Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the Alternative Guide to Stargate Atlantis?
The Alternative Guide to Stargate Atlantis is a group effort to provide a starting point for fans who are interested in a particular pairing or romantic relationship, or who are interested in gen fan works. If it's just occurred to you that John/Todd might be an interesting pairing to read about, or that you'd like to read some gen fic about Radek Zelenka, this is the place to visit. We're here to provide information on what's out there: communities, thing-a-thons, main tropes, major fanworks, etc.
Please note that these pages are only starting points; they aren't meant to be comprehensive lists.
2. What do you mean by "alternative"?
This guide was inspired by the realization that there are a lot of John/Rodney-focused guides to out there, and a couple of general guides to SGA fandom, but no centralized source of information on less common pairings, or on gen fic. We're the alternative guide because we offer an alternative to existing resources.
3. The character/pairing/poly relationship I'm interested in doesn't have a page.
At the moment, we don't have any pages. We do, however, have a list of pages that people have volunteered to put together. If the character or relationship you're interested in isn't on that list, then please feel free to volunteer to do it. Or, if you don't want to do that, check back in a little while and maybe someone else will have done it.
Once we're up and running, our answer to this question will be:
Five years of SGA have given us a lot of characters to play with, and yes, sometimes we miss some. If the character or relationship you're interested doesn't seem to be here, there are a few things to try.
First, have you checked the rare character/het/femslash/slash/poly pages? Characters and relationships that have generated fewer fannish works (or fewer fannish works that we can find) can be found on those pages.
Second, you can try looking at the general resource page. Perhaps you'll be able to find what you're looking for at one of the sites listed there.
Third, if you already know where to find material for that character or relationship (or plan to go seek it out), you can volunteer to write a guide. The more information we have, the better! If you decide to do this, you'll want to check the how-to manual to see whether the character or relationship you're interested in will qualify for its own page, or whether it will be added to one of the rare pages. Either way, we'd love it if you pulled together the information so that other fans will have a starting point.
4. Why doesn't the character or relationship I'm interested in have its own page?
When we first started putting this guide together, we decided that very small characters or relationships should be grouped together for efficiency's sake. This isn't because we don't like those characters or relationships! We adore rarer characters and pairings; they're our raison d'etre. But we thought a page that only listed two stories might look a little sad, and we thought that really rare areas were more likely to be covered if there was less work involved in putting together the information.
The minimum requirements for a character or relationship to receive its own page are at least ten fanworks by at least three different creators that you believe should be recommended on the page. If you think a character or relationship on the rare pages actually deserves its own page by these standards, then please let us know what material we've missed by leaving a comment on the rare page, or stop by the volunteer post and tell us you'd like to put together a complete page for that character or relationship.
5. Who writes the guide posts?
Fans like you! People came to the community, saw there wasn't a page for a character or relationship they were particularly interested in, realized they had information and knew of a lot of reccable fanworks for that character or relationship, and signed up to take the lead on a page.
Before being posted publicly here at the comm, all guide post pages go up for review--at relevant communities, at the creator's own journal (with the post advertised here or in the relevant communities), or here at sga_guide in a members-locked post in order to solicit feedback, help checking for typos, and gather additional resource suggestions, as part of our goal to be as complete and inclusive of multiple viewpoints as possible.
6. I'd like to volunteer to put together a guide post.
Excellent! We're always looking for new volunteers and new guide posts. Three things to do:
First, check the Master List to see what guides we already have.
Second, head over to the volunteer page and let us know what you plan to do. This way, we can avoid having two people unknowingly working on the same guide.
Third, check out the how-to manual for information on how to go about putting together a page.
7. I don't want to put together a whole post, but I'd like to help in other ways.
We're always looking for extra help. Since the community is just getting started right now, there are lots of things still to be done, including policy development, graphics work, and putting together information posts. Later on, we'll also need members who can provide feedback on new guide posts before they go up. If you're interested in helping with any of these things, leave your name on the volunteer application post, and apply for membership. We let in everyone who wants to join; the volunteer post is just there to make sure you know what you're getting into.
8. There's something that I think ought to be included in one of the posts.
If you have additional information that you think belongs on a guide post, please leave a comment on that post. If it's a community or archive or thematic list, it will almost certainly be added, and thank you. If it's a fanwork you think should be included, it would help to explain why you think it belongs on the post. (For information about how we choose which fanworks to include, take a look at the how-to guide.)
We appreciate all the help we can get in keeping these posts complete and up-to-date.
9.There's fic on the gen page that isn't really gen!
We chose to use a fairly expansive definition of gen for this guide, because in some cases we're dealing with characters who have appeared in so little fic that if we excluded any mention of any romantic or sexual relationship, we would have nothing left for them.
In general, we define gen as fic that does not focus on romantic or sexual relationships, and that does not contain explicit, voluntary sexual activity. If you want more detail on what kinds of fanworks do and do not count as gen for the purposes of this guide, please check out our How-To Guide.
10. I have a question or concern about something related to the guide.
If you have any comments or feedback, you can leave a comment here, or email us at sga.guide.mods AT gmail DOT com.
