coaltide | C.R.E.A.M

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2021

C.R.E.A.M

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

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^^^

no, but only if they are well-behaved!

I use them, so I'm biased, but:

If the socks are good exchange participants and don't commit Exchange Sins, then I have absolutely no problem with them.

I get why people are worried about them in the abstract - especially in small exchanges - but as someone who writes a lot and has a lot of fandoms to ask for, I have literally been using them for 10 years and never had a problem. And I think there are more out there like me than you know!

If the socks are Good Eggs, behave like any other participants, and don't do anything to screw it up for others, I don't think most people care.

But if a Bad Egg had socks, it multiplies the Bad. That's mostly who gets wanked on.

And it's not that rare for otherwise Good Eggs to a) get in over their head with too many socks, or b) not be as Good Egg with their socks since they're not 'real'.

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

(Anonymous) - 2021-11-02 20:45 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

(Anonymous) - 2021-11-02 20:47 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

(Anonymous) - 2021-11-02 20:53 (UTC) - Expand

As long as they're good eggs why would they be?

I don't have a sock, but I'm considering getting one so I can sequester certain fandoms from my main account (that currently I'm just not requesting/offering at all)

DC

That's how my sock drawer got started. I had a RPF persona I wanted to keep separate that started signing up for exchanges, and the rest is history.

Well-behaved socks are fine, even obvious dental practices.

obvious dental practices?

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

(Anonymous) - 2021-11-04 14:14 (UTC) - Expand

The thing about someone signing up with multiple accounts is that it makes the exchange more vulnerable to whatever's going on in that person's life. If I sign up once and then get hit by a bus, that's one pinch hit the mod has to find. If I sign up twice and get hit by a bus, now the mod has to find two pinch hits, even though only one person got hit by a bus.

The mods are the ones who are up a creek if something happens to you, so I think it should be up to them to decide whether they're okay with that additional risk. If mods say socks are okay, then they're okay. If mods say no socks... then IMO you shouldn't sign up with a sock.

Socks are bad (for the sockholder) if they get caught doing yuletide sins

Overly earnest take: if we lived in utopia where there were never any matching issues or defaults or any pinch hits whatsoever, I would be fine with socks and probably have some myself. I very often write more than one fic, so it would be nice to be guaranteed two or three gifts in return.

But we don't live in that particular utopia, and in practice, some PHers (whether signed up or not) are going to have to write fics without being guaranteed them in return for the exchange to function. So I'm not really cool with "writer A wrote N fics and is only guaranteed 1, writer B wrote N fics and is guaranteed N." I understand that some/most of the treats I write aren't the same as PHs because they're for people who already have an assigned writer, but from a Kantian "what if everyone did this" perspective I don't think socking is fair.

+1 million

Nicely put.

That implies that everyone wants N gifts. Pinch hitters often pinch hit because they don't want or particularly like getting fics gifted to them. And I'm perfectly okay if someone who wants gifts says "I'll write more than one gift if I receive more than one" and someone who doesn't like gifts says "I'll write gifts but won't receive any".

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

(Anonymous) - 2021-11-03 07:19 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

(Anonymous) - 2021-11-03 08:35 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

(Anonymous) - 2021-11-03 08:37 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

(Anonymous) - 2021-11-03 08:37 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

(Anonymous) - 2021-11-03 08:45 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

(Anonymous) - 2021-11-03 15:24 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

(Anonymous) - 2021-11-03 15:57 (UTC) - Expand

Well-behaved socks who intent to fill their assignments, don't strategically default, and comment on their gifts are fine.

Sloppy socks who bite off more than they can chew and bad faith socks made just to default or write bad gifts are shitty.

+1.

Socks are great! They provide extra nomination slots for me, so I can assure that more than three fandoms of my dreams are available to request. They write extra fics so no one feels weird about attaching out there porn to their main or writing 25 treats for one exchange. Sock rings where everyone drops out instead of providing suck, but that's usually just one idiot who would find a way to be an idiot with only a single account.

(Coalie from below you)

They write extra fics so no one feels weird about attaching out there porn to their main or writing 25 treats for one exchange.

These are definitely elements in my dentistry choices! I don't want to become known as "Misura Jr" because I write a ton of fic. If I split my output across personas, it just looks like 3 very active people instead of 1 EXTREMELY active person that draws too much attention for my taste.

And also if I have a weird porn desire I can ask for it or write for it without feeling like I'm oversharing by having it on my main.

I have socks, I have had them for years, and I've never had a problem. I write a LOT.

Last year, for example, I signed up with 3 accounts. I wrote my 3 assignments, 1 PH, and 15 treats, for a grand total of 19 fics.

I don't feel bad about socking up and getting a couple extra gifts when I write this much. :)

I do have a personal rule that I must do my very best to write at least twice as many fics as accounts I'm using. It's never been an issue to reach that, as exchange people always have awesome prompts. <3

you're a gold toe sock! <333

If an exchange doesn't allow socks, I say that signing up with socks shouldn't be done, but not like the worst exchange sin ever. The main motivation of socks is getting more gifts and to me that just kind of seems the equivalent of showing up to a white elephant exchange and bringing multiple gifts and expecting to be able to pick multiple gifts in return. Sure , it's equivalent but there's something off about that to me. If you want to write several fics, there's nothing stopping you.

>The main motivation of socks is getting more gifts

Uh, not for a lot of people with socks, including multiple in this thread.

In fact for most people signing up with only 1-2 socks I'm gonna bet that getting more gifts ranks low on the list of motivations, below "sequestering fandom identities" etc. For people with 4+ socks gift acquisition seems more likely to be the motive.

Re: Hot take time: are socks bad?

(Anonymous) - 2021-11-03 17:17 (UTC) - Expand

I don't get super mad about well-behaved socks but I will say that as a participant even well-behaved socks can be frustrating.

-if you match on one it can be frustrating to have nothing at all but a letter and maybe a few other gifts. I'm not even someone who stalks recips, but I'm going to read certain things in you letter differently if you're an experienced active fan vs. a newb who just stopped lurking. If I can tell.

-also if you match with a probably-sock anonymity is harder? I sometimes post writing updates to a small locked group, but I know some of them sock up for yt, so I feel like I can't even freely, like, ask for a canon beta unless I know whose sock it is.

-if i get a gift fic and it's the best thing I've ever read, I want to go find the rest of your stuff too :(

-if I get a gift fic and it's coal, I'm going to slant my comment differently if it's a newb doing their best vs. someone's lazy sock. If I can tell

Like most of those would go away if people could just sign up twice, and they don't apply to long-standing, well-worn socks, but it's still always a letdown to check in on a participant and see ... blank space.

not if they are indistinguishable from a non sock and they do their part (write a good faith fic and comment)

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