fandom" Additional Tags Updates & 5 Things Said by Wrangling Volunteers
• Past Fandom-Specific and "No Fandom" Tag Wrangling Change Posts & Announcements

Got Questions?

For more information about AO3's tag system, check out our Tags FAQ.

In addition to providing technical help, AO3 Support also handles requests related to how tags are sorted and connected.​ If you have questions about specific tags, which were first used over a month ago and are unrelated to any of the new canonical tags listed above, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post.

Lastly, as mentioned above, we are still working on connecting relevant user-created tags to these new canonicals. If you have questions about specific tags which should be connected to these new canonicals, please refrain from contacting Support about them until at least two months from now.

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.

Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer's personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today's post is with calamario, who volunteers as a Tag Wrangler.

How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?

As a tag wrangler, I work behind the scenes of AO3 to help organise the tags that users add to their works.

This primarily involves creating new canonical tags (i.e., the tags that show up in the dropdown and that you can filter on) for the fandoms I wrangle, connecting new tags to already-existing canonicals (i.e., making those tags ‘synonyms’ of these canonicals, a.k.a. ‘synning’ them), or otherwise wrangling the tags to their correct fandoms if they can’t be synned anywhere.

For example, have you ever wondered why tagging your work with something like “a lil angst” in the Additional Tags field makes it show up in the “Angst” tag, or why tagging “anidala” as a Relationship connects it to “Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker”? That’s because wranglers have synned them there!

If you’re interested in learning more about wrangling and the terms we use, you can check out the publicly available wrangling guidelines here.

What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?

It depends a lot on how busy my real life is! At the moment, I’m working on my master’s thesis, so I currently have a wrangling session once or twice a week, usually consisting of a few hours per session. However, one of the wonderful things about tag wrangling is that it’s super easy to scale your workload, depending on how much time you’re able to dedicate to volunteering – so during holidays and such, there might be several days a week where I spend all day just wrangling!

For a typical wrangling session, I’ll first tackle my solo-wrangled fandoms to wrangle any new tags that have shown up in the wrangling bins there, before taking a look to see if any of my co-wrangled fandoms might especially need a hand.

If it seems like there are not any new tags to handle, I might go hunting for concepts that I can canonise in one of my fandoms! Wranglers usually follow the so-called ‘rule of three’ (colloquially shortened to ‘ro3’), which means that a new concept must have been tagged by at least three separate users on three separate works. This is so that we know that there’s actually a desire in the fandom for the concept to be canonised – so if there’s a particular concept that you’d love to see get a canonical tag that you can filter on, get a couple of friends to make works about it and tag for it!

Sometimes, I might have different projects to work on besides my regular wrangling, such as a renaming project. For example, if a character gets their surname revealed in canon, wranglers might choose to update their character and relationship canonicals to reflect the change! This is a manual process that requires the wrangler to first create a new canonical with the updated format, then move over all the syns from the old canonical, and then finally de-canonise and syn the old tag to the new one. If there are a lot of tags to go through, this is a process that can take days, weeks, even months! However, I actually find renaming projects kind of soothing in their repetition, especially after having established workflows that help me get through them smoothly.

What made you decide to volunteer?

I actually first started volunteering with the Translation committee as a translator and beta reader. It used to be my dream to become a translator, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to both get some relevant experience on my resumé, as well as give back to a website where I spent (and still do spend) a lot of my free time on.

After a few months as a translator, I also applied to become a tag wrangler! The more I learnt about what tag wrangling was and the kind of work that tag wranglers did, the more it sounded like something I would really enjoy – and it absolutely is! There’s something about organising stuff that tickles my brain just right.

When I started university and had to scale back on my volunteering hours, I ended up giving up translation and sticking with tag wrangling, which has given me a lot of opportunities over the years to distract myself from course work, while still helping me feel productive.

What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?

There are honestly a lot of different things I could put down as an answer to this question.

As many people know, the last few years have been turbulent for the OTW as a whole, and the Tag Wrangling committee itself has also seen a lot of internal changes in the last year or so. While I’m happy to say that we’re now seeing a lot of progress in updating our policies and getting new projects off the ground, it definitely hasn’t been without growing pains.

