| Mirrored from an original post on the OTW blogWelcome to the first October issue of the OTW Newsletter! We're constantly on the lookout for ways to keep fandom up-to-date and informed about what's going on behind the scenes here at OTW, so twice a month, Community Relations compiles updates about what the various committees are working on and we share them here. All issues of the newsletter will be tagged accordingly, so you can follow our progress chronologically. ( Committee Updates! )What details would you like to know? Please give ComRel a helping hand and let us know! Email us at comrel @ transformativeworks.org.– ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) femmequixotic, bethbethbeth, ciderpress, mirabile_dictu, shrift, svmadelynCommunity Relations CommitteePlease feel free to comment on the OTW blog post!
Edited Financial blurb upon committee request to correct accountant name. | |
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| ( mirrored from an original post on the OTW news blog) We are working to address a problem some users have experienced with getting 404 errors to pages which clearly exist (like blog links from the RSS feed, or menu items.) The temporary solution is to choose a language from the language switcher (even if it's English) and reload the page. We are testing a solution now, but please, feel free to report any errors you experience. It is particularly helpful if you let us know: the page you were on before you got the 404 error
the page you were trying to access when you got the 404 error
whether you were logged in to the website or not
whether you had selected a language through the language switcher
whether you have set preferred languages in your browser, and, if so, which languages
your browser and operating system (including version numbers) | |
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| Want a first look at the Archive Of Our Own? Come browse!While we're still very much a work in progress, with many of our most exciting features still in development, you can now go to http://archiveofourown.org and browse for stories!! (Please note that this early version of the archive only works/looks right with the Firefox browser.) Yay! How do I get an account?Account creation is coming soon! We've started with OTW staffers and testers because they couldn't get too mad at us if everything broke. :D Now with this read-only launch, we are hopefully going to get some information about how the archive performs with lots of people reading. Once we see our performance results (and fix or speed up the slowest things), we will start up an invite system where archive admins and current users can send out a small number of invite codes. (This invite system is not intended to exclude anyone, it's just to let us control how many new accounts we get during these early beta stages. Once the archive is out of beta, anyone will be able to create a new account at any time.) Remember, we're totally still a work in progress, and things may break, change suddenly, or not perform as expected. Plus many of our coolest features--like subscriptions and communities--are yet to come! So when you get a beta account, please do be prepared for occasional bugs! Oh my god, it looks totally broken on my screen!Did we mention it was optimized for Firefox?? The Archive is currently optimized for FIREFOX USERS ONLY! Eventually, the Archive will work with most browsers, including the dreaded IE (boo, hiss!) but that's going to be some of the last coding we do; for now, it's Firefox only. However, Firefox is an awesome browser that you should totally be using anyway, and it's available for Windows, Mac, and Linux and can be downloaded here. What features are currently available for users with accounts?A user with an account can set up a profile, add different pseudonyms, upload new stories and port over stories from existing URLs. They can make some stories visible only to other users. They can bookmark stories and create rec lists. Wait! Where is feature x? Where is feature y? You said--!We're working on it, we swear! This Beta version is functional, but does not yet have all the features that the Archive will eventually have. In particular, the subscription feature (coming soon!) is likely to change how you use the archive; users will be able to subscribe to particular tags, meaning particular authors, fandoms, kinds of stories, etc. But for now, you can use full-text search or browse from our "people" page or our "works" page, you can browse and filter search results with tags, and sort by spiffy things like wordcount. We will eventually also offer a more customizable experience vis a vis fonts and interface displays; for now, these things are standard. Icons will be coming too; for now, you'll see only placeholders. That being said, we really want user feedback and opinions on what we've got in place so far. What works for you? What doesn’t work so well? Does everything work as expected? We can’t promise to change/fix everything immediately, and we won’t be able to please everyone, but as the coders keep coding, we want to get some feedback from real users. Please write to us and tell us about your experience searching, browsing, and reading. There is a feedback form on the site linked on every