dark_agenda | Kaleidoscope 2012 Policies and Procedures

Hello and welcome to

dark_agenda's Kaleidoscope, a multimedia fanwork exchange for rare chromatic source fandoms, in its second year of running.

For this current challenge, we are defining chromatic sources to be sources with chromatic characters or people and by chromatic creators. We use the term "chromatic" as an umbrella definition for "person of color", "non-white", "multiracial", "indigenous", "sourcelander", "hyphenate", "diasporian", etc.; while we acknowledge that it has shortcomings. Similarly, we accept that there is a certain flattening in our "white/Western/other" terminology.

Kaleidoscope is open to all sources with chromatic characters or people and by chromatic creators, from animations to books & literature to folklore & mythology to movies to music to real people to sequential art to sports to theater to TV shows to video games and including anime/manga/manhua/manhwa, Bollywood, C-Pop/K-Pop/J-Pop, fantaserye/telefantasya, komiks, lakorns, Nollywood, telenovela, tokusatsu and wuxia to name a few commonly known and region-specific genre terms. We welcome artworks, graphics, mixes, podfics, stories, vids and potentially other types of fanworks in English, in non-English languages or in both, particularly in English dialects and non-English languages associated with chromatic cultures.

We consider a fandom to be rare if it meets the following criteria:

less than 1,500 English-language stories on major multifandom archives;
less than 15,000 artworks, 100 podfics and 350 vids (in any languages) on major multifandom archives;
no dedicated fandom-specific challenge that has run annually for more than two years in a row;
and no dedicated fandom-specific archive or community that has more than 1,500 fanworks.

Our proposed schedule for Kaleidoscope this year is:

Promotions Week: August 9 - August 15
Nominations Period: August 9 - August 23
Dispute Period: August 27 - August 31
Sign-ups Period: September 2 - September 15
Assignments Period: September 16 - October 20
Kaleidoscope Treats: October 5 - October 26
Reveals Period: October 26 - November 2

Much of our format and policies are heavily influenced by other exchange challenges, including

festivids,

white_lotus and

yuletide, and some of our policies are directly lifted from these challenges' own guidelines.

Promotions Week: 2012 August 9 to August 15, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

Throughout our challenge, we encourage participants to promote and engage in discussions within dark_agenda and outside of the community about sources to nominate, request and offer for Kaleidoscope. To foster such conversations, we are hosting a promotion week from August 9 to August 15 where we officially invite participants to advertise and promote their rare chromatic fandom(s) of choice and heart. Participants are welcome to post linkspam, manifestos, meta, picspams, primers, recs lists and resource lists, but not limiting.

We especially encourage promotions of fandoms involving sources, characters and/or people from mis- and underrepresented cultures and/or with other mis- and underrepresented identities. Last year's promotion fest and list of promotion posts may provide some inspirations: Africa, Dis/ability, First Nations, Latin America and the Caribbean, GLBTQI characters, “Rec me!” Comment Meme and Masterlist of Promotion Posts!

Nominations Period: 2012 August 9 to August 23, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

Nominations is hosted on Archive of Our Own (AO3) at Kaleidoscope 2012 Nominations and opens on 2012 August 9. Each participant may nominate up to five (5) fandoms and from each fandom, up to 10 characters or persons to be included in a list of official Kaleidoscope fandoms, characters and people that participants may offer and/or request.

The fandom must be from a source that a) contains chromatic characters or people, b) is produced by chromatic creators and c) meets our rarity policy. The characters or persons nominated must, obviously, also identify or be coded, in cases of fictional characters, as a character or person of color, multiracial, non-white, etc.

In addition, though you do not have to commit to participating Kaleidoscope in order to nominate, we ask -- because of the scope of our challenge -- that you nominate only if you're contemplating signing up to avoid an unwieldy list of fandoms, characters and people.

Our guide to nominations can be found at How to Nominate for Kaleidoscope & Other Information about the Nominations Process.

Archive of Our Own (AO3)

Since the majority of Kaleidoscope will be held on AO3, participants will need an AO3 account to participate in challenge. We apologize for the inconvenience that this causes to those who do not have an account at AO3, but AO3 allows us to easily manage nominations, sign-ups and submissions, and for a challenge of our scope, this was an important factor for us to consider. We thank you for your patience regarding this matter.