While I haven’t been on the front lines spearheading any of these discussions or projects due to IRL commitments on my time and energy, I have been talking privately with some of the people who are pushing to make change within the committee. It has been incredibly disheartening to hear of some of the roadblocks that have to be overcome, whether it’s organisational inertia or simple lack of manpower, but I’m very hopeful that our current momentum will prevail so that we can make this committee (and this organisation as a whole) the best it can be. I’ll definitely continue to offer my support in the ways that I am able!

What fannish things do you like to do?

Mostly, I read a lot of fic! I rarely tend to stick to a single fandom for any length of time, but my bookmarks reveal that the fandoms I’ve read a lot in lately are Star Wars, Stranger Things, Hockey RPF, The Witcher, and The Pitt.

I’ve only written a handful of short fics myself, but I also beta fics for both friends and strangers! This is something I’ve done sporadically over many years, but I’ve been trying to offer my services more in the last year or so, as a way to give back more substantially to my fandom communities than just reading, kudosing, and commenting. Fic authors are so important to keep fandoms alive and thriving, and I’m happy to support them how I can! ♥️

Now that our volunteer’s said five things about what they do, it’s your turn to ask one more thing! Feel free to ask about their work in the comments. Or if you'd like, you can check out previous Five Things posts.

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.

AO3 Tag Wranglers continue to test processes for wrangling canonical additional tags (tags that appear in the auto-complete) which don't belong to any particular fandom (also known as "No Fandom" tags). This post will provide an overview of some of these upcoming changes.

Previous Tag Wrangling updates can generally be found on the @ao3org Tumblr and, for No Fandom tags, AO3 News. While No Fandom tag updates are generally announced on AO3 News as well as the @ao3org Tumblr, this may not be true of all wrangling updates. Some updates may remain solely distributed via Tumblr, especially those that only affect one or two fandoms. The way we distribute updates is subject to change as we work through new processes.

During this round of updates, we began a method which streamlines creation of new canonical tags, prioritizing more straightforward updates which would have less discussion compared to renaming current canonical tags or creating new canonical tags which touch on more complex topics. This method also reviews new tags on a regular basis, so check back on AO3 News for periodic "No Fandom" tag announcements.

None of these updates change the tags users have added to works. If a user-created tag is considered to have the same meaning as a new canonical, it will be made a synonym of one of these newly created canonical tags, and works with that user-created tag will appear when the canonical tag is selected.

In short, these changes only affect which tags appear in AO3's auto-complete and filters. You can and should continue to tag your works however you prefer.

New Canonicals

The following concepts have been made new canonical tags:

• Breeding Kink
• Conlangs | Constructed Languages
• DILFs | Dads I'd Like to Fuck
• English Is Not The Author's First Language
• Fast Burn
• Mind Break
• Monsterfucking | Teratophilia
• Rivals to Lovers
• Wholesome

In Conclusion

While all these new tags have already been made canonical, we are still working on implementing changes and connecting relevant tags, so it’ll be some time before these updates are complete. We thank you in advance for your patience!

While we won't be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future on the tags we believe will most affect users. If you're interested in the changes we'll be making, you can check AO3 News, follow us on Bluesky @wranglers.archiveofourown.org, Twitter/X @ao3_wranglers, or Tumblr @ao3org for future announcements.

You can also read previous updates on "No Fandom" tags, linked below:

• Update on "No Fandom" tags
• Another Update Regarding "No Fandom" tags
• Updates to "No Fandom" Additional Tags, posted to AO3 News

For more information about AO3's tag system, check out our Tags FAQ.

In addition to providing technical help, Support also handles requests related to how tags are sorted and connected.​ If you have questions about specific tags, which were first used over a month ago and are unrelated to any of the new canonical tags listed above, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post.

Lastly, as mentioned above, we are still working on connecting relevant user-created tags to these new canonicals. If you have questions about specific tags which should be connected to these new canonicals, please refrain from contacting Support about them until at least two months from now.

