pod_together | Pod-Together Content Moderation Policy

Audio of Pod-Together Content Moderation Policy:

After reading discussions about racism in fandom and the harm in letting racist fanworks go unmoderated, we have workshopped some rules to reduce racist content in pod-together.

These rules will serve as a guidepost for participants as they create their collaborations, and may also motivate them to reach out to a beta reader or sensitivity reader if they are unsure whether their work falls within the rules. During the challenge, we will help signal boost any searches for beta readers or sensitivity readers.

Once pod-together projects are revealed, we will have a system where anyone can anonymously report to us a work that they believe is in violation of one of these rules. If we receive a report about a work being in violation, we will follow up as described in rule 2.

We are open to continued feedback about the wording of these rules and about our process for enforcing them. If you have any concerns or suggestions, please reach out to us at [email protected].

Content Rules:

1. No depicting groups of victimized people without a sense of humanity. For example, no using enslaved people or refugees as set dressing for stories that center on colonizers. This includes centering white characters in an AU of an oppressive or harmful situation that happened to POC, such as the infamous J2 story set in Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.

2. If anyone flags an untagged racist trope or racist language in a story, the mod team will check for accuracy (with outside consultation as needed). If a racist trope or language is confirmed, the creators will be required to tag for that content unless they revise the fanwork to no longer include that content.

2a. Other oppressive tropes or language (sexist, ableist, anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ+, etc) can also be flagged to mods and will have the same follow-up steps as above. This practice of tagging and warning is to make sure the audience can make informed decisions on the content that they choose to interact with, therefore these requests for content warnings will be made to creators regardless of whether or not they are part of the relevant marginalized community.

Please note: We previously had a rule that said 'Don't use negative stereotypes as a way to demonize or discard characters of color in favor of white characters. (example: for Kirk/Spock fic, making Uhura an angry black woman to justify Spock's relationship with Kirk).' After discussion, we are removing that as a rule so that we don't restrict fans of color from exploring these issues in ways that are meaningful to them. However, all works with negative racial stereotypes still need to be tagged accordingly. Also, we strongly suggest that if you're white and using a negative racial stereotype, you really question why, and that if you are not sure you are familiar enough with negative racial stereotypes to know whether you are doing so, you take time to study them. This post may be a helpful starting place.

Content Moderation Rules Reporting Form:

Pod-Together works that do not meet the content rules as described above can be reported to the mods through this google form.

Reports can be anonymous or you can provide your contact information so we can reach out to you if we have questions. We will look into every issue that is reported to us. There is no need for multiple people to coordinate reporting the same issue, unless they have additional information to add, as a single report will be treated with the same weight as multiple identical reports.

Recommended Resources:

This section will be updated periodically as the mods locate or participants suggest resources that can assist in creating antiracist fanworks. Please feel free to comment with additional suggestions.

1. Sensitivity Readers - This Tumblr can help you connect with people who have volunteered to sensitivity read writing. If you would like to connect with a sensitivity reader from here, please reach out to the mod team and we will be happy to pay for it!

2. Writing the Other - A small collection of resources for creating inclusive fiction. The site includes resources for many identities and has a collection specifically for writing characters of different races and ethnicities.

3. The Techniques of Erasure, Fandom Racism 101: Basic Body Politics, and Urban Fantasy 101: Allegory Overuse at Stitch's Media Mix.

4. Writing with Color - A tumblr focused on writing and resources centered around racial diversity. Contains Q&A-style advice, writing guides, etc.

5. White Light, Black Magic: Racism in Esoteric Thought (pdf) - Resource about the racist history of the terms black or dark and white or light when describing magic. Relevant quote: "Wherever we find ourselves using the term "white" to mean positive, socially acceptable and sacred, and black as undesirable, ugly and evil, this is a flag to re-examine our thinking and recast our terminology." This is very long, so you may or may not read it all, but check out at least the first page and the section called "Inclusive Esoteric Language" that starts on page 48.

6. Marvel Fans 4 BLM Resource Page - Marvel Fans 4 BLM is a fanworks auction in support of Black Lives Matter causes. This page is their curated collection of resources, including links to information specifically focused on writing Black characters.

7. Writing the Margins from the Center and Other Moral Geometries - An article by writer Amal El-Mohtar about how to approach writing marginalized characters. This is less of a practical guide than some of the other linked resources, and more of a jumping off point for introspective thinking.

8. The E-Racing of The Hunger Games: Race & Cultures in Fiction - An article by Hiromi Goto on racial vagueness in The Hunger Games, and methods to indicate race in fiction besides simply descriptions of skin color.