Anyone may request an AO3 invite here, but we understand that waiting list is long and invitations may not be received within the time frame to participate in Kaleidoscope. Thus, participants who need an AO3 invite code may leave their contact information at our invite list.

In addition, there might be time when the archive may be down and Kaleidoscope links on AO3 inaccessible. AO3_Status will provide updates on any downtimes, and otw_news and otw_news are also sources for information.

Dispute Period: 2012 August 27 to August 31, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

Shortly after nominations have officially closed, we'll open the list of Kaleidoscope 2012 Nominations for disputes. Our disputes form will be open for everyone to challenge a nominated fandom, character or person's elibigiliby for Kaleidoscope because:
- the fandom source does not contain chromatic characters;
- the fandom source was not produced by chromatic creator(s);
- the fandom does not meet our criteria for rarity;
- the character or person does not identify or is not coded as chromatic.
For issues concerning rarity, verifiable evidence must be cited (e.g. links to Anime Music Videos .Org, AsianFanfics, deviantArt, audiofic, FanFiction.Net, pixiv, YouTube, etc. searches and so on).

The final Kaleidoscope 2012 Nominations list of fandoms, characters and people from which participants will choose to request and offer for sign-ups will be based on this dispute process. If the situation requires, we will exercise our own discretion regarding the final list as necessary, and at the end of the disputes period, we will publish a list of ineligible nominations with the reasons for their ineligibility.

Sign-Ups Period: 2012 September 2 to September 15, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

Sign-ups will be hosted on Archive of Our Own (AO3) at Sign Up For Kaleidoscope Fanwork Exchange 2012 and will open on 2012 September 2. Each participant must request five (5) distinct fandoms from the final list of nominated fandoms and specify under the Freeforms field for each requested fandom whether they would like to receive artworks, graphics, mixes, podfics, stories, vids or some combination of. Each participant must offer at least five (5) distinct fandoms from the final list of nominated fandoms, but they may nominate up to 10 fandoms, the maximum number of fandoms AO3 challenge settings allow; and they must specify under the Freeforms field for each offered fandom whether they are offering to create artworks, graphics, mixes, podfics, stories, vids or some combination thereof.

Each participant will be matched to a recipient who has requested at least one (1) fandom and one (1) fanwork type that they, the participant, have offered. The participant may choose any of the recipient's five (5) fandom requests to produce a fanwork for the recipient. The fanwork, however, must be one of the media (i.e. artwork, graphics, mixes, podfics, stories or vids) that the recipient requested and be centered around at least one (1) chromatic character or person.

Character and people requests and offers are optional. They are a factor in matching, but they are not the deciding requirement, and participants are not obligated to fulfill character requests. Participants may request up to 10 characters or persons per fandom and they may offer up to 20 characters or persons per fandom, the maximum number of characters AO3 challenge settings allow; or they may indicate that they are willing to be matched and/or create for any characters or people for each fandom.

AO3 has written a tutorial on signing up for a gift exchange, and our guide on how to sign-up will be available at How to Sign-Up for Kaleidoscope and Other Information about the Sign-Up Process.

Optional Details

For each fandom requested, there will be an Optional Details field where participants may add optional metadata and other details such as fanwork preferences or other prompts to act as a starting point for their assigned participants. Or they may, for example, use this opportunity to indicate their preference with fanworks containing non-English languages or codeswitching.

Many exchange participants find this information helpful when brainstorming for ideas on what to create for their recipient as well as what to avoid. However, this information is completely optional for both parties to fill or fulfill. The assigned participant is not obligated to follow any of the requests, suggestions, etc. noted in their recipient's Optional Details field -- only on fandoms requested.

The Optional Details field will be in free-text and when writing it, please consider your possible audience which is very diverse. Listing preferences are fine, e.g. "I prefer gen to [het, femslash/slash/yaoi/yuri/etc. or poly] fanworks", "I identify with my characters more if they are coded as androgynous or if their gender identity is flexible or neutral", "I don't like character x or pairing y much", "I'd prefer not reading about kink z", etc. However, language that shames or bashes someone's fanwork preferences, e.g. "[het/femslash/slash/yaoi/yuri/poly/etc.] fanworks are gross", "anyone who creates or consumes fanworks about character x or pairing y is wrong", "I don't know who would like kink z, it's disgusting", etc., or that Others someone's identit(ies), e.g. "Asian people are so androgynous!", etc., is not acceptable.

dark_agenda was founded to provide a place where fans, especially chromatic fans, can and are encouraged to critically produce, consume and discuss fanworks centered around chromatic cultures and characters so the last advice is doubly important. Please assume your assigned participant, recipient, and audience will be or include (other) chromatic fans -- with many other identities besides.