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.

AO3 Tag Wranglers continue to test processes for wrangling canonical additional tags (tags that appear in the auto-complete) which don't belong to any particular fandom (also known as "No Fandom" tags). This post will provide an overview of some of these upcoming changes.

Previous Tag Wrangling updates can generally be found the @ao3org Tumblr. While we plan to announce No Fandom tag updates on AO3 News going forward, this may not be true of all wrangling updates. It's likely some updates may remain solely distributed via the @ao3org Tumblr, especially those that only affect one or two fandoms. The way we distribute updates is subject to change as we work through this new process.

These discussions were the result of internal follow-up discussions related to January's updates. They involve creating new canonical No Fandom additional tags or updating the format of older canonical tags, but none of these updates will change the tags users have added to works. If a user-created tag is considered to have the same meaning as a new canonical, it will be made a synonym of the canonical tag, and works with that user-created tag will appear when the canonical tag is selected.

In short, these changes only affect which tags appear in AO3's auto-complete and filters. You can and should continue to tag your works with any version of these tags you prefer to use.

Reader and Reader-Insert-related Canonicals

During this round of updates, we tested a discussion method which permitted many related canonicals to be canonized at once, instead of each canonical having its own separate discussion period. This allowed us to canonize over 200 additional tags from one discussion.

Consequently, we've canonized many additional tags related to Reader-Insert. All Reader-Insert modifier tags will be subtags of Reader-Insert. The full list is available via tag search.

Pregnancy-related Canonicals

As mentioned in the last update, we will create a canonical for Trans Mpreg | Trans Male Pregnancy. We will also create a new canonical for Past Trans Mpreg | Trans Male Pregnancy, which will be made a subtag of Trans Mpreg | Trans Male Pregnancy.

To improve clarity, we will also be decanonizing the current canonical Fpreg and canonizing two new tags: Female Pregnancy and Fpreg | Female/Female Pregnancy. Tags which are currently synonyms of Fpreg will be made synonyms of Female Pregnancy or Fpreg | Female/Female Pregnancy as appropriate.

Lastly, we will be making 3 new canonical tags related to pregnancy in Omegaverse settings:

• Omegaverse Omega Pregnancy
• Omegaverse Alpha Pregnancy
• Omegaverse Beta Pregnancy

In Conclusion

These are just some of the changes we are making to No Fandom canonical additional tags. Some of these changes have already been implemented, while others are currently underway. Creating and renaming tags requires a lot of work from wranglers to implement, so large changes will likely take some time to complete after this post has been published.

While we won't be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future on the tags we believe will most affect users. If you're interested in the changes we'll be making, you can follow AO3 on Bluesky @wranglers.archiveofourown.org, Twitter/X @ao3_wranglers, or Tumblr @ao3org for future announcements.

You can also read the previous updates on tags updated and created through this process, linked below:

• Update on "No Fandom" tags
• Another Update Regarding "No Fandom" tags
• More Updates to "No Fandom" Additional Tags

For more information about AO3's tag system, check out our Tags FAQ.

Lastly, in addition to providing technical help, Support also handles requests related to how tags are sorted and connected.​ If you have questions about specific tags, which were first used over a month ago, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post.

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.

AO3 Tag Wranglers are continuing to test processes for wrangling canonical tags (tags that appear in the auto-complete and the filters) that don't belong to any particular fandom (commonly known as No Fandom tags).

Previous Tag Wrangling updates are available on the ao3org Tumblr, and we're trialing a new system of posting some of these updates to AO3 News as well. While we plan to make No Fandom tag updates available on AO3 News going forward, this may not be true of all wrangling updates. It's likely some updates may remain solely distributed via the ao3org Tumblr, especially those that only affect one or two fandoms. In general, how we distribute updates may be subject to change as we test this new process.

We've made a number of decisions to create new canonical No Fandom tags for high-demand tags and to update the format of some of our older canonical tags. None of these updates will change the tags users have added to works; this will only affect which tags appear in AO3's auto-complete and filters, making it easier to search and filter for these concepts. You can and should continue to tag your works with any version of these tags you prefer to use.

