Since this thread is still hanging out (until y'all can get your fics and crosspost them to the forum, anyway) as a plan-for-future-Yuletides thread, the discussions over in the awards thread got me thinking. Now, I know I went on a long spiel about how we should probably not be concerned with the awards when it comes to Yuletide, but I just want to put it forward that it's entirely possible to change
anything about the way Yuletide is run. Y'know. Unless there's a good reason for it working like that.
Specifically, there's a bit of concern about the awkwardness that is "well, technically, the fics
do exist, but they're not on Serebii, so..." HOWEVER! What if I told you it's entirely possible to create a system that gets your fics onto the forum as early as Christmas Day, leaving you plenty of time to be nominated (if ... that's something that's on your mind)?
In fact, there are a few systems that can be set up:
Option #1
[spoil]Here's the thing. On historical and smaller-time Yuletides (i.e., the ones run/still running on LiveJournal and Dreamwidth, rather than the one on AO3), mods do the posting. Now, I'm sure you're thinking, "Well, no duh," but I mean posting
to the space. As in, if you have a blog dedicated to Yuletide, where all the participants congregate, mods will post fics and art to the blog, rather than an off-site depository. The author reveals still happen a couple days later, but the fic itself is up and able to be commented on the proper space as early as Christmas. (Confused?
Check here for an example.)
What I'm proposing is pretty simple, given the above. Instead of using the Google Drive as an anonymous depository, mods can simply post your fic to the proper forum and create a link list leading to all of the individual threads.
Now, there are naturally downsides to this. For starters,
mods will be posting your threads. I mean, on the mod side of things, that kinda costs us our anonymity unless we create a sock account, which miiiight not be too much of an issue. Likewise, given the automated nature of the awards, I can't guarantee this would not mess things up or create more of a headache for anyone running said awards. Lastly, while anyone can just strut onto the Google Docs and read there, I know some folks would rather have time to edit their fics before posting to the forum proper.
On the
positive side, besides the fact that this means your fic is
technically posted to the forum within the eligibility period (meaning it's eligible ... period), it's good for the mods because you can easily just PM your fic to your mod liaison, which allows your fic to be more of a surprise if your recipient is
also a mod. Likewise, anyone can come on and comment to your fic as soon as it's posted—which you could technically do via Drive, I know, but it's probably going to be a lot simpler and easier to do it on the forums.[/spoil]
Option #2
[spoil]You're told to post your fic on Christmas Day. This not only eliminates the Google Drive element but also eliminates the
reveal period. The moment you post your fic, the moment everyone knows who wrote that gift fic.
Oddly enough, as simple as this is, it's the system I'm less confident about using. The reason why is all about
timing. First off, Christmas morning for one person might be the day after Christmas for other people or Christmas Eve for others. Second, given how busy people normally are on Christmas and given the fact that I've had people submit their fics at two in the morning
on Christmas, ngl, it'd just be easier and less risky if we didn't pass the responsibility of posting onto writers. That and mod posts = all fics get posted within roughly the same amount of time, rather than scattered throughout the day.
Of course, that isn't to say there aren't pros to this option. As I've said under Option #1, I'm not 100% certain that the mod system won't create a headache, but I'm 100% certain giving you the ability to post your own threads can avoid that problem ... assuming you post on time, anyway. That and there are no author reveals, which kinda takes away a little bit of the fun (of guessing who your author was) but at the same time means there's one less thing for the mods to do. In all, this option is the "make mods do less work" one, but it's a trade-off because it's also the "make you do more work lest you face the consequences of disappointing someone on Christmas by way of being a no-show" one.[/spoil]
Option #3
Your suggestion here. Idk.
Option #4
Ooooorrrrr if folks agree with what I said on the awards planning thread, we could keep the system as-is, with its Google Drive-ness. Pros to this? Anonymity, author reveals, and the fact that there is literally always going to be a backup copy of your fic should the forums do anything weird because Google is a considerably more reliable host than Serebii (sorry to say). Negative is... *motions above*
Your choice, folks! Feel free to voice your opinions or suggestions below~! b)'')b