On Saturday night at the Kerths, the FoLC Website Fundraiser 2006 was officially launched. Those present got to see snippets of some of the wonderful stories available exclusively to those who support the fundraiser and get copies of the DVD.

I've been on another planet for the past six months. What's this all about?

Well, this post pretty much sums it up. We're raising money to support all the fantastic Lois and Clark websites maintained for your fandom pleasure - the Archive, these boards, FoLCVideo, Annesplace, the Kerths website, the Alt-Kerths website - and to thank people for donating their hard-earned cash we've put together a DVD containing lots of goodies.


What kind of goodies?

Stories by some of your favourite authors, to begin with. A full list of stories is available on the previous post, but authors involved include Sheila Harper, Yvonne Connell, Erin Klingler, CC Aiken, LabRat, Tank Wilson, ML Thompson and Tracey, among others.

There are trailers and posters for the stories, including trailers by SaraK, Poussin, Elena, Pam and others; posters by Julie, Laurach and others. And there are music videos by, among others, Rachel, Anna Belcher, LabRat and JenniJac.

And a very special bonus: The Super Speedy Adventures of Lois and Clark, by Paul-Gabriel Wiener!

The DVD itself and the cover will feature artwork by Julie Stars and Anna Belcher.

Now, isn't that something definitely worth having?


Yes! I want! Gimme, gimme, gimme!

Sure! All you have to do is donate a minimum of US$15 to the fund. And how do you do that? Well, we have collectors around the world just waiting to collect your cash, cheques or whatever. Here's the list:

USA - Annette - amciotola at aol dot com
Canada - Wendy - wendy at lcfanfic dot com
UK - Yvonne - Yvonne at lcfanfic dot com
Eurozone - Elena - elena at lcficmbs dot com
Australia - Tricia - triciawalpole at optusnet dot com dot au

Anyone outside those zones and wanting to pay by PayPal - contact Annette Ciotola at the address above. If you can't use PayPal, some of us may also be prepared to accept Amazon vouchers, but we can't do that for too many people.

The email addresses are disguised so as not to attract spam robots! Simply replace the at with @ and the dot with . and remove all spaces.

Ensure that your collector has your postal address for the DVD. We do need to do a little working out yet as regards sending DVDs internationally, but what we do will depend on numbers, and we'll give more information on that in due course.


So, want your DVD? Start sending in those donations! And, while you're enjoying all those stories and videos, you can bask in the pleasure of knowing that you're helping to keep all your favourite Lois and Clark websites alive and functioning.


But I don't have $15 to donate!

Any donation you can make, no matter how small, is very welcome indeed. Even $1 is appreciated - every little helps to keep the sites going.


Wendy
Fundraiser Committee - PR Division

And back with an update...

Want a sample of the goodies on the DVD? Then take a look here !


Wendy

I hope that this doesn't imply that contributions have to be via PayPal. That would be unfortunate, since I'm sure there are several people, like myself, who just don't do PayPal.

Tank (who hopes that all the work and effort that has gone into putting together this DVD will prove worth it... financially)

Oh, no, I never meant to imply that at all! PayPal is just for people who can't get cash or cheque of the right currency to a collector. You're in the US, so if you're donating you'd just send a cheque to Annette. Anyone in the UK would send a cheque to Yvonne.

But we don't have any collectors in countries such as Singapore, Brazil, Japan and so on. So people in those countries can use PayPal if they wish.

Hope this clears up any confusion!


Wendy

Wendy, I'm a little thick-headed today. So does this mean that I can't use PayPal to pay Annette, but that I need to send her a cheque? I assume not, but I just want to clarify that...

Kathy

Hi Kathy

We're encouraging people to use cash or cheques wherever possible. The problem with PayPal is that it levies charges on the recipient of money. So the fund won't get all of what you donate, whereas if you send a cheque then every penny goes into the fund.

So if you're in a country where you can send cash or a cheque in your collector's currency, please do that rather than using PayPal.


Wendy

Sorry, I'm clearly very thick - but where do I actually send my cheque?

c.

See my post at the top of the thread, Carol - if you email me, I'll supply my postal address and you can send it to me.


