#2k22 bulletin board

[squealing-santa]

Welcome, one and all, to the 7th Annual Tickle Fandom Bloggers Squealing Santa Extravaganza!

This year's humble host for 2022 is @hypahticklish - I am so excited to carry the torch, as well as compile the archive of seasons past. I'm also beyond excited to invite our artist friends to partake in this year's festivities!! This is my first year organizing the event and I cannot wait to see all the magic our corner of tumblr is able to create.

But enough of my shmoozing - let's get on to the main event! Here are the rules that most of you know so very well (with some tweaks for our new additions):

In order to get a peice of tickle fiction or art, you must be willing to create a new peice of tickle fiction or art for someone else.

Fics should be at least 250 words (if that sounds like a lot, don’t worry, it’s only about a page double-spaced). There is no limit if you'd like to write more!

Art should have clean, finished line art (if traditional, drawn on unlined paper and well-lit upload). There is no limit if you'd like to color or stylize more!

Works should be based on prompts given by the person you are creating for.

When you sign up, include 1-5 loose prompts - can be as simple as a fandom, a pairing, a character, a scenario, or a combination of those things (Examples of loose prompts can be found here).

Once sign-ups end, we’ll send out assignments and you’ll have until December 31st to finish your piece and send it to the person you’re creating for. In turn, your writer or artist will post a piece for you also by the end of December! No one will know who is working on whose prompts until the works are published, because surprises are fun!

Use this link right here to complete your registration to this year's exchange!

Please note that the registration is conducted via Google Forms. While we have turned all email requirements off, there's still a chance it will autofill that information if you're logged in. We'd definitely recommend filling out the survey using incognito mode just in case for that reason. Should any emails be submitted accidentally, they will not be utilized or released.

IF YOU ARE ANON: you still must include a tumblr url that we can contact you at. We promise we won’t give it out to anyone; we just will need a way to contact you over the course of the exchange!

We will send you a confirmation DM once your registration has been submitted, so if you don’t receive that, contact us! We want to make sure no one gets left out due to the survey eating submissions or something similarly dumb.

You will have until midnight PST on Saturday, November 5th to sign up! After that, sign-ups will be closed! We feel that’s enough time for us to divy up the assigments and then for you to create your piece!

Remember to have your ask box or messages open, because we’ll need to communicate with you at some point to let you know who you are writing or drawing for! Assignments will go out approximately ten days after registration closes.

We hope you can join the event this year and have a blast! Until then, we’ll be waiting for you all to sign up!

[squealing-santa]

We've had quite a few folks curious about the registration results this year and, as a fellow data nerd, that is something we definitely want to share.

First and foremost, I would like to congratulate all of you for achieving our participants goal! What was it??

🎉 100 Magic Makers 🎉

We seriously hit triple digits!! As far as we can tell based on previous years, this is an unprecedented turn out. December is about to be a rowdy month for the tickle fandom community!!

Luckily for us, that makes most of the below graphs a little easier to read 😁

Participant Age Range

[Image ID - A pie chart representing the age range of participants for the 2k22 Squealing Santa gift exchange: 1 for 1980-1984, 5 for 1985-1989, 6 for 1990-1994, 22 for 1995-1999, 43 for 2000-2004, and 23 for 2005-2009]

Magic Maker Types

[Image ID - A pie chart representing the creator types for the 2k22 Squealing Santa gift exchange: 17 are artist and 83 are writers]

Interest in keeping Squealing Santa

[Image ID - A pie chart representing those in favor of maintaining the event name as "Squealing Santa": 10 nays and 90 yays]

Fandom Popularity

Y'all, our knismo fandom community is far and wide! Upon completion of the registration survey, you guys listed 229 different fandoms between personal requests and confidence creating for. That is an insane figure! But, after removing all the media that had not been requested, we were left with 127 different fandoms. I'm still working on the pairs, so the reality may not be quite so diverse at the end of the day, but we still found that impressive.

