Important announcement!!!

[kenazfiction.livejournal.com]

Greetings, Slashy Swappers!

It's (almost) that time of year again!  In anticipation of our next round of swap sign-ups, I'd like to make some important administrative announcements:

- This year's "Summer" exchange will be Sultry in September rather than Ardor in August. Actual dates will be announced shortly, but anticipate a later-than-usual timeframe.

- Due to a confluence of personal, professional, and travel-related issues, Red has graciously agreed to take over the Summer swap for me. I'm pretty much either out of town or out of commission throughout August, and I am concerned that I will not be able to deal with administrative issues as swiftly as the exchange demands, and I'd prefer to sit out a round than to have chaos ensue. Of course, Red also has MAJOR travel plans this summer, so she will be burning the proverbial candle at both ends. I hope to provide back-up assistance as necessary. Please be patient with us if we cannot respond immediately to your emails!

- Sultry in September will mark the beginning of a migration to An Archive of Our Own (Ao3) as the home base for the Slashy Swaps. Moving to Ao3 means guaranteed permanence for our stories, no matter who is running the swaps down the line. We won't have issues with vanishing websites, server downtime, technical support, hosting costs, or any of the glitches we've experienced with the old Geocities or standalone eFiction-based websites. The eFiction software is no longer being updated on any regular basis, the tech support forums are a ghost town, and neither Red nor I have the tech skills (or patience, frankly) to troubleshoot some of the back-end issues (disappearing comments, formatting snafus, spam comment floods, etc.) that have been plaguing our current site.

- I have NO PLANS to take down the current slashysanta site! But I do want to be prepared for any future eventualities, including loss of hosting space, catastrophic data loss or corruption, obsolescence or increasing bugginess of the eFiction software, change of swap management, or any other unforeseen circumstances.

- If you currently have an Ao3 account and wish to add any of your previous years' stories to the Slashy Santa collections, by all means have at it!  The collection homepage is here, and all the individual exchanges (subcollections, in the parlance of Ao3) are listed here.  They are all unlocked and unmoderated, so you may post or import your stories freely without any administrative intervention. Let me know if you run into any trouble.

- If you do not have an Ao3 account, but would like one, your should request one as soon as possible!  There is currently a bit of a wait.

- YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE WITHOUT AN  Ao3 ACCOUNT. If you don't have one and either don't want one or don't get your invite code before September (I can't imagine the wait is *that* long!) you will be able to email us your story and we can post it using the Slashysanta administrative account. We don't want the change of venue to be a barrier to entry for anyone.

- As far as I know, we will be using our USUAL sign-up methods, rather than the Ao3 sign-up form... unless Red is feeling really brave!  She will let you all know when she posts the dates.

- I understand that not everyone will be 100% thrilled with a move. Some people feel that Ao3 is big and impersonal and scary. I can't say that I agree; it's only as big and impersonal as you want it to be. Having our little collection of exchanges there is no different than having our little collection of exchanges on its own site-- you needn't venture any farther afield than the Slashy Santa main collection page if you don't wish to. It does, however, guarantee a degree of stability, permanence, and technical reliability that the eFiction site no longer can. Who knows-- it could also mean an increased readership and an influx of new participants for future exchanges! I hope you all will see this as an adventure in moving forward, and a commitment to the longevity (almost a decade now!) of this swap... the heart and soul will remain the same, only the URL will change.

- Obviously, after the Big Day, you can and should post your stories wherever you wish!

Ok. that's it for now-- please let me know if you  have any questions!

-Kenaz

Comments

[lotrangel17.livejournal.com]

I have my stories posted there already and just tried to move one over to the collections and it worked right away - no problems.

Also I have one invitation available to Ao3 so if someone wants it just leave me a comment here.

Love the name Sultry in September ;)

[kenazfiction.livejournal.com]

Great! Glad it was easy for you! I'm sure someone will take you up on your Ao3 invite in a heartbeat! :D

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Hey. I like the idea of moving over to Ao3. When a site starts eating reviews, as the website did last swap, it's time to go.

LJ problem -- this post and the one on your journal showed up fine on my f-page originally and then both vanished, though they're visible on their respective journals. I notice on the profile page it also says the last time Slashy Santa was updated was February. LJ was down briefly earlier, which might have something to do with it. I know Binky had this happen to one of her posts a while back and half her f-list saw it while the other half didn't. It's an important post, so I hope it's just me.

[kenazfiction.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they both disappeared from my feed, too, so I've reposted in both places. *headdesk.*

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

The repost was visible for about five minutes and then vanished, too. Makes me wonder how often LJ does this and we don't realise because we weren't looking at the right moment. Now you see it, now you don't.

[kenazfiction.livejournal.com]

Oh for fuck's sake. The one on my journal isn't showing up in my feed, either. I'll wait until tomorrow and repost-- clearly they don't have their shit together yet. >:P

[phyncke.livejournal.com]

This is showing up on my flist. Seems ok.

[elladansgirl.livejournal.com]

I have my own Ao3 already and posted one of my AinA stories from 2009 just now and it worked with no problems at all so It's all good. I'll transfer the rest tomorrow when my I can manage to keep my eyes open lol

I requested more invites and once it says I've been given more than I'l gladly send one to anyone who needs one.

[kenazfiction.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Thanks for your help!

[elfscribe5.livejournal.com]

Hiya Kenaz. I just saw this, went and checked out Slashy Santa on AO3. Have some questions. How do you post for a specific year of Slashy Santa and how will we be accessing the upcoming swap on AO3? Are just the swap participants allowed to upload stories on the next swap? I assume so, but is there a password or something? Also, there seem to be a lot of stories on there already with old dates on them, so I assume the Slashy swap site has been available on AO3 for a while and silly me, I didn't know it. (I hate change but guess I can adapt since I do understand about glitchy sites. Grumble. Speaking of glitchy sites, LJ currently sucks!!) Btw, I think Sultry in September is a great name!

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

To post to a specific swap, select 'add to collection' on your fic, then add both tags to the collections block --- eg Slashy Santa: A Tolkien Slash Fiction Exchange AND 'name of swap' -- 2009 Ardor in August or whatever.

[elfscribe5.livejournal.com]

Thanks Kei!

[elladansgirl.livejournal.com]

I have 3 invitations to Ao3 if anyone needs any!

[phyncke.livejournal.com]

Sure.

jhfink@sbcglobal.net! I would love one!

[elladansgirl.livejournal.com]

no problem and just sent it

[phyncke.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Got it! That cut the wait by some months. *hugs*

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Just added my story to the 2013 Valentine swap collection ^-^ Easy does it.