A Few Changes

photo of me by tnkgrl

Hey Ya’ll,

Thanks for the great feedback on what we should do next! Here’s what I took from the conversations:

Discussion

I’m not sure yet how we could run a forum here in a way that meets our needs, so I’m tabling that idea for now. In the meantime, I’m making the commenting features a little better around here:

You can now leave a comment anonymously — no name or email required. (Note: I’m still keeping a private record of IP addresses, though, which I use to whack spammers and trolls.)
There’s now a list of Recent Comments on the right sidebar (great suggestion, Francisco!)
That list also includes a link to a full page of Recent Comments, which also has a link that lets you subscribe to comments via RSS.

The comments you’ve been leaving for each other are phenomenal. I’m hoping this makes it a little easier to keep that up.

I’d also like to compile a list of other good places on the web where people can go to discuss genderqueer topics. If you know of some good spaces for these discussions, please leave a comment below and let me know.

Book

Sweet! Let’s make one! I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. If anyone knows how to connect this project to the right publisher, please get in touch with me.

Volunteering

This project will probably be more sustainable if we get more brains involved. Right now, I could use some assistance with gathering photos on Flickr. Do you wanna help? (It’s really easy once you get set up.) If you want to give it a try, please email me (sarah at genderfork dot com) the following:

Your preferred name and pronouns (so I can credit you respectfully).
A quick note introducing yourself and telling me why you want to help.
At least two links to photos on Flickr that you think would be good for the site. (I’ll use these as starting points for getting your blog and flickr accounts set up.)

When picking photos, please make sure…

They display an interesting kind of gender variance (hint: if you have to explain why it’s interesting, it’s not visible enough).
They’re beautiful and high-quality.
They feel personal. If an “average, mainstream” person from outside of the queer community saw these photos, they should feel (mostly) comfortable looking at them.
They’re “safe for work”.
They’re showing new faces (hint: if you search Genderfork for a photographer’s username, you’ll see what else has been posted from that person).
It seems like the photographers would appreciate being featured on Genderfork (avoid people who seem uncool with queer culture or extra-protective about copyright).
They include the “blog this” button in the toolbar above the photo (if they don’t, you’ll need to get the photographer’s permission to use the photo).

If you send me two photos that meet those requirements, I’ll set you up with access to help curate content at Genderfork.

More Soon

I’ve also got a few other tricks and changes up my sleeve, so I’ll keep updating the site as I can.

Thanks, and keep contributing!

Posted by Sarah Dopp on December 21st, 2008 at 06:26 pm

Category: nature 4 comments »

4 Responses to “A Few Changes”

stii
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 am |
I like the changes you’ve made so far – the recent comments bar and page look good, and work well too. I think it’s great that older topics and comments will be a bit more visible. Good stuff!

[Reply]
Jess
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:57 pm |
Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t find this blog sooner! I love all of the photos and quotes. I’ve subscribed and added you on twitter. Keep it up!

Jess

[Reply]
Francisco
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:16 am |
Sugarbutch has just asked for queer artist recommendations (http://www.sugarbutch.net/2008/12/catherine-opie-at-the-guggenheim/) and commenters have already suggested several photographers.

I’ve only started looking at all the links they’ve left, but I already found a genderqueer portrait series:
http://www.evefowler.com/images/2008/index.html

So there’s probably a goldmine of queer material over there!

[Reply]
Anonymous
December 25th, 2008 at 2:55 pm |
I like the book idea and wish I could connect you to publishers… I know there are several sites that allow you to publish your own books. Somewhere I think I have the address for a really good one that I can’t seem to find through Google. I’ll do some looking and pass it to you, if you’re interested.

I’m sure you’re aware of this, and any publisher will restate it, but just in case… for any photos you select to go in the book you need to not only get the photographer’s permission, but make sure that photographer has the proper rights to it. I know some Flickr photographers who snap photos of their friends and other people and then post them to Flickr and the person in that photograph has NO IDEA their image is now on the web… let alone being published on this site.
For the most part, it’s no big deal, but if it’s going into a book it’s worth the extra steps to make sure the photographers are either using proper models or have the permission of whoever they photographed.

Just so you know.

[Reply]