[WRITING] "The entire board of the Organization for Transformative Works has resigned"

[rfmcdonald]

This is noteworthy. From the Daily Dot's Cynthia McKelvey:

Following a controversy around its most recent board election, the non-profit group that runs the fanfiction hub Archive Of Our Own (AO3) announced on Sunday its entire board had resigned.

Now the leadership of the Organization for Transformative Works is up in the air.

Andrea Horbinski, a current member of the seven-member board, was up for re-election to two open board seats, but she came in last in the members election. The membership, made up of roughly 8,000 fans who paid a $10 membership fee, voted for Matty Bowers, Atiya Hakeem, Alex Tischer, Katarina Harju, Aline Carrão, and Horbinski in that order.

During a public board meeting on Sunday, the OTW board appointed Horbinski back onto the board to fill an unfinished term on a third open seat not included in the election. Horbinski voted in favor of the motion to re-appoint herself to the open seat, rather than abstaining from the vote. The board meeting came to an abrupt halt after several OTW members voiced their opposition to the decision, pointing out that other candidates got more votes than Horbinski in the election.

OTW board members work on a volunteer-basis only. In addition to running AO3, OTW also runs a legal committee, a fandom wiki site, the fansite preservation project Open Doors, and an academic journal.

Comments

[liviapenn]

Just saw this on my network page... This article is, unfortunately, slanted heavily towards scaremongering about the future of the OTW, because scary doomsaying gets more clicks than "there was drama but the drama is over now." Yes, the current Board resigned, but their resignation doesn't take effect until December 15th. The two newly elected Board members begin their term December 1st. So it's in no way accurate to say "leadership is up in the air." Leadership is being handed over to the properly elected Board members. Presumably, there will be another election soon to fill the unfilled seats, and the new Board can proceed from there. Here's an official update from the Board-elect.

ETA: I forgot to mention (in accordance with our communications policy) I should make it clear that although I'm volunteer staff for the OTW this is just my personal opinion.