The Alternative Guide to Stargate Atlantis is a group effort to provide a starting point for fans who are interested in a particular pairing or romantic relationship, or who are interested in gen fan works. If it's just occurred to you that John/Todd might be an interesting pairing to read about, or that you'd like to read some gen fic about Radek Zelenka, this is the place to visit. We're here to provide information on what's out there: communities, thing-a-thons, main tropes, major fanworks, etc.
Please note that these pages are only starting points; they aren't meant to be comprehensive lists.
2. What do you mean by "alternative"?
This guide was inspired by the realization that there are a lot of John/Rodney-focused guides to out there, and a couple of general guides to SGA fandom, but no centralized source of information on less common pairings, or on gen fic. We're the alternative guide because we offer an alternative to existing resources.
3. The character/pairing/poly relationship I'm interested in doesn't have a page.
At the moment, we don't have any pages. We do, however, have a list of pages that people have volunteered to put together. If the character or relationship you're interested in isn't on that list, then please feel free to volunteer to do it. Or, if you don't want to do that, check back in a little while and maybe someone else will have done it.
Once we're up and running, our answer to this question will be:
Five years of SGA have given us a lot of characters to play with, and yes, sometimes we miss some. If the character or relationship you're interested doesn't seem to be here, there are a few things to try.
First, have you checked the rare character/het/femslash/slash/poly pages? Characters and relationships that have generated fewer fannish works (or fewer fannish works that we can find) can be found on those pages.
Second, you can try looking at the general resource page. Perhaps you'll be able to find what you're looking for at one of the sites listed there.
Third, if you already know where to find material for that character or relationship (or plan to go seek it out), you can volunteer to write a guide. The more information we have, the better! If you decide to do this, you'll want to check the how-to manual to see whether the character or relationship you're interested in will qualify for its own page, or whether it will be added to one of the rare pages. Either way, we'd love it if you pulled together the information so that other fans will have a starting point.
4. Why doesn't the character or relationship I'm interested in have its own page?
When we first started putting this guide together, we decided that very small characters or relationships should be grouped together for efficiency's sake. This isn't because we don't like those characters or relationships! We adore rarer characters and pairings; they're our raison d'etre. But we thought a page that only listed two stories might look a little sad, and we thought that really rare areas were more likely to be covered if there was less work involved in putting together the information.
The minimum requirements for a character or relationship to receive its own page are at least ten fanworks by at least three different creators that you believe should be recommended on the page. If you think a character or relationship on the rare pages actually deserves its own page by these standards, then please let us know what material we've missed by leaving a comment on the rare page, or stop by the volunteer post and tell us you'd like to put together a complete page for that character or relationship.
5. Who writes the guide posts?
Fans like you! People came to the community, saw there wasn't a page for a character or relationship they were particularly interested in, realized they had information and knew of a lot of reccable fanworks for that character or relationship, and signed up to take the lead on a page.
Before being posted publicly here at the comm, all guide post pages go up for review--at relevant communities, at the creator's own journal (with the post advertised here or in the relevant communities), or here at sga_guide in a members-locked post in order to solicit feedback, help checking for typos, and gather additional resource suggestions, as part of our goal to be as complete and inclusive of multiple viewpoints as possible.
6. I'd like to volunteer to put together a guide post.
Excellent! We're always looking for new volunteers and new guide posts. Three things to do:
First, check the Master List to see what guides we already have.
Second, head over to the volunteer page and let us know what you plan to do. This way, we can avoid having two people unknowingly working on the same guide.
Third, check out the how-to manual for information on how to go about putting together a page.
7. I don't want to put together a whole post, but I'd like to help in other ways.
We're always looking for extra help. Since the community is just getting started right now, there are lots of things still to be done, including policy development, graphics work, and putting together information posts. Later on, we'll also need members who can provide feedback on new guide posts before they go up. If you're interested in helping with any of these things, leave your name on the volunteer application post, and apply for membership. We let in everyone who wants to join; the volunteer post is just there to make sure you know what you're getting into.
8. There's something that I think ought to be included in one of the posts.
If you have additional information that you think belongs on a guide post, please leave a comment on that post. If it's a community or archive or thematic list, it will almost certainly be added, and thank you. If it's a fanwork you think should be included, it would help to explain why you think it belongs on the post. (For information about how we choose which fanworks to include, take a look at the how-to guide.)
We appreciate all the help we can get in keeping these posts complete and up-to-date.
9.There's fic on the gen page that isn't really gen!
We chose to use a fairly expansive definition of gen for this guide, because in some cases we're dealing with characters who have appeared in so little fic that if we excluded any mention of any romantic or sexual relationship, we would have nothing left for them.
In general, we define gen as fic that does not focus on romantic or sexual relationships, and that does not contain explicit, voluntary sexual activity. If you want more detail on what kinds of fanworks do and do not count as gen for the purposes of this guide, please check out our How-To Guide.
10. I have a question or concern about something related to the guide.
If you have any comments or feedback, you can leave a comment here, or email us at sga.guide.mods AT gmail DOT com.