How to help - Marcosticks

Last Updated on April 1, 2021 by Staff

If you find our cause to your liking, you can make it yours, too. We do not need financial support at this time. But we can use your time to further our common cause. Following are some ways for you to help Marcosticks.

Table of Contents

Feedback and ideas

We prefer that you leave comments on this website. Every article has a comment area at the end. You may also engage Marco at Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Reddit. We also encourage you to discuss chopstick topics at /r/chopsticks on Reddit, in addition to /r/marcosticks.

Use CONTACT MARCO as a last resort.

Post pictures to Instagram

You can post pictures to Instagram with these hashtags. You have to tag your own pictures for them to show up on these hashtag pages.

You can also use specific hashtags such as #ChickenClawsGrip for alternative grips that we have analyzed and published. At the bottom of every alternative grip article you will find the right hashtag to use. Six hours after you tag your picture, it will show up in the corresponding article gallery, such as this one at the Chicken Claws article.

If you 3D-print our training marcosticks, you can post pictures of them with the hashtag #TrainingMarcosticks.

Make training marcosticks available to the public

If you are interested in printing/making training marcosticks to help beginners learn to use chopsticks, you can become our partner. You can make a profit doing this without paying royalty fees. Please see the buy-from-a-partner page.

Expand the family tree of alternative grips

We are always on the lookout for ways to enhance our family tree of alternative grips. You can help us replace current pictures and videos with better ones. You may have discovered a new grip type altogether. Please send us your pictures and videos for use on this site, with your permission.

Please keep in mind that we want articles to feature consistent pictures. We will likely not replace a single picture out of a dozen with yours, if it disrupts the continuity of the article. Try to send us an entire set of pictures and corresponding videos, of higher quality if possible.

With that said, know that most pictures and videos we currently use are of mediocre quality. Many articles are missing key pictures and videos. There is plenty of room for improvement. You can use the Weak Standard Grip, Idling Thumb, Scissorhand and the Righthand Rule articles as models, for what we need. Here are what we generally need:

High quality images for both open posture and closed posture. Shoot at least a few from the same angle as used in most alternative grip articles, so that we can easily show comparisons of grip types, side by side. Pictures from additional angles are useful if they illustrate peculiar aspects of this grip.
Quality videos of a user snapping at the thin air with chopsticks. This demonstrates the full sequence of movements between the open posture and the closed posture. Capture videos at normal speed, as well as in slow-motion, if possible. Note that slow-motion captures usually require better lighting. Send raw video please. We can generate GIF clips as needed for articles.
Videos of a user picking up a food item, in both normal speed and slow motion. These usually do not require strenuous compression or extension forces.
Slow motion videos of a user taking the salad tongs test, showing both compression and extension struggles. These demonstrate the power of this grip.
If you discovered a new grip, suggest a name for it. Before you come up with a name, survey the current family tree to get a sense of how we named grip types. Know that we name a grip by either its distinguishing mechanism, or by its resemblance to something in the world. We will make the final call on a grip’s official name.

How to send us those files

Some video files may be large. The best way to send files is to use https://wetransfer.com/ or a similar service. WeTransfer does not require you to set up an account at all. Follow these simple steps:

Put all pictures and videos in one folder on your hard drive.
Go to https://wetransfer.com/. Click on “Add Files”, and select the folder in the previous step.
Enter your own email address for both “Email To” and “Your Email”. Then click on “Transfer”.
Once you receive an email from WeTransfer, head to the CONTACT MARCO page, and paste in the long URL from the WeTransfer email.
- The long URL should looks like this: https://wetransfer.com/downloads/384d3e9203bde878f4be9200219202926/51643813e4fba5d9202926/ec2605.
- Send Marco that URL, with any additional information.

Thanks for helping us with our common cause.

#HowToHelpMarcosticks