[Image ID - Three pie charts representing the combined popularity of fandoms submitted by all participants for the 2k22 Squealing Santa gift exchange. Left to Right: The first pie chart shows the percentage breakdown of the full 127 different fandom list. The second pie chart shows the percentage breakdown of the fandoms that had greater than or equal to five individuals supporting it. The third pie chart shows the percentage breakdown of the fandoms that had greater than or equal to ten individuals supporting it.]

The Top Five Fandoms by All Participants

5. Steven Universe with 17 4. Haikyuu!! with 20 3. Genshin Impact with 22 2. Stranger Things with 24 1. My Hero Academia with 31

[Image ID - Four pie charts representing popularity of fandoms submitted by the adult pool of participants for the 2k22 Squealing Santa gift exchange. Left to Right: The first pie chart show the percentage breakdown of the 109 different fandoms requested by the adult pool. The second pie chart shows the percentage breakdown of the requested fandoms that had greater than or equal to two individuals supporting it. The third pie chart show the percentage breakdown of the 122 different fandoms supported by the entire adult pool. The fourth pie chart shows the percentage breakdown of the entire adult supported fandoms that had greater than or equal to four individuals supporting it.]

The Top Five Fandoms by Adult Participants

5. Steven Universe with 14 4. Haikyuu!! with 15 3. Genshin Impact with 16 2. Stranger Things with 18 1. My Hero Academia with 25

[Image ID - Four pie charts representing popularity of fandoms submitted by the minor pool of participants for the 2k22 Squealing Santa gift exchange. Left to Right: The first pie chart show the percentage breakdown of the 53 different fandoms requested by the minor pool. The second pie chart shows the percentage breakdown of the requested fandoms that had greater than or equal to two individuals supporting it. The third pie chart show the percentage breakdown of the 57 different fandoms supported by the entire minor pool. The fourth pie chart shows the percentage breakdown of the entire minor supported fandoms that had greater than or equal to two individuals supporting it.]

The Top Five Fandoms by Minor Participants

5. Sander's Sides with 6 4. The Owl House with 6 3. Stranger Things with 6 2. My Hero Academia with 6 1. Genshin Impact with 7

[squealing-santa]

Greetings & Salutations!

What is Squealing Santa?

Squealing Santa is an annual holiday event hosted by and for our tumblr TFB (Tickle Fic / Fandom Bloggers) community. Participants submit a handful of prompts to whomever was generous enough to host during a given year. In exchange, they receive a set of prompts to fulfill one in secret and post during the month of December. It's a ton of fun, both in the challenge to fulfill a prompt and in being surprised with the gift of a new fic based on your prompts. And this year we plan on opening it up to artists as well!

Who is hosting this year?

Tis I - @hypahticklish!

Why did you make a whole sideblog?

In previous years, it fell upon the host blog to post announcements and compile all the submissions. As you can well imagine, it becomes a tad messy once you factor in that, as of 2k22, we are on our fifth host. The intention here is a sideblog that can have the permissions passed down between hosts while maintaining a singular location for all the wonderful peices created over the course of the event. We have archived as many prior Squealing Santa fics as can still be found and can be perused here in the collection of holidays past.

When is Squealing Santa happening this year?

Registration for this year's event begins October 15th and will end at midnight PST November 5th. Assignments will go out approximately 10 days after registration closes. Posting for Squealing Santa always occurs during the entire month of December.

How do I sign up?

**Registration for this year's event is now Closed!** Once sign ups open participants will be able to, preferably, fill out a survey. It will ask for your tumblr handle, whether you're a writer or artist for this years events, prompt list, and whether you'd prefer art or fic fulfillment. You could also provide the necessary info via tumblr ask, submission, or messenger as well. For anyone who wishes to remain anonymous, the hosts will still need a valid tumblr handle in order to communicate with you over the course of the event. That being said, it would never be shared outside the event to maintain your security and privacy.

[squealing-santa]

49 hours remaining to post your gifts! The deadline is Saturday, New Year's Eve, at midnight PST!

