Creator Reveals!

[pumpkinkingmod]

Creators have been revealed! Thank you everyone for a great round, you all did amazing work.

Community Challenge Results
At last count, the community treated 234 people—85% of participants. Congratulations! The prize badges for Tiers 1 and 2 can be found at this post.

Thank you again to the anonymous artist for the custom badges, and thank you to shadowsapiens for running the treating spreadsheet.

2021 Feedback
I would love to get feedback on how the exchange went for participants this year, including:

- In general, is there anything that could be better clarified in the FAQ for next year?
- How was your experience with the community challenge?
- Did the addition of relationship matching negatively or positively impact your matchability, finding people to treat, etc?

Note: I won't be replying to every comment here but will get to questions as I can. If you'd prefer to give feedback privately, my email is halloweenmod@gmx.com.

I'll confirm whether TOT 2022 will include the option of relationship matching by the end of this month, so everyone has time to plan their 2022 exchange calendars.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

This was my first Trick or Treat so I can't speak for if ship matching changed anything, but I had a great time and hope Trick or Treat stays the same next year! Though I am another vote for the collection opening earlier. Maybe 3-ish hours earlier than this year if that's possible? Either way, thank you for running the exchange!

[alchemise]

I'd prefer going back to character matching only. I loved that that was one of the things that made this exchange special. I still participated this year, and had a nice time, but I had fewer matching options sticking only with characters.

[positivelyvexed]

Relationship matching definitely improved my experience this year. I'd love to see it return next year.

[allekha]

I did not participate this year because I did not like the addition of relationship matching or how it was implemented suddenly and last minute. It really soured me on what had been my favorite exchange. Having only character matching was one thing that made ToT a unique exchange to me, and looking at the requests, I would've had a much harder time matching this year if I had tried to participate with only character matching, because as I expected, many requests in fandoms I am familiar with only selected relationships this year. If relationship matching stays, I will continue not to participate.

[(Anonymous)]

As an exchange newbie - I've only done yuletide once - I was planning on joining ToT for the first time this year, because I really wanted to try character OR matching. The switch to relationship matching made me decide not to bother. Even though technically character matching was still allowed, it felt like gen writing was being devalued and turned into a second class citizen tolerated on sufferance but not really wanted. Which maybe just is the reality of how fandom feels about it...

[nrgburst]

I matched on a ship but chose to write for an individual character prompt in another fandom instead. I got two shippy treats. So I would say the ship matching worked for me as a recipient and didn't negatively affect the single character focused fic I came up with myself - what mattered more were my recip's prompts and how they inspired me.

Also what a great community challenge! It was awesome to see so many treats! 🧡🖤🎃

[(Anonymous)]

- In general, is there anything that could be better clarified in the FAQ for next year?

I'd appreciate a little more clarity on the sock rule! It says if one account is banned, both will be - does that mean people are expected to declare their socks? Also a little more explanation about OR matching would be appreciated! I know how it goes from previous years but I do think that section is a little confusing for newbs.

- How was your experience with the community challenge?

Spectacular! I had a lot of fun treating people. I love the spreadsheet especially, it makes it so easy to find people.

- Did the addition of relationship matching negatively or positively impact your matchability, finding people to treat, etc?

I matched on a character, same as always, so no changes there! I think people requesting ships made it a little easier to find people to treat - I treated &, /, and single-character requests, but having the clarity of knowing at a glance when people wanted a focus on a specific relationship made things easy.

[desertvixen]

I was okay with the option to have relationship-matching but nominated characters only. If the relationships do stay, please leave it do characters and relationships are separate fields (i.e. no "Madame Leota & None")

[greerwatson]

Thank you so much for taking over as mod this year. I didn't find the new option for relationship matching affected things much. I basically nominated/requested/offered mostly characters anyway, with a few & relationships tossed in. So my experience in that respect wasn't all that different from in previous years.

Except that this year I got three treats! They and my main gift were all delicious, so I'm pretty thrilled.

[sandrine]

I didn't participate in the last couple of years because of the character matching and did Shipoween instead, but I returned to Trick or Treat this year and had a fantastic time! I feel very strongly in favor of relationship matching, and I really hope it's here to stay. I'd love to do Trick or Treat again next year, and character-matching-only would make this very unlikely.

Like others said, I would have preferred a slightly earlier opening time on Halloween, but that's my only quibble.

[(Anonymous)]

- Did the addition of relationship matching negatively or positively impact your matchability, finding people to treat, etc?
It made me feel a bit bored, so I sat this round of the exchange out. I liked the only-character matching as a less common feature for TOT.

Still, I did enjoy going through the works. A lot of great fanworks were produced this year too.

[(Anonymous)]

I was extremely happy that ToT finally included shipping matching as an option. As someone who likes ship matching for some fandoms and character matching for others, it was great that I could actually ask for what I wanted in every fandom and offer things I wanted to write without having to game around people whose ship/gen preferences were different from mine. It was great to have both those things in one exchange instead of having to do two separate, otherwise identical exchanges. It made the exchange experience much more enjoyable and relaxing for me. Please keep relationship matching.

The community challenge was great!

It would be nice if the collection opened earlier next year so it's still Halloween in more timezones.

[chicago_ruth]

This was my first time participating in ToT. I usually sat it out due to the lack of ship matching, so I'm strongly in favor of keeping ship matching.

I even surprised myself by requesting individual characters in some fandoms. I think having both options is the best of both worlds.

