I’m Casey Fiesler, a longtime fandom community member and also a professor in the Department of Information Science at University of Colorado Boulder. This semester I am teaching a research-based class in online fandom, and we are conducting a survey that covers many different questions of interest to information science or fan studies researchers about fanfiction! We do ask that you are at least 18 years old to participate; though this is mostly for a class project, we have gone through typical ethics review at our university and this study includes a consent form.
The survey is a mix of multiple choice and open answer questions, and you can answer as much or as little as you like. On average, the survey takes about 15 or 20 minutes to complete.
We will ask for some basic demographic information (any of which you can skip), but won’t require any identifying information – unless you want to give us your email address so that you can be updated about any results from the survey.
Because of some of the research questions that groups in my class want to answer it would be particularly great to get participants who write or read in the following fandoms: Sports RPF, Overwatch, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are also questions that relate to things like fandom lifecycles, videogame fanfic, identity in fanfiction, and ethics and privacy in fandom. Many of the questions in this survey were drafted by first-time student researchers!
Whether you participate or not, please consider sharing this survey with your social networks! And if you’d like to find out more about Casey’s previous research about fandom, see these Tumblr posts: Fan Platform Use Over Time and design of Archive of Our Own.
Reblogs are appreciated, and thank you! You can email me at casey.fiesler@colorado.edu if you have any questions or comments.
Hi everyone, Kennedy (octopussoap on Twitter) is conducting a survey as part of her academic work in an audience studies class. She has designed a survey (short and anonymous) for the Reylo community.
(From Kennedy: ”This survey is intended for readers or writers of fanfiction and those who engage with Reylo content – if you do not fit this description, you’ll find much of this survey doesn’t apply to you. I have tried to be sensitive to different ways of engaging in fandom; if you have any concerns or comments regarding the survey please DM on twitter @OctopusSoap. Results are anonymous and will be compiled into an academic report.”)
I took it: it was well-designed, fun to take, and not very long. Please take it – and reblog this post. Thank you so much! Deadline to participate is Monday, December 3, 2018.
This only took a few minutes and it was pretty fun!
Guys, My bearded dragon has a huge growth on his face that requires surgery to be removed! He can’t chase and eat any of his feeder insects on his own anymore and needs to be hand fed. Please even if you can’t donate, reblog and share this.
^^^^Hey, y’all I thought I’d let you guys know that this is my main account. I’m really worried for Mustache and I’d really appreciate it if you guys could help me by at least reblogging this.
These days Pagans in Need, a nonprofit which provides food to people in need regardless of their religious path, also needs help itself, and the pantry is receiving a hand from an Arrowman in the Order of the Arrow.
No, that’s not some arcane Pagan group.
“It’s kind of an honor society for Boy Scouts that you can get elected into by your troupe,” said Billy McClish, a 17-year-old member of the order and a Boy Scout who has achieved the rank of Life Scout. To achieve the next, and highest, rank – Eagle Scout – McClish has taken on a community service project: helping Pagans in Need secure funding, materials, volunteer workers, use of equipment, and equipment operators to design and install a handicap-accessible entryway to its pantry, which is housed in the basement of the Inner Ascended Masters Ministry, an interfaith community center at 5655 S. Washington Ave. in Lansing.
McClish has set up a GoFundMe page to accept donations for the project.
If you have the means, please consider a donation to help a pagan do good in their community for those in need!
UPDATE:
Billy McClish, a pagan Boy Scout, is still trying to raise the money to pay for the materials and equipment to provide an all-access doorway for the Pagans in Need non-profit food bank, serving people of all or no religious beliefs in Lansing, Michigan.
Since I first posted about this worthy project, $260 has been donated, but $4,200 still needs to be raised to pay for the materials, equipment, and equipment operators. Work has already started, and bills need to be paid.
Hospitality and welcoming strangers is important to many pagans and polytheists, as is supporting each other. We know that we accomplish good things when we work together.
Please, signal boost this fund raiser and, if you have even a couple extra dollars this month, donate to support this project.
Hellooooo finnreylo shippers and friends! We hope this post finds you all very well. This is a call-out for artists and writers to participate in our first double-prompt.
“What’s a double-prompt?”
A double prompt is a prompt where artists respond to the prompt, and then writers are encouraged to create new stories in reference to the prompted art (and vice versa). Each prompt will go for two weeks.
Because this is our first one, we would like to invite writers to respond to our banner image (pictured above, shout-out to @persimonne). When stories are posted, we hope artists will respond to those stories in turn, creating new art based on the same theme.
“How can I interpret the prompt?”
As broadly as you like! It can be used in so many different social scenarios, like when you have a drink in a bar with friends. It can be a way of saying thanks, understanding someone, or saying hello and goodbye. You could also make reference to the 1980s American sitcom Cheers!(set in a bar). (Who do you headcanon as Norm? We want to know!!)
“Are there some guidelines? What do I have to do?”
Fanart and fic can be canon-divergent, head-canon or AU. Your choice!
Fanart and fic should refer to Finn, Rey and Kylo/Ben, although you can set up the relationships however you like. So, could be reylo+Finn or finnrey+Kylo or finnlo+Rey, or romantic finnreylo, or brot3 (friends without any romance).
All work should be finnreylo positive!
Please tag your work if nsfw, explicit or dub-con. No non-con please.
“How long do I have and how should I submit my work?”
You can start submitting your work on November 1 and the deadline for all works will be November 14. Please post it to your blog between those dates and tag it #finnreylopositive or @finnreylopositive so that we can find it.
“I have a question, what should I do?”
Ask us, send a message. We’re really friendly and we like chatting!
