required reading: invasions of fannish privacy

Read these now:

Dejana and Ithiliana on invasions of fannish privacy.

Comments

[anashi.livejournal.com]

I think OTW members should be transparent about who they are. That being said, no one should have that decision taken away from them. But it's hypocrisy to say your trying to legitimize fanworks and then saying oh wait don't want to have my life connected to it in any way...like it's something embarrassing. Are OTW accepting money for their cause, btw? If they are then I think they should be even more transparent. I would want to know who I'm giving my money to if I agreed with what the OTW were doing. Just my two cents.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I'd agree if people were as good as they should be. Since they don't; since they harass, stalk, call employers, cause people RL problems, I'm not going to ask of them what I certainly wouldn't ask of myself.

As ithiliana illustrated, embarrassing is the very least of problems. Being a civil servant myself, embarrassment is far less a problem than coworkers, bosses, or say, interviewing for a promotion.

[anashi.livejournal.com]

I understand this but aren't OTW member out there in a substantial way. They were on NPR. I'm not trying to sound harsh but I think it's a little funny that OTW. who are there to provide what I'm assuming is legal support to fans, are worried about their names being on the books. Eventually won't they be out there if OTW receives more attention from the press or actually have to step in with lawyers to help out a fan. OTW seems like a charity/corporation and not some run of the mill, fan-made archive. Therefore, I don't think it's right for them to accept money without being transparent about who they are. They have a board for goodness sake. I don't think it's professional with all their stated goals to act this way.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I don't. As a member of OTW and a coder on the archive, and a person who did give money and will give more, I do not give a flying flip who they are if the possibility their actual lives and incomes could be affected by this. My curiosity is not and will never be more important than their lives. To even set those in comparison is anathema.

Your mileage varies. And I'd like to end this conversation now.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

You seem to be leaving variations of this comment everywhere I've looked today, and not necessarily in context with anything else being discussed. Is there a reason?

[anashi.livejournal.com]

Everywhere as in two or three places...

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Considering there wasn't a discussion in this entry but a link? And not about OTW? I find that odd. And I'd say more than two.

[copracat]

Hi, I'm a member of the Development and Membership Committee. Yes, the OTW accepts donations. It is because the OTW is a nonprofit organisation with legal status in the US that the board members are serving under their real names.

That US law rightly requires you to be a real person if you are representing a nonprofit and that some fans I have spoken to lately, including yourself, want to be assured of real fandom bona fides is certainly an interesting situation we all find ourselves in. This is an issue the organisation as a whole will need to discuss in the future.

If you have more questions I'd be happy to answer them at copracat at livejournal dot com or you can email the Development and Membership Committee: development at transformativeworks dot org. If you're concerned with transparency you might be interested in the OTW's first financial report here and the FAQ which answers questions about organisational structure, finances and membership here.

[anashi.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. That cleared up a lot of confusion for me. I'll definitely check out the links.