#we're trying

[dominimoonbeam]

Okay. I finished the first draft of the novelization of the Stardust and Cosmic audios. <3 Now I just have to edit it... <3 <3

[saltpepperbeard]

Call It Through as a Crew: Alleviating Some Phone Anxiety

Hello everyone! So as you probably already know, there has been a recent call to make, well, calls! Another member of our crew figured out that the max customer service line (855-442-6629) is a very effective way to get our feedback heard, as the feedback gets transcribed and shared to a multitude of teams.

I already sort of briefly shared my experience on this post, but I wanted to go a bit more in detail to offer some solace for those who are also phone averse, as well as share resources and get the word out even more.

And y'all, when I say I'm phone averse, I mean PHONE AVERSE LMAO; MY FEET WERE SWEATING JSDKLS LIKE I WAS FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE. So I totally, TOTALLY get it, and am here to walk you through everything in detail!

So I called that number and was on a brief hold--probably like 5 minutes or so. The customer service representative (Margot my bestie Margot) then picked up, and asked for the email associated with my account as well as my full name.

I was extremely extremely worried and anxious about being bothersome/annoying the person on the other end and just being able to feel it in their tone, so I was shivering and sweating all the while. But then when she asked for my reason for calling, I said, "Oh, it's actually in regard to some feedback," and she went, "Is it for Our Flag Means Death?"

And we both laughed, and I was like, "Haha how did you knooooowww?" And she laughed some more and was like, "Let me tell you, I have never seen anything like this in all my years working here. We are getting so many calls. It's incredible."

And by that point, a large weight was off my chest because she was friendly, I was friendly, EVERYONE WAS FRIENDLY.

I laughed and told her that we were a very passionate and concerned bunch, and she told me that she thought that was so cool and also super important. She then allowed me to tell her my feedback, and she transcribed it as I talked. This was the little script I had prepared in case you'd like to reference it:

I just wanted to call and express my disappointment, dissatisfaction, and concern with the recent cancellation of Our Flag Means Death on Max. As a queer person myself, this show has a tremendous impact on me. And in a climate where so many diverse and LGBT-centric shows have unjust ends, I’d just like to express my wish for reconsideration, and just the hope that…Max will allow LGBT stories like ours to live and flourish. And I’m really worried about there being some kind of…homophobic angle to the cancellation, so it would mean the world to myself and so many others if the decision could be reversed, and we could get our third and final season.

I went a little graver than originally planned, because I saw talks that taking a DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) angle, as well a "hey I'm a queer person and this feels like a decision made for a nefarious purpose" angle, are supposedly more likely to be noted.

Anyway, she allowed me to say my piece and wrote it all down, and then actually stayed with me on the line to chat a bit more. So, the phone call didn't feel rushed or anxious which was SO so huge to me; it felt far more conversational.

She was like, "I don't want to toot our little horn or anything, but Max really takes all this feedback into consideration. It will be passed to the properties team (or something equivalent, I can't remember the EXACT term she used), and they're in charge of what goes on Max and why. So, I really feel like you guys have a fighting chance with these efforts."

And of course I was thanking her profusely for telling me all of this, and for listening; polite menace, that will be my brand!

But man, the coolest part of all? She told me that she was POC, and a queer person herself, and that this was all so cool and so amazing to see. She applauded our efforts, and expressed interested in the show. I laughed and said, "Well uhhhh I might have a BIT of a bias, but I cannot recommend it enough."

And then she proceeded to tell me that it might be even MORE effective to hit from different angles. So, keep calling (they're available 24/7), and also keep utilizing the online feedback form. Basically just keep FLOODING them with how much this means to us and why.

I then expressed a lot of gratitude, we exchanged pleasantries, and there was a brief survey at the end. I don't think the survey is necessary, so you can probably hang up by this point, but I stuck around for a little more horsepower. It tells you to rate the customer service on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest, and you know I gave my bestie a fivvvveee. It also tells you to press 1/2 if your issue was resolved or not. I said HELL TO THE NO, DUDE SJDKLS. And THEN, it asks you to leave a voice message after the tone describing your experience. I said that I was with the customer service representative Margot, and that she was extremely friendly and helpful, but that the issue at hand will not be resolved until Max reserves their decision about the recent cancellation of Our Flag Means Death (I'm also always saying the show title in full as opposed to just the acronym, just for more OOMPH).

...And thennnn I proceed to shake it/shriek it all off LMAO.

Buuuut yeah! Probably took a total of 10 minutes or so. @xoxoemynn also shared with me that she's seen people say that these customer service representatives likely deal with older folks who need help with technology, and are subsequently stunned (and maybe even excited) to talk to younger people who just want to voice concerns instead of chew the poor customer service people out lol! And Margot also mentioned that they were eager to take calls no matter what, so as long as we're all polite and succinct, I don't think we'll have to worry about a very tense and awkward call.

I hope this alleviates some fear a bit! We got this, crew. We're doing so, so much. And it seems like it's being heard all over the place; it also seems like we've got so many people on our side, too. Big big hugs, and I'll share the necessary resources once more-

Customer Service Number: [phone]

The Online Feedback Form:

The original tumblr post with all the information:

🏴‍☠️ #SaveOFMD 🏴‍☠️

Transcript of tweets below the cut but in short: calling makes the biggest impact, focus on DEI, you can call more than once, and you do not

The tumblr post where Fox and others were sharing even more information:

🏴‍☠️ #SaveOFMD 🏴‍☠️

some really good info in this twitter thread about calling max at [phone] to argue for renewing ofmd. some of it goes against the adv

[akumanoken]

also I took my vitamin d and I do feel a little better. I would say I took my iron too but it's not here yet.

