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Holy poo poo, it's time for Trad Games Secret Santa again! Sweet! TGSS is finished for 2015! You can still read the thread, and see how it went, though! Maybe you'd like to participate next year? Feel free to fill out this survey even if you didn't participate this year. In accordance with longstanding Trad Games tradition, every December the boardgame, tabletop wargame, roleplaying game, and I guess maybe the poker and mafia goons set aside their differences and come together to anonymously mail presents to one another. It's fun! As usual, I am volunteering to organize this clusterfuck, mostly because it lets me exercise petty authority within a highly restricted domain in which I am comfortable, exactly in the same way as a clerk at the DMV enjoys their brief moments of tyranny over the helpless victims of car-related bureaucracy. Basically what that means is I make up the rules and you all obey them. I like to make up rules so here are a whole bunch of them, organized using a fake conversational style where I pretend you asked me dumb questions and I give long-winded answers: What's Trad Games Secret Santa? It's an anonymized gift exchange for the goons who hang out in the Trad Games subforum. Everyone who wants to participate puts their name in a figurative hat. Then in late November, everyone gets assigned someone else from the hat to send a present to. The person getting the present doesn't know who will send them one, so it's Secret. So, you give a gift to a stranger and in turn a different stranger gives you a gift! Everyone benefits, especially international shipping companies!  Holy poo poo this sounds awesome! I want to do it! That's not a question but anyway, not so fast. Read the entirety of this post very carefully. If it seems like you read it before in previous years, please skim it again in case something has changed. If you have problems with reading comprehension maybe read it twice or have an adult read it to you. There's a bunch of rules and you have to obey them and follow instructions. The process is designed to maintain anonymity, reduce the likelihood that anyone gets Grinched, and streamline the organizational nightmare for me So I am going to buy something for someone? Yes. You have to get a gift for a Trad Games goon. Ideally your gift should be picked out specifically for the goon you're assigned. Since this is the Trad Games forum, we're generally focused on games-related stuff, but you kind of have free reign so it doesn't necessarily have to be a game gift... but it probably should, unless you're sure your non-game gift will delight your target Santee. You better understand perfectly clearly that signing up for this is a financial obligation. It is not okay to sign up and then disappear, because someone will send you a present, and then whoever your assignment is, gets grinched. They paid money and gave a present and didn't get anything in the mail. It is the saddest thing. Please take a moment to think seriously about this before you just mash the Reply button. As usual, I'm gonna participate and that means I have to assign myself to someone and will know who that is, because it'd be too hard to try and keep it secret from myself. It sucks that I don't get to be surprised, but I still won't know what my present is, so that's good enough. How much is this going to cost me? US$30 (or its approximate equivalent in Foreign Money), plus shipping. You don't deduct shipping from the gift dollar guideline amount because it's not your Santee's fault he lives in Kiribati and he shouldn't have to have a worse gift just because you're 8000 miles away. You can save money on shipping in several ways: keep reading. What if I live in an Exotic Foreign Land like Madagascar, the Cook Islands, or Dorsetshire? That's OK. I will try to match up people to take postage costs into account. There is likely to be an imbalance somewhere, so if you are willing to cover the extra cost of international shipping, then you are an extra specially wonderful goon who deserves to feel extra full of warm fuzzy feelings this Holiday Festive Season. If you do get matched up with a Foreign Goon, remember that you can often order directly from an online retailer in their country, and thereby avoid excess shipping costs. I can't afford $30 plus shipping! If $30 plus shipping is genuinely a hardship for you, you might be too poor to be buying presents for strangers on the internet. But, maybe you could make a home-made gift? Or perhaps you have something in your game closet (in good condition) that is worth (in its current state) about $30? If it would suit your Santee, it's fine to send something you already own rather than buying a new thing. Just remember that the goal is to delight your Santee with your largesse, not disappoint your Santee with your stinginess. And the value needs to be its real value if you sold it on like ebay or something, not it's estimated value based on your nostalgia. International shipping is too expensive! I want to participate but I can only ship domestically. That's probably fine. Follow the procedure outlined below and I will do my best to make sure you don't have to ship internationally. Based on past years, if you live in the continental US, I can definitely do this; if you are in Canada, the UK, or Australia I can probably do this; and if you are in any other country, it's unlikely I can do this. I can still try to match you to someone in your region: for example, I can match a eurogoon to another eurogoon. I'm scared! Don't worry. If you are worried, you can mention it in your post or in your e-mail to me. I will match you with a Reputable Goon and tell them not to send you a dong. So far the track record has been pretty good, and as far as I know, we've had zero incidents of stalking. The great majority of goons were happy they took part, and most have been coming back in subsequent years.  