#exchange faq

[thunderbolts25]

[Updated] Exchange FAQ

What characters qualify? - Yelena Belova - James "Bucky" Barnes - Alexei Shostakov - John Walker - Robert "Bob" Reynolds / Sentry / The Void - Ava Starr - Valentina Allegra de Fontaine Any and all relationships featuring at least one of these characters/actors are allowed! Including poly, moresomes, etc.

** if requesting/offering RPF, the actor/actress of these characters also counts as your 'one' needed (so requesting Florence Pugh is the equivalent of requesting Yelena, even though they are different and one is not listed here) **

Are crossovers allowed? Yes! But you are encouraged to make at least one fully Marvel request to improve your chances of being paired!

What is a 'Ship and Let Ship' event? It essentially is a 'don't like, don't read/write' situation, where requesters and writers are allowed to engage in the content they want and like, regardless of how it's viewed or handled in a real-world situation. This can be as small as Real Person Fiction (RPF) shippers or on a more extreme end like monster-fucking or incest. No judgment or harassment will be tolerated. It really is as easy as... don't like it? Ignore it. You will not be paired with things outside your stated comfort zone.

What goes in the 'Description' section of the sign-up form? The only thing required is any Do Not Wants, but it's highly encouraged to include more, like preferences, prompts, etc. There is a space to link a letter if you'd prefer that, too. This is also where you should 'opt-in' to any problematic content you'd be comfortable receiving.

Are treats allowed? Yes! As long as they meet the requester's DNWs. They do not need to meet the minimum word count or due date. You also do not need to be signed up to give a treat!

Will there be pinch-hit/pinch-hitters? Of course! Anyone is welcome to claim a pinch-hit, which will be posted on both Tumblr and Dreamwidth as they come up.

What should I do about tight deadlines? If you are worried you won't be able to complete your request, please default and reach out to a mod as soon as possible. A small extension can be given, but pinch-hitters will need time before the reveal if you are unable to meet that timeline either.

[extremetimedchallengeexchange]

The fastest gift exchange around. Objectively a bad idea. 48 hours of hyperfocus.

Schedule: (All times in EDT)

Tag Nominations Opens, Discord Opens: 0:01 August 14

Tag Nominations Closes: Midnight August 20

A03 Sign Up Opens 0:01 August 21

A03 Sign Up closes: Midnight August 27

Creation Phase: Noon EDT August 30 - Noon EDT September 1

Treating Week: September 1- September 8

Discord Closes: Noon September 8

Everybody admires everyone else's work: September 1 - Ongoing

Rules

The exchange is multifandom, and open to artists, writers, web weavers, and podficcers. Fandoms do not have to have a canonized Ao3 tag to participate.

You must be a member of the Discord, for communication purposes.

Once assigned, participants will have 48 hours to deliver their gift.

Artists are expected to deliver a decent sketch on unlined paper, Writers and Podficcers have a 300 word minimum, Web Weavers are expected to deliver a 5-element or 3-element weave, depending on their style of web weave.

No AI-Generated content.

This exchange will be operating on DL:DR when it comes to what the mods will police and what we ask you to respect in terms of other people’s requests. The single exception is RPF, which has additional rules. 

RPF is allowed. Persons nominated for RPF must be famous in their own right and over the age of 18. Persons famous chiefly for their participation in facist regimes or as serial killers will not be considered for nomination. Mods reserve the right to reject RPF nominations in poor taste.

Original Work is allowed. Use the "Original Work" fandom. If it is important to you that a person within a specific pairing is a specific gender, make that clear within the tag, for example "Middle-aged King (M)/His Loyal Bodyguard (NB) (Original Work)".

As this is a 13+ exchange, there is no NSFW allowed, even if you’re sure that both you and your recipient are adults. This applies both to sexual content and to extreme (e-rated) gore.

To increase matching options, tags must be seconded (nominated twice) to make it into the tag set. Because of this, tag nominations will be collected through a google form.

You can nominate tags for up to ten fandoms, with up to twenty tags nominated in each.

You will have one week to submit relationships and characters to a tag set, one week to write your prompts, and 48 hours to deliver your gift.

Participants are required to request at least three fandoms (with associated prompts), and offer to create around at least three fandoms.

To help your creator out, you must offer either a list of likes or prompts that contains at least one element that works for each art form that you have opted into. If you opt into art, you must give at least one art prompt or art like in your signup, and the same for fic, podfic, or web weaves.

Please include anything you absolutely don't want to receive (Do Not Wants) in the Optional Details field in your AO3 signup. Only DNWs in the Ao3 signup will be enforced, and mods will not enforce DNWs that are overly restrictive, unclear, or used to box a recipient into a specific gift (i.e. "nothing gross", or "I don't want anything that isn't a space au with the mc's other major love interest dead off screen".)

This exchange uses Ao3's matching algorithm, and as such, you need an Ao3 Account.

Make sure the email attached to your AO3 account is one that a) you check regularly, and b) are comfortable with exchange mods seeing. You can verify your email here: archiveofourown.org/users/[your ao3 name here]/change_email

As per Ao3 and Discord’s TOS, you must be at least 13.

Links

Ao3 Collection Here

Tag Set Here

Nominate Tags [form available in the discord]

Tag Nomination Rules Here,

Discord Here

Things We Do Differently Than Other Exchanges Here

Web Weave Rules Here

Intro to how to sign up for an Ao3 Exchange Here. Variant using a gifter letter here. A note on what Solo tags mean in practice here.

Sign up for Ao3 Here (there is a waiting queue.)

Additional Challenges (just for fun):

One Day: Fulfil your gift within 24 hours.

Word Count: Write or Podfic 5k or more on a single gift.

Art: Produce a fully-rendered and coloured (lined if that's your style) art piece with at least two characters, or a 10-panel comic with clean pencils or simple inks, within the 48 hours of the exchange.

Web Weave: Produce a 20-element weave.

Multi-media: Fulfil gifts that meets gift minimums for two different gift forms— art, fic, web weave, and/or podfic.

Multi-fandom: Make gifts that meet gift minimums for 3 or more fandoms.

FAQ:

Why? Because it seemed like a terrible idea.

How do I sign up/How do I format tags/Are you using OR matching: Signup FAQ on the Ao3 collection Here)

Further Questions? Join the Discord Here

[mcyt-winter-of-mf]

MCYT M/F & Other Exchange: an Introduction!

Current stage: POSTING!

Hello, everyone! Winter of M/F & Other Exchange is a 15+, multi-mcyt exchange focusing on... well, M/F & Other ships!

You ever want to write about those sweet bi4bi romances? You love poly ships? You love an immortal fish goddess and her normal-he-promises husband? You believe with all your heart SOS Katherine/fWhip have perfect t4t charm? You have a ship that's so dear to your heart and no event to fill up your cold winter months (or warm summer months, for my southern hemisphere peeps)?

Well, welcome to MCYT M/F & Other Exchange! Anything you'd file under M/F or as Other over on ao3, you can nominate! You love cletho? Orionsound and Soupforeloise? Philza and Lady Death? Come on in!

Event Timeline:

Interest Check: December 18 - December 25

Tag nominations open: December 25

Tag nominations close: January 8

Sign Ups Open: January 1st

Sign ups close: January 15

Assignments out: January 20th

First Check-In: February 14th-17th

Second Check-In: February 28th-March 3rd

Posting week: March 6th - March 13th

Final pinch hit deadline: March 20th

Gift Requirement Minimums:

Art (1 drawing, finished to the artist's completion standards) 

Writing (1k words, must standalone as a work) 

Playlist (1.5 hrs, accessible without an account) 

Moodboard (2 boards with 18 elements total, credited)

Web Weaving (1 board with 10 elements, credited)

Podfic (1 podfic of 1k word length, edited to the podficcer´s completion standards)

You can create more if you wish, these are only the minimums. You must reach the minimum for your assigned gift.

Rules:

You must be 15 or over to participate.

You must join the Discord server for communication purposes.

You must provide your Tumblr username, at least three different ships (same or different fandoms), a list of likes and a reasonable Do Not Want list (DNW) in order to participate.

If you do not have a DNW, you must write DNW: No Restrictions in the sign up box for every fandom you participate in.

You must offer at least three different ships to create for in order to participate.

Your gift must center at least one of your recipient's requested relationships. 

