Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
**Remember that we rely on you, our members, to help keep the community going. Also, please remember to play nice. We are all here to answer the questions and have fun each week. We repost the questions exactly as the original posters submitted them and request that all questions be checked for spelling and grammatical errors before they're submitted. Comments re: the spelling and grammatical nature of the questions are not necessary. Honestly, any hostile, rude, petty, or unnecessary comments need not be posted, either.**
In trying to get rid of objects in my apartment, some are easy, like lighting candles. Some, like hard plastic water carafes, present more of an issue and require outside help. As such, I'm looking for help right now.
I have three plastic tumblers from past ConFabCons, including one from when it was Wincon. They're all in decent condition, and while the straw to one broke, it's easily replaced. I don't use them and I'd want them to go to a good home if they could. If anyone in the greater NYC metro area wants them, they're yours. If anyone in the greater NYC metro area knows someone who wants them, please put me in touch.
2025 was a busy year for AO3! The site continued to see rising traffic, with Communicationspublishing an update on AO3 statistics from 2020-2025. In December, Support received 3,589 tickets, totalling to over 40,000 tickets received in 2025, an all-time high. Meanwhile, Policy & Abuse (PAC) received 6,357 tickets in December, totalling approximately 47,500 tickets in 2025. Check out PAC’s pie chart for more details.
Pie chart of the approximately 47,500 Policy & Abuse tickets submitted in 2025, divided by type of complaint. These categories reflect the subject of the complaint, and (with the exception of Offensive Content), do not indicate whether the report was upheld or rejected.
In the first half of January, User Response Translation translated or betaed 32 ticket requests from Support and PAC.
In December, Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 598,000 tags, or around 1,300 tags per volunteer. In total, they wrangled approximately 4,944,000 tags in 2025. They also continued work on handling “No Fandom” additional tags, publishing December and January news posts detailing recent changes. In total, Tag Wrangling published nine “No Fandom”-related news posts in 2025 covering around 399 new canonical “No Fandom” additional tags.
In January, Tag Wrangling updated their Fandom Tag Metatag guidelines, including clarifying when a fandom metatag should be made and when to merge closely related fandoms into one fandom tag. Check out the news post detailing the new policy.
As part of International Volunteers Day (IVD) 2025, Communications collected and batched answers to the IVD Q&A by committee, resulting in five committee-specific news posts highlighting Communications, Support, Tag Wrangling, Translation, and Volunteers & Recruiting. Answers across committees, along with additional responses not featured in the news posts, have been compiled in a separate AO3 work.
III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW
Fanlore ran an editing chat to close out 2025, and it was a lot of fun! They also began preparing for their annual IFD Fanlore Challenge and Femslash February event! Keep an eye on their Bluesky, Twitter/X, and Tumblr for announcements.
Legal answered many internal and external questions this month.
In January, Communications’ Fanhackers wrote about the Transformative Approaches to Fan Identity, and they began a multi-post survey of acafannish research and publishing resources.
IV. GOVERNANCE
In December, Board announced the resignations of two directors: Kathryn Solderholm and Erica Frank. We would like to thank Erica and Kathryn for their service as members of the Board, and wish them all the best in their future endeavours with the OTW.
In January, Board finalized and approved the OTW Procurement & Purchasing Policy. They and the Board Assistants Team (BAT) organised the first quarter of 2026 public Board meeting on January 18 which had 54 attendees. Minutes of this meeting will be available soon on the OTW website. Elsewhere, Board and BAT continued work on document review and archiving board statements, Code of Conduct tasks in conjunction with Organizational Culture Roadmap, and ongoing projects for mental health resources for volunteers, scheduling tools, public meeting best practices and volunteer retention in BAT. BAT also updated their OTW website committee page.
Organizational Culture Roadmap finalized a confidentiality policy in preparation for upcoming external recruitment.
V. OUR VOLUNTEERS
In December, Volunteers & Recruiting thanked all OTW volunteers on International Volunteer Day with their organization-wide email and graphics campaign. In January, they ran recruitment for Open Doors.
