Ideas for Structuring - READ IT.

[Lance]

Okay. This is kind of an "update" but not really an "update" thread... it's more of a hodgepodge of ideas and such for you guys to think about. Note that nothing I say here is final, but SINCE we barely have our feet off the ground, it's time we start thinking about SERIOUS ways of how to move forward.

I'm presenting these in random order as I think of them.

We need to have another meeting sometime this week, if possible. I think it's about time to settle some issues quickly and effectively. I won't talk nearly as much in this one, and it will be more down to business than anything else. I'll get a different chat program (Suggestions welcome) for this one. Also, I will post an agenda again. I'm thinking sometime this week, around the same time (7 PM CST) on Friday(/Saturday for some) again. Thoughts?

Remember that the rest of this stuff can still be discussed in the meeting, but I wanted to go ahead and let the cat out of the bag on some of this stuff.

It's time to organize our efforts here. We have a solid website, and we've gotten the word out, but it's time to have a very solid system of support so we can move forward. We decided at the last meeting to establish a Board of Directors. These people (TBD) will make all of the organization decisions, and be the final word as far as the administration is concerned. Officially, this will be the administrators. We will also have an "administrative" group (that can squeeze in a few extra members from non-US countries) that will handle all affairs. Below that will be the writing and editing team the artistic team, and the translating team. We already have members of course, but I want to establish an OFFICIAL team that will basically be on some sort of charter list. We will discuss ways of organizing this (other than just having everyone message me at once -- I need a way to do this that will ensure participation). Also, I would like every team member to have a specific focus/job, so that we can make sure everything is covered and no one is pulling more work load than the other person. I'd also like to have a technical team, one that deals with the website, the social accounts, the videos, podcasts, ect.

Also, I'm thinking about starting an e-mail newsletter of sorts, to keep people up to date who don't visit the site frequently. These updates can also be posted on the blog, talked about on the podcasts, and posted as updates on facebook.

On a random note, I also am thinking about pimping out these forums more with different plug ins. This might happen within the next few days.

Okay, also we need to get cracking on our Constitution and By-Laws. As far as I know, there has been NO work done on these. We need to start discussing these sometime. Otherwise non-profit status is a no-go. But these are important so we can actually have structure and run smoothly.

I have an idea. We kind of need incentive, I feel, to get people to sign the petition. I had this idea where I could add a referral box to the petition. This way, we could have a contest of sorts to see who could refer as many people to the petition. The winner could get a prize, such as nuTrek on DVD AND an official SEE t-shirt. (Which reminds me of:)

ALSO - we need to reach out to people for donations. Thus far, we've only received $40. If we want to set up shop and really start doing some work (IE have money so we can build upon our infrastructure) - then we need to collect donations. On that note, I'm thinking that when we start reaching out to the big LGBT organizations, there is a possibility that we can ask them for funding. People give grants out to organizations like ours.

WHICH brings me to my next point. Obviously, this movement was springboarded off of K/S. It might be time to widen our base some so we can invite more people in. There's been talk of revising the petition to suggest K/S, but ask for IMPORTANT LGBT characters/relationships in nuTrek. This is something we will ask for. We can add other suggestions as well. I'm thinking this is the way we should go. This being said, we need to make sure that not only Star Trek people feel invited into our cause. Here's a few ideas I'm going to throw out there.

- a "LGBT" kind-of hotline type service -- I think it would be meaningful to have a service at SEE where LGBTQ persons struggling with their sexuality's could come and send an anonymous (or non-anon if they wish) e-mail. This way, we could communicate with LGBTQ persons and help them with their struggles. One of my biggest missions in SEE really is to prevent sexuality from destroying a person and their families. I know we're a young organization, but I feel that this may give us an advantage. People in the SciFi/fantasy community (or anyone really) could feel welcome, and could just express their feelings to other young people. To do this, we would need some people who wouldn't mind being "counselor" types. Nothing big or therapy like, just something where we could really reach out and touch someone's life by giving them hope and encouragement. Thoughts? We could also do some kind of online support group thing...

- fanDominate - a community that would be THE BIGGEST EVER fan community. It would serve any fanbase, and would welcome (almost) anyone, as long as they are LGBTQ friendly. In it, people could "send messages" to the producers of their favorite fandoms, just telling them flat-out what they want. It could mirror social networking sites, where fans could just communicate their ideas. It could host fanfiction, fanart, and anything else your heart could imagine. I'm still not sure about this idea, but I think it has potential... it could be hosted on the SEE website, and it would just mainly be a viral strategy to get people to come join us? I don't know. This might be stupid. Thoughts?

