Relax, the Poll Will Be Up Through Friday

DR4The poll I put up to find out about interest in a Richard Armitage online fan event had gotten a healthy response by Saturday night when it closed. The next day I received notes from people who wanted to participate. I told them to go ahead. Then on Monday and today there were more.

I’ve had a hard time turning those people away because I think the more the merrier, and since we’re not in a race to solve world hunger or cure cancer, there was no need to break it off in people who may not have known about the poll in time or who forgot it. I suspect most of you are going to be participating in your spare time, so don’t sweat that you didn’t make the poll. I just extended it. Plus, almost all of the answers regarding when to hold the event do not include February, and I doubt we’re going to get a rash of people wanting that month at this point which means there are a few more days to find out what others think.

But when next Saturday comes, it will be done; otherwise, this thing could go on and on and on. And I know some of you organizers are anxious to get started. Note to you coming up shortly with a heads up on what I’m seeing so far in the answers to the poll.

POLL

For those just stumbling on this, you can find more information here and here.

February 4, 2015
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: Leave a comment

What happened to January?

Is it just me, or was January about two days long? I have been a bit busy. How about you? Yeah, I hear you.

But before this month ends, just a reminder to those of you who are interested in FanstRAvaganza, a Richard Armitage blogging event, or a Richard Armitage Web Event, or Richard Armitage week on the web, or whatever we end up calling this thing, there is one more day to give me some input via this survey. Thank you if you have already shared your thoughts.

To those who are still thinking about it, I know you’re busy. We all are! But you know you want to take a quick break and do something fun.

Wheeeeee

And that’s what an “event” would be, or at least rewarding in some way. Maybe you are overflowing with thoughts and need to express them through writing, or drawing or music, etc., or maybe you just want to get something off your chest. Whatever the case may be, I hope you join the rest of us who want to celebrate or bask, or however some describe it, and you can start by giving some input about how the event would work best for you.

And to those who sent me your replies via a Twitter DM, Facebook message or email, I hope you will also participate in the survey as it will make it much easier to fold all of the answers together. Yes, I’m lazy, but then I can only do twelve things at once. :D

I’ll have the results of the survey on Monday and will send a note to those who expressed interest in organizing. Yes, I was going to do that earlier, but I’m glad I waited as a couple of others have volunteered, and that just means I will send the note once.

In case you missed it, here’s the link to the survey.

January 30, 2015
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 6 Comments

Some Qs & As about the Richard Armitage Blogging Event

Richard-Armitage-with the KeyThis is just a first pass at answers to some of the questions about a blogging event (go here for more information). I’m sure there will be more questions as we go. Also, I am basing these answers on what has happened in the past and feel any committee formed will embrace these answers as well.

Do I have to be a Richard Armitage Blogger to participate? No, you do not. The more the merrier!

If I post for the event, do I have to participate every day of the event? Absolutely not. Do as much as you want.

Do I have to run a blog to participate? It’s not necessary. Many bloggers who participate will be willing to host guest bloggers for a post or more than one. It’s up to the bloggers, but I would be surprised if a guest blogger could not find a place to publish.

If I don’t know any bloggers personally and want to write a guest piece, what do I do? Contact a blogger you like; I would be shocked if they don’t listen to you. If you’re still not sure, let me know, and I’ll bet I can put you in touch with someone who would be happy to host a piece.

Do I have to participate on certain social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook if I post a piece for the event? It’s completely optional to participate on those sites, but you’re missing out on some fun. :D

Can I contribute artwork or video instead of writing? Yes! a picture is worth a thousand words.

If you have any further questions, post a comment here or send me an email.

January 4, 2015
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 10 Comments

Further Thoughts on a Richard Armitage Blogging Event in 2015

No more than 30 minutes after I published my last post on this subject I had over a dozen communications from people who are interested in this event. Wow. That’s a good sign.

With those communications have come questions and comments. Mostly people are wanting to know how it was done in the past and how it should go in the future. I can speak to the past as much as I remember, but all I can say about the future are just my opinions.

How this went in the past is there was one person who coordinated, but a committee (don’t let your eyes glaze over when I say that) came up with a theme and a framework for how the event would proceed in a given year. This seemed to work well. What was really helpful was various people brought various skill sets to the event and everyone working together was the key to success. The coordinator of the event kept track of that, so there was not duplication of effort or no efforts in a given area. All of that sounds like work, but I think it really is up to the committee to decide how elaborate or how free form an event can be and thereby how much coordination is needed.

Now my two cents.

