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 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. 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 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 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.
---------------------
If you have skills to offer for auction, comment under Skills. The format should be as follows:
Name: my_lj_name/Name Y'All Know Me By
Characters: Character A (character_a), Character B (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:
Name:
Characters:
Email:
Fandoms/Milliways Characters:
Examples of Work:
OFFERING:
Notes:
--------------------------
If you have a request you are willing to pay for in donations, comment under Requests. The format should be as follows:
Name: my_lj_name/Name Y'All Know Me By
Characters: Character A (character_a), Character B (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:
Name:
Characters:
Email:
REQUEST:
Notes:
----------------------
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
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 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. 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 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 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.
---------------------
If you have skills to offer for auction, comment under Skills. The format should be as follows:
Name: my_lj_name/Name Y'All Know Me By
Characters: Character A (character_a), Character B (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:
Name:
Characters:
Email:
Fandoms/Milliways Characters:
Examples of Work:
OFFERING:
Notes:
--------------------------
If you have a request you are willing to pay for in donations, comment under Requests. The format should be as follows:
Name: my_lj_name/Name Y'All Know Me By
Characters: Character A (character_a), Character B (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:
Name:
Characters:
Email:
REQUEST:
Notes:
----------------------
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