Archive of Our Own ^beta

Our Open Doors are now opening wide to at-risk archives! The first generation mass archive importer is now ready for testing: this importer will allow us to import archives built on the popular 'Automated Archive' software. Many archives were built with this software over the last 15 years and some are now slowly sinking into the sea: four years ago, one of the things that brought the initial wave of fans together to work on the OTW was the desire to save these archives from extinction. We're really excited to have finally developed the infrastructure and functionality needed to move this work forward.

Here at the OTW, we love the plurality of fandom! There are many individual fannish archives with their own unique flavour and community, and we hope this will always continue. However, fannish archives disappear for a whole host of reasons: sometimes maintainers move on to pastures new, or real life concerns mean they can no longer support the archive. Sometimes a database becomes corrupted through simple use, and the archivist doesn't have the resources (or the technical knowledge) to fix it. Sometimes the money for servers and bandwidth runs out. Sometimes copyright holders launch legal challenges which the maintainers are unable or unwilling to act against. Often it is a combination of all of these things. When archives run into difficulties, they often disappear entirely, taking with them the wonderful creative works created by the fans who use them. Our Open Doors initiative aims to preserve these pieces of fannish history by allowing archivists to import their at-risk archives into the Archive of Our Own.

Our test case for the importer will be the Smallville Slash Archive, which was hosted by fannish legend Minotaur. Minotaur sadly passed away in 2009, and his fannish executors approached us to see whether we would be able to help ensure the site he supported did not disappear with him. They've waited patiently: we're thrilled to finally be able to give them the backup they need.

Imported archives will be set up as collections on the Archive of Our Own. This means that they will have their own profile page and header (if desired by the maintainer), and all works imported will be identified as part of that collection. Collections can be browsed independently of the main Archive, and works in collections are also accessible via the main Archive. If you have work on an archive which is scheduled for import, or you are just generally interested in how this will work, check out the Open Doors FAQ.

The SSA will be imported next week, on Sunday 3rd March! Our second test case will be the Yuletide archive, one of the newest and most complex iterations of the Automated Archive code. Once we've done these two archives and figured out any bugs, we'll be looking to import more at-risk archives: if you have an archive that uses the Automated Archive software and want to transfer it to the AO3 or to back it up in the AO3, please contact Open Doors! (You can continue to moderate or run your archive, which will be set up within AO3 as its own collection. Find out more at our short guide to Open Doors imports and the Open Doors FAQ.)

Our next step will be to try to build a version of this archive importer that works with e-fiction archives, which are also database-backed. If you are a coder who is familiar with e-fiction archives and wants to collaborate on customizing our next importer, please contact Volunteers and Recruiting: please mention specifically your e-fiction experience!

We will soon be starting to import at-risk fannish archives into the AO3 through Open Doors. This is a central part of the OTW's mission: the preservation of fannish history. At the request of archivists, we will import works which would otherwise disappear because the archive code they are hosted on is old, because the archivist or the community can no longer afford server space, or because their maintainers are no longer able to support the archive (or a combination of all three). Archives imported onto the Archive of Our Own will be made into collections: this means they will be accessible via the main Archive, but will retain some visual distinctiveness with a unique profile and a link from each work to the parent collection.

We realize that this might raise a lot of procedural and philosophical questions, so we've recently revised our Open Doors FAQ. Below, we've excerpted some of the key questions and answers about what to expect if you have work on an archive which is being imported onto the Archive of Our Own.

How will I know if an archive with my work on it is going to be imported onto the AO3?

Before we import an archive, we'll post an Archive news post about the import and tweet about it on our Twitter account @ao3org. We will also encourage the maintainers of the archive we're importing to publicise the import on the old archive (if feasible) and in other venues where they believe affected users will see the news. Since at-risk archives are often older archives where many users have moved on and/or changed their contact details, we can't guarantee that everyone affected will know ahead of time, but we'll do our best to make sure people are aware.

How will I know when my work is imported onto the AO3?

When an import takes place, an email will be sent to every user who has had a work imported. These emails will go to the email address associated with the account on the old archive. This does mean that if you no longer have access to that email address, you won't be notified automatically - we hope that the other publicity around imports will help ensure that those people affected will hear about it. We maintain a list of imported archives in the Open Doors Special Collections Gallery.

What will happen when my work is imported onto the AO3?

