You're viewing

mari4212's Reading Page
Create a Dreamwidth Account Learn More

Reload page in style: light

dauntlessshadowice posting in

What is Family Matters?
Unrelated to the sitcom (or anything else, actually), Family Matters is a mini challenge focused on sibling relationships. Whether that be traditional, half, foster/adoptive, or step siblings, siblings of all kinds are welcome. For the purposes of this mini challenge, I am excluding found family (unless there are sibling relationships within) and “I see them as a sibling” relationships (unless, of course, that statement is meant to be literal.) As I won’t be policing anything, please use your best interest and feel free to ask me any questions in the comments.

What about incest?
This is NOT the incest mini challenge. Someone made a couple of years ago and I'm hoping, for all interested, that it's continues on. However, nothing and no one is stopping you from signing up to both if that’s what you want.

What if [character]’s sibling isn’t in the tagset?
Good news! As long as at least one sibling is in the tagset (and you’re requesting them), this won’t be a problem.

How do I participate?
Leave a comment with the following details:
<strong>AO3 Username:</strong>
<strong>Letter Link (if applicable):</strong>
<strong>Fandoms & Requested Characters + Their Siblings (not necessary, but it might help to put if they’re in the tagset or not/if you’re requesting them):</strong>
<strong>Prompts (optional):</strong>
<strong>Any Other Details:</strong>

How do I tag for this?
The challenge, specifically? Yuletide Family Matters
But in general, try some of these, if applicable: Siblings, Sibling Rivalry, Brother-Brother Relationship, Brother-Sister Relationship, Sister-Sister Relationship, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Step-Siblings

quailfence posting in

What is NeuroTide?
NeuroTide is a mini-challenge for fics that involve neurodivergence and/or mental illness. This challenge uses a deliberately broad definition of neurodivergence and mental illness - anything and everything from autism, to depression, to plurality, to Narcissistic Personality Disorder, to fictional conditions. As long as it involves someone who has a brain/mind that doesn't work "normally", it's eligible. Both headcanons and canon are allowed

How to participate
If you'd like to receive fic with neurodivergent and/or mentally ill characters, leave a comment on this post with the following information:

AO3 name:
Letter link: (optional)
Fandom:
Character(s) requested:
What kinds of neurodivergence and/or mental illness you want to explore with them: (this can be as short or as long as you like!)

(repeat last three lines for as many fandoms as you want to request)

When posting, please include the "NeuroTide" tag, as well as "Neurodivergence", "Mental Illness" and/or tags for the specific conditions/symptoms you are including, so that other people interested in neurodivergence and/or mental illness can find your fic more easily

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Sign-up instructions
AO3 collection, home of the sign-up form
Letters post

Countdown to Sign-Ups Closing

Some notes/reminders:

If you don't select characters in a request, it's your author's choice which character or characters to include from the tag set. Please don't say you want a particular character more than others when you have not selected character tags.

Please check that the additional tag you've selected makes sense for the characters you've selected. For example, "One or more characters (giver's choice)" doesn't make sense if you select several characters and you really want at least two to interact.

Please check you can access the email associated with your AO3 account. Mods may use this to reach out to you with questions.

If you are in the queue to get an AO3 account, reach out to mods directly (yuletideadmin@gmail.com)! We can help you with an invitation to AO3.

If you plan to write a letter at a location other than AO3 (Tumblr, Dreamwidth, Ellipsus, etc), please make sure the link is in your sign-up. Letters are optional. You don't have to write a letter. But deciding to link a letter later is not an option!

If you are open to treats, feel free to say so - it isn't greedy! It's just letting people know that you haven't disabled the treat setting.

Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Participant DW | Participant LJ | Pinch Hits on DW | Discord | Tag set | Tag set app
Please either comment logged-in or sign a name. Unsigned anonymous comments will be left screened.

morbane posting in

The MultiLingYule mini-challenge is for works in languages other than English.

Maybe there are very few fanworks in your first, second, etc language, and you'd love to connect with a fellow speaker who's also a fellow fan.

Maybe you're learning a new language and getting a gift in it would be a delightful way to improve your fluency.

Maybe you just want to talk about how much you love conlangs and invite someone to incorporate conlangs into your gift.

The possibilities are multi-ple!

Comment here to let people know

-if you are interested in receiving gifts in languages other than English
-what languages those are
-what you're prompting (link your letter; if you don't have a letter, you can link your prompts on the app after requests are revealed)
-any other useful notes.

With a Mod Hat On

On the requesting side: if you would be happy if a gift in a different language were your only gift, please also note this in the optional details of your sign-up form. This prevents mod panic when we go to check assignments and need to figure out if someone can actually read their gift!

On the creation side: unless someone has clearly indicated that a non-English work would suit as their only gift, gifts of that kind need be posted in Yuletide Madness, regardless of length. Works can only go in the main collection if they fulfil all the same requirements as an assigned gift.

Similarly, someone may be delighted to get a gift in a language you've just started to learn, and connect with you over enthusiasm for that language, but if you're posting a gift in the Main rather than the Madness collection, it should probably either be in a language you're fluent in or in a language you can call on fluent help for.

If you would have to use automatic translation in order to give a gift in a particular language, please don't give that gift. Please either translate your work yourself, or reach out to another person for help with translation and polishing.

Finally, people who can check text snippets, lines of dialogue, etc, in multiple languages are extremely valuable and appreciated, and if you can offer this service, or offer to help translate, please consider volunteering when the beta post goes up.

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Current Mood: accomplished

saiditallbefore posting in

A mini-challenge for anyone who would love to see more femslash in the world and especially in this year's Yuletide!

Femslash Festivus is a collection post for femslash requests that you are making for Yuletide. Posting here doesn't obligate you to do anything, but it helps other femslashers find you and treat you.

Posting guidelines:

Your request must center around a femslash pairing or poly arrangement involving at least two women.
The femslash should be front and center of your requests in this post.
You can include any characters you want - if you're requesting gender-bending, please do note that clearly in your post.
Use your good judgement about ships with non-binary, gender fluid, genderqueer etc. characters; if you would feel comfortable tagging them as femslash, feel free to include them here!
If you are asking for femslash in a fandom where you requested Worldbuilding, no characters, or just one character, this is perfectly fine! Just talk up the kind of pairings you'd want to receive in your comment.
Another idea is to note whether you're interested in porn or prefer more G/T-rated content.

In your comment, please include:

<strong>AO3 Username:</strong>

<strong>Fandom:</strong>

<strong>Requested Characters/Ships (if applicable):</strong>

More suggestions:

<strong>One sentence pitch for your ship:</strong>

<strong>Letter Link:</strong>

<strong>Prompts:</strong>

<strong>Any Other Details:</strong>

Feel free to use the tag 'Femslash Festivus' for works inspired by this challenge!

