Welcome to media ops
This guide is written for someone joining Dear Nobody who will handle (or back up) creator permission requests, written approvals, and follow-through when letters change or content is misused. Read the public Media & collaboration page first—it is the outward-facing contract with creators; everything here is how we operate behind it.
Legal
None of this hub is legal advice. When in doubt—especially DMCA, counter-notices, money, or weird edge cases—pause and loop in counsel and whoever owns the business decision.
What you are protecting
Writers trust us with raw, often painful text. The media program exists so that thoughtful reuse can happen without ambushing authors: clear permission, clear limits, and a paper trail. Your job is not to be a gatekeeper for its own sake; it is to keep the process consistent, kind, and defensible.
- Stewardship: Dear Nobody (Intelliquinte L.L.C.) grants a narrow license where the Terms allow. The writer keeps copyright; we do not speak for their feelings, only for what we have committed to in writing.
- Official voice: Approvals and “letter removed” notices should come from media@dearnobody.org, not a personal inbox, so obligations in the approval email match what we can prove later.
- Evidence: If we ever need to show what was agreed, we want a folder in Drive and a thread in media@ that tells one story.
Tools you will actually use
| Tool | Role |
|---|---|
| media@dearnobody.org | Intake, approvals, revocations, deletion notices. Send-as must work from this address. |
Google Drive — …/Media Approvals |
One subfolder per collaborator with inquiry, checklist, outbound approval, their “I agree” reply. |
| Optional Sheet | Row per request if you want fast filters (letter ID, status). Not required if Drive + mail search are enough. |
This hub (repo root dn_docs/) |
Checklists, templates, SOPs. Sync dn_docs/source/*.md with docs/legal/ when prose changes. |
| Public site | Media Policy, Terms (see § 6.8). Cite these in email when creators ask “where is this written?” |
Two tracks (decision in plain English)
Every email to media@ gets sorted into one of two tracks. If you are unsure, default to Tier B (escalate) rather than squeezing a request into Tier A.
Tier A — Standard collaboration
One public letter, non-commercial in the strict sense we use on the Media Policy: no ads / monetization on that piece, none on the channel for that piece, no sponsor tie-in, no paid product. Audio, video, or short written feature—not a book or course. You still need a script or outline before approving.
Tier B — Commercial partnership
More than one letter, or any monetization/sponsorship/paid membership tied to the content, or a paid product, or anything fuzzy or high-risk. Response: “We’d love to look at this under our commercial track” and hand off for script review, possible final review, and a written agreement if money is involved (counsel drafts).
Happy path: from inbox to filed approval
When a creator emails media@ with a complete request (see what we ask for publicly), this is the usual sequence:
- Acknowledge internally. If you use a Sheet, add a row: Received, creator, letter URL/ID, channel URL.
- Triage Tier A vs B. Use the Tier A checklist. Any No → Tier B reply (do not send Tier A template).
- Request missing pieces. If they did not include script/outline or channel link, ask once in a single tidy email—creators respond better to one checklist-style reply than to five pings.
- Run the checklist for real. Open their channel: confirm monetization is off on the asset and that the account pattern matches our rules. Screenshot or note anything odd in Drive notes.
- Send approval from media@. Use the Tier A approval email (or Tier B when counsel clears); fill every bracket; link Media Policy. Both templates require honoring on-site trigger/content warnings and adding reasonable extra warnings where warranted.
- Require the magic reply. They must reply with exactly “I agree to these terms” plus full name (or entity). If they paraphrase, gently ask for the exact line—it is not pedantry; it is the cleanest record.
- File in Drive. New subfolder
YYYY-MM-DD_CreatorName_LetterIDwith inquiry, checklist, your approval, their agreement. See Drive setup. - Optional log. If something was non-standard, log it in the decision log.
Your first week (checklist)
- Read Media Policy and skim Terms § 6.8.
- Confirm you can receive and send as media@dearnobody.org (inbox setup).
- Open the Media Approvals Drive path and create a test subfolder so you know where things go.
- Walk through Playbooks on paper—especially Tier B escalation and deletion.
- Bookmark Glossary for terms like “non-commercial” and “specific asset.”
- Know who to call for: legal questions, commercial deals, and site moderation (letter takedowns).
How to sound in email (without improvising policy)
You can be warm and human; you cannot promise things the Terms do not support. Useful patterns:
- Complete request: “Thanks for the detail—we’ll review against our Standard collaboration criteria and reply from this address.”
- Missing info: “Could you send a short script or outline and confirm the exact URL of the letter on dearnobody.org?”
- Tier B: “This looks like a fit for our commercial partnership track because [one plain reason]. We’ll follow up with next steps.”
- Wrong acceptance wording: “Thanks—could you reply with exactly: I agree to these terms — and your full name? That helps our records stay consistent.”
When something goes wrong
- Letter deleted but video still up: Follow Deletion × approval SOP same day from media@.
- Unauthorized use: Platform DMCA flow, not just a DM—see DMCA template; counter-notice → counsel.
- Creator breaks terms after approval: Do not debate in DMs; document, consider revocation language in the template, involve counsel if scale or publicity is large.
Internal onboarding only. Keep this URL off social and public indexes; it is noindex but not secret-by-obscurity-proof.