The rest of the exchange year...

[chock_coal_ate_bawks]

...is worth wanking over, too.

Discuss Chocolate Box, Age Gap Exchange, Unusual Bearings, etc.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Chocolate Box is a stupid exchange for stupid people.

[(Anonymous)]

Chocolate Box is fun.

[(Anonymous)]

I assume a lot of people who do Chocolate Box have fun, but you wouldn't know it from fail_fandomanon. Whenever they talk about it, it's nonstop complaining. Waaa, my story might be the minimum length. Waaa, my recip DNWed my favorite kink. Waaa, I forgot to add five fandoms through my sock. Waaaa, my tags got screwed up because the tag set was too big for the mod to edit.

[(Anonymous)]

Chocolate Box is a lot of fun and yeah, you're not wrong about the negativity on FFA about it this year.

I'm kind of :| because during signups, people tried to point out that if you don't want a 300 word gift, don't sign up to a 300 word exchange, and other nonnies were all "no, no, most people write longer, and you'll get treats! :DDDDD" And now people are complaining that they only have one 300 word gift. IT IS A 300 WORD EXCHANGE. How unexpected, who could have predicted, etc.

[(Anonymous)]

'I only have one 300 word gift two weeks before reveals! This is the worst thing ever!'

[(Anonymous)]

And now people are complaining that they only have one 300 word gift. IT IS A 300 WORD EXCHANGE. How unexpected, who could have predicted, etc.

This is FFA's general approach to exchanges. And I don't just mean surprise/dismay at getting a fic just above minimum word count. I mean ignoring/sniping/dismissing warnings that "X thing might happen," getting disappointed at "X thing" happening even though they could have easily taken steps to avoid/amend it, and then acting like "X thing" was something no one could have expected. I don't know why this is their M.O. where exchanges are concerned, but it gets tiring fast.

[(Anonymous)]

Certain nonnies are definitely that way, but I find it relatively easy to scroll past their whining and on the whole the Exchanges thread is my favourite part of FFA.

[(Anonymous)]

Soooo... just like _coal during yuletide season, then?

[(Anonymous)]

Haha, exactly. "I think my story is 1001 words, wahhh."

I'm in chocolate box for the first time. I'm at about a thousand words. It'll probably go to the 1500-2000 range by the time I'm done. And I hope to write two treats when I'm done with it, but I haven't had as much time as I'd anticipated.

If my gift is 300 words, as long as it's the people I asked for and isn't total shit, I'll be happy. Always a chance it'll be shit, but that's the chance you take when you sign up.

[(Anonymous)]

ffa is occasionally far, far more neurotic than _coal could ever hope to be. (Stands to reason. Larger population.)

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/299222.html?thread=1697112534#cmt1697112534

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT Oh wow, yeah, that's... something. And by something, I mean fucking batshit. Thanks for the link, coalie!

[(Anonymous)]

That was golden. Thanks, coalie.

[(Anonymous)]

FFA has gotten so, so much worse in the last few years in various ways, and one of them is the degree of neurosis in fic exchange threads. It's worse than _coal IMO because of all the people who are very, very uptight about there being any kind of wank whatsoever. It's like watching your very buttoned-down, very prim and proper great-aunt start screaming at you for the thank-you letter you didn't write her when you were six.

[(Anonymous)]

Well that is a terrifying image.

Agreed, though.