page in the footer; please talk to us! Exact descriptions of problems are helpful; screenshots are awesome. Hey, is there anything in particular I can help you with?Glad you asked! Giving us feedback and reporting the inevitable bugs will be a huge help all on its own. If you find yourself giving a lot, and you'd be interested in getting more involved, we can always use more volunteers for our awesome team of official testers, who go over user feedback and pass bugs up to the coding team, and who check to make sure the bugs are actually fixed. And if you are a coder or play one on TV or even just would like to someday play one on TV, you can also contribute to the archive code! We are always looking for volunteers, so if you find a bug and feel like helping to fix it yourself, please get in touch with us through volunteers@transformativeworks.org. If you are into web design or graphics, we're currently working on our browsing and searching interfaces extensively, trying to come up with the best way to cram in as much information as possible about a story or a user or a bookmark, while keeping results compact (so we can fit a lot on a screen), and making it all accessible for users with disabilities or limited computer setups. We would really really love any sketches and design proposals you might come up with -- please send them to us at feedback@archiveofourown.org! And as our interfaces firm up, we will also be needing translation volunteers to help us actually put in the translations (we've got the infrastructure built for translation, as you'll see on the site, but haven't actually been adding translations yet while everything has been changing so fast). If you'd be able to help, please contact us through volunteers@transformativeworks.org and let us know what languages you can help with! Thanks so much for checking out the archive, and in conclusion, YAY! \o/ -Brought to you by the Accessibility, Design, & Technology committee & all the fabulous OTW coders and testers! Contact us at adt@transformativeworks.org | |
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| The Webmasters are pleased to announce the launch of the new website and blog. http://transformativeworks.orgIn addition to a facelift, the website now has several spiffy new features that increase the ease-of-use of the site. The most important of these is the blog, which will be taking over from otw_news as our primary information service. It will also allow all comments to be centralized in one (non-LiveJournal) hosted by OTW itself. FeaturesWe’ve been working hard to introduce a number of new features for site visitors, including multilingual options (take a look at the language switcher on the left), a new site-based OTW news blog (you’re reading it), and the ability to comment on this blog, with or without creating a site account (or you can use an OpenID). FeedsThere are several ways to track updates to the site and blog: A feed for all blog posts is available.
The on-site Tracker is a way to find updates while using the website.
Finally, there is the Yahoo!Pipe feed, which combines both blog posts and all updates to the website.
How the blog works
The blog will post all the things you've seen in the past on otw_news, such as newsletters, calls for volunteers, spotlights on OTW committees, and updates on our projects. This information will be re-posted on our other news services:
LiveJournal mirror (otw_news)
InsaneJournal mirror
del.icio.us
Follow OTW on Twitter
OTW news Yahoo Group
RSS Feed
Atom Feed
You can leave comments on the blog much as you would on the journaling services, by creating your own account or using OpenID, or simply by providing a name and an email address. The blog operates under the Website Terms of Service, which includes this comment policy:
We may maintain one or more blogs on the site that accept comments. We strive for transparency and will generally post comments we receive, including critical comments. However, by submitting a blog comment, you agree that it is our decision whether or not to post it. If we decide, in our sole discretion, that a blog comment is spam or advertising; reveals the personal information of another person; or contains illegal content or hate speech, we may not post that comment, or we may remove it at any time.
What about otw_news?
Not a lot will change. The big difference is that otw_news will become a feed service for the blog – all the same content will be mirrored there, but commenting won’t be turned on. All comments will be centralized on the blog, which will allow fans from different communities who use different blogging or social networking services to engage on equal footing.
Basically, if you’re subscribed to the feed on LiveJournal or a clone, sorry, we don’t monitor any comments there! Come on over to the blog to reach us – the link to our comment page is given below.
Feedback on the new website
We are very excited to finally be sharing all these new features with you, and we hope you enjoy the added functionality the website and blog offer. We know everything may not be perfect yet – so take a look around and tell us what you think! We’d really love to know if you have ideas for improvements or can point out things that work differently than you expected.
--The Webmasters.
