#FolkloreThursday FAQ

 

Beginning on June 18th 2015, and founded by @DeeDeeChainey and @WillowWinsham, the #FolkloreThursday journey has been amazing! Here’s a little more about what #FolkloreThursday is and how to take part.

 

 

What is #FolkloreThursday?

Whether you’re fanatical about folklore or a fan of fairy tales, #FolkloreThursday is the place for you! Firstly, it’s a Twitter hashtag day, where you can post all your folklore related blog posts, quotes and other oddments. Secondly, the #FolkloreThursday website is an online magazine filled with top folklore articles from the some of the best creatives and academics from around the world!  The Creative Corner is a section of the website dedicated to some of the best creative works inspired by folklore.

Read about #FolkloreThursday in the press here.

One helpful definition of folklore is: “The traditions, beliefs, customs and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.” Folklore is also contemporary, and includes urban legends, current trends and internet memes.

When is #FolkloreThursday?

#FolkloreThursday is a Twitter hashtag day that happens every Thursday. We now have a list of weekly themes on site. Feel free to tweet folklore about anything you like, as the themes are only there for inspiration.

While the hashtag is no longer hosted each week, there are special hosted dates throughout the year, so watch out for announcements! When hosted, the hosts take regular breaks throughout the day (to hydrate and stock up on retweeting power), so sessions generally follow this order:

• Morning session 1: 9.30 – 10.30am GMT/BST (usually hosted by @WillowWinsham or @CentreMyth)
• Morning session 2: 11 – 12.00pm GMT/BST (usually hosted by @HerbalStorytell)
• Afternoon session 1: 1pm – 2pm GMT/BST (usually hosted by @Mythcrafts)
• Afternoon session 2: 3.30pm – 4.30pm GMT/BST (usually hosted by @HistoriumU)
• Evening session: 6.30pm – 7.30pm GMT/BST (usually hosted by @ShanonSinn)
• Sessions are also led by our other wonderful hosts: @IcySedgwick and @kimsfic.

 

How can I take part in #FolkloreThursday?

Simply visit this page: #FolkloreThursday on Thursdays. Read the posts that you find there, and retweet them if you like them. Do feel free to add your comments if there is something that excites you, or if you have a question — please be kind.  If you would like to share a post for #FolkloreThursday, just tweet the title of the article or a little information about it, along with a link to the article, and type ‘#folklorethursday’ at the end of your tweet. It will then appear in the #FolkloreThursday hashtag feed on Twitter for everyone to read and retweet too.

 

What can I post for #FolkloreThursday?

We try to make #FolkloreThursday a friendly place where everyone feels comfortable to come to read, share and learn about folklore. Folklore can be difficult to define, so we try to take a broad approach and include things that people will find interesting. We do try to make sure that what we retweet is accurate, so it’s best to add a link to your tweet to a place where people can find out more about the topic you’re tweeting about.

#FolkloreThursday is happy to retweet anything formally classed as folklore, following the academic definition and categories for ease. We believes in an inclusive policy to celebrate all cultures across the world, irrespective of creed or race, and promotes an inclusive dialogue with people from all walks of life, including indigenous groups.

‘Folklore’ can be defined as:

‘The traditions, beliefs, customs and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.’ ~ Oxford Dictionary.

Types of folklore include narrative folktales (like animal tales, fables, fairy tales, tall tales, myths, and legends), material culture like objects (made from pottery, woodwork, or other crafts) and vernacular architecture (everyday buildings like houses or barns). Folklore also includes folk music, folk art, sayings, foodways, customs, and childlore (street games, traditional games, songs, riddles and rhymes). Folklife includes: music, dance, storytelling, crafts, costume, holidays, life-cycle rituals, and occupational skills, folk religion, folk medicine, and superstitions (folk beliefs).

That gives plenty of scope, so tweet your blog posts, quotes, music, artwork and images that cover the following:

• folklore
• original legends, fairy tales, folktales and myths
• objects and buildings with a folkloric story behind them
• folk music, folk dance, folk art and crafts
• customs, traditions, rhymes, and games that are traditional
• the folklore of food
• festivals, folk religion, folk medicines, superstitions and sayings
• We also accept heritage and archaeology posts as they are thought to be of interest to the #FolkloreThursday readers.
• We will accept posts featuring creative writing, artwork, music and dance inspired by folklore, but will only retweet the best of these, as actual folklore (stemming from beliefs and traditions shared by communities, rather than created by individuals) is the main focus of #FolkloreThursday. We do treat promotional posts a bit differently, so if you’re promoting your own work do read below.

