If you're having a crisis, please take care of yourself the best you can. Some of us are certified victim advocates 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 or intention to operate a round-the-clock crisis hotline. If you're in crisis and looking for help, we strongly urge that you utilize community-based resources for "warm" crisis lines, i.e., services that are not connected to police. One website that lists several of these options is https://www.inclusivetherapists.com/crisis. Please be aware that calling 911 or the 988 lifeline for yourself or someone else can be risky, especially if marginalized people are involved.

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 is the purpose of the Cosplayer Survivor Support Network?
   Follow this link to our mission statement.



2. Can I trust conventions that have a 6/6 rating in the Harassment Policy Report Card?
   An evaluation of 6/6 is NOT an endorsement for any convention. We are not affiliated with any convention and do not provide endorsements. We can never fully audit any policy without falsifying a report of harassment, which is unhelpful and morally wrong, or without experiencing harassment ourselves, which we would hope you do not expect, and your mileage may vary from the evaluations on our Harassment Policy Report Card. If you have an issue with an incident at a particular convention, we encourage you to contact that specific convention. We do not get involved in issues where a report was not handled to the satisfaction of the reporter by any convention. If you harass members of CSSN based on your belief that our evaluations are endorsements or because your experiences reflect something other than the evaluation score listed, we reserve the right to block you from interacting with us.
   



3. 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. Some of us are certified victim advocates 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 or intention to operate a round-the-clock crisis hotline. If you're in crisis and looking for help, we strongly urge that you utilize community-based resources for "warm" crisis lines, i.e., services that are not connected to police. One website that lists several of these options is https://www.inclusivetherapists.com/crisis. Please be aware that calling 911 or the 988 lifeline for yourself or someone else can be risky, especially if marginalized people are involved.



4. How can I share my story?
   We are not currently accepting personal essays or articles. Please see the above if you are in crisis and feel you need to share the details with someone confidentially.






5. 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. Similarly, we do not get involved in issues where a report was not handled to the satisfaction of the reporter by any convention.
   
   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.



6. I want to help out! What can I do?
   There are several ways you can help us at the moment:
   • Believe people who come forward
   • Learn about crisis intervention beyond bystander intervention training
   • Contact conventions about improving their harassment policies (our sample policy)
   • Graphic design for website needs
   • Perspectives from 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 CSSN and other social organizations
   • If you are in a position of power (convention organizer, voice actor or cosplay guest, staff): commit to improving your community's safety (you can start by ensuring your Report Card score is a 6/6.)





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



8. 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
   • Continuing education for those of us who are licensed victim advocates
   • Overhead costs such as our phone line, mailbox, and business fees
   As we are not a 501(c)3 (see above), any donations made to the CSSN cannot be considered tax-deductible.
   
   Update for 2025: Please note that the decision to pause our efforts for a 501(c)3 affiliation have not been made lightly. Many nonprofit organizations in our community have recently folded due to lack of funding; there has also been a threat to socialist nonprofits from the current government administration. We would like to continue to provide as many resources as we can for as long as we can. For right now, that means staying in our for-profit classification.






9. 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).



10. 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.



11. 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.