[ SECRET POST #2915 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2915 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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11. [ SPOILERS for Korra ]



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12. [ SPOILERS for Korra ]



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13. [ SPOILERS for Ascension ]



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14. [ SPOILERS for OtGW ]



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15. [ WARNING for rape ]



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16. [ WARNING for rape ]















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #416.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Not OP and I dunno if you'd even know the answer, but is all the money they raise used to physically keep the site up and running or is it used for, say, promotion of "transformative works?" I mean, I doubt they've had to deal with lawsuits or anything, but AO3 isn't just a fanfic archive, the people running it have broader goals than that.

[esteefee]

OTW doesn't send out physical mailings, if that's what you mean. I think they did an event at Comic Con last year for outreach. In any event, they'd be under the same constraints as any other non-profit in terms of the percentage of what gets spent on administrative costs versus what actually gets used for the declared purposes of the non-profit.

But the Org is actually a hell of a lot better than most non-profits because it does all its promotion through the websites (fanlore, tw.org, fanhackers, TWC) that all the fans already visit, meaning it doesn't cost anything to just throw up a banner during the fundraising drives and say, hey, you like reading stuff here? Well, servers and bandwidth and switches cost $$$ so please donate. Most orgs spend a lot of money on mass mailings. The OTW spends a tiny percentage on admin and the rest is on "equipment" (eta: and software licenses. don't forget those).

The OTW does a lot more than just AO3, though. So maybe that's what OP is complaining about. But AO3's equipment takes up the bulk of the money because it has the bulk of the users.

Not to mention people are expensive

[nyxelestia]

Because on the one hand, excessive "administrative" costs are often just shells for flagrantly upping salaries...but on the other hand, having more people (as long as it's not too much) usually improves efficiency.

AO3 alone is a massive website (forget OTW as a whole), and takes a lot of people to operate it and keep it smoothly running. I still remember how much of a mess the website was when it was suddenly flooded by fanfic after the Avengers, well-beyond what the site was actually capable of maintaining at the time.

And quite frankly, I don't mind donating to AO3 if it means keeping ads away. :)

Re: Not to mention people are expensive

[esteefee]

Right! I mean, a lot of non-profits get into trouble for paying ridiculous salaries to their employees, whereas the OTW is all volunteer.

The co-lo spaces, servers, switches, bandwidth, back-up space, licenses, etc. are where the bulk the costs are. And those all directly benefit the users. So I'm not sure what the complaint is.

It just sounds like an excuse not to donate to me. No one is obligated to donate. But if they feel guilty for not donating, it seems spurious to use "you're not spending the money right" as an excuse.

Re: Not to mention people are expensive

[nyxelestia]

This reminds me a lot of the flak about Wikipedia's donation drives. Like, even accounting for the fact most of the content is user-dervied, it's still a massive website that, if nothing else, needs massive storage-space, as well as people to maintain the website on the back end, and keep user disagreements from ripping apart the surface-level content.

I honestly wish I could donate more than my measely $10 to AO3 or Wikipedia. My life would suck so much without them, and given how much they improve on other people's lives, it seems downright cheap that people are unwilling to donate to them (unable, I get, but unwilling is something else).

Re: Not to mention people are expensive

[esteefee]

I love Wikipedia. Actually, thanks for the end of year reminder.

Re: Not to mention people are expensive

[nyxelestia]

No problem! :)

Re: Not to mention people are expensive

[tabaqui]

What you said. I've donated to both, but i wish I could donate more. Both are big parts of my online 'life', so to speak.