So You Want To Organize A Fan Event?
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So you want to organize a fan event?...
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Welcome, Citrus Con.
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whimwitch: This is whimwitch, and I'm here-
SCUMSUCK: And Scumsuck.
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whimwitch: Yeah, I'm here with SCUMSUCK.
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And we're going to go over everything you
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bizzy bees need to know about what you
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need to do to organize fan events for
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your own fandoms.
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So in general, we're going to go over
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who we are, and why the hell we feel like
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we're the right people to tell you how to
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run a fan event. And then we'll go
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through all of the details about why a
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person might want to run a fan event,
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types of fan events that you can run,
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where you can run your fan events, how
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you run your fan event once you actually
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get it rolling, how you might
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archive your fan event. What we learned
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through our experiences and then we'll
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share resources and have a Q&A at
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the end since this is a recorded presentation.
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So a little bit about us...
So I'm whimwitch
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Um...there's not a lot to say about me.
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I'm gay. I like Yu-gi-oh.
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I participate in a lot of fan events and
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zines all over the Internet and in real life.
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I have run the Yu-gi-oh Rare Pairs Mini Bang for
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four years in a row, and I do a
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lot of shit posting and blabbing on blorbo.social.
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SCUMSUCK: And my name is Maggie. My artist name is
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SCUMSUCK. I like SpongeBob.
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I run Artcade, which is a creative
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exchange for original characters, which
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I'm planning to run again this year.
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And I've also run a bunch of zines
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for myself and for other people to join,
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which you can view if you click
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on the links in the slide.
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I am also on blorbo.social, which is part of the Fediverse.
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So join me and whim on anywhere other than Twitter.
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whimwitch: (laughs) Hell yeah.
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So we both are going to
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be talking about two events that we've
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run that we thought would be really good
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examples for people that are new to fan events,
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Or just want to see behind the
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curtain a little bit for how we
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actually put all of this together.
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So my event is the Yu-gi-oh Repairs Mini Bang,
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and basically it's this huge collaboration where people
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are partnered with an artist or a writer,
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depending on the ordering of the year
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since we go back and forth between the setup.
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And we have a ton of people
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that create pieces that go together.
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And every year I put it together
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in a huge master spreadsheet
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since everybody's posting everywhere
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online these days. So it's nice to have
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everything collected together in the end.
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SCUMSUCK: And I run Artcade,
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which the last year
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was on Dreamwidth, and I
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continue to want to run it on Dreamwidth.
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People sign up by posting a sort of
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exchange letter with a list of the
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characters they want to see, you know...
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drawn, written about, or other creative things made about.
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And then people simply respond to the post
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with works they made for that person.
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There's no obligation to do, uh...
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trades, but it's highly encouraged to
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make something for someone else who has
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chosen to make something for you.
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It's a complete free for all, but we've had
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people make like 200 things total in like one month.
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So people get really motivated to just start making things
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when you don't give them deadlines.
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whimwitch: So when you are trying to
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decide that you're wanting to run a fan
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event, I feel like the most important
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thing to consider is what's your why?
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Like, what is the reason why you want to
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go through all this work to bring people
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together and moderate an event?
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So you might want to think about a particular niche
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that might be missing in your fandom.
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Um, for example...
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maybe you're interested in rare pairs,
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or there's a specific ship that you're
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interested in that doesn't really have, um...
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its own event because maybe there are
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like a whole bunch of fans that you
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personally know that you really want to
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collaborate with, but you just need to
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find the perfect excuse to bring them all together.
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That might be a reason why you
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might put a fan event together.
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Or maybe there's a lack of fan events in your fandom.
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You might want to build community
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on top of creating art.
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Or like I said, you might want to be
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bringing together specific groups of people.
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So this could be outside of
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even the fandom perspective.
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You might be interested in a specific kink or fetish,
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and that can be a really nice way
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to collaborate with people outside of
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your fandom through a shared interest.
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But most of all, you want to think about (laughs)
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if <i>YOU</i> yourself are a masochist and
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you personally enjoy putting in a lot of
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work where you might not be getting a lot of
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you know, really tangible rewards out of it.
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Aside from the fact that you feel good about
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creating this space for other people.
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You really want to think about what you personally
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want out of this event, and if there might be
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better avenues to do whatever you're
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interested in outside of a fan event
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if it's not something that, um, makes you
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really feel like you're compelled to
organize something.
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And so SCUMSUCK and I thought about our
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own events and why we decided to run them,
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and we felt like there was a lot of overlap.
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So I would say for the rare pairs
mini bang that I run,
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um, specific to that event,
there were a lot
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of fandom wide events, but typically they
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were dominated by about 5 popular ships.
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And they were not really welcoming to
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people that were interested in
spin-offs of Yu-gi-oh.
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It was mostly just people
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who were fans of the original series,
which is Duel Monsters.
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And I would also say that I was
really interested in
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focusing on rare pairs because in
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personal circles that I was in,
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there were a lot of friends that I had
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that were interested in rare pairs.
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And even if you yourself are not especially
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familiar with that rare pair, I feel like
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a lot of times rare shippers are more
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likely to support other people that also like rare pairs.
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SCUMSUCK: And for Artcade, my own reasons were
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because original character communities are usually very
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child friendly and will ban you for
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having 18+ art off site or even
implied on their website.
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So, I'm an adult. All my friends are adults.
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And I thought that we needed a
space to do this.
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This also was concurrent with, like, just after,
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like, Tumblr had started banning all NSFW art.
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And everyone's realizing, "Oh no,
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porn or other adult things are going to
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disappear offline if we don't preserve it."
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So I want to encourage people to make
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their own spaces on their own websites to
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archive their stories and characters
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if they happen to contain things that
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might not be allowed on the open web.
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The other third point is very similar to whim's
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in that people who have OCs
are generally going to be interested
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in other people's characters as well
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because we don't have a built-in fandom
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like, you know, mainstream media.
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We have to support each other
and make fan art
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for each other to make each other happy.
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And, uh, I just feel like...
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you know, if you're stuck in your
own brain space
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talking about your character, you're
likely to, like, get into someone else's
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brain worms about their character too.
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Much like rare pairs.
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whimwitch: Absolutely.
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And something that we definitely share
with the reasons why we made events,
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which might resonate with a lot of
people watching this right now,
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is that, um, there weren't really
other spaces in fandom or OCs-
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OC communities for our particular niche.
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We wanted to create these collaborative
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spaces for a wide range of art styles,
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especially when there's certain events
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that might only focus on fic
or might only focus on 2D art
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that's more traditional and not inclusive
of all kinds of other art.
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Cause like, with Artcade, um, what types of
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art have you had people contribute?
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SCUMSUCK: Oh yeah, whim made
a recipe based on one
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of my characters in the voice of that
character, which is really cool.
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whimwitch: (laughs) Oh yeah!
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SCUMSUCK: And then people make music playlists
based on each other's characters vibes.
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So I'm just in love with like every sort of art.
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Like if you put creative effort into it,
like that's just so cool.
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whimwitch: Yeah. And then also like,
there's a lot of freedom
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that you yourself can have from
freeing yourself from limitations
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that maybe you've experienced in other events
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when you can kind of tailor it
to your specific interests
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and your specific needs within a fandom.
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So there's a ton of different fan events,
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which we're going to cover briefly,
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but when you're looking through these,
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you might want to be considering some of
these different questions
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just to figure out what type of event might fit
the kind of community you're trying to create.
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So you might want to consider the types of
fan works you currently see in your fandom.
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You know, is it a really fic heavy fandom,
or is it a really art heavy fandom?
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Because based on that,
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you might have a harder time drawing
in writers if you don't really see
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very many fics for your fandom at all,
but maybe there's a lot of artists.
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Or maybe you want to really foster, um,
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more people to feel like they can create art
for a fandom that might be really fic heavy.
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So maybe then you would want to have
an art focused event,
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but then maybe you want to really make sure that your
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expectations are lower if you know that maybe
there won't be as many people interested.
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But I think that's kind of the beauty of this is when
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you have really small event, it's really
a nice way to foster little communities.
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And you never know who's out there
until you actually create the event.
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And then you also want to consider maybe what the
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average fan is like in your fandom,
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like the typical fic length.
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If you're in a fandom where
it's not really common for
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people to write fics that are over 10K,
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you probably don't want to do a big bang
where your minimum is a 50K fic.
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It's just not going to be realistic.
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Um, you might want to also think about
where people are posting their fan works,
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and if there are already people
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within the fandom that seem like
they like to collaborate with each other,
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especially if you have friends
that collaborate,
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it's a nice way to reach out
to them personally to bring them in.
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And it makes it a lot easier to build that
community when you already know people
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who are willing to share their
works with each other.
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So there are a lot of different
types of fan events.
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We're going to cover 6 main types today.
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So there are bangs, exchanges, anon or kink memes, fan
weeks, fanzines, and gameified fan events.
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So starting off with big bangs or
mini bangs or reverse bangs.
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As we go through these slides,
you might want to take a look at
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the pros and cons for each type of event
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to decide if this might be the right fit for you.
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But a bang is a partnered writing or art collaboration event
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where people are making art based on each other's art, essentially.
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So there might be a person who writes a fic
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and then somebody creates art for it,
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like this example here. This is the DeanCas Big Bang.
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It's been running for 15 years.
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It's a really, <i>really</i> good example if
you're interested in running bangs.
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I would definitely recommend looking at this.
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But there are also reverse bangs where a
person might make a piece of fan art
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and then someone makes a fic based on it.
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So why it's called a Big Bang is just
because when you're making all of
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this content, and it's all published all at the same time,
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there's usually like a week or a month
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where everybody's posting their fics and art all together.
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It's like this huge burst of content.
249
00:12:18,932 --> 00:12:21,252
So it's like this big bang in the universe that is
250
00:12:21,252 --> 00:12:23,572
giving you this wonderful gift of a ship.
251
00:12:25,092 --> 00:12:27,252
SCUMSUCK: And next we have Exchanges.
252
00:12:27,812 --> 00:12:31,732
Basically, you sign up with a request and you fill others' requests.
253
00:12:31,732 --> 00:12:33,312
Sometimes it's done more formally where you're assigned
254
00:12:33,312 --> 00:12:35,792
a fill, other times it's a free-for-all.
255
00:12:35,812 --> 00:12:37,492
The image I have here is an example of
256
00:12:37,492 --> 00:12:42,292
what you will get if you sign up for an
exchange on AO3.
257
00:12:42,292 --> 00:12:44,932
You can see that this person got assigned
258
00:12:45,092 --> 00:12:47,592
someone who requested Despicable Me fan fiction,
259
00:12:47,592 --> 00:12:52,392
and they have their likes listed
as well as their DNWs.
