Welcome back for Year 4!

[sholio]

Here we are, back for another round! Can you believe we're in our 4th year already?

I'm thinking we'll have a similar schedule to last year. This was last year's schedule:

• March 12-18: Nominations.
• March 20-30: Signups.
• April 1-ish: Assignments go out.
• June 1: Fanworks due.
• June 8: Archive goes live.
• June 15: Reveals.

Possible changes this year:

* Should we skip the "nominations" phase and simply use the tag set from last year? It seems like there's not much need to keep doing it new every year, since the characters and relationships are unlikely to change much. I can re-open nominations on the old tagset so people can add new tags for a short period; I can also add tags manually if anyone wants something that's not in there (or already used your nomination slots). Here is the list of all of last year's tags.

* I never followed through on the "games" last year. I'm really sorry about that. Lesson learned: I'm really not good at keeping up with things like that. I appreciate the work everyone put into it and I apologize for dropping the ball on it. That's totally on me.

* That being said, things that did work from previous years include prompt-submission posts and discussion posts, so I will plan to do more of those!

* I'm thinking about dropping the number of required requests/offers to one, to make it easier for OTP people to participate. This would make matching potentially more difficult. So far, in a small exchange like this one, I really haven't had too much trouble matching people, and I don't know how many people would actually only have one option in their signup even if the possibility was available. Last year there were a couple of participants who had trouble with having to offer multiple characters/ships, or opted not to participate due to this. (I should mention that gen relationships/friendships are also an option; you can request and offer individual characters, ships, or friendships.) Thoughts on this?

* Should we keep the minimum word count at 1000, or drop it to 500 this year? I've participated in several exchanges lately with a lower minimum word count (e.g. Trick or Treat and Chocolate Box) and it seems to help encourage more people to participate if the barrier to entry is lower, while at the same time the stories don't seem to be significantly shorter even if the requirement is less. I am on the fence about this, and would love to hear what you think about it.

* Are there any other rule changes anyone would like to see this year?

I hope you're excited! I'm excited! :D The participation in this fest has been really enthusiastic, and I'm thrilled it's still going strong for a 4th year.

Comments

[leesa_perrie]

I'm happy to do what you think is best and what may bring more people into the exchange. As a potential recipient of fic, 500 words would be great, I don't need long fics. But then if someone made me the minimum number of icons, I'd be happy too. I'm pretty easy when it comes to what I get in return, and don't mind if it's less than I've made for whoever my recipient is.

Dropping the number of requests/offers is fine with me too, especially if it gets more people involved. Though I wonder if should be a minimum of two requests, with a minimum of one offer? That might make matching easier, perhaps? I know from fandom stocking that the less options a person gives, the less they are likely to receive much - and in an exchange, the harder they may be to match. Just a thought.

[sholio]

Thank you for weighing in! <3

Yeah, I think my biggest worry about lowering the number of requests/offers is that more people would stick to the minimums. Right now the minimum is 2 requests and 4 offers, and plenty of people request/offer more than that, but you do have to specifically add additional fields to the form for it when you're signing up, so it might lower the number of requests/offers even among people who would otherwise ask for more if they had it right in front of them on the signup form.

I might just drop the minimum offers from 4 to 2; that'd probably help with the OTP'er problem without making matching too much of a nightmare. I also do most of the matching by hand and take ships into account - like, if someone clearly ships only Peggy/Angie, I would try to avoid matching them with a Peggy/Daniel person even if some of their requests/offers technically match by AO3 standards. So that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

[sheron]

FWIW in the exchanges I've seen, 500 words doesn't seem to produce significantly lower word count for fics and it does encourage participation.

[sholio]

Yeah, I'm thinking that dropping the minimum makes a lot of sense, because like you said, I haven't noticed it having much of an effect on fic length, but it's a less intimidating thing to sign up for.

[booksarelife]

I agree with dropping the word count and mostly getting rid of the nominations period

[sholio]

Thank you! This about lines up with what I was thinking - I think I'll shorten the nominations period and extend the signups a bit.

[ultra_fic]

Well, seeing as you're asking for opinions...

That schedule looks good to me - I'm a bit busy for the rest of this month, but I'll have some time in April/May for creating more AC stuff :)

Noms period might be useful, even if you keep last years tag set and just give people a chance to add to it, if necessary. New people might have other combos of relationships and stuff that they'd like to see listed, after all.

I'm not bothered either way on word count. It's rare I write anything less than 1,000 words anyway (what can I say, I'm verbose) but a 500 word minimum might encourage more participation, so that'd be cool :)

The minimum number of requests/offers is really all on you because the only thing that might suffer is ability to match on your end of things, but if you think it'll work, go for it :)

[sholio]

Thank you for the input; it's helpful! :D

I think what I'll probably do (unless there are objections) is keep last year's tagset but still give people a chance to add to it. I think you're right that people should have a chance to add new tags if they want, and I can always add tags for anyone whose tag claims are full. (Come to think of it, I can probably edit that to let them add more tags? I guess I can find out.)

[fiachairecht]

* I didn't participate last year but would like to this year, and wouldn't feel comfortable doing so with just last year's tagset - it's missing ~95% of my favourite ships from both the reading and writing side.

* Like you mentioned above, I think 2/2 requests/offers might be a better compromise between 'not making matching The Worst' and 'not making people feel like they have to request/offer things they don't like'.

* I don't mind a 500 word minimum!

