Whedonesque : Comments on 14827 : Television Fans Unite In Support of Striking Writers.

Is it lame that I got a little teary-like by the end of that? I'm gonna blame the cold.

I applaud my fellow fans for the work you've done. My co-workers in the office think I'm crazy. Yeah, like there's anything odd about a person clapping at their computer monitor or something. Geez.

killinj | November 26, 19:37 CET

Every little mention is nice...

Garim | November 26, 19:38 CET

That was great. I also would like to mention Farscape fans who helped bring it back for the miniseries wrap-up.

Suzie | November 26, 20:37 CET

Nice read. Good to see the historical significance of the quoted pizza delivery thread acknowledged. I do wish they'd included more non-Whedon material as well to show in practice as well as in words how Whedonesque posters started something that grew to include other fandoms.

Sunfire | November 26, 21:22 CET

That article was amazing... and JCapra, I got a little teary-eyed too... I'm sure it's just allergies or something.

It's great to hear the pencil drive is going well, too... while I love the fandom that's been created around the strike, I hope that the new negotiations can bring resolution so everyone can get paid.

minuet | November 26, 21:26 CET

I'm proud to say "I was there", I posted in that very thread. And if it gives the studios one tiny pause in their view of the writers conviction and morale knowing that they have support from the group of people that the studios and networks depend on then it will be something to be very proud of indeed.

zz9 | November 26, 22:50 CET

*squee moment*
That's my 24 site they linked to. I feel the urge to hug the writer of that article. And every Whedonesquer who got fans4writers off the ground.
*apologies for squee moment*

TheSpark | November 26, 23:52 CET

By the way, as of today, at least 300,000 pencils have been purchased.

theonetruebix | November 26, 23:57 CET

*dancing dancing dancing*

Love's Bitch | November 27, 00:03 CET

Nice article, only part of the cred and recognition you Fans4writers folks deserve IMO.

(and 300,000 ? Mini woot! Think that worked out to two smallish vans or one biggish lorry, if they leave the pencils in their boxes, more if they don't - good work all. Still, a fleet of lorries would be even better, right ? ;)

Saje | November 27, 00:08 CET

Are the pencils ever going to be delivered?

Nebula1400 | November 27, 00:16 CET

So, how many pencils are in a box?

Deadline Hollywood Daily reported earlier today that a deal may have been struck. It seems to be based on one source, though. So, fingers crossed. (Is it just me, or is the site seeming to get a lot of traffic today? I keep expecting to see purpleness somewhere based on my re-previews. ;))

Sunfire | November 27, 00:30 CET

That DHD story follows on the heels of an earlier one (I don't remember where) last week which was somewhat similar, although the earlier one suggested it'd be done by December 7, as opposed to Finke's source saying "by Christmas".

theonetruebix | November 27, 00:32 CET

The idea was to have them delivered, with the suggestion that they be donated to school kids, right? Does anybody know how that's going?

300,000 gets a full woot! from me.

dreamlogic | November 27, 00:33 CET

12 pencils per box, Sunfire

Love's Bitch | November 27, 00:46 CET

Ack, in my quest for quantification and rumor discussion, I forgot the WOOT! That's a whole lot of pencils! And a very happy thing.

Thanks for the perspective, bix. I missed that story last week. I was not yet overly excited but I was beginning to feel a bit more optimistic. I've been hoping that no news means things are going better than at the last meeting.

12 a box! Thanks Love's Bitch. That's about 25,000 boxes, then. I'm also interested in where the pencils will go-- that amount will help a lot of students. It seems best to keep it local, and it seems like one of those programs that provides low income families with free school supplies would be ideal. Something like this. But I assume this is all something the Pencils2MediaMoguls planners will figure out, if they haven't already.

Sunfire | November 27, 01:18 CET

I've been hoping that no news means things are going better than at the last meeting.

Well, there's a news blackout on the resumed negotiations, until and unless something happens and/or both sides agree to issue a joint update.

I was skeptical at last week's rumor. But with it as context in my head when this latest one was published, it makes me a little less skeptical.

theonetruebix | November 27, 01:28 CET

Is the Fans4Writers site showing up for anyone else? It's now forwarding to one of those squatter-type pages for me.

Lady Brick | November 27, 03:12 CET

Same here, Lady Brick. WTF??!!

m'cookies actual | November 27, 03:13 CET

It was a glitch. We are back.

RavenU | November 27, 03:16 CET

What happened to Fans4Writers???

electricspacegirl | November 27, 03:16 CET

It was a glitch. We are back.

Not for me.

electricspacegirl | November 27, 03:18 CET

Me neither.

dreamlogic | November 27, 03:23 CET

How are you getting there - what are you using?

RavenU | November 27, 03:33 CET

I have no trouble accessing it, I use firefox on Windows XP.

kurya | November 27, 03:36 CET

Firefox.

electricspacegirl | November 27, 03:39 CET

Yeah it's still the placeholder page for me as well, still. If I use the IP address, I get the site (minus the things that reference the domain itself, like the graphics, etc) but not if I use any of the domains.

theonetruebix | November 27, 03:40 CET

Everyone with issues please clear you cache - kill the tamp and history. Then try again.

RavenU | November 27, 03:41 CET

It's not a cache issue. I can use browser brands I haven't run in months (Opera, Omniweb, Mac IE) and still get the placeholder page.

In fact, it's a DNS issue. The IP address appears to have changed, and not all ISPs appear to have picked up the new IP address information when resolving the domain.