260
00:12:52,392 --> 00:12:54,792
DNWs stand for "do not want," and you commonly put that
261
00:12:55,092 --> 00:12:57,412
in your exchange letter so people know,
262
00:12:57,412 --> 00:12:59,652
"I really don't like this. Please don't put it in my fic!"
263
00:12:59,952 --> 00:13:02,212
And it does not have to be on AO3.
264
00:13:02,212 --> 00:13:04,452
It can be a Secret Santa.
265
00:13:05,032 --> 00:13:07,592
It can be a free for all like Fandomtrees.
266
00:13:07,892 --> 00:13:10,852
The possibilities are endless.
267
00:13:12,052 --> 00:13:15,012
whimwitch: Then there's also Anon or Kink Memes.
268
00:13:15,012 --> 00:13:17,652
These are not as common anymore, but they were
269
00:13:17,652 --> 00:13:19,972
very, very popular on Live Journal and
270
00:13:19,972 --> 00:13:21,492
they're still around on Dreamwidth.
271
00:13:21,892 --> 00:13:24,772
Sometimes you might see them on AO3, but
272
00:13:24,772 --> 00:13:29,732
they're basically an anonymous
prompting event where somebody
273
00:13:29,732 --> 00:13:32,692
leaves a prompt specific to a fandom or a ship,
274
00:13:32,692 --> 00:13:36,652
and then they wait very, very, very
patiently for another person to fill it.
275
00:13:36,932 --> 00:13:43,052
So in this example here, this is from
um, a Disney Kink meme where
276
00:13:43,052 --> 00:13:46,232
this person's requesting some- something for Ratatouille.
277
00:13:46,232 --> 00:13:48,872
And they're interested in Colette and Linguini's first time,
278
00:13:49,072 --> 00:13:53,472
and then someone would reply to this with a fill.
279
00:13:54,112 --> 00:13:57,292
So it could be a fic.
I've also seen art fills for these.
280
00:13:57,972 --> 00:14:00,772
It really is up to whoever wants to run it.
281
00:14:01,412 --> 00:14:05,592
But it's definitely something that a lot
of people aren't really familiar with anymore,
282
00:14:05,772 --> 00:14:09,172
but it's very low stakes as far as an
organizer since it's not really
283
00:14:09,172 --> 00:14:11,492
based around any set time.
284
00:14:12,772 --> 00:14:18,532
SCUMSUCK: And here we have Fan Weeks,
typically run as a hashtag on social media.
285
00:14:18,532 --> 00:14:20,692
The event account will post prompts for the week
286
00:14:20,772 --> 00:14:23,492
and people will post their fan works, uh,
287
00:14:23,492 --> 00:14:28,492
usually using those prompts as inspiration
in that same hashtag for people to find.
288
00:14:28,492 --> 00:14:32,932
The example I have here is a Inktober thing I ran for
289
00:14:32,932 --> 00:14:35,412
my Discord server, where I had various
290
00:14:35,692 --> 00:14:38,132
different prompts for people to fill.
291
00:14:38,132 --> 00:14:42,252
And it was very low pressure to just
like, choose one or none.
292
00:14:42,452 --> 00:14:44,792
If you didn't like any of them, just skip to the next week,
293
00:14:44,832 --> 00:14:47,592
and just post it for everyone to see and
everyone will appreciate it.
294
00:14:49,972 --> 00:14:52,132
Next we have Fan Zines.
295
00:14:52,132 --> 00:14:55,092
These are printed or digital fan anthology projects.
296
00:14:55,192 --> 00:14:59,072
The larger expensive ones are sometimes for profit, charity,
297
00:14:59,072 --> 00:15:03,552
or include merch, but this is not necessary at all to make a zine.
298
00:15:03,552 --> 00:15:07,332
The very base definition is to just have something to read.
299
00:15:08,132 --> 00:15:10,452
The examples I have here are a zine I ran
300
00:15:10,452 --> 00:15:15,752
based on the concept of a Girl Scout
character from Team Fortress 2.
301
00:15:15,752 --> 00:15:18,712
And I made a physical zine with
302
00:15:19,332 --> 00:15:22,032
lots of combination of text and images,
303
00:15:22,032 --> 00:15:25,972
as well as a little bit of extra
stickers to go of it.
304
00:15:26,012 --> 00:15:28,472
Again, none of the extras are necessary.
305
00:15:28,612 --> 00:15:31,492
You don't need merch or fancy binding.
306
00:15:31,892 --> 00:15:35,732
I did mine all at home with printer paper and staples.
307
00:15:38,532 --> 00:15:41,752
whimwitch: And last but not least, there are Gameified Fan Events.
308
00:15:41,852 --> 00:15:45,152
And these are basically the same as everything we've
309
00:15:45,152 --> 00:15:47,232
been talking about, where there's some
310
00:15:47,332 --> 00:15:50,092
sort of prompt or it might be a gift,
311
00:15:50,092 --> 00:15:56,772
and it's all unified around either a fandom
or a specific, uh, kink or whatever.
312
00:15:56,812 --> 00:16:01,372
But these are creative events with really interesting rules or setups.
313
00:16:01,372 --> 00:16:03,712
And oftentimes they're competitive.
314
00:16:03,712 --> 00:16:05,912
So the example I have here,
315
00:16:05,912 --> 00:16:08,532
this is a multi fandom event that you
316
00:16:08,532 --> 00:16:11,192
might be interested in called Battleship Exchange.
317
00:16:11,192 --> 00:16:14,232
And it's pretty much like the game Battleship.
318
00:16:14,232 --> 00:16:17,092
There's a grid board with coordinate spaces where
319
00:16:17,092 --> 00:16:19,772
somewhere on the board there's going to be battleships,
320
00:16:19,772 --> 00:16:23,652
and you're put on a team where your goal is to fill
321
00:16:23,732 --> 00:16:27,792
whatever the prompt is within the spot on the board,
322
00:16:27,792 --> 00:16:31,572
and you're going to hope that you're going to sink somebody's battleship.
323
00:16:31,672 --> 00:16:34,232
And it runs really quickly because people are just filling these
324
00:16:34,332 --> 00:16:36,212
prompts as fast as possible to clear the board.
325
00:16:36,212 --> 00:16:39,112
But there are also bingo events.
326
00:16:39,112 --> 00:16:43,092
I feel like a lot of times those tend to be multi fandom.
327
00:16:43,252 --> 00:16:46,672
The limits are really up to the organizer.
328
00:16:46,712 --> 00:16:49,972
You can do pretty much whatever you want with these.
329
00:16:50,784 --> 00:16:54,984
So now that you've heard about all of
these different types of events,
330
00:16:54,984 --> 00:17:00,924
you might be asking, "whimwitch, SCUMSUCK,
how <i>do</i> I organize this event?"
331
00:17:01,104 --> 00:17:04,384
And so I would say the 3 things you really want to
332
00:17:04,384 --> 00:17:09,044
keep in mind before you get involved in planning an event is...
333
00:17:09,064 --> 00:17:12,284
#1: You want to make sure that when you're organizing,
334
00:17:12,284 --> 00:17:14,364
you're prioritizing yourself.
335
00:17:14,464 --> 00:17:19,024
You want to run your event based on your
own availability and your own interests.
336
00:17:19,024 --> 00:17:22,844
Because if it's not something you're
interested in, you're not going to be (laughs)
337
00:17:22,904 --> 00:17:25,304
wanting to run that event like ever again.
338
00:17:25,604 --> 00:17:32,544
#2: I would also say that it's good to keep
in mind that anybody can run an event.
339
00:17:32,544 --> 00:17:35,164
In the words of Chef Gusteau, "Anyone can cook."
340
00:17:35,164 --> 00:17:36,824
So you might be thinking to yourself,
341
00:17:36,904 --> 00:17:40,584
"I am not good at networking with people."
342
00:17:40,584 --> 00:17:43,004
Which is not something you need to do to run an event.
343
00:17:43,004 --> 00:17:46,444
Or you might be thinking, "I don't know how to archive things."
344
00:17:46,444 --> 00:17:48,804
That's definitely something you can learn.
345
00:17:48,804 --> 00:17:51,124
And I would also say that people that participate in these
346
00:17:51,224 --> 00:17:53,704
events are really kind and also willing
347
00:17:53,904 --> 00:17:56,184
to support you through this.
348
00:17:56,184 --> 00:17:59,324
There are a lot of skills you can learn from other people
349
00:17:59,324 --> 00:18:01,764
who might be interested in supporting you
350
00:18:01,764 --> 00:18:04,544
if there's an event you're interested in organizing.
351
00:18:04,944 --> 00:18:08,244
The #3 rule is to not have too many mods!
352
00:18:08,244 --> 00:18:10,444
You do not need a mod for
353
00:18:10,544 --> 00:18:12,504
every single task that you might have to
354
00:18:12,504 --> 00:18:14,264
do to run your event.
355
00:18:14,364 --> 00:18:15,924
The more direct communication can be
356
00:18:15,924 --> 00:18:18,724
with your participants, the better it will be for
357
00:18:18,724 --> 00:18:21,324
you and the people in your community.
358
00:18:21,344 --> 00:18:26,704
It's not really helpful if you have six or seven
mods that are each
359
00:18:26,704 --> 00:18:29,264
assigned to a task, but then maybe
360
00:18:29,264 --> 00:18:33,884
there's miscommunication between the
mods if a participant reaches out to somebody.
361
00:18:33,884 --> 00:18:38,364
Or maybe people aren't sure when
to jump in to actually complete a task.
362
00:18:38,364 --> 00:18:43,624
It's a lot of times easier if
you really trim the fat with that
363
00:18:43,624 --> 00:18:49,424
and just have enough people to make
it run functionally.
364
00:18:49,424 --> 00:18:52,004
And sometimes that means just you.
365
00:18:52,304 --> 00:18:54,544
SCUMSUCK: And don't worry about doing things that you don't
366
00:18:54,544 --> 00:18:57,124
have any experience in.
Like you don't need to hire like
367
00:18:57,424 --> 00:18:59,584
a social media mod or graphics mod.
368
00:19:00,224 --> 00:19:02,544
If you don't know how to use Canva or Photoshop,
369
00:19:03,044 --> 00:19:05,764
make the graphics yourself in MS Paint.
It'll look great! I promise you.
370
00:19:05,904 --> 00:19:07,724
And it'll look- ...I'll love it!
371
00:19:08,124 --> 00:19:12,684
whimwitch: Definitely! And I think a really
good example here of, like,
372
00:19:13,264 --> 00:19:16,984
reaching out to people when
you need help for things (laughs)
373
00:19:16,984 --> 00:19:20,424
is when I'm thinking about how
I run my event, I really like to
374
00:19:20,784 --> 00:19:23,264
make sure that the participants feel like
375
00:19:23,264 --> 00:19:26,324
they have a stake in it.
