*is curious*

[moonlettuce]

Is there a SGA secret santa going on this year?

Comments

[buddhawitch.livejournal.com]

Oh I like that idea! What did you have in mind?

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

Well, the secret santa idea is much like a ficathon where you sign up with what you want and then are given someone else's request in return. Difference is, when it's posted, it's all posted through the moderators, so no one know who wrote anything until the reveal a couple of weeks later. It's like santa, only secret!

Er, not that I'm planning this. No sirree...

[alyse]

I've not seen one.

It would be cool, though, to have one where it was all anonymous until the reveal. I've never participated in one like that, because the remix and ficathon had authors posting their own stories, so it was clear who wrote what from the start.

I'm just evil enough to wonder what the reaction would be if the authors weren't known from the beginning and whether it would be different. Colour me terminally curious ::g::

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

You interested in co-running one?

[alyse]

Hmmm. Possibly. You'd need to hardcode the html though, I think. Since you can't move stories between eFiction authors.

There must be a way to do it in php though.

See - you think practicalities of running it from the start. I think 'I wonder how the archiving would go'. Heh.

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

Or, you could have the moderators post it all through LJ, and then upload stories when the reveal was done.

But hard coding also works :-D

[alyse]

You could do. That would work, because on a comm you can a) have comments (i.e. feedback) and b) then edit the entry with the original author name after the fact.

That would work.

I think that means I've just volunteered, doesn't it?

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

I may just have sent you an invite to join a community :-D

[alyse]

Have not had an invite yet.

::pouts::

However, I've joined anyway.

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

*pokes LJ*

*has thought*

Do you think it should be fic only, or should it be open to icons, wallpaper, vids, etc?

(Also: made you a maintainer ;-)

[alyse]

I think fic only. I think the rest could be too confusing. How do you determine how many icons are worth a fic? Or a vid?

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

Good point :-)

Hee! We have a secret santa *g*

[alyse]

The only things I wondered were:

i) is the 30 November too late for a sign off cut-off. It doesn't leave long to write the fic in. Personally (and this is just my opinion :)) I think 31 October might be better. That's still 3 weeks away, so it's plenty of time to get the word out on lists and stuff, and it gives us longer to sort out who does what for whom, so we can divvy it up and send it out in early November and give people a month and a half to write it.

ii) by the same token, is the cut-off date too late? I think we should be aiming to post the finished fics by 24th at the latest, so people really do have them for Christmas. So I would make the cut-off date the 19th. That gives us enough time to find pinch hit writers - because some people will always drop out at the last moment - and to code and get everything ready for the 24th.

iii) should everyone be able to post to the community? Maybe we should get them to comment in screened comments what they want. That way we'll be the one to add the stories, and people can't get confused and post them non-anonymously.

It means people won't necessarily know who they're writing for unless we decide to tell them. Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. Good thing - they'll be able to tailor the fic to their recipient. Bad thing - there could be some nastiness, with people writing stuff that meets the requirements but not the spirit, if that makes sense. I've heard horror stories about people writing pairing fics to mock the pairing they've been assigned, to hurt their recipient. I'd like to think no one would do that - especially at Christmas - but I've seen enough vindictiveness in fandom not to believe it doesn't happen.

So we'd need to think about whether the recipient was known from the start.

I guess, as well, we ought to ask people what they categorically will not write, whether that's het, slash or a pairing. Just to be safe.

Just some random thoughts. Feel free to ignore.

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

i and ii) bth exceedingly good points, and I've changed the info to reflex then new dates :-D

iii) I was thinking that if people could post their own requests then they can change or add to them is they want. I figure we can change the comm to us being able to post only once we've got all the requests in.

I know we run the risk of people being vindictive, but I think it's only a small risk. We already have a section asking people to say what they won't do, so hopefully that so elinimate people getting a pairing or person they'll be snotty about.