If you have questions or feedback for the Webmasters, contact us at OTW Webmasters. | |
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| The Wiki team is pleased to announce the launch of the beta version of Fanlore! Fanlore - [ http://fanlore.org] Fanlore is a wiki in which fans can share knowledge and interpretations of fan communities and their histories. All fans are welcome to add both facts and experiences of fandom to the wiki. Together we hope to build a valuable resource that will serve many different purposes within fandom over the coming years. To register as a contributor, visit the account creation page. If you have never used a wiki before, or you're not sure where to start with this one, the New Visitor Portal will help you. It contains shortcuts to handy links and explanations. Our hard-working Wiki Volunteers and other OTW staffers have already made a start in seeding Fanlore with content, but we need your help to make the wiki flourish and grow. What is Fanlore?The mission of the Fanlore wiki is to engage fans from a wide variety of communities that create and enjoy fanworks, and to provide them with a platform to record and share their histories, experiences and traditions, for both themselves and others. Currently, Fanlore is in beta, which means that we're still working on the admin stuff -- polishing up our policies, refining our logo and interface, developing the ways in which we hope to make the wiki as user-friendly as possible. You can find out more at Fanlore:Beta. Fanlore's policies are based on principles of diversity, multiplicity, and on the value of keeping a constantly-updated record of fans talking about fandom. The main way in which this will work is through the wiki’s Plural Point of View (PPOV) policy, which sets Fanlore apart from Wikipedia and its Neutral Point of View. The Plural Point of View policy values each fannish voice; we recognise that there is no single history or “truth” in fandom, but many differing experiences, and we welcome each perspective and interpretation. We want to make all of our policies as transparent and adaptable as possible. We have tried to provide examples, plain English guidance, and in-depth reasons for the choices we made. During the beta period we hope that you can give us feedback on whether we're reaching these aims. Get InvolvedIn addition to regular contributors, Fanlore needs Gardeners. These are the people who monitor, clean up and organize content, and generally make sure everything is running smoothly. If you're interested in becoming a Gardener, you can find out more on the Fanlore:Gardeners page. We hope you will find Fanlore a useful resource as it continues to grow and evolve, whether you just pop by for a visit, decide to sign up and add your own perspective, or become a Gardener. We can't wait to see the awesomeness that grows within Fanlore's pages, with your help, for all of us to share. The Wiki Committee - Hope / angstslashhope (Chair) anatsuno / anatsunoBetty / brown_bettykai / kaizMelina / melina123Rache / wickedwordsIf you have questions or feedback for the Wiki team, contact us at wiki@transformativeworks.org. | |
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| Welcome to the second September issue of the OTW Newsletter! We're constantly on the lookout for ways to keep fandom up-to-date and informed about what's going on behind the scenes here at OTW, so twice a month, Community Relations compiles updates about what the various committees are working on and we share them here. All issues of the newsletter will be tagged accordingly, so you can follow our progress chronologically. ( Committee Updates! )What details would you like to know? Please give ComRel a helping hand and let us know! Email us at comrel @ transformativeworks.org.- femmequixotic, bethbethbeth, ciderpress, mirabile_dictu, shrift, svmadelynCommunity Relations Committee | |
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| We're very pleased to announce that our tax-exempt, nonprofit status has been officially approved by the IRS. \o/ One of the benefits of our nonprofit status is that any donation that you make to the organization, including your US $10 OTW membership fee, is now tax-deductible in the United States! Even better, your past donations are also tax-deductible, back to our date of incorporation: September 5, 2007. For those of you who donated in 2008, or who plan to donate this year, donations will be deductible as part of your itemized deductions, with the rest of your charitable donations. If you donated in 2007, you can retroactively claim your OTW donations by filing an amended return (form 1040X) for tax year 2007. Please note that if you are located outside the US, your contribution may or may not be tax-deductible. You should consult with a tax adviser and see whether a gift to a US 501(c)(3) qualifies for a tax deduction under your local laws. Here are some resources on the topic: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=106990,00.html - tips for deducting charitable contributions http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/article/0,,id=164249,00.html - retroactive donations http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc308.html - amending a return -- Development and Membership Committee | |