[kore]

I dunno if some of your missed ships are mine, but I listed some below. Altho I don't want to just be greedy and go 'MINE, PUT IN MINE' /o\

[fiachairecht]

Haha you did cover most of them! I would also-also add Whitney/Angie, Whitney & Angie, Dottie/Peggy/Whitney, Ana/Whitney, and - possibly some Bletchley Circle crossovers that I can't immediately call to mind at the moment?

[kore]

Dottie/Peggy/Whitney

ZOMG YES

altho Dottie&Peggy&Whitney teaming up to defeat proto-Hydra and the black goo whatever in S2 was what I really really wanted. With Ana and Rose!


also Angie totally tagged along to L.A. esp if she wasn't getting Broadway parts

[sholio]

Thank you; this is all super helpful! :)

I've just checked that I can open last year's tagset up for nominations again, and I can, so since no one seems to object to using last year's tagset as long as new nominations are added, that's what I'm going to do. I can also bump up the number of noms this year so that people who used all their nomination slots last year won't be cheated; I can double it from 6 to 12. So I'll do that probably tomorrow and make an announcement in the community. If there's anything you want in that you can't get in the nomination slots, I can add it for you!

Also, yay! \o/ I'm glad you're interested in participating. :) Stay tuned for the nominations announcement in the next day or two.

[kore]

- The games stuff is fun and a lagniappe but for me personally, it doesn't have to be a big thing if it's stressful for you as the mod.

- I was on the fence about lowering the minimum, but now ITA that it's less of a barrier that way and people tend to write longer fics anyway. I don't personally think it should go below 500 though. (Unless other people think it might be fun to do a one-time Drabble Madness or something?)

- I kinda have to agree I wouldn't want to just go with last year's tagset -- for me personally it's missing Dottie/Whitney, Peggy/Whitney, Angie/Dottie, Peggy/Jarvis and Ana/Peggy (i.e. no threesome, altho I like the threesome too), Ana/Dottie, Ana & Dottie, and Peggy/Howard and Jarvis/Howard. (I think I am correct with all those.) Although if most other people aren't into those ships, probably no reason to hold up the exchange!

-- Also, I'm excited the exchange is still going too and there are more fics and people are so enthusiastic! I LOVED and mourn that show, I think we all do.

[sholio]

Yay! :D

Yeah, since no one seems to object to using last year's tagset as long as new tags are added (at least no one has spoken up to say so), I'll open it up for new nominations tomorrow and raise the limit (I just checked that I can do that after tags have already been added to a tagset, and it looks like I can) so that people who nominated last year won't be screwed out of being able to do it again. Any additional tags beyond that limit can be mod-added. I'll make an announcement in the comm when I open it up, and also about any additional rule changes (such as the word limit; I agree about not going below 500, but I do think I'm going to drop it this year and see how that goes).

About the games - thank you for understanding! <3 I had a lot of fun brainstorming them with you last year, but it turns out that is EXACTLY the kind of thing I'm bad at organizing (a lot of fiddly little nonessential stuff; I can handle the fiddly stuff when it's mission-critical, but this hits squarely on the intersection of Things I'm Not Good At Road and Stuff I Can't Convince My Brain Is Important Enough To Do Anyway Alley). So sadly I'm going to have to write it off unless someone other than me wanted to run it. On the other hand, I have no problem with other people running challenges, bingos, etc - in fact, I'd welcome it. I just can't be the one organizing it, as I have now learned about myself. XD

I do plan to be somewhat more hands-on this year and have more prompt/brainstorming/discussion posts like we had the first year, which were really fun!

[kore]

\o/ Opening up the old tagset and dropping the word limit both sound good!

About the games - thank you for understanding!

OMFG dude, you run the whole thing, that is a lot on your plate already! I'm so not gonna sulk if one small thing might not work out (esp not with my own track record LOL).

<3 I had a lot of fun brainstorming them with you last year, but it turns out that is EXACTLY the kind of thing I'm bad at organizing

ahahaha I honestly think that kind of thing is nearly always more fun brainstorming and dreaming up than organizing. I wouldn't want to volunteer just me since I'm a total fucking flake, but maybe a couple or several other people would like to pitch in? so it's more of a group effort? Or if not, I do think it's basically lagniappe -- the exchange is fun and challenging by itself!

Brainstorming prompts and discussion is SUPER FUN, I am really looking forward to that!

[sholio]

Awww, thank you! <333

Yeah, I think the planning is more fun than the follow-through, and I tend to forget how very not-good at the follow-through I can be on that kind of thing. More loosely organized kinds of stuff like promptfests works better for me, so I'll try to do more of those!

[kore]

I also didn't weigh in on the offers or schedule because I never really grok how matching works, and, well, I have no job. /o\ So I'm just happy to go along with whatever's decided re those ideas.

[chelseagirl]

My only minor quibble is the schedule. June 1 is a bit difficult for those of us who have to get final grades in near the end of May.

On the other hand, lowering the minimum to 500 words guarantees that I can do something even if it's not the most convenient schedule . . . .

[sholio]

Hmmm. Do you think moving the schedule a bit later in June would be helpful? I could shift it to June 10th. Having the extra time would probably be good all around!

The only issue is that I may be doing some traveling in mid-June, so I don't want to overlap too much with the dates when I'm going to be AFK. I should still have enough computer access to handle any issues that come up, though.

[chelseagirl]

It would make things easier for me, but if it complicates it too much for you . . . I'll manage.