If you need an extension, now is the time to communicate that with the host so we can relay it on to your giftee. Please please please take advantage of the DMs so no one who made a gift goes ungifted in return!

As of 12.28.22, 62 Magic Makers have shared their peices so far! 🥳

[squealing-santa]

Just FYI folks

We are like ridiculously close to reaching my secret, albeit easily guessable, registration goal for this year's event

Like...super duper close!!

So if you're on the fence about participating this year, mayhaps allow that tidbit to sway you! It's shaping up to be a fantastic time and would hate for anyone to miss out on the fun!

You can find all the information regarding this year's exchange here

Registration will be closing at Midnight PST on Saturday November 5th!

[squealing-santa]

Results of the SS2k22: Closing Survey

As the event has fully come to a close, we wanted to take advantage of the astounding responsiveness of this years participants with an event survey. The questions were phrased in a way for them to vote with statements they felt were most true to their experience or opinion, as well as whether they would like to implement Host suggested changes.

Below are the results of said survey where 60 of 100 participants responded.

Registration Window

[Image ID - A pie chart representing participant opinion regarding the registration window for the 2k22 Squealing Santa gift exchange: 58 felt the registration window from October 15th to November 5th was a fair duration, 1 felt the registration window was too long, 1 felt the registration was too early.]

Early Projection for 2k23 Event - Maintain Registration Window

Registration Wishlist

[Image ID - A pie chart representing participant opinion regarding the registration wishlist for the 2k22 Squealing Santa gift exchange: 46 felt the wishlist of up to three pairings for up to five fandoms was a fair variety, 7 felt the wishlist of up to five fandoms was fair but there were too few pairings, 3 felt the wishlist of up to three pairings was fair but there were too few fandoms, and 3 felt the wishlist of up to three pairings for up to five fandoms was too limiting and should both be greater.]

Early Projection for 2k23 Event - Maintain OR Update to 5 Pairings, 5 Fandoms, & 5 Prompts

Event Duration

[Image ID - A pie chart representing participant opinion regarding the event duration for the 2k22 Squealing Santa gift exchange: 54 felt the duration from November 15th through December 31st was a fair length, 2 felt the event duration was too long, and 4 felt the event duration was too short.]

Early Projection for 2k23 Event - Maintain Event Duration

Proposal - Split Registration

For future events, splitting the registration into two parts. The first would essentially function as originally created and maintain the event registration window, with the removal of the "fandoms you'd be willing to create for" query. Once the initial registration has closed, a second survey with a significantly shorter deadline (3-4 days or so) be sent to participants to select from all the requested fandoms they feel comfortable creating for. Both parts would be required to complete registration for the event. This change would dramatically improve and streamline both event organization and community fandom metrics.

[Image ID - A pie chart representing participant opinion regarding the 2-part Event Registration proposal for the 2k23 Squealing Santa gift exchange: 56 are in favor or split registration and 4 are against split registration.]

Early Projection for 2k23 Event - Enact Split Registration

Specific Community Feedback

Ensuring second window isn't too short - perhaps closer to 5-7 days?

Proposal - Fic Requirements

Since the duration of the event has extended since it's inception, and majority of participants already well exceed the minimum word limit, we should update what the minimum requirements are.  This change would help ensure a more balanced exchange in effort between participants. 

[Image ID - A pie chart representing 55 writer participants' opinion regarding the increased word count proposal for the 2k23 Squealing Santa gift exchange: 28 felt a 500 word minimum is fair, 14 felt a 250 word minimum is fair, 10 felt a 750 word count is fair, and 3 felt a 1000 word minimum is fair.]

Early Projection for 2k23 Event - Increase minimum requirements to 500 words

Proposal - Art Requirements

As 2k22 was the first year for artist participation we wanted to check in with our artists on whether they feel this was a fair and comparable minimum to the fic requirements for future events.