OK When do we send things? Some time on Sunday, November 22nd, (which is the weekend before Thanksgiving in the US) I will make assignments and email them out. You will then have until Christmas Eve: Thursday, December 24th to get your gift delivered to your Secret Santee. It will be up to you to decide if you want to get your gift sent on time using a cheap shipping option, or wait and then get your gift sent on time using an expensive shipping option. TGSS is CLOSED for 2015, sorry! What if I forget? Don't forget. Bookmark this thread. Something Awful provides a fancy bookmarking feature just for you! You should use it. Click on your Control Panel link to see your bookmarked threads. Maybe also set up an alarm clock in your calendar app or something? I will send out email-based reminders in mid-to-late December to people who are worrying me with their absence but you should not rely on that. If you are the kind of person who gets excited about things and then blows them off and forgets about them the next day, then this gig is not for you. Don't sign up. It sucks when someone spends money and sends out a gift and then gets nothing in exchange. The Solstice Holidays are supposed to be a time of good cheer and fun, not disappointment and rejection! Theoretically. You can of course make things easier on yourself by just buying something and shipping it immediately after you get your assignment. Online retailers have spent millions of dollars carefully refining their Web-based interfaces to make this easier for you. There are always a good number of goons who get their assigned Santee and have a gift purchased and mailed within a day or two; you could be one of them! Also I have timed it so you will get your assignment just in time to take advantage of the “cyber monday” online sales. Online retailers like Amazon offer all kinds of great discounts during that week, so you can take advantage and get your gift mailed automatically directly to your Santee and have nothing to stress or worry about all December. What if I don't get a present because my Secret Santa is an rear end in a top hat? This is called “being Grinched.” If you get Grinched, like an old-west Sheriff I will round up a posse of de-Grinchers and together we will cover for the rear end in a top hat out of the goodness of our hearts. You will get a present no matter what, and the name of the jerk who Grinched you will be forever carved into the grim black stone of the Something Awful Permanent Shitlist of Shame, which looms mountainlike above these proceedings, an ominous reminder of past failures and irredeemable regret. Well OK, not totally irredeemable. A previous Shitlist Member redeemed himself in an admirable way, and is fully eligible to take part once more. But still, seriously don't get yourself on the SAPSoS. Wait! It's already Thanksgiving Week 2015 that I am just now reading this! Does that mean I can't participate? You are in luck! This year we will again experience the shatteringly-exciting and frantic giftscramble known as the LIGHTNING BONUS ROUNDS! Beginning November 22nd, and continuing until December 17th, we will have a series of extra bonus rounds and YOU can participate. It works like this: you use exactly the same process outlined below to sign up. I collect names until either I have at least 8, or, a whole week has passed AND I have at least 3, whichever comes first. So each LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND will have from three to eight goons. Then I do a mini-gift-round assignment. You immediately fire off a Trad Games Present at your Santee, and they do the same! And the instant one LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND ends, the next one begins. Of course, as we close in on the Big Day, you will have less and less time in which to accomplish purchase, shipping, and delivery. You'll have to pick an appropriate delivery option and be certain whatever you're buying is either in your hands, or definitely in stock at the retailer of your choice. This could cost more than you're expecting especially during the last week before Christmas. Also, since the pool of participants will be very small, the odds that multiple goons will have to ship internationally go up. Some goons like to participate in the main round as well as multiple bonus rounds! They are the best goons! TGSS Bonus Rounds are finished for 2015, sorry! I'm rich and/or greedy. Can I send two gifts? gently caress yes you can! Just let me know in your email (step 2) how many gifts you want to send and receive, and I'll make it happen. Each gift still has to meet all the standard requirements. Tell me about that poo poo list of yours. Who is on it? The General. It's been six years now but he managed to Grinch goons two years in a row. His only excuse was that basically he was too lazy to go buy a thing and mail it. He is not allowed to participate in TGSS. Arrgytehpirate. In 2011, this guy never managed to follow instructions, insisting on using PMs instead of emails. I let that slide but then he too forever to respond. Finally he sent me a photo of a package he was supposedly sending out but it never arrived. Weeks later he supposedly got it returned in the mail but his santee, who had also participated in a lightning round, had received a gift from his other santa so the address was definitely fine. Arrgytehpirate was the epitome of disinterested and disconnected half-assedness. For doing a little less than the bare minimum he was disallowed from participating in 2012. In subsequent years, he's invited to participate, but in a probationary way where I will cut his poo poo off if I'm not impressed by his reformation into a responsive person who can follow instructions. NutritiousSnack. NutritiousSnack doubled down on TGSS in 2013. His main round Santee finally got his gift on January 13th, and his Bonus Round santee finally got his gift on February 2nd. One major shipping snafu might be an honest mistake; two is a pattern. NutritiousSnack was also difficult to get ahold of, with days or weeks going by between responses. Being multiple months late with your gifts is bad, and being slack about communicating when your stuff has gone missing is worse. NutritiousSnack was on probation last year, but he can participate this year if he wants. Demonstrating reform could get him off this list! Let us all welcome Flaggy and NovaLion back into the fold. They both screwed up, but have proven themselves subsequently through acts of charity and contrition. See? Redemption is possible!  I came here from the Oath Thread or the Painting Thread or the Warhammer Thread or Whatever and I only want Miniatures stuff! OK sure, whatever. Just put your requests in your post when you sign up. We Trad Games goons are pretty good at figuring out the difference between a Necron and a Trollblood. If you want desert-themed terrain or some P3 paints or whatever, just be specific! There's no 100% guarantee, but really that's just like Christmas at home, isn't it? The worst case scenario is you get some other $30 Thing. That's not such a big deal.  