Borrowed from last year's post!

I mean this from the bottom of my heart:

Fuck EA.

Current Mood: irate

My attempt at finally catching up on Critical Role continues. We'll see how long I manage it?

As with previous posts about the current campaign of Critical Role, this will be a combination of quotes, random thoughts, and some speculation. And it's obviously full of spoilers (albeit vague ones in places).

( Spoilers under the cut. )

Current Mood: sore

My attempt at finally catching up on Critical Role continues. We'll see how long I manage it?

As with previous posts about the current campaign of Critical Role, this will be a combination of quotes, random thoughts, and some speculation. And it's obviously full of spoilers (albeit vague ones in places).

( Spoilers under the cut. )

Current Mood: sleepy

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Yuletide 2026 sign-ups continue!! They close at 9pm UTC on Friday 23 October.

SEE COUNTDOWN

Some housekeeping
In the Assignments section of the AO3 FAQ, we've clarified our guidelines on unusual formats, such as poetry and interactive fiction. Those formats are opt-in - so if you're excited to get them, please mention them in your likes.

We've also expanded the Rules section to include standards that the mod team promises to uphold. These aren't new policies - however, it seems fair and reasonable that we should be transparent about our own guidelines while setting guidelines for participants.

If you don't have an AO3 account and you want to sign up, please email yuletideadmin@gmail.com directly! We have some invite codes to send out & you otherwise won't get through the invite queue in time.

If you're writing an OPTIONAL letter, please link it in the sign-up form, please ensure it's published in an accessible format (tips welcome in comments), and please ensure it's complete immediately after assignments go out. When you complete a letter, consider adding it to the letters post.

Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Participant DW | Participant LJ | Pinch Hits on DW | Discord | Tag set | Tag set app
Please either comment logged-in or sign a name. Unsigned anonymous comments will be left screened.

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Current Mood: accomplished

My attempt at finally catching up on Critical Role continues. We'll see how long I manage it?

As with previous posts about the current campaign of Critical Role, this will be a combination of quotes, random thoughts, and some speculation. And it's obviously full of spoilers (albeit vague ones in places).

( Spoilers under the cut. )

Current Mood: thoughtful

karios posting in

Are you interested in text adventures, CYOA, Twine games, or other sorts of interactive fiction? Do you want to let your writer know you'd be happy to receive something along those lines? Are you looking for someone to write IF for? This post is for you.

(I copied and pasted this directly from last year which was also copy pasted from previous years. Let me know via comment or discord ping if any of the links broke or anything else needs editing.)

What is IF?

Interactive Fiction (IF) covers everything from text adventures through to visual novels, by way of all sorts of experimental works. It can be mostly a game, or mostly a story; it can be a way to immerse the reader, or to play around with the concepts of storyteller and audience; it can be an exploration of chance, or of fate; it can be a straightforward story, or something else entirely. From Healy's post:

[IF] is a term used for games which are made up primarily of text, like Adventure, Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and other text adventures, or more experimental hypertext works like My Father's Long, Long Legs, or even visual novels. Interactive fiction these days is generally divided into two groups based on how you interact with the game: parser-based IF, and choice-based IF.

Parser-based IF, more commonly known as text adventures, are controlled by typed in commands, like "GET KEY", "OPEN DOOR", "GO NORTH", "LOOK UNDER BED", and stuff like that. Not every command you type in will work, though, so they're hard to get used to if you haven't tried them before. To make things easier, here's a card of most of the common commands. Some good parser-based IF to try first would be Ryan Veeder's So, You've Never Played a Text Adventure Before, Huh?, Admiral Jota's Lost Pig, Andrew Plotkin's The Dreamhold, and Adam Cadre's Photopia.

Choice-based IF is simpler; you just pick from a number of options. This can be done through hyperlinks and other clicky selections, though more rarely you may have to type a number from a list. Good examples of choice-based IF include Anna Anthropy's Star Court, Alan DeNiro's Solarium, the various games hosted by Choice of Games, and most every given visual novel.

Writing IF for Yuletide

IF is considered opt-in for Yuletide - please don't write it for people who don't want it. If you aren't sure whether it would be welcome or not, ask a mod to check with the intended recipient.

You are still required to follow the normal rules, such as focusing on requested characters (unless the recipient has said you needn't include them all).

It can be hard to figure out what word count an IF story really is - what you've written is full of code that doesn't count, and what your recipient sees may vary in length depending on their choices. If you're posting to the main collection, try to overshoot the minimum requirement a bit, just to be on the safe side. Say a minimum of somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 words. Or probably about 10 to 15 minutes play through.

If your post to the main AO3 collection is under 1,000 words (e.g. you're just linking to an online playable version elsewhere), please drop the mods a note so they know it isn't someone posting something under the minimum, and provide them with an estimated word-count.

If you're writing a treat, unless it includes over 1,000 words of text and you're also sure your recipient would be happy with it as a main gift, please post it to Madness

Your recipient does need to be able to access what you've created! Please link to a suitable IF interpreter if required, or if possible make a web-playable version.

Requesting IF for Yuletide

If you would be happy to receive IF this year, please leave a comment below, following this template:

IF Canons Nominated for Yuletide

Plenty of IF canons get nominated for Yuletide! While it's still important to ask before writing IF for someone, someone who consumes IF already will probably be more interested in getting it. (Some of these canons were adapted into other mediums, so it's possible that someone who's interested in one of those isn't at all into the IF side of things. Thus why it's important to ask.) Consider requesting or offering one of these if you're interested in IF for Yuletide.

Some IF Tools

A * means they can make web-based games.

Parser-based

Inform*: One of the biggest development tools for making parser-based IF. Has an English-like code. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Quest*: Another big IF development tool. Has a click-and-point editor with the option to check out the code. For Windows and web.

TADS*: A long running engine for writing interactive fiction, though generally not as easy to use as Inform. The latest version can make web-based games, although they need to be hosted on a non-https address or on the IFDB.

Choice-based

Twine*: Very popular tool for making choice-based IF. Has a visual editor, with some code-y bits for variables and the like. Can be extended with some Javascript passages. Available for Mac and Windows, and Twine 2 is web-based. See this comment for more notes.

ChoiceScript*: Used by the fine folks over at Choice of Games. Uses simplified Javascript to make games. It's very stat heavy. Requires a text editor. See this comment for notes.

Ren'py: Engine for making visual novels. Uses a simple scripting language. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and can make games for all those platforms.

Inklewriter*: A completely web-based engine for making CYOA-style games.

moontyger posting in

Every year I see a number of requests for casefic (and yuletide fics tagged with it) and I thought it would be nice to have a mini-challenge to make these easier to find. Thus, here is a post for those of us who love casefic, either on the giving or receiving end.

