517 Episode 100

We've somehow managed to fail upwards long enough and hard enough that this is our 100th episode of /report. Yeah, we're shocked, too. In celebration, this week we discuss early fandom, what's changed in the five years we've been doing this, and your early fannish experiences. Thank you for sticking with us for 100 episodes!

Links
Fandom & The Internet (Fanlore)
2015: A Statistical Year in Fandom (Destination Toast)
AO3 and Kudos (halekingsourwolf)
The Fans Are All Right (Pinboard)
Why Lemon/Lime? (TV Tropes)
The Message Podcast (GE Podcast Theatre)

516 OTW AO3

This week we talk with the OTW’s in-house counsel, Betsy Rosenblatt about the recent OTW board situation, the AO3, International Fanworks Day, and fandom. If you had questions after the recent upset with the OTW board, we’ve (hopefully) got the answers. 

Links

How the OTW’s instant run off voting works (including the info graphics mentioned in the episode).

PSlasher was kind enough to send us this pretty extensive history of the OTW drama from this winter as well as some resources, which we’ve included below, though it has been edited for this post.

The official posts on the OTW website:

• The Board posts about Andrea and then resigning
• The Elections Committee posts to state their displeasure
• The two new Board members write to reassure everyone that everything will be ok and not fall apart
• And the mirror on AO3 here

A comment at the Elections website mirror post, with a very informative breakdown of the past elections and how they have affected this election, by briar_pipe.

As was to be expected, the people are furious about it. (Tumblr tag 1, Tumblr tag 2)

You can see the staffers protesting here, including the Elections Chair, to the point that at least three of them threatened to leave the Org if the Elections Chair was “fired” for her questions.

Possible origin of the #OTWrevolution tag.  It’s where Orlando Jones expressed an interest in being on the Board.

And then this series of tweets by (Pslasher thinks) the AD&T committee co-chair: [1][2][3][4][5][6]

This Fanlore page is very informative, and the “links” section towards the bottom links to a good part of the outcry, some of which is different than the elections blog.

Here is some interesting financial information from a former Board member.

515 Alpha Beta Omega

This week, we catch up with some recent fannish news and give an intensely spoilery review of the BBC Sherlock Christmas special — or what NYC HQ can remember of it, anyway. And then we get knotty with special guest Nora Bombay to talk about Alpha/Beta/Omega, that trope that you hadn't heard of before, but seems to be everywhere now. We discuss where we think it comes from, why it seems to have sparked such interest, and share a few recs along the way, too.

Links

Alphas, Betas, Omegas: A Primer by nora bombay 

Darcy Lewis ABO on AO3 

Star Wars: TFA ABO 

Law & Order ABO

Recs

Old Traditions, Werewolf Edition by Footloose [Derek/Stiles, Teenwolf AU] 

Sociomega series by SweetandSharp [Merlin/Arthur, BBC Merlin, side fandoms] 

Gordian by Fresne [Sherlock/John, BBC Sherlock] 

Secrets and Revelations by Hisstah [Sherlock/John, BBC Sherlock Sentinel AU] 

White Knights by Spicedpiano and Tahariel [Charles/Erik, XMFC] 

fresne's sherlock ABO stories 

The Watsons of Saughton [Sherlock/John, BBC Sherlock]

514 The X-Files

We put the I, and Eff Bee Ihhh---ncoherant wailing, because this is our episode about one of the seminal shows of recent memory and modern fandom: The X-Files. Hoyden and Xenakis join Pru to talk about Mulder, Scully, how they found the series, what might have made it such a phenomenon, and how we feel about the upcoming six-episode miniseries. Chaneen also drops by for a non-spoilery quick chat about the first of the new episodes. We talk conspiracy, romance, shipping, the relative uselessness of Fox Mulder through the lens of an adult female viewpoint, and whether Skinner is getting hotter with time. (Yes.) Strap in, and for God's sake -- don't drop your service weapon.

And don't forget to follow us on twitter.

 LINKS:
X-Files Files -- Kumail Nanjiani's X-Files podcast, a complete delight.
X-Files Re-Opened -- Featurette on the upcoming new series