Whedonesque : Comments on 14679 : Fans4Writers.com is up and running.

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November 09 2007

Fans4Writers.com is up and running. It started at Whedonesque but it's getting bigger fast. It's the "fans supporting writers" initiative that's already fed pizza and snacks to striking writers, and thanks to a group of Whedonesquers who apparently never sleep, the website is ready to go with strike information, links, places to donate for food runs, and much more.

C. A. Bridges | Fandom&Fun | 09:09 CET | 59 comments total | tags: writer's strike, fan activism, wear your scarf

yay!

cymerin | November 09, 09:25 CET

*is proud and happy to actually have a way to contribute from Vancouver*

ssick | November 09, 09:34 CET

That is a very nice looking site with lots of good information: kudos to all concerned!

embers | November 09, 09:38 CET

It's been amazing watching all this come together on .org with minimal resources beyond enthusiasm and determination. :)

cabri | November 09, 09:50 CET

Great looking site.

I watch a great deal of shows online, and it galls me to think that writers aren't getting their fair share.

Chelleatrix | November 09, 10:08 CET

This is really good. Is the site prepared for high traffic? Basically, time for linkage?

ETA: I assume so, linking it to the Whedonnexus. But curious.

[ edited by Sunfire on 2007-11-09 07:10 ]

Sunfire | November 09, 10:08 CET

Is the site prepared for high traffic?

We will all find out, won't we.

The One True b!X | November 09, 10:13 CET

I hope for your head's asplodability that it is. ;)

Sunfire | November 09, 10:15 CET

Hope nobody slashdot's the site yet.... (would it be even ready?)

kurya | November 09, 10:30 CET

Awestruck.

Caroline | November 09, 10:46 CET

I put the site up on Stumbleupon.com, so if anyone else is involved there, rate it up and help spread the word.

kishi | November 09, 10:48 CET

Incredible how quickly this site came together, and if there's a better demonstration of teamwork across timezones and god knows what else kind of unimaginable barriers, I don't know what it is. It's wonderful to have all the pertinent information in one handy, efficiently designed, easy-to-point-to location. If ya'll weren't incorporeal on my end, I'd hug you so hard.

I taped two hours' worth of TV I usually watch on Thursday nights so I could take note of the shows' advertisers. Guess it's time to break out the postcards!

Wiseblood | November 09, 11:19 CET

Awesome job, guys! Wish I lived in LA to help out with the food drops, but instead I've just "subscribed" to the Food for Thought campaign. Thanks for giving me a way to tangibly help the striking writers out.

JudyKay7 | November 09, 11:28 CET

Whooo! The site's fantastic. I'm incredibly impressed at how organized and quick and generally awesome you guys are.

omnie | November 09, 11:29 CET

Huzzah and woohoo! I've already started pointing people to the site.

Lady Brick | November 09, 11:34 CET

Wow! Great job putting fans4writers.com together! Its very clear and very clear-cut. A huge round of applause to you all. And like C.A., I came to the conclusion that you people are beyond sleep. Keep up the good work!

Arabchick | November 09, 11:50 CET

To quote Artie, the Strongest Man in the World*: "Sleep... is for the puny!"

* Bonus points to whoever can identify the reference.

The One True b!X | November 09, 11:58 CET

Isn't that from "The Adventures of Pete and Pete"..and Artie's really a scrawny guy who is deceptively strong?
I've already sent some cash to the website for the Food4Thought" campaign, and linked to their website.

impalergeneral | November 09, 13:10 CET

Bonus points to impalergeneral.

The One True b!X | November 09, 13:18 CET

Congratulations to those who were/are involved in getting this website - and the campaign itself - up and running so quickly and efficiently. I was following the conversations on .org earlier this evening and couldn't tear myself away, even though it meant staying at the office later. I know from experience how capable JenskiJen is at this kind of thing - she was invaluable to me during our first CSTS screening last year - and I definitely missed her this year.

I wish I could do more from a distance, but I will be donating some money when I can and in the meantime I am using one of lexigeek's great signs on my LJ and elsewhere.

samatwitch | November 09, 13:32 CET

It's a good site but the major criticism that I would have of it is the anonymity of it. If you are asking people to donate money then we need to know who the people are that are running the site.

The premiere example of a fandom effort would be the Saving Angel campaign (our finest hour bar none).

www.savingangel.org

As you can see from the above URL, there was a "Who Are We" page that listed the team players and what they did in the fandom and their experience in running fan campaigns. Something like that would be very useful for Fans4Writers.com.

Also some of the webpages are opening up as documents in Firefox.

Simon | November 09, 13:42 CET

Firefox is treating the link like .... what Simon said, since I'm not that computer literate. It wants me to choose an "open with" option, which I assume would post the entire site to My Documents??

