That’s right! We’re doing a Very Special Fundraiser Edition of the A+ Pop-Up Discord!

We’re opening the server on Thursday, November 3, at 3pm PST and running it through Monday, November 7 at 9am PST.

AND on Friday, November 4th at 2pm PST / 5pm EST the Autostraddle senior team — Carmen, Riese, Kayla, Laneia, Heather, Viv, Anya…and yours truly are all going to be there at the same time for three-ish hours to chat with you all! It’s a hang with the senior AS team! We’d love to see you there.

Re: timing and time zones of this. People on the west coast may notice this is a little early. We hope you can sneak in! We’re really trying to hold an event that isn’t too late in the day for our friends in other global time zones. While we recognize we can’t do something convenient for everyone, every time we have an event, by switching up our event timing, we hope that we do something that’s accessible to everyone at some point.

How do I get on the pop-up Discord?

First, you’ll need to make sure you’re an A+ member! A+ members support everything Autostraddle does, and they get all kinds of bonus content as thanks — including access to periodic popup Discords where you can hang with A+ members! It’s helpful if you make a Discord account ahead of time if you do not already have one.

A post will re-appear on the day of the event, behind the A+ paywall, with the link and join widget :)

What will the event be like?

So, unlike a permanently run Discord, we will open this Discord, and then close it, so it’s great if you can stop by before it turns into a pumpkin!!! We keep our Discord pop-up’s text-based. They’re essentially like a chatroom or a Slack with different “channels” based around different topics you all might want to discuss such as sports or TV or parenting or crafts. You can use Discord on your phone or on a computer (probably also a tablet) and you’re invited to stop in as much or as little as you like. We ask every member to abide by a code of conduct (best summarized as respect each other and respect consent!). We just hang out and chat and share photos of our crafts or baked goods or leather work, whatever! It’s a good time and a great chance to talk to fellow queers and Autostraddle community members.

Accessibility

We want Autostraddle events to be as accessible as possible and we opted to go with a text-based chatting format via Discord in large part because it was one of the most accessible ways to hold this virtual event, not just in terms of audio/visual accessibility, but also because we know it can be hard to ask a question out loud or know when to jump into a conversation. We hope this helps things go as smoothly as is possible for a virtual event. That said, if there are accommodations that would make it easier for you to attend this event, please reach out to me at nico[at]autostraddle.com to let me know. Also, here’s a link to a guide on using Discord with a screen reader.

When will you have a Pop-Up Discord again?

We’re going to run one in December, too, for the 13 Days of A+. It’s probably going to run through the whole 13 Days, too.

In Summary

We’re opening the A+ Member pop-up Discord server on Thursday, November 3 at 3pm PST and running it through Monday, November 7 at 9am PST. Join us on Friday, November 4, at 2pm PST through 5pm PST for a hang with the senior team.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!