Your gift must respect your recipient’s use of / or & in their requested relationship. Ship work must be delivered for a / relationship, and platonic work must be delivered for a & relationship. 

Your gift must respect your recipient's DNW.

Your gift must meet the gift requirement minimum for its respective medium detailed above.

Your gift must be posted to Tumblr, and you must tag your recipient's blog and the event blog when posting.

Your gift must not feature AI-created content.

FAQ:

Which ships are eligible?

Any ship that would fall under the M/F category, such as Life Series Joel/Lizzie, are eligible for nominations. Any ship that would fall under the Other category, such as Dream SMP's Foolish/Eret or Life Series Lizzie/Cleo are also eligible.

Polyamory ships are allowed. Platonic ships are allowed. QPRs are allowed. Crossover ships and genderbends are allowed.

F/F ships such as Life series Lizzie/Pearl or M/M ships such as Empires SMP Scott/fWhip are not eligible for this exchange unless in genderbend form.

How many ships can I sign up for?

The minimum request is three relationships in any given fandom. You may request up to 10 different fandoms with 20 relationships each (so, 200 requests). Likewise, the maximum offers you can make are 10 fandoms with 20 relationships each (so, 200 offers).

How do I sign up or nominate a tag?

Tag nominations and sign ups will happen on Ao3. Guides for both tag nominations and sign ups are incoming!

How do I nominate a genderbend?

To nominate a genderbend of a ship you want, you must specify the iteration of the ship you want with a marker. For example, if I wanted to nominate genderbend Scott/Jimmy from Empires Season 1, I'd use:

f!Smajor1995/Solidarity (Empires S1)

Smajor1995/nb!Solidarity (Empires S1)

And other such variations.

Do I need an Ao3 account to participate?

Matching will be done through Ao3, so you must have an account to sign up! Posting will be done on Tumblr.

Do I need to create for every ship/fandom in my recipient's list?

No, you only need to create for one relationship of one fandom from your recipient's list.

Do I need to include every one of my recipient's likes?

No. Your recipient is likely to offer a list of possibilities varying from the simple to the specific (for example: "Fluff" and "Regency aus" and "Themes of alienation and the forbidden and characters navigating that"). Think of likes lists as an array of coloring pencils, and pick out what would best suit your piece!

Is platonic content allowed?

Yes, platonic content is allowed. Relationships must follow the same eligibility guidelines listed above, but marked with & instead of /.

Is RPF allowed?

Yes, RPF is allowed, and will be requested/offered for under the "Video Blogging RPF" tag. The MCYT creators must be over 18 and famous in their own right. Mods reserve the right to reject tags they feel to be in bad taste.

Is NSFW allowed?

NSFW is allowed. NSFW must be opted into. If your recipient does not opt into E-rated works, you cannot deliever an E-rated fic. If you are a minor, you cannot write nor receive an E-rated fic.

Delivering unrequested NSFW or requesting NSFW as a minor will result in a ban from future iterations of this event.

Is dark content allowed?

Yes. Dark content is allowed as long as it does not violate your recipient's DNW.

Are major archive warnings allowed?

Yes. Every major archive warning except Underage Sex is allowed. However, major archive warnings must be opted into by your recipient, and must be tagged appropriately at the moment of posting.

Delivering unrequested major archive warnings will result in a ban from future iterations of this event.

Are adult/minor relationships allowed?

For ease of moderation, adult/minor ships will not be allowed. A list of characters considered to be minors (under 18, these characters can only be shipped romantically with other minors) and extremely underage (15 and under, these characters can only be part of & ships) will be provided on Discord.

Ageing up underage characters to turn an adult/minor ship into adult/adult will not be allowed.

What is a DNW?

A Do Not Want list (DNW) is a list of items provided by a user of the things they do not want to see in their gifts. This list must be followed by their gifter, and failure to follow it may result in a ban from the event.

DNWs can be as specific as you want. However, DNWs must be phrased politely (YES: "No alcohol". NO: "No alcohol of any kind ugh that's disgusting"), must be precise (NO: "No dark content", YES: "No onscreen graphic violence") and must be practical/feasible (do not box in your gifter to a specific idea, so YES: "No space aus or aus that require characters to be aged down, such as Hunger Games", NO: "No au that doesn't feature the characters as harried holiday workers in a bakery on the year 2017").

DNW Exceptions (Ex: "No royalty aus (unless for Empires characters)") are allowed, and your DNW does not need to be the same across all fandom requests (for example: under Empires SMP you can list "DNW: Onscreen torture" but leave it out of your Lifesteal SMP requests).

Your DNW must be written in full in the Ao3 sign up box. Any elements of a DNW added to a separate source (Dear Gifter letters, personal websites) will not be enforced.

Can I write/draw/create more than the minimum?

Yes, you can create as much as you want for your recipient, provided it is all finished and posted in full by March 13th.

I have someone I do not want to match with. What do I do?

If you, for any reason, do not want to match with a specific user(s), you may send a Do Not Match request to the mods. The mods will then, on our end, make sure you are not match either to make or receive a gift from said user.

Do Not Match requests can be made for any reason, and you don't need to tell us what it is!

[XYZ] happened and I need more time. What do I do?

If you need more time to finish your gift, you may contact a mod, and we can work out an extension of up to four days. Extensions will go no longer than March 17th, in case a pinch hitter needs to step in.

[XYZ] happened and I need to drop out. What do I do?

If you need to drop out, you must contact a mod as soon as possible, and your gift will go to pinch hits. Failure to communicate with a mod about an undelivered gift will result in a ban from future iterations of this event.

Dear mod, why does your url ONLY say M/F and not Other?

Well, mcytwinterofmfandotherexchange was a Bit too clunky for tumblr :pensive: Believe me. I tried.

I have more questions?

Please send an ask in!

[masseffectholidaycheer]

**ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL OF THIS GIFT EXCHANGE*

GREETINGS, VERMIN. THE HOLIDAY HARVEST SEASON IS UPON US ONCE MORE.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY before filling out the survey.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Surveys will be collected until December 06, 2024.

Match emails will be sent out by December 10, 2024.

Gifts may be given between January 15, 2025 and January 31, 2025.

Anyone making/sending a physical gift must provide proof of postage by January 15, 2025.

*Postal services are often somewhat hampered by distance, weather, strikes, etc. If you’re receiving a physical gift, it may be delayed.

But worry not—everyone gets a gift. Minion Keeper is VERY good at this job! They have a sacred spreadsheet, which they keep in the tiny sacred backpack. (Nothing gets past the sacred spreadsheet. Not even Shepard.)

Read the rules. We’ve made some changes/clarifications this year.

FILL OUT THE SURVEY! (Enjoy Holiday Harbinger’s sense of humor. Truly, the gift that keeps on giving.)

**Follow @masseffectholidaycheer for the duration of the exchange. This is where we communicate. It’s also where you can enjoy all the gifts people make.**

Spread the news! The more the merrier! Otherwise, Holiday Harbinger will never collect enough organic paste to make a Tumblr Reaper.

Join in the fun before the Harvest takes you all.

If you have questions you’d like answered, please send Holiday Harbinger an email at holidayharbinger@gmail.com.

JANUARY JUBILATION CANNOT BE STOPPED

[mcytblrholidayexchange]

Holiday Exchange 2024: General Rules and FAQ

WHAT IS THIS?

MCYTBLR Holiday Exchange is a multi-mcyt gift exchange now in its third year! Because of the size of the exchange, we are going to be matching through Ao3 this year, including tag nominations. The discord will be open with more information in late October.

TIMELINE: 

Tag Nominations Open, Discord Opens: Monday 28 October (0:01 EDT)

Sign Ups Open Monday 4 November (0:01 EST)

Sign Ups Close: Sunday 17 November (23:59 EST) Monday 18 November, (11:59 EST)

Assignments out by: Friday 22 November (23:59 EST)

Check-in: Saturday 7 December (0:01 EST) through Sunday 8 December (23:59 EST)

Posting Week: Monday 23rd December (0:01) through Sunday 29 December (23:59 EST).