- A General sexual minority petition to any and all studios - This is one EVERYONE could sign, stating we want more LGBTQ characters all across the board. ??

- "Praise Notes." - We could give an official SEE praise note or something to that effect to shows that promote sexual minorities. Badges of honor... kind of like GLAAD, but more obscure and hip. XD

- That Woman Thing. - We need to get cracking on our women's representation efforts. Unfortunately, I do not find myself equipped to handle this. Is anyone willing to take the head on a "woman's division" of SEE of sorts? I don't know... it IS the same organization... more like a Woman's representative of SEE. Thoughts?

- More Projects - Soon we'll be needing more projects. I'm thinking maybe petitions for LGBTQ characters in Final Fantasy games, or something to that effect.. just a random thought. But we DO need to at least think about the future so we have an idea of where we'll be headed next.

- Contests - I want to have contests of some kind. Contests always get people fired up, and we could do some real viral/marketing damage just by hosting little contests here and there, such as my referral idea.

- "School Branches" - one of my secret fantasies is that we could establish little branches of SEE in different schools. High Schools, colleges, you name it. The thing is though that most schools already have G/S alliances. BUT if we could start getting SEE representatives from all the G/S alliances, I think we could really promote ourselves fast. It's all about networking guys, remember that.

- Also, I'm cooking up a surprise for you all. That's all I have to say about that... XD

- SEE macros - I think we could have a little site dedicated to just SEE macros... it could be funny. Thoughts?

Also, remember that we're about to start contacting some major organizations within the next couple of weeks, so I need everyone to get their heads together on these. I'm waiting for tinuelena to come back so we can start chatting about these. Stay tuned.

Anywho. This is all I have for now. But I hope this helps get your little minds burning with ideas. Also, bloggers, START BLOGGING. What are you waiting for?

SEE the love guys,
Lance

[Me or the Wallpaper]

The newsletter sounds like a brilliant idea, but I’m a little confused as to whether you want there to be a newsletter (monthly or weekly) that will be written as well as the blog, or if you want people to have the option of subscribing to the blog.

I also like the idea for the referral box, but it’s made me think something else- could we possibly advertise on other sites? On freewebs sites and on fanfiction dot net there are occasionally (always) advertisements on the bottom or along the side- does anyone know how to get those advertising spots? If so, I personally think that this would be a more efficient way of advertising than T-shirts, no matter how fun T-shirts would be. Perhaps the shirts could be gifts sent to people who donate a certain amount of money?

We might also be able to collect more donations. Another way to get more attention and possibly money would be to advertise in a zine, if the writer were to let us. Or one of us could go to a Sci-fi/Fantasy convention. The person probably wouldn’t even have to buy a booth, they could just hand out pamphlets for SEE or leave them in different places. We should definitely contact some of the LGBT organizations, but I also think we should look towards the Sci fi community in general, since both are part of our organization.

As for asking for ‘important’ LGBT characters/relationships in nuTrek but only suggesting K/S, I must say, I’d really be happier if we were to have those iconic characters be the ones who are in a relationship. Honestly, it’s the reason I originally came here- the idea of having the heroes of a Science Fiction movie- especially such well known heroes- be in a homosexual relationship and not have it be a big deal. I personally don’t even particularly like the pairing of Kirk/Spock. I believe that Roddenberry certainly had the intent to leave that aspect rather open, and I do believe it was occasionally more than implied, but I still grew up loving their friendship as a fan. But still, to have such iconic heroes not be Bible Thumper’s idea of sexually perfect, that’s what I’d like. I’d really like that to be the style of the 23rd century. And I KNOW it sounds as though it could never actually happen, but I can honestly say that exactly one year before Obama won a woman at my work was going on and on about how we won’t have a black president in her lifetime. And yes, she is still alive.

For the LGBT hotline however, I must admit, I am unsure. For a hotline, I think it would be important that the people on the other end were more than councilor ‘types.’ I definitely think it would be good to have perhaps a kind of page on the site where people could tell their stories of struggling with sexuality and the world’s opinion of it, but I definitely don’t think we should label anything we have as a hotline without an actual councilor on the other line. What if we get a call from someone saying they were raped, or that their father beats them or that they want to die? We’re not trained to deal with that. But as long as there’s someone to weed out the negative comments, I definitely think it would be cool to have a page devoted to stories of people’s struggles and lives. So the online support group sounds brilliant. The hotline however I’m a little iffy on myself.