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| EVERYONE STAY TUNED! September is PROJECT ROLL OUT MONTH here at OTW!The second half of September will be one of the most exciting times in OTW's history. The Archive of Our Own is in testing and will begin its very first public beta this week! Invites will have to be very limited for a while as we get our first real-world performance results, but all will be welcome to read stories, post comments, and explore the archive. (PS: giving us lots of feedback including those exciting bug reports will be a good way to get an invite. :D) The first issue of our journal, Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC) ( http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc) is out as of today! (Read the full press release here: http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/announcement.) A new version of the OTW website at http://transformativeworks.org will be going live very soon (this new version contains a blog and rss feed that will allow us to move the OTW off Livejournal for good.) And the Fanlore wiki is finalizing its policies and will be ready for a soft launch and population of information. October is our biannual MEMBERSHIP and VOLUNTEERS Drive!With all our projects rolled out by October 1, we will then hold our second membership/donations drive. This is your chance to become a member if you aren't already (which will make you eligible to vote in the upcoming Board elections) or to donate money or time to support the OTW and its ongoing projects. We will also be having another volunteer drive, and we hope that you will declare yourself as "Willing To Serve" on one of our committees next year. November is for ELECTIONS!All members of the OTW will be able to vote in the Board Elections scheduled for November. After these elections, the OTW will take a brief hiatus to reconstitute itself, and the new Board will appoint or reappoint the next Committee Chairs who will rebuild committees to take us into our second awesome year of projects. Be a part of it! | |
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| Job: Graphic Artists Works With: Webmasters/Accessibility, Design, & Technology Description: We are currently seeking people to make graphics for two different uses. 1. The website committee needs a small graphic to serve as a bullet (somewhere between 16x16 px and 20x20 px) on our language switcher on the new, about to be launched website. The file type can be either png or jpg. We currently have a globe of the Earth, but if you can think of some other symbol that would clearly signify 'international', we are open to suggestions. 2. Accessibility, Design, & Technology is looking for people interested in designing icons to use as badges for beta testers, as a way to acknowledge service to the Archive and celebrate the first ever users. Icon should be a maximum of 100x100 pixels, with a maximum file size of 40kb. Formats supported are JPG, PNG and GIF, and the icons should refer in some way to the fact that this is for "Beta version 1.0." How to Volunteer: Send an email to volunteers@transformativeworks.org or post a comment here. All comments on this post are screened in order to protect the privacy of volunteers providing personal information. Please include the following information: Your name (you may provide your real name or your fannish name--please consider what you feel comfortable using both inside and outside the organization):
Your email address:
Which kind of graphic you are interested in making (bullet or icons): Please put "Graphic Artist" in the subject line of your email or LJ comment. Please do not include attachments or embedded links.Please contact Volunteers for more information on file type, designs desired, etc. Anyone can contact the Volunteers & Recruiting committee at any time by commenting on this post (all comments are screened) or sending an email to volunteers@transformativeworks.org | |
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| The Elections Committee has been developing a set of guidelines for how we'll handle our annual OTW Board Elections: our goal is to create a process that is transparent and fair to all candidates. We've posted a bunch of material over on the OTW website, if you're interested in reading more about this. The Election FAQ ( FAQ link here) and the 2008 Election Timeline ( Election Timeline link here) explain how the first set of Board elections will be handled. The FAQ and Timeline answer important questions like: -- Who is eligible to become a candidate? Why is committee service necessary? -- Will candidates' real name and fannish identity be connected? (For a more extensive discussion on this issue, see our following post ETA See note below.) -- When is the deadline to become a paying OTW member, in order to vote in this year's Election? -- How will votes be counted? Why is the OTW using cumulative voting? We're hoping this will all work well, but we will be watching to see how it goes and how we can improve these policies. If you have comments or suggestions for how we could make them better for next time, please share them with us. Representatives from the Elections committee ( cordelia_v and eponis) are on hand to answer questions left as comments here; private questions may be e-mailed to elections-chair@transformativeworks.org (Note: The temporarily deleted companion post to this entry discussed the OTW's Requirements for Candidates and the organization's privacy policy, both of which can be found in the FAQ.) | |
