Jix 2006 Spook-a-thon

 

It's that time of year again.

When the daylight gets a little shorter, the wind gets a little brisker, and the things that go bump in the night suddenly take on a new, scary dimension.

Halloween.

This year, the Jix moderators have put together a bit of a challenge to fight one of nature's scariest villains:  CANCER.

We hope you'll all get involved to help fight the battle with us.

The Challenge

To raise as much money as we can for the American Cancer Society.

How do we do that?  In a couple of ways.

The week of October 22 - 28th, 2006, we will again have the grand game of Title Tag.

For those of you whose memory is a little foggy about Title Tag, here's a recap:

What It Is: One round of Title Tag gives you the opportunity to change ANY Jix member's User Title to whatever you choose. What's a User Title? It's the label found beneath each person's User Name. Right now, yours is either Junior Member, Full Member, Jix Author, or Moderator. All very business-like. But Title Tag gives us all the chance to have fun with User Titles.

Do you know someone with a penchant for Mr. Lytell? She'd just love to be tagged "Lytell's Little Lady," don't you think? And did one of your friends say something really funny in a thread recently? Give her a title to capture that moment. We could tag Steph H "The Laundry Detergent Queen," for example.

And it's not all about humor, either. Maybe one of your dearest Jix pals is having a rough week. Cheer her up by tagging her something sweet, like "World's Best Trixie Friend." The possibilities are endless with Title Tag, and every time you play, you help the cancer fighting effort.

How It Works: Playing Title Tag is pretty simple. To play a round, simply copy/paste the Title Tag Request Form on the bottom of this page into a new email. Fill out the answers it asks for, mark the subject of the email Title Tag, and send the email to the Jixemitri Admin at JixemitriAdmin@gmail.com. When we receive your email request, it will be processed as soon as possible. Sometimes that will be immediately, but if you've requested to change the title of a person who has a waiting list, your request will be added to the queue. In all cases, your title change will eventually appear on the board! And the best part? The person you tag with a new title will have NO IDEA who was responsible for picking the new title. It is up to you whether you reveal yourself or not.

How Much It Costs: You can play one round of Title Tag in exchange for a $2.50 donation to the charity fund drive. When you send a Title Tag request, the Jixemitri Accountant (aka Ronda) will keep a careful record of that request. At the end of the week, you will receive a copy of your account and send in a donation to cover all the rounds of Title Tag you've played. That donation can be made through PayPal, or by check/money order. At any time during the game, you can request to see a record of your account so you know how much money you have already pledged. Also, you can always feel free to pay off your pledge amount in advance, if you would prefer to handle it that way.

How Long It Lasts: When you tag someone, the title you give them is guaranteed to last at least 24 hours. After that, it's anyone's game.

IF no one else tags that person, your title will stay with them for the duration of the week. On the other hand, if they are tagged by other people, your title will only stay until the next tag request is received. Sometimes you will submit a tag request for a user who already has other requests outstanding. In that case, your request will be added to a queue, and your title change will take place after the others have been processed.

If there are still queued Title Tag Requests at the conclusion of the fundraiser on October 29th, they will be processed until they are all honored.

A Few Details:

  • Custom Titles must not be blatantly offensive to the community. As such, we ask that you stay away from obvious references to sex and politics. Please do not use this game to be snarky with other members of the Trixie Community! If we receive a request that we feel is inappropriate, we will simply ask that you reword it or make a different choice.

  • If you have a friend who cannot afford to participate in the game, and you would like to buy her a round of Title Tag, that can be arranged. Simply copy/paste the Title Tag Gift Form into a new email, fill out your answers, and send it to the Jixemitri Admin. When we receive your email we will let the recipient of your gift know she has had Title Tag rounds credited to her. The cost of the rounds will be added to your account.

  • Title Tag requests that do not come to the Jixemitri Admin email address and/or do not use the Title Tag Request Form will not be processed. We expect this game to generate a lot of interest, and the only way we can keep it organized is to insist you use the proper channel and format to make your request. Thanks a lot for helping us to keep the game running smoothly!

Title Tag Request Form
Please copy/paste and fill out a copy of this form for EACH round of Title Tag you play, even when you request multiple rounds in the same email. Please put TITLE TAG in the subject of your email. Note we are asking for User Names (message board names, in other words) rather than real names. This is important!!! We cannot process your title change request without your tag target's user name. Thanks!