 

What can’t I post for #FolkloreThursday?

While folklore gives plenty of scope, there are a few restrictions. Please refrain from tweeting:

• Anything containing offensive language.
• Sexual references, pornography or nudity: sculptures, drawings and paintings with nudity are fine to share as long as they are not gratuitous, but please don’t post photos or videos with nudity.
• Any of the ‘isms’: racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.
• Anything unrelated to folklore!
• We don’t generally retweet post about:
  • circus ‘freaks’ — #FolkloreThursday realises that historically these people were thought to be sources of entertainment, but we don’t really agree with this. We prefer to think that everyone should be treated equally, irrespective of illnesses or disabilities.
  • recent legends – we won’t retweet if posts contains names of people (or other identifiable information) that have lived recently, as we don’t want to encourage internet rumours and cyber-bullying. This might include some urban legends and also:
  • murders — we will retweet murder posts if they are entirely historical or have passed into legend. We won’t usually retweet these if they have happened within the last century or so, to avoid upsetting existing family members.
  • posts featuring children with photographs of faces or identifying information due to our child protection and safeguarding policies
  •  posts deemed to encourage or celebrate cruelty to animals.
• Please see below for posts relating to personal/business promotion.

 

Why might my tweet not have been retweeted by the @FolkloreThurs account on a hosted hashtag day?

• Twitter have now imposed tweet limits, so we have to limit the amount we retweet during each session. We’re sorry, we can’t retweet everything – do try reposting your tweet during the next session. We also hope that people are taking part to be part of the ocmmunity, not just to be retweeted by the @FolkloreThurs account. We ask that you read and retweet each other’s posts too, and then people will also share your own. 
• Some Thursdays, just too many tweets come through and we can only retweet the most informative posts. If your article has been posted by someone else first during the day, we try not to duplicate posts to help us stay within Twitter’s limits.
• Make sure you have added #FolkloreThursday to your tweet otherwise we won’t see it.
• Make sure you have read our posting guidelines (this page) and your tweet doesn’t contain anything we can’t retweet.
• We might not be able to retweet you if you post during one of our breaks during the day.
• Comments and messages: we do like chatting to people during #FolkloreThursday. Sometimes we do miss comments, and might not reply just because so many come through. This doesn’t mean we don’t like you – we really do! We’re afraid we can’t monitor or reply to direct messages on Twitter due to the sheer volume we receive.

 

Where is the best place to read the #FolkloreThursday posts?

The best way to read the #FolkloreThursday posts is to type ‘#FolkloreThursday’ into the search box on Twitter, then click the ‘live’ option at the top of the page – this will make sure you see all tweets and not just the most popular ones. You can also see this page by clicking here. Sometimes, when the hashtag is trending, there can be a lot of spam in the feed. If this is the case, please follow #FolkloreThursday retweets from the @FolkloreThurs Twitter account until the problem is resolved — this also helps to filter out tweets from people we’ve blocked, for example people spreading racist posts.

 

How do I make sure my tweet appears in the #FolkloreThursday feed?

• Make sure you add hashtag (#) then ‘#FolkloreThursday’ to your tweet, e.g.: #FolkloreThursday.
• It doesn’t matter if you use capitals or lowercase – your tweet will still come through.
• You can tag us personally into your tweet (e.g. @FolkloreThurs), but this won’t appear in the feed – it will just let us know that you have mentioned us.

 

How do I chat directly with hosts during a hosted #FolkloreThursday session?

We’re sorry, but we’re not able to respond to direct messages due to the sheer number we receive.

Do just send us a public message by starting your tweet with @FolkloreThurs then type your message after. Sometimes we miss comments on Twitter, just because of the sheer number coming through.

 

How can I support #FolkloreThursday?

Firstly, just be taking part each week! If you would like to do more, do consider making a monthly pledge to help support us by buying our folklore books. They are available on Amazon, but please do buy them from a local book shop if you can.

