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Steady through the morning.
The frustration over the concept of white elephant gift exchanges pushed me to get my laundry done in record time. In all seriousness, I don't understand how they managed to take off in their current form. I never heard about them until I was into college, and I'd almost like to go back to that blithe ignorance - the common variations all seem to bend towards some sort of exploitation of social expectations to create a feedback cycle of disappointment and unhappiness.
Like deliberately getting someone something you know they'll dislike for the sake of your own pleasure.
It took a good deal of back-and-forth to get it explained to me that the intent of this particular fandom White Elephant exchange was the prompts, not the fics themselves: prompts are submitted anonymously and the participants get to pick from them. It's better, and it's still not a good system if someone can't get something they love and make the call to opt out - both keeping their current prompt, and denying themselves the chance to trade it in later if they see something else they'd like to write more.
"Trade around stuff you don't want with people that do want to take it home" is a good idea, and the way the whole white elephant thing seems to largely be practiced in American society is one of those things which has me happy to be a social minority.
Like deliberately getting someone something you know they'll dislike for the sake of your own pleasure.
It took a good deal of back-and-forth to get it explained to me that the intent of this particular fandom White Elephant exchange was the prompts, not the fics themselves: prompts are submitted anonymously and the participants get to pick from them. It's better, and it's still not a good system if someone can't get something they love and make the call to opt out - both keeping their current prompt, and denying themselves the chance to trade it in later if they see something else they'd like to write more.
"Trade around stuff you don't want with people that do want to take it home" is a good idea, and the way the whole white elephant thing seems to largely be practiced in American society is one of those things which has me happy to be a social minority.
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White elephant in its worst form, is "Hey, I have this thing, and I have no desire to keep it anymore. I have given it to you, so you are socially obligated to say thank you as a recipient of a gift, whether or not you have need of this thing. (Also, I may mock you if you like it, because I no longer like it.)"
I really have no idea how it would work as a fandom exchange, but ... um... hopefully they can make it like Freecycle?
(this comment brought to you by the local freecycle post tonight, offering to re-cane up to 6 broken cane-seated chairs for someone, in an effort to re-learn the art of caning, before tackling a large project for their own home. It was a beautiful thing.)
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