MY USERNAME:

USERNAME of person whose title I'm changing:

Title I'm requesting: (limit of 50 characters, including spaces)

I understand that in exchange for this round of Title Tag, I'm pledging to donate $2.50 to the Jix Spook-a-thon Challenge, to be paid at the end of the week: (please type YES)

Title Tag Gift Form
Please copy/paste and fill out this form if you want to give Title Tag rounds to another Jix member as a gift. When this request is received we will notify your gift recipient of her unused rounds.

MY USERNAME:

USERNAME OF PERSON I'M GIVING ROUNDS TO:

NUMBER OF ROUNDS I WANT TO GIVE:

I WANT MY NAME REVEALED TO MY GIFT RECIPIENT: (type YES or NO)

I understand that in exchange for each round of Title Tag I'm giving to my recipient, I'm pledging to donate $2.50 to the Jix Spook-a-thon Challenge, to be paid at the end of the fundraiser: (please type YES)

For questions regarding Title Tag, please contact Cathymw.

If you aren't interested in Title Tag, we will also take general donations earmarked for the American Cancer Society.

Fun Stuff You Can Participate In

Write a story.  We've got a list of elements below that you can use (or not) to spark ideas.  Or write something completely on your own!   We will air our Halloween stories during the week of the fundraiser.

The Elements

Below is a  list of elements that you can use or not for your story at will.  If you would like to use all of them, go for it!  If you want to use one or two to spice up your story, knock yourself out.  If you would rather write your own story without any elements at all, feel free to pass this section by.  They're there to help inspire you, not stymie you!

    A conversation about the background of Halloween

   What, if anything, other countries outside the U.S. do for Halloween

   Someone from a different culture/country celebrating Halloween for the first time or a BWG, on Halloween, in a place that doesn't celebrate it.

   Midnight

   Mask

   Candy corn

   Pumpkin carving

   A black cat

   An owl hooting

   Bobbing for apples

   Someone wearing a superhero costume

   A ghost

   A witch

   A broomstick

   Spiderwebs

   A full moon

   The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

   A costume party

   Spooky music

   Someone telling a ghost story

   Caramel apples

   A bat

   Roasted pumpkin seeds

   Pumpkin pie

   Apple crisp

   Playing a trick on someone

If you plan on posting a story during the fun, send Beth Ann a PM  or an e-mail so that she can add you to the schedule!

Any questions regarding the story schedule, please contact Beth Ann.

The Spook-a-thon

Join us for the Saturday, October 28th Spook-a-thon!  A team of writers will write a joint spooky Halloween story for 24 hours straight.  Note that it may seem like we're stopping an hour early, but that is the weekend daylight savings time switches back to standard time in the U.S. and Canada, so we will be doing the 1 A.M. hour twice.  ;)

Join us as a writer and sign up for some half hour segments!

To sign up, send Susansuth a PM or an e-mail and include the times based on the Eastern Time Zone (including AM/PM) that you are available and the number of slots you would like to write.  Susan will try to accommodate all your requests, if possible.  Please also, if you are signing up for the 1 A.M. hour, indicate whether it is the 1 A.M. EDT slot or the 1 A.M. EST slot.  If you need help figuring out what your time zone converts to in Eastern Time, please check out this site:  http://timeanddate.com for help.

You will be contacted no later than Saturday, October 21st, with your slot times.

The Spook-a-thon will take place from Saturday, October 28th @ 9am EDT to Sunday, October 29th @ 8am EST. Sleepyside time.

If you don't write, cheer us in the chat in the chat room that will be going on for the full 24 hours!

If you can't be with us for the chat, donate some money for the cause!

For any questions regarding the Spook-a-thon, please contact Susansuth.

There will be special surprises all week long, so you won't want to miss a day!

Let's work together to make cancer a thing of the past.

Come join us!

Images from istockphoto.com and used under license.  Jixemitri is copyright Jixemitri.  The Spook-a-thon is based on the Blogger yearly blogathon.  Title Tag information originally written by Dani and Misty for the Katrina Horro-cane fundraiser.

This page last checked and updated on September 12, 2009.