Cap-Iron Man Holiday Exchange 2017 Sign-Ups Instructions

[cap_ironman_fe]

AO3 Collection - FAQ - Sign-Up Instructions - Example Sign-Up - Sign-Up Form

The Big Bang teams are still working, but this is where it all starts! The yearly Cap-Iron Man Holiday Exchange is getting ready!

Cap-Iron Man Holiday Exchange is our eighth annual fanwork exchange for Steve/Tony art and fic. Each participant will be matched to and secretly create a Steve/Tony fanwork for another participant. Gifts may be fic (minimum 1000 words) or art (traditional or digital medium; no manips, gifsets, playlists, or vids).
At the end of December the gifts will be posted anonymously, and then in early January the creators will be revealed!

This year, there are some changes to the way we are doing matching and sign-ups for the exchange. Please make sure to read the rules and instructions carefully even if you participated last year.

The Schedule
October 14th: Exchange sign-ups open
October 22nd 11:59 PM EDT (what time is it for me?): Sign-ups close
October 23rd-30th: Matching period
October 31st: Assignments sent out by 8PM EDT at the latest
December 20th 11:59 PM EST (what time is it for me?): Finished exchange assignments are due
December 26th: Start of gift reveals
January 6th (approximate): Creator reveals

Holiday Exchange 2017 Detailed Rules and FAQ

Who can participate?

To participate you need to have an Archive of Our Own (AO3) account at the time of sign-ups. If you don't have an account, you can request one here. Right now the queue is longer than our sign-up period, so if you think you might want to participate and need an account, request an invitation now! If you can’t get an AO3 account in time, let us know and we might be able to get you an invitation.

Anyone who wants to participate needs to be willing to create a gift for someone in one of the universes listed below. Gifts may be fic (minimum 1000 words) or art (traditional or digital medium) and there is no way to specify which you want to receive. Please only sign-up if you are willing to receive either fic or art. The requests and offers all have to be Steve/Tony: in compliance with the community's events rules, non-Steve/Tony relationships or moresomes involving other characters are not allowed as focus of either requests or created gifts.

Sign-Ups

After we open the sign-ups, you will be able to sign-up at our AO3 collection here.

This year we will do matching based on the following canon versions that you will be able to choose in the Fandom field:
- MCU
- Marvel 616
- Ultimate Comics
- Marvel Adventures Comics
- Avengers Academy (game)
- Avengers Assemble (cartoon)
- Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (cartoon)
- Iron Man Noir
- Iron Man: Armored Adventures (cartoon)
- Marvel 1872
- Marvel 3490
- Marvel Secret Wars Civil War
- Other (Unlisted) Canon Verse

Note that at least one of your requests must be in one of the listed universes and not for “Other Canon Verse”.

Please only use the “Other” tag for prompts set in canonical, but unlisted universes, like Contest of Champions or Manga-verse and only offer for this universe tag if you are familiar with a lot of non-listed universes or ready to read up on something you’re unfamiliar with.

You can also mark the checkbox “any fandom” instead, but please be aware that can mean all universes and includes the Other tag (so you can be matched to someone with a rare universe prompt). If you’re going to be disappointed with receiving a work created in a universe you may not be familiar with or fond of, please use the specific verse tags instead. Only specify “Any universe” in your offer if you are willing and familiar with all of the universes listed above.

You can edit and delete your sign-up until the sign-ups close on October 22nd 11:59 PM EDT (what time is it for me?).

All sign-ups will be checked once, and if they do not comply with our rules, we will contact the participant after the sign-up close. If we don’t hear from them within 24 hours, we will delete non-compliant sign-ups and start matching.

Requests

You can make 1-8 requests in your sign-up, each in a different universe. For each request you’ll get to fill out the Fandom, Additional Tags, and Prompts and Details section.



