Trick or Treat 2021 Welcome and Update

[pumpkinkingmod]

Hello, ghosts and goblins! It's time for another spooky season of Trick or Treat. I'd like to briefly introduce myself as the new Pumpkin King—Hello, I'm the new Pumpkin King! Thank you very much to the previous rulers who have made this event so much fun over the years.

The 2021 rules and FAQ post is here. The schedule remains as usual:

Sept 1 – Nominations Open
Sept 8 – Nominations Close
Sept 11 – Sign-Ups Open
Sept 18 – Sign-Ups Close
October 24 – Assignments Due
October 31 – Gift Reveals
November 7 – Creator Reveals

There is one significant update for the 2021 round of Trick or Treat; I've decided to add relationship nominations and matching as an option. If you love the traditional Trick or Treat character matching set-up, you can continue to nominate, request, and offer characters as usual! Relationship tags will just be an extra option for participants interested in that.

Due to these changes, I won’t be using an eternal tag set this year.

Let me know if you have any questions, and I'm excited for the tricks and treats to come!

Edit: Just a note that I'm slowing down on comment replies here but will get to questions as I can. The above changes are confirmed for the 2021 round. No decisions have been made about the 2022 round.

Comments

[pumpkinkingmod]

Thanks so much for the detailed thoughts! I'm not reconsidering the addition for this year, but the input is appreciated.

While I know this answer won't satisfy everyone, I hope multishippers who like character matching will feel comfortable signing up as usual. I definitely have fandoms where I prefer the ambiguity of character OR matching too.

I'll set aside the notes on Shipoween filling the shipfic niche, since Shipoween mod is retiring -- I know the timing of this comment section is a little awkward, since I posted before Shipoween mod.

Regarding recent drama and the question of trust... I know I'm new as PK and coming in with a couple of big changes, and "just trust me!" would be a hell of an ask right here. All I can say is that I have longtime investment in Trick or Treat as a participant too, and I intend to do my best by other participants as the exchange moves forward.

Thank you again!

[(Anonymous)]

The thing is, if you meant to do right by other participants, you would have consulted us before changing the fundamental format of one of the only large -and open to all fandoms- character matching exchanges around.

If your long term investment is just 'I'm gonna do it MY way now', that's not great for those of us who loved this exchange for what it was. And not a great way to build trust.