And so this most recent year,
376
00:19:26,424 --> 00:19:30,244
I reached out to people and asked if they
could help me with making a banner.
377
00:19:30,344 --> 00:19:35,104
Because I personally did not have time
to draw a bunch of little
378
00:19:35,104 --> 00:19:38,544
different Yu-gi-oh characters, so it was
actually really nice to get art from the
379
00:19:38,544 --> 00:19:40,704
community with people just pitching in.
380
00:19:41,024 --> 00:19:43,004
That's something that you can also consider.
381
00:19:43,204 --> 00:19:47,344
But this is the homepage for my event.
382
00:19:47,344 --> 00:19:49,904
I use Dreamwidth because I like
to have everything on a
383
00:19:49,904 --> 00:19:52,364
solid platform that's not going to go anywhere.
384
00:19:52,364 --> 00:19:56,824
And I basically make a master post on there with all the
385
00:19:56,824 --> 00:20:00,784
information for people that might be
interested in my event.
386
00:20:00,804 --> 00:20:06,164
I have an FAQ; I have a page where I list the specifications;
I list the contact information.
387
00:20:06,164 --> 00:20:10,104
But really I make sure that I'm hosting all of my
388
00:20:10,104 --> 00:20:12,624
information in one place, and then I use
389
00:20:12,624 --> 00:20:17,744
other platforms to supplement communication
for the event once things are actually running.
390
00:20:19,744 --> 00:20:21,544
SCUMSUCK: Yeah, the same goes for me. I also use
391
00:20:21,584 --> 00:20:24,464
Dreamwidth as the homepage of the event.
392
00:20:24,944 --> 00:20:27,664
It's very useful because people can also
393
00:20:27,664 --> 00:20:33,024
subscribe via e-mail or RSS
feed to get updates instead of having to
394
00:20:33,024 --> 00:20:35,264
ping everyone in the busy Discord server.
395
00:20:35,744 --> 00:20:37,744
And keeping links all in one place is
396
00:20:37,744 --> 00:20:40,464
just so good for people being able to
397
00:20:40,464 --> 00:20:42,704
know what the rules are or how to do things.
398
00:20:44,864 --> 00:20:47,104
whimwitch: So when we're thinking about how we run
399
00:20:47,104 --> 00:20:48,624
our events, we thought it would be
400
00:20:48,624 --> 00:20:50,704
helpful to kind of show them side by side
401
00:20:50,704 --> 00:20:53,264
so you can see what things look like for
402
00:20:53,264 --> 00:20:55,104
different events or different ways that
403
00:20:55,104 --> 00:20:57,984
you might want to consider organizing.
404
00:20:57,984 --> 00:21:00,784
{\an8}So for my event, for the mini bang,
405
00:21:00,864 --> 00:21:05,584
{\an8}I use a huge spreadsheet to
organize everything from
406
00:21:05,584 --> 00:21:11,504
{\an8}signups, to the claim process to,
when the pieces are actually posted.
407
00:21:11,904 --> 00:21:14,064
{\an8}Just because I feel like it's a lot
408
00:21:14,064 --> 00:21:16,264
{\an8}easier for me to go through all of the
409
00:21:16,264 --> 00:21:20,424
{\an8}information as the organizer to just
see everything in one place.
410
00:21:20,904 --> 00:21:24,664
{\an8}And since, um, the claim process
for a bang is anonymous,
411
00:21:24,664 --> 00:21:29,484
{\an8}it's nice to have that completely
separate from a platform where
412
00:21:29,484 --> 00:21:32,464
{\an8}people might be able to see
where people are claiming things.
413
00:21:32,564 --> 00:21:36,384
{\an8}Sometimes there can
be drama if people see that like one
414
00:21:36,384 --> 00:21:41,044
{\an8}particular prompt summary is really popular
and a lot of people are claiming it.
415
00:21:41,344 --> 00:21:44,664
{\an8}Some people might feel bad about the
piece that they're creating.
416
00:21:44,964 --> 00:21:49,104
{\an8}So I've felt like it's really helpful
when I've run my event to have people...
417
00:21:49,104 --> 00:21:53,064
{\an8}uh, they basically will sign up
once they're committed to being
418
00:21:53,064 --> 00:21:55,144
{\an8}in the event and they'll say, you know,
419
00:21:55,144 --> 00:21:59,984
{\an8}"This is the ship I'm going to be using for my piece.
420
00:21:59,984 --> 00:22:05,424
{\an8}Here is a summary of what my piece either
looks like if it's art or a summary of the fic.
421
00:22:05,904 --> 00:22:07,864
{\an8}And you know, content warnings and
422
00:22:07,864 --> 00:22:09,864
{\an8}everything people might need to know."
423
00:22:09,864 --> 00:22:15,024
{\an8}And then for the people that are
claiming this piece, they will see these
424
00:22:15,024 --> 00:22:17,824
{\an8}summaries and then they will sign up
425
00:22:17,904 --> 00:22:20,784
{\an8}with a form, and I will hand match
426
00:22:20,784 --> 00:22:25,124
{\an8}all of the people with a partner who's
interested in their piece.
427
00:22:25,124 --> 00:22:30,544
{\an8}Usually, I- I ask people to sign up
with their top three or their top five, uh, works.
428
00:22:30,584 --> 00:22:34,864
{\an8}And then if anyone is
unclaimed, I reach out to people that
429
00:22:34,864 --> 00:22:36,544
{\an8}have shown an interest in pinch hitting
430
00:22:36,604 --> 00:22:41,704
{\an8}and it's worked out really well every
single year because I think the
431
00:22:41,704 --> 00:22:43,504
{\an8}pinch hitters feel motivated because they know
432
00:22:43,504 --> 00:22:45,344
{\an8}that they're going to be getting a little
433
00:22:45,344 --> 00:22:47,424
{\an8}gift at the end of the event for their
434
00:22:47,424 --> 00:22:49,744
{\an8}extra work, which is usually just a
435
00:22:49,744 --> 00:22:54,884
{\an8}sketch or somebody might write
a short ficlet for them.
436
00:22:55,464 --> 00:22:58,304
{\an8}SCUMSUCK: All right, and for Artcade, I set up
437
00:22:58,384 --> 00:23:01,224
{\an8}the exchange in the style of a free for all.
438
00:23:01,224 --> 00:23:06,144
{\an8}So I took a lot of inspiration from
the Fandomtrees event, where people
439
00:23:06,144 --> 00:23:08,684
{\an8}post their exchange letter as its own post,
440
00:23:08,684 --> 00:23:13,424
{\an8}people reply to that exchange
letter with their gift,
441
00:23:13,824 --> 00:23:17,684
{\an8}and then you are forced to comment
or be shunned from the community.
442
00:23:17,784 --> 00:23:22,644
{\an8}So first you see that I have the
basic information in your exchange letter:
443
00:23:22,644 --> 00:23:26,524
{\an8}You need your name,
you need a page for your characters,
444
00:23:26,564 --> 00:23:29,584
{\an8}which encourages people to make their own
website, by the way.
445
00:23:29,584 --> 00:23:32,864
{\an8}You let people know what your preferred
characters are. You can have a lot of characters.
446
00:23:32,864 --> 00:23:35,744
{\an8} You have a bunch of lists of, uh, likes and prompts
447
00:23:36,144 --> 00:23:39,944
{\an8}just to start people off with an
idea if they're not familiar with your characters.
448
00:23:40,044 --> 00:23:43,944
{\an8}Then you have do not wants,
which is like hard, like, I don't want this.
449
00:23:43,944 --> 00:23:46,544
{\an8}It'll ruin my day if I see this kind of things.
450
00:23:46,544 --> 00:23:49,924
{\an8}And very importantly, repost permissions!
451
00:23:49,924 --> 00:23:55,224
{\an8}So if people want to show off the art
they got on their own website,
452
00:23:55,224 --> 00:23:57,584
{\an8}or use it as an icon, it's very easy to just say,
453
00:23:57,584 --> 00:23:59,344
{\an8}"Hey, it's OK for you to do that!"
454
00:23:59,344 --> 00:24:02,224
{\an8}Or, "No, please don't do that!"
455
00:24:02,224 --> 00:24:05,604
{\an8}Next you see a reply to my entry token by loveisshort.
456
00:24:05,604 --> 00:24:10,604
{\an8}They simply replied with a
link to a new post in the community
457
00:24:10,624 --> 00:24:13,264
{\an8}that has an image of what they made for me.
458
00:24:13,264 --> 00:24:15,584
{\an8}In this case, it is a drawing.
459
00:24:16,304 --> 00:24:19,264
{\an8}And then I replied with a comment
460
00:24:19,664 --> 00:24:22,164
{\an8}saying, "Oh my God, I love this! You're amazing!
461
00:24:22,164 --> 00:24:24,404
{\an8}I'm going to hang this up and show everyone!"
462
00:24:24,404 --> 00:24:27,364
{\an8}You also see there are eight
other comments in this thread
463
00:24:27,864 --> 00:24:32,644
{\an8}and I really welcome other people to comment
on art or writing or whatever.
464
00:24:32,644 --> 00:24:34,804
{\an8}Even if it's not for them, you need to look at
465
00:24:34,804 --> 00:24:38,504
{\an8}everyone else's art they made and
appreciate it.
466
00:24:38,644 --> 00:24:43,604
{\an8}By the way, this art is by spillingdown, and
they have an artist alley table at Citrus Con,
467
00:24:43,604 --> 00:24:46,064
{\an8}so go visit them!
468
00:24:46,864 --> 00:24:50,264
{\an8}whimwitch: Yeah, go be nice to spilly please!
They make really good art.
469
00:24:51,684 --> 00:24:54,204
So I'm gonna blab a little bit about bangs,
470
00:24:54,964 --> 00:24:59,524
just because, um, a lot of people aren't
really familiar with the mechanics
471
00:24:59,524 --> 00:25:02,724
of these types of events. So I- I mentioned before,
472
00:25:02,724 --> 00:25:06,924
all of my stuff is hosted on
Dreamwidth, but outside of
473
00:25:07,364 --> 00:25:11,924
having the sign-ups, uh, through a
form and all the spreadsheets are organized,
474
00:25:11,924 --> 00:25:17,924
I also keep a Discord that's used
as a chat or an announcement hub.
475
00:25:17,924 --> 00:25:21,924
And I'm going to be mirroring that community to Revolt soon
476
00:25:21,924 --> 00:25:24,484
because Discord really sucks a lot of times (laughs).