[alyse]

Good point about changing their requests. Never thought of that. Although they can't change it once it's been allocated ::heh::

And yes, you're right. Plus, it's usually pretty obvious who's being a bitch, and all the sensible people in fandom (there's like... six, right? None of whom are me ::g::) will realise just who they are.

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

Yup. We'll just throw all their toys out and refuse to play with them if they start getting snotty ;-)

[alyse]

Oh, and also, talking about pinch hit writers, I think it might be worth gauging up front who would be willing to step up to the plate in advance, maybe ask them whether they'd be willing to do that when they sign up?

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

Good idea! Will add to info requested :-D

[alyse]

Good idea!

I do occasionally have them, but this post accounts for most of my 'good idea' allocation for 2005.

I hope you appreciate it! I'll just have to have silly ideas for the rest of the year. Shouldn't be too difficult ::g::

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

Silly ideas, yay!

[alyse]

Oh, and also, to make things worse, I'll be away from the 22nd, which encourages an earlier cut off date :) I won't have internet access either, since I'll be in the arctic circle with the Nibble.

Who, strangely enough, asked me if Santa Claus was real this morning ::g::

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

You should go to Antarctica instead, and then go to McMurdo and look for Ancient outposts ;-)

Also: Yay, Santa!

[ship-recs.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a great idea. =)

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

Y'know, when I asked I actually had no intention of running one myself *grin*

Impulse control, where are thou? Hee!

[yorkybar.livejournal.com]

It's a fun idea, though I wouldn't feel sure enough to take part myself (wouldn't want to disappoint, though I'd love to have a go).

I do wonder about how beta-ing would work? Because what if your beta was the one the fic happened to be for? Or would you just go without beta-ing for the initial posts?

[temaris.livejournal.com]

Maybe ask the moderators to pass it on to an appropriate beta? Sort of a double blind arrangement?

[casspeach.livejournal.com]

Meep. I would have to baulk at this. I think betaing is a very personal thing, and I would rather have my fic unbeta'd than beta'd by someone random. I'd also hate to beta for someone I didn't know.

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

Worry ye not. We'll leave the beta issue up to the reader :-)

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

Nah, we figure people are intelligent enough to not ask the person they're writing for to beta. Er, we *hope* people are intelligent enough to not ask the person they're writing for to beta *grin*

[temaris.livejournal.com]

it occured to me after I commented that my answer assumed that you wouldn't know who you were writing for, and decided I was being daft *g* As usual, over complicating things :-)

[yorkybar.livejournal.com]

I appear to have made a similar assumption in my comment. Doh! Naturally, since you'll know who you're writing for, you (hopefully) won't ask them to beta :)

[temaris.livejournal.com]

*g* I like that idea :-)

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

:-D So, you signed up? *grin*

[temaris.livejournal.com]

I joined the com. I'd be happier if my request didn't have to be a public post though. I'll get a round tuit.

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

You can always flock it - other people have :-)

[temaris.livejournal.com]

flock and cut tag maybe.

Do you ever wonder if the jargon has gone out of control?

*looks at first sentence thoughtfully*. You know, and I know, and most ljers reading it would know... but...

Next year, maybe we will do a panel on 'ticky box' -- the day of the blog

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

Do you ever wonder if the jargon has gone out of control?

I think of it as less like jargon and more like the language of fandom. If you ain't in fandom, you don't have a hope in hell of understanding us ;-)

[temaris.livejournal.com]

But that's the very definition of jargon -- a language with specialised terms that by its nature reinforces 'us' and excludes 'them'.

It's another way to define ourselves -- that we know, and they don't. Lawyers do it; everyone does it in their place of work -- words gain new meanings, new words are coins.

I was more thinking that five years ago, that first sentence of mine would have seemed like so much gibberish. I wonder how much like gibberish my language will be in thirty years? Language is changing, all the time. It's fascinating :-)

[moonlettuce.livejournal.com]

*g* I speak two languages: English and geek ;-)