I’m signal boosting this! Please consider writing a Finnreylo story (ship interpreted broadly!) for the first finnreylopositive prompt: CHEERS! Begin posting on November 1 and we will signal boost!
Let’s be honest – we all forget to leave a comment sometimes. We don’t always go out of our way to click the “come talk to me on tumblr” link on AO3 to scream about the fic in the author’s inbox. On August 21st I encourage you to take a moment and show fanfic writers that you appreciate them!
How can you do it?
leave a comment and kudos on every fic you finish reading. Doesn’t matter how short. Doesn’t matter if you’re just repeating what other people have already said. Just be kind! Keysmashing, Caps Lock, and live commenting appreciated! (Bonus points if you leave a comment on every chapter)
floaty review box for ao3 (super useful for commenting as you read + it has a ‘review tips’ button if you feel stuck)
reblog ficlets, drabbles, fics, fic rec posts, etc. Put a nice comment in the tags. Remember that likes, while appreciated, don’t give the writer any exposure, meaning the posts don’t reach more people
go to your local fanfic writer’s inbox and talk to them about their fic of your choice. Let them know how long ago you’ve read it and what story point/sentence/scene still makes you smile when you think about it
send thank you messages to fic writers. In a world where you have to pay for almost everything, they’re supplying you with countless hours of free entertainment. It can get quite lonely without getting messages acknowledging the hours they spend writing stories – let them know their time and effort is appreciated
make fic rec posts and @ the authors whose fics you’re recommending! (believe me, fic writers love to see their stories in these posts)
create something inspired by a fic! You can draw fanart, make a moodboard or aesthetic post, or even write a song for the fic you love. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro doesn’t matter – the thought alone is what counts more than anything ❤
buy the writer a coffee if they have a ko-fi page and you have some change lying around c: Caffeine keeps most fic writers awake when they struggle with a particularly slow draft or a difficult scene. More coffee, more content.
These are only some ideas out of the sea of possible ways to appreciate fanfic writers. On August 21st show the writers in your fandom(s) some love ❤
I think I figured out how to stop the obnoxious notification spam that has been telling me “[name] mentioned you” every time somebody reblogs a post I was ever tagged in, even if they never mention me in THEIR reblog!
1. Go to Account, the little person head and shoulders in upper right.
2. Go to Settings, with the gear icon.
3. Click Notifications.
4. Uncheck the new “conversational notifications” switch.
If you have heard about Pillowfort.io and our recent Kickstarter but aren’t sure about it yet, you can click the link above to log in to a special demo account on our live site. You can explore nearly every page on the site, and while you won’t be able to post anything or change settings, you can see all of the features that we offer and browse the content posted by our site’s 10,000+ active users. If you like what you see, be sure to check out the Kickstarter for more information about the site, and get into our beta with a pledge of $5 or more!
I personally don’t have a Pillowfort account yet, but my partner does and she has let me look at her account fully to see what it is like. I’ve also viewed Pillowfort’s demo account which is linked to on their Kickstarter. I am waiting with anticipation when I can make my own account, but right now Pillowfort is in a closed beta which means the only people who have access to the site are ones who have been given special registration links. They were doing waves of free beta accounts a bit ago (which is how my partner got her account), but right now for every $5 you pledge to their Kickstarter you will receive a registration key if the Kickstarter gets fully funded (they are as of today 40% of the way to their $39,900 goal).
Here is why I’m excited for Pillowfort:
If you delete your original posts, every reblogged version will be deleted too. Edit your original post and the changes will appear on every reblog,
The ability to make posts visible to everyone, just followers, just mutuals, or just yourself.
A functional blacklist where you can blacklist a post body & tags or just tags.
A terms of service that explicitly states you hold all rights to your own intellectual property. It also states clearly that it forbids callout posts, doxxing, degradation, harassing, hate groups, spamming of tags with unrelated or offensive material, and slurs against minorities. If there is a user that is doing anything offensive or hateful, it is encouraged and mandated you don’t make posts about it and instead flag it and let the site moderators take care of it. This sort of system cuts down on “dashboard drama” and harassment that sites like Tumblr are known for.
They have threaded comments which means discussions or praise no longer clog up your posts and your blog, keeping things much more organized and clean. We can also use tags for their ACTUAL purpose, tagging of posts for ease of search and organization instead of talking.
They have communities and a more connected user-based and user-led environment.
Posts in chronological order like they should be!
A staff that actually cares about the input of their members and is driven to listen and collaborate with their members to create a site that the users actually want instead of being led by a corporation that has their own agendas in mind.
A staff that wants to avoid corporate involvement, unwanted ads, and selling of user info to fund Pillowfort.
The future possibilities of what the staff can do with the site that we didn’t dream could be possible to have all in one place including accessibility and a functional mobile app.
So far, I’ve seen a lot of good things and I’ve been really impressed with how the staff is handling the site and how they have explained their plans for the future of Pillowfort.
If you say you really want a social media site that actually cares about their users, this is it. This is your chance to have what pretty much all of us want. This new blogging platform is all the best parts of Tumblr (and for those who miss Livejournal this is like a wedding between Tumblr and Livejournal) with all the parts we hate and loathe about the site scraped out of it.
If you can’t support Pillowfort monetarily, then please, please reblog, tweet, share, and spread it about everywhere you can.
This is our chance to have a social media made with us in mind and it’s already starting out so well with 10,000 users in the closed beta. Let’s bring it to the next stage of its life!
I’m already there (@ngoziu!) and now that I’m not traveling for book promo, I’ve been using it almost everyday. If you can’t contribute, please share. Thank you!
This is Not a Blog 