Dear Doers of Darkness letters

"Dear doers of darkness" letters are like an extension of the optional details section, but posted to the participants' own journaling account. Many exchange participants like to record and share what they requested and a "Dear doers of darkness" letter is one method to do so. The letter also allows participants to further expand on their requests and to offer their assigned person more information, such as how to find resources on the fandoms they requested. Keep in mind that access and affordability of particular source materials vary from region to region and household to household.

A "Dear doers of darkness" letter is entirely optional for both parties: participants do not have to make a "Dear doers of darkness" letter, they may make one before sign-ups and include a link to it in the sign-up form under the Dear Doer of Darkness letter field, or they may make one after sign-ups end and assignments are sent; and their assigned person does not have to follow anything noted in the letter beyond the officially requested fandoms.

We'll make an official "Dear doers of darkness" post to the community soon after assignments go out, where participants may comment with a link to their letter so there will be a central place to search for these letters.

Any participants who need more information on their assigned recipient and/or their requests may contact us at darkadmn AT gmail DOT com and we'll act as an intermediary for you.

Assignment Period: 2012 September 16 to October 20, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

Assignments will be sent as soon as it is feasible after the sign-ups period ends. Participants will be matched to a recipient who has requested at least one (1) fandom and one (1) fanwork type (artworks, graphics, mixes, podfics, stories or vids) that they, the participants, have offered. Please let us know if there was an error in the above matching once you receive your assignment!

Assignments will be due on 2012 October 20, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.). The last day to default without penalty is 2012 October 5 for assignments that only include artwork, graphic, mix, podfic, and vid requests, and October 12, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.) for assignments that include story requests.

Fanwork Requirements

Fanworks must be a) from one of the five fandoms and b) in one of the media, i.e. artworks, graphics, mixes, podfics, stories or vids, that your assigned recipient requested as well as c) be centered around at least one (1) chromatic character or person.

It must be d) a minimum of:
- 1,000 words for stories
- 3:00 minutes for podfics
- 30 seconds for vids
- 30 images for picspams
- 20 icons, 5 banners or other equivalently sized graphics for web graphics
- 8 tracks for mixes
- completed pieces (e.g. not initial brainstorming or preliminary sketches) for artworks, digital collage, photo manipulation and user-interface graphics
For podfics, participants may record from their body of works, but if they record a work by another creator, permission must be obtained. Podfic!, started by phi, contains permission statements from creators who have produced fanworks featuring chromatic characters in the comments and chromatic_podfic has an authorial permission list. For general fanworks, Fanlore also maintain a huge list of blanket (or partial) permission statements for Podfic.

Beta-ing

We believe in the importance of responsibly portraying chromatic characters and cultures and so we encourage participants to seek not only a fandom and/or content beta for their fanwork, but also a cultural one. To that end, we will make a beta resources post similar to beta resources posts we made in the past in order to help participants find a beta that fits their needs and where anyone may offer their beta services for a particular fandom or culture, ethnicity, language, religion or other identity.

Along with a beta resources post, there is also Chromatic Beta, a mailing list centered around chromatic sources where anyone can offer or request beta services for a particular fandom or culture, ethnicity, language, religion or other identity. The mailing list is not specific to Kaleidoscope, but hopefully, it will allow participants more options in finding a beta while maintaining anonymity.

Check-ins

Participants will have almost six weeks to work on their assignment. We'll be doing periodic, but informal check of everyone's status as the submission deadline approaches. These informal check-ins will be a mix of reminders and encouragements, a space where everyone is welcome to comment and cheer on Kaleidoscope participants.

Defaulting

Participants who signed-up for Kaleidoscope but are later unable to complete their assignment for any reason may default from the challenge. That is, if you know that you will not be able to complete your assignment, you can directly let us know by selecting the Default button under your Kaleidoscope assignment page at any points during the challenge and no explanation necessary. Doing so would allow us to quickly seek a pinch-hitter for the assignment and ensure that the intended recipient will receive a fanwork by the challenge's opening.