Note that while there are a number of mystery canons where casefic is an obvious fit, it can work for just about any fandom, so don't feel limited by genre!

The game is afoot!

To participate

Leave a comment on this fic with a link to your letter if you are interested in receiving casefic. Optionally, add any extra casefic likes and prompts you may have into your comment.
If you don't have a letter, you can still leave prompts here! Please ensure your comment includes your AO3 username, requested fandoms, and any characters you're requesting.
When uploading your fic to the archive, tag it with Yuletide Takes the Case and casefic so the rest of us can find it!

It's not necessary to interact with Yuletide Takes the Case in any way to give or request casefic for Yuletide, but this post is here to make life easier. Enjoy!

Just to note: this year's requests include Black Ships by Jo Graham, the single-page webcomic Class Clown, the webcomic Fell Swoop, the Gargoyles cartoon, the Hornblower TV movies, the Peacemakers television show (2003), the book Stealing Fire by Jo Graham, the movie Titanic (1997), the movie The Wild Robot (2024), and the webcomic The Witch Wolf.

My AO3 account is Settiai.

Treats are always appreciated but never expected. 💕

First of all, relax! I'm far from being picky, and I can pretty much guarantee that I'll love whatever you decide to write me. These are nothing but guidelines for you to take to heart or ignore to your heart's content. Also, hey! You're writing me fic! In a tiny(ish) fandom that I adore! That's automatically a good reason for me to love you, no matter what. So, please, keep that in mind. Trust me, you can pretty much do no wrong. ♥

That said, I thought that I'd elaborate a bit on my ten requests in case, like me, you're the type of person who likes to have something to work with. If you're not that type of person, it's totally fine with me if you skip over anything/everything that I've included in this letter. Feel free to use and/or ignore as much of this as you want.

( General Likes/Dislikes )

( Black Ships - Jo Graham )

( Class Clown - Tricksy Wizard (Webcomic) )

( Fell Swoop (Webcomic) )

( Gargoyles (Cartoon) )

( Hornblower (TV) )

( Peacemakers (2003) )

( Stealing Fire - Jo Graham )

( Titanic (1997) )

( The Wild Robot (2024) )

( The Witch Wolf (Webcomic) )

No matter what, please don't stress out about writing for me. I'll love whatever you give me, so don't worry. Write what makes you happy, and I can guarantee that I'll be happy in return.

Current Mood: cheerful

First of all, relax! I'm far from being picky, and I can pretty much guarantee that I'll love whatever you decide to create for me. These are nothing but guidelines, for you to take to heart or ignore to your heart's content. Also, hey! You're writing me fic or drawing me art! That's automatically a good reason for me to love you, no matter what. So, please, keep that in mind. Trust me, you can pretty much do no wrong. ♥

( More details under the cut. )

Current Mood: thoughtful

poetforthefallen posting in

(Thanks to previous years' posters! It seems like this one bounces around in ownership, and I was excited for it this year, so I've gone ahead and posted it.)

Not every story is pleasant. Not every story has a happy ending, and not all happy endings come without a dark and painful journey. And sometimes, those are the kinds of stories that we really, really want to read.
If you're one of the many people interested in either writing or receiving darkfic or horror, then Crueltide is here ~~to devour your soul~~ for you!

The short version
Read the comments to find people to treat with darkfic.
Tag your Yuletide darkfic with 'crueltide'

The long version is beneath the (details) cut

Why Crueltide?

Because darkfic isn't to everyone's taste. By making it easier to identify darkfic prompts and people open to receiving darkfic in Yuletide, we can all indulge our preferences without placing undue pressure on our assigned writers or risking gifting unwelcome fics to our recipients. (And also: the name was the least cutesy of those being thrown around in 2014.)

What is darkfic?
Depends on your definition. But here's a (non-exhaustive) list of darker tropes to get you started:
(White text used as some content may be triggering to some - highlight to read.)
Addiction - Amputation - Animal Abuse - Apocalypse - Betrayal - Body Horror - Brainwashing - Cannibalism - Character Death - Child Abuse - Claustrophobia - Conspiracy - Degradation - Disease - Dystopia - Gaslighting - Hauntings - Humiliation - Hypothermia - Insanity - Invasion of Privacy - Lovecraftian Cosmic Horrors - Medical Experimentation - Mind Control - Monsters - Murder - Mutilation - Non-Con - Paranoia - Poisoning - Prison - PTSD - Sadism - Slavery - Suicide - Torture - Unhappy Endings - Violence

Does a darkfic story have to have an unhappy ending/some other specific trope?
No! Not at all. Just because a story is packed with darkfic tropes doesn't mean there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Also, just because you like one trope, it doesn't mean you like all of them. Feel free to specify your do-not-wants alongside your wants.

Great, how does it work?
-- If you end up writing a darkfic story, just tag it with Crueltide when you upload it to the collection, and that'll help readers find more of what they like. It would also be good to tag any particular tropes you've used, to help readers find/avoid them. That's all you need to do! If your recip requested dark or horror fic but didn't comment on this post, you can still tag it with Crueltide if it fits the theme! The Crueltide tag helps all of us darkfic and horror readers find more things to read.

-- If you would like to receive a darkfic story in one of the fandoms you've requested in your Yuletide sign-up, you can advertise that here by replying to this post. (The template below is merely a suggestion of what to include - the level of detail in prompts/tropes is entirely up to you. But please do limit yourself to fandoms on your Yuletide sign-up - the Yuletide mods need to be sure you get a fic in one of those, and a treat in an unexpected fandom could make that awkward.)

AO3: AO3 username
Letter: Dear Yuletide writer (URL)
Fandoms: Fandom details here
Happy Endings Preferred?: Yes/no/don't mind
Wanted tropes: List any of your favorite dark tropes, themes, or prompts here.
Unwanted tropes: List your darkfic do-not-wants here.

If you want to advertise your requested fandoms as being particularly dark and of potential interest to others, feel free to comment along those lines too.

Alternatively, if you only want your assigned writer to know what you're into, just make a mention of darkfic/crueltide in your optional details as part of your signup.

Current Mood: mischievous

moontyger posting in

Three Turtle Doves is a mini challenge to help people who like poly, threesomes, and more find one another's requests. Though the challenge title includes the word "three", moresomes are welcome to join in. The more the merrier!

If you are requesting these, please let others know by dropping a comment here. Interested writers can browse and see what's out there that they might not have known about. This is also a great place to discover new fandoms with poly possibilities.

To participate, simply copy-paste the following into a comment:
AO3 Name:
Letter Link:
Fandom(s):
Rating(s): (here's a good place to put your ideal and maximum ratings)
Groupings Requested: (list all combinations you're interested in in all fandoms)
Prompts!: (as many and as detailed as you like)

Please tag any works you end up making for Yuletide with 'Three Turtle Doves' so interested people can find and enjoy your work!

rabidsamfan posting in

It is time once more for the Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational!