477
00:25:24,484 --> 00:25:28,244
But basically I'll keep a lot of
information there, and then people can
478
00:25:28,244 --> 00:25:29,764
talk with each other. And it's really
479
00:25:29,764 --> 00:25:32,324
nice to have a Discord community because
480
00:25:32,324 --> 00:25:36,844
then if somebody gets paired up with
their partner, they can immediately have
481
00:25:36,844 --> 00:25:39,364
a way to contact them.
482
00:25:39,364 --> 00:25:41,484
But people can also participate in this event through
483
00:25:41,484 --> 00:25:44,464
e-mail only. That's also worked completely fine.
484
00:25:44,944 --> 00:25:48,964
And then I also post announcements to the Fediverse.
485
00:25:49,044 --> 00:25:53,324
So if you've heard of Mastodon, that's one
example. And I've bridged my
486
00:25:53,324 --> 00:25:55,444
account to Blue Sky so I don't have to
487
00:25:55,444 --> 00:25:58,564
have multiple accounts to post the same information.
488
00:25:58,564 --> 00:26:03,364
I also sometimes use Tumblr
for it, um...used to use Twitter...
489
00:26:03,484 --> 00:26:07,604
but I feel like it's easier to just have
a bridged account that people can go to.
490
00:26:07,604 --> 00:26:10,004
And you don't have to have every single
491
00:26:10,004 --> 00:26:12,644
type of social media account to run an event.
492
00:26:12,644 --> 00:26:17,444
And the bang itself, it runs for 4 months with
493
00:26:17,444 --> 00:26:22,964
a sign up process, people claim, and then I
have a few check-ins as we go through
494
00:26:22,964 --> 00:26:27,244
those months just to make sure that
people are on track to finish.
495
00:26:27,244 --> 00:26:31,824
Because if somebody has to drop out, then I have
to find somebody else that can fill in for that person.
496
00:26:31,824 --> 00:26:36,604
And I really like my event switching between being
497
00:26:36,604 --> 00:26:39,284
a traditional bang, where you'll have a
498
00:26:39,364 --> 00:26:44,124
writer that writes a fic and then an
artist creates art based off of it.
499
00:26:44,124 --> 00:26:47,044
And then on other opposite years we'll
500
00:26:47,044 --> 00:26:49,004
be a reverse bang where the artists get
501
00:26:49,004 --> 00:26:52,584
to create their piece and then a writer
writes a fic based on it.
502
00:26:52,584 --> 00:26:54,824
And I feel like it really keeps things fresh.
503
00:26:55,124 --> 00:26:57,364
You- you don't run into as many issues with people
504
00:26:57,364 --> 00:26:59,364
creating the same thing every single year,
505
00:26:59,364 --> 00:27:01,924
and then you might have people who
506
00:27:01,924 --> 00:27:06,324
lose interest cause there's not as much
variety in the ships.
507
00:27:06,404 --> 00:27:08,724
So if you've never seen a bang before, this
508
00:27:08,724 --> 00:27:10,724
is what a regular bang looks like, where
509
00:27:10,724 --> 00:27:13,524
you have this wonderful fic here written
510
00:27:13,524 --> 00:27:16,084
by Millennium Writer, and then you
511
00:27:16,084 --> 00:27:18,884
have art that was inspired by this fic
512
00:27:19,204 --> 00:27:21,844
that was done by SCUMSUCK.
513
00:27:21,844 --> 00:27:24,584
But on the flip side, you could also
have a reverse bang,
514
00:27:24,584 --> 00:27:29,544
especially if you have a fandom where
people tend to write shorter pieces.
515
00:27:29,544 --> 00:27:34,324
A lot of times reverse bangs have
lower word limits, and you'll
516
00:27:34,324 --> 00:27:38,484
have an art piece that then
inspires a fic.
517
00:27:39,184 --> 00:27:41,464
SCUMSUCK: And I'd like to talk from my experience as
518
00:27:41,964 --> 00:27:44,964
a participant in whim's bang event.
519
00:27:45,684 --> 00:27:47,644
I have done both the
520
00:27:48,404 --> 00:27:54,084
drawing from someone else's
fic experience as well as having
521
00:27:54,124 --> 00:27:59,684
drawn something for someone else to
write something based off of.
522
00:28:00,164 --> 00:28:02,884
In this case of Fair Chivalry,
523
00:28:02,884 --> 00:28:08,724
I signed up first because I was very
interested in any pairing involving Rishid.
524
00:28:08,724 --> 00:28:13,604
And then we got mashed up together.
We DMed each other.
525
00:28:13,604 --> 00:28:19,444
I read the draft of the author's
story and kind of zoned in on a
526
00:28:19,444 --> 00:28:21,684
specific scene I want to illustrate.
527
00:28:22,244 --> 00:28:28,164
Something I chose based on what I think
would encapsulate the relationship in one scene.
528
00:28:28,464 --> 00:28:35,524
So in this case, Rishid has never really
been out for a night at- on the town,
529
00:28:35,924 --> 00:28:41,784
and Kujaku is going to show him
what it's like to, like, play cards and stuff.
530
00:28:41,784 --> 00:28:45,364
I thought that really showed the
characters off. I told that to my writer.
531
00:28:45,364 --> 00:28:53,924
I sketched out my drawing. They said,
"Cool, that's awesome! Could you add this and this detail?"
532
00:28:53,924 --> 00:28:58,724
I specifically asked 'em about details about
what sort of cards I should add in their hand
533
00:28:58,724 --> 00:29:02,164
to sort of show the personalities
through that as well.
534
00:29:02,684 --> 00:29:05,644
You can see, uh, Kujaku
has the king and queen because
535
00:29:05,844 --> 00:29:12,884
she's sort of in charge of this
conversation while she is also smirking
536
00:29:12,884 --> 00:29:18,004
because, well, Rishid doesn't know how to
play cards very well right now.
537
00:29:18,004 --> 00:29:22,924
But I found this, uh, a very satisfying
back and forth situation
538
00:29:22,924 --> 00:29:25,484
because it's very rare that
you get such a tailored
539
00:29:25,484 --> 00:29:27,884
feedback to your work, and it's great to
540
00:29:27,884 --> 00:29:29,884
take advantage of this opportunity to
541
00:29:29,884 --> 00:29:32,324
really get like those compliments in,
542
00:29:32,564 --> 00:29:37,644
work each other's stories up, and you'll
inform each other's work with
543
00:29:38,404 --> 00:29:43,884
your own like art or writing and make for
a much more satisfying final piece where
544
00:29:43,884 --> 00:29:46,724
the art and writing really shake hands
and work together.
545
00:29:48,484 --> 00:29:50,684
whimwitch: So I would say some quick advice if
546
00:29:50,684 --> 00:29:52,484
you're interested in running a bang is to
547
00:29:52,484 --> 00:29:57,524
check out ongoing bangs or participate in
one first. Just because if you've
548
00:29:57,844 --> 00:30:03,304
never seen this before, it might be a lot easier
to understand if you've participated in one first.
549
00:30:04,304 --> 00:30:06,964
But you also want to make sure you have a plan for how
550
00:30:06,964 --> 00:30:09,284
you'll match unclaimed people, because
551
00:30:09,444 --> 00:30:12,164
there are a lot of bangs where people
552
00:30:12,164 --> 00:30:17,904
might have to drop out, and no one
ever, um, is able to come in as a pinch hitter.
553
00:30:17,904 --> 00:30:21,524
And it can really suck if you're
working on like a 20K fic
554
00:30:22,004 --> 00:30:27,084
and you have no partner there to
kind of cheer on your creative process
555
00:30:27,084 --> 00:30:28,944
and collaborate with.
556
00:30:28,944 --> 00:30:31,704
There are a lot of bangs that also match the
557
00:30:32,244 --> 00:30:37,604
fic word count with the quantity of fan
art that is given to that person.
558
00:30:38,324 --> 00:30:41,124
And I feel like matching the fic word
559
00:30:41,124 --> 00:30:46,644
count with the amount of fan art somebody
can get is really tedious and more stress
560
00:30:46,644 --> 00:30:50,564
than it's worth, including for
participants. Especially if,
561
00:30:51,044 --> 00:30:56,244
um, let's say somebody is writing a
15K piece for their Big Bang
562
00:30:56,644 --> 00:31:02,164
and in the tiers of art, that means
that they're supposed to get 2 sketches.
563
00:31:02,164 --> 00:31:06,764
But then there's someone who
wrote a 50K fic and they're supposed to
564
00:31:06,804 --> 00:31:08,804
get like a six page comic.
565
00:31:09,364 --> 00:31:12,324
And maybe that artist that's doing the
566
00:31:12,324 --> 00:31:14,764
six page comic would have been more than
567
00:31:14,764 --> 00:31:18,244
happy to do a couple of sketches for this
person, but because they're so
568
00:31:19,284 --> 00:31:24,364
um, tied to the amount of work that they have
to do, it's harder to get artists to cover everybody.
569
00:31:24,364 --> 00:31:28,564
So, I would say that if you're interested
in running a bang,
570
00:31:28,564 --> 00:31:33,364
that might be an antiquated feature of
bangs that you might want to leave out,
571
00:31:33,364 --> 00:31:35,764
especially if you're not confident that
572
00:31:36,164 --> 00:31:41,604
uh, you'll be able to find people to do all
of that art for somebody.
573
00:31:41,604 --> 00:31:43,764
It's also a really good idea in any type of
574
00:31:43,764 --> 00:31:45,484
event to be open to hearing ideas from
575
00:31:45,484 --> 00:31:46,844
your community, cause it really keeps
576
00:31:46,844 --> 00:31:49,044
things fun and organized and people have
577
00:31:49,044 --> 00:31:50,804
a lot of good ideas that maybe you've
578
00:31:50,804 --> 00:31:51,724
never thought about.
579
00:31:52,355 --> 00:31:55,315
So you might wonder where you
580
00:31:55,315 --> 00:31:57,835
can run your fan event after hearing all
581
00:31:57,835 --> 00:32:00,415
of this great information about fan events.
582
00:32:00,439 --> 00:32:04,915
And so it really just depends where
you would like your event to be hosted.
583
00:32:04,915 --> 00:32:09,335
So SCUMSUCK, you could, um,
walk us through this cause like
584
00:32:09,335 --> 00:32:14,275
you've used probably all of these
platforms when thinking about fan events.
585
00:32:14,275 --> 00:32:17,235
So, um, w-what are your thoughts on this?
586
00:32:18,675 --> 00:32:21,395
SCUMSUCK: Oh yeah, I think you want to
587
00:32:21,395 --> 00:32:25,315
decide first what kind of fan event you
wanna run, and figure out what are the
588
00:32:25,315 --> 00:32:30,415
strengths of each platform to
streamline communications and posting.
589
00:32:30,515 --> 00:32:35,395
You may or may not wanna use
multiple platforms, but the less you have,
590
00:32:35,395 --> 00:32:39,795
the easier it is to keep track of
everything. For example, like
591
00:32:39,875 --> 00:32:46,635
everyone has an e-mail, but does everyone check it?