Wendy - looking forward to receiving lots of nice Can$ cheques

Actually, I think there is no fee charged to the recipient if the money is sent from a bank account, as opposed to coming from a credit card. But it's no problem to send a cheque. Certainly I don't want my donation diminished by a service fee (which may be a necessary evil in life, but that doesn't mean I have to like it...)

Hey Kathy,

I get charged with paypal no matter what you use to fund what you send.

Really, Annette? OK, cheque it is. Maybe it depends what kind of a/c you have. I've never received money through PayPal, only sent, and I know that a few years ago I changed my withdrawal "source" from credit card to bank a/c to avoid the recipient paying charges. But since this was a few years ago, they've probably done another overhaul of the system and started charging everyone.

Thanks for the info. (And I'll be in touch...)

Kathy

Speaking as a PayPal fan who's only paid with PayPal so far, and never actually been paid with it, how much would they take out of $15? Maybe you could add the fee as a surcharge to the $15 and post that as the PayPal donation amount? Sort of like how sometimes people get discounts for paying in cash vs. people who pay full price by using a credit card ... only in reverse? Or something like that.

I've made a lot of impulse purchases on eBay simply because the seller accepted PayPal. I could've talked myself out of it if the purchase had required going out to buy a money order and a stamp. PayPal makes it too easy. Darn that "Buy It Now"!

Just a thought.

-- LaurenW

From US$15, it was 75 cents, which is 5%, Lauren. And, yes, that's a very good suggestion.


Wendy

Oh, wow! A real life math problem (instead of the made-up stinkers in the text--if I can't count the number of coins in my collection, I'm sure not going to use algebra to try to figure how many dimes, nickels, and quarters are in it!): What is the minimum you can write your check for to make sure $15 goes to the fundraiser, while still paying 5% of the total in a fee to PayPal? 15 + 5% of N = 100% of N.

Change those pesky percents into decimals, and we get 15 + .05N = 1N.

After collecting like terms, we have 15 = 1N - .05N, which simplifies to 15 = .95N.

Isolate the variable, and we get N = 15/.95, so N = $15.79, assuming, of course, that PayPal doesn't have minimum increments.

Thank you, guys. I love showing my students math in real life, so I'll take this one to class with me next week.

(BTW, send $16 if you are using PayPal, not $15.75 )

<---Hits head on the cyber desktop!

I completely forgot about the fee and I use PayPal a lot for another fandom I'm in.

Would it be appreciated if I send another $1 towards my donation?

I've been thinking. (Oh no! Run for your lives!!)

There's this discussion about an extra 75 cents to cover the paypal fee. It's an extra cost, so you cover it.

Well, I'm not part of the committee. I haven't spoken to anyone about this, and I hope I'm not overstepping. I just wanted to point something out...

I haven't priced things in a while, but last I heard, a DVD-R disk cost about $1 (give or take). Throw in an extra 20 cents or so for the case. Then there's postage, which, IIRC, is another $1 or so, depending on package weight. Come to that, there's the packaging itself. A padded envelope or something. That's another $1 or so. Then there are labels, which require not just the sticker itself but also ink and wear and tear on the printer (it adds up, and hopefully there'll be a lot of these things to send). Then you have to consider that mistakes happen and some stuff will have to be redone. Then, too, there's...

You get the idea. It adds up.

Now, sure, it was factored in to the original $15, but it does take a significant bite out of things.

There's also the fact that the donations are being split between five different sites.

There's the archive. Do you write fic? Consider what they're doing for you by hosting it. Do you read fic? Think how hard it would be without a central archive.

There's the nfic archive, which does the same for fics rated over PG-13, and which has a PG archive that actually covers some things you won't find on lcfanfic.com.

There are these boards. How much time you spend here? How much do they do for you? A place to post and read fic before it hits the archive (and get reader-author interaction). A place to discuss fic. A place to tap into the vast resource of FoLC knowledge. A place for vids, posters, icons, etc which you'd have a hard time finding elsewhere. A place to just meet and hang out with cool people...

There's FoLC Video, the site that plays host to the majority of vids you'll find on the boards. It's got some other neat features, too, like a FoLC photo album.

