The Fandom Fund

[highd.livejournal.com]

This has been on my mind since Across the Pond needed donations a few months ago.

I have been thinking about starting a Fandom Fund. An organization that would be there with not only funds but information to help fans that run sites dedicated to their chosen fandom. I am thinking about using our fandom as a pilot program, then spreading out as people find out about the fund.

Over the last few years a few of the QAF fan fic sites have had to reach out to the fans for help to keep our archives alive. It's been awesome seeing us come together in this way. I was also thinking about other fandoms and if they had these issues sometimes, and that we all could benefit by having an organization to go for help. So I was wondering if anyone would be interested in helping with this project.

I don't think a lot of help will be needed at first, but let me be honest help is always good to have. Knowing it's a fandom effort would make it an even stronger force for help. I can generate the Pay Pal link myself and create the community, some graphic help would be great. I am concerned about some issues such as the law behind donations, taxes and how to distribute the money, even though I am just starting out with QAF donations philosophy needs to be taken seriously.

If someone is donating from the Buffy fandom do we make sure those funds go to specific Buffy projects? Do we do the same if someone from the QAF community donates? Or do I set up the fund to collect donations into a big pile and divvy it up as requests come in? Those two paths are very different, and I would want to get that question answered first.

I love Queer as Folk and it's fandom so much.  I also know that people in our fandom fan other things just as hard, if that is possible :)  If you would like to help or think that this is a good idea please comment here.

If you have suggestions or would like to contact me through PM feel free.

I would like to thank the mods of this site for allowing this post! Thanks guys.

Comments

[highd.livejournal.com]

This is the type of feed back I was hoping for actually. I want to have opinions likes this to see if the idea was even feasible. I can understand down the road if it would become bigger that some people wouldn't be happy about their donations going to other fandoms that's why the money question has become the am I or am I not going to pursue this further. As a person who has been in the QAF fandom since before the show even aired on Showtime ( I was hooked from ads) I just wanted to find a way to give back to my fandom and maybe help others fandoms too. This was just a feeler kind of post. So it's not like I am trying to step on the spirit of our fandom.

One of my main hopes for the fund was to hopefully help Cael get bjfic.net back up. To help get funds together so maybe she could find some help. The hole that has been made by that site shutting down is still felt almost weekly, sometimes daily here. So I don't know again this is just a feeler post. Something I have been thinking about. Thanks so much for your response.

[court1429.livejournal.com]

I never took from your post that you were trying to step on the spirit of fandom. Just the opposite, in fact. I think the idea is generous, but not easily implemented across fandoms.

I'm not sure Cael needs financial help. She's never asked. It's always sounded more to me that she doesn't have the time to maintain it and she can't find a host that will allow NC-17 posts. Both of those issues are fixable. She could, and should, IMO, offer the archive up to someone else to maintain as the original owner did when her circumstances changed and Cael stepped in. It's not a big deal to say that RL is demanding more of you and you don't have the time for fandom activities you once did.

There are hundreds of fic archives all over the internet that have sexually explicit fics, so I don't understand the difficulty in finding a host. Granted, I've never tried to host an archive and don't want to, but it's been a year. I just think it's ridiculous that it's dragged on this long when there are others who would certainly volunteer to step up and run it.

And, to be blunt, I'm not even sure bjfic.net is an archive worth saving. The only reason I'd like it to be available is all the now-broken links in this community and other rec and reading communities would again be active links.

But getithere members are doing a bang-up job posting alternate links for fics or uploading them to the share sites members have generously made available.

And with the advent of AO3, which looks to be a tremendous multi-fandom site (which allows NC-17 fic), I'm hopeful more and more people will move their fics over there and make it an excellent go-to resource. So far, only 280 fics (http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Queer%20as%20Folk%20%28US%29/works) are posted there, but it's early days, yet. ;)

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

That's cause I haven't loaded my fics. Then there will be 281. lol Okay, not really. I have about 30.