No penalty will be incurred through this method if for artworks, graphics, mixes, podfics, and vids, it is done by 2012 October 5, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.). For stories, it must be done by 2012 October 12, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.). That is, if your recipient only requested artworks, graphics, mixes, podfics, and/or vids, you must default by October 5 to avoid any possible penalties. If your recipient's requests included stories, then you'll have up to October 12 to default without penalty.

That being said, we are not strictly enforcing penalties, but if a participant defaulted after defaulting deadlines or does not let us know that they did not complete their assignment by the submission deadline repeatedly, we may request that they complete their previous assignments before they can participate in Kaleidoscope again or ban them from future challenges.

We've set a defaulting policy because again a) it permits us time to find a pinch-hitter, b) it grants the pinch-hitter relatively adequate time to complete their assignment and c) it provides us a safety measure in ensuring that every participants receive a fanwork so please help us in this regard.

Submissions

Fanworks must be submitted to Kaleidoscope's AO3 collection by 2012 October 20, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

AO3 has written a tutorial for posting stories to a challenge, and we provided a How to Post Various Fanworks for Kaleidscope on Archive of Our Own tutorial last year which we'll update accordingly this year as well.
- Hosting
  
  AO3 does not currently support audio, image or video hosting, but they do support image, video and some audio embedding. Since anonymity is to be maintained until reveal, participants have a choice of:
  - create a fake unidentifiable account for uploading files
  - use an account that we've set up for Kaleidoscope for uploading files and whose access information will be emailed to all participants.
  AO3 currently supports embedding from 4shared, blip.tv, Dailymotion, Metacafe, Viddler, vimeo and YouTube. They also support embedding of media players hosted on personal web servers.
  
  We ask that participants provide both downloading and streaming choices for audio and video format fanworks when possible.
- Watermark
  
  To maintain anonymity, please remember to not sign your work until they are revealed by creating an unsigned anonymous version -- or one with a Kaleidoscope watermark -- for non-textual fanworks for go-live. After the creators are revealed, you may then replace the unsigned or Kaleidoscope watermark version with a signed one.
- Music
  
  Kaleidoscope is a challenge dedicated to chromatic sources and we believe that also extends to music choice. We encourage participants to include music by chromatic artists and/or music in non-English language in their mixes, videos and podfics if mood music is chosen for the latter.
- Content notes
  
  Because artworks, graphics, mixes, podfics and vids are not yet structurally supported on AO3, there is really no standard content notes or warning system for them in place. Therefore, we ask participants to provide some content notes for their fanwork.
  
  In particular, we ask participants to note if their fanwork contains sexual violence or if their fanwork contains content that is commonly known to physically triggers someone, e.g. audio or video effects that may trigger epilepsy or migraines. However, if you prefer not provide any content notes, please select AO3's "Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings" archive tag.
- Permissions
  
  Fanworks, in essence, are about (re)working source materials and sometimes these may include other fanworks, so we encourage participants to include a statement in their fanwork's notes section indicating whether they give blanket or partial permission for others to remix, produce secondary fanworks, and/or record podfic for their Kaleidoscope submission or for their entire body of fanworks.
  
  We'll make a Permission Policy post to the community, where participants may indicate their policy regarding remixes and secondary works based on the fanwork(s) they produced for Kaleidoscope. We hope that by encouraging participants to be explicit about their fanwork policy, it will promote more consumption and production of (existing) chromatic fanworks.
- Captions
  
  Visual and audio content, especially those hosted on the Internet, often presents an accessibility issue for a significant number of us, not just for those of us with visual and/or hearing impairments. For example, videos with English-language audio can pose a problem for some non-native English speakers and closed caption provides a helpful tool for them in processing what is being said.
  
  Thus, we ask participants to consider providing some type of captioning for their fanwork if possible. For artwork, it could be a brief description or a transcript like those shown in these two comics: An ordinary afternoon and within the walls.
  
  For vids, there are several tutorials on how to provide subtitles: How to add subtitles and translations to your vids and Tutorial: Subtitling vids for the WisCon Vid Party singalong show. YouTube offers several options for adding captions to videos and these captions can be turned on or off by individual watchers.
Pinch Hits

When a participant defaults, we'll need a volunteer to take over the defaulter's assignment and that's where pinch hitters step in. Pinch hits will go out as soon as we receive the first default notice via our mailing list, which anyone can join. You do not need to be signed up for Kaleidoscope yourself in order to pinch hit!