[Image ID - A pie chart representing 22 artist participants' opinion regarding the art requirements for the 2k23 Squealing Santa gift exchange: 15 felt the 2k22 art requirements were a fair and comparable minimum requirement to fics**, 4 felt art needs more nuanced requirements depending on the engaged medium, and 3 felt the 2k22 art requirements would be fair if fic minimum limits were increased.

** Of the 15 that felt the 2k22 art requirements were fair and comparable, 5 were also writers who voted in favor of raising the word counts. We feel for this reason that a more accurate dateset would reveal the following: 10 felt the 2k22 art requirements were a fair and comparable minimum requirement to fics, 4 felt art needs more nuanced requirements depending on the engaged medium, and 8 felt the 2k22 art requirements would be fair if fic minimum limits were increased.]

Early Projection for 2k23 Event - Partner with community artist to create more nuanced guidelines that are comparable to the increased word limit

Proposal - Accountability Measures

Currently, there is a good faith agreement of requirements between host and participants. We are advocating for the adoption of accountability measures as seen in larger exchange events, such as Big Bangs. These could include, though are not guaranteed or limited to:

Clearer participation terms and conditions for both writers and artists to be agreed upon during registration. 

Penalties for failing to fulfill agreed upon terms and conditions. (Ex: offense warning(s), probational participation, barring from the next year's event, ban from all future events)

Utilizing additional platforms outside Tumblr, such as Discord, for more direct communication and community building.

Increasing the number of moderators for the event.

The change would grant significantly more structure to our event as the amount of participants continues to grow.

[Image ID - A pie chart representing participants opinion regarding the accountability proposal for the 2k23 Squealing Santa gift exchange: 57 are in favor of accountability measures and 3 are against adopting accountability measures.]

Early Projection for 2k23 Event - Enact Accountability Measures

Specific Community Feedback

Discord - Channels for event announcements, general chat, beta reading and art critique, separated by minors and adults to keep everyone safe and comfy.

Probation/Penalty Period - Ensuring there is clear verbiage regarding communication expectations and emergency drops.

[squealing-santa]

You guys are being so fuckin sweet in your closing survey notes 😭🥰 You all cannot keep getting away with this!!! All participants were DM'd a ss2k22 closing survey yesterday to improve next year's event. If the link never arrived or isn't working for ya, please let us know. We plan on closing the survey on January 28th when the extension window ends and will post the metrics on January 31st

[squealing-santa]

What happens if someone does go ungifted?

The short answer? That person, regrettably and disappointedly, does not recieve a gift, despite our best efforts. Which we know super sucks but is not unheard of (literally happened to me - Hypah - last year).

The long answer is a bit more hopeful.

It's true that an unfortunate side affect of hosting and participating in a free gift exchange is that there are those who will suddenly go no-contact with the event. Whether or not there is a valid reason is sometimes never found out and we as hosts are left to navigate the aftermath. This exact occurrence is the reason we asked during the registration survey whether or not you would be open to pinch-hitting.

In the event that your Magic Maker bails, and we have exhausted attempts to reach them via tumblrs various communication channels, we will:

Flag their username(s) / anon!bang in our records of the 2k22 event.**

Return to The Spreadsheet ™️ that contains each participants prompts.

From there, we compare your prompts with the list of those who were open to pinch hitting and also share your fandoms.

Then reach out - preferably from whoever completed their gift earliest but going down the open/overlap list until someone accepts.

Once they do, they will recieve an automatic extension of 1-4 weeks of their choosing (no later than January 28th) and we will reach out to the giftee letting them know that an extension has been requested. Please note that the giftee will not be made aware that their original Magic Maker had dropped from the event.

In the event that your Magic Maker has kept up with communication and simply never delivers after saying they will? That's a bit messier, to be completely honest. Anyone who does not post their tickle art or fiction by the deadline will recieve another check-in (as was done on December 15th and 26th) after the New Year. If they don't ghost and swear it'll be done soon, but never post the finished peice, there is truly little we as hosts can do.

After January 28th, aka the end of the extension window, we will no longer badger folks into fulfilling their responsibility to the event they signed up for. Like we said at the beginning, it's free and meant to be fun - that includes for the host too. Hopefully they post super late, that's happened before, but it's generally unlikely after mid-January.

