OK, let's think about how we can get a character category for Denethor under "Lord of the Rings" at fanfiction.net.  It's completely ridiculous that Treebeard has a category and Denethor doesn't!

Does anyone know of an address to write other than "support@fanfiction.net"?  I tried writing them about this once, a few months ago, but never received any kind of acknowledgment, so I can't even be certain the email went through.  And they're not exactly good at publicizing addresses to write to.  I guess that's understandable, considering how big they are and how many emails they'd get, but it's still frustrating.

Does anyone have any brainwaves about how to go about this?  I think a post at SPCD is in order, and a post to the message board at Open Scrolls.  Any other ideas on how to get the word out?  Do we want to try writing private notes to individual authors, and if so, how should we divide them up?

I'd say, before sending a single email, we contact the people we know will want to get involved, that is: SPCD, OS and whatever else we can think of/any individuals etc.  Then we can I dunno, call ourselves the heads of the campaign *g*  and agree on what exactly it is we want included in the emails and/or if we want them all to say the exact same thing,  or that we personalise each one.

Make sense?

Then once that's all done, we whoop some ass  

..erm, that is once we work out which address to send it to  :sweatingbullets:

Maybe we should make this board the HQ, and then post at these various places and invite them to come here if they'd like to help with the campaign?

And can anyone think of other places to look for help?

Have you gals totally given up on this?

I poked around ff.net yesterday, checking it out in preparation for perhaps signing up. Being the ( severely unemployed ) librarian that I am, I decided to do a little research into the character categories. I did a search on keyword "Denethor" and filter LOTR, and came up with a long list of fics where Denny was mentioned in the description.

Of course not every fic where Denny is mentioned will have him as one of the two "searchable" characters, since others ( often his sons ) claim those two top places. So I browsed the list and came up with some 70 stories where Denny could conceivably have been chosen as one of those two "main" characters if the category for him had existed. ( I have the whole list written down by hand and can type it up for you, should you need it! )

Compare this to the 44 of Treebeard, 43 of Lothíriel, and 21 ( unless my computer froze..! ) of Celeborn, and the numbers alone should be enough to convince them without a massive e-mail campaign! Just go through the proper channels ( I'd suggest this one -> http://www.fanfiction.net/support/index.ph..._i=11&nav2=Misc ! ) and it should be alright! Otherwise I'll... find my frying pan..!  

No, I hadn't given up on the idea, Trevelyan--I just became distracted with other things.  I also was still not quite sure I had the right way to go about doing it.  You're a genius for finding the Knowledgebase!! :worshipping:    I didn't know about submitting category tickets.  Perfect--now we can really get organized!!  *rubs hands*  And your numbers are really inspiring.  It's obvious that Denethor easily has enough material for a category.

OK, now I guess the next step is to work up the text of what we're going to post to the various boards and communities.  Does anyone have any thoughts on what to say besides "We need this category, here's how to ask for it"?

The numbers are very encouraging!  Considering I have about 15 or so Denethor related stories/drabbles/poems that they could potentially be storing if they had a category for him!

Here's a rough little thing I've come up with as for the sales pitch *g* (having stolen a what of you've just written, 006!):

~~~

Calling all Denethor fans!

I’m sure most of you know of the fanfiction archive, fanfiction.net.  I’m sure therefore that most of you are also aware that currently ff.net doesn’t have a Denethor character sub-section in their Lord of the Rings category.  As the fan fiction writers amongst us will know, this is in no way fair.

Currently in the archive there are approximately 70 stories where Denethor could be considered one of the two main characters (the figure is far greater if we consider all the stories where he is mentioned in the description, though these are likely to be small appearances in Boromir or Faramir stories).  This is a larger number than the 44 stories in the Treebeard section, 43 in Lothiriel and about 21 in Celeborn; characters for whom there are sections already.

Does this sound fair to you?  Of course it doesn’t.  What we predict is that enough of us come forward requesting a Denethor sub-section, then ff.net will have to concede and create one.  But how do we go about this?  There are proper methods and we believe this is the best way to begin. <insert something about link to where we’re meant to submit a category suggestion – I couldn’t find the link>

So, join us in our campaign to give Denethor the category he deserves!!

The Denethor Character Category Campaign Team (<-- heheh, couldn’t resist – we have to have a title!!)