Claims are first come first served -- the first person to respond to an email detailing a pinch hit will be assigned to it. The deadline for pinch hits sent out before the defaulting deadlines will remain 2012 October 20, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.); however, the deadline for pinch hits sent out after the defaulting deadlines will be October 26. In other words, for pinch hit assignments that include only artwork, graphic, mixes, podfics, and/or vid requests sent before October 5th and assignments that include story requests sent before October 12th, the deadline will be October 20th. For pinch hit assignments that include only artwork, graphic, mixes, podfics, and/or vid requests sent after October 5th and assignments that include story requests sent after October 12th, the deadline will be October 26th.

There is no limitation to how many pinch hits one may claim, but keep in mind that the fanwork requirements are the same as the requirements for the initial assignments: a minimum of 1,000 words for stories, 3:00 minutes for podfics, 30 seconds for vids, 8 tracks for mixes, completed pieces for artwork as well as digital collage, photo manipulation and user-interface graphics (e.g. not initial brainstorming or preliminary sketches), 30 images for picspams, 20 icons, 5 banners or other equivalently sized graphics for web graphics.

Kaleidoscope Treats: 2012 October 5 to October 26, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

To ensure that all of our participants receive at least one fanwork for the exchange, a list of Kaleidoscope prompts will be made available for treats at Prompts for Kaleidoscope Fanwork Exchange 2012 on 2012 October 5. Treats are "extra" fanworks (not a replacement for assigned fanworks) someone has decided to make based on a participant's requests as outlined in this list of prompts and/or in their Dear Doer of Darkness letter.

The list of prompts is free for any and multiple claims. There is no need to let us know that you are creating a treat, and you can simply submit your fanworks to Kaleidoscope Treats 2012 AO3 Collection. There are no minimum fanwork requirements for treats, and you do not have to be signed up for Kaleidoscope to create treats. In fact, treats can be worked on as soon the first Dear Doer of Darkness letter is posted if there's a request that catches your eye.

In our announcement of Kaleidoscope Treats opening, as a thank you, we will also open comments for prompting from our non-participant pinch hitters and treaters who did officially not sign up for the challenge, but who created treats, and encourage everyone to check if they can possibly fill any of these requests as treats.

The Kaleidoscope Treats 2012 AO3 Collection will close on 2012 October 26, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.). The treat subcollection will go live shortly thereafter.

Reveals Period: 2012 October 26 to November 2, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

Fanworks for Kaleidoscope will go live anonymously sometime on 2012 October 26 depending on pinch hitting needs & submissions. Creators will be revealed on November 2.

Away Message

For participants who know that they will not be present around the period Kaleidoscope is going live, please consider making a post in your journaling account to let your assigned participant know that you may not be able to access your intended fanwork until a later date so they will not worry excessively.

Feedback

Statistically and on average, fanworks for rare sources yield fewer comments and little visibility outside their own fandoms. In most cases you will receive love and enthusiasm from people for creating one of the few fanworks for their rare fandom or about their character, but please be aware that you might not receive the public response for which you're hoping.

Keep in mind also that everyone interacts with fandom differently and direct interactions like commenting can be emotionally and mentally fraught for some of us to engage in frequently.

Pre-reveal

We want to use the one week period between go-live and reveals as an opportunity to encourage reading, viewing and engagement of Kaleidoscope fanworks. To that end, we will make a reccing and "guess the doers of darkness" post where everyone is encouraged to recommend Kaleidoscope fanworks and guess who created which fanwork. In addition, we'll try to organize a central masterlist of all fanworks submitted for Kaleidoscope for easier reference.

Some final notes: although we want everyone to join our challenge, we understand that Kaleidoscope is not for everyone. There are many reasons why someone might be tentative about signing-up for Kaleidoscope, the most common one probably being the unpredictable nature of exchange challenges.

Signing up for an exchange challenge means being randomly assigned to create a fanwork for a possible stranger and receiving a fanwork from another possible stranger, both of whom might have preferences and point of views completely different from yours.

Then there are Kaleidoscope treats to consider. Because it is open to anyone for claiming, there is a chance that two or more persons will be working on a fanwork for the same recipient, possibly even the same request. Thus, please, please be sure you are completely okay with the unpredictable nature of exchange challenges and Kaleidoscope in particular before signing-up.

Having said all that, we do hope you will join us and have fun while doing so! We are so excited to be running Kaleidoscope for a second year!