The “Fandom” field is where you specify the universe, and it allows you to list up to three tags from the list of allowed universes (see above), but please only list ONE universe in the fandom field per request. Exception: You can use one of your requests to make a “multiverse crossovers” requests for specific universes and list up to 3 fandom tags of verses you’d like to meet. In that case please don’t forget to also request the “Marvel Multiverse Crossover/Fusion” in the “Additional Tags” field of this request. If you want to offer the same prompt for more than one universe (for example: “Steve and Tony get into a snowball fight” for either 616 or Marvel Adventures), you can put it in two request fields.

In the Additional Tags field, please list at least one, and up to seven, tags that you will be matched on. You can see the full list of tags here: link to the tag set on AO3. The Additional Tags you put into this field must match the prompts you’re giving in the Prompts and Details section. This is what we will be using to match you to a creator, and your creator will expect to create based on what you have put here. For example, don’t choose the “Angst” tag if all your prompts are fluffy, or “Wedding” if you don’t have a specific prompt related to weddings. Similarly, if one of your prompts contains identity porn, but you didn’t choose the tag, please add it.

Please look at our example sign-ups and read the instructions carefully. (The link leads to another DW post, with screenshots of the example sign-ups embedded.)

Prompts and Details

In the Prompts and Details section, you give your creator an idea of what you want for this universe.

Please provide the following required information in each section/request:

LONG PROMPTS: (required)

• In this section, please provide 1 to 4 ‘plotty’ prompts: basic synopses of plots you would like to see as a short story or a comic for the universe the request is for.


• Please give each prompt its own numbered paragraph, as in the example sign-ups.

SHORT PROMPTS: (required)

• In this section, please provide 1 to 4 ‘short’ prompts: a short sentence (or even a few words) prompt describing a theme, basic trope, or that is a link to a poem or song as inspiration.


• Please give each prompt its own numbered paragraph, as in the example sign-up.

Please don’t indicate any preference about which of your prompts you’d like the most.

Note: If you are only making ONE request in your sign-up because you want to receive a gift in one specific universe, please provide at least two long prompts and two short prompts. Every sign-up should have at least two long prompts and two short prompts for their secret creator to choose from.

The minimum of one long and one short prompt still applies to a crossover request and to the "Other Canon Verse" tag, however, in case of the "Other" request, the prompts don't have to be for the same Other verse.

LIKES: List here any tropes/warnings/etc. that you would be happy to see included in any gift you receive for this universe that are not directly included in your prompt or request. This is a bonus list for ‘extra inspiration’, and your gifter is not required to include any of these in your gift unless they are included in the prompt they choose to answer.

DO NOT WANTS: All your squicks and triggers should go here. You can list tropes/warnings/etc. that you do not want to see in your gift. Your creator is not allowed to include any of your do not wants in your gift. If these only apply to specific prompts and not all of them, then you can list them in the prompt as well. Conversely, if there is one prompt that is an exception to this list, mention that in the prompt

DO YOU WANT TO RECEIVE FANWORK OF YOUR FANWORK?

This is optional. If you want to, you have the option of listing one Steve/Tony fanwork of your own creation that is set in the requested universe (or a crossover that fits the requests) as a prompt that your gift creator can create fanart (if your work is fic) or fanfic (if your work is art) for. Please do not request fic/art for a work that was created for a completed Big Bang, Reverse Bang, or the Tiny Reverse Bang. If you want to request a fanwork for which you’ve already gotten art or fic outside of any event, that is okay.

Please include in this prompt the name of the work, a link to it, a brief summary of it, any major warnings or squicks, and any additional info you think your gift creator should know.

This is an additional prompt, not counted for the one long, one short prompt minimum. Please don't request a fanwork of your fanwork if it would be the only prompt in the selected universe.

Offers

You are allowed 1 offer.



You have to offer at least one canon universe in your sign-up or up to 9. You can also tick the “any” ticky box that will match you on all fandom tags in the tag set. (Beware: This includes the universes in the list cited above + the “any universe” tag).

You have to offer at least 10 Additional Tags, but can offer up to 20 - which is the limit AO3 sets. These should all be universes and genres/tropes you’d absolutely be willing to work with, as these are the tags we are matching you on.