Finally, there's the official Kerth Awards site, new home to everything Kerth. It goes a long way to making the Kerths possible.

You probably depend on some of those sites a lot more than you realize. Think about how often you find yourself using them (directly or otherwise). Your donation goes to support them, helping to ensure their continued existance.

All of which goes to say that maybe, if you can afford it, it would be a good idea to give more than the minimum. I'm sure you spend more on other hobbies/entertainments/activities.

Think about it.

Paul

Just bumping this back up to the top again to remind everyone that donations are still very much welcomed and encouraged. Your favourite sites need your money, and you need the amazing DVD with all those fantastic stories and trailers and videos and posters!

So hit your email program and contact the designated collector near you now!


Wendy

Hi,

I will when payday hits - hopefully I remember! Where's that list of mine...

I would like to pay by cheque, but to do that I have to do it in CDN. If I do USD I have to pay to make a money order or I get charged for making my cheque in USD.

I work in an accounting dept and we use the regular o'Bank of Canada currency coverter. If I do it in CAD I can donate more. The minimum I'd like to donate is $15USD. Can I change that to CAD? I will use the exchange rate that happens on my payday.

What would you guys be charged if I do it in CAD?

Please let me know what you guys prefer. You can e-mail me if you like.

Sorry - I'm a newbie at this. Please let me know if I am not seeing something simple. If I missed some info on this, sorry.

Roo, if you look at the first post in this thread you'll see me listed as the Canadian-currency collector. You can send me a cheque in Canadian funds - email me and I'll send you my address.

To allow not only for exchange rate fluctuations but also for currency conversion charges (usually a couple of per cent) I'm recommending a minimum amount of Can$20. The actual equivalent of US$15 is closer to $18, but I know from experience how much can be lost in conversion...


Wendy

Thanks Wendy - I saw you as the collector as soon as I read the thread a few weeks ago and I was happy. Thanks for letting me know I can send in CAD.

It's around 1.14 at the moment...hmmm, maybe I'll make a quick shopping trip to the Mall of America. Muhahaha.

Thanks for your help.

I asked this on the FoLC production board in the "DVD Picture Preview Post," but I haven't gotten an answer just yet so I thought I'd try my luck asking it here too. I really haven't found an answer to my question anywhere, so forgive me if I am just missing it - I haven't been on the boards much lately.

I actually wondered this as well. I've been saving all semester to buy a digital camera for my trip to Germany in June. All my money will be going to that, but as soon as I buy it I would like to get the fundraiser DVD. So there isn't a cut off date anywhere in the next month or so is there?

~Kristen

Sorry you haven't had an answer, guys. The answer is that we haven't really discussed that, but I doubt very much that we'd turn away a donation at any time! It may be harder to get DVDs out overseas after the bulk mailings go, because it just gets expensive (unless overseas FoLCs are prepared to pay extra for postage).

So I'd guess that you could send Annette money a little later and ask if she can make you a DVD.


Wendy

Thanks Wendy for the super fast answer!!

I'm a bit confused- does everyone who donates the 15$ or so get the stuff? last year it was a lottery, but the "mass mailings" seem to indicate it's not this time, but I'd like to be sure.

Oh, and I've heard USA and Europe DVD's aren't always interchangable- but I have no idea which ones or if it's really true- can anyone enlighten me on this point too?

Yes, as we said, everyone who donates a minimum of $15 will get a DVD. The DVDs are being burned in the US, but they're playable on computer only, not a stand-alone DVD player - it's standard computer-read DVD technology, so region is irrelevant.

And DVDs are now being mailed out, for those in the US! For those in Canada, I will be making a trip to the US next month and will pick up the DVDs for those who've donated up here, so they'll be mailed out after the Victoria Day weekend.


Wendy

And DVDs are now being mailed out, for those in the US!
------------------------------------------------

YES!! I can't wait!!

Just a note to add that for those who sent their contributions to a local collector other than Wendy, such as yours truly, Annette will be sending a batch to each of us once we have final-ish numbers. We'll then post them onwards to contributors.

Yvonne

I got my DVD today!

Any suggestions? And am I missing out on anything by it not being able to autoplay?