Are you going through the tagset, thinking about your signup, and getting lured down plotbunny holes?

Well, if you are entranced by tiny canons, luscious fandom promos, or letters with prompts that you absolutely adore, and you've got to do something to appease the itty bitty plot bunnies that are nibbling at your ankles, the Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational is back to meet all your "I don't have time or brain enough to do 1000 words, but that idea is still keen" needs.

How does it work?

Write drabbles or drabble series for Yuletide Madness. Proper ones, where the text of each drabble is exactly 100 words, please. Ficlets are fun, but not all ficlets are drabbles in just the same way as not all poems are sonnets. (You can, of course, post a 1000 word tale told in drabbles, where each chapter/bit is exactly 100 words to the main Yuletide collection, if you like. Just be sure that it is eligible to fulfill the main gift rules for that recipient.)

Give them to people.

Add "yumadrin" or "Yuletide Madness Drabble Invitational" to the tags.

That's it!

*******

As of the start of Yuletide 2026 we have created 978 drabbles, the oldest ones from 2013 when the Invitational began. We are so close to a thousand! These little mini-gifts are a lot of fun to give, and to get, and they're fun to create as well. Check out the tag to see what we mean!

https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Yuletide%20Madness%20Drabble%20Invitational/works

moontyger posting in

What is TransTide?

Since trans headcanons and the portrayal of trans characters can be personal for many people, writers might be nervous to write trans headcanons without invitation. This mini challenge is for people to signal that they would love to receive trans headcanons, as well as to showcase their requested fandoms with canon trans characters.

Note that this exchange is open to nonbinary characters as well.

To participate, simply copy-paste the following into a comment:

AO3 name:
Letter link:
Likes and DNWs:
Fandom:
Characters:
Details:

If you post a fic for Yuletide with one or more trans characters, tag it with TransTide so people can find it easily!

Shadows in the Fade (5548 words) by Settiai
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Bethany Hawke & Carver Hawke & Female Hawke
Characters: Bethany Hawke, Carver Hawke, Female Hawke (Dragon Age), Varric Tethras
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dragon Age: Inquisition Quest - Here Lies the Abyss, Embedded Images, The Fade (Dragon Age), Family, Fanart, Inquisitor Bethany Hawke, Inspired by Fanart, One Shot, Past Character Death, Post-Dragon Age: Inquisition Quest - Here Lies the Abyss, Siblings, Warden Carver Hawke
Summary: Bethany Hawke had made a lot of difficult choices over the course of her life. The one that the Fade asked of her was the hardest by far.

Current Mood: accomplished

My brain hasn't been playing nice recently in regards to money and bills and the like for a while now, so I thought that I'd make another virtual garage sale post in the hope of selling at least one or two things. I'm not holding my breath, but giving it a try at least makes me feel like I'm doing something productive instead of curling up in a ball and dissociating for a while.

So... here's what I have available if anyone's interested.

Board/Card Games

Clue (Mighty Nein edition) (example on Amazon)
Monopoly (Crazy for Cats edition) (example on Walmart)
Queen by Midnight (example on Amazon)

Books/Comics/Graphic Novels

The Lost Art of E.T. Reed: Prehistoric Peeps (example on Amazon)

Dice Tray

Wyrmwood Gaming Purpleheart Dice Tray (example on WyrmwoodGaming.com - purpleheart is second from the last)

Nintendo Switch Games

Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! (example on Amazon)
Spyro Reignited Trilogy (example on Amazon)
TemTem (example on Amazon)

TTRPGs

Daggerheart Core Set (example on Amazon)

If you're not interested but know someone who might be, please point them my way.

For payment, I have CashApp ($Settiai), PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle (nancy.lynn.foster@gmail.com).

Current Mood: hopeful

Miscalculation: the group went to Akihibara area in the evening and I forgot about this, or thought it wasn't up my alley, and at 8:30pm they're still out there.

So I missed out on a group bonding time.

That's a bit of a d'oh.

Ah well, nothing to be done about it now.

I shall sit in my room and sob into my rice cakes from 7-Eleven, and regret that I didn't join the group after the fabric shopping...

rosehiptea posting in

This mini-challenge is one way for those who enjoy writing poetry to find people who would like to have that for Yuletide.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In Yuletide, poetry is opt-in - only people who asked for poetry (here or in their signup or letter) should receive it.

To participate, please comment with your AO3 name and the fandoms you have requested for Yuletide for which you would like to receive poetry. You can also note what types of poetry you like most (free verse, sonnets, etc...) and any ideas you have in mind. It's a great idea to also link to your letter if you have one.

Writers, please remember that works shorter than 1,000 words go in the Yuletide Madness collection. Feel free to tag your poems "yulepoem" so that people can find them.

Current Mood: busy

moontyger posting in

Chromatic Yuletide is a collection post for Yuletide requests that include characters of colour. Posting here doesn't obligate you to do anything, but it helps writers find your requests and treat you.

Posting requirements:

Your request centers around at least one character of colour.

(I acknowledge there are some shortcomings with the "person of colour" descriptor. I'm also not going to police who is or isn't a character of colour; please just use your best judgment.)

To participate, simply copy-paste the following into a comment:

AO3 name:
Letter link:
Fandom:
Characters:
What is it? description of canon or a link to a canon promo (optional)
What kind of thing am I requesting? also optional

<strong>AO3 name:</strong> <strong>Letter link:</strong> <strong>Fandom:</strong> <strong>Characters:</strong> <strong>What is it?</stong> description of canon or a link to a canon promo (optional) <strong>What kind of thing am I requesting?</strong> also optional

If you post a fic for Yuletide with one or more POC characters, tag it with Chromatic Yuletide so people can find it easily!

moontyger posting in

Greetings and salutations! Yuletide contains multitudes, and a chunk of those multitudes would really like to request or write worldbuilding. Thus, here is a sub-challenge post for those of us who love worldbuilding, either on the giving or receiving end.

To participate

Leave a comment on this fic with a link to your letter if you are interested in receiving worldbuilding. Optionally, add any extra worldbuilding likes and prompts you may have into your comment.
If you don't have a letter, you can still leave prompts here! Please ensure your comment includes your AO3 username, requested fandoms, and any characters you're requesting.
When uploading your fic to the archive, tag it with Yulebuilding and Worldbuilding so the rest of us can find it!

It's not necessary to interact with Yulebuilding in any way to give or request worldbuilding for Yuletide, but this post is here to make life easier. Enjoy!

mimihylea posting in

Two for One is an annual mini-challenge to help people who like crossovers and/or fusions find one another's requests.