Final Pinch Hit Deadline: Sunday 5 January (23:59 EST)

LINKS

Discord: [here]

Ao3 tagset [here]

All Ages Collection [here]

18+ Collection [here]

RESOURCES:

How to nominate tags to a tag set. [link]

How to sign up for an Ao3 gift exchange. [link]

A guide to your Sign-up, stage by stage. [link]

Apply for an Ao3 account (currently a 10-day waiting list): [here]

How to add a treat to an Ao3 Collection. [here]

How to image-describe your art. [link1] [link2]

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR GIFTS: 

Art (1 drawing, created to a standard you would normally post as “finished”) 

Writing (1k+ words, a complete work that stands alone) 

Playlist (2 hour-long playlists, accessible without an account) 

Moodboard (2 boards, at least 9 elements each, for a total of at minimum 18 elements between both boards. Speak to mods if that really doesn't work for your designs)

Web Weaving (1 board of at least 10 elements, credited)

Podfic (1 podfic of at least 1k words, edited to your normal level of editing)

Rules and Guidelines and FAQ under the cut.

Rules and Guidelines

RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR NOMINATING TAGS:

Instructions for how to nominate tags [here]

For a tag to be used in signup, it must be part of the tag set, and thus, must be nominated and approved before it can be used.

Tag nomination is done through Ao3’s tag set nomination process. You can nominate up to 20 tags per fandom, and up to 10 fandoms. Fandoms do not need to have a canon tag to be nominated, but please use the canon tag if possible.

Please only nominate tags you intend to either offer or request, to help with matching.

Please nominate tags without using the creator’s tags names, just gamer tags. Do not use the canon tag, as that will be sorted into Video Blogging RPF automatically, (unless you are nominating RPF). Alphabetize the characters by gamer tag within the tags, i.e. GoodTimesWithScar & Grian (3rd Life)

& denotes a platonic relationship, / denotes a romantic and/or sexual relationship. Tommyinnit & Tubbo (DSMP) would be platonic, and Ranboo/Tubbo (DSMP) would be romantic.

You can nominate up to 6 characters within a tag, as long as it fits within Ao3’s character limit (100 characters). 

Please disambiguate (include the server name in parentheses after the characters), as that helps us distinguish between creators who’ve been on multiple servers, i.e. Grian could be in YHS, EVO, Hermitcraft, 3rd Life, 100 Hours Hardcore, or Guess the Build, and we need to know which one.

Please distinguish between Empires S1 and Empires S2 if you are nominating Empires.

If you want a work that focuses on one character instead of a relationship, whether or not other characters are present, you can nominate a solo character as Solo: [Character Name], i.e. Solo: TommyInnit (SMPEarth). 

Video Blogging RPF is allowed as a nominated fandom, as long as the creators are all over 18 and famous in their own right. Mods reserve the right to reject tags they feel to be in bad taste, such as a person accused of misconduct and the person who accused them.

Crossovers are allowed. Please nominate them in the format Grian (Hermitcraft) & Tommyinnit (Dream SMP) (Crossover Fandom), or if you wish a character to be moved to a different canon, please nominate them in the format Technoblade (Origins SMP) in QSMP (Crossover Fandom). Crossover tags do not need to be entirely MCYT, non-MCYT franchises are allowed. All crossovers go under the fandom Crossover Fandom.

This event does not allow Adult/Minor romantic relationships. A list of characters considered to be minors in canon will be available in the discord– we will be going with age during the bulk of content for past servers, or present age for currently-running servers. Minor/Minor romantic shipping is allowed as long as the character is not extremely underage (15 or younger). Because of the difficulty of moderating content on a tight schedule, this event will not allow aged up characters for the purposes of relationships not being adult/minor.

RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR SIGNING UP:

Instructions for signing up [here]

Must join our Discord for communication. If we cannot find you in the discord at the end of sign-ups, your signup will be deleted.

Must have an Ao3 account for sign-ups, as they happen on Ao3. If you do not have a Ao3 account and need help getting on, please contact the mods as soon as possible.

Because of Tumblr, Ao3 and Discord TOS, you must be 13 to participate.

Signups are divided into Requests (what you want to get as a gift) and Offers (what you’re offering to make). You must request and offer a minimum of three different relationships or solo character tags. They can be from any number of servers and your requests do not need to be the same as your offers. You can offer or request a maximum of 10 servers with 20 tags each.

There are two collections, all-ages and 18+. Signing up in the 18+ collection is opting into NSFW as a possibility. You must be 18 or older to sign up in the 18+ collection, and any under-18 persons found signing up for the 18+ side of the exchange will be banned from this and all future iterations of the exchange.

If you do not want shipping, simply only request & tags. If you do want shipping, request / tags. If you are open to either, request both tags. 

Must mention your tumblr blog username in your signup, so your recipient knows how to give you your gift.

You must either write down a DNW (things you Do Not Want) in your gift, or put down DNW: No Restrictions, for each fandom you sign up to. 

You must write down at least one like, prompt, or have a letter with more information linked, to give your creator something to work with.

if you are requesting a Solo character tag, you must indicate if you are okay with shipping or not, and any romantic or platonic relationships you don’t want to see in the work, because your creator will be picking from all canon characters as the supporting cast.

Signing up gives mods access to your Ao3 email (it's how we send you your assignment), so make sure the email attached to your AO3 account is one that a) you check regularly, and b) are comfortable with exchange mods seeing. You can verify your email here: archiveofourown.org/users/[your ao3 name here]/change_email

This event does not allow Underage or Adult/Minor relationships. A list of characters considered to be minors in canon will be available in the discord– we will be going with age during the bulk of content for past servers, or present age for currently-running servers. Minor/Minor shipping is allowed as long as the character is not extremely underage (15 or younger), but no NSFW, even if signing up to the 18+ collection. Because of the difficulty of moderating content on a tight schedule, this event will not allow aged up characters for the purposes of content not being underage or relationships not being adult/minor.

RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR CREATING: 

Your gift doesn’t have to contain only requested relationships, but it does have to center on at least one requested relationship or character. 

Respect your recipient’s use of / or & in their requested relationship. Ship work must be delivered for a / relationship, and platonic work must be delivered for a & relationship. 

If you are a participant in the 18+ collection, you do not have to deliver NSFW, but you can if you want.

If you are a participant in the All-ages collection, you may not deliver an NSFW gift, or a non-NSFW gift that is E-rated. The maximum rating of a gift in the all-ages collection is M-rated. 

Respect your giftee's DNW. Any gift found to be in violation of a reasonable DNW is grounds for a ban from future iterations of the exchange. 

Must check in at the half-way mark of creation to make sure everything is on-track.

Contact a mod ASAP if you don’t think you’ll get your gift out on time or at all, or you want to withdraw

No AI-created content.

RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR GIFTING

You do not need to post on Ao3. You can if you want, and clicking your assignment button will automatically gift it to your recipient, but this is optional.

You must make a tumblr post and tag your recipient to give them the gift.

Must tag this blog in your gift post so we can keep track of gifts

If you are posting from a blog other than the one you signed up with (an art blog, or a 18+ blog for example), you must inform the mods so we can keep track of gifts.

Dark or Violent themes must be tagged appropriately

MISC:

Your requests will be publicly available, to conform with normal exchange standards, and because of the mechanics of pinch hits and treating. If you have something you do not want to be public, do not request it. Your offers will remain private, and mods will work with you to give a gift on anon if necessary.

You will not necessarily be matched with someone who matches your “offer to create” exactly. If the algorithm can make a better match it will do that, but in cases where there are more obscure requests, you might be matched with someone who only has one ship in common between your Offer and their Request. In that case at least you know what to make pretty quickly!

You do not have to make a gift for every ship or character your recipient requested, even if you offered multiple ships they requested. You only have to pick one and make one gift. 

Please ask in the discord if you need information. You could also send an ask here, or if it is something you do not feel comfortable sending in an ask, you can message the head mod at @antimony-medusa​ 

Mods reserve the right to ban people for being assholes.

FAQ:

-I changed my mind about my sign-up, I want to add something, what do I do? You can edit your sign-up right until the sign-ups close! As soon as the sign-ups close, everything locks and you’ll be unable to edit it any more.

-I added my fic to the Ao3 collection, but I can’t see it? The collection is currently set to ‘unrevealed’, so works can be added but won’t be visible before reveal day, so it’s all a surprise.

- I don’t have an Ao3 account, what do I do? Speak to the mods— we can help you sign up (there is a waiting list), or we might be able to give you an instant sign-up link (we have a limited number of these).

-I need to contact my recipient, but they have anon off! What do I do? Talk to us, we’ll contact them for you.

