Demure

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Default deadline: December 11 (9am UTC)  

Assignment deadline: December 18  (9am UTC)
Main Collection Opens: December 25 (9am UTC)  

Madness Opens: December 26 (9am UTC)  

Author reveals: January 1 (9am UTC)

Yuletide Discord for Hippos & Exchanges After Dark Discords for Namespace drama 18+ discussion. Google Group for PHs.

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Comments

[(Anonymous)]

So you’re completely right that saying to everybody that someone defaulted could be shaming, and maybe that’s a good reason to just say the PH was claimed. In this specific circumstance, I’m convinced.

On the other hand, I’m really confused as to how it could not be a lie to say the PH was claimed when it wasn’t. It’s a lie because it’s not true! It doesn’t matter if no one was harmed, it’s still a lie. That doesn’t mean it isn’t potentially justified, but saying something when you know it’s not true is just what a lie is.

I’m not saying that this would be a big deal at all, and maybe it would be justified to avoid calling attention to the person who defaulted, but as a general rule, I think mods should avoid lying when they can. In order for exchanges to work, people have to trust the mods to a certain extent. We all know there are things mods handle behind the scenes that we never hear about - and that’s a good thing! It’s important for mods to be discreet about a lot of stuff - and in order for that to work, we have to trust that when the mods don’t tell us things, they have a good reason to keep things private, and that when they do tell us things, the things they say are not misleading.

Obviously the Yuletide mods have a lot of built-up trust and goodwill in the community, and this is completely small potatoes (and, as you pointed out, a lie may be justified here). But in general, mods should avoid lying unless they have a specific reason to, because even if the individual lie doesn’t hurt anyone, in the aggregate, a lot of little harmless lies can still damage someone’s reputation for honesty, and that’s an important reputation for a mod to have.

[(Anonymous)]

Think of it this way, coalie: in the context of exchanges, "claimed" has a special jargon meaning of "no longer available for claiming". It's a shorthand.

[(Anonymous)]

+1

This is what I mean as a mod and it's never occurred to me that it's deceptive. "Taken care of". "Not available for claiming".

Other times I use this: when the only person claiming is a writer that the recipient has begged me not to give their pinch hit to, while also begging me not to tell them so explicitly. I can't completely smooth over any awkwardness, but briefly pretending the pinch hit is claimed and then advertising it again later is one method I have to save face.