It's very slow, you don't get instant feedback.
592
00:32:46,635 --> 00:32:50,835
Discord: instant messaging, instant feedback.
People are yapping on there all the time,
593
00:32:50,835 --> 00:32:53,475
but can you keep track of all of that?
594
00:32:53,475 --> 00:32:58,035
You also think about the life expectancy of
the platform because we live in an age where
595
00:32:59,075 --> 00:33:00,995
sites are going up and down all the time.
596
00:33:00,995 --> 00:33:05,475
They make new rules, they ban certain
things. So a lot of popular corporate
597
00:33:05,475 --> 00:33:10,115
social media is going to go through ups
and downs, while smaller things like,
598
00:33:10,355 --> 00:33:16,515
say, Dreamwidth, e-mail, the fediverse... You're a
little bit more stable in their rulings.
599
00:33:16,815 --> 00:33:22,835
Uh, self hosted is also possible. There are
sites like Creative Clash and Art Fight
600
00:33:22,835 --> 00:33:27,775
which I know have their own website, forums
and image uploading.
601
00:33:27,775 --> 00:33:32,035
But that is very time intensive and expensive
cause I always see these sites asking for like
602
00:33:32,035 --> 00:33:36,075
fundraisers to keep their site going and
that that can range into like the
603
00:33:36,075 --> 00:33:42,275
thousands just to host like 100 people, or more,
posting their art and writing all the time.
604
00:33:44,355 --> 00:33:50,275
whimwitch: So we've both used Discord
in some format for our events.
605
00:33:50,275 --> 00:33:56,235
{\an8}When I've used Discord for the mini bang,
it's pretty slimmed down. It's really just
606
00:33:56,235 --> 00:34:01,035
{\an8}a copy paste of a lot of information that I
already have on Dreamwidth just so people
607
00:34:01,035 --> 00:34:05,755
{\an8}have that information on Discord to save
my sanity. (laughs) So if somebody is asking like,
608
00:34:05,755 --> 00:34:09,555
{\an8}"What are the rules?" They can just go
to the rule channel and see everything if
609
00:34:09,555 --> 00:34:10,835
{\an8}they don't want to look on Dreamwidth.
610
00:34:11,395 --> 00:34:14,275
{\an8}But I also have sections where people can
611
00:34:14,275 --> 00:34:17,155
{\an8}just chat, and I have artists and writers
612
00:34:17,155 --> 00:34:22,835
{\an8}split up when we're at the part of
the event where pieces have to be, uh,
613
00:34:22,835 --> 00:34:25,835
{\an8}kept secret from the other side.
614
00:34:25,835 --> 00:34:28,155
{\an8}So like if, for example, people are creating art first,
615
00:34:28,155 --> 00:34:32,435
{\an8}the writers should not know about
any of the art that's being created until
616
00:34:32,435 --> 00:34:37,015
{\an8}claims open, just to keep things a little
bit more exciting for people.
617
00:34:37,515 --> 00:34:40,735
{\an8}And then I have a section that's just
kind of a dumping ground for people to post
618
00:34:41,355 --> 00:34:45,635
{\an8}anything that they want to share to be
promoted, or inspiration that they might
619
00:34:45,635 --> 00:34:48,035
{\an8}have for their piece, or memes 🗿.
620
00:34:48,435 --> 00:34:51,795
{\an8}And I also felt like it was really
helpful to create a section for people to
621
00:34:51,795 --> 00:34:56,835
{\an8}talk about other events, just because
people that are involved in your
622
00:34:56,835 --> 00:34:59,875
{\an8}event are probably also going
to be doing other types of events.
623
00:35:01,955 --> 00:35:06,435
{\an8}SCUMSUCK: Yeah, I'm a really big fan of the way
whim set up their Discord server because it's-
624
00:35:06,675 --> 00:35:11,555
{\an8}It feels much more streamlined than
what I tried. It keeps things on topic.
625
00:35:11,555 --> 00:35:12,915
{\an8}You don't have too many people yapping about
626
00:35:13,235 --> 00:35:17,475
{\an8}like, like for example a vent channel.
Don't have those ☠️. Keep things focused on
627
00:35:17,475 --> 00:35:24,455
{\an8}the event, and make Discord servers for other
things for other topics if you need to.
628
00:35:24,635 --> 00:35:30,515
{\an8}I used my Discord server for the first two years
of Artcade to actually run the thing.
629
00:35:30,515 --> 00:35:35,355
{\an8}And I don't recommend it
for this type of exchange because it's
630
00:35:35,355 --> 00:35:40,195
{\an8}just really messy and hard to keep
track of each other's fills.
631
00:35:40,495 --> 00:35:44,595
{\an8}When Discord introduced threads and forums,
that helped a little bit to keep people's
632
00:35:44,595 --> 00:35:50,435
{\an8}comments and art organized,
but it was still really hard to
633
00:35:50,675 --> 00:35:53,975
{\an8}uh, get everyone sort of on
the same page with everything.
634
00:35:54,075 --> 00:35:57,395
{\an8}But still, it's very valuable to
have in community engagement
635
00:35:57,395 --> 00:36:02,235
{\an8}because I kept the Discord server open
during Dreamwidth's year so people could
636
00:36:02,235 --> 00:36:06,235
{\an8}talk to each other about each other's
characters and be like, "Oh my God!"
637
00:36:06,235 --> 00:36:09,275
{\an8}Have you guys seen this meme? You want- You
guys want to fill out this meme to, like,
638
00:36:09,275 --> 00:36:10,635
{\an8}dress up your character like this and this?"
639
00:36:10,635 --> 00:36:13,755
{\an8}Or like, "Oh, what would your character
eat if they went for a date?"
640
00:36:13,755 --> 00:36:17,795
{\an8}Like, I- I think that community involvement
is very important. And as much as
641
00:36:17,795 --> 00:36:23,895
{\an8}it's hard to moderate a Discord server, it has
a lot of pros to it that you should consider.
642
00:36:23,895 --> 00:36:28,335
{\an8}whimwitch: Yeah, like a lot of people use it,
but at the same time I feel like
643
00:36:28,335 --> 00:36:32,915
{\an8}modding can be really busy,
especially if your event is
644
00:36:33,315 --> 00:36:38,095
{\an8}running pretty quickly and people
might be having a lot of questions.
645
00:36:38,195 --> 00:36:41,755
{\an8}It it can be difficult to be available
at all times. And then there's also like
646
00:36:41,755 --> 00:36:46,835
{\an8}the paywall limitations with certain
features on Discord, and the terms of
647
00:36:46,835 --> 00:36:50,555
{\an8}service with 18+ art are kind of rocky.
648
00:36:50,675 --> 00:36:54,855
{\an8}So, you might want to check those out
if you're planning to use Discord for your fan event.
649
00:36:55,555 --> 00:36:59,675
{\an8}SCUMSUCK: What are the paywall
limitations you've run into?
650
00:36:59,875 --> 00:37:05,395
{\an8}whimwitch: Um, I would say that it's
hard for people to upload large text files,
651
00:37:05,715 --> 00:37:10,595
{\an8}so it can get kind of tricky if people
are wanting feedback on a longer
652
00:37:10,675 --> 00:37:15,235
{\an8}passage from their fic. They're not
really able to share that.
653
00:37:15,235 --> 00:37:17,075
{\an8}So they have to basically share the whole draft and
654
00:37:17,075 --> 00:37:20,835
{\an8}then explain, like, where they want people
to specifically look.
655
00:37:20,835 --> 00:37:23,755
{\an8}So it gets kind of clunky in that way.
656
00:37:23,835 --> 00:37:28,055
{\an8}Or I feel like there were more issues
with image uploading earlier.
657
00:37:28,755 --> 00:37:31,635
{\an8}Um, I feel like Discord's
increased the limits with that.
658
00:37:31,635 --> 00:37:35,415
{\an8}SCUMSUCK: [I've also] found that,
like, uploading images,
659
00:37:35,415 --> 00:37:38,295
{\an8} that goes in- hand in hand with messy archiving.
660
00:37:39,795 --> 00:37:44,795
{\an8}It's very hard to search images, to find
people's fills or find old drafts, or see
661
00:37:44,795 --> 00:37:47,455
{\an8}what your partner's working on.
662
00:37:47,655 --> 00:37:50,535
{\an8}whimwitch: Yeah, it's really just a little tricky
663
00:37:50,835 --> 00:37:56,355
{\an8}to Jerry Rig it to work exactly
for your event. But I definitely
664
00:37:56,355 --> 00:38:00,155
{\an8}think it's a good supplement, especially
if you're wanting people to be able to
665
00:38:00,155 --> 00:38:03,075
{\an8}chat with each other really quickly.
666
00:38:03,075 --> 00:38:06,875
We both use Dreamwidth, (laughs) which
has been described as the coelacanth of the Internet,
667
00:38:06,875 --> 00:38:09,315
which is not a bad thing!
668
00:38:09,315 --> 00:38:14,915
It's going nowhere! And so I would say
the biggest pros of Dreamwidth is that
669
00:38:15,235 --> 00:38:19,675
people can get e-mail updates.
And if they don't want e-mail updates,
670
00:38:19,675 --> 00:38:24,915
you can get RSS updates, which if you're
younger than 30, you might have
671
00:38:24,995 --> 00:38:29,155
(laughs) absolutely no idea what I'm talking
about, but it's basically just
672
00:38:29,395 --> 00:38:34,835
automatic feeds that you can set
for websites like Dreamwidth or
673
00:38:35,155 --> 00:38:39,755
um, Twitter used to have RSS, and it does
not really work anymore.
674
00:38:39,755 --> 00:38:42,275
There are a bunch of websites that use RSS like blogs,
675
00:38:42,595 --> 00:38:46,435
and you can put them in a feed if you
want to see everything all together.
676
00:38:47,395 --> 00:38:52,995
Fediverse actually has built in RSS
capabilities, so if you are interested in
677
00:38:52,995 --> 00:38:58,875
getting Dreamwidth updates there, you can
just plug it into the Parrot Bot,
678
00:38:58,875 --> 00:39:02,995
and it will give you an RSS feed for
whatever event you're interested in.
679
00:39:02,995 --> 00:39:07,975
It also allows anonymous commenting, which
can be really nice for things like kink memes, for example.
680
00:39:08,075 --> 00:39:12,675
And you can have tagged
posts like- SCUMSUCK for Artcade,
681
00:39:13,395 --> 00:39:18,835
uh, the way that you had tagged posts
for characters, I thought that that was a
682
00:39:18,835 --> 00:39:24,075
really nice way to actually see
everything all together for different OCs.
