Suddenly DOINK! Changes to DOINK! in 2011
Hello and welcome to the preparations for DOINK! 2011. We hope everyone is just as excited as we are to get started!
This will be our fourth round, and with experience have come a few changes! Our Walkthrough has been updated with lots of relevant information about our new processes, dates for the 2011 round, and other useful information. We ask that anyone interested in DOINK! 2011 - planning to participate, or just thinking about it - please stop by and take a look, just to be familiar with how we operate. Some specific items we would like to highlight:
DOINK! 2011 Schedule:
Your DOINK! mods generally like to be conscious and well-rested when moderating so we don't make mistakes that you have to chastise us for later, so this year we're setting deadlines differently so we're not awake and wild-eyed at two in the morning with fifteen empty cans of red bull scattered around our desks.
All our new deadlines are in UTC time because we are a global exchange! To get the time in your area, click the provided links - don't be confused by the UTC time! These will be present on every reminder post we make, so remember to click to get the time based on your own offset. :D
Dates and times with no link are not meant to be exact and will depend on the moderators, although we aim to always provide all participants less wait time and more creation time. :)
Monday, March 14th, 2011, 23:00 UTC: Regular / Beta Signups Open
Monday, March 21st, 2011, 23:00 UTC: Regular Signups close
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011 - Tuesday, March 29th, 2011: Matching
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 - Saturday, April 2nd, 2011: Sending Assignments
Saturday, April 2nd, 2011, 23:00 UTC: Beta Signups close
Sunday, April 3rd, 2011 - Saturday, May 7th, 2011: Creation Time
Saturday, May 7th, 2011, 23:00 UTC: Uploading Deadline
Saturday, May 7th, 2011, 23:00 UTC - Sunday, May 8th, 2011, 03:000 UTC: All Pinch Hits Sent Out, Beta Prompts Posted, Moogle Fluff Begins
Friday, May 13th, 2011, 23:00 UTC by the latest: Reveal of all collections!
There will be other event dates and times announced throughout the round. :)
DOINK! Flowchart!
The moderators have made a flowchart to explain the process of the exchange, because although we like tl;dr, not everyone else does. It outlines the process of the exchange in one handy graphic!
AO3 accounts:
We will once again be hosting work on AO3, just like last year. If you do not have an account and are planning to take part or be a pinch hitter, please send the moderators an e-mail and let us know you need an invite. You can also join the invitation queue.
Defaulting:
In the past, we have offered extensions and tried to work with individuals post-deadline. After three rounds, we've realized offering extensions doesn't work - the actual return rate is miserably low and creates more work for us during the busiest times of the exchange.
With this in mind, we will not be offering extensions for any future round of DOINK!. Going forward, if you default with notice, you will be eligible for future rounds after completing one piece of Chocobo Down (it can be the same prompt you were assigned). If you default with no notice, you will not be allowed to participate in any future round. We will be creating some better tools for defaulting this round, which we'll post about later.
With any default, all prompts will go to the pinch hit list - we will not be removing prompts, even if you are still working on your piece, so please consider this!
No-Penalty Default Date
We're offering the no-penalty date again this round to take the sting off not allowing extensions; we hope it helps a little. You must watch one of our communities to take advantage of this. It will only be announced in these locations, not by e-mail. From 2011 and on, feel free to take advantage of this when you need to, but be aware that we do note this information!
2011 Amnesty
Unfortunately, a moderator and our resident programmer broke our domain (oops) with some bad code where Chocobo Down prompts were stored, leaving Chocobo Down lists unavailable for people for pretty much the entire year. We're really sorry about that! Because of that, our new code, and some new systems we have decided that it's in our best interest to offer amnesty to everyone from past rounds. This means everyone can participate - no need to write us and ask us about your eligibility. Everyone is welcome! \o/
Chocobo Down
As sign ups haven't opened yet, our restored Chocobo Down prompts are still available for any fanwork anyone would like to make for them. The prompts are here and can be posted to the Chocobo Down 2010 collection until the day of signups for the 2011 round, at which point they will be closed! :)
Pinch Hitters
We have a new mailing list this round where all pinch hits will be sent that will be our pinch hit list into the future. You will have full control over your membership in this mailing list, and can join/leave as you please. You do not have to be a participant in DOINK! 2011 to be a pinch hitter, but you will need an AO3 account - simply contact the moderators and we'll get you set up. :)
Communication
We encourage all participants to watch either one of our communities, ff_exchange or
ff_exchange. If you forget about the exchange because you weren't watching our announcement communities and subsequently default, that's a ban from the exchange! So please be sure before you sign up that you will be able to remember.
It's also very beneficial to us if you add ff.exchange@gmail.com to your e-mail address book, and if you choose to be a pinch hitter, adding the pinch hit e-mail address once you've joined up will also help. This will ensure that e-mail from these addresses does not go to spam and get lost.
If you have any questions about the new developments this year, please let us know, either in the comments or by e-mail.
This entry was also posted at http://ff-exchange.dreamwidth.org/6364.html.