As I said in the last post on this subject, I would love to see the spirit of community manifesting in this event. For me, this is the biggest consideration in being involved. In order to see that happening, it’s imperative that the many facets of the fandom be included. This was the aspiration in the past, and today, seems to be more warranted than ever. In order to achieve it, this means bloggers and guest bloggers who cover subjects from vanilla to blue should be part of the event. The truth is we have a diverse fan community. Why hide that? I say let the truth will out that we’re not all in lock step on who we are and what we like. This should not be a problem to embrace unless one group wants to eclipse the others. Surely we can rise above that kind of behavior.

One consideration with respect to making it an open community is possibly having a policy statement. I’m thinking something along the lines of “the community is open but discourages the promotion of self-harm.” A committee could come up with something much more thought out than this, but I hope any statement would remain broad enough to be inclusive and restrictive enough to head off some potentially explosive situations. Another consideration is providing a courtesy to readers possibly in the form of tagging posts so the reader knows if he/she is about to click on something he/she would rather not. There are ways to handle this so it’s clear, and a committee could easily hash this out as well.

But the first order of business is to merely find out how much interest there is, what time of year is best for most, and perhaps getting an idea of how long to run the event. Most important: when pondering these items and envisioning the event as you would like to see it, please remember we do not have to do this as it’s been done in the past. It can be changed, but if you want to keep it the same, that’s fine too. There is no law that says it has to be done this way or that. It’s really up to all of you to figure out how you want it.

In that interest, I have a poll here.

EDIT: Some Qs&As are here.

January 3, 2015
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 11 Comments

So is FanstRAvaganza Still Alive?

FanstRAvaganzaFor four years the Richard Armitage blogosphere held an event in March called FanstRAvaganza, and many of us had a really great time participating. But last year there was no FanstRAvaganza. Hopefully that was just a respite and the blogosphere can and will do something in future. And perhaps it doesn’t have to be in March or be called FanstRAvaganza but can be another blogging event. It would just be great to do something as a community if possible. I hope the spirit of community that was originally in the FanstRA event doesn’t pass away completely and someone can breathe some life into it in the near future.

In the meantime, there is a Facebook page, a Twitter id and a website called FanstRAvaganza if someone is inclined to take it on. That will mean the parties who set up those three accounts will have to be approached, Luckily, I set up two of them, and I’m really easy to deal with because I don’t want to control anything other than to see us come together as community in a way that would be fun and appealing to a large cross-section of fans.

The only advice I would give in order to effect this is that there probably should be a group to run things instead of one person running all of it. It’s a drain on a single individual. It’s also difficult for the vision of one person to facilitate community since we have such a multifaceted fandom. I could be wrong about this and there’s a dynamo out there who’s all seeing and all knowing, but I doubt it. LOL! It’s also been my experience that someone who does have a knack for managing people and events will welcome a group’s input to the process.

Whatever happens, I would love to see us all come together.

edit: I’m getting all sorts of comments and questions, and it’s good stuff. I’m in the process of writing a post to cover what’s being said. I will also put the link here when I’m done.

second edit: follow-on post is here.

January 3, 2015
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 20 Comments

Further Thoughts on FanstRAvaganza 2014

[edit: we are not calling this FanstRAvaganza but rather a Flash Fan event. Details here, and no worries, it’s simple.]

This is a follow-on to my last post with a proposal for a spontaneous FanstRAvaganza to begin on Monday with a theme of “I Saw Something Fine.” My thinking was to have a literal tide of posts that are conveying in cyber world what it is that made so many of us ardent fans. I’m going to further suggest we make this really easy, and that there are no rules other than to focus on something you think is fine in relation to Richard Armitage.

Here’s what I’m going to do and hopefully can get some others to help:

1) Aggregate (aka curate) the posts by categories on Fanstra.com. Hopefully, it will be a magazine style. I’m working on that now. As to tags, I or someone(s) can come up with the tag names. I hope someone will take this up, but I’ll do it if no one wants to. If you want your site included in the aggregation, then let me know via email if possible. That way I won’t miss a request. If you would, put Fanstra in the subject line.

2) Provide badges for people to place on their sites. They can be housed on a page on the Fanstra site for a blogger to save and load to their site. Given this, I’m making a call to all of the wonderful artists out there to provide both badges and/or banners (whatever you want to do) for people to use. The badges should be square or a vertical strip. Banners should be large enough that they can go across the entire top of a page without being blurry. If you want to submit for placement on the Fanstra site, send it to me. If you don’t, no biggie. Just do one and pass it around. Whatever is done, it would be great to have badges and banners of some sort, but we do not have to have the same graphic on every site. However, to show solidarity, it would be helpful if we had the same verbiage. Hopefully they would all have FanstRAvaganza 2014 or Fanstra 2014 and perhaps a tagline about “Something Fine,” “I Saw Something Fine.” I leave that to your discretion.

