Content Moderation Policy

[behindthepod]

We’re introducing content moderation rules for this and future series of Behind the Pod. These rules are based on the work of the voiceteam and pod_together moderators. (Last updated April 2021.)

We hope this will encourage participants to consider asking for the help of a sensitivity reader/consult if anyone is unsure if the topic or fanworks they’d like to discuss falls outside the content moderation rules. Mods will be available to signal boost any requests for sensitivity discussions throughout the challenge schedule.

Mods are committed to checking all regular episodes for content that violates content moderation rules before publishing. For Party Favours, as we can’t know how many will be submitted in advance, instead anyone can anonymously report a work that they believe is in violation of one of the content moderation rules. If we receive a report about a work being in violation, we will follow up as described in Rule 5, as detailed below.

We are open to feedback about this content moderation policy, both in its wording and our process of enforcing it. If you have any concerns or suggestions, please contact us at behindthepod@gmail.com or the Series 3 anonymous feedback form.

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Content Moderation Rules

While we recognize that podficcers do not always create the contents of the stories they record, we ask that existing fanworks that violate any of rules 1-4 not be featured uncritically as part of Behind the Pod. Any content may be discussed critically, but must be tagged or archive warned for accordingly, and any links in the body of the AO3 work must have appropriate warnings attached.

1) No uncritical discussion of fanworks using the real-life tragedies of BIPOC as a backdrop for stories that center characters who are white. This includes those which center white characters in an AU of an oppressive situation that happened to BIPOC, such as a slavery AU.

2) Similarly, no uncritical discussion of fanworks using real-life tragedies of other marginalized groups to center characters that are not members of those groups. This includes those which center members outside that group in an AU of an oppressive situation that happened to that group, such as a Holocaust AU.

3) No uncritical discussion of fanworks which whitewash BIPOC, such as an Avatar: The Last Airbender modern setting AU where the characters are white Americans. No uncritical discussions of fanworks which erase BIPOC in order to center white characters, such as a MCU story set in Wakanda where no Black characters appear or have speaking roles.

4) No uncritical discussion of fanworks which use negative stereotypes as a way to demonize or discard BIPOC characters in favor of white characters. (example: for Kirk/Spock fic, making Uhura an angry Black woman to justify Spock's relationship with Kirk). This post may be helpful.

5) If anyone flags an untagged racist trope or racist language in an episode or party favour of Behind the Pod, the mod team will check for accuracy (with outside consultation as needed). If a racist trope or language is confirmed, the mods will notify all the creators of the work via email and mark that Episode or Party Favour as unrevealed within the collection. Depending on the situation, the creators of the work may be required to do one of the following: add appropriate tags/content notes, revise the audio in question to no longer include the flagged content, or remove Behind the Pod branding from their audio and the work as a whole and have it removed from Behind the Pod collections. Revised works will be revealed again as soon as mods verify the required actions have been taken. If the creators of the work do not follow the above guidelines within 9 months, or if they reveal the work by removing it from the Behind the Pod collection, the mods will delete the unrevealed work from AO3.

6) Other oppressive tropes or language (misogynistic, ableist, anti-queer, anti-trans, antisemitic, anti-Muslim, anti-fat, etc) can also be flagged to the mod team and will have the same follow-up steps as above.

Content Moderation Reporting Form

Link to reporting 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

Reading and listening material that can assist in reading and discussing antiracist fanworks:

Stereotypes and tropes

7 Casually Racist Things That White Authors Do - A short article summarising frequently-used stereotypes used when White authors write Characters of Color.

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.

Writing with Color: Stereotypes & Tropes - A comprehensive masterlist of the Writing with Color blog’s ask responses and guides that discuss stereotypes and tropes. Thorough and highly recommended.

Writing with Color: Stereotyped vs Nuanced Characters and Audience Perception - A resource for avoiding stereotypes when writing Characters of Color - definitely focused on writing, but extremely useful for recognising stereotypes in action. This quote from the start sums it up:
“There’s a difference between having a three-dimensional character with trait variance and flaws, versus one who walks the footsteps of a role people of their race/ethnicity are constantly put into. Let’s discuss this, as well as how sometimes, while there’s not much issue with the character, a biased audience will not allow the character to be dimensional.”

Writing with Color: Ways to Indicate Race - Another writing-focused resource - a list of ways to talk about Characters of Color other than skin tone - that’s a good kick-starter for critical thinking.

Podcasts

Three Patch Podcast: Challenging Fandom Racism–Extended Cut and transcript - An episode where established anti-racist fannish voices “discuss transformative fandom’s cyclical struggle to recognise racism, the skepticism and harassment faced by fans and acafans who speaking out against racism, why the AO3 and the OTW need to change, and ways fans can practice anti-racism in our fannish lives and online communities.”

Audio-specific Resources

Hearing Race: The Problem of Offensive Accents in Audiobooks - Short read about how hearing an offensive accent changes the experience of a text.

As Audiobook Market Grows, Narrators of Color Find Their Voice - This New York Times article is about professional audiobook narration, but still relevant to fanworks: “What does representation mean when actors can only be heard and not seen? What constitutes a black, Latino or Asian voice? And to complicate matters, in most audiobooks a single narrator voices multiple characters, who may have a variety of ethnicities and accents.”

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Important links: info posts - contact post

Comments

[sylvaine]

It's entirely possible this is something that AO3 allows that I just don't know about, but - if they reveal the work by removing it from the Behind the Pod collection, the mods will delete the work from AO3. Isn't the work then entirely out of the mods' control, and thus not something y'all would be able to remove from AO3?

[frecklebombfic]

Every BtP episode has the Behind the Pod AO3 account added as a co-creator, which is the only reason that deleting works is a possibility at all. AO3 collection mods don't have that power otherwise, so whether or not a work is part of the BtP collection doesn't have an effect on us being able to delete it.

The section you quoted is to avoid the eventuality of mods setting a work to unrevealed, and then a creator manually revealing it by removing it from the collection. As the mods would still be listed as co-creators, we'd still have some control over the work.

I hope that answers your question!

[sylvaine]

*facepalm* I really should have read the full rules before commenting. Thank you for explaining, and sorry for wasting your time ^^;;

[frecklebombfic]

Oh don't worry about it :D

Always happy to explain any of the rules (even if we're repeating ourselves :DDD)