What about Mafia? I don't know what the gently caress about Mafia, to be honest. You people are weirdos. You're still welcome to participate, though! What if I never post in Trad Games? :getoutfrog: No, actually, you're welcome too. If you have an SA account in good standing that existed before I posted this post, you're eligible. Welcome to the club! Probably you'll get something TG related, though. Or a dong. If you have a brand new SA account registered after this post was posted, then I'm worried about you. Let's have a chat and figure out if you're trustworthy. Send me an email before signing up. OK enough already, now tell me how to do it! That's also not phrased as a question, but that's OK it's the holidays we can be charitable. Here is what you need to do.  HOW TO PARTICIPATEThese are step-by-step instructions. Just do all of them, in order. 1. Announce your intention to participate in this here thread. Put the following information in BOLD so it's easy to see: Your Gift Preferences. This means describe things and categories of things you'd love to receive. This is mandatory. You can be specific but it's better to be general. E.g., “I'd love a blueray movie” or “I need tabletop wargaming scenery” or “I'd like the hardback Kings of War 2nd Edition Rulebook.” You can also specify things you don't want, like “I have enough dice thanks” or “I hate animes” or “Do not give money to Games Workshop” or whatever. The more help you give your Secret Santa, the higher the likelihood you will get something that you will actually like; the more specific you are, the less likely that you will get something that is a surprise. If you just put “I'd love anything at all,” be prepared to receive anything, up to and including Dongs. But more likely, you might something you already own, especially if you chat about it in TG. Your General Location. You'll be telling me your address via e-mail anyway, but goons like to know where in the world all the other goons are. It's funner that way. You can say things like “Chicago” or “Wisconsin” or “Australia”, however specific or general you feel like being. Your Solemn Vow that you will keep up with the thread, send a gift on time, and will post in the thread when you get your present and tell us all what you got and who sent it to you.  If someone gets grinched this year I'll just ask for volunteers at that point. No need to volunteer yet: some years, nobody gets grinched at all! 2. Send an e-mail to me at tgsecretsanta@gmail.com containing the following information: “Secret Santa Sign Up” or similar in the subject line so I can be sure you're not a computer program trying to sell penis pills. Your REAL NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS. This is important because someone is going to mail things to you and they need to know how. If someone mails a thing to this name and address and you don't get it because you moved or it's not a real address or the postal carrier refused to deliver a package addressed to “CockDragon1986” or something, that's your fault and you will have self-Grinched which is the most embarrassing thing ever. Your Something Awful login name. It does me no good at all if wangmaster2000@buttplugs.com e-mails me to say that John Smith lives at 666 Satan Lane in Minneapolis, MN. I need to match your e-mail to a Goonish Identity. Your willingness or unwillingness to ship internationally. Please be specific if you have restrictions. For example, if you're only willing to ship within North America, please say so. Remember, shipping costs are in addition to the $30 gift guideline. And shipping from the US to any international destination is loving expensive holy poo poo. But! You could avoid some shipping costs for an international Santee by ordering directly from an online retailer in the target country. Anything else. Special information might include a list of your mortal enemies which I had better not match you with, a date after which you will be at a different address, your allergy to cheese, or whatever. I promise not to match you (as Santa or Santee) with anyone you don't want to be matched with, and I will pass along any messages to your Santa or Santee that you need passed along.  3. Check for a confirmation email from tgsecretsanta@gmail.com Everyone who signs up will get a confirmation email within a short amount of time (usually within a day or two). If you don't get one, check your spam filters and then PM me, send another e-mail, or post in the thread and I'll troubleshoot the issue. Your confirmation email is sent at the same time that I put you on the Official Spreadsheet of Cheer, so it's important. 4. Wait until Sunday, November 22nd and then check your inbox. That is the day I will close registration for the main round, and assign names using a secret, magical formula involving eldrich dice anointed with human lard, foreign-language tarot cards, and an online random number generator programmed by an insane Romanian who later disappeared under suspicious circumstances. It's also the beginning of a holiday week for most goons in the US, and also various holiday promotions have usually gotten going by then so maybe you can get an online discount. I will post in the thread as I get these assignments out. You must keep your Santee's personal information secret and private. Don't post or forward or copy their real name, other fake name(s), address, or email address in the thread or anywhere else. Probably you should also delete it from your email repository after you've sent your gift so that it doesn't get out there if you're hacked or something. Don't try to go visit your Santee, that's creepy. This is important. Respect your Santee's privacy. 