This post will provide an overview of some of these upcoming changes.

New Canonicals

1. Degradation

We will canonize several new tags related to Degradation. These canonicals include:

• Degradation
• Degradation Kink
• Consensual Degradation
• Verbal Degradation
• Self-Degradation
• Non-Consensual Degradation

Degradation will be a metatag of the other tags—Degradation Kink, Consensual Degradation, Verbal Degradation, Self-Degradation, and Non-Consensual Degradation—so that filtering Degradation in or out will include or exclude all of the more specific concepts.

How to Use These To Filter For/Filter Out Works Tagged Relating to Degradation:

ⓧ Filtering Out:
Add Degradation to the "Other tags to exclude" field in the works filter. This will filter out all works tagged with Degradation; this will also exclude works tagged with the subtags Degradation Kink, Consensual Degradation, Verbal Degradation, Self-Degradation, and Non-Consensual Degradation. If you want to exclude any of the more specific types of degradation only, you can do so by excluding the specific subtags. For example, you could exclude only Verbal Degradation by adding it to the "Other tags to exclude" field; works tagged with other types of degradation would remain in your search.

☑ Filtering For:
Add Degradation to the "Other tags to include" field in the works filter. This will also automatically include works that have tagged any of the more specific subtags. If you wish to filter for only certain types of degradation, you can do so by including those tags only. For example, you could include only Self-Degradation by adding it to the "Other tags to include" field; works only tagged with other types of degradation would not show in your search.

2. Sensory Overload

We will create a new canonical for Sensory Overload, and all tags relating to sensory overstimulation will be made synonyms of the new canonical. This includes tags related to neurodivergent or autistic overstimulation.

To make the meaning of the current Overstimulation tag more clear, it will be decanonized and made a synonym of Sexual Overstimulation.

3. Medical Isolation and Quarantine

We will create a new canonical for Medical Isolation and Quarantine.

4. Autistic Characters

We will create a new canonical for Autistic Characters, which will be a subtag of the current canonical Autism tag.

5. Touch Aversion

We will create a new canonical tag for Touch Aversion. The existing canonical Haphephobia (i.e. fear of touch) will be made a subtag of Touch Aversion.

Renamed and Reevaluated Canonicals

When we refer to "renaming" tags in this section, this means decanonizing a previously canonical tag and making it a synonym of a new canonical tag. This means that the tags on works themselves will not change, but filters and searches for the new canonical tag will include works tagged with the former canonical. You can and should continue to tag your works with any version of these tags you prefer to use.

6. Mpreg

To improve clarity for those unfamiliar with the term, the tag Mpreg will be renamed to Mpreg | Male Pregnancy. The related tag Post Mpreg will renamed to Past Mpreg | Male Pregnancy to clarify the tag's meaning and match the format of the new tag.

We will also create a new canonical for Trans Mpreg | Trans Male Pregnancy, which will be subtagged to Mpreg | Male Pregnancy. Similarly, to allow users to tag and filter more granularly with regards to pregnancy, we will be creating a new canonical for Intersex Pregnancy, which will be a subtag of Pregnancy.

7. Found Family

The tag Families of Choice will be renamed to Found Family. We hope this new phrasing better reflects the language fans use and makes the tag easier to find.

8. Gender Themes

The tag Gender Related will be renamed to Gender Themes to clarify the meaning of the tag. We will also create a new canonical for Trans Themes, which will be subtagged to Gender Themes.

9. Nose Nuzzling Kisses

The tag Eskimo Kisses will be renamed to Nose Nuzzling Kisses.

We apologize for originally canonizing this tag with an offensive term. We are working hard to develop a robust and sustainable collaborative discussion format for No Fandom tags to continue to correct past mistakes and avoid making similar ones in the future.

10. Mother Complex

The tag Mother Complex will be decanonized and made a synonym of the existing canonical Mommy Issues. Tags that are currently synonyms of Mother Complex will be made synonyms of Mommy Issues or Mommy Kink where appropriate.

