sophistry: (Default)
Sophie ([personal profile] sophistry) wrote in [community profile] ways_back_room2010-01-23 06:38 am
Entry tags:

OUR POWERS COMBINED

So I meant to make this post a good week ago, but the hat-trick of a Millicon in Denver, surpries food poisoning, and two transatlantic flights sort of put me out of the game for a bit. HOWEVER, better late than never, I suppose, so lend me your ears, ladies and gents, and I will stop running off at the mouth keyboard and get around to saying what I actually meant to make this post to say. In this post. Yes. (I'm still really exhausted, can you tell?)

Aaaanyway.

Unless you've been living under a rock (and hey, you're gamers, we're gamers; we're not here to judge), odds are you've heard about the earthquake that devastated the nation of Haiti on January 12th. Since then, fandom has responded in a truly incredible way; in addition to various fund-raising efforts in individual fandoms, the centralised fandom auction at [livejournal.com profile] help_haiti is on its way to raising in excess of $115,000 for relief and rescue efforts. That is breathtaking. If you have already donated, whether as part of a fandom effort or no, we applaud you; if you have not, we urge you to sally forth and give what you can. [livejournal.com profile] help_haiti's current Lightning Round is open until Sunday, with another planned for next weekend, as well as another full auction in the pipeline for February. You donate to the relief effort, you get fannish goodies - win-win, right?

OR IS IT.

(Here's the part where the subject line comes into play.)

After all, this is Milliways. We eat injokes and obscure fandom crossover interests for breakfast. And sometimes it can be, well, a little tricky to explain to the world why you need fic about how the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork's elderly terrier is actually a Shakespearian sprite/icons of Breckin Meyer with a baby bump/your knitted rabbit to be red with glowy eyes and fangs/your home-made snacks to taste almost exactly like onion rings don't. It's a whole thing, you just had to be there, IT'S COMPLICATED, OKAY.

Don't worry. We understand. And we're here to help.

Milliwaysers, it is time to use our powers for good. And by 'powers' I mean 'auctionable skills', and by 'good', I mean... 'an auction'.

A NOTE: this is not going to be something massively organised; we are playing it loose and informal, here. If you'd rather something more structured/policed, please do pitch in at [livejournal.com profile] help_haiti, they are BAMFs.

That being said, here's how this is going to work. In the comments to this post, there are two main threads: Skills and Requests. You can reply to either or both of these as appropriate.

To donate in response to an offer or a request fulfilled, please see this post at [livejournal.com profile] help_haiti for a list of suggested charities working with the Haiti relief effort. However, please remember to check whether the offerer has listed a preferred charity for donations, or has requested proof of donation via screencap/email/whatever.


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If you have skills to offer for auction, comment under Skills. The format should be as follows:

Name: [livejournal.com profile] my_lj_name/Name Y'All Know Me By
Characters: Character A ([livejournal.com profile] character_a), Character B ([livejournal.com profile] character_b)1
Email: my.email at gmail dot com

Fandoms/Milliways Characters: Be as extensive as you like, here - this is a Weird Crossover Safe Space, after all, and if you don't specify that you are willing to write both Jack Sparrow and Lovecraftian Cthulu Mythos, how will people know to request metaphysical World's End tentacle!fic? HOW???? Alternatively, you can always just reply to this with 'TRY ME' - though bidders take note, this means you should check your request with the offerer before moving any money around.

Examples of work: Self-explanatory! Link to your photobucket/deviantart/fic tag/LJ icons/whatever. This is optional, but preferred.

OFFERING: Fic/icons/layouts/banners/manips/podfic/dramatic thread readings/art/beta readings/knitted goods/cookies/your skill here.

You should specify here the terms/limitations of your offer. For example:

100 words of fic for every $2 donated, up to 2,000 words. If possible, email or include screencap of donation in comment.

Or:

20 icons for highest bidder by noon EST tomorrow, bidding to start at $5. Winner may donate to charity of their choice.

The terms of your offer are up to you, but remember, this is quick'n'dirty territory here - you will be in charge of keeping track of bids, communicating with your bidders to confirm whether the winners have donated, discussing requests, etc.

Notes: This is where you should make a note of things you won't write/draw, mention that you're going on safari in two days and won't have internet access, warn bidders that you can currently only knit hats for footballs and/or very pointy babies, or basically include anything you can think of that doesn't really fit anywhere else.

1You don't have to list all your characters here - but mentioning at least one or two main ones would certainly be useful, especially for potential bidders who might not know you all that well OOCly. OH THAT GUY, etc.

Copypasta:




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If you have a request you are willing to pay for in donations, comment under Requests. The format should be as follows:

Name: [livejournal.com profile] my_lj_name/Name Y'All Know Me By
Characters: Character A ([livejournal.com profile] character_a), Character B ([livejournal.com profile] character_b)
Email: my.email at gmail dot com

REQUEST: As with offerings, the terms of your request are up to you, as is organising/dealing with responses. Examples might be:

Will donate $10 to Red Cross for an iPhone wallpaper of Ben Wade/Russian Astronaut. Comment to claim, and leave an email address; I will send you some of my favourite pics you could use.

