The Backup Ribbon Project has always existed as a labor of (mostly) love. We wanted to take one small bit of the overall Open-Source Backup Project and run with it. After all, that is the concept behind Open Source, right?

We’ve been amazed, astounded, and shocked at where this crazy little notion of ours has gone — and a few places we didn’t expect it to (*ahem* a certain Southeast con held over Labor Day Weekend). Y’all have taken ribbons, tweeted us, shared us, challenged us, and embraced the wacky notion that we all just need to look out for one another.

However, as can sometimes happen, we are rather at a crossroads for a couple of reasons.

The first is not so much of a surprise. We just sent out the very last of our ribbons, stickers, and cards and now need to reorder more. One of the basic tenants of the Backup Ribbon Project upon is not to charge for ribbons. We want this to be as accessible to as many people as possible.

Unfortunately, running the Backup Ribbon Project requires money for ribbons, cards, stickers, and postage. As it stands right now, we are on  a thread budget (slimmer than a shoestring), and cannot afford to order our next batch of supplies. Much as we hate rattling the tin cup, we once again have to remind everyone that we really do need your help in order to continue doing this.

The second problem is rather more complex and one that we have not yet determined how to tackle. We have always maintained that we are but a small division of the overall Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Project and Gentlemen’s Auxilliary. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties beyond our control, the web site for the overall Backup Project has gone away. The owner of the site has not yet determined what to do about this.

This has left us as the first viable link to pop up when you type “Backup Project” into Google. We’ve been getting questions from people wanting to implement their own version of the Backup Project asking us for information.

And…we got nuttin’. While we love that people want to find their own creative way to get out this message, we are not really equipped to tell you how to do it, nor be a central hub for all the various Backup Project things that are going on. We are not designed for it and, to be honest, really don’t want to take on that task. All the things needed to be good at this — tact, diplomacy, patience, decorum, time and resources — we don’t have in great abundance.

Maybe somebody else has already done this. If so, hey, can you give us a shout so we can hook up with you. In the absence of that…we’re really not sure what to do. Maybe some of you have suggestions? Shoot ’em our way.

For the meantime, we just need to wait and see what develops. We believe in this crazy little thing of ours. We hope y’all do as well. Maybe together, we can figure out the next step in this process.