Open Doors Terms of Service

Please note: These terms are designed for agreements between the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) and curators of fannish projects. This currently includes:

  • Maintainers of digital archives of fanworks that were originally hosted on third-party sites.
  • Publishers (whether individuals or a press imprint) of print-based fanzines containing fanworks.

The Open Doors project of the OTW is dedicated to preserving fanworks for the future.

We are happy to help curators of typical fannish projects to preserve or back up the fanworks they are responsible for by transferring the contents of their project into the Archive of Our Own (AO3). Other fannish projects that cannot be integrated into AO3 may also be preserved as Special Collections, resources permitting. Any of these projects may be featured on the Open Doors page of the OTW website.

The goal of these rules is to be clear about how extant fannish projects such as archives and fanzines might come under the OTW umbrella while still preserving the autonomy both of the original curator and of the OTW. We want to provide a permanent home to projects, and preserve the results of fannish efforts and creativity, without the original curator feeling as if they are giving up all control.

Terms of Service for Open Doors Projects

1. Curator Consent

The OTW will only preserve the collected fanworks from a fannish project with the full consent of the curator, with individual creators retaining the right to specify what happens to their own fanworks. The current curator of the project must agree to the Open Doors Terms of Service (OD TOS), agree to any other conditions of the import, and grant us access to a copy of the current contents of the project.

These Terms of Service are written assuming a single curator for the collected fanworks. If there are multiple curators, Open Doors will seek agreement from as many active curators as feasible before bringing the collected fanworks into OTW. In seeking a reasonable agreement, Open Doors will take into account the relative status of the active curators, e.g. whether they are founders or moderators of the digital archive, or founders, editors or agents of the fanzines. For digital archives, Open Doors will also take into account whether they own the archive’s domain name or the webhosting, or hold full administrative permissions.

If a digital archive curator wants URL redirects and if such redirects are possible, they must also transfer ownership of the domain name or follow Open Doors’ instructions. (Domain name transfer is not necessary if the curator is merely backing up an archive within AO3.)

2. Transfer of Project

When the Open Doors Committee and the current curator have decided to import a fannish project to the OTW as an Open Doors project, the current curator will provide a copy of the current contents and take any other steps necessary to carry out the transfer.

Typically, the fanworks will be imported into the Archive of Our Own under an AO3 Collection named after the original archive or fanzine. The curator will have access to the archivist account for that Collection.

3. URLs for Open Doors Project

For collected fanworks not hosted on AO3 itself, the Special Collection or project may be available under subdirectories or subdomains of an OTW site.

We may also preserve the original project’s domain name.

Projects will also be listed on the Open Doors website as follows:

4. Role of Original Curator

The original curator of a fannish project that has been imported to the Archive of Our Own will be invited to moderate their AO3 Collection with all the powers that a collection owner on AO3 usually has; so, for instance, to decide whether a new work fulfils their original project’s rules, or should be removed from the collection.

If the curator no longer wants to manage the Content in the AO3 Collection, they can designate a new owner for the collection or close the collection to new submissions. Should someone volunteer or request to manage a closed collection on AO3, Open Doors will attempt to contact the original curator to find out if they are interested in transferring the AO3 Collection. If the original curator does not respond with approval, ownership of the collection will not be transferred.

If the curator stops responding to the Open Doors Committee or to creators of the collected fanworks within the timeframe specified in the project’s agreement, Open Doors will take on responsibility for the import of the fanworks and for the future management of the AO3 Collection. However, if this occurs after the import is complete, Open Doors can only take on responsibility for the AO3 Collection if the Committee still has access to the AO3 archivist account.

5. Collection Policy

Where possible, the existing policies of the fannish project will be preserved, even if they differ from the policies of the Archive of Our Own. Specifically, the collected fanworks (whether integrated into AO3 or preserved as a Special Collection) can have limits on fandom, subject matter, sexual content, etc. that do not apply to AO3 Content generally. However, the OTW retains the right to remove Content from its servers if the Board deems removal necessary for specific legal reasons, or if the Content violates AO3’s Terms of Service, including the Content Policy.