683
00:39:24,175 --> 00:39:29,815
I feel like Dreamwidth also has a pretty
permissive TOS. I'm not as familiar with it.
684
00:39:30,015 --> 00:39:31,775
Could you talk on that a little bit?
685
00:39:32,595 --> 00:39:35,475
SCUMSUCK: Oh yeah. So the TOS in Dreamwidth is
686
00:39:35,475 --> 00:39:39,955
basically the same as Ao3, if you're
familiar. Anything that's legal under
687
00:39:39,955 --> 00:39:42,975
U.S. law, you can post on there.
688
00:39:42,975 --> 00:39:48,355
Only thing is that image uploading
is not intuitive. It's not drag and drop.
689
00:39:48,355 --> 00:39:55,315
You have to manually upload everything.
So, you <i>can</i> host your art on there.
690
00:39:55,315 --> 00:39:59,155
But it's much better for writing because you
can just paste however long of a post you want.
691
00:40:00,275 --> 00:40:05,395
So one of the biggest cons of Dreamwidth
is that younger people might not know how
692
00:40:05,395 --> 00:40:08,115
to use it because it's so <i>old school</i> (-̀◞_◟-́).
693
00:40:08,355 --> 00:40:13,635
You use HTML to format posts, you use
HTML to upload images.
694
00:40:13,635 --> 00:40:17,235
And a lot of people don't know how to use sites
that aren't like, they don't have an app like
695
00:40:17,235 --> 00:40:20,075
Twitter or, you know, Blue Sky or something.
696
00:40:20,075 --> 00:40:24,335
And, uh, the DMS are very clunky
on Dreamwidth, so I ended up using
697
00:40:24,335 --> 00:40:26,575
Discord for DMS anyways.
698
00:40:27,075 --> 00:40:29,075
And another weird con is that you cannot
699
00:40:29,075 --> 00:40:32,835
edit your comment after it's been
commented on.
700
00:40:32,835 --> 00:40:38,035
So, it'll just stay static in that state forever.
I highly recommend in that case, having a
701
00:40:38,035 --> 00:40:40,755
comment as a link if it's something
you might edit later.
702
00:40:43,075 --> 00:40:48,275
whimwitch: All right, so moderating events.
703
00:40:48,275 --> 00:40:52,595
It- it's really different for everyone, but
I feel like SCUMSUCK and I are
704
00:40:52,595 --> 00:40:55,315
pretty much on the same page with this.
705
00:40:55,315 --> 00:40:57,875
So as far as participation numbers, my event
706
00:40:57,875 --> 00:41:02,995
was pretty solidly at like about 25ish
people for the first 3 years,
707
00:41:03,275 --> 00:41:09,115
which I think is a really great number as
far as, like, getting your sea legs
708
00:41:09,315 --> 00:41:12,035
without actually [knowing how to] moderate an event.
709
00:41:12,035 --> 00:41:16,995
And then this year it jumped up
suddenly to 56 people. And this is the
710
00:41:16,995 --> 00:41:20,355
year I realized my cap!
Which is completely fine to do.
711
00:41:20,355 --> 00:41:22,635
You are allowed to set limits just to make sure you're
712
00:41:22,635 --> 00:41:24,675
actually able to organize your event.
713
00:41:24,915 --> 00:41:29,715
Part of this reason is because my event
only has two mods, and I am not interested
714
00:41:29,715 --> 00:41:32,555
in adding more mods to the process.
715
00:41:32,675 --> 00:41:37,035
I am the primary organizer,and then my
partner, miscellanium♡, is there for backup,
716
00:41:37,355 --> 00:41:42,395
mostly to field questions and help when
I'm doing check-ins with everybody.
717
00:41:42,635 --> 00:41:45,235
And honestly, I feel like the perfect balance
718
00:41:45,235 --> 00:41:49,015
for mods is having one mod per 25 people.
719
00:41:49,015 --> 00:41:52,015
There's really no reason to have a whole bunch of mods for
720
00:41:52,515 --> 00:41:57,275
a small group because having excess mods
is not necessarily a good thing!
721
00:41:57,275 --> 00:42:04,335
Like too many cooks in the kitchen spoils
the broth, so keep things simple for yourself!
722
00:42:05,035 --> 00:42:07,435
SCUMSUCK: Yeah, I had similar participation numbers for
723
00:42:07,435 --> 00:42:12,515
the first couple years I ran Artcade as well.
We dipped slightly when I moved to
724
00:42:12,515 --> 00:42:15,115
Dreamwidth because a lot of people did not
want to learn to use Dreamwidth,
725
00:42:15,115 --> 00:42:17,835
but that was totally fine with me!
726
00:42:17,835 --> 00:42:20,635
Having your numbers go up is not necessarily always a
727
00:42:20,635 --> 00:42:26,595
good thing. Having them <i>stable</i> makes
it much easier to moderate and
728
00:42:26,595 --> 00:42:31,275
keep in mind the amount of moderation you
have to do each year.
729
00:42:31,275 --> 00:42:35,335
Because I had a similar situation to whim, where
my partner is also my co-moderator.
730
00:42:35,335 --> 00:42:40,235
Like I know my partner, I can trust him. (◡ ‿ ◡ .)
We have the same idea of moderation, like, oh,
731
00:42:40,235 --> 00:42:43,235
"If you post like something...like...<i>bad</i>,
732
00:42:43,235 --> 00:42:48,655
something illegal in a state of- the country of Germany,
then we need to like warn you and, like, do that."
733
00:42:48,655 --> 00:42:53,435
We're not gonna argue over like,
"Oh, should we ban this person or not?"
734
00:42:52,159 --> 00:42:53,159
whimwitch: (laughs)
735
00:42:53,515 --> 00:42:55,535
SCUMSUCK: And uh, but, the- the con to that is
736
00:42:55,535 --> 00:42:59,355
if you are in the same time zone as your mod,
you cannot answer questions from people in a
737
00:42:59,355 --> 00:43:03,435
different time zone. And we had people
from all over the world in our events,
738
00:43:03,435 --> 00:43:05,275
like, you know, some people in Asia,
739
00:43:05,275 --> 00:43:07,435
some people in like, you know, Australia.
740
00:43:08,435 --> 00:43:12,675
While we're like in a different time zone.
So in that case,
741
00:43:12,675 --> 00:43:16,355
it was easier to be able to moderate things
on a slow site like Dreamwidth cause we
742
00:43:16,355 --> 00:43:21,195
could just wake up with less sense of
urgency, having to address like a
743
00:43:21,195 --> 00:43:23,195
dumpster fire that had occurred in our sleep.
744
00:43:25,835 --> 00:43:28,795
whimwitch: So you might be wondering, "OK,
745
00:43:29,435 --> 00:43:35,615
I know how to run an event. I have an idea of what
event I might like to do in the future,
746
00:43:35,715 --> 00:43:40,215
but how the heck do I actually archive this?"
And there's not one answer.
747
00:43:40,215 --> 00:43:44,955
It really just depends on your
personal preference and what might make
748
00:43:45,035 --> 00:43:47,415
the most sense for your event.
749
00:43:47,415 --> 00:43:52,475
So for the mini bang that I run, I use a
spreadsheet that's partially inspired by
750
00:43:52,635 --> 00:43:57,515
the DeanCas Big Bang (laughs). Like I said,
they use a spreadsheet for all of their works.
751
00:43:57,755 --> 00:44:04,155
And why I decided to use a spreadsheet is
because it contains links to all of the works.
752
00:44:04,135 --> 00:44:07,575
I have people posting things everywhere.
753
00:44:07,575 --> 00:44:10,755
Uh, people post on Twitter, people post on Tumblr,
754
00:44:10,755 --> 00:44:13,455
people post on Blue Sky,
people post on fediverse.
755
00:44:13,455 --> 00:44:17,615
I've had a couple people post on DeviantArt,
their own websites, like...
756
00:44:17,675 --> 00:44:23,355
there's just art everywhere,and
all fics are posted to the Ao3 collection.
757
00:44:23,355 --> 00:44:26,675
But when you have all of these links, I
feel like it's easier to just keep them
758
00:44:26,675 --> 00:44:30,875
in a spreadsheet so that people can just
see the pieces all together and
759
00:44:30,899 --> 00:44:36,155
appreciate them as one nice little
chunk like this.
760
00:44:36,155 --> 00:44:42,755
And part of why I decided to use GetGrist
is just because, uh, I used to use Airtable and
761
00:44:42,755 --> 00:44:46,315
they've paywalled a lot of their features.
So this is a nice
762
00:44:46,315 --> 00:44:51,635
alternative, um, just to make sure that
people can access this information.
763
00:44:51,635 --> 00:44:54,875
Another really nice thing about using a
spreadsheet is if people are only
764
00:44:54,899 --> 00:44:58,575
interested in a specific series-
765
00:44:58,955 --> 00:45:06,235
So if people are, like, only fans of Yu-gi-oh
Arc-V, they can filter the
766
00:45:06,235 --> 00:45:10,955
spreadsheet and only look at everything
that was made for Arc-V.
767
00:45:10,955 --> 00:45:14,115
It's just a really nice way to see everything all up front.
768
00:45:14,115 --> 00:45:18,955
But I would say that learning how
to manage spreadsheets like this was the
769
00:45:18,955 --> 00:45:22,955
biggest learning curve I had, just
because there are a lot of functions
770
00:45:22,955 --> 00:45:25,035
I wasn't familiar with and
771
00:45:25,715 --> 00:45:28,315
when you're having to actually put all of
772
00:45:28,315 --> 00:45:34,475
this information all in one place, it's
really easy to accidentally miss links,
773
00:45:34,555 --> 00:45:39,355
or maybe use the wrong link
because somebody would prefer
774
00:45:39,355 --> 00:45:41,235
to be credited a different way.
775
00:45:41,235 --> 00:45:46,075
There's just a lot of things to keep in mind,
but I- I feel like this is a really nice way
776
00:45:46,075 --> 00:45:50,235
to present all of the fan works that you
might have for your event if you are
777
00:45:50,235 --> 00:45:55,035
going to have a really large quantity
of them, or if you're having people
778
00:45:55,035 --> 00:45:56,475
collaborating with each other.
779
00:45:58,075 --> 00:46:01,675
SCUMSUCK: Yeah, I'm a really big fan of the
spreadsheet method that whim uses to have
780
00:46:01,675 --> 00:46:05,995
a big show off of the end
result of their bangs.
781
00:46:07,275 --> 00:46:12,475
Uh, and it does have a good thing where if
someone doesn't want their fic to be
782
00:46:13,115 --> 00:46:17,995
readable anymore, they simply delete
their fic or like orphan it
783
00:46:18,075 --> 00:46:23,155
and then it, you know, it doesn't have to
be updated on the spreadsheet itself
784
00:46:23,155 --> 00:46:25,835
if you decide you no longer want
like repost permissions or stuff.
