dark_administrator: (dark agenda mods 3)
dark_administrator ([personal profile] dark_administrator) wrote in [community profile] dark_agenda2014-10-15 07:00 am
Entry tags:

Submit a Support Request for AO3 to Change Fandoms to Original Language Title

[personal profile] dhobikikutti made a post last year about AO3 tags no longer limited to Roman scripts. The guideline for wrangling Transliterated/Non-Latin Alphabet Fandom Titles has been implemented for more than a year and it's not clear, but AO3 will not change existing fandoms to include the original language title unless there is a support ticket requesting the change.

[community profile] dark_agenda has always promoted being accessible to users who occupy different spectrum of linguistic fluency and knowledge. We believe archive tagging systems for fandoms should prioritize users for whom an original source language is part of their heritage culture(s) and who occupy different positions on the spectrum of fluency.

AO3 has more than a year to test their new guideline for non-Latin language fandoms and as chromatic fans and users of AO3, we think it's critical for AO3 to continue to understand the importance of being diverse, accessible and open to international, indigenous and disporian fans who have different degrees of English fluency and of fluency in their fandom language source(s). We believe it is important that fandom tags should at least include the original language title.

If you would like an existing fandom tag on AO3 to include the original language title, please consider submitting a Support request:

  1. Go to http://archiveofourown.org/support
  2. Fill out a Support request:

    What is your feedback about: [Select Tags under the drop-down menu]
    Brief summary (required): Add [ORIGINAL LANGUAGE TITLE] in [FANDOM TAG]
    Your comment (required):
    Hi Support,

    As an AO3 user, I support the inclusion of original source language in tags. Could you change [FANDOM TAG] to add [ORIGINAL LANGUAGE TITLE]? Thank you for your help!

    [- signed fan of tags in original source language]


Additionally, if you noticed tags in Chinese-language source fandoms that used a circumflex accent (ˆ) in place of a macron accent (¯) for transliterated tags, please consider submitting a Support request for AO3 to change the accent mark.

An example of a Support request:

What is your feedback about Tags
Brief summary (required) Add 赤壁 in Chìbì | Red Cliff (2008) fandom tag and correct macron accent (¯)
Your comment (required) Hi Support,

As an AO3 user, I support the inclusion of original source language in tags. Could you change Chìbì | Red Cliff (2008) to add 赤壁? http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Chì%20bì%20%7C%20Red%20Cliff%20(2008)

In addition, for tags like Cáo Câo, could you correct the circumflex accent (ˆ) to macron accent (¯), e.g. Cáo Cāo?

Thank you for your help,
-A fan of tags in original source language


AO3 Support currently can answer queries in the following languages: العربية, Bahasa Indonesia, català, čeština, Deutsch, español, français, 한국어, italiano, Kiswahili, magyar, Nederlands, polski, português, Русский, suomi, svenska, Türkçe, 中文. It would be cool if you have knowledge in any of the above languages to submit a request in that language. It will take awhile for AO3 to make the change due to server load issues, but, hopefully, the Support request will be addressed.

Addendum I: Per [personal profile] samjohnsson's comments, we are encouraged to contact AO3 Wrangling team directly at [twitter.com profile] ao3_wranglers about our requests so if you have Twitter, that is one contact avenue.

We also started a thread to list and keep track of fandoms for which we'll be submitting requests so feel free to add yours. Please consolidate your requests if possible when submitting to AO3.

Addendum II: The following proposal was submitted to AO3: Add Original Language Titles in Existing Fandoms.

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wistfuljane: chihiro from sprited away walking toward the train station in the river (sea)

[personal profile] wistfuljane 2014-10-16 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
Hi Sam,

Thank you for the updates. I understand about the server loads and the bugs that AO3 is experiencing. I understand that it will take a long time for many of these change requests to be implemented, but personally speaking, I do want to clarify several things that were driving this post. Our goals are to:

  • Encourage AO3 to establish a goal to add original language titles to existing non-Latin language source fandoms
  • Show AO3 that we as chromatic fans support the inclusion of original source language in tags and of AO3 actively and continuously addressing the past, present and future concerns of chromatic fans on AO3 being diverse, accessible and open to us and other chromatic fans


It's not a matter of how long it will take to implement the changes, although that is obviously a major concern, but rather that we hope that AO3 has set and strive to achieve a goal for adding original language titles to existing non-Latin language and for them to be communicative about this goal within and outside the organization. We hope, as a whole, AO3 has set goals for each quarter and each year to accomplish projects that make AO3 more diverse, accessible and open to chromatic fans and that they again have been communicative about these goals within and outside the organization.

But it speaks volume about the goals of AO3 that this post has to be made and, thus, why this post was made in the first place.

I'm sure you understand the situation as well as the goals of this post and our community, but I just want to clarify them in cases there are any confusion.

I appreciate you for directly reaching out to us and thank you for your help. I sympathize with the works you encountered as an AO3 Support Chair.
dhobikikutti: earthen diya (Default)

[personal profile] dhobikikutti 2014-10-16 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
This is an excellent comment and I hope you feel good about it.