[(Anonymous)]

My only issue was the opening time, as others have said. I'm glad to hear that this will be different next year!

[shadaras]

I liked the community challenge! It was simple and cute, and I think that was a good choice. :)

I still prefer character matching only for this exchange, for the reasons snickfic, kimaracretak, and others have listed. I personally felt less into looking around for treats when I'd need to sort through all the relationship requests instead of going "I wanna write about X character, who's interested in them?". I don't mind writing relationships, but I find it easier to treat when I'm not locked into any specific relationship. (Especially since almost every other exchange does relationship matching!)

Also, I see people talking about the timing of reveals. I have zero problem with when reveals currently are, but tbh I really have no feelings about when reveals happen so long as the reveals time is clearly stated. (And, especially for a long-running exchange like this, any change in that time is mentioned well in advance and highlighted for people running off habit.)

[tehexile]

its been fine for me, I liked what I received, my gift seemed to go down well

[naryrising]

I very much preferred having the relationship matching option available. It makes me more likely to continue to participate if relationship matching remains an option alongside character matching, as I think it helps people who want relationships match with one another and people who want character-centric fic or gen to match with one another, improving the chances of people getting something they enjoy.

The community challenge was fun and I did write a treat for it!

[ungefug]

I participated for the first time. I offered and requested both ships and individual characters, usually mixed. I received a ship and a character focused gift. I wrote 4 ship and 2 character based works.

For me the ship option just made it easier to specify what I wanted and offer to the right people. I would often request both the character that interested me and one or two ships with them. To me this is the equivalent of requesting a character and writing "If you feel so inclined, I ship them with X and Y" in my prompt/letter - except easier to process.

I don't know if (as many people have said) the relationship option is really sending the wrong messages and the event got more shippy than before?

Edit:

As for finding people to treat with character based fics and that being muddled by ships..
https://autoao3app.firebaseapp.com allows to specifically look only for character requests if you type in !Ship: in the Character field you get 1184 requests out of 1633. Those are all requests with at least one non-ship character.

And about reveals, for Europeans who have to get up early in the morning, the reveals were too late. I understand you can't make everyone happy and Australians might complain too.

[muccamukk]

I also sat this round out because of the sudden changes and adding ship matching. Please go back to character matching only. It's what made this fest unique. I can do ship matching on any of a hundred other fests.

[(Anonymous)]

I really enjoyed being able to match on character or relationship, because it helped me request exactly what I wanted! Only one of my requests was a ship, and I got a mix of ship and character fic that made me happy. I also had options with ship and character matches. For me, net positive.

I agree with others that an earlier opening time would be helpful, and the goals felt manageable.

[rubick]

I prefer having shipping as an option. If Shipoween runs next year, I will probably do that exchange over that one, as I prefer to read/write shipping. (I don't dislike gen, and I did offer/request/write both this year, but when given the option...) But if it does not, then I'm fine with having both shipping/character in ToT.

I LOVED the community challenge. The only reason I didn't do more treats was because I was signed up for multiple other exchanges at the same time, so I didn't have the bandwidth. I'll probably plan better next year so I can treat more, if the community challenge is still ongoing.

[volpish]

In general, is there anything that could be better clarified in the FAQ for next year?

I haven't participated in this exchange, but I was wondering: people have mentioned that they don't like the ship matching because character matching allowed them to be free with their ship ideas, rather than needing to nominate all the ships they wanted individually. Is requesting a single character and saying you would also like shipfic for that character if the creator was so inclined still allowed? Would a shipfic with a requested character be considered filling the request, provided that it didn't violate a DNW?

[iwasanartist]

I don't recall anything unusual or hard to understand about the FAQ (or if I even looked at it, honestly), and I didn't pay any attention to the community challenge.

Adding relationships to the exchange honestly just made more work for me. Because there are some pairings where I like the ship as & and / (and within those pairings, some characters that I just have solo wants for) and to cast the widest net for potential matches, I had to fill 2-4 slots with what could have been two characters with potential combination likes/prompts mentioned.

Also, I feel concerned that with ships being on the table, the number of people offering or asking for solo characters will start to fall. Obviously time will have to tell on that.

Basically, I feel like, yeah, if we go back to the old way, someone might have to come up for a solo character prompt or 300 word fic for a solo character that they would prefer as a ship. But a lot of people include character combos in their prompts (for other Kimmel characters and not), anyway, so it's not like the likelihood of getting a shippy prompt is zero. I get it; it's disappointing if someome only want ships but matches with someone who doesn't. But with a minimum requirement this low, I don't think it's asking to much to put on some grownup boots and make a 300-word effort before moving on. Moreover, there are A LOT of exchanges. Maybe not every single one has to try to be everything to everybody. Solo matching made ToT unique, and while I don't think it's some great travesty to lose that, I prefer the old way.

[gayporwave]

Thank you running this year PK! I greatly enjoyed the addition of shipping matching so I would personally be able to delineate my shipping requests for a character vs my character specific requests and the ability for my writer to better make sure what they wanted to write was in line with what I wanted. I very much enjoyed the fest this year and hope shipmatching continues!

[everysecondtuesday]

I didn't participate this year thanks to the change in matching, so if you're interested in the opinions of past recipients as well as recipients from this year when making your decision, I'd like to reiterate my earlier comment that I would strongly prefer a return to character matching. While I previously thought I'd probably be back either way once the disappointment had a chance to fade, at this point I'm honestly not sure I will if the change is permanent.