For the general sexual minority petition, that does sound like a good idea as well. I do kind of think we should take one project at a time, however. There’s only so much of us (though it does seem to be ALLOT). We should put it up though, sounds great.

Praise notes sound brilliant too. Perhaps we could have a page on the website that shows Sci Fi shows, movies and books that show equality and depict all sorts of relationships? It would also be cool if we could send letters though. In fact, that could also probably get the attention of one or two famous people who would have a bigger voice then us(even if we are getting pretty loud). We could send a praise note to someone like Holly Black (fantasy, but still) and explain our cause in our praise, perhaps put the webiste at the bottom. Holly Black has a blog that’s read by a ton of her fans, if we were lucky, she’d probably blog about it if she thought anything of it. And I know she likes Star Trek, one of her characters’ parents in a Trekkie and he literally came out of the closet by saying ‘Hey, mom, you know Spock’s secret forbidden love for Kirk? Well, me too.’ If any of the people we send praise to were to write a response, we could put that up on the site as well. This is a good idea all around.

For more projects, I think it would be interesting to have a list of future projects to consider, perhaps a consistently open poll to see what the majority of the hundreds of people who signed the petition want, but I also think that we should concentrate mostly on our current one at least until it’s a little more… out there? I don’t know. Until it seems like it’s in other people’s hands as well as our own.

Contests sound fun. Having ‘School Branches’ sounds like an utterly crazy, insane idea. It just might work. :-D Though perhaps to start we could have everyone try to make SEE part of their GSA.

Ooooh, and you say surprise? XD

And as always Lance, we sees the luv. It’s hard not to. I just tried to count and read all the names on the petition and I had to give up at around 100. I wasn’t even close to the bottom.

~Wallpaper

[Catty-the-spy]

(I guess this is a "No" to the question in my e-mail?)
I have no experience with legal writing (bar typing up a Will for my Grandma's class), so I'll probably be of little use for By-Laws and Constitution writing/editing.

As for jobs: maybe have everyone involved send an e-mail to a single person (I volunteer, but you can choose someone else) with their name, their primary division, and their secondary division? Admittedly, there are (I think we decided on) four (or three if you lump translators with general writers), but...one is primary, and anything else is...down the list. Have that one person record the information and send it to you in a single e-mail, that way you only have to read one and get all the information you need. Set a deadline for the e-mails to be sent in and evrything, so that there aren't last minute updates that require the person to keep sending you e-mails with "ETA: so-and-so...".
Is that what you need?

Like the idea of a newsletter.
Also like the idea of SEE Praise.
I'm still "We want K/S, but we'll be willing to settle for an Important LGBT character/relationship" (only not in thsoe exact words). Is that what you're saying or am I reading you wrong?
General Petition? Like the idea. Maybe we should wait so we aren't doing too much at once?
Like the idea of putting some focus behind That Woman Thing (*does not volunteer*). It might help for an actual woman to address women's issues.
Future Projects? Well, Sci Fi (oh wait, they're called Syfy now) has two new shows (one I don't think is out yet). I'm not very knowledgable about upcoming movies.
Spicing up the forums? (*get's all excited*) I'm for it! (Is there any way we can get strikethrough? Please?)
Contests? Prizes? Cool.
School clubs? Could be cool. I don't know if there would be enough people for it at my school, but that has yet to be seen.
Meeting=good for me. I was curious about that (obviously). Hopefully, whichever one we use will read on the better computer, so I don't have to be (repeatedly) kicked out again.
Donations? (*shakes empty wallet*) Sorry I can't be more help. (I need a job, if only so that I can donate without hitting people up for money.)
(For some reason, everytime I think of jobs I think of SEE and the t-shirt thread and colours. I keep seeing myself at a desk with a blue t-shirt, getting assignments from yellow-clad administrators and trading exasperated looks with people in red as they wandered past, laden with equipment and computers. Am I weird?)
(*nudges Wallpaper*) I like the support group idea. Would I be allowed in?

I like surprises. I can't wait to see what it is. Is it edible?

[Steamcry]

For a chat system, I'd suggest IRC. It's really easy to get going on that, and can handle as many people as needed.

I'm in a hurry at the moment though, so I'll post more extensively to this post later. I just wanted to drop the IRC suggestion though.

