If my recollections are correct, back in the day, things tended to come in a lot closer to 1000 words than they do now, which makes sense, as fandom, when Yuletide came along, was filled with challenges where you were supposed to write something of exactly 1000 words.
Your chances of getting someone you knew seemed higher back then. I think I knew almost everyone I got those first few years.
Mostly, I just remember the flop sweat last day panic of trying to get things in being much worse than it is these days. I must have been in IRC as far back as '07 or '08, as I remember people cheering me on in real-time as I uploaded my assignment one year (I'd had an unexpected family health issue that screwed with my schedule).
And yeah, I think it was noms that started during the High Holidays. Noms that, you know, extended far past them. Weirdest damn wank, that one.
Re: Yuletide history
Your chances of getting someone you knew seemed higher back then. I think I knew almost everyone I got those first few years.
Mostly, I just remember the flop sweat last day panic of trying to get things in being much worse than it is these days. I must have been in IRC as far back as '07 or '08, as I remember people cheering me on in real-time as I uploaded my assignment one year (I'd had an unexpected family health issue that screwed with my schedule).
And yeah, I think it was noms that started during the High Holidays. Noms that, you know, extended far past them. Weirdest damn wank, that one.