To participate, simply include the following in a comment below:

AO3 Name:

Letter Link (if applicable):

Crossover Type (i.e. crossover, fusion, or either):

Applicable Requested Fandoms:

Potential Crossover Fandoms (you may list specific combinations you're interested in, ex. Megamind/Treasure Planet, or generally request any of your Yuletide requests with each other, or list additional fandoms you'd be happy to have crossed with any of your requests):

Prompts/Optional Details (as many and as detailed as you like):

One of the fandoms in each crossover or fusion prompt must be one you are requesting for Yuletide; however, the other doesn’t have to be. It doesn’t even have to be in the tagset at all!

Some clarification about crossover types:

Crossovers tend to involve Fandom A's characters interacting with Fandom B's characters or worldbuilding, with everyone retaining their canon backgrounds. Ex. Aurora and Red Riding Hood team up to defeat a villain, or Clark Kent falls into a portal that takes him to Tortall.

Fusions tend to be AUs in which Fandom A's characters have always existed in Fandom B's setting instead of their own, often replacing Fandom B's characters. Ex. Pacha and Kronk as contestants in the Hunger Games, where Kuzco and Yzma are referees. (A fic like this in which Hunger Games characters also appear would be a hybrid between a fusion and crossover.)

mimihylea posting in

Unconventionyule is a mini-challenge to help people who like unconventional formats find one another's requests, whether that’s poetry, epistolary, spreadsheets, social media, puzzles, or other unusual mediums. Please remember that works in the main collection must still be at least 1000 words, but shorter works can be submitted to the Madness collection!

To participate, simply include the following in a comment below:

AO3 Name:

Letter Link (if applicable):

Requested Fandoms:

Format(s) (e.g. epistolary, poetry, spreadsheets, social media):

(Optional) Prompts:

Tag your work with Unconventionyule and/or Unconventional Format to help others find your works!

karanguni posting in

The Wrapping Paper art challenge for Yuletide is an opportunity for those who love art to opt-in to giving and receiving art treats! Comment here to request art, and/or read the comments to find someone to treat.

Please be sure to post your treats to the Madness Collection; art is not permitted in the main collection. Please respect your recipient's wishes as to whether they'd like art as a treat. Tag your treats with "Wrapping Paper" to help them be found!

If you want to receive art, please provide this info in the comments:

<strong>AO3 Handle:</strong> <strong>Letter Link:</strong> <strong>Fandom and character(s):</strong> <strong>Prompts:</strong>

Happy treating!

(Is this yet another copy/pasta from time immemorial? Yes! Do you want to be the one posting this in 2027? You need but say the word to become part of the Yuletide mini-challenge poster party!)

karanguni posting in

What is Yuleporn?

In an exchange as large and diverse as Yuletide, it usually turns out that a lot of people would love to write or receive explicit stories but aren't comfortable asking for them or writing them without a little more information. Yuleporn is a mini-challenge that exists to help unite Yuletiders in requesting, writing, and reading the porn of their Yuletide dreams. Have no Optional Details fear, Yuleporn is here!

How Do I Participate?

Leave a comment on this post linking your letter if you are interested in getting an explicit fic for YT.
Add any optional details you want in the comment – additional prompts, favourite kinks, DNWs, &c..
If you don't have a letter or are a pinch-hitter, you can still leave prompts here, but make sure to include your AO3 name, your fandoms, and the characters you requested
When it comes time to upload, tag your fics with "Yuleporn" on AO3 so other interested parties can easily find all the good stuff when the collection opens.
Enjoy.

Here's a totally optional copy-paste form if you like forms!

<strong>AO3:</strong> <strong>Letter link:</strong> <strong>Likes:</strong> <strong>DNWs:</strong> <strong>Fandom specific details:</strong>

As always, you don't have to participate in Yuleporn to write or request porn - it's just here to make things easier - and Yuleporn is 100% open to all kinks (or lack thereof).

(This post is mostly copypasta from time immemorial; please comment if anything should be updated! Credit to ~~Morbane~~ Everett Grove for this year's title. ~~Again.~~)

I've been very bad about keeping up with stuff here on DW lately - even before the trip.

Anyway, I've been out of the country for about 10 days now - since last Saturday 3rd. Went all the way through Bali, saw so many temples and waterfalls and beaches, and now I'm in Tokyo!

The tour starts today around 4pm, and let's just say, I'm not ready. I need more sleep (even though I got a bit more earlier) and I'm rather tempted to sleep until 11:30am, toss everything that's out of my suitcase into my suitcase, and tow it the 8 minutes to the hotel where we're meeting and just skip walking around the area.

One pic, and you'll have to go check out the rest at my Flickr.

Bali Day 2

You should be able to click on the picture and it will take you to the site and you can move forward and back to see the other pictures I've put up.

That site is Tirta Empul, IIRC, which is a temple complex with natural springs which people have purified themselves in for thousands of years. The concepts of these gates - candi bentar - is very typical of the Balinese culture.

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Please read this post even if you have signed up before!

After reading this post, please look at the tag set to see what fandoms are available this year, and make a shortlist of what you plan to offer and request. (The same fandoms can be on both lists, if you want.)

Then sign up at the collection. We recommend you allow at least half an hour to sign up. While you can edit your sign-up over the next week, you will not be able to make any changes after sign-ups close at 9pm UTC 23 October.

If you would like to avoid matching to up to three other participants, with limitations discussed here, you may do so by filling out a Google Form from a link within the AO3 form. If you want to use this feature but cannot use Google Forms, please email the mods. Do Not Match requests will close 24 hours after signups.

Requests

You can request 3-10 fandoms

Each fandom must be different

You can request 0*-4 characters in each fandom

*Requesting 0 characters means "I am happy to receive any nominated character for this fandom. My author gets to choose which one(s)". That includes Worldbuilding for fandoms where Worldbuilding is nominated as a character tag. If no characters are nominated for the fandom, requesting 0 characters means “I am happy to receive any character or worldbuilding for this fandom.”

"AND" matching means your writer must include every character you select. If you are happy with a subset of your selected characters, indicate this with Additional Tags, and clarify any exceptions in your optional details.

You can only request characters from the tag set, though your optional prompts may mention other characters to appear too.

In some fandoms, you can request Worldbuilding as a character. You can find guidance on that here.

AND matching and additional tags
Generally, when you select characters in your sign-up form, it means you want and expect your gift to include all of those characters. This is a key principle for matching and assignments. However, some people like to give their author further options. We are using the Additional Tags section of the form for this.

If you requested 0 characters, or you want all the characters you selected to appear, you will tick the first Additional Tag option, which says "My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags (if 0: any from tag set)". If you think your situation might be different, please read this post about additional tags and select additional tags that are right for your requests. This information is also in the sign-up form.