Control over individual fanworks contained within an AO3 Collection or Special Collection rests with their creators. If the verified creator of any individual fanwork contained within such a collection requests its removal, the OTW will always comply (or ask the collection’s owner to comply) with such a request in a reasonable period of time. We will also provide mechanisms allowing creators to claim their fanworks from such a collection and if desired to attach them to a new or existing AO3 account, edit them, Orphan them, or delete them.

6. Parting from the OTW

As noted in Section 5, control over individual fanworks contained within an AO3 Collection or Special Collection always rests with their creators. This section applies to collections as a whole. If the collection’s original curator decides that they no longer want to be affiliated with the OTW, or if the OTW Board decides they no longer wish to work with the original curator, the following procedures for dissolution will apply:

  1. Open Doors will delete the imported project’s AO3 collection. Any works imported to AO3 that have already been claimed (whether attached to an AO3 account or anonymized) or Orphaned by AO3 users will remain on AO3 under control of the creators’ accounts or the Orphan account. Open Doors will work with the original curator to delete any unclaimed works.
  2. OTW will give the original curator a copy of the Content in its original format, if available; e.g. a copy of the digital archive backup given to the Open Doors Committee, or a copy of the scanned PDFs of fanzine content.
  3. OTW will not be responsible for helping the curator set up elsewhere.
  4. OTW will place an announcement on the relevant gallery of the Open Doors website indicating that the original curator has moved the fanworks they are responsible for to a new location, with a link to the new location if provided by the curator.
  5. If some but not all of the curators later wish to part from the OTW, those who wish to do so can continue to work with the AO3 Collection on the OTW servers, while the OTW will follow Provisions 6.2 and 6.3 for any curators who wish to move the Content elsewhere. However, the OTW will retransfer any domain names only to curators who were formerly registered owners of the domain names at issue. For active AO3 Collections, curators can use whatever dispute resolution procedure they work out between themselves, provided that they otherwise comply with OTW policies.

7. General provisions

Matters not specifically addressed in this Open Doors Agreement will be governed by AO3’s Terms of Service.

Open Doors Terms of Service FAQ

How does Open Doors weigh the relative status of multiple curators?

If there are multiple curators associated with a digital archive or fanzine publisher, and they are not all in agreement about working with OTW, there needs to be a decision made whether to proceed. The curators may resolve this by using whatever dispute resolution procedure they work out between themselves, and Open Doors will respect that decision. However, if the curators do not reach an agreement themselves, Open Doors must decide whether a reasonable agreement can be made, and with which curator(s).

In making a decision, Open Doors will seek to take into account the relative status of the active curators. While the organization of every digital archive and zine publisher (or press imprint) is different, Open Doors would begin with the following assumptions:

  • The wishes of the founder(s) of a digital archive, if they are still active, would usually outweigh the wishes of a moderator.
  • The wishes of the current moderator(s) of a digital archive, if they are still active, would usually outweigh the wishes of a past or inactive moderator.
  • The wishes of curator(s) who have financially or technologically supported the digital archive, if they are still active, would usually outweigh the wishes of curators who have not. This may include: ownership of the archive’s domain name registration; provision of webhosting; or access to full administrative permissions.
  • The wishes of curator(s) who can no longer be contacted will usually not be taken into account, unless their wishes were clearly documented and are still relevant despite any changing circumstances.

Similarly:

  • The wishes of the founder(s) of a zine press imprint, if they are still active, would usually outweigh the wishes of a publisher.
  • The wishes of the current publisher(s) of a zine press imprint, if they are still active, would usually outweigh the wishes of an editor.
  • The wishes of the current editor(s) of a zine press imprint, if they are still active, would usually outweigh the wishes of a past or inactive editor.
  • The wishes of the sales agent(s) of a zine press imprint, if they are still active, would usually only be taken into account if there is no founder, publisher or editor still active.
  • The wishes of curator(s) who have financially or technologically supported the zine press imprint, if they are still active, would usually outweigh the wishes of curators who have not. This may include: covering the costs of printing or postage; registering for and attending conventions as a representative of the press imprint; or having invested in printing stock that has not yet been sold.
  • The wishes of curator(s) who can no longer be contacted will usually not be taken into account, unless their wishes were clearly documented and are still relevant despite any changing circumstances.

If one or more of the above assumptions does not apply in a particular case, Open Doors will welcome relevant information, and endeavor to take it into account in reaching what seems a fair decision.

Approved: 2 December 2025