Author Topic: How do we save FQA  (Read 23227 times)

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Offline Veras

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #30 on: March 09, 2014, 01:13:59 am »
Anyway, if people actually want it I'm willing to toss the FQA link on the mainpage
That'd be quite nice. I can't speak for Sigma or anything, but I'd image most of us would like that.

Seconded. I don't think taking over FSTDT is really necessary if we can just do this.

I also like this idea.  Also, do any of the other sites that FSTDT links to have "friends of" lists?  Maybe we could try to get listed there as well?
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Offline Cerim Treascair

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #31 on: March 09, 2014, 05:26:15 am »
Anyway, if people actually want it I'm willing to toss the FQA link on the mainpage
That'd be quite nice. I can't speak for Sigma or anything, but I'd image most of us would like that.

Seconded. I don't think taking over FSTDT is really necessary if we can just do this.

I also like this idea.  Also, do any of the other sites that FSTDT links to have "friends of" lists?  Maybe we could try to get listed there as well?

I could ask around.  I run in a lot of circles, and there's some overlap.  We could get listed with some folks here and there.

Also, I have zero problems running my beak if you guys still want to do the podcast/webshow/whathaveyou.
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Offline Zygarde

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #32 on: March 10, 2014, 06:25:16 pm »
I'm still all for the whole podcast thing. (Even if my new PC  doesn't have a mic)

Offline QQuestion

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #33 on: March 19, 2014, 02:51:42 pm »
Hah, finally remembered the fucking password.

Anyway, I'll toss the link up this weekend. If only i could figure out where the balls that cryptic email came from, well at least something productive came of it.

Offline Sigmaleph

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #34 on: March 19, 2014, 03:40:49 pm »
Thanks.
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Offline fancy_kitten

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #35 on: April 26, 2014, 06:45:58 am »
Hey guys, this seems to be stickied so I don't know if anyone will see this, but I have an idea.  My idea is: A Marijuana Get Together.  Basically, we would need to choose a locale in which marijuana/weed is legal, probably Washington or Colorado as it seems as one of those two locations would be the easiest for most of us to get to, although we may possibly be able to turn our sights abroad to places like The Netherlands if funding allows it.  Speaking of funding, we would most likely need to hold some type of fundraiser in order to fund the thing.  For what I have in mind, if I may throw a number out there, I imagine 30,000 USD should cover it fairly well. 

As for what this event would actually contain, we would most likely need enough weed to get at least a dozen people high, enough alcohol for the people who can't or don't want to smoke (I may very well be included in that number as my job drugs tests) and soda for people who want neither.  A significant amount of good food and dessert will most likely also be necessary, as will lodging and transportation for members.  Entertainment would also be a plus.

If this works out I propose turning it into a yearly event for people who regularly participate here, as this will encourage more members to come join in order to get in on some of that action.  Thoughts?
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Art Vandelay

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #36 on: April 26, 2014, 07:10:53 am »
If this works out I propose turning it into a yearly event for people who regularly participate here, as this will encourage more members to come join in order to get in on some of that action.  Thoughts?
The number of regulars here is rather low to say the least, not to mention a lot of us are on the poorer end of the economic spectrum. To put this in perspective, a couple of years ago we had a fundraiser to rescue a former member from his abusive family. The total amount raised was around $5000 (assuming my memory isn't complete crap), and back then there were a lot more regular posters. Asking us to raise around $30000 now is just not going to happen.

Besides, this forum is for religious skepticism. I'm not too sure how a yearly bake-out will attract the crowd we're after.

Offline fancy_kitten

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #37 on: April 26, 2014, 07:36:02 am »
The number of regulars here is rather low to say the least, not to mention a lot of us are on the poorer end of the economic spectrum. To put this in perspective, a couple of years ago we had a fundraiser to rescue a former member from his abusive family. The total amount raised was around $5000 (assuming my memory isn't complete crap), and back then there were a lot more regular posters. Asking us to raise around $30000 now is just not going to happen.

Okay, that's a reasonable concern.  I'm looking into it right now and I'm thinking we might be able to cut corners somewhere.  Also, unlike rescuing a kid from an abusive family this isn't urgent and there's no real time limit, especially when it isn't even in the planning phase yet and is only being pitched.  Okay, so a decent two-bed hotel room in Seattle is about 200$ a night.  Assuming people were willing to bunk together and the whole thing were only to last for one day,  I'd say that 8 rooms should cover it, for a total of 1,600 on lodging.

  To my knowledge it takes at least 20$ worth of weed to get a person reasonably high, so if I were to highball it and say we'd need weed for 15 people, we'd be looking at about 300 dollars in weed costs, maybe a little more of people wanted to go back for seconds which, let's be real, you know is going to happen.  As for food, pizza is pretty much mandatory for this type of event.  I'm sure Seattle has places that do vegetarian/vegan, so that probably shouldn't be a problem.  I know Chipotle caters, and we could probably find a sushi place or something that does the same considering how big the city is.  Enough pizza/food to feed 12-20 people is likely going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $500-$600, considering some of them will be high.  It shouldn't take more than $8 worth of good beer to get somebody drunk, so I'm going to put the beer budget at a modest $80.  Transportation/passtports may turn out to be a bigger issue, but I'd say a couple of thousand should cover it fairly well. 