[art.nerd]

Meeting: Friday, 7 PM CST = absolutely a-okay.

Email newsletter: brilliant idea. Would it be essentially the same information given in the blog and on the front page of the site, just condensed a bit, and easier to access?

Referral Box: I think that is a marvelous idea. Do it.

I don’t think the petition needs to be revised. I think SEE as a whole should be broader and appeal to a wider audience than just K/S fans, but as far as this specific project, we should keep it clear, concise, and to-the-point. Just so there is no mistaking our intentions.
That said, I think that SEE should advertise itself as a broad organization (which we plan to be, right?) but throw in a comment about our “current project” (meaning K/S) So maybe emphasize that K/S is what we’re working on at the moment, and that it is be no means what every project is going to be about. I think this would draw people to the organization who wouldn’t necessarily be K/S fans, or even Trek fans, for that matter. But that’s just me. Thoughts?
And I know this little comment here was meant to be about the petition, but I think it may also attract more followers if we were to take K/S mentions out of the mission statement—I think keeping it isolated to the petition and the “Projects” page would keep people from getting the idea that we’re all “K/S: LIKE IT OR GET OUT OF HERE.” Which we are most definitely not.
And I’m not a business person by any means, but I’ve found that sometimes if you want to hook a customer (or a supporter, in our case) and keep them as a customer, you have to tell them what they want to hear. Even if what you tell them isn’t exactly what you would have liked them to believe…its still necessary to give them a reason to stay interested. So even if we can attract the attention of a whole slew of LGBT supporters who don’t particularly like the idea of K/S…then they wouldn’t take a second look at the site or the petition, and that doesn’t do us a bit of good. But if you can keep those same people interested in our organization by promising them more projects that will focus on different causes, then they will most likely keep an eye on our site and realize “Hey, these people are actually doing some good. I should support them in all that they do.”
But again, that’s just me. Feel free to shoot down my ideas.

[Larxenne]

As far as the constitution and by-laws go, wasn't there a thread about that awhile ago? I'll look into it. Honestly. I'm bored all week so I'll get into that and fixing the accents on the Spanish translation of the petition (unless you modify the petition sometime soon).

On the subject of donations, I'm pretty sure most of the people on here are high school students who don't have credit cards. I'll try to donate at some point but don't have a job (thus the reason I'm bored all week :rolleyes:) so won't donate very much... It takes a lot to get a person to donate something though (I generally only donate to organizations that have personally helped me or that I'm involved with).

Meeting? I'll try and be there, but probably won't say much.

And for school chapters, I know plenty of people at my old high school would EAT THIS UP. Seriously. I mean, my calculus teacher writes slash fiction. (Sadly, I don't go there any more, so I'd have to get someone else to run the club...). At UCLA (the college I start at next year), I'll definitely try to get something going! (I'm sure the physics department will be full of LGBT-friendly Star Trek nerds...or maybe it's just me.)

[Andrina]

I love the news letter idea and update boxes that lets us know what is being done and by whom. I will be at the meeting, usually anytime is good for me. Also, the womens issues portion sounds like an awesome idea. I am not sure what I can do but if you want me(Unless someone else wants to) to start a forum and get things together I can try. A support group is also a great idea, having someone to talk to is so important. I would really like to see that happen.
I also think that K/S should be kept as our focused goal but branching out is always good, and will help us get more support.
Looking forward to seeing what surprise you have for us Lance!

[spookyfbi]

I think that asking for an important LGBT character is a better idea. It avoids the Ricky Redshirt trap without being too specific. There's no real need for it to specifically be K/S (as much as I would love that), and for all we know the writers might have plans for developing the S/U relationship. IDK, I think it comes down to what they'd be more likely to listen to. They may take one look at K/S and go 'Nope, we can't do that, Spock's with Uhura now so go away', but if we keep the focus on LGBT representation, they might be like 'Well, that's not such a bad idea. Let's see, which character could that work for...?' And if we make sure we ask for an Important LGBT character, well I'm pretty sure they'll realize that Ricky Redshirt is not important - that's why he's a Redshirt.

[aolian]

General Petition, Newsletter, referral box, That Woman Thing, and Official team-- love these ideas!

Hotline-- Yeah, also like this idea, but I agree that we may not be the most qualified people for it.Hm, maybe we could include an existing hotline site in our 'links' section, or a page of resources for people struggling with those issues, in lieu of this?

