I just want to second what Jess is saying here and really direct it at everyone concerned about this post. No matter how you request something, you are always going to run the risk of not getting exactly what you want. HOWEVER, that's why we're offering optional details fields and an optional character field this year. (And you can always write a letter.) The majority of writers and artists are going to want to create what YOU want. Yes, there are occasionally some people who don't do that, but for the most part, whoever gets matched to you is going to want to make you happy.
In this exchange, even more than others, it has always been really useful to use those optional details and it's paid off pretty well even in years with less fandoms and less options for matching.
As for specific MCU and other franchise concerns, I look at it in a lot of different ways. For example, if I want a fic where Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes meet Diana Prince, then I'll request Captain America/Wonder Woman. If I request MCU, I run the risk of someone writing me Doctor Strange hanging out with Diana Prince which I definitely do not want. (I was going to use DCEU as an example, but no one nominated that. But conversely, if they had, I wouldn't give two figs about other DCEU characters in a fic, I ONLY want characters from Wonder Woman.) All that said, I still run the risk of someone writing me Red Skull/Ludendorf fic because that's how exchanges work. But I would put in my optional fields that I DNW that and what I do want instead.
We also allow fusions in this exchange, which I think makes the larger umbrella tags extremely useful. I might want to know what happens if the characters from Buffy were Avengers and ran SHIELD, but I don't want Tony Stark or Phil Coulson popping in. So I'd request an MCU/Buffy fusion, using MCU as a more generic tag.
And boy is this comment probably getting boring. I could give a MILLION examples if you gave me all night.
The important thing for everyone to remember is:
1) Use those optional details to your advantage! Write a letter if you can! Put things in your DNWs if they would truly ruin the exchange for you.
2) Requests are going to be visible all through the sign-up period this year. Tailor your offers to fit the requests of others to avoid things you don't want to write. And make your requests clear in your sign-up so that potential matches know what to expect from you.
We know there will ALWAYS be bumps in the road, particularly in this type of exchange with so many complexities, and we do work hard to make it fun for as many people as we can. We apologize that we can't always please 100% of you 100% of the time, nor can we always anticipate everyone's concerns, but know that we do listen to everything our participants have to say and make adjustments where we see fit. (This year in particular brought us several new changes, hence the several new bumps.)
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In this exchange, even more than others, it has always been really useful to use those optional details and it's paid off pretty well even in years with less fandoms and less options for matching.
As for specific MCU and other franchise concerns, I look at it in a lot of different ways. For example, if I want a fic where Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes meet Diana Prince, then I'll request Captain America/Wonder Woman. If I request MCU, I run the risk of someone writing me Doctor Strange hanging out with Diana Prince which I definitely do not want. (I was going to use DCEU as an example, but no one nominated that. But conversely, if they had, I wouldn't give two figs about other DCEU characters in a fic, I ONLY want characters from Wonder Woman.) All that said, I still run the risk of someone writing me Red Skull/Ludendorf fic because that's how exchanges work. But I would put in my optional fields that I DNW that and what I do want instead.
We also allow fusions in this exchange, which I think makes the larger umbrella tags extremely useful. I might want to know what happens if the characters from Buffy were Avengers and ran SHIELD, but I don't want Tony Stark or Phil Coulson popping in. So I'd request an MCU/Buffy fusion, using MCU as a more generic tag.
And boy is this comment probably getting boring. I could give a MILLION examples if you gave me all night.
The important thing for everyone to remember is:
1) Use those optional details to your advantage! Write a letter if you can! Put things in your DNWs if they would truly ruin the exchange for you.
2) Requests are going to be visible all through the sign-up period this year. Tailor your offers to fit the requests of others to avoid things you don't want to write. And make your requests clear in your sign-up so that potential matches know what to expect from you.
We know there will ALWAYS be bumps in the road, particularly in this type of exchange with so many complexities, and we do work hard to make it fun for as many people as we can. We apologize that we can't always please 100% of you 100% of the time, nor can we always anticipate everyone's concerns, but know that we do listen to everything our participants have to say and make adjustments where we see fit. (This year in particular brought us several new changes, hence the several new bumps.)