For many years, this tag has caused some confusion for users, because there was not a clear difference between Mother Complex and the more well-known Mommy Issues tag, and the tag Mommy Kink used to be a synonym of Mother Complex. We recently canonized the tag Mommy Kink, in part to address this issue.

Reorganization of Podfic-related Canonicals

We will be reorganizing several tags related to Podfics in the coming weeks. We hope these changes make it easier to tag for works and navigate AO3.

For ease of filtering, we will be making the existing Podfic tag a metatag for all canonical tags related to podfic length (such as tags like Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes and Podfic Length: 7-10 Hours). This means that filtering include or exclude on Podfic will automatically include or exclude works tagged with a podfic length tag, even if they aren't tagged with Podfic.

We also will be creating new canonicals and renaming some existing tags:

• A new canonical will be made called Podfic and Text in the Same Work
• Podfic Collaboration will be renamed to Multivoice and Collaborative Podfic, which we hope better reflects the language fans use and makes the tag easier to find
• Read by the Author will be renamed to Podfic Read by the Author to clarify the tag's meaning

Finally, we will merge some existing canonicals that were originally created separately but have very similar meanings. To make searching and filtering for these concepts easier, we have merged the following tags:

• Podfic Desired will be decanonized and made a synonym of the existing canonical Podfic Welcome
• Podfic Linked will be decanonized and made a synonym of the existing canonical Podfic Available
• Podfic & Podficced Works will be decanonized and made a synonym of the existing canonical Podfic

Reorganization and Additions to Gender Transition Canonicals

In our last Tumblr post, we announced the newly renamed canonical Changes to Gender or Sex. To make it easier for users to tag and filter works, we will also clarify related tags and create new canonical tags related to gender transition.

The current canonical Sex Change has been used for both medical gender transition and forced sex changes; this tag will be decanonized and made a synonym of Changes to Gender or Sex. To allow users to better tag and filter for these concepts separately, we will also be:

• Renaming the current canonical tag Transitioning to Gender Transition
• Creating a new canonical for Medical Gender Transition, which will be subtagged to both Gender Transition and Changes to Gender or Sex
• Creating a new canonical called Forced Gender Transition

We also plan to make the following new canonicals relating to medical transition:

• HRT | Hormone Replacement Therapy
• Gender-Affirming Surgery, which will be a subtag of both Surgery and Medical Gender Transition
• Top Surgery, which will be a subtag of Gender-Affirming Surgery
• Bottom Surgery, which will be a subtag of Gender-Affirming Surgery
• Top Surgery Scars

Finally, we will be creating the following new canonicals to help users better search and filter for whether characters have had gender-affirming surgeries:

• Character Has Had Top Surgery
• Character Has Not Had Top Surgery
• Character Has Had Bottom Surgery
• Character Has Not Had Bottom Surgery

In Conclusion

These are just some of the changes we are making to No Fandom canonical tags. Some of these changes have already been implemented, while others are currently underway. Creating and renaming tags requires a lot of work from wranglers to implement, so large changes will likely take some time to complete after this post has been published.

While we won't be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future on the tags we believe will most affect users. If you're interested in the changes we'll be making, you can follow AO3 on Twitter @ao3_wranglers or Tumblr @ao3org for future announcements.

You can also read previous updates on tags updated and created through this process: Update on "No Fandom" tags and Another Update Regarding "No Fandom" tags.

Learn more about how the AO3 tag system works in our Tags FAQ. ​​In addition to providing technical support, Support also handles requests related to how tags are sorted and connected. If you have questions about tags not on this list, which were first used over a month ago, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post.

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.

Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer's personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today's post is with Isis C, who volunteers as a wrangler and Support liaison for the Tag Wrangling Committee.

How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?

My volunteer work fits into three closely-related bins. As a tag wrangler, I connect users' character, relationship, and freeform tags to our canonical tags, and I make new canonical tags as needed. I wrangle about 70 fandoms, mostly historical and SFF book and TV fandoms, with a few video games and RPF fandoms thrown in there.