From November 22 to January 23, Volunteers & Recruiting received 355 new requests, and completed 378, leaving them with 52 open requests (including induction and removal tasks listed below). As of January 23, 2025, the OTW has 1,013 volunteers. \o/ Recent personnel movements are listed below.
New Subcommittee Leads/Workgroup Heads: Eevee (Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution Lead) and megidola (Organizational Culture Roadmap Workgroup Head) New AO3 Documentation Volunteers: Lulu S (Chair Trainee) New Fanlore Volunteers: Elfie, Konsta Morales, Watts, and 1 other Graphic Designer New Open Doors Volunteers: Addiebees, AviLine, feelyx, LeighR, Marie K, meservey66, MetaKass, miffmiff, Mort, pinkconstellations, SleepyJane, Spit, StormySea, Truendz, Vail, and 11 other Import Assistants New Policy & Abuse Volunteers: megidola (Supervisor) and 1 Chair Track Volunteer New Tag Wrangling Volunteers: Chelsea Cheyanne, inspiredstork, Sanity, will, and Yrindor (Supervisors) New Translation Volunteers: Rhine and 1 other Chair Trainee; Arushi, athursdayschild, Eirinar, Linarii, Mira8, Niki K, Phoebe B, Pi, Rita P, and 12 other Translators New TWC Volunteers: Fiona M, Yumi, and 3 other Layout Editors; and 2 Outreach and Communications Editors New User Response Translation Volunteers: Eki, f0f8ff, HARRitte, Jules R, Laus, PanPan, rosings, zoy zauce, and 3 other Translators
Departing Directors: Erica Frank and Kathryn Soderholm Departing Committee Chairs: 1 Communications Chair and 1 Elections Chair Departing BAT Volunteers: 1 Volunteer Departing Communications Volunteers: KW Ukuku (TikTok Moderator), Lori P (Graphics Volunteer), 1 Fanhacker Volunteer, and 1 Social Media Moderator Departing Communications News Post Moderation Volunteers: 1 News Post Moderator Departing Development & Membership Volunteers: 1 Graphic Designer, 2 Membership Data Specialists, and 2 Volunteers Departing Fanlore Volunteers: 1 Discord Moderator, 1 Outreach Analyst, and 1 Policy & Admin Departing Open Doors Volunteers: Pelagia and 1 other Administrative Volunteer, Wynne (Import Assistant), and 1 FCPP Intern Departing Policy & Abuse Volunteers: 1 Volunteer Departing Strategic Planning Volunteers: 1 Volunteer Departing Support Volunteers: Nary and 22 other Volunteers Departing Tag Wrangling Volunteers: Nary and 1 other Supervisor; Asas Carmesins, Bruno, Eevee, lianneder, Lily_Haydee_Lohdisse, McBangle, Sayornis, Tea Huimyni, and 10 other Wranglers Departing Translation Volunteers: Teelee (Task Assistant); Illiterations and 4 Translators Departing TWC Volunteers: Melanie Kohnen (Review Editor); Courtney Lazore and 1 other Proofreader; and 1 Symposium Editor Departing User Response Translation Volunteers: 1 Translator Departing Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteers: 1 Senior Volunteer and 2 Volunteers
For more information about our committees and their regular activities, you can refer to the committee pages on our website.
This book is hard to tag - it's basically cosmic horror, or horror scifi. It is also one of the creepiest and trippiest things I've read in a long time and maybe ever.
I kinda vaguely knew about SCP as a collaborative wiki project from the 2000s, with user-submitted descriptions of imaginary (and frequently extradimensional) objects. This book is based on it. It's about a group of characters who work for the Antimemetics Division of the SCP Foundation, a department most people don't know about (because it's impossible to remember it for more than a few minutes after finding out about it) that handles "antimemes," which are the opposite of memes - if memes are catchy and transmissible, antimemes are intentionally unmemorable, to an extent where you need to use extraordinary measures, such as memory-enhancing drugs, just to recognize that they exist at all. It's information that functions as anti-information. And it turns out there are living creatures with antimemetic properties, as well as weapons that use it ...
