While I’m making announcements…

I just wanted to let people know that if they have asked to join the DCST and wonder why they’re not accepted immediately, we are NOT limiting membership or participation by any means.

Because we tend to get a lot of requests on a daily basis, we decided that in order to keep the group wall less cluttered, we’d add members once per day instead of every time we see a request so that the wall only has one notification of new members every day instead of anywhere from 5-10 (or more) separate ones.

You will be added if you request to join. There’s no question there. EVERYONE IS WELCOME in the DCST.  If for some reason you think your request has been ignored, drop us a line and let us know. We’ll figure out what happened.

Don’t forget about our contest!

Get those submissions in.

(Don’t know what I’m talking about? head over to the DCST facebook page!) 

Autographed merch to be given away!!

http://www.facebook.com/groups/officialdcst/

Contest is going up on the fb page later today. You should check it out.

Prizes are DC autographs.

I love being in a Darren Criss Street Team.

letyourcolorsshine:

It means I’m surrounded by people who understand my obsession and I appreciate that!

 we love you too!

PLEASE READ.

HI TEAM! I need to address something that has been brought to my attention several times in the past but more recently it was brought to me with an intelligent debate that opened my eyes. 
The street team is open to everyone, we do not have exclusive information. While we may get information first, our job is to share that information with the general public unless we are told not to (which doesn’t happen often). 
Being a member of this team does not make us better fans or more important to Darren.  There seems to be a disconnect with the general fan population and those of us belonging to the street team and I have been told that some members of the DCST act superior and have been rude to nonmembers.
You volunteer to promote Darren and you make friends here. We are another outlet to make friends and show our love and support for Darren. We are not elitists.
Some have a problem with the Officers, explaining that we are building a hierarchy amongst the fandom. That is NOT the case. Officers are in place because WE admins (not Darren/Ricky) need representatives in areas that we cannot be in.  That is not to say “oh, Mary Sue is the best Darren Criss fan in Spokane, WA” (that is an example, I do not know someone named Mary Sue nor do I know if she lives in Spokane). If that is your belief about Officers, please let me or another admin know and we will be happy to set that straight.
Sometimes street team members get perks because of the work they do, but other fans that aren’t in the street team have that same opportunity. Just ask the girls that did the Charity Rock Out, they are not affiliated with us. They were backstage with Darren at Market Days.
What I’m trying to remind all of you is that our purpose is to show love and support for Darren Criss. That includes being supportive and friendly to his fanbase. Please report any ‘abuse’ of titles to me and please remember to treat others the way you wish to be treated.  I don’t like the idea of a divide in the fandom over ‘titles’ or the street team’s existence. We’ve been here since before Darren’s audience exploded the way that it did and so long as there is a place for us we will continue to be. But if an angry mob comes at us with torches and pitchforks then there may come a time that we need to close up shop. I don’t want to have to do that. Remember, “Be nice, nobody likes an asshole.”
Thanks, Steph 

Just to clear some things up.

I’ve seen a few posts about us. Honestly, they’re general rantings about things they’ve heard from other people. 

Yes the Street Team page on facebook is a closed group. No that does not mean it is exclusive.

When we gained approval from Darren’s manager, Ricky Rollins, he asked that we keep it closed, so that we know who’s in the group and that only if you’re in the group can you see the content (if it was open, any tabloid/reporter/whatever could come looking at it) and he didn’t want that. 

When we first started- and I think again to get to 1000 members we opened the group. But other than that, it’s always been closed. You don’t need to send an admin a request to join. Just click join. there are 6 of us, someone is bound to see your request in less than 24 hours… sometimes immediately.

Darren Criss and Ricky Rollins are both well aware of what we do and who we are and approve of the group. That is how we’ve managed to get a few exclusive things to reward the Street Team with. Nothing stays exclusive- except for contests. So really you’re not missing out on anything if you’re not a member.

The group is not people who claim to be his biggest fans. I created this group, along with Ricky, to help Darren. I don’t think I’ve ever claimed to be a bigger fan than anyone else. I support Darren 100%. I’ve stated this multiple times. I get defensive when I see people treating him poorly. I want so much success for him. That’s why I started this, to help promote him before he was a household name. 

Upon his success in Glee, Ricky and I had a conversation. I said “I guess you don’t need us anymore.” and he said that couldn’t be further from the truth. That Darren will always need the connection to his fanbase and that our help with promotion will always be wanted. So there we are.

If you have any questions regarding the team, you can email us at dontstabdarren@gmail.com and we will address your concerns accordingly.

The admins/officers have been working on some plans to make things run a little more smoothly on the page. 

Again- nothing is exclusive. Everyone is welcome to join us. The facebook page is actually a lovely, drama free place. Unlike some other sites…

Thank you for reading this, and thanks for supporting our boy (our as in all of us…who are Darren fans… not our as in the team’s as we do not own him…)

~Stephanie