Secret Santa 2010

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

So, as I looked out of the window into the dark night, I thought to myself, 'Self, what does this dark night need more of?' And, as I thought about it, I realised there could be only one answer, only one thing that could make this night better... an Asgard in a Santa hat! Which means...

The 2010 SGA Secret Santa is open for sign-ups!

Bring us your gen, your het, your slash.

Bring us your OTPs, your threesomes, your forgies, your puppypiles in the middle of the gateroom.

Bring us John and Teyla and Rodney and Ronon.

Bring us Wraith and Asurans and Asgard and Genii.

Bring us John, in love with his entire team and realising he doesn't have to choose. Bring us Evan and Radek, waking up in Vegas, hungover and married. Bring us Sam, who thinks she'd go mad if it wasn't for Jennifer's soft touch.

Bring us the stories that long to be told, the ones that rest on the lips of Teyla, of Ronon, of Radek.

Bring us your requests, bring us enough fic to see us all the way through the festive season and out the other side.

The relevant dates:

Sign-ups are between now and October 10th. All the requests will then be jumbled up and sent back out by October 17th (gives us time to match everyone up).

Responses to gift requests are to be sent to one of the moderators (moonlettuce or alyse) on or before December 10th.

Between December 14th and December 23rd all gift!fics will be posted for your delight and delectation.

To join the exchange, simply sign up to the community and post a request with the following information:

LiveJournal:
E-mail:
Things I'd like: You can request as many things as you'd like in here. That doesn't mean you'll get them all, but there's no harm in asking. If you'd like a specific pairing, or character, then speak now or forever hold thy peace :-)
Things I wouldn't like: If there's anything you wouldn't like to receive (pairing, character, etc) then here's the place to mention it.
What I can do: Are you a slash only person? Do you only write a specific character or pairing?
What I can't do: If there's anything you feel you can't do, then please say so here. If you can't write NC-17 fic, or have no desire to write het / slash, or a specific pairing or character then please say so.
Pinch hitter?: In the event of someone not being able to complete their gift!fic, are you willing to be stand-in writer?

Please post your request as a new post in the community.

For those people without LJs, the non-LJ sign-up post is here: http://community.livejournal.com/sga_santa/264592.html

All stories should be a minimum of 1,000 words in length and everyone who signs up to receive a story will be expected to write one in return.

Please note, if you do not get a story to us in time we will organise a pinch hitter so that your recipient isn't left without a fic at the end of the fest. If we do this, do not whine at us, because all we will do is mock.

Other information can be found here. Any questions, just ask.

Comments

[alyse]

And I should clarify in terms of the regifting, what I mean is that because we post stories over two weeks, someone may only fail to deliver after the story written for them is already posted. So logistically, it's not possible.

And the first person who suggests that we a) post all of the stories on the same day or b) suggests we host them off site after the wank we got when we suggested that the first time gets the patented Al Glare of Doom^TM. There may be actual laser beams involved in that one ::g::

[busaikko]

I have a feeling that we are talking at cross purposes. I did not mention or suggest regifting, posting offsite, or posting all on one day. I think that we have the same goal, but are just approaching it from different directions. I have one main concern, which is,

As you said, pinch hitters sign up for the sole purpose of making sure that no one who originally signed up is left without a story. We guarantee that everyone who signs up gets a story

... everyone except for a pinch hitter who did not sign up originally; and that is what bothers me. It is true that you can say, "Well, if they really wanted a gift, they ought to have signed up in the first place!" and "They are volunteering!". . . But, just like some people who sign up have really good reasons for dropping out, others only realise they can participate after sign ups close. And those who accept a pinch hit do understand that they are volunteering. They do understand that your comm policy is that they will get nothing in return if they are not a signed-up participant. And yet they volunteer (writing is fun! giving presents is fun!).

People who have signed up who accept a pinch hit are guaranteed a gift already; whether they write one fic or three, they will have a gift. I agree that they do not need a new gift per every fic they write. As you say, that would escalate, and can be covered by Madness.

What I am proposing is, at bare minimum, to arrange gifts for the pinch hitters who have not signed up (there were three last year, two or three in 2008, one in 2007, three in 2006 [according to my failsome skills with master list statistics]). I am not suggesting that the mods do anything beyond pass on the names of those people, whom I would contact and get prompts from. I would then make sure that their gifts were taken care of (posted to the comm by a date given me by the mods). My goal is in no way to make more work for the mods.

You wrote that I'd rather concentrate on making sure that everyone has one gift. This is our common goal, and what I would like to volunteer to do; to make sure that everyone (even those who did not sign up originally) gets one gift. If averages are anything to go by, there will likely be two writers who will finish the fest gift-less. Even people who, for RL reasons, have to drop out of the fest get a gift. Please reconsider allowing me to find gifts for these pinch hitters.

[alyse]

I think we are talking at cross purposes. I certainly took away from your first comment that you were talking about organising stories for all of the people who pinch hit, not just those that had volunteered to pinch hit but who hadn't signed up for the original exchange.

However, that being said, and while I appreciate the offer, after Santa Madness last year - where we had a 'Pinch Hitter Appreciation Post' that listed out the prompts submitted by pinch hitters, and, from what I remember, made it clear which ones didn't have a story - we only had one person who had submitted a story who hadn't received one and, as I said in my previous comment, this was the pinch hitter who didn't, when asked, submit any prompts for Santa Madness so there was nothing to offer out to writers.

Claire and I will have to have a chat about whether we run Santa Madness this year or not - and I can't see why we wouldn't, but it's the one thing we haven't talked about yet so I don't want to commit us just in case she's 'oh, hell, no!' ::g:: - and if so, I think we'll be covered again. I honestly do not see how you could do anything over and above what we're already doing because, as it's an anonymous exchange, no one knows who the pinch hitters are until after the 1 Jan reveal - it's intended to be that way, so that they have as much of a chance of having guesses made about their stories as anyone else ::g:: Given that, it's going to be a wee bit difficult for you to organise a story for them when you don't know who they are and won't until 1 January.

If you want to organise something in January, when the list does have names attached (and we do make it clear, on the list, which stories are pinch hits so you'll be able to tell who the pinch hitters are at that point), then go for it and I'll cheer you on. With pom poms if necessary.

But in terms of organising official stories for pinch hitters who volunteer but who didn't originally sign up, or additional stories for those who volunteer but who already have one, I'm afraid my view is still that people volunteer to pinch hit because they are generous enough to gift something without any expectation of reward, and I don't want to do anything to change the tone of that offer. Plus, where people do offer to pinch hit but didn't sign up originally, the kind of feedback we get is that yay, they now get to play as well, not that yay, they now get a story, too.

To be perfectly blunt, if it was a choice between giving the pinch hit to someone already signed up or giving it to someone new who hadn't signed up, and then having to organise a pinch hit for them as well, then why would we go for the option of organising two pinch hits rather than just one? (And I know you've volunteered to do that, and I do appreciate it for all I'm shooting down your ideas ::g::, but we're back to the sticking point that it's an anonymous exchange and we would have to break that anonymity to share some information with you.) At the moment, it's first come, first served regardless of the position of the person volunteering, and that seems to be the fairest option.

I realise that some people miss the sign ups for whatever reason, but they can always sign up next time or take part in Santa Madness if we run it, which I'm pretty sure - checking with Claire aside - we will.

So while I appreciate your enthusiasm and the offer, and, as I said, feel more than free to make January Pinch Hit Appreciation Month, I honestly think the way it runs currently is likely to have fewer issues.