Feedback Post

[extrapenguin]

Greetings! This is the feedback post. You may comment with your username or anonymously, as you wish.

This year saw a radical drop in sign-ups – 19 compared to 53 last year – so I would also like to hear from people who would have wanted to sign up/signed up last year but not this year on what kept you from signing up.

The Schedule – what did people think of the schedule and would people rather the exchange happen elsewhen in the year? Having all of my exchanges exactly in a row is a suboptimal situation and depending on how my co-mod's schedule looks next year, I'm considering moving CharactOR to some other time of year. Do people have preferences/suggestions?

Comments

[shadaras]

I love this exchange's concept! I did not sign up this year because your nominations/sign-ups coincided with the writing/pinch-hit period of Heart Attack, wherein I was extremely burnt out (due to Heart Attack) and couldn't bear thinking about signing up for Something Else. So moving it to some other time would be helpful for that reason.

[extrapenguin]

Yeah, I already delayed by a few weeks so I could do absolutely nothing until I was done with HA so I wouldn't be in full-on burnout mode. I was wondering what the participant overlap would be, but it seems you're not the only one. Would running the 2024 round before or after FiaB be better for the Triple Crown schedule in your opinion?

[shadaras]

Before! (Or overlapping with FiaB noms/sign-ups, if there's overlap.) After FiaB, it's the end-of-year holidays, which always feels busy. [eta: also, post-FiaB is when people doing the whole 3c set are often like "FUCK I GOTTA ACTUALLY DO MY FFFX ASSIGNMENT NOW", I feel.]

[extrapenguin]

Nodnod. I'll discuss with my comod and see how their schedule looks next year. I'm spending July modding juletide so squeezing CORE in before September is probably not feasible, meaning at least some overlap with FiaB.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm one of the number who was interested in participating this year but couldn't. The sign-up period was a little too short for me.

[(Anonymous)]

I’m part of those numbers, and it’s completely for a scheduling reason—both years have come at a busy time for me irl. I gave it a try last year but scaled back on exchange sign-ups during this time this year. But I am still interested!

[extrapenguin]

That's another vote for moving it, then! Do you have any preferences on when to schedule it so it doesn't overlap with the rest of your exchange load?

[sheliak]

I did sign up this year (and I'm very glad I did!), but probably wouldn't have been able to if the creation period had overlapped with Battleship, so that's my only input to the schedule!

[extrapenguin]

I'm already running juletide over July, so CORE will be earliest in August and hopefully not overlapping much.

[atamascolily]

I did CharacterEx last year, and it was a bit of a stretch scheduling wise, so I opted out this year for sanity's sake. I am busy/away from the Internet for huge chunks of the summer, which makes doing exchanges difficult, so late August-early September and later works better for me than anything in June or July. Going earlier in the year is also a possibility--I do Be the First and Domaystic, but both of those are opt-in with no sign-ups required, so there's not the same level of pressure/deadlines.

I really like this exchange (single-character OR matching, my beloved), so I hope I'll be able to participate again in the future! Thanks for running it this year and for the opportunity to offer feedback!

[extrapenguin]

I already have space_swap running from February through April, and juletide running through July, so the options are all in the autumn. I'll have to consult with my co-mod, but some sort of August/September timeline looks to be popular with people. I'm glad you enjoy the exchange!

[marquisguyun]

I was excited when I saw the schedule but then I got distracted and completely missed sign ups 🙈 so I'd meant to join but didn't because of that... completely a scatterbrained thing and nothing to do with the exchange

[extrapenguin]

It happens to the best of us, dw. Are there any additional places where you might want us to advertise?

[ultra_fic]

I found this exchange for the first time this year and was absolutely going to sign up, but the fact I already had other exchanges and other stuff going on made me wobble, and then a lack of potential matches when I scanned through the requests summary meant I didn't bother in the end :/

[extrapenguin]

I'm sorry you couldn't find someone to create for. Are all times of the year roughly equivalent for you, exchange-wise, or is late spring/early summer particularly full?

[ultra_fic]

Well, it wasn't just other exchanges, I had other busy stuff going on as well, but yes, there do seem to be a lot of overlapping exchanges in late spring/early summer, to the point where I have found myself having to skip some out this year. Also, I'm guessing that if the number of people who signed up last year had participated this year, I probably would've found potential matches, so there's that :)

[(Anonymous)]

I don't/haven't participated in this exchange, but I do watch fandomcalendar religiously and keep track of exchange advertisement and scheduling, and I think part of the issue with sign-ups this year may have been advertisement?

CharactOrEx is kind of special in that it uses a matching scheme that almost no other exchange uses, and it is also completely open-ended/unthemed, and it is also not tied to a particular holiday or time of year in the way that Yuletide, Trick or Treat, and Chocolate Box/Candy Hearts are.