Lastly, some of the dates in our schedule were deliberately chosen (or, well, as we best could within our scheduling timeframe):
- August 9 was International Day of the World's Indigenous People and Nasionale Vrouedag
- August 15 is Fête Nationale of Congo and स्वतन्त्रता दिवस (Independence Day of India)
- August 23 is International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
- August 31 is Hari Merdeka and Independence Day of Trinidad and Tobago
- September 2 is Ngày Quốc Khánh Việt Nam
- September 15 is Días Patrios of Guatemala and Día de la Independencia of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua
- September 16 is Día de la Independencia of México
- October 12 is International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People, Día de la Resistencia Indígena and Día de la Raza
- October 20 is Días Patrios of Guatemala
- October 26 is दीपावली, தீபாவளி, तिहार, दिवाली, દિવાળી, दिवाळी, ದೀಪಾವಳಿ, धाकली दिवाळी, ദീപാവലി, ଦୀପାବଳୀ, ਦਿਵਾਲੀ, దీపావళి, دیوالی or Diwali.
- November 2 is El Dia de los Muertos
Questions or concerns can be directed here, via PMs to dark_administrator/darkadmn, or to our e-mail: darkadmn AT gmail DOT com. Be sure also to read our Frequently Asked Questions for Kaleidoscope!

Your moderators,
arobynsung, dharmavati, glass_icarus, snowynight, troisroyaumes, wistfuljane and yifu.

This entry is posted at Dreamwidth and LiveJournal, as well as linked on Tumblr, and you may comment at any platform.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

b) is produced by chromatic creators

Wait, I think I missed something- we can't nominate characters/fandoms where the creators are not chromatic?

Hi! Yes, currently, nominated fandoms must contain chromatic characters and must also be produced by chromatic creators.

What is the rule regarding Jewish creators? There are a couple of fandoms on the spreadsheet where it's noted that the creator is Jewish-- are they disqualified or not?

To answer your question: we, as a moderating team for

dark_agenda, recognize that whiteness is a social construction that changes with time, and we recognize the complexity of Jewish identity and identification. However, our goal is to encourage and promote the representation of Jewish people of color/non-white and their communities, which have been in existence for centuries, but underrepresented and sometimes not recognized within the broader Jewish community and outside of it: Jewish Multiracial Network and IBARW: celebrating the diversity of Jewish community. We prioritize their voices and, as such, being Jewish descent would not automatically and presently qualify the characters or people for our challenge. The characters and people must also identify and/or be coded as Jewish people of color/non-white as well. Our decision may change as the image and face of the broader Jewish community changes and we continue to encourage portrayal and discussions on the intersectionality of Judaism and race.

If a fandom has several nominated characters, I request "any" and am matched with someone who offers "any", are they obligated to write one of the nominated characters?

If not, would it be acceptable for me to request one character and state in optional details that any of [nominated, requested character] and [list of other chromatic characters] would be great in any combination?

Sorry for the delay in response. This matter is rather tricky. Character requests are optional for participant to fulfill and participants are technically not obligated to include any of the nominated characters in their work as long as the character they do include belongs in the fandom requested and is chromatic.

We would say it's relatively okay to expand on character preferences in the optional details. However, just be aware that that even if you requested "any" for a fandom, you're not guarantee to be matched with someone who offered any. In fact, you might be matched with someone who only offer for "Character X" so we do ask you to keep that in mind and (continue to) be considerate to your potential assigned participant by, for example, stressing the "optional" and "any" part of the requests.

I hope that address your question.

I'm just curious why the change from requiring 3 to 5 requests/offers from last year--I was traveling through pretty much all of the promotion period, and now I'm scrambling to find 5 things I'd be comfortable offering by tomorrow (since I strongly prefer historical fandoms, that adds an extra layer of research/accuracy stress to participating in an exchange like Kaleidoscope).

I will, I hope, be able to come up with enough nominations to be able to participate, but I was just wondering what the reasoning behind the change is, as it seems to raise the participation bar quite a bit.

Our primary reasoning is that it makes matching easier, especially with the increase in available nominations per participant.

Ah, okay.

*returns to racking brain*

Kaleidoscope 2012 Policies and Procedures

Archive of Our Own (AO3)

Optional Details

Dear Doers of Darkness letters

Fanwork Requirements

Beta-ing

Check-ins

Defaulting

Submissions

Hosting

Watermark

Music

Content notes

Permissions

Captions

Pinch Hits

Away Message

Feedback

Pre-reveal

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