-I can’t finish my gift by the deadline, what do I do? You have two options. Option one is to consider if you can still finish it within a couple days, and ask the mods if you can get an extension (you can get an extension of up to two days if necessary). Option two is to drop entirely, in which case you tell a mod, and we will assign your gift to a pinch-hitter so your recipient still gets something. In both cases, the important thing is that you get in contact with a mod as soon as possible— discord is best, but @antimony-medusa can be contacted here if discord is not an option— to figure out a plan.

- My recipient requested 10 different fandoms, do I have to make a gift for each of them? You only have to make one gift! Just pick one fandom and one ship that you like and focus on that one.

-If I want to make more than one gift, can I? You can make as many gifts as you'd like! If you really enjoy making gifts, we suggest signing up as a Pinch Hitter in the discord, and there is also Treating, if you want to look for signups that really catch your eye!

-I don't celebrate Christmas, can I sign up? This exchange welcomes all holidays (even a complete lack of holidays), and people will have an opportunity to opt in to what events they want represented in their gift, whether that's real-world holidays, imaginary minecraft events, or no holidays at all.

-I'm only a fan of a small server, can I sign up? You are very welcome to sign up even if your fandom doesn't have the most active tag, this is a broad MCYT exchange. We will do our best to match you with someone else who also likes your block people, pinch hitting it if possible. If your fandom has less than a thousand fics on the archive, we recommend that you try and recruit friends into the exchange too, so you know that there are people who like the same characters as you in the matching pool. We can't absolutely promise to match on smaller characters, but we have run this exchange twice and we haven't had anyone be entirely unmatchable yet, so fingers crossed that continues.

-Is RPF allowed? While this is intended as a character-focused exchange, we know the lines for that are fuzzy when it comes to off-server events the creators have also done, such as the GIGS Phasmaphobia streams, and it becomes difficult to moderate this line. As we are now able to distinguish between RPF and the server creators using Ao3’s tag sets, so matching is no longer a difficulty, you will be able to request or offer direct RPF from this exchange.

-Is shipping allowed? Yes. Because there is no broad fandom-wide consensus about the appropriateness of that in specific cases (whether it's okay to write beeduo as /r or /p is an obvious case) or between specific fandoms (Lifesteal approach to shipping is different from Empires is different from DSMP), and because of the impossibility of being aware of everyone’s boundaries across the entire internet, the mods will not be policing any specific understanding of boundaries across the event. The event will operate on Don't Like Don't Read, in that everyone will have the chance to opt in for themselves as to if they are comfortable with shipping or NSFW for each specific character relationship they want to work with, and they will be matched based on that.

-Is NSFW allowed? Yes, NSFW is permitted as long as both characters are 18+ and both the giver and the recipient are participating in the 18+ collection. You will only match to people who want NSFW if you have signed up to the 18+ collection. To comply with Tumblr’s TOS and for the comfort of the greatest number of people in the exchange, nothing that would warrant the tags Underage or Adult/Minor Relationship is permitted. 

- Are major archive warnings (noncon/graphic depictions of violence/MCD) allowed? Aside from the content rules governing NSFW (no Underage, for the comfort of the greatest number of participants), major archive warnings are allowed. Depictions of real life horrors such as genocide and slavery are not-uncommon motifs in MCYT fics, along with torture, executions, and abuse in the source material, and the mod team is not interested in legislating which types of horrors, griefs or abuses are inherently worse than others and are therefore off-limits. Because holding writing to a quality standard or saying only survivors can write atrocities is unworkable from a moderation standpoint, the three mentioned major archive warnings (MCD, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Noncon), are permitted to be included in the 18+ collection. The all-ages collection permits MCD and Graphic Depictions of Violence as possible warnings, though gifts cannot go over an M rating if delivered in the all-ages collection, even if your recipient has opted into Graphic Depictions of Violence.

Major Archive Warnings must be explicitly opted into by your recipient in their signup, and gifters are free to not include major archive warnings that their recipient has permitted. Delivering un-asked for major archive warnings is grounds for a ban from this event. The mod team reserves the right to warn other mod teams on both the MCYT and Multi-fandom side about your bad behavior.

-Do you allow dark or violent content? Yes. The lore of many mcyt servers includes death games, abuse, cannibalism, murder-for-hire, and other dark or violent themes. However, all potentially triggering content must be tagged for so viewers and giftees can make an informed choice to get involved or not. We would recommend that you not include particularly dark topics unless requested to by your giftee.

-If I want to opt into e-rated gore, but I don’t want to opt into sexual NSFW, can I do that? To opt into e-rated gore or violence you must be part of the 18+ collection, but you can do so and then say you Do Not Want smut. Note that you cannot demand e-rated gore, in the same way that you cannot demand e-rated smut (or fluff, or anything else for that matter), it is simply an option you are offering your gifter.

-My person requested characters I don't want to write, and one of them is a ship I don't like. What do I do? You are only expected to create a gift for the characters you matched on. If you offered to create for GoodTimesWithScar & Grian (Hermitcraft),  Docm77/Rendog (Hermitcraft), and Grian & PearlescentMoon (Hermitcraft), and you matched to someone requesting GoodTimesWithScar/Grian (Hermitcraft),  Docm77/Rendog (Hermitcraft), and PearlescentMoon/ZombieCleo (Hermitcraft), you are only expected to make a gift with the characters and relationships you matched on, in this case, RenDoc. If you are entirely uncomfortable with your match, you can tell a mod, and we can take it off your hands and get it pinch-hit. You will still receive a gift.

-What is a Pinch Hitter? A pinch hitter is a person who saves the day and steps in when the original creator is unable to deliver their work for whatever reason, making a new work on an accelerated timeline. You can sign up to be a Pinch Hitter in the discord.

-What is a DNW? All participants will have the opportunity to fill out a DNW, which stands for Do Not Want. This is anything that has the potential to ruin a gift for you. DNWs must be phrased politely, (so no "No foster aus because they suck and you suck if you like them"), and they must be reasonable, (so no attempting to box someone into a specific gift, i.e. "DNW anything that isn't a space au where Tommy is a dinosaur-hybrid and Tubbo is a ghost bee and they rampage through the living ship named Las Nevadas"), and they must be clear and defined (so no “no dark kinks”— that is too subjective for someone to try and interpret), but they can be as petty (disliking specific art styles) or as broad-reaching (no modern aus, no specific ships, no crossovers with specific servers) as you like. Deliberately breaking someone's DNW is grounds for a ban from the exchange.

-When do I have to join the discord? You have the option to join the discord and hang out as soon as tag nominations starts on October 28, and you must join the discord so we can communicate with you by November 17. Anyone not in the discord once we start matching will have their sign-ups deleted.

-Is the discord a social server? Can I expect game nights? The discord is primarily an event server, we are not going to be hosting events. 

-What are Treats? Treats are optional bonus gifts that people give once they are done with their original gift! All of the sign-ups are available for people to browse through, and they can find prompts they like and make an extra gift for that person! They are completely optional for someone to make and you cannot ask for treats.

-What's a check-in and how do they work? Check-ins are there to make sure everyone is on track to finish their piece in time, and to communicate any issues with the mods! They take place through a google form and will require a short list of information— your name and if you think you will make the deadline, mostly. If you know that you won’t be able to check in on a specific date (lack of internet, etc), please contact the mods in advance.

-What if I need to drop out? It is your responsibility to communicate with us if you need to drop out of the event for any reason, and we do need that communication. We know that life is no respecter of fic and art deadlines, so no hard feelings if something happens. However, we would hate for anyone to end up having no gift, so please think about this if you are thinking of dropping out close to reveals. Please inform us in advance if you must drop out or think you will not be able to complete your gift on time. Dropping out after the last check-in without informing the mods will result in not being permitted to take part in further events run by this mod team.

I have a question not answered here? Ask us in the discord, send us an ask on tumblr, or contact @antimony-medusa on tumblr or discord!

[itpemod]

SIGN UP POST

It's late September and that means #ITPE sign-ups are OPEN 🎉🎉🎉 Links will be at the end, so please read through the post as we have a lot of new information/procedures this year!

This is the FOURTEENTH year of the exchange, but the FIRST year we will be hosting it on Tumblr, which was far and away the winner in our platform move survey. Happily, this means we get to keep our acronym and branding!

What is #ITPE?