5. Check the thread, find your Santee's first post, and read up on his or her greedy demands. And then buy them a present and mail it. The Officially Recommended Spending Amount is US$30. It is OK to spend a bit more than that if you feel generous. It is OK to spend slightly less than that if you have the perfect thing which costs $28.95, or whatever. But it is not OK to Grinch your Santee by sending them a used paperback book and $8 of baseball cards. The only truly universal gifts are love and money. For everything else, it's best to at least try to determine whether your amazing gift idea would actually be delightful to your Santee. Many people like to leave their options wide open and you can feel free to send whatever you like to them. Others have a more focused domain of Trad Gaming they enjoy, and it's best to try and fit your present into that domain if you can. Also, we may have Santees under the legal age for drinking, or who don't drink, so you must check with me before sending alcoholic beverages to your Santee. Some people have food allergies, too. Don't send food without checking.  Sometimes you have a thing that you already own that you want to send, that's OK too, just try and figure out what that thing would be worth, roughly (in its present used condition of course), and make sure your giftee is delighted by your largesse instead of saddened by your cheapness. That last bit is really the critical part here. Regarding handmade gifts: A lot of us really enjoy the personal touch of a handmade gift, so this might be a great idea. But there are hazards. If you haven't already made your gift, be sure you'll have plenty of time. The estimate of value of the thing you made isn't “what I'd probably sell it for if I sold this,” it's “what my giftee would probably pay for it if they bought it from anyone else.” For example, it takes a huge amount of time to knit a pair of socks; but socks are still only worth a couple dollars to most people. If your giftee asked for a Dice Pouch, it's likely they're thinking of a typical dice pouch which usually costs like ten bucks. So if you make one yourself, maybe you better fill it with some cool dice as well? Use your best judgment and run your plans past me if you have any doubt. Regarding ebooks and Print-On-Demand services. PDFs and eBook versions of gaming products are very hit-or-miss, and so are POD services. Some of us love them, some of us hate them. I'd like you to please be certain that your giftee loves them before you send one. Check their post and if they don't mention it, contact me and I can confirm with them whether an ebook or printed-on-demand book is a wonderful or horrible thing. If you get stuck on gift ideas, send an email to tgsecretsanta@gmail.com and I will help you out. I can ask your Santee questions while preserving the veneer of anonymity, and I also am full of great ideas for the difficult-to-shop-for. 6. Send a gift to your Santee in a timely manner Every shipping company is heavily impacted by the holiday shopping season. Volumes rise every day as you get closer to the 25th. The sooner you get something shipped, the less likely it is to be delayed. Online retailers may also run out of stock. If you procrastinate and delay, you are still on the hook for on-time delivery, and that may mean having to select a more expensive shipping option. It's OK to take a few days or even a couple weeks if you need it to get your awesome present together, but keep your eye on the calendar and don't screw yourself over by waiting too long! I mean it. EVERY YEAR WITHOUT FAIL I have a handful of goons who wait till a week before xmas and then complain about the cost, or – worse – simply decide they can't afford expedited shipping and their Santee doesn't get their gift until after Christmas Eve. That is not OK. If you can't afford like $40 or maybe a lot more for shipping, don't wait till five days before xmas to mail a gift! If you purchase a gift online, please confirm with the retailer that the item is actually in stock. Check and make sure it's shipped. Get a tracking number and check it every day. You can send me your tracking number if you want, but it's up to you to monitor it and see that your gift got delivered. I can't monitor 100 tracking numbers. Let me know right away if there's a problem or delay. If a gift receipt is an option, please get one. I know it's not always available, but it's best to make sure that if your Santee already has one of what you got him or her, he can return the new thing and/or exchange it for something else that is great. This isn't a rule, just a preference. POST INDICATING YOUR PRESENT HAS BEEN MAILED BY NO LATER THAN Monday, DECEMBER 23rd 2015. (If you're actually shipping on Monday the 23rd, you'll have to buy next-day airmail which is gonna cost you like a hundred bucks or something.) If you have some pathetic excuse like “I am trapped in a blizzard” or “my house burned down and I can't afford a stamp” or “the vendor promised to mail it but I have discovered they were filthy liars,” that's OK, come post about it in the thread or send me an e-mail or ask your Red Cross coordinator at the disaster relief shelter to send me an e-mail. In this modern world there are very few legit excuses for being unable to communicate for several weeks. If your only excuse is “I am lazy and didn't get around to it” then you are an rear end in a top hat who should never have signed up. Being deployed is also not an acceptable excuse. 7. Post in the thread when you receive a gift You can open it right away or you can wait till your preferred Official Holiday Date and open it then. Regardless, you need to post in the thread as soon as your gift has arrived. This way your anxious Santa knows you got your present, and I can register that they have fulfilled their duty by putting a symbol into a box on a spreadsheet, which I loving love doing, you don't even know. Please don't blow this off. Every year a few people dutifully send their gifts, and then disappear from the thread, and we are left with no easy way to confirm that they also received what they were supposed to. That's not being a Grinch, but it is a source of anxiety for your Santa and for me and that's not very nice. 8. Post what you got! Whenever you get around to opening your gift, please let us know what you got. Photos are the best but even if you don't have a camera (and seriously who doesn't have a camera these days?) at least describe what you got. You should also say thank you and describe your joy. Half the fun of giving a gift is experiencing your Santee's pleasure. 