Since the hotel probably won't be cool with people getting messed up and easting too much food on the premises, a place where we could go in order to smoke the weed and drink the alcohol would probably be necessary.  There may be some type of public campground that would allow us to do something like that, though I don't know how much this would cost.  A decent flatscreen everybody could watch at once would probably be $1000 at least, and I've already got a PS3 and a Netflix subscription.  IF necessary, I can acquire the funds for an Adventure Time DVD.  Now excuse me while I go add all that together.  Edit: so it should cost somewhere between 5000-7000, nowhere near as much as I first thought.

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Besides, this forum is for religious skepticism.  I'm not too sure how a yearly bake-out will attract the crowd we're after.

I thought this forum was for anti-extremists of all stripes with an emphasis on religious skepticism.  Anyway, come on man. Regardless of the demographic, can you think of anyone who wouldn't enjoy a party like that?  IT would be a fun way for people to get to know each other and would definitely accomplish the goal of making membership here more appealing.  We could just kick out anyone who signed up and acted like a jerk after the fact.  Come on, it'll be a good time!
« Last Edit: April 26, 2014, 07:39:23 am by fancy_kitten »
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Offline Sleepy

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #38 on: April 26, 2014, 07:42:15 am »
We've pondered meetups before (though not pot-smoking ones) and they tend to never work out because most people here have busy schedules with work or school and typically don't want to use vacation days to travel that far and meet up with strangers. Plus the cost is absolutely ridiculous, especially because there are plenty of people here who don't live in the US or anywhere close to Seattle. And I agree with Art that basing any meetup around weed is not going to attract the type of people we want. It's far easier to meet with someone individually if they happen to be in your area, which I've done twice.
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Offline fancy_kitten

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #39 on: April 26, 2014, 07:48:07 am »
We've pondered meetups before (though not pot-smoking ones) and they tend to never work out because most people here have busy schedules with work or school and typically don't want to use vacation days to travel that far and meet up with strangers. Plus the cost is absolutely ridiculous, especially because there are plenty of people here who don't live in the US or anywhere close to Seattle. And I agree with Art that basing any meetup around weed is not going to attract the type of people we want. It's far easier to meet with someone individually if they happen to be in your area, which I've done twice.

I would counter by saying, as I did above, that this doesn't urgently need to happen and we can easily wait for people's schedules to cooperate.  The same thing goes for the cost.  I would also say that it's not like every single person has to show and it might actually be better if not everyone did.  As for judging whether or not the type of people my idea would attract not being that types we'd want... I mean, you haven't even met them yet.  Talk about prejudiced man.  We can let the leadership here decide who is and isn't wanted.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2014, 07:50:06 am by fancy_kitten »
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Art Vandelay

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #40 on: April 26, 2014, 08:11:58 am »
I thought this forum was for anti-extremists of all stripes with an emphasis on religious skepticism.  Anyway, come on man. Regardless of the demographic, can you think of anyone who wouldn't enjoy a party like that?  IT would be a fun way for people to get to know each other and would definitely accomplish the goal of making membership here more appealing.
In all honesty, I just can't get into those sort of events unless I already know everyone pretty well. Otherwise I'm that awkward guy who stands off to the side and says very little, even when booze and/or weed is involved. Of course, that's me. Naturally, your mileage may vary.
I would counter by saying, as I did above, that this doesn't urgently need to happen and we can easily wait for people's schedules to cooperate.  The same thing goes for the cost.  I would also say that it's not like every single person has to show and it might actually be better if not everyone did.  As for judging whether or not the type of people my idea would attract not being that types we'd want... I mean, you haven't even met them yet.  Talk about prejudiced man.  We can let the leadership here decide who is and isn't wanted.
It's not that anyone assumes the people it would attract are a bad people, it's just that the event as a whole isn't necessarily in the spirit of the forum. It's the same reason we wouldn't hold something like an anime convention, or a Superbowl party, or LAN party for the express purpose of attracting newbies. It's not because anyone assumes the people attending would be assholes, but rather the basis of the events themselves have little to nothing to do with religious skepticism.

Offline fancy_kitten

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #41 on: April 26, 2014, 08:36:48 am »

It's not that anyone assumes the people it would attract are a bad people, it's just that the event as a whole isn't necessarily in the spirit of the forum. It's the same reason we wouldn't hold something like an anime convention, or a Superbowl party, or LAN party for the express purpose of attracting newbies. It's not because anyone assumes the people attending would be assholes, but rather the basis of the events themselves have little to nothing to do with religious skepticism.

Okay, but what about this: We make it clear that the event is A) A perk and not at all the main point of the forum and B) Maybe find a way to integrate what makes the forum what it is into the event.  Surely that wouldn't be too hard.  I agree that we shouldn't host any type of event with the express purpose of directly appealing to new members unless we're talking about some kind of weird 'join our forum' job fair, so maybe we could build it more around making the community we already have stronger and more appealing by extension. 
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Offline mellenORL

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #42 on: April 26, 2014, 12:49:52 pm »
Oh yeah. This will be sooooooo awesome....I can see it now. Sorta. Maybe. Our gang will put on a show! For getting da newbies!

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Offline fancy_kitten

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #43 on: April 26, 2014, 04:40:31 pm »
You're obviously just making fun of me but I could actually see a dance-off/karaoke competition, although that would also affect prices.  How much do you guys think it would cost to rent out an entire venue, like for a con?  I'm having a flood of good ideas right now, I really think this will work!
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Offline Sleepy

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Re: How do we save FQA
« Reply #44 on: April 26, 2014, 09:57:54 pm »
I'm not trying to be a dick about the whole thing. I just think that, given the current state of the forum, virtually no one will want to shell out that kind of money to meet up with a few strangers. There are plenty of people here who live outside the US, and the pain of traveling overseas doesn't make this any easier.
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