3) If you don’t have all of this together by Monday, don’t sweat it. This is supposed to be fun and a celebration of Richard Armitage, his artistry and what that inspires. So just do a post and/or a badge or whatever sometime in the next several days if possible. Which brings me to a point I meant to make in the first post. Can we run this thing longer than a week? I think we could, ’cause I think it can gain some legs. Should it go on and on? I’m not thinking it’s perpetual, but it depends on who gets on board and then pushes it. If some of you feel strongly that it should have a definite end, then say so. Say whatever about it ’cause I’m really hard to offend.

cbeebies2_018

All I ask is that you speak up about what you want to see, and I’m thinking about the Fanstra site when I say that. Other than that, everyone is free to do what they want!

That’s all I’ve got for now. Off to get with Traxy to figure out about the FanstRA site.

Screencap courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.com

January 10, 2014
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 19 Comments

I Saw Something Fine

[Please see updates below which reflect input to this suggestion]

ns2-012

I’ve asked myself many times why I entered Richard Armitage Fandom, Armitage World, or RA Universe as I think of it. And the answer is always the same. I saw a man convey thoughts and feelings in a manner that captured my attention so well that it resonated with me for almost a year before I actually began to put my foot in the waters of fandom.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot for the last year, and I was thinking about FanstRAvaganza yesterday and the essence of it — a celebration of Richard Armitage, and I’m going to propose something.

a) That we spontaneously hold a FanstRAvaganza Flash Fan Event starting Monday. This gives us a chance to pull thoughts together but not so long that it won’t stay organic and fresh.

b) That we use this as a way to show our solidarity as a group. Does that mean we all have to be in lock step? No, that would be dull. But to have some basis for unity, I’m suggesting we rally around this theme: I Saw Something Fine.

c) In keeping with the subject, that we answer at least two questions: 1) What did I see? 2) How did it move me? Of course people can go on as long as they like. Some of us have even devoted an entire blog to answering those questions. But I think we can boil it down to a post or two. Also, if anyone wants to start a blog (doesn’t have to be devoted to Richard Armitage) to participate, I’ll help you, or I can find someone to help you. If you don’t want to start a blog and want to just post your thoughts in the blogosphere, I’m willing to run guest posts, and I’m sure other bloggers will be as well.

d) That we aggregate the posts on the Fanstra site. And let me say this about the process, CDoart has done a wonderful job with that in the past. We all owe her a great thank you for keeping track of everything. Thank you! Thank you! CDoart! But to keep her from pulling her hair out on such short notice, I’m suggesting we do it on the Fanstra site. Several of us are very conversant in the fine points of the technical aspects of WordPress, and I believe we can hit the ground running. This could be a campaign to promote participation in FanstRAvaganza in March.

So if you’re interested, let me know! Comment, catch me on Twitter or Facebook, or email: rafrenzyATgmailDOTcom.

edit:

Based on comments, messages and email, I understand there is a healthy interest in doing FanstRAvaganza in March, and a significant number believe doing something now will kill that. I hear that, so we’re making this something different. A Flash Fan Event seems to be the favorite, and I think a post that strictly covers the topic, I Saw Something Fine with the two questions being answered, would be enough to refocus us on why we’re here and encourage us as well. Since my initial thought was to encourage, I think that’s all this should be. Given that this is a refocus, I think it’s entirely appropriate to highlight previously published posts as well.

With regard to the badges, people have contacted me about making them, so they’re coming, and they will include the words I Saw Something Fine. I’ll post them as soon as I get them. As for how I’m using them on my blog, I’ll be placing at least one at a time with an embed to the post or posts which I’ve written or hosted that are especially good at reminding me what I saw that is so enthralling. This is what some others were thinking in making this something more than a week, but the initial posts should be during one week in order to make it a flash event. If anyone needs some help with manipulating the sidebars of their blog (whether on WordPress or Blogger), I’ll be glad to help you.

So bottom line: strike the word FanstRAvaganza from this and make it a Flash Fan Event which refocuses on the topic and using badges to direct people to posts if they do not read it at the time it’s first published.

January 10, 2014
Categories: Fandom . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 18 Comments

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