Who are slash readers and writers?
"In society we are who we are supposed to be, but on the internet we can be who we really are."
Have you ever wondered who the other people who read and write slash are? I have. When I discovered slash, I was so happy to find slash sites and realize I was not alone. As I got to know some of the other writers it was great to realize they were just ordinary people like me. I read somewhere that it was mostly women who were into slash. Is that all? I would like to know a little more about the people who have made slash a community. I bet there are others out there who want to know, too.
Because of this desire, I am starting The Journal of Slash Research. The aim is to give us all more information about our community without violating anyone's privacy.
Who is the researcher?
I am a slash reader and writer. I have a strong background in research and a keen curiosity about what it is to be human. The archivists kindly offered me some room in the Library of Moria to run the study.
Who are we? I would like to know, if you would too, please help by sending in your responses to the questionnaire, offering comments or just reading the results when they come out.
Confidentiality
I will not show the information you send to anyone. It will be copied from the e-mail and the e-mail details will then be deleted. There will be no personally identifying information used in the study.
You can have added security by sending your answers with "via network" at the top of your text in your e-mail. This means you might have sent it via a friend, or a friend of a friend, or it might just be your own e-mail anyway. I will not be able to tell whether a friend used the 'cut-and-paste' method or whether you sent it yourself. It is not my intention to try to discover your identity.
The only way I can ever contact you is if you give me permission by including a contact e-mail in the text of your reply.
You have the right to have your answers deleted at any time. If you change your mind after sending, please contact me and I will delete your answers with no questions asked.
What will be done with the responses?
I will remove them from the e-mail that they were sent from. They will be stored on a floppy disk only.
I will read the responses and look for common themes that might occur. For example, maybe younger women got into slash in a different way than older women, or for different reasons.
Sometimes I will quote from responses when they express something clearly. Sometimes I will put the ideas given into my own words, for example, when many people say the same thing.
The results will be posted in the Journal of Slash Research in the Library of Moria.
The responses will likely lead to other questions and another questionnaire later on. There is no obligation to participate in future questionnaires. Likewise, if you choose not to respond to this one, you may still respond to the following ones.
Contact
The deadline for Questionnaire #1 is March 5, 2003. Send your information to: lom_jsr@hotmail.com as a cut-and-paste email. No attachments, please.
Feel free to contact me at any time if you want your response deleted or want to discuss what you wrote with me. If you prefer not to be contacted, please include that in your message. I respect your decision with no questions asked.
Thank you for your help,
Sasha Book
lom_jsr@hotmail.com