MOD POST.

[twodromance]

Happy New Year, Snacksters!  :D
(Better late than never, yes?)

I'm sure a lot of you have noticed that we haven't been around much these past few weeks -- membership requests were approved late and a lot of emails still haven't been answered.  It's been a hectic holiday season for both of us and we're trying our best to catch up with everything, so many thanks to you all for being so patient.

Now, what I'm really here to announce is that sign-ups for Round 6 will begin this weekend!  The Rules and Application post will probably go up early Saturday morning (my time), which means that a lot of you will be able to see it as early as Friday evening.  The post will be locked, so if you want to participate, please check now and make sure that you are actually a member of the community and not just a watcher.  Those of you who still need to join, please make sure that you read the community info page before submitting a membership request.  ;D

Things to keep in mind:

• It will take about one week for us to partner everyone up and send out emails.  That means that the round will actually start next weekend (26/27), so let's make the tentative shipping deadline February 15th.  That gives you almost three weeks, guys, which should be more than enough time.
• Stateside Snacksters outnumber everyone else, so US applications will be cut off earlier than non-US ones.  Last time we gave US members about 24 hours and it was still hard to find everyone a partner.  We don't really want to give you less than a day, but it will depend on how quickly applications are coming in.
• You will be able to request a partner from a certain country/countries on your application.  In the event that we just can't find you a partner from the place(s) you want, you'll have the option to either (a) participate in a domestic swap (this is typically a US-only thing), (b) let us partner you with someone at random or (c) skip this round.  Please note that after sign-ups are closed, there will be another post made where you can arrange private or themed swaps with other members through the comments.  This post will also be locked!

To give you some ideas, here is a list of places that have been represented in previous rounds: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland), and the USA.

More details will be included in the Saturday sign-up post, so keep your eyes peeled!  And as always, please feel free to leave questions in the comments if you have any.  Those of you who have already emailed us can expect a reply within the next day or so, as we want to get everything settled before the next round starts.  :)

Thanks again, everyone!