Official Information About the OTW

As some readers know, 2023 had some unexpected events and the OTW needed to keep fans in the loop as to what was happening with our site stability and what steps we were taking to come back online. When this occurred, many fans did not realize that there were social media accounts they could follow to get more information.

During that time, some bad actors decided to take advantage of fans by pretending to represent us while soliciting donations during the time when our actual donation form was not accessible.

The best way to check whether a social media account is official is to visit the ‘Where to Find Us’ page at the OTW website. This lists our live accounts across all platforms. If you're subscribed to an account purporting to be us that does not appear on this page, you are not following an official account.

Official vs. Unofficial Accounts

Many people choose to subscribe to OTW news either through their social media accounts or through feed readers. It is important to check, however, if those accounts are actually ours.

On occasion, fans will set up unofficial social media accounts, either on the same platforms we use or in spaces where we have no accounts. Unofficial accounts sometimes make that status clear and sometimes they don't.

Similarly, fans on various platforms have set up RSS feeds of our news posts. These feeds are automated accounts and there is no one running them. The information may also only be available temporarily, and while they include official news, you can't reach us there.

Contacting Us

Official accounts are run by the Communications Committee. While we receive comments and questions on those platforms, these accounts are not always moderated and the platforms themselves may restrict our responses in different ways. To ensure that we receive your question or comment, it is therefore always best to get in touch with us through our contact form. Questions or comments regarding the Archive of Our Own should be sent to the Support team.

If you're not sure who to direct your question to, try Communications, and if we don't have the answer we will forward your message to the OTW team who can help you.

The OTW can be contacted in 46 languages, something which is also facilitated by using our contact forms.

Coming Soon

The Communications Committee is currently doing internal testing for a free service where you can receive our news posts directly in your email inbox. We hope to make an announcement early next year, offering details about how the service will work.

Spread the Word!

It is tremendously helpful to the OTW when fans help us to share information, either about our organization and projects or particular news releases. So please, help us reduce misinformation and boost relevant content by pointing people to our official accounts.

You can also let other fans know what sorts of information they can find at our website, and that they can reach us through our contact forms. And if you come across unofficial accounts which are not listed as such, do let us know.

Thanks for your help!

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The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.