More than a flyer: collaborating on a printed "greeting from ANONYMOUS"

If this is already a thread, please stop me before I've gone too far and redirect me to the right place. I searched and searched but didn't see anything along these lines, per say.

My goal is to create a multi-page layman's introduction to ANONYMOUS on paper.
A lot of thought and effort is put toward attracting people who are Anon without knowing it. Clearly, I am not alone in my impression that there are wiser people in the world who we are just not reaching. It seems they are deaf to the call because, IMHO, they are not tech-savvy enough to seek out more information in our usual haunts (that is to say, on the internet).
To address that issue, I aim to print and distribute a greeting similar to so many of the YouTube videos we have all seen. I welcome your criticism and/or advice. Here is a simple outline of what I have in mind (to be tailored by region and re-issued monthly with fresh information):

Part 1 - "We Are ANONYMOUS"
Who we are.
Why we are.
Where we are.
Recent activities.
Goals for the future.

Part 2 - "City And State"
Recent events.
Sources.

Part 3 - "This Country"
Recent events.
Sources.

Part 4 - "The World"
Recent events.
Sources.

Part 5 - "Expect Us"
Upcoming demonstrations: reasons (citing pages 2-4), dates, times, locations and desired outcomes.
What it means to be an activist.
Invitation to become ANONYMOUS.

This sounds like you want to basically print up a new Anon orientation booklet. I don't know if every group is ready to absorb the kinds of people who are going to benefit from this, but I think it's worth starting to work on.

Instead of printing out new ones every month, I would recommend creating a relatively stable pdf (one that will only require updates as major events occur), maybe making one for groups that are just chanology, one for groups that do both, and one for groups that are just FoI. I would cut out most of the city and state level information and instead leave some blank spaces where local groups can put in their own information. Trying to write out a booklet for each group is going to take too much of your time. For the upcoming demonstrations, I would also leave blank spaces so anons can write in what their next event is as they go.

PDF sounds like a great idea. I've been working on this alone and it's tough to make any judgement calls which may be questioned at a later stage of adaptation. THIS is the kind of input I desperately need!

I plan to be able to share a template with the complete intro (since it should apply universally) and just some framework for the other sections. That will be the ground work for whomever is willing to print these and distribute them locally. The rest can be filled in, abridged and updated as those activists see fit. We're not looking for subscribers who will read every edition. But we also shouldn't create one pamphlet and then assume it will still be received with legitimate interest when the events are grossly out-dated.

I don't think the word "orientation" quite fits, since it will be far too short to cover the full scope of all things Anon. I know there are a lot of people willing to post and hand out flyers, but those are aimed at the younger crowd with a 4 second attention span. What about the educated middle-age and above, who operate at a slower pace and expect viewpoints to be presented with some validation? They are accustomed to reading newspapers and magazines for their information; they won't look up a URL from a poster just because it has a flashy image and inflammatory remarks. I want to demonstrate to those people in particular that we are informed, we are not terrorists, rather, we are them! We won't be assuming that they're gonna jump on the bandwagon, but we're being mis-represented by the sources they already trust. It's time to turn the tables and approach them on terms they can respect and understand.

Those are the types of people who are the hardest to get flyers into the hands of, too

Why don't you post a draft of your intro content so we can all pitch in?

Still in the drafting phase. This is pieced together from various statements across the web.

"Greetings. We are ANONYMOUS.

Since the onset of this movement, ANONYMOUS has been referred to as a group of "super hackers," and as "domestic terrorists." We have been labeled villains and evil-doers, and have been thought to have an elite organization. All are incorrect.

We are as our name implies, a group with no leader and no face. We share no common opinions, unite under no one banner and follow no one set of rules. We are not good people, but rather, our diversity is as vast as the human condition. You are ANONYMOUS. Your parents are ANONYMOUS. Your brothers, sisters, friends and neighbors are ANONYMOUS. Doctors, students, priests, atheists and stay-at-home mothers are ANONYMOUS. Everyone who wishes to protect freedom and thwart oppression is ANONYMOUS.