~~~

Okay, so that was rough, but it's something like that that we need, right?

Yay, you go, Cadi!  :thumbsup: However I think it would be a good idea if just one person tried out suggesting the category first; who knows, maybe nobody has ever tried it and they'll add it without any further fuss, and I really think a whole campaign would just irritate them in that case! So my suggestion is that one of you who already has an account there, with Denny stories in, writes them one of those "tickets" and waits for a reply. I think there's even a way to check how far along your request is ( the "view ticket status" thing! )...

In other news, it's very possible that I'll have a little Denny and family fic done sometime before Christmas, in which case you'll be able to add another writer to your ranks of ff.net members with Denny stories! ( OK, it's really a bit more about the brothers, but I'll still put Den as the main character if he gets a category! )

Well, I have an account at ff.net, so I'll volunteer to be the guinea pig.  I've just submitted a ticket request and marked it "medium priority."  I don't want to be obnoxious and call it "high" or "urgent," but I didn't want it to languish down at "low priority" either.

The ticket number is XUV-98231 and the ticket key is e098c7, if anyone wants to visit the site and check on it.

Let's wait a while to see if it works, and if it doesn't, then I say we start posting Cadi's excellent call to action at all the forums we can think of!  (Just one small suggestion: I'd address it to "Denethor writers" rather than "Denethor fans."  Sadly, as we all know, lots of people write about him who aren't fans at all!)

Anything new, Cressi?

Nope, no updates.  I think it's time to move toward Plan B.  However, I'm at my mom's place with limited internet access until after New Year's.  If someone wants to start without me, be my guest.    Otherwise I'll make a post when I get back.

I can do it if you want, but...well, not just now anyway!!  We could all wait til you get back anyway, make it like a New Year campaign!!  

OK, I've given up on hoping my request from November will have any effect.  I think it's time to move into Phase 2.

*sighs* Poor Denny! So what's "Phase 2"? Cadi seemed to have some plans... If it requires people who've already signed up for ff.net and/or have written Denny stories, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit for my participation, otherwise I'm here!

If we're moving to Phase 2 (assuming that is - spam everyone *g* heheh, you know  ), then is it possible at all to wait 'til February?  I have exams to revise for which last from the 26th-29th, and I like to get those out of the way in order to take part in this fully.

I think before actually sending things though we should probably sort out exactly what we're going to do, including follow up ideas once we've sent things out and maybe get responses...

I don't think another 2 weeks are going to be too terribly painful for poor Denny! 

Cadi:  Sure--February's fine. 

006:  You don't have to have finished a Denethor story to help out, but you probably will have to be registered at ff.net to submit a suggestion.

I hoping at last after my exams are over to sit down properly and upload all my fic to FF.net.  I registered, but have yet to upload anything.  I think once I have ten or so Denethor stories/poems/drabbles on there I have more place to complain!! *g*

Thing is - in Denethor/Finduilas ones, I can't put anyone down as a character category!  I think that certainly should be one of our main points of argument for a Denny category.

Mmm, yeah, I'd think it would feel a bit strange for a person who hasn't posted any stories to complain about the character categories..!  Alright, readers use the place too and have a right to comment, but it carries more weight if somebody who's actually written something says it! Especially since you have so many, and good, ones!

Well, I've just uploaded all my stuff to FFN *g*  I don't think the whole thing's been updated yet though.  Will check again tomorrow to see how many stories I got on there, I forgot to count as I went along...!

(Have also uploaded my silly HP stuff too *g*)

Good girl!   So what's your user name?

Cadiliniel, as usual *g*

I made a (quite large) button for the campaign today!  It was kinda a case of just thinking through an idea, so as usual, any suggestions are welcome!  Here it is:

Cadi, that's brilliant!  I love it!   

Thanks!  Have realised that Denethor's 70 should be more, as I've added my stories now! *g*

Good point!  Are you going to redo the button or can I swipe it now?