You must create a gift for one of the prompts your recipient lists under “Long Prompts” or “Short Prompts”. Beneath that your recipient might list optional “Likes” and you are not required to include any of these if they don’t appeal to you. You cannot include any Do Not Wants they’ve listed. Please do your best to work with any request as it is and to the best of your ability create a gift that will appeal to your recipient.

If you have any additional notes for us, for example, information on hard triggers, please make a note about it in the text box, and we will try our best to take it into account.

You can optionally provide us with the ao3 username of one person (your regular beta, your roommate etc.) who you’d rather not be matched with. We will try our best to not match you with them, but we may have no other choice.

How do I sign up?

Sign-ups will be completely on AO3. The sign-up form will go live on October 14th and will be announced on all Cap-Iron Man platforms.

How does matching work?

This year we are using the AO3 auto-matching system instead of hand matching. Participants will be matched based on fandom universes and the selected additional tags (genres, tropes etc. from this year’s tag set).

The short version of how it works is as follows. We are matching on ONE of your requests. So if you have more than one (up to your four) you are only guaranteed to get matched on one request.

Requests are matched AND so if you have one Request for Marvel 1872 and additional tags “Fluff”, “Soulmates” ONLY a creator who has offered ALL of these tags will be matched to this request.

Equally, on your offer side, we only guarantee that you match on one request your recipient made. However, offers match OR. So if you offered Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Noir and Avengers Academy, you won’t match to any request for Marvel 1872, but you might match to one that only requested Avengers Academy. If Marvel 1872 is in your list of offers, and you ARE offering “Fluff”, “Soulmates”, but also “Action/Adventure”, then you might match to the above request for 1872 Fluff/Soulmates fic.

Assignments/Deadline

Assignments will go out no later than October 31st.

How do I fulfill my assignment?

To fulfill your assignment, you need to write one story of at least 1000 words or create one piece of art (traditional or digital medium; no manips, gifsets, playlists, or vids) and submit it to the 2017 Captain America/Iron Man Holiday Exchange collection on AO3 by the deadline (December 20th), where they will automatically appear as anonymous "Mystery Gifts" for the recipient. Mods will review all gifts before approving and revealing them during the reveals period. We will post a detailed guide on submitting gifts closer to the deadline.

There is no upper wordcount limit and you can create as many pieces of fanwork as you like if you feel inspired to do more.

Stories must be new for this exchange and can't be sequels to existing fic or part of a previously posted series. Betas are not required but strongly encouraged. Submissions with excessive errors may be rejected at the mods' discretion, though you will be allowed to resubmit after making corrections..

Do not upload incomplete stories. You can edit your story after the deadline, but this should be reserved for minor changes, such as fixing typos. The mods will check all stories on the deadline, and any incomplete entries will be rejected and count as default after the deadline. Make sure you upload your stories and post them, not just save a draft to the collection.

I don’t like any of my recipient prompts. Can you match me to somebody else?

The short answer is no. You are matched based on your tags, and after matching we can’t recall any of the matches. If there is a problem with the assignment you received because it doesn’t match what you offered, please contact us immediately.

Dropping out (Defaulting)

If you realise at any time that you won't be able to finish your story, please hit the "Default" button on AO3 as soon as you know (found here: http://archiveofourown.org/users/YOURUSERNAME/assignments) This lets the mods know that you won’t be able to finish your gift, and they will look for a pinch hitter to stand in for you. You can drop out up until the 20th December deadline without any consequences. However, if you know you won’t finish, please don’t wait till the last moment with defaulting. Let us know as soon as possible, so we have more time to find a pinch hitter!

Posting Period

Starting on December 26th, each day, some of the fanworks (the exact number depending on how many people sign up and deliver) will be revealed on AO3, and announcements will be posted to the DW and LJ communities, Tumblr, and Twitter letting everyone know which stories have been revealed.

AO3 only sends notifications when a collection is revealed completely, so please check regularly during the reveals period to see if your gift was posted.

