Hey, Fandom. Can I Help?
I’ve been talking a lot lately about being the fandom you wish to see in the world and also about how being someone who is not a natural cheerleader/encourager and is not good at emotional support or comfort with people I’m not super close with can make doing that feel hard. The love and support and affection in our fandom is truly amazing and I’m in awe of the people who provide that in my fandom spaces day in and day out. But it’s not me. I still try and contribute as much as I can to this place I call home, however, and I think some of the things I can do can be hard for some people to have access to. So in that vein, this post is about the things I’m willing to offer help for when it comes to fandom projects.
First off, you don’t need to know me. My friends already know I am on call for all these things, whenever they need me. This is to the people I haven’t spoken to. If there’s a fandom project you want to do, but the lack of a particular skill/knowledge is holding you back from doing it and it’s something I can do or something I can help connect you with, please DM me. You don’t have to like my work or even be in Stony. I assume if you come across this, we’re connected in some way, and that’s good enough for me. I support fandom as a whole, not just the ones I’m in. Second of all, you don’t need to worry about small talk or retaining a friendship with me if all you need is help. It’s cool. If we talk once a year so you can ask me a question about php I’ll consider you a friend! You don’t need to butter me up 😉 I have said before I have one love language and it’s Acts of Service, so if I can service you (wink) it’ll make me genuinely happy and hopefully also make fandom a better place.
Okay that said…
Things I Can Help You With (Yes, You):
Spreadsheets, particularly GSheets, but I can fake Excel. I have a special talent for managing text data instead of numbers data which can be hard to come by but can also be invaluable for running fandom events. I’ve helped out countless events with spreadsheet prep and they continue to use those sheets years on. I also give tutorials and do troubleshooting.
Web development. I do a fair amount of this professionally. I have web server space. If your fandom thing needs a website or a link hosted, I’m worth an ask. I obviously can’t promise I can do them all, and fandom events that will run fine on tumblr etc are unlikely to need a wholeass site, but if you’ve got a special idea that’s held back by not having a website, especially something charity related, hit me up. Even if I can’t build it/host it, I might be able to help you find a way around needing it. I am the primary builder and maintainer of the Marvel Trumps Hate system, for perspective.
Technical Solutions. If you have an administrative process that you’re doing entirely by hand but it feels like tech should help but you just don’t know how? I can help you determine which programs/scripts/add-ons/bots can make that easier. This is really broad, but I don’t know how to narrow it down. I just really love problem solving, like a lot.
Discord Servers**. I have set up countless servers. Need a place for your special fandom circle? I can get it started for you. I will need admin access or ownership to begin, which I will hand back when I’m finished. I can get categories, roles, and channels in place and help you choose, add, and customize bots. I can help with Discord troubleshooting and server overhauls as well. (**I will not stay on as a mod, though if you think you’ll need technical help I can retain mod powers for problem solving. I will NOT weigh in on people management decisions and you’ll need to decide your own rules, restrictions etc.)
AO3 Challenge/Collection Set-Up. Running an exchange but don’t know how matching works? I can help you get the structure of your event set up on AO3 and show you the boxes you need to tick and untick to make things work. I’ve been a mod on almost every type of event there is in fandom.
Photoshop/Editing/Graphics. I am very skilled with Gimp and Illustrator. I wouldn’t say I’m a wonderful graphic designer, but it’s an inevitable part of my professional life, but especially if you’ve got ideas but you don’t have the experience to implement them, I can help. I can also do photo manipulation, like, say, editing a photo of a bookshelf to have the spines say the name of your event instead of the book title. That kind of thing. Removing brand names, adding watermarks etc etc. I’m not volunteering to make photomanips for your fanworks or looking for prompts or anything, but if you have an edit you need in order to make a multimedia story and you don’t know how to pull it off, or you want to remove the background from a picture of RDJ so you can use it as an icon, that’s no problem at all. I can do some motion design, but this takes a lot of work/time so that’d be a special offer for special projects.
Video and Audio Editing. I can’t imagine anyone needing this, but I can do it? I guess if you want a tutorial or starting point, I can help you with that!
HTML, CSS, Scripting, and PHP. This is a mixed bag. I can write some light scripts for gsheets, perhaps. I can help you with text and work skins on AO3. I can help fix your website if it looks wonky. I can’t code you an entire discord bot from scratch or write long, complicated scripts for things. if you bring me your woes, I’ll be as honest as I can about what I can and can’t do to solve it.
Things I can’t do for you (sorry):
Cheerreading, alpha/beta reading, telling you if your idea is a good one (it is, just go for it!), promotions, moderating (specifically people modding, but I also can’t be drawn from “helping with tech” to “joining the mod team”), any people management at all including running a subteam of mods, fanwork approvals for events, marketing, social media (besides technical systems dev for social medias like arranging auto-posting), community managing/moderating, chasing after you to make sure a project gets finished, being a bridesmaid at your wedding (unless the food is really good), hardcore coding.
I also can’t promise I can take everything on. My own mental health, my job, and my family comes first. I’ll do my best to give realistic timelines, and I’ll also say “sorry I can’t” if I’m too swamped.
How to ask:
Go to my Contact page to find ways to contact me.
If you don’t know how to start, start with this “Hi! I saw your post about fandom helping. I’m trying to {FILL ME IN} but I don’t know how to {FILL ME IN}. Is that something you can help with?”
<3