[ edited by theonetruebix on 2007-11-27 03:51 ]

theonetruebix | November 27, 03:44 CET

Try fans4writers.info

RavenU | November 27, 03:53 CET

Try fans4writers.info

No, all the variants just do their redirects to .com, which then shows the placeholder. If the IP address was changed (which my checking says it has), it's not going to get picked up everywhere immediately. Some ISPs cache DNS info, so it takes them longer to pick up new IP addresses for a domain.

theonetruebix | November 27, 04:04 CET

That worked for me, Ravenu. But aren't there a lot of bad connections, so that the site can't be reached by the basic url?

dreamlogic | November 27, 04:04 CET

It seems to be working now. For me at least.

electricspacegirl | November 27, 04:11 CET

Works for me now. dreamlogic, if .info is working for you now, it actually means the .com is working for you now, because .info just redirects to the .com site.

theonetruebix | November 27, 04:11 CET

Yes bix, and by going to .info for the redirect it flushes your dns cache.

RavenU | November 27, 04:16 CET

Yeah, it's fine now. I also tried putting in the url and two search engines (yahoo and google) during the episode. What happened?

dreamlogic | November 27, 04:18 CET

Yes bix, and by going to .info for the redirect it flushes your dns cache.

No, it doesn't, else it would have done so when I went to that URL, and all the variants, 30 minutes ago. Heh.

dreamlogic, what happened was just what I said above in this thread: The domain's IP address changed.

theonetruebix | November 27, 04:21 CET

Bix the ip address changed over a week ago, when we went to a dedicated IP. It hasn't changed since then, and some people could still get to the address when others including you said they couldn't.

[ edited by RavenU on 2007-11-27 04:36 ]

RavenU | November 27, 04:27 CET

I guess I have to go ahead and sound paranoid, was this an attack?

dreamlogic | November 27, 04:38 CET

Are the pencils ever going to be delivered?

Nebula1400 | November 27, 04:48 CET

I had no problem reaching the site either from the home page here, or from the link provided in the Alterna-TV article. But I'm not that computer literate so I have no idea what that means, except that apparently (hopefully) any problems have been resolved.

As for the article itself, there were Whoots and Squees and a bit of tearing up. We are mighty! :) Well, mostly those of you who got it up and running, but I think we all, anyone who so much as contributed to the pizza fund or the pencils fund or just harassed everyone we know until they took a closer look at the issues involved, can bask in some of the glory.
It's an awesome thing to feel part of something that could very well be media history in the making, I for one feel proud .... and stupidly emotional.

Shey | November 27, 04:56 CET

Don't worry, dreamlogic... you're not the only one with paranoid thoughts at the moment.

Lady Brick | November 27, 06:09 CET

I can get to the fans4writers page without problem. I'm hoping we can soon say, "We (WGA, fans, etc) have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty." Ah, what the hell, I'm feeling a squee coming on with a touch of mightiness. As Spike might say, we have the better weapons (just watched _Pangs_ again) and so we'll triumph. Although the writers are more like the Native Americans than the "bloody colonials"... I, too, hope the pencils will be donated (after they make their mark) to students.

whedongeek | November 27, 06:20 CET

I canz surf fans4writers !

It hasn't changed since then, and some people could still get to the address when others including you said they couldn't.

This is consistent with a DNS issue. Changes take time to propagate around the net and since people are using different DNS servers, any issues will resolve at different times as their particular servers refresh.

(if necessary though, you can flush your DNS cache under Windows by going to a command line and typing "ipconfig /flushdns" - without the quotes - and then pressing return obviously ;)

Whoever's hosting the site will know if it was a direct attack (indirect ones against the Domain Name System itself are harder for them to track), their logs will positively scream it. If you're still worried you should check with them. And remember, it's not whether you're paranoid, it's whether you're paranoid enough ;).

Also, I totally mis-read theonetruebix's update as 300,000 boxes, mea totally culpa. We still, in fact, have a long way to go to fill even a single lorry (my back of a fag packet estimate - i.e. very likely wrong ;) - was roughly 150,000 boxes for a smallish van). Still good work though.

Saje | November 27, 07:45 CET

Can you all make mini bow and arrows and shoot the pencils in one by one? You know, just for the drama of it? ;-)

I wish my school was in a position to have pencils donated. My students NEVER have pencils. (Or homework. Or lunch. But that's another issue entirely.)

But, being on the other side of the world, we're not viable for freebies. So I hope the pencils do make it to a truly worthy place!

missb | November 27, 13:01 CET

Are the pencils ever going to be delivered?

Nebula1400 | November 27, 13:11 CET

It's working here. At the minute the DNS is hosted by Godaddy, who are useless, so they probably buggered it up for some people. It'll sort itself out naturally.

gossi | November 27, 13:29 CET

OK, never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence. Now I'm worried about missb's students.

dreamlogic | November 27, 13:56 CET

I like the idea of having tiny little bows to use the pencils as arrows. Heh. ;)

Julesong | November 27, 20:01 CET

I like the idea of having tiny little bows to use the pencils as arrows. Heh. ;)

I don't, but I was traumatized by seeing a pencil thrown across a classroom and hitting a girl in the eye when I was in grade school. Really, there have been far too many encounters between pencils and eyes during my lifetime. Probably a good thing I missed that episode of Grey's Anatomy two weeks ago.

Lady Brick | November 27, 23:55 CET

Now I'm worried about missb's students.

You and me both, Dreamlogic!

LadyBrick, I've never seen a pencil used as a weapon (except in Buffy) but I have a colleague who was stabbed in the back with a pair of scissors.
Needless to say, since then I run a very tight ship with mine and make the kids sign them out and back in at the end of the lesson!

And I watched an Errol Flynn documentary last weekend, which probably explains the bow and arrow fixation.

missb | November 28, 12:32 CET

November 26 2007