The object of this project was to give as complete an insight into fandom as possible. I didn't want to take
information from books, because, as I said in the introduction, they tend to be rather biased. Therefore, I had to
talk to as many fans as possible in person.
The Internet made this possible. Star Trek fans tend to be technically inclined, and so they have a huge presence
on the Internet. There are personal pages on Star Trek, as well as many fan clubs’ websites.
I signed every club guestbook I came across and e-mailed clubs without a guestbook asking anybody and everybody
who would be interested in answering a few questions to please send me an e-mail.
I also sent e-mails to private people who had an e-mail address on their Star Trek WebPages with the same request,
and posted the request on a Trek chatroom.
I hoped for a large response, but the initial response was little short of overwhelming. Allyson Dyar,
communications officer of Starfleet International, one of the oldest and biggest Star Trek fan clubs, read my
guestbook entry and added it to the club's listserves. Consequently many subscribers read it, and the next day over
60 people had sent cheery notes saying they'd be happy to answer some questions. More arrived in the next few days. I had devised a questionnaire, which I sent out to everyone - and within a few hours the first answers were back.
The Canadian club USS Bounty was similarly helpful, with the president writing to all the members asking them if
they'd answer my questionnaire, which many did.
Other people and clubs responded, as did the “SevTrek” chat room participants.
Several people were kind enough to ask if I would like a copy of their newsletter, or sent pictures of themselves
in Trek costumes, and I was invited to a "Trekdinner" of the Swiss USS Batai fan club, where I could meet fans in
person.
Of course, not all the people who asked for the questionnaire filled it out, but nevertheless, I have an impressive
number of answers.
I wrote to people and clubs from America, Alaska, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan and
Australia. I received responses from all of these, except Japan, Singapore and Spain. However, I additionally
received some from Argentina, England and Ireland, from people who happened to come across one of my guestbook
entries.
In addition, during my summer vacation in America, I met a few Trek fans (both intentionally and coincidentally),
whom I also questioned thoroughly.
Everyone who filled out the questionnaire or helped me in any way is credited at the end of the project, along with
the literature I used.
I based the project on what I found out first-hand, and only took ideas and passages from printed literature for
comparison with my findings (these are indicated in the text) and for information on the history of the series,
fandom, and merchandising (not indicated).
