Cross posted with Good Riddance

If you are interested in participating in the FIRST EVER B.Org Mardi Gras/spring gift exchange, please email me and let me know by January 28th.

The exchange will run from 2/12 (Mardi Gras) to 3/31 (Easter). Gifts can be Mardi Gras related (King Cake! Beads!), or spring related (FLOWERS!, or Easter related (BUNNIES) or anything else that fits the time period.

I know that several of us here have enjoyed reading Mark Reads and Mark Watches. I am campaigning to get Mark on the Hugo ballot for Best Fan Writer, which I think he can actually win, given the various professional writers who would support him. But first we have to collect enough nominations.

If you voted in last year's Hugos, please consider nominating Mark Oshiro for Best Fan Writer.

If you would like to nominate him, you can buy a Supporting Membership for $60, but you have to do it by January 31 to nominate for this year. If you can't afford a full membership, we are taking donations to buy as many memberships as we can for Mark Does Stuff folk.

I think it would be awesome for an actual fan writer—as opposed to a published author—to win Best Fan Writer (not to mention a gay person of color), so if you want to help, please do! Thanks.

Is anyone else interested in the Mardi Gras/Spring gift exchange? (more details in the Good Riddance thread)

If so, can you let me know before the end of the day tomorrow?

Hi! I am not exactly sure why Elfster sent out pairing announcements for the Spring gift exchange, including to people who aren't in the exchange, but I am pretty sure it's because I did something wrong.

Please ignore them, and I will fix it as soon as I can.

eta: And now it just sent out new emails as I was deleting people I had already deleted two weeks ago. Sorry about that again!

Keep on ignoring them.

A few weeks ago we discussed the desire to add emergency contact information to our b.org contact list. The thought is that if there is someone we are not able to reach after attempts in thread or through people we know who are contected, that we have a contact name and number. This information will only be provided, one on one to a person taking the lead on communication, after those initial attempts have failed.

Jen P, Amy G, Ginger, and I all have access to the contact list - all of our profile addresses are good.

The information we are collecting is...
e-mail
username
full name
address
birthday
direct contact phone(your phone number)
emergency contact phone
emergency contact name
going grey/black dates (if you are ok and just don't want people contacting you for a set time period)
can we provide your information to a fellow buffista?
notes (time zone for emergency contact, mailing address notes, exceptions...)

You can provide as much or as little information as you desire. If you have any questions or want to discuss, please use Bureaucracy. Here's to hoping we never need to use the emergency contact data.

I know we have Illinois-istas here, and I would appreciate your cooperation. [link] Thank you! (Anyone else who is moved to sign may, too of course, but the governor needs to hear from residents.)

I have a post up on using social media for writers: [link] . I know a lot of folks here are smarter than me about this, and have things to say on the topic. Would love to hear from you. BTW, Jilli, I linked to the Goth at the Office tumblr as an example. Hope that's ok.

Board life announcement: we're just starting the next play-by-forum game of Battlestar Galactica in the Gaming thread: billytea "Gaming 1: You are likely to be eaten by a grue" Feb 17, 2013 5:03:41 pm PST. This is our seventeenth game ("Nilly In Space"). BSG is not only fun to play, it can also be fun to watch. The game includes space battles, deception and betrayal, and allows for some role-playing too. Any lurkers who'd like to watch are very welcome to do so (quite aside from the fact that we couldn't stop you even if we wanted).

Hey, so I know many of you oredered through Knitpicks for Maria's afghan yarn, and of course just knitters in general. I'm on my phone, so I can't link to the apology, not that they sent it to me anyway, but they were compromised. My card got hit for $500 today, so I would strongly encourage those of you who ordered through them to check your accounts at the very least and consider closing out your applicable credit or debit cards.

Hey, folks who aren't subscribed to the F2F thread, people are starting to talk about this year's event. It's on the East Coast this year, so go on over there and start a-pimping!