Exported from Max's personal notes
This was never put on Slack because we decided it didn't feel right to post in the moment. The doc is an early draft– some sentences aren't complete, spelling errors, etc.
When we were figuring out the messaging for the launch post, one thing we were stuck on was how to make it clear people didn’t have to pay. We went through a bunch of options(ex. “Free”, “all expenses paid”) , but none were exactly what we wanted to communicate for different reasons. Ultimately Claire came up with the wording we chose: “the Zephyr is a gift to the community— no participant has to anything for any part of it”. Since then I’ve seen some ambiguity spring up:
What do we mean by gift? It’s something you don’t hVe to fee indebted for. This isn’t something you pay to get, and it’s not something you get as payment (Ie. For being active in the slack).
This trip is not for paying back to the most active community members. We’re going to select based on what we think will make the best train experience, and that will likely correlate with slack activity, but doing things for us or hanging out in slack isn’t a requirement.
Do I deserve it?
If you’re reading this, chances are the answer is yes. This Slack is full of wonderful people. Because this is a general message going out and not a DM I can’t be more specific to you, dear reader. Life has enough stress outside of self-doubt. Go ahead and apply— if you don’t get it there’s nothing wrong with you, we just found someone who needed the experience more.
Who needs this trip?
That’s harder to answer. To be honest we’re still figuring that out. I personally had a blast every-time I traveled
I heard some hesitation from people around applying b/c of the whole “gift” wording of the trip. Just to clarify: it’s something you don’t have to feel indebted for. This isn’t something you pay to get, and it’s not something you get as payment.
This trip is not for paying back to the most active community members. We’re going to select based on what we think will make the best train experience, and that will likely correlate with slack activity, but doing things for us or hanging out in slack isn’t a requirement.
Do I deserve it? If you’re reading this, chances are the answer is yes. This Slack is full of wonderful people. Because this is a general message going out and not a DM I can’t be more specific to you, dear reader. Life has enough stress outside of self-doubt. Go ahead and apply— if you don’t get in, don’t think it’s because you did anything wrong, or didn’t do anything enough. It’s only because of a splash of luck, a bit of fate, and it’s possible someone else may have never been outside of their town before.