I'm doing some minor operational work tonight. It should be transparent, but there's always a chance that something goes wrong. The main thing I'm touching is testing a replacement for Apache2 (our web server software) in one area of the site.
In a combined effort of using something up to have fewer things in my apartment, and to add some coziness to cold nights, I've taken to lighting the scented candles I've had around for a good long while - many years, for a few of them. At this point, I'm not really burning them for the scents anymore so much as I am for the ritual.
Speaking of, with my new coat arriving, I definitely don't have any reason to keep the old one around. Just excuses. Not even "I'm at work most of the day" cuts it as the closest place is open before my clients expect me. I don't like that it's just excuses, and hopefully that'll help push me to get it dealt with sooner.
In the midst of writing five ways Sir Robert and Catherine could have got together post-canon for yuletide, the inevitable result was also thinking about what if they were just married already. And I hadn't yet actually written them for 100ships or TWB for 100fandoms, so I scribbled this down somewhere in between or after the assignment, and here it is.
when all the leaves are gold (1497 words) by thisbluespirit Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow Characters: Robert Morton (Winslow Boy), Catherine Winslow Additional Tags: Community: 100ships, Community: 100fandoms, Community: allbingo, Post-Canon, Edwardian Period, Marriage, Suffragettes, World War I, (outbreak of), Vignette, Happily married Sir Robert and Catherine, Established Relationship, 1910s Summary: Catherine and Sir Robert, making a marriage work.
(edwardianspinsteraunt, the second section centres around the imminent announcement of WWI and fears in that regard, but only discussions of it, and the first section is entirely war-free anyway, so you are definitely safe there.)
Dinner plans shifted about halfway through cooking: I'd planned to make boxed macaroni and cheese with some vegetables added in, but the vegetables ended up smelling so good, I ditched the cheese. Sauteed onions, garlic, and herbs with rapini and canned tomatoes might've taken well to the cheese sauce, but I'm pleased at how it came out just the same.
My new plan is to make boxed macaroni and cheese with double the cheese sauce at some point in the future, and feel absurdly luxurious for being able to do so.
Less than 24h left! Nominations end Tue 3 Feb 17:00 CET (in your timezone | countdown) – get your noms and edits in before that!
Archer (Cartoon) The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell Please nominate according to the instructions. Thank you! Your noms will be rejected unless you comply with the instructions.
For All Mankind (TV 2019) Please disambiguate your nominations! This means adding the fandom in (brackets) to the end, e.g. Character: Aleida Rosales (FAM)
The Lost Fleet - Jack Campbell Worldbuilding: Getting used to peace (The Lost Fleet) This is not a worldbuilding nom and thus will not be accepted.
Crossover Fandom Worldbuilding: Cultural Differences (SGA) Worldbuilding: Languages & Linguistics (SGA) Are you sure you meant to nom these under Crossover Fandom, instead of SGA?
Star Wars Crossovers Relationship: Bo-Katan Kryze & Din Djarin (Mandalorian & BoBF) Relationship: Fennec Shand & Boba Fett (Mandalotian & BoBF) This isn't a crossover! Please nominate under the appropriate canon.
Relationship: Bo-Katan Kryze & Ahsoka Tano (SW Crossovers) Relationship: Fennec Shand & Asajj Ventress (SW Crossovers) Do you want to specify which Bo-Katan, Ahsoka, etc you want? Please do it at this junction by editing your noms to e.g. Relationship: Bo-Katan Kryze (The Mandalorian) & Ahsoka Tano (SW Rebels)
I used to love K'NAAN, but I hadn't seen this one, and ran into it because it was a past winner of the award Raye just got for "Ice Cream Man" (the Harry Belafonte Best Song For Social Change Award).
I can’t believe we’re already in February! We both slept in this morning.
I did two loads of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, baked chicken for the dog’s meals, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, changed kitty litter, and showered. I made those cheese sausage things for Pip’s supper and had leftover chicken and gravy on bread (hot chicken sandwich?) for mine.