785
00:46:27,355 --> 00:46:29,635
whimwitch: Mmm, true. Yeah, it makes it really easy for
786
00:46:29,635 --> 00:46:35,355
me to not have to touch this again
because the- the link will update.
787
00:46:36,315 --> 00:46:39,115
All of this stuff is just there.
788
00:46:39,195 --> 00:46:41,595
SCUMSUCK: I- I do wonder about the portability of it.
789
00:46:41,595 --> 00:46:44,915
Like should Grist ever go down?
Can you just copy paste this
790
00:46:44,915 --> 00:46:47,555
into another spreadsheet displayer?
791
00:46:48,155 --> 00:46:51,115
whimwitch: You can! Um, one nice
thing about Getgrist is
792
00:46:51,115 --> 00:46:56,955
you can download it as, like, a standalone
file onto your computer. And so it's
793
00:46:56,955 --> 00:47:01,035
easy to re-upload somewhere else, which
is something that I would definitely
794
00:47:01,035 --> 00:47:05,675
recommend that you do if you're archiving
works is to keep an actual copy
795
00:47:05,835 --> 00:47:07,995
physically on your hard drive (laughs).
796
00:47:08,315 --> 00:47:12,875
Because like I said, Airtable, I used to
use it for three years, and then it
797
00:47:12,875 --> 00:47:16,135
started having issues, and I had to move
everything over here.
798
00:47:16,135 --> 00:47:18,955
Thankfully, Airtable is similar,
and you can download it.
799
00:47:18,955 --> 00:47:23,475
That's something to keep in mind is
that I feel like a lot of these, uh,
800
00:47:23,915 --> 00:47:28,835
live spreadsheet platforms go through
changes. So I think it's a good idea to
801
00:47:28,835 --> 00:47:34,435
just keep a backup on your system so you
don't lose everything.
802
00:47:34,435 --> 00:47:40,275
SCUMSUCK: Yeah! So, speaking of
portability, I archived my event on my own
803
00:47:40,475 --> 00:47:48,395
personal site with like plain HTML.
My event happened to be mostly visual art,
804
00:47:49,115 --> 00:47:51,275
so in that case it was more useful to me
805
00:47:51,275 --> 00:47:53,395
to have like thumbnail galleries
806
00:47:53,395 --> 00:47:56,235
to display the art.
807
00:47:56,235 --> 00:47:58,155
That does mean you have to ask everyone for
808
00:47:58,155 --> 00:48:00,155
permission in order to re-upload their art.
809
00:48:00,155 --> 00:48:04,875
So in my case, I just uploaded my
own art and people could make
810
00:48:04,875 --> 00:48:07,755
their own sites to show off what they got.
811
00:48:08,155 --> 00:48:10,315
And I have a separate section on my website for
812
00:48:10,355 --> 00:48:12,475
gifts that I've gotten, including fics
813
00:48:13,035 --> 00:48:15,995
and visual art. And that can also be
814
00:48:15,995 --> 00:48:18,995
on their character pages too, which is a
neat thing about personal sites.
815
00:48:18,995 --> 00:48:22,075
You can make so many pages for each of your
characters, for each piece of art you've
816
00:48:22,075 --> 00:48:24,715
given, for each like fic you've gotten,
817
00:48:24,715 --> 00:48:29,515
It's, uh, just very wonderful and very
portable because you know save the HTML,
818
00:48:29,915 --> 00:48:34,955
copy paste it in any other host, and you
can see your thing again.
819
00:48:34,955 --> 00:48:39,195
I also printed zines for the first 2
years as a physical keepsake
820
00:48:40,115 --> 00:48:45,035
of the event. But that also took
an extra level organization that I
821
00:48:45,035 --> 00:48:48,635
don't really recommend if you're short on
time, because then you have to ask people
822
00:48:48,635 --> 00:48:50,955
for their pieces, format them,
823
00:48:51,835 --> 00:48:53,675
you know, make a PDF, and then print it.
824
00:48:54,955 --> 00:48:56,635
But in the end, it is very worth it to
825
00:48:56,635 --> 00:49:00,995
archive because I just look at these pages every
so often. I look at other people's websites.
826
00:49:00,995 --> 00:49:02,915
And I'm like, "Wow! that's so cool we did all that!
827
00:49:02,915 --> 00:49:07,915
I can't believe we actually made like
115 pieces in like a month!"
828
00:49:07,915 --> 00:49:13,475
{\an8}So do you have to archive your event?
It depends on your goals as an organizer.
829
00:49:13,475 --> 00:49:17,035
{\an8}whim, could you tell me some of the reasons
why you would not want to archive your event?
830
00:49:17,755 --> 00:49:23,395
{\an8}whimwitch: Sure. So there might be
content specific in your event
831
00:49:23,435 --> 00:49:26,435
{\an8}that maybe you do not
want people to easily find.
832
00:49:26,435 --> 00:49:32,075
{\an8}Like maybe it's about a
controversial kink, or
833
00:49:32,075 --> 00:49:36,515
{\an8}maybe it might violate
copyright if you
834
00:49:37,515 --> 00:49:40,515
{\an8}really publicly post all of the pieces
835
00:49:40,515 --> 00:49:44,655
{\an8}of your event for everybody to see, and
you're worried about it getting taken down.
836
00:49:44,655 --> 00:49:49,835
{\an8}There's also a lot of beauty
in events that just kind of run
837
00:49:50,075 --> 00:49:52,795
{\an8}and people make pieces and
838
00:49:52,795 --> 00:49:55,035
{\an8}then maybe no one ever finds them again.
839
00:49:55,035 --> 00:49:57,595
{\an8}Like a lot of fan weeks tend to be like
840
00:49:57,595 --> 00:49:59,755
{\an8}that just because you're posting it to a
841
00:49:59,755 --> 00:50:02,235
{\an8}hashtag and maybe you'll only see it once
842
00:50:02,235 --> 00:50:07,035
{\an8}and then never again. And it's kind
of cool to know that you've seen all of
843
00:50:07,035 --> 00:50:11,515
{\an8}these pieces and they're just kind of
out there in the ether.
844
00:50:11,515 --> 00:50:14,095
{\an8}I don't know, um, what are your
thoughts on that SCUMSUCK?
845
00:50:15,675 --> 00:50:18,315
{\an8}SCUMSUCK: I personally love to archive all
846
00:50:18,315 --> 00:50:21,835
{\an8}my stuff because I'm like Ritska
from Loveless. I will forget if there's not
847
00:50:21,835 --> 00:50:23,755
{\an8}photographic evidence I do something.
848
00:50:23,279 --> 00:50:24,351
{\an8}whimwitch: (laughs)
849
00:50:24,875 --> 00:50:30,475
{\an8}SCUMSUCK: But I also realize the value of
having something made that you learn from,
850
00:50:30,475 --> 00:50:33,435
{\an8}you had fun with, and then you never have
to think of again.
851
00:50:33,435 --> 00:50:36,315
{\an8}It's like a one night stand of art or writing, and
852
00:50:36,795 --> 00:50:38,715
{\an8}it doesn't mean it's any less valuable.
853
00:50:38,715 --> 00:50:42,515
{\an8}It just means that you did what you needed
to with it, and you're ready to move on to
854
00:50:42,515 --> 00:50:45,395
{\an8}the next beautiful adventure.✨
855
00:50:45,595 --> 00:50:50,295
whimwitch: Yeah, so it's totally up to you with
how you want to do this.
856
00:50:50,395 --> 00:50:55,535
Just think about maybe, like, your
strengths with keeping information
857
00:50:55,775 --> 00:51:00,915
and the easiest way to display it
or not display it.
858
00:51:02,275 --> 00:51:07,295
So what we learned
through all of this.
859
00:51:07,395 --> 00:51:12,515
So, for me, I feel like one of the biggest
things I learned was to set boundaries,
860
00:51:13,155 --> 00:51:16,055
especially with myself, to not
overextend myself
861
00:51:16,155 --> 00:51:21,795
with my organizing and how much I'm doing (laughs).
862
00:51:22,275 --> 00:51:25,675
Um, because your goal with this should
ultimately be to have fun.
863
00:51:25,675 --> 00:51:27,715
And if you're running into situations
where you're
864
00:51:27,715 --> 00:51:32,595
feeling burnt out because of maybe a
specific task you're having to do,
865
00:51:32,915 --> 00:51:36,895
then maybe think of ways that you don't
have to do that for your event!
866
00:51:36,895 --> 00:51:39,135
I know, for me, I was getting really burnt out of
867
00:51:39,235 --> 00:51:43,395
having to use a lot of different social
media platforms, and so I decided that
868
00:51:43,635 --> 00:51:46,435
I'm just gonna host information in these
869
00:51:46,435 --> 00:51:48,835
two places and if people don't see it,
870
00:51:48,915 --> 00:51:51,795
then they don't see it and that's OK.
871
00:51:51,795 --> 00:51:56,275
I also feel like word of mouth is the best
way to garner interest in an event.
872
00:51:56,275 --> 00:52:00,955
You do not have to have like 6 different
social media accounts everywhere to
873
00:52:01,235 --> 00:52:03,555
have a nice event with people.
874
00:52:03,955 --> 00:52:06,915
I've had the best experiences with people
875
00:52:06,915 --> 00:52:10,295
that I- I just talk to and tell them
that, you know,
876
00:52:10,395 --> 00:52:13,515
"Hey, this is an event that I'm running.
You might be interested."
877
00:52:13,635 --> 00:52:17,315
And they join and they tell their friends
about it, and I feel like it's a really
878
00:52:17,395 --> 00:52:22,275
positive community when people already
know that there's someone there that they
879
00:52:22,275 --> 00:52:27,475
{\an1}want to collaborate with, or someone
that they're familiar with.
880
00:52:24,895 --> 00:52:29,995
{\an3}SCUMSUCK: Yeah, I mean, I joined whim's,
uh, Rare Pair Exchange because they
881
00:52:30,995 --> 00:52:35,275
said in my server, "Hey, I'm running a
Yu-Gi-Oh event!" So I'm like, dude, I love Yu-Gi-Oh!
882
00:52:35,275 --> 00:52:38,895
I'm gonna join! So you join one
event and eventually that just becomes a
883
00:52:38,995 --> 00:52:43,555
a whole bunch of other events that you
can find out from too.
884
00:52:43,555 --> 00:52:46,235
whimwitch: Yeah, it's like the gateway event! (laughs)
885
00:52:45,659 --> 00:52:46,659
SCUMSUCK: (laughs)
886
00:52:46,235 --> 00:52:50,915
Like you just wanna like drag people into this
wonderful experience with you.