9. If you got a lovely gift, or didn't get a gift, send me an email immediately. Email me at tgsecretsanta@gmail.com if you get something lousy. That doesn't just mean you got a nice approximately $30 thing that you don't especially love: unless you specifically said “I hate anime” you can't really complain that you got some animes. But, you do need to let me know if your Santa has not lived up to the spirit and intent of the rules, OR – and this has actually happened – if your Santa was victimized by a shady retailer who has ripped both you and your Santa off. 10. Please stick around in the thread until a week or two into January, or until I close the thread, whichever comes first There are always last-minute hiccups and if someone gets Grinched, I'll be asking for volunteer de-grinchers. This is likely to happen in January, if it happens. Even if you don't want to be a de-Grincher, you can still participate in the tarring and feathering, and that's not something to miss out on. Plus people sometimes get stuff a little late, like when they go back home from their holiday travel or whatever, and it sucks when they have nobody to share their fun with when they open their gift. In 2011 I had people sign up for de-grinching in advance, but that turned out to be at least 50% of everyone and we only needed 1. In 2012, a goon and I bonus-gifted someone whose gift got destroyed in shipping (nobody's fault, but it wasn't replacable). In 2013, we de-grinched someone whose gift wound up arriving super super late and the Santa was out of contact. In 2014, there were zero grinches! Basically I don't want to keep track of 60+ de-Grinchers in advance, so we just play it loose and it will work out.  TGSS Mailing List Would you like to receive a reminder of TG Secret Santa next year? Send an email to tgsecretsanta@gmail.com and ask to be added to the official TGSS Mailing List. I will use this list to send out a heads-up each year when I post the new TGSS thread. I won't sell or share the list with anyone, and I will use BCC: so you won't be sharing your email address with the other goons on the list, either. Of course you can also remove yourself from the list at any time, just send me a request and I'll take you off. Disclaimers This is the fine print. Nobody told me to put it here, but I'm anal about these kinds of things. Participation in this event is voluntary. I am not affiliated or associated with Something Awful LLC, Rich “Lowtax” Kyanka, or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, associates, officers, enlisted men, peasants, or holdings. This event is in no way endorsed or supported by any of the above. If you get ripped off by another goon, neither Something Awful, nor I, can promise you relief. Nobody's insurance is covering this. Any supportive or punitive action taken by Something Awful or its moderators or administrators, including stickying threads and punishing bad goons, is purely voluntary and ad-hoc and is not a promise or representation that Something Awful is actually responsible or required to take such action, nor a promise or representation that it will act in a similar manner in the future, present, or past. I promise to take reasonable and prudent steps to keep your personal information confidential. It is secured by the use of a reasonably obscure password on the tgsecretsanta@gmail.com gmail account. I also copy some of your personal information, including your real name and email address, to my Spreadsheet of Cheer which is stored on a reasonably secure computer behind a firewall. However, participation requires that I send your personal information to another goon, and I cannot directly promise that that goon will do the right thing and keep your info private. Obviously anyone who shares your private info is an rear end in a top hat and if I find out he or she did that and can confirm it then he goes right on the poo poo list immediately and forever, and I will also tell on them. But you must not hold me or Something Awful or any of it's affiliates, sponsors, indentured servants, etc. etc. financially, legally, or morally responsible if that happens. It'll be between you and the rear end in a top hat, basically. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Jan 4, 2016 |
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Nov 8, 2015 06:46
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This post reserved for future use e. Last year we had exactly 100 gifts exchanged. I think we can do more this year, don't you? Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 07:07 on Nov 8, 2015 |
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Nov 8, 2015 06:46
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Dear Santa, My name is Leperflesh and I have been a Gift Preferences: I like tabletop miniatures wargames. I used to play games made by Games Workshop, but no more: now I want to play Kings of War. I have thousands of points of desert egypt skeleton dudes, so I don't need more of those. But I could use 28mm scenery, Kings of War play aids, and I hear there's a new army book called Uncharted Empires on preorder that has the rules for my army! I also like board games. I have a lot: see my collection mostly correctly catalogued here, although I should add Kemet because I got it recently. I also like video games (here I am on Steam): I'm excited about those new Warhammmer: Total War games coming soon, or perhaps Vermintide? I do not like anime. I like food, alcohol, books, toys, cats, frogs, cars, football, music, and good things. I have a Kindle Fire. I like science fiction and fantasy novels, but I also read a lot of nonfiction: my favorite author is Stephen Jay Gould, but I already have most of his books. I sometimes read history: I finished a history of byzantium last year, and before that I read a history of ancient persia. Right now I'm working on Rubicon by Tom Holland. I have Netflix and Amazon Prime and HBO Go, so if you get me a movie that I can already watch on one of those for free, that would be a bit of a waste! I like surprises. You could surprise me! Location: California Solemn Vow: I promise I will not grinch my Secret Santee, or may scrunts infest my garage. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 07:29 on Nov 8, 2015 |
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Nov 8, 2015 07:07
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I'm caught up! If you sent an email to tgsecretsanta@gmail.com, you should have a reply. Speaking of which, I haven't gotten emails from the following goons: Lichtenstein The Supreme Court 27 goons have signed up so far.
