Crossovering 2017 — Brainstorming & Feedback

[galfridian]

Before we set an official schedule for this year's exchange, we wanted to get your feedback on a few subjects.

First, there's been some discussion in the past about changing how we do matching. Previously, we've simply set each request/offer up as bucket requests/offers, and participants have matched on 2+ fandoms. However, we know there's some interest in other approaches.

... unfortunately, AO3's code somewhat limits our options, so these are the options we're considering:

• Nominations, signups, and matching remain as they've been — except that we will approve all fandoms, rather than impose a 2+ nomination requirement.


• Participants nominate, request, and offer pairs of fandoms. For example, you might nominate: Wonder Woman (2017) & Xena: Warrior Princess. (We do not yet know what this would mean for the signup form.)


• For each request or offer, participants would be required to choose 2+ fandoms and 2+ characters. However, this does complicate the matching process, and we might hit a wall with matching. If that happened, we would have to match based ONLY on the 2+ fandoms in each request/offer.


• Participants nominate, request, and offer crossover relationships. Gen relationships (&) and romantic relationships (/) would both be accepted. For example, you might nominate: Diana Prince (Wonder Woman 2017)/Xena (Xena: Warrior Princess). All relationships would be nominated under Crossover Relationships.

Next, we'd like to talk about Crossovers and Fusions. For the purpose of this exchange, we've defined crossovers and fusions as such:

A crossover is when the characters/worlds of both fandoms interact. For example, Joan Watson and Sherlock Holmes solve a case with Kate Beckett and Richard Castle

A fusion is when the characters of one fandom are placed into the world of another fandom. For example, Joan Watson and Sherlock Holmes are co-pilots in the world of Pacific Rim, but the characters from Pacific Rim do not need to appear in the fic.

For the last two years, we've included these as additional tags but have not required them. (We also have not matched on them.) We only want to continue to include these if participants find them useful. We also know that some participants like the idea of requiring them — specifically, so that participants prone to leaving their Optional Details blank at least leave some useful info behind. We'd like to know your thoughts on these things.

Last, we've seen multiple request to include art. We've been hesitant to do so in the past, because it can be more difficult to maintain standards for art. However, we're willing to give it a try if a significant number of you would like to see that as an option.

So there's a poll behind the cut! Results are visible to everyone — for transparency's sake — but they're also anonymous. Anonymous commenting is also enabled, for those who can't vote in the poll and/or want to leave additional input.

Poll #18490 Crossovering 2017

This poll is closed.
This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 27

What's your matching preference?

View Answers

How it is now! (Requests/offers are bucket lists.)
13 (48.1%)

Fandom/Fandom. (Fandom A/Fandom B.)
8 (29.6%)

Fandom + Characters. (More complicated matching.)
4 (14.8%)

Relationships only, no fandoms. (& and /
2 (7.4%)

What's your opinion on the Fusion or Crossover detail?

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Keep it and leave it optional.
9 (34.6%)

Keep it and make it required.
17 (65.4%)

Would you like to see art included?

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Yes.
17 (65.4%)

No.
5 (19.2%)

Yes, but with qualifiers.
4 (15.4%)

If you chose option #3 for question #3, what qualifiers?

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Anything else?

View Answers

Edit: Oops! I forgot to include the option to remove the Crossover/Fusion element from the signups in the poll. If you'd prefer that, you can say so in question #4 or in the comments! Sorry about that!

Comments

[morbane]

I would still participate if the matching style changed (and fair enough, it's a good thing to try new things according to mods' and participants' evolving preferences) but the current matching system, with bucket-list-style fandoms, is one of the factors I most enjoy about this exchange.

ETA: If it does change, I'd prefer matching options that did not use relationships.

[sian1359]

I would at least love to have preferred characters suggested/required on the sign up form as part of the optional details. As you say, not everyone adds details, and I would hate to exclude the character(s) my match most wants. (I've searched out their fics in the past to get an idea of who they might like, but I'm sure I haven't always gone the direction my match preferred.)

[(Anonymous)]

I don't have a DW account, so I can't participate in the poll. I would love the possibility of requesting specific relationships, but I can see how that might make matching too complicated, or how that might be unappealing to people who are more interested in worldbuilding than in characters for crossovers. But in the absence of that, I definitely vote for fandom pairs rather than bucket offers.

I tend to want crossovers between specific fandoms, so between fandom A and B or fandom B and C - but I might have absolutely zero interest in seeing fandoms A and C together. A system where I can't specify that means that I will in all likelihood neither offer nor request fandoms A/B and B/C, making me actually harder to match. I would end up not offering or requesting the large majority of crossovers I'm interested in for fear of getting some combination of fandoms I don't want. Allowing people to nominate, request and offer specific fandom pairs would work much better, in my opinion. Of course, if the bucket offer system allows you to offer or request only two fandoms together, rather than three, the result will be more or less the same, so that works, too. I just don't want to risk getting crossover A/C if what I want is A/B or B/C.

[(Anonymous)]

When you say make the "crossover/fusion detail required" do you mean that it could be a selection in the offers, too, and people can match on it? If so, YES! I have never been able to participate in this exchange because I have no interest in reading or writing AUs (which fusions are). Especially since requests were not visible during sign-ups last year, there was no way to avoid matching to someone who wants only fusions (or vice versa, for the many people who hate crossovers). I think you'd get more participants if you made it a matching factor; I see just as many AU DNWs in exchange letters as I see prompts for them. People who like both would be unaffected, because they could select both.

I like matching on fandom-only (as you've had it in the past). However, if crossovers/fusions isn't a matching parameter, then I'd selfishly be all for relationship matching, as that seems would make this a crossover-only exchange.

Long story short, my answers to the poll questions are interdependent so I'm not sure how to answer.

[sirvalkyrie]

I'd really like the two nomination and number of fandoms allowed dropped or modified. I think an acceptable compromise is if maybe there was a list of biggish fandoms and people had to chose x many from that list but once you hit that number you could then add the small ones on? You could even make the list the same way you've one nominations on previous rounds. X number of nominations gets it on the big fandom list. Anything with fewer still gets accepted but doesn't make the list.

[shuufleur93]

I voted but I wanted to explain:
I haven't participated (yet) but I agree with previous commenters: the bucket list sounds much more fun than fandom A/fandom B (although, I guess in the optional field, it can be suggested that the participant would love this crossover/fusion). If I request specific fandoms, I'm also expecting plot ideas that I have for that particular association, so it looks more like a prompt than an exchange. I think it kinda miss the point of this challenge.

Also, using relationships (friendship or romantic) as matching is really restrictive in my opinion, especially in crossovers. I think it's better to leave it in the optional field.

As for fusion and crossovers: I think it's important to make the distinction, as not everyone like fusions (I like them ok but I'd much rather have a crossover than a fusion).

[laurenthemself]

I have no brain, I just want to say I will do my utmost to participate however it's set up because I miss writing and if I'm writing a thing for someone then it might be easier.

[(Anonymous)]

As I recall, in the past you had to make 3 to 7 offers, with between 4 and 10 fandoms each, and 3 to 5 requests, with 3 to 6 fandoms each.

Unfortunately, that makes it really hard if you want to read/write fandom A paired with either fandom B or fandom C, but have no interest at all in fandom B paired with C.

How about setting a slightly higher minimum (and perhaps a higher maximum?) number of requests/offers, but allowing those requests and offers to consist of 2 or more fandoms? That would allow for avoiding those matchups you really don't want, while giving more options.