2020 Schedule

[longficmod]

The 2020 round of Fandom5K will begin in a little over a month!

Because we want to give our post-deadline pinch hitters a little more time to work, we have added a week between the assignment deadline and reveals. That period is now nearly three weeks. We've also added a few days to the anonymous reading period, so you'll have closer to two full weekends to read and comment before author reveals.

2020 schedule:

Nominations: 18-27 March
Signups: 28 March-11 April
Assignments out by: 14 April
Default deadline: 8 May
Mandatory check-in: 9-16 May
Stories due: 6 June
Stories revealed: 26 June
Authors revealed: 5 July

If you failed to check in for our previous rounds or defaulted after the no-fault deadlines either of those years, but you want to participate this year, you'll need to fulfill your original assignment before signups start on 28 March. Please drop us an email at fandom5kmod AT gmail when you do. If you're not sure whether this applies to you, please email us to ask.

Comments

[morbane]

I'm very excited to see this announcement! Thanks, mods, here's to a great F5k year.

[scansionictus]

So excited for this to run again, and I really like the changes you've made to the schedule!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi mods,

I was wondering if there's any chance you would be willing to revisit how ban-lifting works for this exchange. I am never going to be able to complete my initial assignment at this point. It's just not going to happen, due to my falling out of the fandom I matched on in the meantime. I enjoy writing treats and pinch hits and etc, but it makes me really sad that I will never, under the current system, be able to sign up again.

My suggestion is that you add an alternate track for lifting a ban. Maybe you could require that someone be banned for a minimum of two rounds UNLESS they complete their initial assignment. If they do not complete their original assignment, but complete x number of pinch hits and/or full-length treats (definitely multiple - I'd suggest 2 or 3, and it could just be pinch hits if treats seems too easy). I'd be okay with it being something that would be hard and take time to do; in fact, it SHOULD be something that's hard and time-consuming, given how inconvenient late defaults are for an exchange of this nature. I'd just like it to be possible to come back from an initial banning even if you hit the point where it's literally not possible for you to complete the original assignment.

Either way, thanks for hearing me out, whatever you decide.

[longficmod]

Hello, thank you for getting in touch!

As you've noted, pinch hits in this exchange are difficult to fill, and we have had people linger for weeks as well as the exchange revealing late. Our policy isn’t intended as a punishment, but to encourage people to realistically assess their ability to complete their assignment or to default with enough time for their recipient to receive a gift without placing too much pressure on pinch hitters.

We certainly understand that life happens and don’t blame anyone if they have to default after the deadline. We hope they’ll understand in turn that we need them to show they’re willing to meet their original commitment. This could include writing for any of the assignment’s four requests, not just the fandom that was matched on.

There may be circumstances where the requirement is too stringent. To date, we've never had a defaulter approach us to explain their situation, but we’re open to it! If you think your situation is one where we should consider a different solution, please email us with the details of your assignment. Our email is fandom5kmod@gmail.com

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for your response! It's a little disappointing to hear, but as thoughtful as usual with this exchange. I can't really argue with it. I don't think my situation warrants special treatment, which is why I asked about the policy as a whole rather than through email, so you will likely not hear from me. But it's good to know you're potentially open to special cases for the future, so thanks for that information as well. :)

[longficmod]

Thank you for understanding! I hope something about the original request will spark your interest again, or that you'll find yourself interested in one of the recip's other fandoms. If you ever have any concerns that the recipient themselves won't want the gift after a delay, you're welcome to get in touch with us about that, too.

[ashling]

hi there! in genres, would you be willing to split "scifi/fantasy" into one "scifi" tag and one "fantasy" tag?

[sirvalkyrie]

+1

[longficmod]

Thanks for asking! I'll run it by my co-mod.

[ashling]

thank you for splitting them! <3 looking forward to signups

[(Anonymous)]

Is "AU - Modern" supposed to also mean "mundane"? For example, Spider-Man is already 'modern' setting, but would a story where he's just a regular high-schooler instead of a superhero count for this? Similarly, what tag would be used for a mundane AU where the canon keeps its period setting but loses its fantastical traits? Would you consider a "AU - Modern or Mundane" tag?

FWIW, I am not on the banned list, but I also think it would be nice if participants had another way of becoming re-eligible. Completing multiple pinch hits or doing something else that contributes to the overall health of the exchange. People really do fall out of fandoms and find themselves unable to muster up the excitement to write 5k a year later. Additionally, it isn't that easy to find another ship in an assignment to write. What if the other fandoms are all horror and you are too much of a fraidy cat to consume them? Or the other ships are noncon ship and you aren't a noncon writer? Assuming that you can just pick up one of the other requests gives unfairly random advantage to people whose recipients happened to like all the same kind of thing (ex. the same m/f dynamic played across various Regency novels). It makes it tough for people who were assigned recipients with wide-ranging taste, and therefore, little overlap in the things they and their writer enjoy.

[longficmod]

Re: the tag--yes, Mundane or Modern is the intent! Thank you for bringing it up. I'll run the clarification by my comod.

Re: the unbanning process, our philosophy remains that participants should have enough time to decide if their assignment isn't right for them by the default deadline. If they have to drop out after that point, they still have the opportunity to fulfill their commitment, but on their own schedule. If that schedule means they're less excited than they originally were, we may be asking a lot of them, but we're also asking a lot of our pinch hitters.

As always, if participants have specific concerns about their own assignment, we hope they'll contact us directly so we can work with them on a solution.

The mods have reviewed this requirement together more than once since this exchange started, and we hope we've communicated our decision clearly.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the explanation. It was still worth asking.

And thank you for considering to clarify that tag!