 

Where else can I find #FolkloreThursday on the internet?

#FolkloreThursday also has a Facebook, YouTube Channel, Instagram, and Pinterest.

 

What about referencing on #FolkloreThursday?

Please do credit any images that you post that are not in the public domain (e.g. artwork by modern artists). You can do this easily by mentioning their name, or linking to their social media accounts or website. It’s always good to give credit to people when we’re enjoying their art, writing or music, and lovely to connect with them and show them their work is appreciated!

Aside from this, it’s always nice to know what an image is and where it is from, but we don’t enforce this on #FolkloreThursday for images in the public domain (e.g. when the creator died a long time ago). This is for two main reasons. Firstly, Twitter does not lend itself to long references due to the character limits. Secondly, #FolkloreThursday is not just for academics; it’s for everyone to use and feel comfortable with. We won’t make people feel excluded or marginalised because they are unaware of academic standards, this includes referencing.

This also applies to referencing sources for folklore. While we try not to retweet incorrect folklore, we accept that folklore is primarily based on oral tradition and often does not have a source outside of the family or local community for many people. We won’t insist that people quote a source; the onus is on the reader to check accuracy.

 

Can I promote my book/ event/ business using the #FolkloreThursday hashtag?

We realise that your book or event might be of interest to folklore enthusiasts, so we have the following policy:

• 1 promotional tweet per person can be posted each Thursday using the #FolkloreThursday hashtag if your book, event or product is folklore related, and this will be retweeted if it’s of interest to our followers.
• We still reserve the right not to retweet promotional posts.
• Please do not post your product/ event more than once — everyone has already seen it and this will clog up the lovely folklore feed.
• If it is unrelated to folklore we will consider it to be spam. If you spam us continually, we will report you for spam I’m afraid.

 

Can I send a copy of my book/ CD/ product to #FolkloreThursday for review or promotion?

We’re sorry, but we can’t accept books, music or other creative works for review. We’re a small team of volunteers, and we just don’t have the resources to do them justice, so unable to offer promotional services or publish articles about your product. Do feel free to promote your work on Thursdays by posting a tweet about it with the hashtag, following the guidelines above. We’re also sorry, but we can’t reply to messages or emails requesting promotions since we receive so many.

We are not currently running book promotions or competitions with publishers or authors.

 

Can I submit an article for the #FolkloreThursday website?

We’re sorry, but we’re not currently accepting article submissions for the website.

 

Can I use the #FolkloreThursday content or articles for my own website or project?

It’s fine for you to use an article as a research source, and copy and paste a small section of an article (e.g. a sentence or paragraph) as part of your own piece, if you credit the author and provide a link to their article from your post (or give the title and URL). You don’t need permission to use a small segment, but authors often appreciate it when their work is used fairly, so they might like it if you let them know on Twitter — they might even share a link to your work as thanks!

All articles on the site are the intellectual property of the original author, and copyright is held by them, so cannot be reproduced in full without their permission. This includes copying and pasting them to your own blog, or reading them out on your podcast — crediting the author and providing a link to the original post doesn’t make this okay, it is still copyright infringement. Reposting an entire article on your own site is not considered ‘fair use’ under UK law; more info can be found here.

Similar applies to all art, photographs and illustrations. All other site content is the intellectual property of #FolkloreThursday and cannot be reproduced.

 

Can I use the #FolkloreThursday name or logo for my own project?

We’re sorry, but no. FolkloreThursday can’t be used for projects that are not run by us. We take our reputation very seriously, and think carefully about how we approach folklore and the folklore community, so we can’t endorse any projects we’re not involved in and don’t adhere to our guidelines.

 

Your Privacy

Your privacy is important to us! We’ve reviewed our privacy procedures and policies after hearing about the EU’s  new General Data Protection Regulation (May 25th 2018), and we updated our privacy policy — you can read it here. If you have any concerns about how we use your data, or would like us to delete any data we have about you, do just send us a message on Twitter.

 

What if I have a question that you haven’t answered here?

Let us know! We don’t bite. Although, we may wave a hand of glory at you …

 

FolkloreThursday will endeavour to retweet as much as possible throughout the day, but we reserve the right to not retweet material at our discretion.

The official Twubs page for the hashtag can be found here.