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Nov 9, 2015 07:46
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Lichtenstein posted:Yeah, I need to figure some details out and I'd rather wait a few days that spam you with errata. The Supreme Court posted:I'm in the process of moving, will have my details in shortly. OK, that's fine and good. I'm all caught up But don't have an email from the above goons, and also potatocubed.
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Nov 9, 2015 20:39
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I'm caught up on emails through jassi007. 
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Nov 11, 2015 08:06
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Got ya. Today was extremely slow and yesterday wasn't that busy. I'm a little worried to be honest... normally we get several goons a day signing up at this point. I don't want to just spam a bunch of TG threads. But, if you know a TG goon that you're pretty sure would want to participate, feel free to PM them and let them know that it's time for TG Secret Santa! A lot of people seem to just stick to their bookmarks list and not browse this forum often, so I bet some folks just haven't realized it's time. Right now we have 42 goons signed up which of course is enough to do TGSS regardless. I just think more is merrier!
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Nov 13, 2015 08:00
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You guys have got mail!
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Nov 13, 2015 20:54
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Sion posted:Are you sure we do? I don't Email was sent from tgsecretsanta to your email account with two zeros at gmail dot com on November 8th. Please check your spam filter.
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Nov 14, 2015 07:14
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I'm caught up with the thread. And we only have one week left of sign-ups for the main round! Woohoo!
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Nov 16, 2015 07:41
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I'm all caught up! I have emails from everyone but moths.
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Nov 17, 2015 06:47
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I'm all caught up - and so are all of you! Not missing emails from anyone. I can hardly believe there's only 4 more days before main round assignments go out!
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Nov 18, 2015 19:02
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No new signups today. :| I hope the OP isn't too long and complicated.
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Nov 20, 2015 06:20
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ha ha ha I'd rather die
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Nov 20, 2015 06:29
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55 participants, 57 gifts to be exchanged (two people have signed up for double-gifting). Last year the main round had 78 participants, including all the double gifting; in 2013, the main round had 96. In 2012 we had 70, the same in 2011, and in my first year doing this, 2010, we had 60 main round participants. So I've seen a big curve. I was hoping the falloff last year was due to quirks of scheduling or perhaps economic recovery, but if we don't get three more signups by tomorrow, this will be the fewest main round participants in six years of TGSS. So, if I'm doing something wrong, I want to know about it. Maybe we just haven't gotten the word out? Or maybe TG in general is slower these days? Or I might have packed the OP with too many rules and text and people are just not bothered to read through it all? 
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Nov 20, 2015 18:59
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Actually I should include the lightning bonus rounds maybe. Here is a nicely formatted table:pre:Year Main round # of bonus rounds Bonus round Total 2010 60 1 5 65 2011 70 3 15 85 2012 70 4 33 103 2013 96 3 22 118 2014 79 3 22 101 2015 58 Evil Mastermind posted:I think part of the problem might be that there are a lot of people who don't seem to follow the chat threads or just visit the actual forum page (I know I'm guilty of that). Not sure how you could address that issue, though. That's definitely possible. I've avoided spamming a bunch of threads because while SA moderators and admins have always been supportive, this isn't an official SA function and spamming threads is probably skirting the forums rules. I do not want TGSS to wind up in the doghouse due to overexuberance on my part or something. Ettin is actually participating, though, so I'll leave it up to him whether it's kosher. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 19:11 on Nov 20, 2015 |
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Nov 20, 2015 19:07
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I've sent ettin a PM to ask if it's OK.
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Nov 20, 2015 19:22
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I'd hesitate to change the date... I've been giving people the date in every response email, and I also like to give people Thanksgiving Week to start shopping since a lot of online deals start up that week. If we get a sudden surge after the deadline it's fine to just jam folks into bonus rounds... if necessary I'll make larger bonus rounds, that would work fine too.
