So, uh, as usual with something like this, I was browsing Reddit and since the election I've noticed a continued trend of posts: People worrying about the state of Ao3 and then a bunch of people coming in with the same tired refrains. You're being hyperbolic, you're over-exaggerating, you're fearmongering. One of the things that drove me the
most insane about this to the point I was ranting about it to Beta-Senpai was that people were
proving the old accusation that no one in the reading hobby knows how to read because in the
very same post that there was a screenshot from the Organization of Transformative Works, aka the organization that runs Ao3, that the bill in question, HR 9495, would affect them ("All non-profit orgs are in danger.")
there were people arguing that "oh no of course it wouldn't affect Ao3". If the organization itself says there is a danger then I would defer to their opinion rather than some random commenter on reddit. As far as I know, this particular bill wouldn't affect Dreamwidth, but I'm pretty sure they don't want to just stop with non-profits.
But, uh, okay, let's go through the points here.
( this gets long )Edit: It would be remiss of me not to mention that Ao3 has directly addressed this since I posted this and have said that while
this particular bill is a non-profit killer, they are fairly confident that this specifically won't be the end of Ao3 even if it passes (they are, however, highly concerned about the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and others). I am required to point out using my close-reading skills that they specifically said
this particular bill, so they are anticipating others and are still concerned (and, in general, weakening the non-profit ecosystem hurts non-profits in solidarity).