The concept of ANONYMOUS has always existed: a belief that the only legitimate form of power is that which rests on widespread public consent. Anyone taking part in the actions of ANONYMOUS endeavors to defend an idea through anonymous collective action, and not to promote themselves as some kind of hero or savior of the world. ANONYMOUS, therefore, is not about personal achievement and recognition. It is about accomplishing goals for the betterment of humankind -- together -- as a species.

If you do not wish to join our protests, pass them by. But we invite you to ask the supporters of our cause to tell you more information about it. Information is our only weapon and we will give our knowledge to you, so that you may be armed as well."

There's ways to get a different form of QR-Code on cards.
Hold it infront of the webcam and a video pops-up at your screen playing your chosen video.

Just an idea...

I don't know if the non-tech-savvy crowd will bother... or even own webcams. They'd probably just throw the card away because they don't like new and different. Very cool technology though.

Sure is, 3D stuff

Edits in bold

The younger the more chance of being tech savvy with a smartphone, also the more chance they're a recruitment target of CoS.

Perhaps...

Hey if you guys would nit mind I would like to work on this project in spanish for the spanish forum.
lemme know what's up <3

Yes! If you translate this, please post it here. I know there are a lot of Spanish-speakers in my community as well. It would be awesome to print both versions!

That depends on how they receive hypothetical flyers. The medium is the message, as they say, and the delivery method is just as significant.

This is good. I'll work up a version and run it by you soon. The target demographic, the higher attention spanned, older, wiser, yet-less-Internet-savy crowd needs a few more pieces of the puzzle.

Also, I like the template you created for different sections. Brevity is important, but it's important to pack as much as possible into a small space. More payload for less booster. We'll work on this.

-1111

This is fast and loose for 2 a.m., so bear with me.

What follows below is a bit...different. But contains elements of what you had before. I wanted to create a sense of events unfolding around people, around us all. A narrative of "things out there are getting serious" type of thing. Something that unites, and starts vague but can be fleshed out as the flyer progresses. I might have a narrative meme that's not as apt as something else you could think of, so chime in if you have a different idea. I thought this one worked because it appears at the beginning and toward the end. Kind of pulls it together.

Also: people process the written word in different ways than video etc.. The audio version of jumping right into the "YOU are anonymous; your priest is anonymous; your friend's uncle's fuck buddy is anonymous" doesn't quite work in writing the same way. The brain immediately responds, as it reads, in mid-sentence with, "Well,wait, no I'm not part of your group, actually, but that was very clever of you and I see right through that - you're trying to recruit me through the clever use of language." The educated, critical thinking mind will respond this way. It is immune to such Jedi Mind Tricks.

And that's GOOD! It's better to reveal your hand - to say, "This is our refrain." You'll see what I mean when you read that part. It's non manipulative, and smacks of speaking amongst equals. Which is what people want to read and be about anyway. Anyway, constructive criticism is welcome. Fire away. It'd be great to talk about the other sections of the flyer too.

Also, what I wrote can be tightened a bit too, that is, made shorter. Let's keep at it.

****************

As you're no doubt aware, the situation out there has gotten rather serious. The power of corporations and government over information is tremendous. It is in this shared context of a world where our ability to discern truth from fiction is being attacked that we greet you.

Hello.

We are ANONYMOUS.

Since the rise of our public notoriety, ANONYMOUS has been accused of being everything from "super hackers," to "domestic terrorists." We've been labeled villains by private freelance security firms, and evil-doers by organizations as large as NATO. Some people believe we're an “elite organization of criminal masterminds.”

All of these are incorrect.

We are as our name implies – a loose community with no leader and no face. We're defined by no official set of common opinions, unite under no one banner and follow no defined rules. We're neither good nor bad people, our diversity is as vast as the human condition.

Our refrain is simple: You are ANONYMOUS; your parents are ANONYMOUS; your sisters, brothers, friends and neighbors are ANONYMOUS; doctors, students, priests, atheists, journalists, strippers, soldiers and soccer moms are ANONYMOUS. Everyone who chooses to take up the name is ANONYMOUS.

The concept has always existed: a belief that the only legitimate form of power is that which rests on widespread public consent. Anyone taking part in the actions of ANONYMOUS endeavors to defend an idea through anonymous collective action, and not to promote themselves as hero or The Savior Of The World. ANONYMOUS, therefore, is not about personal achievement and recognition. It's about accomplishing goals for the betterment of humankind – together. As a species.