Optional Details and Do Not Wants (DNWs)
"Optional details" = prompts, ideas, likes, explanations of how you see the canon. Optional details and DNWs can be recorded in the main text section of your requests.

Optional details are optional (ODAO)! Your writer doesn't have to follow your prompts, though they must avoid your DNWs. You don't have to give prompts here, either - though prompts and ideas may be a more inspiring first impression than a list of DNWs on its own. Prompts may be particularly useful if you are requesting a Worldbuilding tag.

See this 2020 post for some considerations when writing your DNWs. In 2024, we also clarified our rules and guidance about DNWs.

The Optional Details section of your AO3 requests is especially relevant if you have selected option two of the additional tags, "My gift must feature all of my chosen character tags; or it may use exceptions I explain in the form". In that case, please use this section of the form for explaining how and when your writer is allowed to leave out some of the characters you selected.

Please use minimal html in the optional details field. No images, please.

Please also note in the form if you're able to receive treats - or if you don't want them! Yuletide has a long-established culture of extra gifts, but if you created your account recently, you may have extra gifts turned off by default. Please check your AO3 preferences, and then state in your sign-up form whether you do or do not accept treats.

Letters
You can write prompts and preferences in another space, such as Dreamwidth, Livejournal, Google Docs, or Tumblr, and put a link in your sign-up. This is known as a "letter". Some people write letters; some don't. DNWs and character subsets that are listed in a letter but not in the Optional Details AO3 textbox cause confusion and difficulty for creators, and will not be enforced by the mods. Otherwise, your letter is an extension of your optional details and is treated the same way.

Important: You cannot add a letter after sign-ups close.

Offers

You can offer 4-10 fandoms

Each fandom must be different

You can offer 2-20 specific characters in each

If you want to offer a fandom that has 0-1 characters available, tick the "Any" box

If you are willing to write any combination of nominated characters, including Worldbuilding for fandoms where it is nominated, tick the "Any" box

"Worldbuilding" can also be selected as a character for many fandoms. Please check here to see how we're using it.

Offers are secret! Please don't declare openly what you're offering.

If you have several fandoms in which you want to offer to write Any nominated characters, you can make your last offer a "Bucket Offer". You can read about bucket offers in the Sign-ups section of the AO3 FAQ. This older tutorial has pictures!

Signing up!

The sign-up form is here.

Signups will remain open - and editable - until 9pm UTC 23 October.

You may only sign up to Yuletide with one AO3 account. You must be aged 18 or over to sign up.

You can find more sign-up information at the Yuletide 2026 FAQ

There is also specific guidance about how to use Additional Tags

Please check the tag set or the app - to come! when signing up. The autocomplete drop-down list in the sign-up form may not show all available characters. If they're in the tag set, you can enter them manually.

Sign-Up Summary

The list of requested/offered fandoms will be available after five people have signed up. Bucket offers do not show up in the list. Checking the sign-up summary for people you may be able to write for is a good idea - although many people sign up at the last minute. The sign-up summary says it updates hourly; in practice it may update less frequently.

Fandoms at 1-1 on the sign-up summary may mean that the same person is offering and requesting the fandom, not that there is a match.

Welcome to Yuletide!

Feel free to ask us questions.

Bonus! Yuletide advertisements

Thank you to

crantz (who also made images for us to share in 2019 and in 2020). Please use these to encourage friends and other fans to take part!

Yuletide exchange promotional image using mountain forest scenery. Text says Write off the beaten path - Yuletide Rare Fandoms Exchange.

To repost this image, copy this html:
<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2026/profile"><img src="https://www.yuletide.fandom.exchange/images/yuletidegraphic1.jpg" alt="Yuletide exchange promotional image using mountain forest scenery. Text says Write off the beaten path - Yuletide Rare Fandoms Exchange."></a>

Yuletide exchange promotional image using an image of an 1887 ice palace. Text says Travel the Worlds of Imagination - Yuletide Rare Fandoms Exchange.

To repost this image, copy this html:
<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2026/profile"><img src="https://www.yuletide.fandom.exchange/images/yuletidegraphic2.jpg" alt="Yuletide exchange promotional image using an image of an 1887 ice palace. Text says Travel the Worlds of Imagination - Yuletide Rare Fandoms Exchange."></a>

Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Participant DW | Participant LJ | Pinch Hits on DW | Discord | Tag set | Tag set app - to come
Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened.

morbane posting in

It's letters time! If you're writing a letter along with your Yuletide sign-up, you can comment here with a link to your letter and also enter the details in the 2026 tagset app. Both are good, since various people browsing may not be able to access one or the other, and the point is to get the word out! The app will also automatically write to a spreadsheet.

What's the deal with letters?
Letters are an optional tradition of Yuletide. When you sign up to the event, there's a space in the form for linking to somewhere in your own space (journal, public document, etc) where you can go into detail about what you like in fic and fandom. This post collects these links. The prompts on AO3 are hidden through sign-ups, but letters are visible as soon as you want them to be.

Letters are an optional extra in Yuletide. If you only post a letter here, you haven't signed up. To get an assignment and a gift, you need to sign up at the collection. Sign-ups are OPEN NOW and will close at 9pm UTC 23 October.

What makes a good letter?
Mileage varies. We encourage you, at minimum, to include your AO3 name, the fandoms and characters you're requesting, your Do-Not-Wants (DNWs), and whether or not you can receive treats. [This is a feature you can set in your AO3 preference settings. New accounts have permission to receive treats turned off by default, but participants with older accounts should check if they have not checked this in a while]. There are additional posts here and here discussing how to use DNWs.

How to post your letter

Finish your letter and make sure it's publicly visible. Here's the tagset to check what you can request

Enter it in the app*! [NOW ADDED] You can edit your letter after submitting it - save the key, or ask the mods for the key if you lose it

Comment below! Include:
- Your AO3 name
- A link to your letter
- The fandoms you are requesting (3-10)
- The characters you are requesting in your fandoms (1-4, or Any)

!!! We ask you to add your letter both places to make sure it gets to people who are excited to read it. If for whatever reason you can only comment on a post, then please include the following line in your comment:

Mods, please add my letter to the app.

We will sweep the post occasionally and add letters to the app.
We have transferred to the app the letters that were previously added manually to the spreadsheet.

Warning: Locked or placeholder letters will be removed. You can add your letter when you've finished it.

