2011 MerNetwork Secret Santa: General Interest Thread

[Spindrift]

Hey everyone -
I wanted to do this last year but it was a little last minute and I wasn't sure that we could pull it off so I decided to wait to try this out. Would anyone be interested in participating in a Secret Santa?

Here are the rules:

You can't spend more than $15 on your gift (this includes handmade crafts, but exceptions may be made if an item is worth more than $15 but is second hand - as in the giver had it). This also includes shipping (unless you're international then it's a case-by-case basis depending on distance).
Your gift has to be mailed by December 12th - you must be able to commit to this.
You must state if you are comfortable with being partnered with someone with an international address.
You must be an active user on the forums with at least 10(?) quality posts (no spam). Accounts made after November 1 will not be eligible.
No food, anything live, dangerous/illegal, or inappropriate (NSFW).

Gifts don't have to be mer-related, but it might be cool to keep it that way if enough people agree.

I know that some of you will want to be involved but may have issues with trust and privacy. I'm trying to write some code that will keep your personal information as private as possible if we do this - I'll let you guys know how that goes. Hmm in the same style as a famous Secret Santa exchange program: I guess I should also add that you can't hold the organizer (me, unless you guys collectively agree that you can't trust me) liable whatsoever. If you sign up, you are agreeing that even though you think you may get someone else a super awesome gift, you may not get a gift you like in return - so no hate mail or having your mom whine for you or whatever. You also acknowledge that if you don't send a gift, you will be put on a public list of people who couldn't follow through.

I know it's a little early but right now I'm just trying to see how many people are interested - this way I'll know if writing the code will even be worth it. Any suggestions are welcome.

[happyguava]

Definitely interested, although I'm in Aus so people might not want to send something all the way over here, which I totally understand.

[malinghi]

Great idea. I'm in.

[AniaR]

I think it's a very smart idea :) I'd like to do it too.

[malinghi]

Definitely interested, although I'm in Aus so people might not want to send something all the way over here, which I totally understand.


If I get assigned an international person I'll just buy the gift from a company in the same country as the destination. Obviously that limits the options, especially for people who like handmade stuff, so Spindrift's idea about letting people request to only be assigned a person in their country would still be really useful.

[MermaidKallan]

I'd do it. Sounds fun

[MermaidAubrin]

Great idea I'm in..... But I totally don't trust you :D ( <----not funny joke)

[Spindrift]

If I get assigned an international person I'll just buy the gift from a company in the same country as the destination. Obviously that limits the options, especially for people who like handmade stuff, so Spindrift's idea about letting people request to only be assigned a person in their country would still be really useful.

The only sad thing is that it might not be wrapped unless you can request it :(
Also if we do this I'm going to write a thread on wrapping gifts with sustainable materials, if I can find the time. :D

[Mermaid Saphira]

I might be interested! Sounds fun : )

[Cynthia Burke]

Hello Everyone!

I have just discovered this great site, and would be sooo happy if you all checked out my handcarved mermaids, with my new edition of sets of 3 mermaid Christmas ornaments, on ETSY.com. Searh under The Coppertail Whale, or Cynthis Burke, or, just google Cynthia Burke + mermaids.

I started out carving mermaids over 10 years ago on Cape Cod. I have recently relocated to Southern California, where I met Mermaid Shelly who just told me about this site. All of my mermaids are my own designs, and more stlyes are available than are posted on ETSY. I am willing and able to customize any of my designs in your colors, so you can have a mermaid who looks just like you!

I LOVE all of you wonderful Merpeople, the more of you I can connect with, the happier I will be! I also have a book coming out, the story of my little African American Mermaid, Daisy, who has a human twin sister. You will all Love how THAT happened. The book is going to feature a Mer-person, and the making of a tail for Anemone, (Annie) Daisy's twin, so the girls can swim together.


Feedback from any of you who view my ETSY store would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Love, and, SEA-sons Greetings to you all,

Cynthia Burke

[OrcaMatt]

I don't think including shipping is a good idea. Whenever I have to ship anything it seems like it's at least $5...that's a third of the thing gone right there!

[Spindrift]

I don't think including shipping is a good idea. Whenever I have to ship anything it seems like it's at least $5...that's a third of the thing gone right there!


Noted!

[Taylor is a Mermaid]

I would definitely be interested! This sounds great. :) And I agree with Matt about the shipping.

[jukumerboii]

im sooooooooooo in this one...sounds so fun. i remember doing this every year in elementary school.

[AniaR]

I think if you're signing up for this you understand there is a shipping cost :)

[OrcaMatt]

Yeah, which is why it doesn't need to be factored into the price limit.

[LindseyLu]

Spindrift u r fabulous!!! Love your idea!!! I would love to participate as well :)

[Spindrift]

Spindrift u r fabulous!!! Love your idea!!! I would love to participate as well :)

Thank you! I do try. :D

[Merman_Ryan]

I don't think I've contributed enough to the forum to be a Mer-Santa. :P

[Spindrift]

I don't think I've contributed enough to the forum to be a Mer-Santa. :P

Well you do make my proposed requirements so unless those change you can if you like. And I don't know if people would want to combine stats from mer.yuku as well.

[malinghi]

Well you do make my proposed requirements so unless those change you can if you like. And I don't know if people would want to combine stats from mer.yuku as well.


If I understand correctly, the reason for having a required level of activity is that whoever becomes your secret santa will need to get your mailing address, and the idea was to make sure that everyone involved is a normal person that can be trusted, right?

Personally I think the ten posts requirement is good, and I think posts on mer.yuku should count. Just because we all know someone from mer.yuku instead of from MerNetwork doesn't really matter in my opinion. The bottom line is we know they aren't a con artist or spammer or something.


On the other hand, I don't know if Ryan can be trusted. We only know him from dozens of posts on Mer.yuku, 27 posts on MerNetwork, two facebook pages, the customer photos section of merfolktails.com, and a deviantart profile. He's probably been faking an interest in merpeople for years just so that he could send one of us junk mail.

[Spindrift]

@malinghi: The trust issue was the reason for the post requirement. Also so that the mer-Santa could get to know their mer-Giftee a little better as well.
And psh. Yeah. That Ryan. He's probably a troublemaker.

And sure, mer.yuku posts can count. But if that's the case I was thinking of upping the requirement to 20, since I only had it at 10 because I wasn't counting mer.yuku and a lot of people switched, but haven't been very active on mernetwork. Thoughts? It's good to work out the kinks now I guess, instead of having to deal with these problems during the actual sign up.

Does anyone see any other potential issues that may occur?

[Alveric]

Sounds fun. You can count me in.

Alveric

[Mermaid Sirena]

Sounds interesting, If I'm not broke when you take official sign ups count me in :D

[-Annwyn-]

I can't wait to do this! And I like the ability to select wether or not you want to post internationally, thought I have no qualms about sending a sweet little present to a mermaid sister or brother overseas! ^.^

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

It does sound fun, but I honestly can't afford even that much at this moment :( Maybe next year for me.

[Azurin Luna]

I will join in next year :)