Because the situation is indeed grave. Fortunately those who once flocked to mainstream media are waking up. Many suspect the news presented is lacking all the available information, or that the "facts" have been compromised by any number of interests.

That's where ANONYMOUS comes in.

If you don't want to join our protests or rallies, pass them by. However, we do entreat you to ask the supporters of our cause to provide you with more information before making snap judgments. Information is our only weapon; facts our best and only shield – and we will give our knowledge to you so that you, too, may be armed as well.

Thank you for reading. Would you like to know more?

What follows are some specific initiatives, actions and results that ANONYMOUS has achieved and strives for even now.

Bonus points if you pick out the Starship Troopers reference. Also the skipping lines a lot thing is a form of copy that, cognitively, has been shown to increase and lock in attention spans like few other forms of writing. Also, it's more conversational than the typical stuff out there. I used contractions, like "you're" instead of "you are." The goal, I feel, for this flyer, is not to sound like Lieutenant Commander Data. The goal is to seem like approachable everyday people. Um, like we are.

I like!

Only thing I would change is to put strippers and soccer moms back next to each other, and possibly swap out "Marines" for something that doesn't need to be capitalized.

Strippers and soccer moms are like peas and carrots, they just go together. And it's amazing how one can morph into the other in just a few year's time. Sort of like a beautiful Monarch Butterfly!

The Marines thing is well taken. It was late and my brain was dead - I was looking for a term that could single out somebody in the armed services, since I think that's very important to invoke and include. And I didn't want to say "armed services personnel type person...."

Blarg.

Still thinking. "Army guy?" No. Army is capitalized anyway. Um.....oh wait! Soldier! I'm such an idiot. Going to edit my post now.

Glad we had this little chat, WMAnon.

The word you're looking for is "soldiers"

Like I said. Soldier. I said that, silly. : )

I TOTALLY READ THAT POST TO THE END AND DID NOT SKIP OVER ANY VITAL WORDS THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN RELEVANT TO THE PITHY COMMENT I WAS POSTING. ANY EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY IS CLEARLY COINTELPRO.

Oh! And! This was Jacky Blue Note's idea, but there ought to be a text box or sidebar in the flyer that has this effing gem right here:

As Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens put forth in deciding McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm’n 514 U.S. 334, 357 (1995),"Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation—and their ideas from suppression—at the hand of an intolerant society. The right to remain anonymous may be abused when it shields fraudulent conduct. But political speech by its nature will sometimes have unpalatable consequences, and, in general, our society accords greater weight to the value of free speech than to the dangers of its misuse."

Clearly I failed to capture your attention and hold it to the end of the post. I have failed as a writer. I must now commit ritual seppuku with a very large fountain pen.

OP, have you got someone on graphics for this already?

So when coming up with fliers and the like, eventually one has to do things like exchange pdfs and keep at it - and that's where formatting, spacing, font choices, logo & graphic placement, paper type and color, and all the various concrete and intangible benefits of these choices must be considered.

But I'm dying to do some more writing here. And since I'm an Anon newbie, I can't write these sections myself from scratch (sections which I pasted here again below). If you give me a list, or even just a "data dump" that constitutes the "guts" of each section, I can get going and work some things up.

Part 1 - "We Are ANONYMOUS"
Who we are.
Why we are.
Where we are.
Recent activities.
Goals for the future.

Part 2 - "City And State"
Recent events.
Sources.

Part 3 - "This Country"
Recent events.
Sources.

Part 4 - "The World"
Recent events.
Sources.

Part 5 - "Expect Us"
Upcoming demonstrations: reasons (citing pages 2-4), dates, times, locations and desired outcomes.
What it means to be an activist.
Invitation to become ANONYMOUS.

Let's keep it going. The flier idea is good. I think there's definitely a need for a physically printed item(s). Even leaflets and fliers are a good idea (think suburban parking lots - ones without cameras). Different tools for different jobs.

Let's keep this alive.

Also: $

We need some to print a slew of these kinds of things. Message me if anyone's interested in putting a fund together for this purpose. not sure how we'd go about this. Anonymous isn't exactly a non-profit, so it'll take comitted people to basically trust one another to work all those angles. You need somebody who is down with storing all this stuff, and so on & so forth.

