Approaching the starting line

[longficmod]

We're almost ready to kick off the 2018 round! Just a few housekeeping matters before we do.

First, the dates for nominations have moved just slightly. They will be open from 13 March to 11:59 PM EDT on 22 March. Signups will still open on 24 March. The full schedule is here.

If you defaulted late or did not check in last year but want to participate in this round, you must complete your original assignment by 23 March. The 2017 collection will remain open until then. Please shoot us an email (fandom5kmod@gmail.com) when you post so we can be sure to see it.

The 2018 FAQ and rules are up at AO3! Nothing has changed substantially from last year. As always, if anything needs clarification, please let us know.

And, finally, for those of you who prefer Tumblr to Dreamwidth, we've set up an automatic Tumblr feed for the posts to this community. All Tumblr's contact options are turned off for that account--please continue to contact us here at DW or over email.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Would you be willing to add more genre tags this year, especially Horror and Science Fiction/Fantasy?

[chocolateboxmod]

We currently have an "AU - SciFi/Fantasy Elements" which we could convert to "Science Fiction/Fantasy" and make it more universal. Would that work?

There is a tag for "Darkfic". Is there a way we can distinguish that from a "Horror" tag?

[(Anonymous)]

IDK, I'd use a horror tag but not a darkfic one- horror is more for scary or creepy elements whereas I wouldn't want grimdark or really negative fic.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, opening up the existing SFF tag to allow non-AU elements would work for me.

For your second question, Darkfic is a really broad umbrella term that can cover just about anything which has a high degree of unhappiness or unpleasantness, everything from characters being suicidally depressed, to revenge fantasies, to zombie epidemics, to meditations on the indifference of modern society. Horror is a more specific subcategory of that, just like the already existing Angst tag.

Is there a reason why you don't want the number of tags to go above twenty?

[chocolateboxmod]

In terms of the number of genre tags, we aren't completely wedded to the number of them. Instead it's trying to make them as high level as possible so that they are broadly applicable. Trying to keep them to twenty tags is to try and keep the focus on them being broad and high level.

[(Anonymous)]

That makes sense, though I feel like there comes a point where a category becomes so broad that it becomes less useful. If a tag encompasses too much, then people can't use it to request/offer the things they want without also requesting/offering other things they don't want. I mean, you wouldn't want to combine Established Relationship and Get Together into a single Romance tag when so many people only want one and not the other.

Whatever you decide, though, I'm still looking forward to the coming round of Fandom 5k.

[(Anonymous)]

Just want to say that I love the fact that you limit the freeform tags and keep them broadly applicable. The list you have strikes the right balance between letting people match with like-minded participants, without going to a place where the tags ARE the request or where it’s splitting hairs. Tagsets like Smutswap’s are good for that kind of exchange, but what you have is just right for this one. Thank you for running it!

[sathinfection]

Thirding the request for a horror tag separate from darkfic, since darkfic could accurately describe plenty of fic that doesn't have any horror elements. If you look at the tagset for the Darkest Night Fic exchange (for darkfic), you can see how broad the freeform tags are: http://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/1875

[(Anonymous)]

Are we allowed to write treats for this challenge as long as they're over 5K and meet the recipients requests as any assigned writer would be expected to do?

[chocolateboxmod]

Of course! You can write treats of any length (though treats that are less than 5k belong into a separate collection) for anyone in the exchange.

[(Anonymous)]

Would it be possible to get a Yuletide-style fandom promotion post this week/weekend before nominations open?

Thank you! I'm so excited!

[chocolateboxmod]

Yes, we are happy to do one of those and that's a great idea! We'll be doing it this weekend.