#ITPE is a low-pressure, no-minimums podfic exchange that originated on Twitter. We are now on Tumblr because of Twitter’s…everything, since it was bought by the Muskrat. Everything–sign-ups, communication, assignment/gift distribution–used to be run entirely on Twitter, but as the exchange has grown, we’ve incorporated other platforms to help make our lives as mods easier. Consequently, sign-ups will be on AO3 and submissions of your finished gifts (when it comes time for them) will be via Google form. Otherwise all communication, including announcements, questions, assignment and gift delivery, will be conducted over Tumblr and instant messaging. 

Who are the mods?

Our mod line-up is @blackestglass (blackglass) & @knight-tracer, with flowersforgraves assisting on the backend with data management. 

What is the schedule?

The dates for #ITPE 2024 are:

Sign-ups: SEPTEMBER 21 - SEPTEMBER 29

Assignments go out: No later than OCTOBER 8

Projects due: DECEMBER 17

Distribution: DECEMBER 24

So long as it's still September 29 somewhere in the world, you can still sign-up.

How do I sign up?

We are continuing to run sign-ups through AO3 (without a nominations process, so just write in your fandoms). We are asking for a minimum of 3 unique fandoms and if you want to sign-up to give or receive more than 20 fandoms, pick your TOP 20 for the AO3 and put the rest in your Dear Podficcer Letter. If you have less than 20 fandoms, we encourage you to list all of your primary and secondary fandoms in the sign up form so we have options for matching!

Note: We consider certain RPF fandoms as “umbrella” fandoms. We know we have K-Pop podficcers and sports RPF podficcers who often sign up for our exchange. Individual K-Pop bands and individual sports/sports teams do not count as “unique” fandoms (so for instance, only listing SHINee, BTS, and A-Teez would not count as having 3 unique fandoms for sign-up purposes; for our purposes, they would all fall under the K-Pop umbrella). In addition to listing your favorite bands/sports/teams in the fandom field, we do ask you to help us out for matching by thinking of at least 2 other fandoms which you might be happy to give and receive in. The RPF podficcing pool is small and we try not to repeat matches within a 5-year period, so giving us more fandom options will help us find you a match. 

What is a Dear Podficcer letter?

Your Dear Podficcer letter should include stuff like squicks, triggers, ship and trope preferences, and anything else you think we & your gift giver should know regarding your fandom tastes. Letters are mandatory. They don't have to be long! But if you have extremely specific tastes, it’s better that you let us know upfront in your letter so that we can ensure that you receive a gift you’re happy with. Please don’t worry about seeming “difficult”! We want you to love the gift you receive! Also, do feel free to request your small, obscure fandoms! Just help us out by also including some more popular or “mainstream” fandoms among your options. 

If you’re still uncertain what a letter should look like, here are some examples from 2020: blackglass’s 2020 letter & knight_tracer’s 2020 letter. You can also check out linked letters in the “Requests Summary” on AO3 to see what other people’s letters look like!  

Letters should be hosted on a publicly viewable platform, such as on Dreamwidth, tumblr, carrd, GDrive, Dropbox, etc. 

Please put your Tumblr and AO3 handles (if they don’t already match) in your Dear Podficcer letter. For our sake, ideally somewhere in the title field. Toss a coin to your mod team. 

Also please be kind to your mods & avoid using smushnames or cute fandom ship names in your letter. We're not always in your fandom & sometimes people will use different names to refer to the same pairing & we mistakenly believe you're requesting different pairings (see: the Zimbits/JackBitty/etc. debacle of 2020). Using Char A/Char B(/Char C) would help us out a lot! You don't have to use AO3 levels of disambiguation – just provide us with enough information to figure out who the characters involved in the ship are. 

If you have specific tastes in what you want to RECEIVE in a fandom, but you’re willing to CREATE outside of those preferences (for instance, wanting to receive podfic about a specific pairing, but willing to podfic for other pairings in a fandom), please indicate that in your letter! If you want to offer or receive fandoms that aren’t currently on the AO3, or you’re one of those gutsy people that is willing to offer and create in “any fandom”, message this account and we’ll make sure it’s all recorded. 

In addition, if you’re an adventurous listener who is open to RECEIVING podfic for “any fandom” please ALSO message us so that we’re aware! We still need a minimum of 3 fandoms for your sign up so that it can go through.

If you have any DNWs (“do not wants”)  that you don’t want to post publicly in a letter, concerns about matching, or anything else you’d like to privately let the mods know, there’s a section in the sign up this year that you can fill out. Or you can send us a message!

How should we be communicating with you over Tumblr? We will primarily be using the instant messaging function. Therefore you will need a Tumblr account to sign up, because that’s where all communication and assignment/gift delivery will take place. It’s totally fine to use a placeholder account you only use for this exchange. (We do recommend adding a userpic, filling out your bio, and maybe reblogging a few posts so that you don’t seem like a bot.) All participants should be following the mod account, especially if you have restricted settings so that only people you follow can message you. The instant messaging system, unlike the ask system, allows us to maintain a record of our communications, and is the best way to share information you want to keep private between us or have extended conversations. You may use asks if you have a one-off question or questions you don’t mind getting public answers to. 

(Notifications for new Tumblr messages can be finicky so try to check out the messaging tab semi-regularly throughout the duration of the exchange instead of relying on the blue dot to let you know there’s a new message.) 

In an attempt to avoid tripping spam filters and hitting the Tumblr limit on sending messages to new people, we are asking you to help us out by sending us an instant message to let us know you’ve signed up, rather than us trying to reach out to dozens upon dozens of people (prime spambot behavior)! 

What happens if you get marked as spam?

If we get shadowbanned/tossed in potential spambot purgatory, the mods will reach out to you from our personal accounts/mod sideblogs or via email. During the sign up period, we will reach out to you via messaging to ask you for a reliable email address to reach you at in case all of our attempts to not get flagged as spam fail.

If we are marked as spam, we’ll still be able to post on our own blog and we should still appear on your dash, but we won’t be appearing in the tags most likely, which is another reason why it’s important for you to be following us!

How does matching work? How will I get my assignment?

The mods do hand-matching, meaning rather than just letting the AO3 algorithm run and make arbitrary matches based on fandom, we read all your letters and try to match you with someone with similar tastes and interests. We’ll only be relying on the AO3 algorithm to help us spot tricky matches. 

Another of the ways Tumblr combats spam is to shadowban anyone sending multiple similarly worded messages. We’re going to make an attempt to deliver extremely pared down assignment messages so that we’re mostly sending unique information. If we do get marked as spam, as mentioned earlier, we may reach out to you on sideblogs or via email. 

What kind and how many gifts should I make? Do you really mean “no minimums”? 

Yes, ITPE gifts have NO LENGTH MINIMUMS. Make something as big or as small as you want to commit to! We truly do mean it. This is meant to be a low pressure exchange! Accordingly, please set your expectations that you may receive a short gift. In the past, we have had participants who’ve been extremely generous and made a prolific amount of gifts for their giftee, but they are outliers and there is certainly no expectation that anyone else should strive to those heights. 

I have more questions about making gifts!

We’re sure you do, but we’re not there yet! We will update this FAQ with more information about submitting gifts and treats once assignments go out, so check back!

I’m ready to sign up! What are the next steps? 1. Fill out the sign up form on AO3 here.

2. Follow us @itpemod if you haven’t yet!

3. Send us a message over the chat letting us know you’ve signed up!

4. Optional (but encouraged if you want to talk to people!): join the Tumblr Podfic Community to participate in the friending/following meme!

5. Optional: Track/follow the #itpe or #informal tumblr podfic exchange tags! 

[kaf-gift-exchange]

Sign-ups are now open!

Now's your chance to come and be involved! They'll be open until the 24th July

Sign up on Ao3 here

[cr-summer-wildflowers]

Do you think Reani and Keg should huddle for warmth in the mountains while they talk about moral ambiguity? Do you wish Elsie and Rajan had gotten a happy ending? Did LOVM season 2 leave you wanting more polymachina?

All of these and much, much more can be found in the Critical Role Summer Wildflowers Exchange, now taking nominations for the summer 2024 exchange! The exchange is intended to showcase rarepairs, crackships, and even canon relationships that could use a little more love. Platonic and romantic relationships are allowed, as are poly relationships and groups.  For this year, we've chosen to limit the exchange to relationships with fewer than 500 works before April 18th. This rules out most of the top ships and can be easily checked before you nominate.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Check your schedule. Nominations run from May 3rd until May 16th. The rest of the dates for the event can be found here.