If you have a question, contact a mod on Discord or comment here

Mini-challenges
As mini-challenges are posted, they will be added below.
( See links to this year's mini-challenges under the cut. )

Enjoy!

greetingsfrommaars posting in

A list of 5-minute/short fandoms in the tagset can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vS8Xx60yntmRMtzrTt57cqJSel5DA3TB2XmniEFYvWC6dt8Ug9d8uzNvH41uXVgSq-Th6KwWx6SJ9Xd/pub

I am not the maintainer of the list, but I am willing to forward comments made on this post when I see them. Corrections/additions can also be requested in the Yuletide Discord server.

stardust_rifle posting in

Here is a list of every canonically and explicitly queer* anime/manga fandom I was able to find in the Yuletide 2026 tagset! Includes summaries, length/methods of legal access, and links to promo posts if I could find them. Corrections welcome, and if there's something I missed, feel free to comment down below!

(*I am defining queer as "BL/yuri, OR has a queer main character.)

I missed the last game two weeks ago because I was busy at the urgent care with a problematic ankle, but all that I missed was the group flying to Treehaven to do some shopping and running into Moira. She gave them a bit of information about Storm Rift and made it clear that she didn't agree with Harlan's plans.

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Current Mood: accomplished

patrokla posting in

Hello from this year's mod, Helen! It's that time of year again - the time to sign up to exchange books, drinks, and treats with other members of the Yuletide community!

( 2026 schedule, links, and more )

Questions? Check out the current FAQ. If that doesn't help, feel free to comment here or email us at yuleswaps at gmail dot com!

Current Mood: chipper

morbane posting in

Now that the tag set is open, there are probably things you're surprised not to see, or things you're kicking yourself about not nominating.

If you want to, comment here to create a record of things you might want to nominate in future, or just to show that those fandoms, too, are loved.

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Yuletide has had a “no AI” rule since 2024, as follows:

Your story must be your own work. Do not use ChatGPT or other generative tools to create content. If you're unsure how much of another source (e.g. quotes) can be included in your work, please check with the mods.

Unfortunately, since creating this rule, we’ve increasingly seen genAI works posted in fannish spaces where they are not welcome–including in fandom exchanges where they violate the rules.

This is an area where norms are evolving, ethical concerns abound, and ambiguity is rampant. We want to clarify our policy, how we will enforce it, and how we are thinking about AI use in exchanges.

What is banned?
Using a generative model like ChatGPT or Claude to create any of your text. You must write the words of your story yourself.

Why do you ban genAI?
There are many potential answers to this question, but the one that matters most is: genAI isn’t what participants sign up for. This event began as a way for fans to give and receive human-generated stories. We see value both in upholding that expectation, and in this particular form of interaction and creativity.

How will you enforce this?
The moderator and tagmod team already check all official assignments to see if they appear to be complete and contain the requested characters.

As part of these checks, we sometimes notice other potential problems, such as a work that includes a recipient’s DNWs. This year, the checking team may also spot a work that shows signs of being created with generative AI.

We can’t check every work in detail, so it’s also possible that we become aware of these signs after works are revealed.

If we have concerns about potential genAI use, we’ll investigate further. Tools and techniques for this investigation may include a close reading by members of the mod team who are experienced in AI-generated fiction, considering the work in the context of the poster’s past writing, and checking the work in Pangram or another genAI detection tool.

If, after investigation, we continue to have concerns, we’ll discuss the situation with the writer. We may seek a pinch hit for the recipient and may impose penalties on the person who posted the work, such as a one-year ban from Yuletide. We may also decide we aren’t confident the work is AI and choose not to take any action.

What is Pangram, and how does it work?
Pangram is an AI detection tool. Specifically, it’s an autoregressive LLM-based detector: it uses some of the same technologies as Claude and ChatGPT, but on a smaller scale. It compares input text against a large data set of human-written and AI-generated texts and scores input text based on weighted pattern matching.

What are your principles around the use of detection tools?
- We will never rely solely on detection tools to make our final decision on a work.
- We won’t use detection tools on all works; we’ll only use them when humans have already investigated a work and have concerns.
- We have named Pangram as a tool we may use because data tested in Pangram is not retained by Pangram or used to train their software, and because we have had some good results with Pangram on our own test data.
- Because the genAI landscape is changing so rapidly, we may choose to use a different detection tool for story checking. We will only use tools with a privacy policy that states they will not store or use the text put into them.
- If there is a dispute over a Yuletide story, we’ll inform any affected participants which tools were used in our assessment.

How confident are you that mods can spot genAI?
AI models are evolving constantly. Several of us on the mod team have already spent a lot of time familiarizing ourselves with AI-generated writing, and we’ll do our best to keep up with changes in the field.

We understand that identifying an AI-written story isn’t a matter of counting em-dashes or spotting a few telltale turns of phrase. No single “tell” will be taken as proof.

AI detection tools aren’t perfect, and neither are we! If we seek a pinch hit, that should not be taken as proof that the person posting the work used genAI. Similarly, our choice not to seek a pinch hit isn’t a final statement that the work is definitely human-written.

We will not take disciplinary action against a writer unless multiple mods have reviewed the work in question and we are extremely confident it was AI-generated.

How do you see this playing out?
We hope that for most participants, there will be no change whatsoever. After all, most participants are not using AI tools to write.

If a participant reaches out to us about a story that they believe to be genAI, we will take their concerns seriously. As a result of our investigation, we may seek a pinch hit or may simply follow up with the creator. We may also sympathize with the recipient's uncertainty but feel the work is likely to be written by a human, in which case, we will not take action.

What should I do if I think my gift was created with AI?
You are always welcome to reach out to us (yuletideadmin@gmail.com) to explain your concerns. We strongly encourage you to raise the issue privately with us ahead of raising the issue with the creator or talking about it publicly. This helps us deal with problems more effectively.

What should I do if I think a work was created with AI, but it wasn't given to me?
Please discuss this with the mod team (yuletideadmin@gmail.com) if you have specific and significant concerns about a story. Just as the mod team won’t rely solely on online detectors, punctuation use, or specific key phrases, we’d ask you to raise these concerns only if you have reasonable confidence in your ability to recognize AI-generated text.

What can I do if I'm unhappy with the result of a decision?
- You can give us feedback to improve our processes in future.
- You can refuse a gift you do not want to see on your gifts page. (You can refuse any gift that does not give you joy, for any reason.)
- You can block a creator or recipient with whom you wish to limit interactions.

Are people banned from Yuletide if they've ever posted genAI?
No.

Can I use a tool that gives me suggestions for summaries, titles, or improving my existing text, or that helps me brainstorm?
We encourage caution with these tools. Please review the fine print when using them and remember that you may be writing for a recipient who has strong reasons to dislike the use of genAI. We won’t issue bans for use like spelling and grammar checkers, but always remember the words of your story must be your own.

This is another place we want to encourage human interaction! Yuletide has an annual pool of beta reader volunteers who can help you develop ideas and refine their execution, and we warmly recommend reaching out to these volunteers.

Thank you for reading. We hope this clarifies our position and our efforts to celebrate fans of rare fandoms creating for each other.

Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Community DW | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth
Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened.

PS: we're also still correcting the tag set! Help us polish it! We additionally just sent out a message to the pinch hit group - if you have notifications set up, were you notified?

yuletidemods posting in

yuletide_admin

Thank you very much for the corrections we've received so far to the tag set! Please keep them coming! The more errors you pick up now, the more confident we feel to open sign-ups, and the more smoothly sign-ups will go.

Tagset updates

We got a question about the character Zilch Alexander in 超探偵事件簿レインコード | Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE (Video Game). Nominator, could you please help us clarify this character tag?

We unfortunately approved Octopath Traveler II in error, as it is too large. Sorry to get your hopes up, nominator - while we have now removed it, we hope there are other things you'll enjoy in the tag set.

Pinch hits

Every year we need creators to help us by taking on extra assignments, called "pinch hits". More on AO3. Some of these assignments are created from quirks of initial matching. Others occur when creators need to drop out of the event. We post a batch of pinch hits just after sign-ups, and then in batches throughout the event, including some very large batches at deadline.

Pinch hit details are posted at

yuletide_pinch_hits. To get notifications when new pinch hits are posted, you can subscribe to that community, sign up for notifications at a Google group, or assign yourself the "yulephs" role at the discord. We will shortly send a test message out to alert potential pinch hitters of oncoming sign-ups - so set yourself up with a notification message now & you'll be able to check if you're receiving alerts.

Do-Not-Match options

Last year we trialled the option for participants to avoid matching to specific other participants as assigned writers or creators. It seemed to work out OK, so we will proceed on the same basis this year: during and just after sign-ups, you will be able to tell us the names of up to 3 people you would prefer to avoid in initial matching.

More information about Do Not Match options

Limited Do-Not-Match option

Most of the time, the person assigned to create for you in an AO3-based gift exchange, and the person assigned to receive a gift from you, are determined by the tags you select in the sign-up form.

Some exchange moderators also offer participants the option to say "Please do not match me up with [ExampleUserName] or [ExampleUserName2]. I don't want to receive a gift from them or create for them." This feature makes it easier, for example, to offer a fandom requested by six different people including someone you'd prefer to avoid, and have peace of mind that you can still avoid that person.

Because of the large number of participants and the large number of people who have only one possible creator or recipient in Yuletide, we cannot offer this feature as flexibly as some exchanges can. However, we see a Do-Not-Match option as a valuable tool to reduce friction and make everyone happier, so, having trialled this option last year, we are continuing it this year. Please note that this is not an absolute guarantee you won’t receive a story from one of the people you list.

How it will work

When you sign up on AO3, the sign-up form will also link out to a Google form where you can list the AO3 names of up to 3 people you do not want to match to and can tell us if you want to avoid writing for a person, receiving an assigned gift from a person, or both. We will also ask for those people's AO3 ID numbers, which you can find on their AO3 profiles, and for the email associated with your AO3 name. We will not ask for the reason you wish to avoid a person.

After we run the matching process, we will check all matches against our master Do-Not-Match list. We will take the following actions:

If your assigned recipient or creator is someone you asked to avoid, we will attempt to match you to someone else.

If your only possible recipient is someone you asked to avoid, we will email you to recommend you expand your offers. However, we will leave the match in place if you do not respond in the first 24 hours following the close of sign-ups.

If your only possible creator is someone you asked to avoid, we will send out your requests with initial pinch hits.

If you are the only possible recipient for a creator you asked to avoid, we will leave the match in place, but will prioritize your requests for double-assignment to two creators. [Because of how matching works, there will always be Yuletide participants who start out with two assigned creators; generally we try to choose them at random.]

We will not take the following actions:

We will not ask a creator to drop out or expand their offers if their only possible recipient is someone who would prefer to avoid them.

We will not inform a participant that someone else has asked not to match to them. [This information will be restricted only to the core Yuletide mods and assistant mod, Isis, Morbane, pendrecarc, and Everett Grove, and will not be shared with the larger pool of Yuletide assistants.]

We will not review treats for unwanted matches. Putting someone on your Do-Not-Match list will not prevent them from creating a treat for you (but please see FAQs below for other tools to achieve this).

We will not prevent someone on your Do-Not-Match list from claiming you as a pinch hit. We will check our master Do-Not-Match list when assigning pinch hits, so if the first person to claim you is a person you prefer to avoid, we will leave a short amount of time to see if another claim comes in. But we will not hold your pinch hit indefinitely or tell the first creator they aren't allowed to claim you.

We will not ask you why you wish to avoid a particular match.

FAQs (foreseeable/anticipated questions)

Who am I allowed to put on my Do-Not-Match list?
Any three AO3 accounts you would prefer to avoid matching to. This can be for any reason, serious or unserious. Do not tell us the reason, please. If the reason is harassment or similar, we recommend reaching out to the Policy & Abuse team separately. You may only give specific names, rather than a description like "anyone who mostly wants porn".

Can't I just block people I don't want to match to?
Blocking is a useful tool, but it doesn't prevent matching. Adding other users to your block list stops them from giving you a treat (see item AO3-6502 on this news post). It also stops them from being able to comment on your work. However, it does not affect challenge matching. A person you have blocked can be assigned to create for you, and you can be assigned to create for them.

Wait, am I allowed to block people in Yuletide?
Yes. Feel free to use the blocking feature to improve your AO3 experience. However, blocking someone and also matching to them could lead to unhappiness for both of you - so please consider using all the tools at your disposal to avoid matching to people you have blocked. This could mean choosing not to offer a fandom if you suspect it has been requested by a person you wish to avoid, or it could mean using the Do-Not-Match option for people you have blocked.

What other AO3 tools exist to manage my gift experience?
If you wish, you can choose to receive gifts only from assigned writers in a gift exchange or people who have claimed your prompts in a prompt meme. This is sometimes described as turning treats on and off. If you created your account after February 2022, please review this setting in your AO3 account preferences. If you select the setting "Allow anyone to gift me works", you can receive treats. If you do not select this setting, only an assigned author can give you a gift in Yuletide.

Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Community DW | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth
Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened.

As tagset cleanup continues, please give us your nominations page if telling us how to fix your own nomination.

erinptah posting in

Getting an early jump on this: A roundup all the webcomic fandoms in the 2026 tag set. Includes all the characters you can request for each one, and links to where you can read them online. Fandoms are in the order/format AO3 puts the tags in.

I tried to flag everything that was (a) NSFW and/or (b) at least partly paywalled. If I missed any examples of that, please let me know!

( Comics on the web. Toons on the web, even )

Profile

mari4212

Navigation

October 2019

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Night Sea for Tranquility III by branchandroot

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Oct. 23rd, 2026 01:05 pm

Powered by Dreamwidth Studios