This fest has an anon period.

Before the creators are revealed, there will be a post where everyone is invited to guess the anonymous creators. Creator names will be revealed after the staggered posting period (tentatively scheduled for January 6th). Please respect the anonymity and do not discuss or promote your fanwork publicly before that time.

Don't post your fanwork anywhere else until the event has ended. (But feel free to link and pimp revealed fanworks and the general collection without breaking the anon requirement!) After reveals, you are welcome to post anywhere and promote your own work.

Don't forget to comment and thank the person who created a gift for you!

Community Gifts and pinch-hitting

If you don't want to sign up for the challenge but still want to be involved, or are willing to create more than one fanwork, you can participate in the Community Gifts part of the event. We’ll post detailed information about the Community Gifts soon.

You can also help us out as a pinch-hitter. If, as a pinch-hitter, you want to post your work yourself, an AO3 account is required. If you don’t have an account and are willing to have your work posted by our mod account, you can still serve as pinch hitter. Special credits and links will be included after the anon period (like we did during Tiny Reverse Bang for some artists, examples here.

Please contact us at cap.im.events@gmail.com with the subject line “Holiday Exchange Pinch-Hitter” at any time to be added to the pinch-hitter list.

Pinch hits can be needed as early as the day assignments go out. So if you’re able to help out, let us know as soon as possible!

The prompts which need a pinch-hitter are sent to everyone on our list and we only assign them to a person who volunteers..

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact us at cap.im.events@gmail.com, or in the comments on this post.

2017 Holiday Exchange mods,
laireshi, salmastryon, navaan, Tisfan, festiveferret

Comments

[fluffypanda]

Am I understanding this right? You can include up to 4 long prompts and 4 short prompts in EACH request?

[laireshi]

Yes, you can :)

[fluffypanda]

Woah, that's a lot of prompts. Thanks!

[laireshi]

Well, you don't have to include that many! But if you can and want make a lot of prompts, we're not limiting you: gift-creators usually prefer to have more choice rather than less, too :)

[starvels]

are the tags in the tag set the only ones we're allowed to use? asking because i don't feel that they describe some of my prompts but i know they're being used for matching so. any recommendations?

appreciate the amount of prompts we can give too, thank y'all! ;)

[laireshi]

Yes, they are the only tags you're allowed to use. Please still try to tag your prompts as accurately as possible.

You can email us at cap.im.events@gmail.com to say which of your prompts you feel can't be adequately tagged, and
we'll try to think of a solution.

[meatball42.livejournal.com]

Hi, sorry I'm confused on how the tag matching works. We're required to use every tag that shows up in our prompts, which could be, like, Misunderstandings, PWP, Sex Pollen, Hurt/Comfort, Civil War, &tc., but we can only be matched if someone happens to offer all of those? Wouldn't this make it really unlikely for matches to be made?

[festiveferret]

Yes, the offerer must match all the tags requested by the requester. Most people check off all the tags they're willing to write in their offers and for some people that's everything! If the automatching does struggle, though, we will go in and sort it out by hand. Don't worry about making your tags too diverse

[meatball42.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

[chibisquirt]

Just FYI, I just finished signing up-- granted, I wasn't concentrating that hard, but it still took me right around three hours. Even one hour seems like too long, though. I'm still looking forward to it, and part of that time was spent checking and double-checking things due to my own neuroses, but it did seem worth giving the feedback so you had it for next year.

I thought of two things that might smooth out the process. One you mentioned--the author tags capping at twenty--and you said that was AO3's deal. Is that something AO3 could be petitioned to change? They're pretty user-driven, so it's worth an ask, right? Specifically, a clicky-board of all the tags, with instructions to de-select the ones you WON'T write, would have been very helpful.

The other thing was, it looked like we were supposed to have one request per verse with multiple prompts per request. That caused a lot of struggle, because I was worrying about tagging properly. Instead, you could authorize a LOT of requests (like up to 30?), with one prompt per request. By separating the prompts, people wouldn't need to worry about contradictions, or running out of tags.

