Who are we, and why do we exist?

Hey there, new people,

You're here, so you're probably curious about the origin story of this little nook of the Internet.

It all started with two dudes on YouTube, Daniel Howell and Phil Lester. In November of 2017, these two wonderful beans announced their second world tour, Interactive Introverts. Needless to say, many a group chat was created on Twitter, where people who had managed to fix tickets to the same show could connect and make friends. Amelia, our dear admin, was all set to attend one of the shows in Amsterdam on June 2nd 2018.

Amelia ended up in the Interactive Dutchies group chat, with almost 40 others also planning on attending one of the Amsterdam shows. It wasn't long before they all started talking about creative endeavours. Some played music, others loved writing, a number of people loved to draw. Two things quickly became very clear:

1- Most people felt insecure about their own abilities and were generally reluctant to show their work. When they did, it was accompanied by a lot of "I'm no good" and "this sucks though".

2- Despite people's insistance their own work was crap, everyone was very supportive of and positive towards everyone else's work. People offered compliments, were willing to proofread stories and offer constructive feedback,...

An idea dawned on us:
Wouldn't it be great to have a dedicated place on the Interwebz where positive reinforcement, exchanging tips and tricks, creative collaboration and helping each other grow, were the core business? A place where we didn't need to wonder if our communities were willing to see our creations, where it didn't matter we weren't the best and our work would also get visibility and feedback regardless of the level it was at? A place that made it easier to find people to learn from, people to encourage, and others to create with together?

Hence, this forum was born. We decided to call it Phantasies, as a play on the term "Phan", used to name the community of dedicated Dan and Phil followers. After all, they are the reason the creators of this board met, and the values of mutual encouragement, community support and positivity, are sentiments they have strengthened in us over the years.

Obviously this is not solely a "Dan and Phil" forum, but we'd like to honor the origins of this place in this topic.

We hope you'll feel at home here, and that your creative self may thrive!