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Nov 20, 2015 19:31
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Hey listen if you've got $1800 to burn you can sign up for that right now, no need to wait till next year!
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Nov 20, 2015 19:37
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Hey, I never said all that!  I got permission to spam if I make my posts on-subject for the relevant threads.
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Nov 21, 2015 02:09
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I've just spammed some of the more popular TG threads but I didn't see the frostgrave thread on the first couple pages. Please feel free to post in relevant threads that I've skipped over or missed: just be on-topic and specific to the thread's content, and limit yourself to a single post about TGSS.
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Nov 21, 2015 02:42
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Victory! If even one extra goon gets cheered up by some holiday gift exchange shenanigans, then I have succeeded.
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Nov 21, 2015 03:05
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Yay, lots more signups! I am all caught up with Santa's email. Right now I do not have emails from: Cactrot Babylon Astronaut Selachian Signups for the main round end TOMORROW! Tomorrow is also an American Football Day, and I will be watching all of the football. So I expect to be sending out signups probably later in the evening, California time.
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Nov 21, 2015 19:08
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I'm all caught up! We're up to 87 Santas, including four double-santas. Looks like the trans-TG advertising blitz paid off!
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Nov 22, 2015 08:48
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THIS IS THE CUTOFF FOR THE MAIN ROUND! Everyone above this post is in, with the possible exception of Babylon Astronaut and Krushgroove, from whom I have not received signup emails. I have replied to all of the emails I've received, and am now processing the Spreadsheet of Cheer. Babylon, Krush, if I don't hear from you by the time I'm done, I'll have to push you into the first LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND. Anyone coming to the thread now, please feel free to sign up for the first LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND! These rounds are exactly like the main Secret Santa round; the only difference is, you'll be grouped with a smaller number of goons, and you'll have less time in which to get a present delivered. I will allow the round to fill to 8 goons, OR to fill for one week, whichever comes soonest. Once a round is full or 1 week has passed, I'll mix & match the goons in that round, send out assignments by email, and you guys can kick off the gift-giving! I will run LIGHTNING BONUS ROUNDS up until probably two weeks before xmas. After that, it starts getting really too expensive to get things shipped on time, because shippers are so impacted that normally-only-takes-a-week shipping options are no longer guaranteed, and you start having to buy premium shipping instead. The last few years, we've had between three and four lightning bonus rounds. I figure it'll probably be about there this time too. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 07:02 on Nov 23, 2015 |
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Nov 23, 2015 06:56
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OK. ALL MAIN ROUND EMAILS ARE SENT! If you signed up for the main round but didn't get an email with your Santee, please let me know. If I hosed up in some way, like you got more emails than you should, or I assigned you to someone I shouldn't have, let me know. I go to a fair amount of effort to make sure nobody gets assigned someone they had in a previous year, but it's likely I made a mistake somewhere. You can also contact me for help or advice! I'll check those emails tomorrow. You don't need to send me tracking numbers: I just ignore those because no way am I going to try to track 90 presents. You should review the instructions if you're not sure what you should do next. When you ship your Santee's present, for example, you are supposed to post in the thread that you've shipped! it's 1:30 AM, I'm going to go collapse now
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Nov 23, 2015 10:33
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Kai Tave posted:Speaking of which, now that this has started please sign me up for the first LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND as well. My gift preferences are here. Tekopo posted:Guess I'm gonna go for the first Lightning Round then Just a reminder: if you're signing up for a bonus round, I need an email from you with your address and stuff. Even if you sent one already for the main round. I know, it sounds silly, but it has to do with my organizational system: Gmail "threads" emails and their responses, and by receiving a separate email from you for the lightning round, I will be creating a fresh thread for the bonus round's forwards and responses etc. which is visually distinct in gmail when I do a search on your username for spreadsheeting purposes and... ...yeah, you don't want to know how the sausage is made, do you. No. It's not pretty but it works.
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Nov 23, 2015 20:28
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By the way, we have 90 main-round gift exchanges going! That's 11 more than last year! So spamming the poo poo out of the forums worked great, and there's going to be extra Cheer being spread around this year.