Pip blew out other paths and I actually went on some longer walks today! A .35 and .50mi as well as a .25 instead of all three being .25. Instead of .75 total, I got in over a mile today because of that! I was very pleased with myself because I didn’t think it would be spring before I could mark off the .50 mile walk and over 1.00 mile day on my bingo card, lol!
I had Cinnamon Plum tea again today. I read fanfic (someone wrote ~124,500 words of Heated Rivalry rodeo AU!!!) and watched House Hunters International and Zoo Tampa.
Temps started out at -0.2(F) (it might have been lower earlier, but we didn’t see it) and reached 16.0. There was sun, and while it was good for my mood, it didn’t warm anything up.
Mom Update:
Mom sounded good when I talked to her. She said her energy levels aren’t any better, so I guess it’s all mood. She had a good food day (a variety of foods that all settled well), and my brother and Sister A had visited. She was expecting Sister S, as well. We talked a little longer because she didn’t sound like she was fading, which is good.
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 overviews some of these upcoming changes.
In this round of updates, we began adjusting existing canonical “No Fandom” tags to add or remove new subtag and metatag relationships. We also continued to streamline creating 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:
Additionally, this month we began making adjustments to existing canonical tags to add or remove new subtag and metatag relationships, which help users find related content and filter in/out content as they browse works on AO3.
While some of these tags may be tags and concepts you’re intimately familiar with, others may be concepts you’ve never heard of before. Fortunately, our fellow OTW volunteers at Fanlore may be able to help! As you may have seen in the comments sections of previous posts, Fanlore is a fantastic resource for learning more about these common fandom concepts, and about the history and lore of fandom in general. For the curious, here’s a quick look at a few articles about concepts related to this month’s new canonical tags:
While we won’t be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future about 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:
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.
Please keep in mind that discussions about what tags to canonize and what format they should take are ongoing. As a result, not all related concepts will be canonized at the same time. This does not mean that related or similar concepts will not be canonized in the future or that we have chosen to canonize one specific concept in lieu of another, simply that we likely either haven’t gotten to that related concept yet or that it needs further discussion and will take a bit longer for us to canonize it as a result. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Lastly, we’re still working on implementing changes and connecting relevant user-created tags to these new canonicals, so it’ll be some time before these updates are complete. 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 three months from now to give us adequate time to do so.
Fandom Stuff! fiachairecht's annual Dark Femslash Comment fest!
halfamoon is currently running with daily prompts for fanworks about female characters. (I'm not even trying to participate this year, but I love that it's still going.)
Province of Canada: Sign Up for Fleece Updates I guess fans lost the push to make that fleece official merch for the Canadian Olympic team in like two weeks, but you will be able to buy it at some point.
Canadian Politics House of Commons: Petition e-7005 (Health) We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to ensure all eligible residents of Canada can access required healthcare, including gender affirming healthcare, as outlined in the Canada Health Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (Open to all citizens and residents of Canada. Don't forget you need to confirm your signature via email.)
It remains below freezing, and I remain inside most of the day. I got my laundry done by going to the basement and I spent a little time at the gym by walking down the block to get to the relevant building. Other than that, it's not just been inside my building, but inside my apartment. There's not much desire to get out and head around right now, especially not with a day as slow as a Sunday. I had the possibility to make it more rapid, but I hadn't gotten myself together early enough in the day to spend three hours at the movies far downtown - a screening of Short Cuts - and I'm doing what I can to tell myself it'll come back around sometime.
That said, staying close by got the laundry done, got me to the gym for one of those "something is better than nothing" sessions, and got some lunch prep done, so I can live with that.
1. In what areas of my life do I need a fresh start? Ten of Pentacles
2. How can I nurture myself at this time? Five of Cups
3. What practical ways can I do this? Eight of Wands (Reversed)
4. What seeds of intention should I plant? Eight of Swords
5. What must I do to nurture those intentions? The Priestess.
Like fucking fine, I guess! It's reasonable advice. Not in love with both the Five of Cups and the Eight of Swords in one reading, but that's not out of line with how things have been going, either. I like the Priestess.
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