When your work is imported onto the AO3, several things will happen:

• We'll send an email to the email address associated with the account on the archive that's being imported, letting you know you can come and claim your works.
• If you already have an account on the Archive of Our Own, you'll be able to claim the works and add them to your existing AO3 account.
• If you don't have an account on the Archive of Our Own, you will be invited to create one, and will be able to claim your imported works and associate them with that account.
• Your imported works will be locked to logged-in Archive users by default.

What if I don't have an account on the AO3?

When an archive is imported onto the AO3, you'll be notified by email. If you don't already have an account, you will be invited to create an Archive account (without adding yourself to our regular invitations queue). Yay! If you do already have an account, you'll be able to claim the works for that account.

How will I get control over my imported works?

If you have access to the email address associated with the account on the old archive:

• You will receive an email letting you know your works have been imported and giving you the following options:
  • Claim the works on the Archive of Our Own and create a new account which they will be associated with (this means you get an AO3 account if you don't already have one). You can then edit, delete, etc, the same way you would with any work you posted on the AO3.
  • Claim the imported works and associate them with your existing AO3 account. You can then edit, delete, etc, the same way you would with any work you posted on the AO3.
  • Delete the imported works. If you do this, you will also have the option to prevent any future works associated with that email address being imported onto the Archive.
  • Orphan the imported works. This leaves the works on the Archive, but removes them from the control of any user account. You can choose whether to remove the name they were associated with on the old archive, or leave it displaying as a pseud.

If you don't have access to the email address associated with the account on the old archive:

• Contact the archivist who is maintaining the new collection - contact details will be given on the profile page of the collection.
• Contact the Open Doors team.

How will people be able to find my work?

The imported archive will be made into a collection on the Archive of Our Own, so it will remain individually distinct and can be browsed independently of the main archive. Imported works will also be accessible from the main Archive pages (so you may get some new readers!). Where possible, we will implement redirects from the original archive domain to the Archive of Our Own: we will publicise this on a case-by-case basis.

What if I have already posted a copy of the works being imported on the AO3?

If you imported the work from the original archive using our import feature, then the work will not be imported again and your existing copy will be associated with the collection. If you posted the work manually or imported it from a different url, then you will need to decide what to do with the duplicate work. You can:

• Keep the version you posted manually and add it to the collection created for the imported archive. In this case you will wish to delete the duplicate copy.
• Delete the version you posted manually and claim the version created during the Archive import.
• Claim the imported version and choose to keep both versions (you may wish to do this if both versions of the work have comments and/or kudos, as there is no way of transferring comments from one work to another).

Will my comments / reviews from the old archive also be imported?

Our aim is to import comments and reviews, because we are keen to preserve fannish history, which includes the way people interacted with the work. However, this functionality depends on the setup of the original archive, so this will be determined on a case-by-case basis and information will be made available for each individual archive import.

Why are you importing archives onto the Archive of Our Own? Why not just save the entire archive and host it on the OTW's servers?

Preserving fannish history is a central part of our mission - we love the plurality of fandom and want there to be many individual archives, but we want to ensure that if someone can no longer maintain an archive, this bit of fandom isn't lost. We'd love to be able to preserve the archives themselves, but the resources required are too big: each archive would need its own server space, a team of coders able to update and/or rewrite the code behind it, some dedicated mods, etc. By importing archives onto the AO3 but making them into distinct collections, we are able to save the wonderful fannish creativity and a little of that individual identity, while ensuring we only have to support one set of code, one lot of servers, and one support team.

I have more questions! Where should I ask them?

Please contact the Open Doors committee.

Over the past seven days, we've been spreading the love on the Archive of Our Own with our seven days of love challenge! Thanks to everyone who joined in and left comments, kudos, recs, love for challenges and love-themed works of all kinds!

Now, on the eighth day, we'd like to send our own Valentine's message. The Archive of Our Own is special because of all the people who make it that way, and we'd like to send a little love out to them all today! (Warning: mush ahead!)

We love all the OTW volunteers who work hard to create the Archive and keep it running smoothly. We have a lot of fun amidst all the hard work, and we love the joy our teams bring to the project. In reverse alphabetical order (we love you all equally):

Thank you to the Systems Committee, who keep our servers running smoothly and work their mysterious magic behind the scenes. Especial love to Sidra, the recipient of many a middle-of-the night appeal for help, who has gone without sleep to put things right when they've gone awry.

Thank you to the Support Committee, who are fast, patient and responsive and help ensure our users have the information and support they need. They are always smiling and friendly, even at their busiest (and they're getting super-efficient!).