FanDominate, more projects, donations-- Okay, so I like all your ideas. :p I think these might be pretty ambitious for the stage we're at, now, though, especially fanDominate. Just my 2 cents!


Strongly seconding spooky's and MrEccentric's comments on the petition above. I think Spock and Kirk would be the most ideal, most effective guys for the message, and I'd love for it to be them-- they would send the strongest message. But I'm also worried the folks in charge would write us off the second they found out our interests clashed with their plans for the story. I agree we have a greater chance of success by keeping the focus on something less specific, like LGBT, but maintaining that it has to be an important character.

And, honestly, I'd be thrilled if we got our Important LGBT Character in at all-- it might not be as powerful as K/S, but knowing this industry, I'd still count it a huge success!

[Xerxies]

As far as donations...All my friends are just going into college, so none of us have any money to speak of. :/
I'm not sure about the hotline, but I suppose it only takes one person to make a different in suicide situations, right? We can't just back away from it because we don't have doctorates in medical psychology/psychiatry. So, I'm for it. People need someone to talk to.
I like the praise notes. We should promote things in our interests, in the hopes others will one day do the same. Indeed, it is our responsibility to provide fiscal feedback to these shows that make the leap, as the gay/gay-tolerant community.

I really think the idea I like best is the newsletter, because then people will be able to keep up with general stuff without having to commit to the forums. I've already made my comments on the petition, and I'll go with whatever is best for the movement.

As far as the meeting, I'll probably have to miss most of it. I'm going on vacation the 24th (Friday) and will be on vacation until the 2nd. I'll have internet, probably, but little time or want to get on, regardless of obligations. Sorry. D; It's the one vacation my family takes a year, I'd better enjoy it.

[Sussy]

1) Establish an OFFICIAL team with every team member to have a specific focus/job--good idea.

2) e-mail newsletter sure!

3) different plug ins--Computer magic :P

4) Constitution and By-Laws I've seen them posted around on the site.

5) incentive to sign the petition/referral box cool idea

6) donations people do indeed give out grants, just have to dig for them.

7) the petition there was a poll, too, that addressed this.

8) "LGBT" kind-of hotline Not unless any of us have the proper certs.
online support group thing this is a good idea though

9)- fanDominate - sounds like a good viral strategy to me.

10)- A General sexual minority petition -agree

11)- "Praise Notes." - Why not

12)- That Woman Thing. - I would like to see this addressed myself.

13)- More Projects - What about posting a "blank slate" type empty petition for download on the site, so people can think about starting their own campaign? (sort of like what you stated in 10). It might make a sort of feedback loop of networking.

14)- Contests - Keeps people interested

15)- "School Branches" - Recommend looking up chapters of Sci Fi and LGBT groups in different schools, see if they are there--that would be a start.

[Steamcry]

Okay!

Donation Motivation:
I suggest we come up with some sort of idea for how much we'll need and for what. Showing off a picture of shiny t-shirts and the goal for such a thing might help. (Shiny t-shirts just being an example, but fill in the blank for whatever we need money for.)

More Projects:
Good things.

Hotline:
That can get kind of tricky, and it worries me, as I'm pretty sure none of us are psychiatrists here. While peer couseling is always nice, I get a bit nervous if something happened that was way over our heads. I'd propose a more friendship, pen pal type of thing for which if somebody just needs someone to be there for them and understand them unjudgementally, they'll have that person.

Domination:
The biggest thing about fans is that it's mostly spread by word of mouth. You're on some other forum/group somewhere? Pimp SEE out in your sig. Make a new thread about a subject. If we can get a contest of some sort going, that'd be an excellent sort of start. I also think we'll need to have two-three people (perhaps more as we grow) that work sort of as community representatives. People to be the first ones others are going to talk to, to keep the ball rolling on the networking sites, to be generally pumped (but not overbearing!) about everything!

Macros:
I love macros as much as I love lens flares. And considering I seem to have a natural disposition towards shiny things, that's a whole lot of love.

Newsletter:
Yesyesyes! And those two-three people I was talking about earlier would also be in an excellent spot for this.

[rexchanna]

Oh damn, I'm going to miss another one! akdahkhfkl.

Erm. I don't really have much to say about all these things right now though. Dangit.

[Elle]

Everything sounds lovely but the hotline and the fanDomination. It just sounds so...disorganized. And yay, another meeting! I look forward to these now.