2. Nominations are not sign-ups. They do not get you added to the exchange. They do not commit you to the exchange. You MUST sign up when they open (they haven’t yet, check the dates at the link. above) in order to participate. If you nominate tags, however, please at least plan to sign up.

3. Go to the tag set to nominate ships. This will decide the pool from which you can pull when you make your requests. It requires you to have an ao3, and you can only do it once, but you can submit up to 20 relationships.

4. If you have questions, message us. We are available on Dreamwidth, the Haven Discord Community, Ao3, and here on Tumblr.

If you want more information on what a nomination is, go here! We hope to see you in the exchange!

[mr-sadman]

Introducing : Mr. Sadman's Spring Exchange!

Without further ado, here are all the details!

Our stance on plagiarism and AI 

We do not accept nor condone the use of plagiarism, including the use of AI, whether in writing or art. If you are caught using either, you will be disqualified from the current event and barred entry for the other events the Mr. Sadman team puts forward.

General Rules and Informations

Being part of the Mr. Sadman discord is mandatory - meaning this event is open to server members only. Of course, that doesn’t mean you on tumblr cannot participate, just that you need to join the server before the event starts. There will be event related channels and roles available to ensure communication between the mod team and participants runs smoothly. Discord will remain the only method of communication used during the event.

Our sign-ups will be on AO3 only; you will be asked to submit your gift on AO3 regardless of its type to ensure that all assignations are met. That said, if your AO3 handle differs from your Discord handle, please tell us your Discord Username/ID in your sign-up form. 

If you are under the age of 18, you will not be able to create explicit content for the event. Just to reiterate, Mr. Sadman is a 16+ server.

The Mr. Sadman Modteam is a firm believer of “ship and let ship” as well as the kinktomato (https://fanlore.org/wiki/Kinktomato). In accordance with the Server’s existing rules, we will not tolerate any discrimination and harassment in any forms whatsoever. This includes: queerphobia, homophobia, racism, content policing, hate speech, doxxing, shaming, etc, as well as hostility towards organisers and fellow participants. 

It is also mandatory to keep your work and giftee’s identity a secret - this is to ensure that everyone gets the surprise on reveal day. Would you like to have your gifts spoiled ahead of time? Most don’t, so be considerate as it goes against the spirit of the event.

By signing-up to this event, you agree to respect all server and event rules. This includes communication with moderators that might happen outside of server bounds. 

What is a gift exchange?

What is a gift exchange? It’s in the name! This is an event where the exchange of gifts (fic, art, etc.) is central! You will be paired with another participant to make a gift for them based on their sign-up! In turn, you will receive a gift from another participant based on yours!

Are there any minimum requirements? The minimum is 1k words for written pieces, one 500px by 500px piece for art pieces, a minimum of 2mins for digital pieces and audio submissions need to be edited to a near-professional level of quality.

[If your art doesn’t fit within these parameters, please make a note of it in your sign-up and a mod will get in touch with you to reach an agreement]

What kind of art can I make? Anything from traditional or digital drawing, to photomanips, fanvids, podfics, songwriting, book binding and more! We only ask you to put some effort into it! 

A few exceptions include: playlists, icons and banners. These, while being a nice and fun bonus for your giftee, cannot be counted as your primary piece!

What can I write/request? Anything goes! Romantic, platonic, threesomes, foursomes, polycules, you name it! The only thing we ask you to not write/request is xReader/xOC content, as well as anything depicting real life’s children (such as the actors’).

Can I co-write with a friend? If you decide to co-write with a friend, you will have to submit only one sign-up form and will receive only one gift in return. More co-authors doesn’t mean more gifts.

Can I already be paired with someone? No, we do not accept preliminary pairings for this event. 

What if I can’t meet a deadline? Please make sure to inform a mod as soon as you know! Accommodations might be worked out depending on the situation. We simply ask you to be considerate to your fellow participants, it is unfair to them for you to back out as they had already started working on their pieces!

Event Schedule 

Sign-ups : March 31st to April 7th Assignations : April 15th Due date : May 5th Reveal : May 11th

FAQs & TLDR: 

When is the event ? Our Exchange sign-ups are running from March 31st to April 7th, with the due date set for May 5th!

Do I need to be a part of the server to participate? Yes! Our Spring Exchange is open to all server members! This is also to facilitate contact between the mod team and the participants of the event. Please note that sign-ups will be held on AO3 only.

Are there any content type restrictions ? We accept works of various mediums - writing, art, photo edits, podfics, video edits, etc. - , whether they are SFW, NSFW and/or triggering. The only exceptions are playlists, icons and banners, which are not accepted.

Where should I post my work ? Your work should be posted to AO3 to ensure that all assignations have been completed. 

Is this event only for Dreamling? Absolutely not! Whether your pairing is platonic, romantic, neither, both, we want it all!! There is space on the sign-up form for multiple requests, in case you have more than one favoured pairing!

Are polyamorous ships accepted ? Yes!!

Are xReader / xOC works accepted? Not this time around!

I need help, how do I reach a mod?

If there is something that is not covered by our rules masterpost and/or FAQ, you are very free to reach out to us in the Discord server’s dedicated channel or in Discord DMs! 

[aftg-mixtape]

Mixtape season is officially here!

Find Mixtape creations here! Posting goes through February 16th.

If you are entering to win a B-Sides gift, find the form here! B-Sides entries accepted through March 16th!

Happy Mixtape darlings!!

[thunderbolts25]

Just to be clear, we can write and request only gen fics for this exchange, correct? Romance DNWed?

Yes and no! Participants are welcome to request and write any archive rating in this event. However, if you only request and offer platonic pairings ('A & B') and/or specify DNWs for romance, you will be guaranteed a gift that meets those preferences, as well as at least one platonic request for you to write. Unfortunately, I cannot currently guarantee an entirely gen/platonic assignment (like I could with other DNWs), as this depends on the sign-ups. If you have further questions or want to check in before sign-ups close to see if there is a suitable match for you, don’t hesitate to reach out again!

[extremetimedchallengeexchange]

Rules and FAQ

The fastest gift exchange around. Objectively a bad idea. 48 hours of hyperfocus.

Schedule: (All times in EDT)

Tag Nominations Opens, Discord Opens: 0:01 August 14

Tag Nominations Closes: Midnight August 20

A03 Sign Up Opens 0:01 August 21

A03 Sign Up closes: Midnight August 27

Creation Phase: Noon EDT August 31 - Noon EDT September 2

Treating Week: September 2- September 9

Discord Closes: Noon September 9

Everybody admires everyone else's work: September 2 - Ongoing

Rules

The exchange is multifandom, and open to artists, writers, and podficcers. Fandoms do not have to have a canonized Ao3 tag to participate.

You must be a member of the Discord, for communication purposes.

Once assigned, participants will have 48 hours to deliver their gift.

Artists are expected to deliver a decent sketch, Writers and Podficcers have a 300 word minimum

No AI-Generated content.

This exchange will be operating on DL:DR when it comes to what the mods will police and what we ask you to respect in terms of other people’s requests. The single exception is RPF, which has additional rules. 

RPF is allowed. Persons nominated for RPF must be famous in their own right and over the age of 18. Persons famous chiefly for their participation in facist regimes or as serial killers will not be considered for nomination. Mods reserve the right to reject RPF nominations in poor taste.

Original Work is allowed. Use the "Original Work" fandom. If it is important to you that a person within a specific pairing is a specific gender, make that clear within the tag, for example "Middle-aged King (M)/His Loyal Bodyguard (NB) (Original Work)".

As this is a 13+ exchange, there is no NSFW allowed, even if you’re sure that both you and your recipient are adults. This applies both to sexual content and to extreme (e-rated) gore.

To increase matching options, tags must be seconded (nominated twice) to make it into the tag set. Because of this, tag nominations will be collected through a google form.

You can nominate tags for up to ten fandoms, with up to twenty tags nominated in each.

You will have one week to submit relationships and characters to a tag set, one week to write your prompts, and 48 hours to deliver your gift.

Participants are required to request at least three fandoms (with associated prompts), and offer to create around at least three fandoms.

To help your creator out, you must offer either a list of likes or prompts that contains at least one element that works for each art form that you have opted into. If you opt into art, you must give at least one art prompt or art like in your signup, and the same for fic or podfic.

To increase matching options, at least one of your ships has to be either Gen (platonic relationship) or a single-character tag— just one overall, not one per fandom.