Thank you to the Testers, who devotedly work through each new feature and each code fix to make sure that it's working as it should. They always go the extra mile, and their hard work is invaluable.

Thank you to the Tag Wranglers and the Tag Wrangling Committee, who put a great deal of thought and hard work into curating our tags and making them searchable. With 253,062 tags (and counting) on the site, they do an amazing job of keeping them all in order!

Thank you to the Communications folk, who do their best to keep everyone up to date with the news on the AO3!

Thank you to the Coders, who devote their time to building the Archive, and to fixing things when they go wrong. We love seeing people learning new skills as they work on the code, and we love those who pass on their skills to others.

Thank you to the Accessibility, Design and Technology Committee, who oversee the development of the project, manage design, and keep lots of other parts ticking along.

Thank you to the Abuse Committee, who manage the (thankfully few) disputes and complaints that arise.

Thank you to all the other bits of the OTW who do work in the organisation as a whole and enable all the teams above to do their jobs! We love you all ♥.

All of this hard work would be for naught if not for the wonderful people who use and support the Archive. So, love goes out from all our volunteers to you:

Thank you to everyone who has donated to the OTW - your money helps pay for our servers and all the other things we need to keep running!

Thank you to everyone who has ever sent us feedback or thanks - your thoughts help us make a better site and your praise makes us all smile!

Thank you to everyone who creates art, fics, filks, fan-poetry, vids, and other wonderful fanworks and posts them on the Archive for everyone to enjoy! We love you all!

Thank you to everyone who reads, comments, bookmarks, leaves kudos, and generally shares in the fannish excitement on the AO3! Your love keeps the whole thing ticking along.

THANK YOU to everyone whose love makes the Archive of Our Own what it is! We love you all and we hope you feel special today!

It's our seventh day of love! In the seven days running up to Valentine's Day, we've been spreading the love across the AO3 with kudos, comments on old favourites and new-to-you authors, recs old and new and challenges and collections. We hope that our prompts have helped to give the wonderful artists, challenge mods, vidders and writers on the AO3 the love they deserve! (Please do go back and join in the days so far to keep the joy alive!)

Fannish love is centred around amazing creativity, so for our final day we'd like to encourage you all to celebrate love of all kinds by posting a love-themed fanwork to the Archive! Don't limit yourself to romantic love - we want to celebrate platonic love, love between family members, love for places and things, and all the other varieties of love you can think of! Tag your work 'Seven days of love' so we know you're joining in the fun.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Love is all around as we hop, skip and jump through our Seven Days of Love on the AO3! Earlier in the week, we asked you to leave a comment on a work you loved but hadn't commented on. Now we'd like you to spread the love even wider - comment on the work of an author who's new to you and let them know you're happy to have discovered them!

If you need some help finding new folk to love, you could check out old and new recs (feel free to add to the recs!), or browse through works tagged love if you want to get in the mood!

Share some joy today!

We're five days into our seven days of love, and we've been having a wonderful time celebrating the amazing fanworks posted on the AO3! It's great to share the love with kudos, comments and recs old and new (and if you missed any of those challenges, don't feel shy about going back and getting involved now)!

One thing we love about fandom is the way it concentrates fannish love and generates more. One place that happens a lot is in challenges, where challenge mods put in tons of work to get lots of people together to celebrate their particular fannish passions. So, today we'd like to hear some love for your best-beloved challenges and collections, and the dedicated mods who run them! Tell us about your favourites here!

It's the fourth* in our seven days of love and today we're asking you to rec new works! Whether it's a fresh new fic based on a film that hasn't even shown yet, or an amazing vid that's been around for years but that you somehow missed, we want to hear what's made your heart flutter recently!

You can leave recs in the comments to this post, create them in your own space elsewhere and link to them from here, or create recs using AO3 bookmarks (just tick the box to say it's a rec). Share your love and tell us about that awesome vid, work or fanart which everyone needs to know about!

* Yep, we're a little late: your friendly neighbourhood poster was sick yesterday and fell asleep without posting. Um, sorry?

It's the third day of our February lovefest! So far we've asked you to show your love for the creators of your favourite fanworks by leaving kudos and comments. Now we'd like you to share the love a little more widely with some recs. Today, we'd like to hear recs for old favourites. What are the works you've come back to againand again?

You can leave recs in the comments to this post, create them in your own space elsewhere and link to them from here, or create recs using AO3 bookmarks (just tick the box to say it's a rec). Share your love and tell us about that awesome vid, work or fanart which deserves wider exposure!