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| Welcome to the first September issue of the OTW Newsletter! We're constantly on the lookout for ways to keep fandom up-to-date and informed about what's going on behind the scenes here at OTW, so twice a month, Community Relations compiles updates about what the various committees are working on and we share them here. All issues of the newsletter will be tagged accordingly, so you can follow our progress chronologically. ( Committee Updates! )What details would you like to know? Please give ComRel a helping hand and let us know! Email us at comrel @ transformativeworks.org.– femmequixotic, bethbethbeth, ciderpress, mirabile_dictu, shrift, svmadelynCommunity Relations Committee | |
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| Job: Swag Graphic Designer Works With: Development & Membership Description: In preparation for our October donations drive, the Development & Membership committee is in search of graphics for use on OTW merchandise, such as mugs, tote bags, flash drives, etc. This is your chance to have your art immortalized forever on an umbrella! How to Volunteer: Send an email to volunteers@transformativeworks.org or post a comment here. All comments on this post are screened in order to protect the privacy of volunteers providing personal information. Please include the following information: Your name (you may provide your real name or your fannish name--please consider what you feel comfortable using both inside and outside the organization):
Your email address: Please put "Swag Designer" in the subject line of your email or LJ comment. Please do not include attachments or embedded links.Send us your information by: The deadline for design submission is September 10th, 2008. Please contact Volunteers for more information on file type, designs desired, etc. Anyone can contact the Volunteers & Recruiting committee at any time by commenting on this post (all comments are screened) or sending an email to volunteers@transformativeworks.org | |
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| Welcome to the August issue of the OTW Newsletter! We're constantly on the lookout for ways to keep fandom up-to-date and informed about what's going on behind the scenes here at OTW, so twice a month, Community Relations compiles updates about what the various committees are working on and we share them here. All issues of the newsletter will be tagged accordingly, so you can follow our progress chronologically. ( Committee Updates! )What details would you like to know? Please give ComRel a helping hand and let us know! Email us at comrel @ transformativeworks.org.- femmequixotic, bethbethbeth, ciderpress, mirabile_dictu, shrift, svmadelynCommunity Relations Committee | |
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| Job: PHP Guru Works With: Webmasters Description: Webmasters is looking for a volunteer to provide PHP programming for website functionality, and possibly write patches for Drupal. We need someone with intermediate to advanced knowledge of PHP; experience with Drupal, particularly Drupal programming, would be a huge bonus. Estimated Time Involved: Ideally, we need an initial 6-8 weeks of programming, followed by a six month commitment to help on an as needed basis. We are willing to divide these roles up between two or more people, so please feel free to let us know what your availability is, immediately and in the near future. How to Volunteer: Send an email to volunteers@transformativeworks.org or post a comment here. All comments on this post are screened in order to protect the privacy of volunteers providing personal information. Please include the following information: Your name (you may provide your real name or your fannish name--please consider what you feel comfortable using both inside and outside the organization):
Your email address:
Description of your experience with PHP and Drupal: Please put "PHP Guru" in the subject line of your email or LJ comment. Please do not include attachments or embedded links.Send us your information by: This job is closed. All volunteers will receive an email confirming their information has been received. If you do not receive an email by 11:59PM GMT on Friday, August 29th, 2008, please contact us. Anyone can contact the Volunteers & Recruiting committee at any time by commenting on this post (all comments are screened) or sending an email to volunteers@transformativeworks.org | |