Please include anything you absolutely don't want to receive (Do Not Wants) in the Optional Details field in your AO3 signup. Only DNWs in the Ao3 signup will be enforced, and mods will not enforce DNWs that are overly restrictive, unclear, or used to box a recipient into a specific gift (i.e. "nothing gross", or "I don't want anything that isn't a space au with the mc's other major love interest dead off screen".)

This exchange uses Ao3's matching algorithm, and as such, you need an Ao3 Account.

Make sure the email attached to your AO3 account is one that a) you check regularly, and b) are comfortable with exchange mods seeing. You can verify your email here: archiveofourown.org/users/[your ao3 name here]/change_email

As per Ao3 and Discord’s TOS, you must be at least 13.

Links

Ao3 Collection Here

Tag Set Here

Nominate Tags [form available in the discord]

Tag Nomination Rules Here,

Discord Here

Things We Do Differently Than Other Exchanges Here

Intro to how to sign up for an Ao3 Exchange Here. Variant using a gifter letter here. A note on what Solo tags mean in practice here.

Sign up for Ao3 Here (there is a waiting queue.)

Additional Challenges (just for fun):

One Day: Fulfil your gift within 24 hours.

Word Count: Write 5k or more on a single gift.

Art: Produce a fully-rendered and coloured (lined if that's your style) art piece with at least two characters, or a 10-panel comic with clean pencils or simple inks, within the 48 hours of the exchange.

Multi-media: Fulfil gifts that meets gift minimums for two different gift forms— art, fic, and/or podfic.

Multi-fandom: Make gifts that meet gift minimums for 3 or more fandoms.

FAQ:

Why? Because it seemed like a terrible idea.

How do I sign up/How do I format tags/Are you using OR matching: Signup FAQ on the Ao3 collection Here)

Further Questions? Join the Discord Here

[mcytblraufest]

Holiday Exchange: General Rules and FAQ

TIMELINE:  Sign-ups open, Discord Opens: 18 October Sign-ups close, everyone must have joined the Discord: 15 November Assignments sent out: 23 November - 26 November Check-in: 9 December - 10 December  Posting Week: Sunday 24th December through Monday 1 January.

RULES FOR PARTICIPATING:  - Must join our Discord for communication - Must tag your recipient in the eventual post  - Must tag this blog in your post so we can keep track of gifts - DM a mod ASAP if you don’t think you’ll get your gift out on time or at all, or you want to withdraw - Must check in at the half-way mark to make sure everything is on-track. -Must request and offer to create around a minimum of three characters. -Any under-18 persons found requesting or offering NSFW content will be banned from this and all future iterations of the exchange. -Because of Tumblr, Ao3 and Discord TOS, you must be 13 to participate.

RULES FOR CREATING:  - Make a good-faith effort to respect creator boundaries - Your gift doesn’t have to contain only requested characters, but it does have to centre on at least one requested character.  - Any shipping must be kept to PG-13 levels or below unless your recipient specifically requested NSFW. Any non-requested NSFW is grounds for a ban from this and all future iterations of the exchange.  -Respect your giftee's DNW. Any gift found to be in violation of a reasonable DNW is grounds for a ban from future iterations of the exchange. - Dark or Violent themes must be tagged appropriately -No AI-created content.

DISCORD LINK - Discord: [here]

CREATING RESOURCES:  - How to add your fic to an Ao3 Collection. [link]  - The Ao3 Collection. [link]  - How to image-describe your art. [link1] [link2]

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:  - Art (1 drawing, created to a standard you would normally post as “finished”)  - Writing (1k+ words)  - Playlist (2 hour-long playlists)  - Moodboard (2 boards, at least 9 elements each, for a total of at minimum 18 elements between both boards. Speak to mods if that really doesn't work for your designs)  - Web Weaving (1 board of at least 10 elements)

MISC:  - Tag this blog as well, so we can reblog you!  - You will not necessarily be matched with someone who matches your ‘willing to create about’ exactly. The goal is to have multiple matches, but in cases of more obscure requests you might be matched with someone who only has one commonality between your ‘willing to create’ and their wish list. In that case at least you know what to make your gift around pretty quickly. :D  - Please send asks if you need information. If it is something you do not feel comfortable sending in an ask, you can message the head mod at @antimony-medusa​ - If you ask us a question about something that has been already outlined in this post we will not answer!

FAQ:

-I changed my mind about my gift list, I want to add something, what do I do? You can re-do your entry and we will delete the earlier version of any duplicate entries, or you send us an ask (off anon if you want an answer back) to change something (only minor changes using this method, please).

-Is there an Ao3 collection? I want to add my fic to it. There will be! It will be released once assignments are sent out.

-I added my fic to the Ao3 collection, but I can’t see it? The collection is currently set to ‘unrevealed’, so works can be added but won’t be visible before reveal day, so it’s all a surprise.

-I need to contact my recipient, but they have anon off! What do I do? Talk to us, we’ll contact them for you.

- I didn’t save my assignment message and now I’ve forgotten my assignment, what now? Get in contact with us, we’ll resend it. 

-I can’t finish my gift by the deadline, what do I do? You have two options. Option one is to consider if you can still finish it by a couple days or a week or so later, and ask the mods if you can get an extension. We will check with your recipient to see if it’s okay to extend your deadline. Option two is to drop entirely, in which case you tell a mod, and we will assign your gift to a pinch-hitter so your recipient still gets something. In both cases, the important thing is that you get in contact with a mod ( @antimony-medusa is head mod) as soon as possible to figure out a plan.

-If I want to make more than one gift, can I? You can make as many gifts as you'd like! If you really enjoy making gifts, we suggest signing up as a Pinch Hitter in the discord

-I don't celebrate Christmas, can I sign up? This exchange welcomes all holidays (even a complete lack of holidays), and people will have an opportunity to opt in to what events they want represented in their gift, whether that's real-world holidays, imaginary minecraft events, or no holidays at all.

-I'm only a fan of a small server, can I sign up? You are very welcome to sign up even if your fandom doesn't have the most active tag, this is a broad MCYT exchange. We will do our best to match you with someone else who also likes your block people. If your fandom has less than a thousand fics on the archive, we recommend that you try and recruit friends into the exchange too, so you know that there are people who like the same characters as you in the matching pool. We can't absolutely promise to match on smaller characters, but we have run this exchange twice and we haven't had anyone be entirely unmatchable yet, so fingers crossed that continues.

-Is RPF allowed? While MCYT is in a fuzzy space while we're often close to RPF and many of our older works are still tagged with Video Blogging RPF, this is a character-focused exchange. You will not be able to request or offer direct RPF for this exchange.

-Is shipping allowed? Yes. For the comfort of the greatest number of participants, we ask that participants make a good-faith effort to ensure that any shipping is boundary-respecting, but because there is no broad fandom-wide consensus about how that is defined in specific cases (whether it's okay to write beeduo as /r or /p is an obvious case) or between specific fandoms (lifesteal approach to shipping is different from HBG is different from DSMP), the mods will not be policing any specific understanding of boundaries across the event. The event will operate on Don't Like Don't Read, in that everyone will have the chance to opt in for themselves as to if they are comfortable with shipping or NSFW for each specific character they want to work with, and mods will match based on that.

-Is NSFW allowed? Yes, NSFW is permitted as long as it respects creator boundaries, and both sides of the gift exchange are 18+. People will only be matched to others who specifically requested NSFW work. For the comfort of the greatest number of people in the exchange and the mod team, nothing that would warrant the tags Underage, Rape/Noncon, Dubcon, Adult/Minor, or Incest is permitted.

-My person requested characters I don't want to write, and one of them is a ship I don't like. What do I do? You are only expected to create a gift for the characters you matched on. If you offered to create for Grian (shipping allowed), Good times with Scar (shipping allowed) and Docm77 (only gen), and you matched to someone requesting Grian (shipping allowed), Docm77 (shipping allowed) and Keralis (only gen), you are only expected to make a gift with the characters and relationships you matched on, in this case, Grian. If you are entirely uncomfortable with your match, you can tell a mod, and we can take it off your hands and get it pinch-hit. You will still receive a gift.

-If noncon isn't permitted, is non-consentual touching (platonic) allowed? As technically a punch in the face counts as non-consensual touching, and pvp is a classic part of most MCYT canons, we find banning all nonconsensual contact to be unnecessarily restrictive. As long as nonconsensual contact is not sexual in nature, it is permitted, however, it must be tagged for adequately along with any other potentially triggering content.