As a tag wrangling supervisor, I do all sorts of administrative and management tasks related to wrangling. For example, I help manage all phases of wrangler recruitment and training: I evaluate applications, send out acceptances, monitor training progress, and set up training schedules. Sometimes I mentor new wranglers or new supervisors, and there are always random administrative tasks to do.

As a Tag Wrangling/Support Liaison, I ferry user requests for tags to be canonized or re-wrangled to the wranglers of those fandoms, and I answer user questions about wrangling guidelines and processes. (If you ask Support why a search on Trans Danny Fenton returns a few Hawaii Five-O works, or how to find works with a particular AU Sans when they are all merged to Sans (Undertale), I'm probably the person who will answer.) There’s a lot about wrangling that isn’t obvious until you see it from the inside, but I like answering user questions because if users understand the process better, they’re more likely to tag in ways that will accomplish what they want.

What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?

I have a very flexible schedule and a lot of free time, and I'm online a ridiculous amount of that free time! I find wrangling very relaxing, especially when it's easy - synning misspelled character names to the canonical tags, making relationship tags for characters that already have character tags, and other things that don't need research or a lot of thought - so I like to wrangle for a while before tackling real life things I don't like doing, like taxes or phoning for appointments or vacuuming, or even before writing fic or doing other things that require more brainpower.

Supervisor tasks require a bit more attention, so I like to do them when I have enough free time that I can concentrate on them. Of course I always warm up with a little easy wrangling!

Most of the Support tasks I take on require coordination with other wranglers, and Support requires communication with users to be beta-read by another volunteer before sending out, so I tend to do these in batches as well when I have a block of time. We have a lot of older wrangling-related tickets that have not yet been handled because there was too much work and not enough liaisons, so whenever I feel particularly motivated I try to answer the people who have probably given up on getting answers.

What made you decide to volunteer?

I'm old :-) and have been in mainstream science fiction and fantasy fandom for a very long time, although I didn't get into fanfiction-type fandom until 2002. (Which I realize is probably before many of the people reading this were born!) I get super enthusiastic about my hobbies and like to help organize things, so for example in 2002 and 2003, when fandom was mostly on mailing lists and fandom-specific forum sites, I coordinated an effort to help get fandom going on LiveJournal by collecting invite codes, which were required at the time, and distributing them to fanfiction writers and fanartists. I used to edit various fandom newsletter communities, back when that was a thing, too. Anyway, a fandom friend who was a wrangler encouraged me to apply during a recruitment, and that was all it took! When I became a supervisor, one of the tasks I enjoyed the most was helping out with support tickets, so when I got the chance to be a Support Liaison I immediately said yes please!

What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?

As I mentioned, I'm old, and I started out on mailing lists where tags were fandom, characters, and pairing, and that was it. I never managed to get into Tumblr, which I suspect is where the use of descriptive tags started. Often I look at freeform tags that reference memes, or Gen Z slang, or newer terms for sexual identity, and I am completely baffled! Fortunately, the wrangler chat is a wonderful research source, and other wranglers are always kind about helping this little old lady across the street decipher tags.

What fannish things do you like to do?

I write and read fic, although not so much these days as way back when. (But I still get a smile on my face when my old works get kudos or comments!) I used to vid a little, too, but even though I haven't participated in Festivids for many years, I still enjoy watching the vids people create for small fandoms, and recommending the ones I love best. I also really like to beta read fic, because that way I can help good stories become great stories.

But my most intensive fannish involvement these days is being a fanwork exchange moderator. I moderated a number of small single-fandom exchanges pre-AO3, and wow, AO3 makes it so much easier. I love small fandoms, and I participated in Yuletide nearly from the beginning, so I was super excited to be invited to become part of the moderation team some years back. I also co-mod the current incarnation of the Worldbuilding Exchange, and sometimes I help out with other exchanges.

Now that our volunteer has said five things about what they do, it’s your turn to ask one more thing! Feel free to ask about their work in the comments. Or if you'd like, you can check out earlier Five Things posts.

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.