#TL;DR: Click Here to Check It Out
What's Happening
We agreed to assist the admins in piloting a new program which would allow users to get their hands on community themed swag. We've provided AskHistorians swag as prizes for year-end awards for many years now, as well as offered swag as part of fundraising efforts for our digital conference (less than two weeks away!!), so we were in a good position to help with this endeavor, both having a fair bit of experience with designing such things and knowing that there is interest within the community for AskHistorians swag.
Where Do I Get the Stuff?
The trial program is being done through the site Teepublic. CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE STOREFRONT
What Can I Get?
T-shirts, stickers, mugs, totes, buttons, notebooks, and hoodies are what there is. Each is available in the five Historical Snoo designs that we are using for this project.
Why Did You Choose Those Snoos For This?
We have twenty different 'New' styled Snoos in our collection, not to mention over thirty in the 'old' style! But for the pilot program, we're limited to five designs. If the feedback on this is positive and we're happy with the results and the program expands and continues, we'd like to be able to offer all of the Snoos, since we know everyone has their favorites. But for now, we chose five Snoos intended to a decent variety of places and interests, although it of course pretty hard to have anything close to broad coverage with that number (and also, Snoopata is my favorite, so....).
If you want to learn more about the Snoos currently featured, check out the Snoographies we wrote up when debuting them!
So... the Money...?
Much as we wish we could offer them as such, we can't hand them out for free. The point of sale is all handled by Teepublic, and the profits generated go through reddit. From there, the funds are made available to the mod team to distribute specifically in ways to support the community. We aren't the only subreddit piloting this, so I don't know how other communities intend to use those funds, but as in past years, we'd be using funds raised for prizes to send to the winners of the year end awards, send "Thank You" gifts to AMA and Podcast guests and fund promotion of the subreddit (We had a super cool plan in the beginning of 2019 to promote participation in AskHistorians at history conferences which.... yeah. That didn't happen. But we hope to be able to restart that in 2022! Stay tuned!)
Hey, What About the Conference Fundrazr?
The astute among you will remember we already have been offering swag through the 2021 Conference Fundrazr, but don't worry, these aren't in direct conflict with each other. Aside from the fact that the Fundrazr has some supercool, exclusive things you can't get here, between the turnout so far, and the sponsorship that we have secured for the Conference, we feel confident at hitting our funding goals there, so by choosing this swag instead of that swag, you aren't bleeding the conference of funding (Related: Wondering where your conference swag is? Pins are supposed to arrive this week, and then we'll start shipping!)
OMG, I Can't Believe You Sold Out Like This!!!!
We really do value your feedback on this as a community! The pilot runs for one month, after which our continued participation (assuming they expand the program) is entirely up in the air, and very dependent on what you, the AskHistorians community, would want to see! Based on past years when we've done fundraisers, or simply shared some of the swag we send out for awards, its been pretty clear that many folks would be interested in AskHistorians swag, so we're giving this a try.
If you think this is super cool and want us to expand it, let us know. If you think this is stupid as hell and we never should have participated in the first place, let us know. We take all of that feedback seriously, and as this is very much a project for the community, the response of the community - you folks - is super important for us in evaluating its success or failure. We'll be providing feedback to reddit at the end of this, and what you all have to say about it will be front and center is whatever we end up reporting.
I've sat on this for far too long as a member of the mod team, held my tongue as we did something I profoundly disagreed with, and kept doing it, as every day my soul withered a little further.
But no more. Today I make my stand:
"Swag" is a silly word that sounds silly.
The cool stuff you can buy is cool though.
Since this may be the only chance I get to say this without (hopefully) getting my comment deleted -- I think something like this on a shirt would be appropriate. But I do dig the Snoos as well.
First off: apologies if this is none too coherent, I'm writing this at 2am since I might forget in the morning.
This announcement makes me feel rather uneasy? On the one hand, it's not a bad idea if it can be used to get more academics involved and stuff like that. But on the other hand, as was joked in the post, it feels like selling out? Emphasis is constantly placed on how this subreddit is run by volunteers who don't benefit from this aside from having a hobby, essentially. This sub getting monetised, even if it's not benefiting the mods feels like it would undermine that impression.
Especially because, even with how open the mods here often are, there is sometimes a bit of an adversarial relationship between reader and mod. Are the things that got removed actually bad? Did they not just remove it because it goes against their personal opinion/Beliefs/they didn't like the poster/other petty reason? (Yes, of course, in almost all cases the reasons for removal are quite good, but that doesn't stop the brain from wondering when we're in a society constantly paranoid about fake news and echo chambers and confirmation bias.) Now it would add the niggling worry of "are they running this sub in a way that makes them the most money."
When looking at it purely rationally, I don't think that's a realistic worry. This could definitely benefit the sub and I do think the mods would run this in a good way and not... idk, use it to buy opium.
But I can't help but feel like this is off and a bit fishy, even if I know it isn't. Judging by some other comments who don't like it, I'm not the only one for whom this sets off almost automatic alarm-bells. It's not a rational objection but these sorts of things are rarely affected by rational arguments, and I do think with this sort of thing, it's not a bad idea to think about what sort of feeling/perception this can foster, Especially because again, the relationship between mods and readers on this sub can often get a bit strained already.
well this is extremely neat! As someone trying to be responsible about being paid for labor while still spending and volunteering time here, even the potential of a small fund to thank special guests is extremely cool and good and I'm glad you're doing things to enable it! plus the swag designs are excellent.
Well, I didn't need swag, but I bought some anyway.
I just want to say that I was elated when I saw r/AskHistorians listed in the r/modnews announcement, and I came right here to check out what you had.
I just want a tshirt that says [this comment has been removed by a moderator of /r/AskHistorians]
I don't appreciate advertising being pushed at me disguised as posts. So mark my feedback down as "we never should have participated in the first place."
Is there a reason some categories don't have any items? I could really go for some magnets.
I love the Frederick Snooglass!
None of the Snoos quite appeal to me, not because they're not designed nicely, but just because none represent the region I'm really interested in. A generic AH option would be nice! (I'm all for the "removed" suggestion)
Who or what is benefitting from the sales?
Why are you doing this, and why are you doing this now?
I would very much prefer not to see ad posts. I'm of the opinion ads are like a psychological parasite for the viewer.