-Do you allow dark or violent content? Yes. The lore of many mcyt servers includes death games, abuse, cannibalism, murder-for-hire, and other dark or violent themes. However, all potentially triggering content must be tagged for so readers and giftees can make an informed choice to get infolved or not. We would recommend that you not include particularly dark topics unless requested to by your giftee.

-What is a Pinch Hitter? A pinch hitter is a person who saves the day and steps in when the original creator is unable to deliver their work for whatever reason, making a new work on an accelerated timeline. You can sign up to be a Pinch Hitter in the discord.

-What is a DNW? All participants will have the opportunity to fill out a DNW, which stands for Do Not Want. This is anything that has the potential to ruin a gift for you. DNWs must be phrased politely, (so no "No foster aus because they suck and you suck if you like them"), and they must be reasonable, (so no attempting to box someone into a specific gift, i.e. "DNW anything that isn't a space au where Tommy is a dinosaur-hybrid and Tubbo is a ghost bee and they rampage through the living ship named Las Nevadas"), but they can be as petty (disliking specific art styles) or as broad-reaching (no modern aus, no specific ships, no crossovers with specific servers) as you like. Deliberately breaking someone's DNW is grounds for a ban from the exchange.

-When do I have to join the discord? You have the option to join the dicord and hang out as soon as signup starts on October 18, and you must join the discord so we can communicate with you by November 15. Anyone not in the discord once we start matching will have their sign-ups deleted.

-Is the discord a social server? Can I expect game nights? The discord is primarily an event server, we are not going to be hosting events. We will have a directory of other social servers, if you want to take a conversation started in the discord into a more convivial space.

-What's a check-in and how do they work? Check-ins are there to make sure everyone is on track to finish their piece in time, and to communicate any issues with the mods! If you know that you won’t be able to check in on a specific date (lack of internet, etc), please contact the mods in advance.

-What if I need to drop out? It is your responsibility to communicate with us if you need to drop out of the event for any reason, and we do need that communication. We know that life is no respecter of fic and art deadlines, so no hard feelings if something happens. However, we would hate for anyone to end up having no gift, so please think about this if you are thinking of dropping out close to reveals. Please inform us in advance if you must drop out or think you will not be able to complete your gift on time. Dropping out after the last check-in without informing the mods will result in not being permitted to take part in further events run by this mod team.

I have a question not answered here? Send us an ask on tumblr, contact @antimony-medusa on tumblr or discord!

[masseffectholidaycheer]

**ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL OF THIS GIFT EXCHANGE**

GREETINGS, VERMIN. THE HOLIDAY HARVEST SEASON IS UPON US ONCE MORE.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY before filling out the survey.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Surveys will be collected until December 06, 2024.

Match emails will be sent out by December 10, 2024.

Gifts may be given between January 15, 2025 and January 31, 2025.

Anyone making/sending a physical gift must provide proof of postage by January 15, 2025.

*Postal services are often somewhat hampered by distance, weather, strikes, etc. If you’re receiving a physical gift, it may be delayed.

But worry not—everyone gets a gift. Minion Keeper is VERY good at this job! They have a sacred spreadsheet, which they keep in the tiny sacred backpack. (Nothing gets past the sacred spreadsheet. Not even Shepard.)

Read the rules. We’ve made some changes/clarifications this year.

FILL OUT THE SURVEY! (Enjoy Holiday Harbinger’s sense of humor. Truly, the gift that keeps on giving.)

**Follow @masseffectholidaycheer for the duration of the exchange. This is where we communicate. It’s also where you can enjoy all the gifts people make.**

Spread the news! The more the merrier! Otherwise, Holiday Harbinger will never collect enough organic paste to make a Tumblr Reaper.

Join in the fun before the Harvest takes you all.

If you have questions you’d like answered, please send Holiday Harbinger an email at holidayharbinger@gmail.com.

JANUARY JUBILATION CANNOT BE STOPPED

[highflierexchange]

How to Post a Work to the Exchange

As the deadline is fast approaching, I wanted to post a quick tutorial on how to post a work to the High Flier Exchange (or any other exchange you've signed up for) for those who are new to the AO3 exchange system.

On AO3, go to "Hi, [username]!" -> My Assignments:

This will take you to all your assignments (past, present or future). Click "Fulfill" next to the assignment you'd like to post something for:

This will take you to the usual new work page, but with the link to the collection/your assignment already filled in!

Post your work using the form as usual, and you're all set!

[itpemod]

Assignments FAQ

Assignments start going out now! Please read the following FAQ and confirm that you’ve received your assignment and read the rules (for example, “Got the assignment and confirming I’ve read the rules”) when we DM you! We broke the links to try to avoid setting off spam filters, so simply delete the colons when you copy and paste the URL into the address bar. 

If we get tossed into spambot purgatory partway through assignment delivery, we’ll switch to one of our sideblogs and failing that, we will start emailing you at the addresses we confirmed with you. 

When are gifts due?

Fully edited main podfic gifts are due on December 17th. We’ll make the gift deliveries on December 24th! Remember, no minimums. The treats deadline this year will be December 22nd.

“Fully edited”?

The default expectation is that you will be submitting a “traditional” podfic that you’ve recorded and edited to remove all flubs (at minimum). We understand that in certain fandoms there’s a sub-genre of podfic commonly called a “cold read” which is minimally edited or completely unedited and includes chatty asides and reactions. Please only submit a podfic in this format if your recipient has specifically opted into/requested it in their Dear Podficcer letter. If your recipient doesn’t mention anything about liking cold reads or chatty podfics, then assume that they’re expecting an edited podfic (though if you’d like us as mods to reach out to your recipient to confirm what kind of podfic they’re expecting, we are happy to do so.)

Who can I tell about my assignment?

Keep it secret! (Keep it safe.) Except for your beta–you can tell them. :D

I’m new. How do I find a podfic to record?

Use your recipient’s letter as a guide in terms of story choice. Try to find a story that hits at least one of your recipient’s likes/wants. You must respect your recipient’s Do Not Wants (DNW). Some participants have suggested stories in their letters or bookmarks or have provided information about a close fandom friend who can help with vetting stories. You can also reach out to your participant via anonymous asks or by asking mods to pass on messages if you have further questions!

When finding a gift to record for your recipient, please follow permission norms in your fandom. That means asking for permission if the author doesn’t have a permission statement. Transformative works policies are often found in author’s profiles on AO3.

You can also use the Fanworks Permission Statements list (https://fpslist.org/) as a resource to find authors with blanket permission in your fandom or download the Blanket Permission Highlighter (https://github.com/BrickGrass/Blanket-Permission-Highlighter). The BP highlighter will automatically highlight any author with blanket permission in green when you’re browsing AO3. You will need to have the greasemonkey or tampermonkey extension (if you’re using Firefox or Chrome respectively) installed first 

How do I submit my gift?

To submit your finished podfic, you will use the Google forms that will be posted next month.

What are treats? 

Treats are gifts that you can make for people who aren’t your recipient. We will be publishing a spreadsheet of all requests next week that you can peruse. Anyone can make treats–you do not have to be signed up for the exchange to submit them. You can make as many treats as you want, and you can gift a treat to multiple people. (If you, as a recipient, do not want to receive a multirecipient treat, please DM the mods or add yourself to the Opting Out tab in the treats spreadsheet.)

Please note that you MUST submit your main gift first before you can submit any treats. We will not be accepting treats until you have submitted a main gift for your recipient first. 

Do you have any other advice for the gift making process?

We sure do! If you’re planning a long, ambitious project, consider making & submitting a short gift early on first. Long gifts are great to give and receive, but sometimes life happens and this gives everyone a safety net.

We also recommend prioritizing recording your ENTIRE gift FIRST. We can find you editing help if needed; only you can record. 

If you think you will need an extension to finish your main gift at any point, please DM us as soon as you can. We’re willing to work with you, but would rather hear from you earlier than later if possible. 

Okay, I’m excited! What are my next steps?

1. Wait for our message (please be patient, we have no idea how it’s going to go!)

2. Write back to us to confirm you’ve received your assignment and read these rules.

3. Squee on your own blog (tag it with #itpe or #informal tumblr podfic exchange) or in the Tumblr podfic community. Just remember to keep who you were assigned a secret!

4. Check back next week for more information about treats!