887
00:52:51,155 --> 00:52:53,635
And then like having a set
schedule is important.
888
00:52:53,635 --> 00:52:56,035
Like you want to kind of plan ahead to
889
00:52:56,355 --> 00:53:00,995
deadlines if you're running an event that
has a specific time frame in mind.
890
00:53:01,555 --> 00:53:05,395
But at the same time, you want to be
flexible with yourself and participants.
891
00:53:06,115 --> 00:53:10,815
Um, you don't have to stick to what you
originally planned to be, uh,
892
00:53:10,815 --> 00:53:14,095
the week where everyone's going to be posting
their works.
893
00:53:14,195 --> 00:53:18,075
It's OK to maybe expand that into
two weeks or maybe a month.
894
00:53:18,275 --> 00:53:20,275
That was something where
I had to pivot this year
895
00:53:20,275 --> 00:53:24,755
just because I wasn't expecting as many
people to be participating.
896
00:53:24,755 --> 00:53:26,835
And instead of having to
897
00:53:27,555 --> 00:53:31,675
really plan ahead to like, OK, when are
people going to post things this week?
898
00:53:31,699 --> 00:53:35,395
How am I going to make sure that this all
gets done? It was a lot easier to just
899
00:53:36,035 --> 00:53:37,715
have the whole month, especially when I
900
00:53:37,715 --> 00:53:42,695
had multiple people asking for extensions.
It's just kinder to you and everybody else.
901
00:53:42,695 --> 00:53:47,295
At the same time,
when I've been organizing events,
902
00:53:47,555 --> 00:53:49,555
there are sometimes really unfortunate
903
00:53:49,555 --> 00:53:51,715
situations where you might have to deal
904
00:53:52,195 --> 00:53:57,235
with people that are bullies or jerks to
other people in your event.
905
00:53:57,235 --> 00:54:02,195
And I had to be OK with kicking people
out that were really ruining the vibes
906
00:54:02,195 --> 00:54:07,555
for everybody. It's your event at the end
of the day, and if there's somebody that
907
00:54:07,555 --> 00:54:12,595
is making other people uncomfortable, or
if there's somebody that is...
908
00:54:13,235 --> 00:54:17,235
Uh, gossiping about other people that are
in your event and saying really nasty things
909
00:54:17,235 --> 00:54:19,795
about them outside of your server.
910
00:54:20,675 --> 00:54:23,555
It is OK to use your best judgment with
911
00:54:23,555 --> 00:54:25,715
that and keep things...
912
00:54:26,915 --> 00:54:31,975
friendly and comfortable
for the majority of people.
913
00:54:32,875 --> 00:54:36,875
And it doesn't make you a bad person
for kicking those people out.
914
00:54:37,475 --> 00:54:39,835
SCUMSUCK: 100% agree like that was a big stress point
915
00:54:39,835 --> 00:54:42,115
with some of the events I ran in Discord.
916
00:54:42,595 --> 00:54:44,475
Like, no matter how you write your rules
917
00:54:44,475 --> 00:54:48,195
and say, "Hey! If you join this event,
there's gonna be some horrible stuff that
918
00:54:48,195 --> 00:54:53,775
will, like, be Not Safe For Life if you click into,
you know, a content warned post."
919
00:54:53,775 --> 00:54:57,355
There <i>are</i> going to be people who
click on it and be like,
920
00:54:57,355 --> 00:55:00,875
"This is disgusting! How can you post this?!!
This should be illegal. You should go to jail!!!👶"
921
00:55:00,875 --> 00:55:04,675
Like, just kick him. Don't try to reason
with them. Don't think, oh man,
922
00:55:04,675 --> 00:55:07,475
I should give him a chance. Maybe they'll
get better. Just kick 'em!
923
00:55:07,475 --> 00:55:09,775
It's not worth your time. You're not a paid therapist!
924
00:55:10,275 --> 00:55:14,835
Just kick 'em! And a lot of these people
will try to shame you and keep on DMing
925
00:55:14,835 --> 00:55:16,995
you after you've kicked them.
926
00:55:16,995 --> 00:55:21,355
Just block 'em! Don't talk to them ever
again! They're not worth your time.
927
00:55:21,355 --> 00:55:23,235
Don't let them, like, make you feel like,
928
00:55:23,235 --> 00:55:26,215
"Why won't you let me into your small event?!?
You must hate me!!! :("
929
00:55:26,215 --> 00:55:29,015
Who cares?! Maybe you do hate them.
930
00:55:28,039 --> 00:55:29,051
whimwitch: (laughs)
931
00:55:29,475 --> 00:55:32,395
SCUMSUCK: So, uh, I also agree
completely with word of
932
00:55:32,395 --> 00:55:33,915
mouth being the best way to do things.
933
00:55:33,915 --> 00:55:37,475
Like don't try to over advertise.
Don't think about marketing or whatever.
934
00:55:37,475 --> 00:55:39,515
If you only have like two people, that's fine.
935
00:55:39,515 --> 00:55:43,195
If you get 50 people, wow! That's not
necessarily better. That's a lot more work!
936
00:55:43,195 --> 00:55:47,455
But any number is a good number.
Just remember, like each person is making
937
00:55:47,455 --> 00:55:51,275
something specifically for someone else
and that's just amazing, right?!
938
00:55:51,275 --> 00:55:55,315
If you're just talking to someone and they just
gave you a gift on the word, that's fucking great!
939
00:55:55,315 --> 00:55:58,895
I also learned gameification
is <i>very hard</i>. It gets people
940
00:55:58,995 --> 00:56:04,875
excited because it activates that monkey
brain, like you insert a peanut and you
941
00:56:04,875 --> 00:56:07,195
get a prize in turn kind of thing. 🐒
942
00:56:07,235 --> 00:56:09,155
But it's super hard on the moderators, and I
943
00:56:09,155 --> 00:56:14,635
overextended myself and my
other partner in this event in trying to
944
00:56:14,635 --> 00:56:18,275
make prizes for people. Like I would draw
like custom emotes or like commissions
945
00:56:18,275 --> 00:56:20,675
for people basically. But like, whew!
946
00:56:20,995 --> 00:56:23,795
That's a lot! Make it simple, like a cute
little button they can put on their
947
00:56:23,795 --> 00:56:26,035
website or like a fancy Discord role.
948
00:56:26,835 --> 00:56:31,635
And, uh, I will say
that you should keep things
949
00:56:32,515 --> 00:56:37,475
very like short and sweet, as simple
as possible in terms of guidelines for
950
00:56:37,475 --> 00:56:40,275
uploading, posting and formatting.
951
00:56:40,755 --> 00:56:45,315
Like for writing, Discord has a limit of 5000
words, so you maybe you want to keep that
952
00:56:45,315 --> 00:56:48,995
in mind if you're hosting
an event on Discord.
953
00:56:48,995 --> 00:56:52,115
Or for images, you know, maybe like you personally have really
954
00:56:52,115 --> 00:56:56,215
slow internet, so you gotta ask people, can
you make your images less than 500 kb
955
00:56:56,215 --> 00:57:00,675
so it doesn't take an hour for
me to like, look at this image?
956
00:57:00,675 --> 00:57:04,715
And, uh, give them the tools to do so
because not everybody is very like into
957
00:57:04,835 --> 00:57:10,335
computer stuff. Like, like send them a
link to photopea.com to resize their image.
958
00:57:10,335 --> 00:57:14,155
Or, you know, send them a link to
a word count website to make sure they're
959
00:57:14,155 --> 00:57:16,815
under a certain limit.
960
00:57:16,815 --> 00:57:21,935
And, uh, don't worry about deadlines. It's all for
fun fun at the end of the day,
961
00:57:22,235 --> 00:57:24,355
and the more relaxed you make it, I find the more
962
00:57:24,355 --> 00:57:26,875
people actually just casually come in and
963
00:57:26,875 --> 00:57:29,315
do things, like more than you
thought they would.
964
00:57:29,315 --> 00:57:32,215
Like maybe you'll get someone who
doesn't do anything for the first like
965
00:57:32,215 --> 00:57:36,135
week of your event and the next week they
like write like 10 fics for 10 different people.
966
00:57:36,635 --> 00:57:43,955
All right! So, that's everything in our
presentation. Um, but we do have
967
00:57:44,115 --> 00:57:46,115
a bunch of slides after this with
968
00:57:46,115 --> 00:57:49,875
resources and examples of different fan
events that you can
969
00:57:49,875 --> 00:57:51,775
click on with the blue links.
970
00:57:51,775 --> 00:57:55,395
And since this is recorded,
we're going to have a Q&A in
971
00:57:55,395 --> 00:57:59,595
the chat, and I'll be talking to people at
Citrus Con to see if we can have like
972
00:57:59,635 --> 00:58:02,275
a thread or forum specific to this panel.
973
00:58:02,675 --> 00:58:07,615
But if you'd like to take a look at our slides again,
we have our QR code in the corner
974
00:58:07,615 --> 00:58:10,695
and also the hyperlink will be posted in the chat.
975
00:58:10,795 --> 00:58:14,755
SCUMSUCK, is there anything
that you want to end on?
976
00:58:14,755 --> 00:58:16,475
SCUMSUCK: Get out there and do an event!
977
00:58:16,475 --> 00:58:18,595
If it's your first time, don't be afraid
to make something that
978
00:58:18,595 --> 00:58:20,935
seems bad or like, you know, kind of janky.
979
00:58:20,935 --> 00:58:25,715
It gets better every year the more
you train yourself.
980
00:58:25,715 --> 00:58:31,215
whimwitch: Hell yeah! Just try it. If you
build it, they will come.
981
00:58:31,215 --> 00:58:33,975
And just remember to have fun.
Organizing is a really
982
00:58:34,275 --> 00:58:36,875
wonderful experience,
and I'm sure you'll love
983
00:58:36,899 --> 00:58:41,399
whatever communities that you get together.
So-
984
00:58:41,335 --> 00:58:44,995
SCUMSUCK: Yeah, I mean,
I met whim through like doing events,
985
00:58:44,995 --> 00:58:49,395
and we're doing this, uh, event on how to
make events together right now.
986
00:58:49,395 --> 00:58:51,435
So friendship is magic! 🦄
987
00:58:51,435 --> 00:58:54,015
whimwitch: (laughs) Yeah, exactly!
We're coming full circle here.
988
00:58:54,015 --> 00:58:57,315
I hope everyone enjoys the rest of Citrus Con,
and we're so
989
00:58:57,315 --> 00:58:59,635
happy to answer any questions that you have.
990
00:59:00,035 --> 00:59:02,215
Um, feel free to reach out anytime.
991
00:59:02,255 --> 00:59:03,315
whimwitch: See ya!
SCUMSUCK: Bye-bye!