As always, please make sure to check the 2k22 Bulletin Board for all event specific updates/news in case your question has already been answered elsewhere on the blog 😊

**You may have clocked that we specified flagging accounts. Based off the explosive turn out this year, as well as conversations with previous hosts and participants in other exchange events, we are heavily considering adopting some rules (and therefore consequences for not adhering to them) for future Squealing Santa's. We will absolutely let you guys know if that happens well before ss2k23.

[squealing-santa]

G'day Magic Makers!

Now that I've had a little time to recoup from the marathon sprint these past ten days have been, it's time for a Squealing Santa 2k22 Update!

As of this morning (11.16.22) all assignments have been sent out via DM (apart from a couple in ask inboxes). Please make sure to open those memos at your earliest convenience and respond to let me know you've taken a gander. Thanks again to those of you who already have 🥰 If you didn't receive a message but had received a registration confirmation, let me know!

Here are some reminders for this years event:

In order to get a piece of tickle fiction or art, you must be willing to create a new piece of tickle fiction or art for someone else. I want to emphasize this point because it's not fair to whoever you're paired up with if you never create for them. 

Openly communicate with the host. This is a super busy time of the year, we totally get that. If you have any problems, including needing an extension or needing to drop from the event, please please please reach out. I am here to help!

Fics should be at least 250 words (if that sounds like a lot, don’t worry, it’s only about a page double-spaced). There is no limit if you'd like to write more!

Art should have clean, finished line art (if traditional, drawn on unlined paper and well-lit upload). There is no limit if you'd like to color or stylize more!

Your works should be based on the prompts given by the person you're creating for:

○○○ If there are multiple fandoms and/or prompts listed, you only need to make one! 

○○○ If there is an asterisk beside a character's name, that is an indication of ticklee preference.

○○○ If anyone is confused about their prompts, or would like more clarification, I can act as a go-between if you need to ask questions of the person you’re writing for.

Don't tell anyone who you got assigned to create for! Part of the fun is that it's a surprise, so remember to keep it secret until you post your finished works. 

Try your very hardest to have your art or fic completed and posted by the end of December, as this is a holiday exchange! But you don’t have to wait until the end of December - you can post as early as December 1st!

Once you've finished, you are welcome to reveal yourself by posting to your own blog, submitting directly to your giftee's blog, or submitting here @squealing-santa. If you’re an anon or you’re unable  to/uncomfortable with posting directly for whatever reason, please utilize the submission option!

Please make sure to tag your works with [#squealing santa 2k22] and/or [#ss2k22], along with relevant fandom and pairing information, so that we can find and archive your wonderful creation!

I think that about wraps up the reminders! Thank you so much to everyone for participating this year - I cannot wait to see what magic you make!

[squealing-santa]

We're about half of the way through December!

Some incredible gifts have already been making their rounds within our community and the joy is contagious! 💕 For those keeping up with the demographics, 24 Magic Makers have shared so far as of 12.15.22 🥳

If you have already posted your piece and it has not been reblogged here within 48hrs, please feel free to DM with the link. I'm monitoring the [#squealing santa 2k22] and [#ss2k22] tags every few hours but if your blogs privacy settings are a particular way, it may not show up as publically searchable.

Please keep in mind that as more art and fics come out, the reblog time may stretch with the queue in order to keep folks dashes from becoming flooded - we have it set to post 4 gifts a day.

There's still plenty of time left and gifts to give - you all are so amazing!

[squealing-santa]

Updated Submission Guidelines

It’s been brought to my attention that Tumblr no longer allows for anonymous or sideblog submissions! 🙃 This, for obvious reasons, is less than ideal. Fortunately, we can work around the limitations and still allow folks who wish to maintain their anonymity the option to do so while also ensuring your works are appropriately credited and tagged.

Step One

Select whether you’re submitting text or an image, and include the title of your art piece or work of fiction if you have one.