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Nov 23, 2015 20:30
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I already started it but here is the formal post that I can link to from the OP, to say LIGHTNING BONUS ROUNDS! Lightning bonus rounds are how you take part in the Trad Games Secret Santa thing after the deadline for the main round is passed. It's also how you can be greedy and exchange more than one present with your fellow goons! Beginning today (November 23rd), and continuing until December 18th, we will have a series of extra bonus rounds and YOU can participate. The LIGHTNING BONUS ROUNDS work a lot like the main round. All of the rules apply except for the deadline for application. Re-read the rules in the OP just in case you forgot them. OK so to sign up I post in the thread and send you an email? Correct. You must do this even if you participated in the main round. Post in the thread. If you already participated in the main round you can link to your original post or just quote it to show your gift preferences. You must send an email to tgsecretsanta@gmail.com as well, with your address in it, even if you already sent one for an earlier round. My response to that email is your only confirmation that you've successfully signed up. What then? I will end each LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND according to whichever of the following things happens first:
Once each round closes I'll randomize the participants in the round and you all exchange gifts. You immediately fire off a Trad Games Present at your Santee, and they do the same! And of course the instant one LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND ends, the next one begins. What about international shipping?  You can still tell me you prefer not to ship internationally – if it's impossible for you, let me know and I'll try to make sure that doesn't happen. But if you live outside the US it's particularly hard to ensure you don't have to ship internationally. Bear in mind that you can always buy something online from a store that operates in your target country and thereby avoid expensive shipping costs. You usually just need a credit card. (You might have to pay a currency exchange fee but that is typically much less money.) If I get a pool that contains nobody else in your country, and you said you don't want to ship internationally, I will contact you to check if you'd rather sit out to the next round. It's much better though if LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND participants can all ship internationally. So then what's the shipping deadline? Of course, as we close in on Christmas day, you will have less and less time in which to accomplish purchase, shipping, and delivery. You'll have to pick an appropriate delivery option and be certain whatever you're buying is either in your hands, or definitely in stock at the retailer of your choice. You are still supposed to get your gift delivered in time for Christmas. This is part of the LIGHTNING challenge! But it probably means that you won't have time to make a hand-made gift or wait for something that is out of stock to get restocked. Strongly consider ordering online from a major retailer with a strong reputation for shipping things immediately. ROUND ONE BEGINS NOW GO!
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Nov 23, 2015 20:35
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Got it! I'm caught up to this point.
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Nov 23, 2015 20:45
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Drone posted:I have aimed my Christmas artillery at the target and fired a shot. OK, keep an eye on that order and be ready to cancel it if it doesn't look like it's going to ship on time. Third-party sellers don't have Amazon's amazing robot-powered fulfillment engine, and in the past we've had numerous such orders wind up arriving late, or in a couple cases even just never shipping.
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Nov 23, 2015 20:58
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Gravy Train Robber posted:First gift has been ordered! Second gift in preparation. Is the ordered gift for your SANTEE NUMBER 1 or SANTEE NUMBER 2? UrbanLabyrinth posted:Gifts for both Santees are en-route! (one of them gets 2 items, which might arrive a few days apart) Are the 2 items for SANTEE NUMBER 1 or SANTEE NUMBER 2?
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Nov 24, 2015 06:14
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LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND 1 IS FULL! We are now taking goons for LIGHTNING BONUS ROUND 2. YAY!
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Nov 24, 2015 23:30
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Bonus round 1 assignees are all emailed. Check your inboxes, goons!
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Nov 25, 2015 00:23
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I'm caught up again with email etc.! Tomorrow I will be with my family and there is more family stuff coming Friday; so, I may be slow to respond to emails and this thread for a couple of days. Don't panic! I'll be back.
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Nov 26, 2015 01:58
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Lichtenstein posted:In theory, I could send out the first gift tomorrow morning! However, I expect to be able to assemble second one early next week, so unless a certain handcrafter fails to respond if he loving noticed I gave him money, I'll probably wait for after the weekend (post offices out here are a pain in the rear end). All you rapid santas are really stressing me out! No need to document stuff for me, but you can do whatever makes you feel secure. Insuring your package is also an option for you, if you want. Clanpot Shake posted:So my gift arrived. Unfortunately the place the courier left it is accessible to the public and someone tore into it. Fortunately once they saw what it was they decided they didn't want it and left it. I was running out the door to head home for Thanksgiving so no pics til this weekend. Dang, that sucks! If your present is actually damaged, you can probably file a claim with the carrier. Take pictures of where you found the package and its condition.
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Nov 26, 2015 20:16
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I didn't have such experiences, thankfully, but I'll still probably send it somewhere else across the town en route to work.
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Krushgroove, Please check your spam filters. I believe emails from tgsecretsanta@gmail.com may not be arriving in your inbox. If you're not getting anything, please PM me, or try writing from an alternate address. Thanks! Also, I'm all caught up with PMs, emails, and this thread! It's Black Friday, there's a lot of deals to be had online. Feel free to post about online game merchants/deals that you see while shopping around, if you like. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Nov 28, 2015 |
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Nov 28, 2015 03:07
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Mantic Games is having a black friday special, including 50% off Deadzone Frontline Gaming is having a sale
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Nov 28, 2015 03:18
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I'm caught up with TGSS emails and posts!
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Nov 29, 2015 02:58
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Dr. Clockwork posted:Email sent, I'm in for lightning bonus round! Great! But, can you follow the format, please?
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Nov 30, 2015 07:28
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