That's all my brain's got a the moment. I don't want this project to die from lack of momentum (not least of which is the reason that writing is really what I have to offer - otherwise I'm just kinda sittin' around watching on the sidelines).

RSVP please. Any non-overbearing perfectionist with the right skills is welcome on this project.

-1111

No offense to anyone ITT but...

Remember tl;dr? walloftext.jpg?

Do you ever FULLY read a flyer you get handed out?

No one fully reads flyers...unless they're on the toilet taking a more involved shit, and happen to have nothing else to read. Anyway, fliers are designed to be skimmed. But with enough "hit words" the right people will read it to completion.

Effective copywriting involves techniques that grab your eyeballs without letting go. Word use, phrasing, spacing, and other techniques actually keep people reading.

The only people that'll read a flier are those who already have a spark of interest. A "target demographic," as it were. Those who wouldn't be into it won't be into it, and that's fine. We're writing to people who would be prone to read just a little further.

There's a difference in people's minds between a single sheet of paper and a booklet. If you commit to opening a booklet, you're expecting to put a couple minutes into reading it. If you take a flyer, you're committing to a glance. I don't know how well OPs idea will work irl, but I haven't seen it crash and burn yet.

a booklet should include some lulyz graphics with a caption or something at the bottom or top each page per page to hold people's interest and make them want to read on?

something like:
Go on.... you are on your way to learning about a dangeous cult
or
are your tax dollars funding the cult?

not these exact words, but something of that nature?
People have VERY short attention spans.

What would be really MARVELOUS if it could be a flip book which would be difficult. A flip book is of course partial graphics which are on per page. When flipped through, it makes an image or a moving image.

These images can be on the other side of the printed pages, so when they flipped through it , it would show the ANON mask or something? or say we are legion or both?
yeah I know difficult, but it would be yummy

and people may have a tendacy to hold on to them more? and show other people.
Kids would love it too

one more thing
printing can be costly for booklets tho?

I have InDesign and a template for making little books, all I'm missing is a stapler. Double-sided black and white printing isn't that expensive for folks who don't have printers at home or school to abuse. I'd be willing to do a how-to thread on making them if there's interest.

I have some experience making "Chapbooks," which might suffice. I was thinking more of a tri-fold kind of thing more text heavy.

@RightOn: You're, well, right on. As a seasoned copywriter, we study the written techniques that lock in attentions spans.

It is estimated that when somebody picks up a flier, booklet, direct mail, etc. - you have approximately 3 seconds to catch and hold their attention or it's over. Booklet in the dust bin. With these facts in mind, copywriters hone their craft to create language that stimulates as each sentence passes.

My goal is apply my skill to any written work Anonymous may require, be it online or printed. Getting the sections together as referenced a few posts above, I think, will come in handy.

What's InDesign? Is that free? I think I might be interested in getting that for myself. Wait, don't answer. I'll Google it. But yeah, sounds good.

Just wanted to say THIS IS GREAT. A few people at my school don't know what anonymous is, but they seem genuinely interested, I could give them this, because having to list all the information in the right order is a hard job to do. xD

It's from Adobe, do the maths...

truefax

PDF-file at the end and we're basicly done, true again.

Yet I still don't know about it...
I mean, check on the anti scilon manga. that ain't such a big succes either

it's pretty awesome

Not so.
It sold out in a heartbeat at Comiket. Like fresh hot pastries.
It generated some new interest in us as well.
And finally, it remains a readily-available tool in our arsenal - can be printed and handed out to those who stop by our protests for a longer chat and show considerable interest. Hence, it's met all goals with full success.

That said, as far as printed handouts go, it's not meant to be printed in numbers (cost and practicality!). Just a special something for those who're clearly interested, stop for a chat and want to know more.
OR as something to disseminate at conventions.

It's obviously NOT feasible as a mass handout during raids, and I don't think a multi-page brochure would be any more practical. For that purpose, a basic flier is far more suitable.

My suggestion to the OP would be, well... all the points he wants to address in the brochure should be condensed into just one page of a flier, a double-sided one at most. If there would still be a lot of fine text there, it would need punchy bulleting and paragraphing. Avoid TL;DR at all costs.