If you're having a crisis, please take care of yourself the best you can. We're concerned members of the community but we are not trained clinicians and our recommendations are not to be understood as equivalent medical or mental health advice. In addition, being a small volunteer organization means we cannot respond to crises in a timely manner; we do not have the ability to operate a round-the-clock crisis hotline. We strongly urge that you utilize resources such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255, 24/7), The Crisis Textline (text HOME to 74174 in the U.S., or 686868 in Canada); or call 911 or your local emergency number if you are having an emergent medical crisis or are contemplating suicide.

We also recognize that we're headed by three cis white bisexual women, and therefore welcome others' perspectives as we shape our group. If we're missing something that relates to your experience, please let us know. Likewise, if we have made a misstep in representing your story, please educate us so that we can help our community get it right!

Lastly, we're based in the United States and we're English-speakers. It's currently difficult for us to gather accurate information about other countries' convention culture, and it's also difficult for us to have fully translated information for those of you who don't speak English. If you're reading this and you want to help us with translation or international convention coverage, please contact us at info@cosplayer-ssn.org with "International" in the subject.

1. What the purpose of the Cosplayer Survivor Support Network
   Follow this link to our mission statement.



2. I'm having a crisis. What should I do?
   From our disclaimer: if you're having a crisis, please take care of yourself the best you can. We're concerned members of the community but we're not trained clinicians and our recommendations are not to be understood as equivalent medical or mental health advice. In addition, being a small volunteer organization means we cannot respond to crises in a timely manner; we do not have the ability to operate a round-the-clock crisis hotline. We strongly urge that you utilize resources such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255, 24/7), The Crisis Textline (text HOME to 74174 in the U.S., or 686868 in Canada); or call 911 or your local emergency number if you are having an emergent medical crisis or are contemplating suicide.



3. How can I share my story?
   At CSSN, we are accepting submissions of articles related to harassment, abuse, consent, bullying, and other relevant topics in our community. We do not accept submissions of individual's personal stories. If you wish to submit an article, send it to info@cosplayer-ssn.org with "Submission" in the subject line. We are currently working on fundraising to be able to pay contributors for their stories.






4. Can you publish this callout post/list of offenders?
   Our community is unique, which can be wonderful in many ways, but like the professions of politics or Hollywood, it can attract people who want to participate in community gossip in an effort to elevate themselves or put down others. We're not about gossip. More importantly, we don't publish callout posts or participate in mediating community disputes between individuals or groups.
   Our resources do not now, and will not ever, contain a block-list of perpetrators/offenders; rather, we are like RAINN, a place for support and resources for survivors and allies. If our website published lists or articles about offenders, no matter how well-meaning or factual they may be, we could face legal consequences regarding libel and defamation of character. This is especially due to the fact that we are a small group, not an individual (for example, a Facebook user posting an account of a particular offender has much more protection because it is their personal Facebook). The exception to this rule is when we publish articles containing the names of people or organizations involved that have been reported elsewhere from reputable publications. For your sake as well as ours, it's important to protect the identities of people involved in any act of stalking, harassment, abuse, assault, and/or any published accounts of those acts.



5. I wanna help out! What can I do?
   There are several ways you can help us at the moment:
   • Support people who come forward
   • Contact conventions about improving their harassment policies (our sample policy, Con Resources)
   • Graphic design for website needs
   • Writers for other parts of the community that we don't typically cover/aren't a part of
   • Cosplayers from other countries to offer different perspectives & information on their local laws
   • Donate to the CSSN and other social organizations





6. How can I get you to provide programming at our convention?
   Email Trickssi at info@cosplayer-ssn.org with "Booking" in the subject line with the details of your offer. A list of programming we offer can be found here.



7. How do I donate money, and what is it used for?
   You can donate to the CSSN on via PayPal.
   
   Donated funds will be used for:
   • Running this website (we are committed to keeping it ad-free)
   • Printing of pamphlets and other educational/promotional materials
   • Travel expenses to cons where we deliver CSSN-sponsored panels on consent, trauma, and other related topics
   • Long-term goals of being able to pay for freelance articles or site features & working towards becoming a 501(c)3 organization
   As we are not yet a 501(c)3 (see above), any donations made to the CSSN cannot be considered tax-deductible.






8. I have a business question. Who do I contact?
   Ali serves as our business and financial director and you can email her at legal@cosplayer-ssn.org.
   
   Our mailing address is:
   Cosplayer Survivor Support Network, LLC
   P.O. Box 307693
   Columbus OH 43230
   
   Our phone number is (380) 212-CSSN (2776).



9. What information do you collect when I visit your site?
   Please read our privacy policy. While we are based in the US, we and our hosting company do comply with EU General Data Protection Regulation. We do not require the use of cookies.



10. There's a problem with the website. What should I do?
    Ali is our technical support! Email admin@cosplayer-ssn.org and let her know what isn't working.