C.R.E.A.M

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Coal ruins exchanges around me - spitey spitey fic y'all. 

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Comments

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

[(Anonymous)]

DC

I think you have a point, and exchanges as a whole wouldn't work if people with different preferences in this regard did not exist.

I also think that exchanges fundamentally break down when you take away the "give a gift, get a gift" base assumption.

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

[(Anonymous)]

Ayrt

I don't believe that. There will always be people who just enjoy the writing and people who just enjoy the gifts, and if that evens out in the end, it works out. Otherwise things that have no inbuilt requirement that you give a gift but still require everyone to get a gift fundamentally wouldn't work and we know that they do (as long as the mods are on top of it).

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Talking about Fic in a Box or Fandom Stocking? Those require mass gifts and also require the pressure of "no reveals until everyone has a gift", adding extra, necessary incentive.

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

[(Anonymous)]

*fandomgiftbox

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

[(Anonymous)]

Ayrt

Yes, of course that incentive must be there, otherwise most people would procrastinate forever. I don't get what you mean with "mass gifts". Are you talking about gifts given to more than one person? Outside the dreaded "holiday messages" thing (that doesn't count towards the gift count) this really isn't common.

My point is that if there was such an imbalance between people who (potentially only) like writing/creating and people who only want to receive gifts as you claim, to a degree that "things break down" then events like that shouldn't work at all.

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

[(Anonymous)]

Something that I think needs to be remembered is that socks provide a service beyond getting that person another gift. There are many instances in small fandom exchanges I've run and socked up where my sock ended up being the only recipient for a participant. That person would have had to drop out if my sock hadn't been there, and who knows what that would do for their assigned writer if they were also in the near-unmatchable boat.

If socks are asking for the same 3 fandoms across 9 accounts that's something different but IME most socks are the Pear Tree challenge asking for different fandoms each time. Others want and are able to sign up because they see somebody is requesting their fandom that nobody else requested.

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

[(Anonymous)]

That’s not a “service” specific to socks, though. It’s just part of signing up like anyone else. And if a sock does actually put in the effort to participate like anyone else, then sure, I don’t think most mods care.