One thing at a time... but at least I dont' feel like I need to immediately dive into bed and nap. That's a good sign.

[christinafurby]

Feliz Navidad bonita proncesa espero que te la pases super yo no tanto jaja despues te contare el ´porque eso no significa que no me guste la Navidad comemos cosas algo raras jajaja a veces qusiera cenar lo que todos cenan y no la dieta vasca mediterranea jajaja bacalao esparragos habas a un pez llamado "bonito del norte" no saben mal pero a veces recuerdo la tradicional pierna o lomo de cerdo jaja aqui las familias tendran que ahorrar mucho hace 3 años tomaban ponche o atole ahora toman refresco nosotros no mi tia que tiene dinero nos compra vino pero a mi no me gusta mucho jajaja recuerda

"Merry Christmas beautiful princess, I hope you have a super time, me not so much haha, I'll tell you why later, that doesn't mean I don't like Christmas, we eat some weird things haha, sometimes I wish we'd eat what everyone else eats and not the Basque-Mediterranean diet (cod, asparagus, broad beans, a fish called 'bonito del norte'), they don't taste bad, but sometimes I remember the traditional roast leg or pork loin haha, here families will have to save a lot, 3 years ago they drank punch or atole, now they drink soda, not us, my aunt who has money buys us wine but I don't like it much haha, remember. "

¡Hola, amigo! ¡Gracias y una muy Feliz Navidad para ti y los tuyos! 🎁🎄🤗😇 ¡Espero que tu Navidad esté siendo genial hasta ahora! (a pesar de que las cosas no salgan exactamente como uno esperaría). La dieta diferente suena como una perspectiva interesante sobre los platos navideños, especialmente por el color de la comida (incluidas las bebidas, como el ponche). Como el ponche suele ser rojo, ¡resulta aún más festivo y combina con el verde de los espárragos! Para ser sincero, últimamente lo he estado pasando bastante mal y ayer no fue un buen día... No teníamos suficiente dinero para un árbol de verdad este año (para variar) y yo tenía muchas ganas de tener uno. Fui la única persona que decoró la casa este año (sin ayuda de nadie) y cuando el casero nos trajo el árbol artificial, me pareció una broma de mal gusto, sumándose a todos los demás problemas. (Voy a parar aquí con las cosas negativas porque es Navidad. Yo también lo estoy pasando mal, no estás solo...). Entiendo perfectamente lo de tener que ahorrar para la cena de Navidad. Espero que tengáis un precioso día de Navidad y que vuestro Año Nuevo sea maravilloso y próspero. 🎁🎄❄️🤶🏻

Hi there buddy! Thank you and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours! 🎁🎄🤗😇 I hope your Christmas is great so far! (despite things not going exactly as one would hope) The different diet sounds like an interesting take on the view of Christmas dishes with the color of the dish (including the original punch drinks. Since punch is Red a lot of the time, it is actually MORE festive and it goes with the Green of the asparagus! If I'm being honest, I've been having a really hard time lately and yesterday was not a good day.. We didn't have enough money for real tree this year (no surprise.) and I was really looking forward to it. I was the only person who decorated my house at all this year (with no help.) and when the fake tree was gotten from our land lord it just felt like a joke on top of everything else that is going wrong. (I'll stop there with the negatives because it's Christmas. I've just been having a hard time too, you're not alone..) I understand the having to save up for a feast thing all to well. I hope you guys have a beautiful Christmas Day and may your New Year's be beyond precious and prosperous 🎁🎄❄️🤶🏻

[rodionthesilliest]

we cleaned our room a little

[indig0trollsinspo]

hi guys been a minute

[duckprintspress]

i'm considering applying for your anthology but am so extremely uncomfortable with the way google has been rolling full-steam ahead with AI in its various systems that even the thought of using google docs/drive is triggering to me at this point. do i have options for working with you without using google?

Hey anon!

I completely appreciate your reticence, and I share it. This is something we're actually working on - transitioning away from Google. It's extremely difficult to do, given how ubiquitous Google has gotten to be, but we've been pricing private/personal server options, looking at websites that offer similar functionality but, ya know, aren't Google, and otherwise entering the preliminary stages of trying to disentangle ourselves from... *gestures vaguely at the ever-growing dumpster fire that is Google* ...that.

For now, for submissions, I can tell you:

the current round of submission forms are still Google Forms

you can submit the writing sample as a .docx or .doc.

Basically: at this exact time, given that applications for Scholarly Pursuits are google forms, no, it's not possible to work with us without using Google at all.

But in the future, this is something we're working on, and yes, it should be possible in the future to work with us without using Google.

(Side note, I use Firefox as my browser and duckduckgo for websearch and have for a while, and the Press e-mail is through our web domain, which is hosted by Siteground. We've absolutely been trying to shift away from Google for a while, but in the last couple weeks we've begun to at least try to do a more thorough separation.)

Hope this helps!

-unforth