Has anyone tried Googling it yet? Maybe I'll try that.

edited for mis-spelling Google *blush*

[ edited by Shey on 2007-11-09 11:18 ]

Shey | November 09, 13:57 CET

I'm also getting that with Firefox 2.0.0.9 (on XP), says i'm trying to open a PHP application and comes up with the Options dialogue.

(the workaround is to check "Open with" then find Firefox.exe and make sure "Do this automatically for files of this type" is checked before pressing OK but it's clumsy, lots of people won't bother)

[ edited by Saje on 2007-11-09 11:16 ]

Saje | November 09, 14:14 CET

Also XP, here, should have mentioned that.
I did Google it, with Firefox, & got the same thing as using the link. So I tried my other Google (IE) & got a slightly easier dialog, "what do you want to do with this file?" (open or save).
Guess I should go back & try "open" (duuhh) but the point is, it isn't opening as a website. At least not for some of us.

Not complaining, sleepless guys, I'm sure you'll get the bugs out.

Shey | November 09, 14:26 CET

The site is switching operating systems in order to be more robust. Well anyway it seems they choose to do this process now which is why you are having issues with accessing it. Hopefully this will be resolved over the next few hour but it may take up to 24 for it to fully be migrated.

RavenU | November 09, 14:50 CET

If the folks running the campaign need hosting, give me a shout, I can supply it (obviously, free).

gossi | November 09, 14:52 CET

Way to go everyone involved. Site looks great!

zz9 | November 09, 15:36 CET

The site is beyond awesome. Kudos to everyone. And, it got a link already from UnitedHollywood.com

k8cre8 | November 09, 18:44 CET

It seems I am still having trouble acessing the site, I hope it will be ready soon.

kurya | November 09, 19:44 CET

Won't work for me. :(

Succatash | November 09, 20:01 CET

I don't know what that was, but in the 5 minutes since I've woken up, it works again. Perhaps it didn't want me to be sleeping?

The One True b!X | November 09, 20:09 CET

I was told the site is switching operating systems. Not a good time for maintenance, since the press release just went up, but please be patient.

electricspacegirl | November 09, 20:11 CET

It seems to be back up.

[ edited by ElectricSpaceGirl on 2007-11-09 17:16 ]

electricspacegirl | November 09, 20:12 CET

Yep, it's now fine for me, opens and navigates like a web-page rather than a bunch of files (and yep, I know a web-page is "a bunch of files" but YKNWIM ;).

Are you in IT theonetruebix ? Cos you've exhibited a variant of what i've heard called "magic hands", not many of us have it - simply turn up and do exactly what the user claims to have done all along but somehow, as if by "magic", it works for you ;).

ETA: And nice work everyone, looks good, clearly laid out, easy to navigate. Job's a good 'un.

[ edited by Saje on 2007-11-09 17:19 ]

Saje | November 09, 20:17 CET

I know there's been several mentions of the back-upness of the site. As a fandom scout, I've just gotta say "Whew."

sadimac | November 09, 20:32 CET

From United Hollywood:

PARAMOUNT 1: SAG Solidarity Leads to "Lost" Joke
"William Mapother, aka "Ethan Rom" from "Lost," walked the picket line Wednesday...
BUT HE WASN'T ON THE MANIFEST!!!"

zz9 | November 09, 20:50 CET

What Simon has said about names makes a lot of sense. And this site is going to reach a much more diverse audience than the Angel one, so trust will be even more important as fandoms cooperate.

Sunfire | November 09, 20:52 CET

Can someone change the description at the top? The site is back up now...

kurya | November 09, 20:56 CET

Completely bumfuzzled. How you guys got this up and running so quickly is mind-blowing. Once again extremely proud to be a member of this fandom. :)

deepgirl187 | November 09, 21:28 CET

How you guys got this up and running so quickly is mind-blowing.

So was waking up to discover I had inadvertently taken the site down in my sleep.

The One True b!X | November 09, 21:54 CET

What Simon has said about names makes a lot of sense. And this site is going to reach a much more diverse audience than the Angel one, so trust will be even more important as fandoms cooperate.

We're working on this now.

lexigeek | November 09, 22:02 CET

It's the psychic connection between your brain and the machine. It's why you were dreaming in binary. ;)

Seriously, it sounds like you all have been working your asses off, so I wouldn't be surprised if people really did dream of coding HTML or something. The site looks great, and the speed with which it was accomplished does seem dizzying.

[ edited by Sunfire on 2007-11-09 19:23 ]

Sunfire | November 09, 22:16 CET

Just purely out of my own interest but what other fandoms have taken part in this outside of Team Whedon?

RokkRage | November 09, 22:47 CET

Is it possible to Cafe Press t-shirts/bumper stickers? I'd love a bumper sticker, or even a sticker design I can download onto Avery labels.