Step Two

Insert your gift and who it’s for! Be sure to double check that your submission contains all the bits ‘n’ bobbins that you typically like to include when you post content. This can include summaries/captions, artists or authors note, word count, image ID’s, etc. Once you submit your piece, there will unfortunately be no way to directly edit it, so make sure you like how it’s formatted in the HTML box and that it’s free of error.

Step Three

Insert a page break indicator (a line of - - - or ~~~ would work just fine). Below this line is where you will have the opportunity to include tags for your piece that I can add prior to posting. Please list (separated by comma): • Your preferred/tickle blog username or registered anon handle • All relevant fandom and pairing information • If there are any trigger or content warnings you feel are necessary to include I will add whether it is [#tickle art] or [#tickle fic], as well as [#squealing santa 2k22], [#ss2k22], and [#submission] on your behalf. This way we can find and archive your wonderful creation!

Step Four

Should your preferred username/anon handle differ from the submission username, I will take your creation and make a one-to-one copy as a brand new post to preserve your privacy. The only thing I'll adjust is adding artist/author credit below the title and moving your tags to the, well, tags. Once posted, I'll forward you the link to your post via DMs, similar to what I intend to do when anon gifts are posted. If your preferred username matches the submission username, I'll simply move the tags. I'll only follow the above steps if Tumblr acts a fool and won't let me adjust accordingly. So it's like a 50/50 chance 😅

As always, please make sure to check the 2k22 Bulletin Board for all event specific updates/news in case your question has already been answered elsewhere on the blog 😊

[squealing-santa]

Where are all my artists at??

We've wrangled 12 of ya so far and I know there are so many more in our community! Spread the word!

[squealing-santa]

Thanks so much for organising this year!! Whilst I have likely gone ungifted, It was really fun to participate for the first time! Writing a gift for a stranger was a super cool experience!

Thank you so much for participating! And for providing me an opportunity to publically thank everyone for their kindness and praise of my organization of this year's annual event 🥰

And I wouldn't necessarily count yourself ungifted quiet yet m'friend! While the deadline was yesterday midnight PST, we have some amazing pinch hitters who have made it their unanimous goal to ensure no one who participated is missing a gift this year!

As of January 1st, 2023, 81 Magic Makers have shared their gifts with us!

[squealing-santa]

Can we please start earlier then after the 5th? i'm SOO excited I won't be able to wait for so long aaaaa 😭😭😭 me gonna die

While I love the enthusiasm, and hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the earliest anyone's gonna be able to start working their signature brand of magic will be approximately November 15th, aka ten days after registration has closed.

But have no fear - there's a method to my madness below the cut!

I knew that I wanted to give folks all of December to post their gifts since, in the earlier years, we would see most everything rush in that last week of the month.

I didn't want to launch so early as for people to, frankly, forget that they were participating in an exchange.

I was keeping in mind that a lot of the community likes to partake in Tickletober and therefore may have been too busy/focused in October to consider if they would like to participate this year or not.

Between Tickletober and Squealing Santa is NaNoWiMo, another thing that often overlaps with a large swath of our incredible community.

Our community is spread far and wide across all sorts of fandoms, and I am but one Hypah tasked with connecting folks together with fancy colored string on a deranged an elaborate corkboard.

As ya can see, we've got our selves quite the tightrope to walk 😅 But! I feel the deadlines I have set using the wonderful guidelines of preceding hosts will hopefully yeild a smooth and successful 2k22 gift exchange!

[squealing-santa]

Registration for this year's event is now Closed!

[squealing-santa]

I've received a solid handful of other folks asking when they can start posting so figured it wouldn't hurt to make a separate announcement for it.

Posting for the event is during the month of December to keep with the holiday spirit. That said, you're more than welcome to queue it up for Dec 1st at 12:01am your time to be one of the first ones if you finish early 😁

Click here for the pinned event reminder post. For anything else, please make sure to check the 2k22 Bulletin Board for all event specific updates/news in case your question has already been answered elsewhere 😊