What I think this means is that (1) there is a fairly small but passionate set of participants who very much look forward to this exchange, especially since this type of exchange only rolls around once per year and so will purposely make space in their schedule to participate, but (2) there is no particular time they "know" that CharactOrEx will run each year (as it could be easily run at any time), so (3) any changes to the schedule need to be advertised as far in advance as possible to allow people to keep their schedule open for it.

My recollection for how this exchange ran this year is that it went past the date it started up last year without any post from the mod, so sometimes people in this situation will assume the exchange is either not running or has been delayed significantly and so will sign up for other exchanges in the meantime rather than keep space in their schedule open, and they temporarily forget about this exchange until they hear a notice. The new schedule was then published very shortly before the exchange started up, and then CharactOrEx was only advertised on fandomcalendar after noms had closed. In short, I think it caught people by surprise that it was still running on more-or-less the same schedule and they weren't able to keep space open in their schedule for it.

So I personally think it would have helped to have made an announcement around 23 April or thereabouts that the exchange would be delayed a bit to not conflict with Heart Attack but would be running shortly after Heart Attack settled down, or to put a bigger gap in the schedule between when you are able to finalize/publish the exchange schedule and when the exchange actually starts up, which would allow you to advertise and give people time to clear their schedule in anticipation. That's the advice I have from my perspective, at least!

-Active BFEs anon

[aroberuka]

Seconding all of this. I apparently forgot to subscribe to this comm after last year's round, so fandomcalendar was the only way I could have found out about this year's schedule, and that post came too late for me to clear time to sign up even though I really wanted to. I think it would be really useful to give people more of a heads-up for future rounds!

[extrapenguin]

Noted. Next year we'll probably move to an August/September timeline.

[extrapenguin]

Fair. This year I had unexpected RL issues keep popping up in April and May, in addition to Heart Attack revealing its schedule late, so I had to pack CORE into a shorter space than I would have liked and was a bit too frazzled to do the proper announcements. I'd previously had a post deleted by fandomcalendar mods for being "too soon" after the previous one (the comm is, apparently, not an ad comm) so I knew I could only advertise one of noms and sign-ups; I chose sign-ups. Thank you for your feedback!

[meteordust]

I'm pretty fine with the exchange running at any time of year.

I agree with the other commenter that lack of advertisement, and late announcement of the schedule, may have affected signup numbers this year.

I'm subscribed to the comm, but I don't remember seeing much promotion of the exchange in other spaces.

In addition, the nominations period was very short, only five days. And the signup period was only six days.

I think doing earlier and wider promotion of the exchange would help reach more people who are interested in it. And lengthening the nominations and signup periods too, even if it means shaving a bit off the creation period.

As an aside, I think it might help to have the current schedule listed in full in the sticky post, instead of having to click a link. So whenever anyone visits the comm, they can see at a glance when to come here for nominations.

Thanks for running it, and looking forward to next year!

[extrapenguin]

As I mentioned in another reply, I had unexpected RL issues occur in addition to being forcibly delayed by Heart Attack. I've previously heard feedback from participants in various of my exchanges to keep the creation period as long as possible, so I tried to not shave too much off that as I tried to cram the exchange into the slot before juletide. I could probably have removed a few extra days.

I shall bear in mind the advice for the schedule. Next year the exchange will probably be later in the year.

[meteordust]

I completely understand that RL takes priority. Sorry if I came across as insensitive or critical! I hope moving the exchange date next year will make it easier for modding and for more people to participate.

[extrapenguin]

No, it's fine, I asked for feedback! I spoke to my comod and they agree with the move; I'll make the official announcement over the weekend.

[(Anonymous)]

I missed last year's round and I wanted to join this year, but between not seeing it advertised on fandomcalendar until last minute and the overlap with other exchanges, I had to skip :( an august/september timeline would be great, personally

[extrapenguin]

I'm sorry you couldn't join! I'll keep your timeline preference in mind when speaking with my comod.

[capsquared]

I wouldn't be opposed to a change in the schedule. The due date ran right up against fandom5k and I was writing multiple stories for both exchanges, so that was a fun juggling act.

[extrapenguin]

Thank you for pinch hitting! Fair point about fandom5k. I discussed with my comod and they're in favor of a schedule change as well.

[narya_flame]

I'm not sure what the conclusion on this was and would assume the exchange isn't running in 2024, but if it ran in 2025, I would definitely say a two week nomination period followed by two weeks of sign ups helps with planning. Also announcements (e.g. in Fandom Calendar) at least 2 weeks before nomination open so people can plan/organise.

Would love to take part if this does run again <3 sorry I missed it last time around.