It could even be like a tour shirt with the F4W logo and the various supporting website logos on the back.

Allyson | November 09, 23:04 CET

Thanks for all the kudos guys! It's so cool that my very first post here is under such fine circumstances (well, except for that whole strike thing).

Regarding other fandoms, we've got support from fans of The Office, Supernatural, the Colbert Report, Lost, Farscape, Moonlight and many more on board. This is truely a multi-fandom effort. We've also gotten support from many of the writers and staff of a whole host of networks (including an anonymous email of thanks from the staffers at ABC and Disney).

We've got plans for a Cafe Press site, with red t-shirts (sporting the Fans Support the Writers placard logo) and much more. Plus loads of things you can download yourself for shirts etc. We'll get it on the site asap.

And what is this "sleep" you speak of? Good thing I'm still functioning in another time zone!

JenskiJen | November 09, 23:17 CET

Thanks, JenskiJen. I had a feeling that the Supernatural fans would be a part of this and it's nice to see that the Scapers are still as active as ever, especially as the best hope for new Farscape is currently on the internet, which makes their involvement very appropriate, given the issues involved.

RokkRage | November 09, 23:23 CET

I have one of the graphics up on my MySpace page and made it link back to the fans4writers.

Lots of people can't do the code. I'm happy to share it if needed.

Love's Bitch | November 09, 23:24 CET

The other fandoms involved will be reflected on the site as we go forward. A lot of the stall there is figuring out who is doing their own thing and just needs to be linked, and who wants to just lump into the overall F4W umbrella fund. By which I mean a single fund, not a fund for umbrellas.

The One True b!X | November 09, 23:37 CET

Surely a scarf fund would be more of a priority than an umbrella fund?

Oh, wait... ;)

RokkRage | November 09, 23:43 CET

Welcome, JenskiJen, it's about time you showed up here. ;-) Great job, everyone.

samatwitch | November 10, 00:05 CET

Keep up the good work you guys. I wish I could do more.

TamaraC | November 10, 01:03 CET

Great site, all.

palehorse | November 10, 01:16 CET

Cafe Press has a new product, the Custom Yard Sign for $14.99! Here's the description:

• Measures 22" wide x 15" high
• 10 oz. flexible vinyl is weather-resistant for outdoor use
• Design printed on both sides
• Sealed edges
• Includes metal frame for ground mounting (basic assembly required)

These would be great to use for display in all kinds of places, plus, put it on a stick and you've got a nifty picket sign... heh. However, any "Fans4Writers" picketers displaying the logo, etc. would need to check with the proper entities at the WGA beforehand. But if it's cool with them, then this could be a great way to demonstrate the support of the fans for the writers.

Plus, showing the Fans4Writers website info would inform more regular people to check out the site and find out more about what this issue really means. It could be an important way to help counter all the negative and misleading spin the mainstream media (entertainment/media conglomerates) are putting out there.

The more fronts the writers can establish with this campaign, the more effective, and hopefully faster, it will be. It's in the best interests of the entertainment corporations, and the industry as a whole, to treat the writers right, if they could look past their greed long enough to see it.

Edited to fix grammatical wackiness...

[ edited by 11thHour on 2007-11-09 22:24 ]

11thHour | November 10, 01:21 CET

Great suggestion 11thHour!

One of the biggest things we have to do is get the message beyond the internet. Blogging and posting is great, but it only reaches around 20% of television viewers. We need to reach people in their homes, at work, and everywhere else.

Spread the word folks!

Also, we'll soon have a store up and running. :D

JenskiJen | November 10, 01:39 CET

The food for the rally at Fox went fine. David Fury was there. Morena Becarrin was there, though I didn't see her. Many thanks to Pliny, who bought a table and hauled it blocks from his car, and then blocks to my car when we were done. It wouldn't have worked without him.

dreamlogic | November 10, 02:25 CET

11th, I tipped lexigeek to your post. There will be yard signs.

The One True b!X | November 10, 02:31 CET

Thanx B!x!

We gotta use all the ammo we can. Looking forward to seeing all the cool Cafe Press stuff.

I check in to the threads on this topic as much as possible, but may have missed some info. Will profits from the Cafe Press sales go to some kind of fund for the Fans4Writers campaign? I'd love to help contribute.

11thHour | November 10, 02:44 CET

The website rocks - congratulations to everyone involved - an absolutely awesome effort.

David Fury - woo hoo! Well done to dreamlogic and Pliny for the Fox food drop.

NotaViking | November 10, 04:16 CET

Hey, dreamlogic, what did you bring to the rally? Was it pizza? Does Fans4Writers want to have a page with "Food for Thought" reports? I was hunting the .org site for info on today's mission and I didn't find it.

electricspacegirl | November 10, 05:26 CET

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