Thank you for all your hard work on this! I know it's a HUGE effort, and I really am looking forward to it!

[cap_ironman_fe]

Hi,

thanks for the feedback.

On the participant part, there's really no difference before tagging two prompts in one request or separately, though. We ask to group requests by universe to make matching easier for us.

The sign-up as is is basically just choosing the fandoms and appropriate tags--we feel thinking up the prompts is the most time-consuming part!

[chibisquirt]

Thank you for the reply! If it makes no difference to you all, then I think I'll just split up the requests next time, then. Since you're using AO3's matching this year, that shouldn't make it harder on you, right? (Please tell me if it *would* still make it harder on you, I'm not here to be difficult.)

I really appreciate all your hard work on this! Hopefully my comment didn't come off as rude; I was trying really hard not to be a downer, I just figured you would want the feedback! :)

[cap_ironman_fe]

It would make things harder for us, yes.

What we meant was the participant side: if you have a prompt that is 616 fluff kidfic and 616 angst hurt/comfort, you know what these tags are, putting them in one field doesn't make a difference.

It is a difference for the matching algorithm, though, and we ask for the sign-ups to follow a certain format for a reason. We will automatch for the first time this year, and based on how it works, we might make adjustments next year.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, I'm trying to sign up and I'm confused on a number of fronts.

1) You say above that if you are an offerer you must match all of the tags that the person requesting puts down, BUT we are also supposed to put multiple requests for a fandom in the same request box. What if one of my requests is for fluff and one is for something really kinky? I usually try to make multiple requests so I will be easy to match, but this seems like it will make me harder to match if someone has to match, say, fluff AND ABO AND Character Death AND kidfic AND Alternate Universe AND Evil Steve, etc. Or am I misunderstanding something?

2) I'm confused about how to list an AU prompt. Should I pick a base universe to start and then write the AU prompt for that base universe, even if the AU prompt would change things significantly enough that the universe doesn't really matter?

Thanks!

[cap_ironman_fe]

1) Please follow our instructions and sort your prompts by verse and then tag accordingly, so yes, for example "Fandom - 616, Additional Tags - Fluff, Unhappy Ending". Everyone will get matched, no worries about that ;)

2) If the AU prompt changes things that significantly, put it in a separate request, tick the "Any" in the fandom field, and choose the additional tag for Alternate Universe. (Remember that you will also need an Any-fandom short prompt).

[(Anonymous)]

If we are getting matched on only one request, does that mean we only see that request? Or do we get to see all of them and decide if we only want to work on the one we match for or not?

[laireshi]

You see all the requests your recipient made, and you can create for the one you prefer :)

[(Anonymous)]

Is there an age restriction, given that people will likely request/offer explicit tropes?

[laireshi]

The question is answered in our FAQ: you have to be over 18 to sign up for the exchange.

Multiple Chapters? And Status:Unapproved

[(Anonymous)]

Hello! I was wondering is the default status "unapproved" or does that mean there was something wrong with the post?

Also is multiple chapters allowed? Thank you!

Re: Multiple Chapters? And Status:Unapproved

[laireshi]

Hi,

Yes, the default status is "unapproved"--we're checking through every submission before approving and it might take us a while, with most participants uploading their works now, so don't worry about that :)

Multiple chapters are allowed, but your fic must be finished and completely posted by the deadline.

Re: Multiple Chapters? And Status:Unapproved

[(Anonymous)]

...so, if there is in fact something wrong with a submission and you aren't going to approve it, you will email that person soon to let them know about that so they can fix it, right?

/another anxious author

Re: Multiple Chapters? And Status:Unapproved

[laireshi]

Yes, we will! (Also we only don't approve works if they hit any DNW of the recipient, aren't finished, or aren't actually stevetony; so really there's no reason to worry).

As a heads-up, though, I'm sick and have fever, and another mod has a real life emergency, so we're two people down and might take a while longer than normally, I'm sorry about that.