Or:

Will donate $5 for every drabble (about 100-200 words) involving a humorous use of the Emergency Potato, with a limit of $30 (i.e. six drabbles).

Notes: Again, similar to offerings - anything you especially don't want in your requests, or anything else it would be important to mention.

Copypasta:




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This mini-Milli-auction-stravaganza-fest-moot will remain open for offers/requests/bids until MIDNIGHT EST, SUNDAY 31ST JANUARY.

By midnight on MONDAY 1ST FEBRUARY, all winning bids should be donated, all promised rewards should be in the proper hands, and all claimed requests should be fulfilled - OR the parties concerned should at least be in contact and discussing deadlines for fic/postage dates/etc. etc. If you have made a donation/created something for auction/whatever and heard nothing from the other party by this time, contact your trusty mods and we will do out best to straighten things out.

I... I think that may be (almost) everything for now, but you certainly shouldn't take my word for it (I'm very tired; did I mention this?). So if you have any questions, please direct them here.

Finally-finally, I believe I may have mentioned once or twice that I am somewhat tired; pooped; worn the fuck out. So to kick things off, because I cannot guarantee any sort of productivity in the near future, I instead promise to match, via donation to Partners in Health, whatever amount of money is raised in the comments of this post, up to €150 (approximately $212).

Happy bidding!

SUPER TEAM MILLIWAYS COMBI POWER GO



- Sophie, for the Milliways Mods

P.S. Don't forget to pimp this around! Unthinkable as it may seem, there are in fact Milliwaysers who do not religiously follow the back room, so get thee to thine LJs and thine flists and thine crackchats, and foist this upon them!

ETA: A quick clarification: fics and icons and whatnot do not have to be Milliways-centric! You can offer any non-Milliways fandoms and characters you know, and request likewise. It's simply a prime opportunity to milk the world for some of that particular crossover universe or transdimensional ship that only exists in this strange and wonderful corner of the internet.



RUNNING TOTAL
(counting all promised donations and winning bids, not counting open bids, rounding off converted currency to the nearest dollar)

$704 + $212 = $916
chanter1944: a Pringles can with the words 'you can't write just one' written across it (drabbles are like pringles)

Re: SKILLS

[personal profile] chanter1944 2010-01-23 02:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Name: [livejournal.com profile] chanter_greenie/Chanter
Characters: Sariel Rager [livejournal.com profile] visible_sariel
Email: Chanter_dragonchild@eudoramail.com

Fandoms/Milliways Characters: Any of the Treks, though I admit I'm best at TNG and DS9, Young Wizards (Millicanon and not, though the Millistuff might require a little rereading), Band of Brothers, a handful of other characters scattered all over the multiverse (the Taos kids come to mind)

Examples of Work: If I've posted it anywhere, chances are you'll find it under the scribble tag at my lj.

OFFERING: As they say, or at least as I say, fic ahoy! Let's see... how about 1 US dollar for every hundred words of fic, Milliways or not, up to 1000 words.

Notes: AUs, might-have-beens and character studies are love. Not that anything else isn't, but I really <3 the above. Slash and femslash are fair game, but if you're after smut... call it a maybe.
campkilkare: (life decisions)

Re: SKILLS

[personal profile] campkilkare 2010-01-28 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Coming a little late to this, but I had a random thought and now I kind of want to see it. I think it might be awesome/hilarious to see a blind date between Rose and Sariel. It would be entirely in-character for Susannah to set them up.

I don't want to ask for a set number of words, and I understand if you're not comfortable writing an OC/don't feel like you're up enough on the millicanon, but I'll pay the dollar/100 for however much you feel up to writing!

Re: SKILLS

[personal profile] chanter1944 2010-01-31 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Would you believe me if I told you that I *just* saw this now? *facepalms forever*

In a word, ooooh. I might make a right mess of Rose's character, and I apologize in advance if I do, but I'll still definitely give this fic a go... that is, if you're still interested in my writing it. I'm curious to see how it ends up myself, now. :)
campkilkare: (life decisions)

Re: SKILLS

[personal profile] campkilkare 2010-01-31 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Do not be afraid! I am always excited to see other people write my characters, especially OCs! And I can never get anyone to do it because they're nervous of screwing it up, and it makes me sad.

Since the auction is closing today, and Sophie or someone is probably going to try and get a running total soon, I'll pledge a minimum of $5 dollars regardless of length.
chanter1944: a Pringles can with the words 'you can't write just one' written across it (drabbles are like pringles)

Re: SKILLS

[personal profile] chanter1944 2010-02-01 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
Here's hoping I do decently at writing Rose, then. *has the warm fuzzies*

Pledging $5 works, both for the sake of running totals and for the possible length of this fic. I've got an idea for the initial meeting of these two, set up by Susannah, in my head. Now to get it written down and posted!