Here's a blue-sky idea:
Can we turn some of our artwork into money for the forums?
(If I had actually created any of the artwork, I'd go ahead with this plan... but I didn't. This is something that the actual artists should be discussing.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Well, I'm not adverse to putting some of my art up for t-shirt or hat purposes, but the big question is who'd *buy* it? I might be convinced to buy, say, a Red Stars hat (assuming I had the money) but I'm also pretty sure I'd be the *only* person to buy one.
Mr. Fnord
interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Yeah, something like this... It's something you'd sell at Cons. However, given that we're a pretty small group, a Con for us would go along the lines of, "We will give this stuff away free to generate interest." And nobody has that kinda cash to shell out, even collectively.
Look, folks, last I checked, the forums weren't in danger of going under for lack of funds. Since I lost my job a year ago, Rob and Jeanne and a few other folks have thrown enough money into the community chest to keep us going for a good while yet -- I just checked and we have a bit under half a million pageviews left in the coffers, which should hold us for several months. If people want to help keep the forums going, it's a lot easier to just Paypal $5 or $10 or $25 into the community chest. And coordinating who collects the money for any sales made, and how often it gets deposited into the chest, and -- so no one has any complaints -- coming up with some way of making sure that person's being completely honest about the whole procedure, well, that's probably more work than is necessary.
On the other hand, having Fenwear would be pretty cool. I have no problems with someone setting up a Cafepress or other store, with all the appropriate permissions from the artists being gotten. Just set the profit margin to 0 and forget about using it to generate revenue.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
M Fnord Wrote:Well, I'm not adverse to putting some of my art up for t-shirt or hat purposes, but the big question is who'd *buy* it? I might be convinced to buy, say, a Red Stars hat (assuming I had the money) but I'm also pretty sure I'd be the *only* person to buy one.
Nah, I'd buy one to go along with an L5 All-Stations hat. (White hat for the Red Stars; black hat for the All-Stations... Not making a political statement, just saying which backgrounds would be good for the logos.)
Bob Schroeck Wrote:Look, folks, last I checked, the forums weren't in danger of going under for lack of funds. Since I lost my job a year ago, Rob and Jeanne and a few other folks have thrown enough money into the community chest to keep us going for a good while yet -- I just checked and we have a bit under half a million pageviews left in the coffers, which should hold us for several months. If people want to help keep the forums going, it's a lot easier to just Paypal $5 or $10 or $25 into the community chest. And coordinating who collects the money for any sales made, and how often it gets deposited into the chest, and -- so no one has any complaints -- coming up with some way of making sure that person's being completely honest about the whole procedure, well, that's probably more work than is necessary.
Fair enough. I didn't realize we had a surplus at the moment... but I do like to plan ahead.
Bob Schroeck Wrote:On the other hand, having Fenwear would be pretty cool. I have no problems with someone setting up a Cafepress or other store, with all the appropriate permissions from the artists being gotten. Just set the profit margin to 0 and forget about using it to generate revenue.
Okay... Besides astroball team hats, what would people want to buy?
A Fenspace book bag might be good - I'm thinking the FenWiki logo, with "FenWiki" replaced with "Fenspace" and the FenWiki URL below it. It would help advertise the project and be useful at cons (or when grocery shopping, if the bag's big enough). I'd buy a travel mug with the same logo and URL, too... but I might be the only one.
Ooh! Fenspace badges! The logo I described for the book bag, with the URL below it (curved to match the curvature of a circular badge)! At
http://www.zazzle.ca/custom/buttons]Zazzle's prices (I don't have time to check CafePress right now - they may be less expensive), I could spring for an order of 50 small buttons - one for each of the Collective members with FenWiki accounts, and the rest to give away at cons...
Edit: Just checked CafePress - they want almost double what Zazzle wants for 50 buttons that size.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
The normal Crown version of the Sammies roundel I can clean up a bit for that, as we'd need to divest the Sailor Moon Trademark of the Tiara. In this case, it's mainly making the flukes at the bottom of the anchor read better.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll