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• AO World History
• Transgenderism in the Magical Community
• Adoption/Fostering in the Magical World

• Return of the Mirror of Erised - possible school trip, possible fleeting museum exhibit?
• Moon Madness, Tenacious and SAWS Revisited - the full moons are best spent indoors these days
• The Dark Coven and Stick Your Neck Out - vampire happenings
• Waverly's Witch Weekly Wireless - a relic of the airwaves rediscovered
• Muses be Disquieting - the new magical drug on the streets is more sinister than you think
• Hogwarts Howler Issue Mar 2012

• Write with Cody
• Write with Mai
• Write with Kit
• Write with Gris
• Write with Niobe
• Write with Angel/Aurelia

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There have been many new characters in the past six months!

• Euphraxia Wandsworth, a professor from Niklas
  
• Tara Sallow, a hitwitch from Gris
  
• Alex Cooper, a Quidditcher also from Gris
  
• Meredith Misslethorpe, a Slytherin from Milly
  
• Yumi Hatsui, a Ravenclaw from new member Mimi
  
• Leander Hunt, a no-good-wizard from Sparky
  
• Charline Sinclair, a Hufflepuff from new member Jenn
  
• Patrick Watkins, a cursebreaker also from Jenn
  
• Jacob Moore, a young Auror from new member Kris
  
• and Terra Williams, Hogwarts librarian from new member Tina
  

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For the past year (and well before), Curators and members alike have been taking steps to make Absit Omen a place where everyone feels welcome regardless of race, gender, sexuality, disability, religion, and nationality. Most writers at AO are White and from the United States and UK, including 2 out of 3 current Curators. We understand this can create a harmful bias, despite good intentions. Curators deeply appreciate when members point out when where we're falling short. We still have a long way to go.

Here are some ways that staff and members have tried to accomplish this goal of inclusion.

• Requiring avatars be the same race and ethnicity of the characters they depict.
• Doing better at reading new characters for problems with stereotypes.
• Posting clear statements about AO's values concerning diversity and inclusion, including a direct confrontation to JK Rowling's transphobia, anti-semitism, homophobia, and fatphobia.
• Posting clear Discord guidelines on what topics are acceptable.
• Accommodating the optional sharing of pronouns in Discord.
• New: The Character Guidelines page now includes a statement about higher standards when writers create characters outside of their own identities. Curators are going to make an earnest effort to do better.
  
• New: Creating a library of links in the Character Development forum where anyone may share outside resources concerning how to write characters of marginalized identities, and just generally be better informed about those lived experiences. These resources are available for anyone creating new characters.
  
• New: Continuing to simplify the process for new members to generally reduce the barriers to entry, to make it easier to join overall.

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We've had some technological advances since the last FF in November

• New BBCode for posts
  
• New mobile-friendly and updated design on the Wiki
  
• Self-assigned character-type membergroups in Discord. You can join groups for Hogwarts, Ministry, St. Mungo's, werewolves, etc which allows us to easily @ everyone who might be interested in a plot.
• Self-assigned membergroups for pronouns. It's an easier way to share your pronouns than using your nickname.

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In January, we announced AO's first awards show, the Owlies! Please send in your nominations so we can pour out some love for each other. There are many categories, but you do not have to fill them all out. Just do as much as is fun and manageable for you![/list]