I do enjoy my AO3 kudos stickers but

[schneefink]

Personally, I often find it difficult to criticize the OTW. I think it's because I'm not proud of my own time as an OTW volunteer: I did some good things, but I didn't do as much or as well as I should have, or at least the person holding the position I did should have done more and better. So to criticize other OTW volunteers who also don't do as much or as well as they should in their positions feels somewhat hypocritical.
(I'm slightly more comfortable criticizing the Board, because it's an elected position. I don't want to put too much responsibility on the Board when I know that their influence is limited, but it's still their responsibility to figure out how to effectively function.)

But. Not only have they not made progress regarding the anti-harassment measures they promised, they have 1.5 million dollars as reserves and still no clear plan regarding hiring people. That is not just a slow pace, that is glacial. At some point doing something becomes more important than doing it perfectly, and that point was probably months if not years ago. I'm disappointed.
Most of the discussion seems to be on Twitter and other places that I am not very adept with, but naye has a good post with links on the topic of the OTW and their insufficient anti-racist actions here.

Comments

[dhampyresa]

they have 1.5 million dollars as reserves and still no clear plan regarding hiring people
You can get SO MANY dev hours with that budget, even taking the high(er) salary/cost of US devs*. SO MANY

* A quick google gives me an average of about 75k$/year so that's TWENTY DEV-YEARS they can afford.

[momijizukamori]

Mmm, that's a bit low, even excluding benefits. Entry level in a low cost-of-living market, maybe. (Context: I just got promoted from the entry-level-dev job title to the next tier up this year, I make 80k/year and could probably get 100k fairly easily if I switched companies)

But the problem is with management. I have offered to do the work, for free, on features that are theoretically on their roadmap, and been told that they aren't ready for them right now (ignoring that there are no blockers to that feature rn). I know other dev friends who have been put off volunteering because there's no way to suggest or work on new features, or to generally communicate with other devs. Hiring people is a waste of money if they can't get their shit together to meaningfully organize and spec out the work that needs to be done.

[schneefink]

That sounds like they need project managers more than devs rn. I know it's not as easy as throwing money at the problem, but you'd think that since they have a surplus of one resource and not enough of others they'd prioritize figuring out a way to use the former to fix the latter.

[momijizukamori]

Yeah, project managers, software architects, and/or volunteer coordinators. Unfortunately the fact that management is such a clusterfuck means that unfucking it is harder than if the problem were simply a lack of devs or whatever.

[schneefink]

Or, if they can't figure out a good way to incorporate paid developers, hire a HR consultant to help figure it out. Or a project manager. And they definitely have the money for a diversity consultant like so many members have asked.

[dhampyresa]

Yeah, they need a project manager. /when all you have is a dev-hammer, every problem looks like a dev-nail

[merit]

Seems like it is a management issue as well - sometimes you need to /make/ the decision. Otherwise you're stuck in limbo. I have no idea how they expect 2-3 employees to burn through $1.5M and this all presumes that there's no more money coming in.

[lilysea]

I have no idea how they expect 2-3 employees to burn through $1.5M and this all presumes that there's no more money coming in.

Not to mention that the thing most likely to alienate donors is failing to address the racism, so that spending money on making OTW less racist isn't just the ethically right thing to do,

IT IS ALSO GOOD BUSINESS SENSE.

[schneefink]

One would think so! ...I don't think the OTW has especially good business sense, I'm sorry to say.

[schneefink]

and this all presumes that there's no more money coming in.
Yeah - I cannot remember the last time an OTW fundraiser did not significantly exceed its goal, so "we need the reserves to keep the lights on for several years" at the very least needs a good answer to "in case of what, exactly?"

[naye]

it's still their responsibility to figure out how to effectively function

This, right? Why even have a Board if they don't get things done? And if it's too much to ask for a volunteer board - you could always pay a consultant to help them out with org stuff! Especially for things they've already mentioned, like looking over the TOS. I get that you can't just have a quick meeting and then plonk down new TOS, but - it's been since June 2020. I mean. You could at least have sent around a draft? Posted ideas? But instead, the stuff they DO bring up at board meetings is this insidious "outside groups want to censor the AO3" rhetoric.

[schneefink]

Yeah. The communication isn't great either. If developing a blocking tool is so hard and takes so long, how about regular updates on how it is going, just so people know it hasn't been forgotten and is still a priority. (Maybe it's in the Board meeting minutes? I don't count those as outside communication though.) A commitment to regular updates might hopefully also help keep the project on track.

"outside groups want to censor the AO3" rhetoric
Was that actually said by a Board or staff member? Ouch, that is bad.

[naye]

It was uncritically brought up under Any Other Business, and the Board reassured anyone they would stand firm in their fight against censorship!

...yeah. See this post: https://minoanmiss.dreamwidth.org/818673.html

[schneefink]

Uuuugh -.-

[nonesensed]

Yeah, this is definitely a huge source of frustration with the OTW - harassment, especially racist harassment, is such a long-standing issue on their platform(s) and yet nothing is being done at the speed of a snail. I won't claim I have The Solution, but I am disappointed and also agree that _something_ needs to be done. Will likely not be perfect, but something is better than nothing.

[schneefink]

All hope is not lost but tbh I am also not especially optimistic that things will change soon.