Thanks! So far it's awesome!

I got mine yesterday (woo-hoo ) and had the same problem. No matter what I do, it won't autoplay.

There is a simple way around the problem, though:

1. Go to "My Computer"

2. Right-click on the drive the DVD is in

3. Choose "explore"

4. Open "index.html"

I checked the autoplay script, and all it's supposed to do is open up index.html (I'm not sure why it doesn't). So, no, you're not missing anything by doing it manually.

Paul

There shouldn't be an autoplay since it's not a program or a set-top movie. Rather think of it as a collection of data files, including movie files. It's not playable on a DVD player, so there's no menu or animated graphics.

True, Roger, but there is an Autorun.inf file (which, like I said, is supposed to automatically open index.html for you). With that there, Windows thinks the disk can be autoplayed, and so Autoplay becomes the default option. Which, in turn, means that if you just double-click on the drive to open it, nothing will happen.

Paul

Thanks Hatman! Yes, that is what had me confused. I saw the Auto.inf file and when I tried double clicking the drive it wouldn't do anything, and autorun was an option in the drop down list.

Okay, so I'm not missing anything then. Good, that's all I wanted. Thanks!

***LOVED your super short story vid, by the way, I laughed myself silly at it. Great stuff!

Glad I could help. Like i said, I had the same problem. Looks like the HTML launching program may not work properly on all systems or something. (It doesn't seem to do anything when I try to run it manually.)

And thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the vid! I had fun with it. (And, you know, it's a DVD exclusive. Never to be posted anywhere else, so you're part of a select group...)

Paul

P.S. For those of you reading my story, Steel Shadows, there was a minor miscommunication -- i.e. I stupidly forgot to mention something when the DVD was being put together -- and the wrong page ended up as the "beginning" of the story. Readers were meant to start with the TOC page, not the Author's Note. It's not a big deal, but there are some things explained on the TOC page that could be helpful, and just having the TOC has its uses. So...

If you are reading Steel Shadows, and want to see the TOC, click on the banner at the top of the page.

I got my DVD last night. I initially found the FOLC fandom through the fanfic archive, so I've never gotten into the story trailers and music videos. But, oh, I feel a new obsession coming on... It's probably a good thing--I'm running out of stories to read on the archive anyway.

Thanks so much to everyone who worked on the DVD!!

Got my DVD.....
being on a mac, I never expected an autoplay. I just looked for a file that looked central, like an index file. Found one, and it took me to the main menu in an internet browser-style page. Any mac people out there should have similar ease in getting it to launch.

My computer died yesterday and I'm on a borrowed one, away from my DVD, so I can't reference specific stories of videos by name. But there was a video with the "condensed" and fast history of LnC... TOO Funny. I howled.

The stories I've read so far have been awesome. I want my laptop back so I can crawl into bed and snuggle with my monitor and read. Hard to do with a desktop. Pout.

To all of you who worked on the DVD: thanks. To all of you debating on whether or not to send money: send money. Now.

Jackie

Glad you're enjoying, Jackie!!

This one was Paul's (HatMan) Super Speedy Adventures of Superman. I agree it was hilarious! Though amongst all the funny, I got a bit sappy-sentimental in the end when the "... and they still (live happily ever after) to this day" came up and showed all the sites being benefited. Because, seriously, they do live on through us!

Fanfic Feedback
Trailer, Video, and Poster Feedback

Sara

Any idea when the second round of DVDs will be shipped?

I was a bit late in sending in my contribution and I missed the first shipment, but I can't wait to get the DVD I have been reading so much about.

-Em

Annette sent out the second batch yesterday. Saw your eddress on the recipients' list, so it should be with you soon.

LabRat

Yippie!

Thanks LabRat!

-Em

I'm in Singapore, and I'd like to send a contribution (and get a DVD, too, of course ) I would need to use Paypal, so how exactly do I go about sending it to you guys? And would you be able to send me the DVD?

If shipping is a huge problem, I do have friends in the US and UK who travel to Singapore occasionally, so you may be able to send it to them and they can bring it to me Maybe. I hope!

Jude

Jude,

If you cover a little extra for shipping I have no problems sending to you.

Thanks!