Community Discussion - What's working, what's not?

[tassosss]

For this week's check-in I wanted to ask everyone if they're getting what they want out of this community, how we can do better, what types of posts are good for motivating or for information. Community members are welcome to post, and I don't want to limit that, but I feel like it's mid-December and now that the initial shock as worn away, we're going to be settling into the long-term. I know I've been struggling a little with how to fit this comm and activism into my usual routine. My goal is sustainability without burning myself and others out and/or falling into information overload that's too overwhelming.

So since most folks like tickys, a poll

Poll #17784 What's working

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15

View Respondents

What type of posts here do you like

View Answers

All of them
7 (46.7%)

Donate to Organization
4 (26.7%)

Info on Cause
3 (20.0%)

Info on Cause plus Action
8 (53.3%)

Info on non-cause / general state of things
4 (26.7%)

Links
6 (40.0%)

Weekly check-in
5 (33.3%)

To do lists with items broken down
6 (40.0%)

What types of posts motivate you to act?

View Answers

Would fannish tools help?

View Answers

Yes
5 (55.6%)

No
4 (44.4%)

Ex. Activism bingo
1 (11.1%)

Ex. Team Cause activities
0 (0.0%)

Ex. Snowflake model of X Days of Cause
1 (11.1%)

Ex. Ex. Sign up to make a Cause/Action post
0 (0.0%)

Ex. Achievemnet badges
2 (22.2%)

Other thing I will tell you about in comments
1 (11.1%)

Comments are open. Also feel free to let us know how you're doing.

Comments

C&P From ACLU.org

[executrix]

This is an update I got by signing up for ACLU.org updates. Their site is well worth a look!

Dear Friend,

With so much going on, I wanted to take a minute to update you on some key ACLU actions that your support is making possible right now — we are actively protecting and defending vulnerable people from attacks on their freedoms.

Here are some highlights from the past two weeks.

Can the federal government put you in jail without so much as a hearing? We argued this question in front of the Supreme Court last week.
Over 240,000 ACLU supporters called on the Department of Justice to demilitarize the police force confronting the nonviolent protesters at Standing Rock. The ACLU will continue to pressure the DOJ to hold police fully accountable for civil rights abuses committed against water protectors.
Last Wednesday, we announced 3 new legal challenges to protect and expand access to abortion care. Get the details on these important reproductive rights cases here.
We produced this powerful video detailing the "6 ways we'll fight back" against any unconstitutional efforts by Donald Trump once he assumes the office of president. You can watch it and share with friends now. (Please note: This link takes you to a third party website, YouTube.com)
And, we responded quickly and decisively to Trump's dangerous proposal to punish people for burning the flag — a direct assault on the First Amendment. ACLU attorney Lee Rowland wrote a great piece about our position.

We will continue to send updates and action alerts throughout the rest of the year. But with events unfolding at such a rapid pace, I also encourage you to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks for all you do,

Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director, ACLU

Re: C&P From ACLU.org

[tassosss]

The ACLU does good work! Thanks for sharing!

Re: C&P From ACLU.org

[executrix]

A lot (though certainly not all!) of what's wrong with Trump is the threat posed to civil liberties, and our ability to protest the *other* things rests on civil liberties, which has pushed the ACLU up high on my list of places to donate.

[snickfic]

I feel like as things have gone on, I've found a lot of alternative sources for news/information, so it's less important for me to see it here. What I appreciate most are the calls to action and the weekly check-ins/discussion. For the latter, it's really helpful to me to have a place to just talk to people who are also doing things so we can cheer each other on, compare notes, ask questions/get reassurance, that kind of thing.

[tassosss]

Cool. Good to know. We'll definitely keep up the calls to action and check ins.

[sathari]

I definitely like getting links and calls to action here, especially when there's a script for phonecalls and similar.

As far as fannish tools go, I'd definitely go for achievement badges or some kind of "experience points" metric (/gamer).

I also have some half-formed ideas around networking and the fact that we as fans are used to sharing information across geographic distances and that's one of the values of activism-while-fannish--- things like keeping each other posted about what I think of as "trans-local" issues (so that we can, e.g., see if there are patterns of troubling--- or promising/hopeful--- behaviors in different areas in ways that larger media might miss) but I'm not sure about how to apply that.

Also possibly things to do with "co-creating" political art/other fanworks? Again, I'm sort of off-the-cuff brainstorming here and not sure what that would look like.

[tassosss]

Cool. Action and scripts we can help with.

The networking idea is one I'm not fully sure what to do with either, but it's good to keep in mind.

I like the idea of political art/fanworks. Stories are incredibly powerful tools. We'll have to think of what form that will take too.

[bridgetmkennitt]

I wish I had more time to be online, period, but I try to check this comm out for anything when I have time.

I like knowing I'm not alone, so hearing what other people are doing is great (now if only my local Democratic party and local ACLU will get back to me about volunteering. I want to help! Let me help you!).

I don't really have anything to say about fannish tools since I haven't had a lot of time for fandom lately, but if it helps others, why not? I'm down for anything. If you need community members to step up with posting, I can do so from my phone when I find an article that relates?