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| Job: Systems Committee Member Description: Systems is looking for a few additional committee members to help with backend support, keeping the operating system and the application software up and running. We are currently using Debian, but if you are otherwise competent with Unix, knowing Debian specifically isn't a requirement. The software packages we administer are: Mailman, Apache2, Mongrel, Rails, Drupal, Mediawiki, Postfix, mySQL, Awstats, Nagios, Request Tracker, rsnapshot, S3Sync and Logwatch. Experience installing, configuring and troubleshooting any of these would be good—you need not know them all. Apache would be a huge bonus. We are also looking for a systems architect. If you have experience in this area, please contact us! Estimated Time Involved: You should figure an average of three hours a week, including a weekly chat meeting, but the works tends to come in bursts—nothing for a while, and then many things all at once. Obviously, the more people we have, the more we can spread tasks out, and reduce the workload for all. The length of commitment is up to you, and we encourage staffers to take breaks from the Org when they need them. If you think you can offer us a few months, we'll take them! How to Volunteer: Send an email to volunteers@transformativeworks.org or post a comment here. All comments on this post are screened in order to protect the privacy of volunteers providing personal information. Please include the following information: Your name (you may provide your real name or your fannish name--please consider what you feel comfortable using both inside and outside the organization):
Your email address:
Applicable experience: Please put "Systems Committee" in the subject line of your email or LJ comment. Please do not include attachments or embedded links.Send us your information by: This job remains open. All volunteers will receive an email confirming their information has been received; please give us up to five days to reply. Anyone can contact the Volunteers & Recruiting committee at any time by commenting on this post (all comments are screened) or sending an email to volunteers@transformativeworks.org | |
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| Welcome to the third July issue of the OTW Newsletter! We're constantly on the lookout for ways to keep fandom up-to-date and informed about what's going on behind the scenes here at OTW, so twice a month ( three times this month), Community Relations compiles updates about what the various committees are working on and we share them here. All issues of the newsletter will be tagged accordingly, so you can follow our progress chronologically. ( Committee Updates! )What details would you like to know? Please give ComRel a helping hand and let us know! Email us at comrel @ transformativeworks.org.- femmequixotic, bethbethbeth, ciderpress, mirabile_dictu, shrift, svmadelynCommunity Relations Committee | |
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| One of the five core projects of the OTW is to support the noncommercial sharing of fanworks within fan communities. The official OTW website says: The OTW believes that fanworks are creative and transformative, core fair uses, and will therefore be proactive in protecting and defending fanworks from commercial exploitation and legal challenge. This help will not be limited to those fans or projects directly connected with OTW.I'm not a lawyer, nor do I understand much about law -- in twenty-first century America, it seems a tool of the powerful and the rich. When I was younger, I saw the law as a way to facilitate social change, but not so much anymore. However, even cynical me acknowledges a need for legal resources at times, and a special kind of legal resource for online services. The existence of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a "civil liberties group defending your rights in the digital world," and the work it's doing is one indication of the need for legal analysis and protection. 
( The other core projects of the OTW )To keep up with Legal's activities, follow Killalla's updates in the OTW News bi-monthly newsletter. Written by Mirabile Dictu, with help from the OTW Legal Committee, and with help and support from ComRel. | |
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| Just a quick note to anybody who's going to be attending Comic Con (July 24 -27) or any other upcoming fandom conventions and gatherings: If any of you want to print and distribute materials about the OTW, .pdf files of full-sheet and half-sheet flyers can be found here. | |
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| From the OTW Content Policy committee:Here are the draft Terms of Service for the Archive of Our Own, as well as some FAQs we've developed in internal discussion and with the assistance of valiant focus group members. Some things to note: 1. All together, this is pretty long. We've split it up into two posts and hope that makes it easier to read. Readability feedback is appreciated. 2. This is a draft. We're posting it to get as much input as possible. Very little is set in stone, and many links have been left inactive pending decisions about the organization and layout of the Archive. 3. If there's something you don't understand, please ask. We will try to clarify, and possibly add to the FAQ. 4. If there's something you don't like, it would be really helpful if you'd suggest alternatives. 5. Members of the Content Policy committee will be available to answer questions. Please remember that anonymous comments must be signed in order to receive a response. ( Terms of Service: Sections I-III )( Terms of Service FAQ (1-7) )Note: The second half of the Terms of Service draft may be found here. Please feel free to leave feedback either here on LJ or via email (content@transformativeworks.org). | |
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