Holiday Wishes 2006, Feedback!

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

Holiday Wishes 2006 officially ends tonight! Last chance to submit your wishlist, you have a few more hours!

[Poll #907527]

The rest of the comments are an open feedback post. Post anything you'd like -- ideas for next year, thanks to others, cat macros... just er, no porn please :) And please try not to cause any wank. For this reason, anonymous comments will be screened. Additionally, if you'd like to make any suggestions directly to the mods, you can e-mail us at wishlist.project (at) gmail (dot) com (YES! WE FINALLY HAVE A JOINT E-MAIL ADDRESS! HUZZAH!)

P.S. I apologize for the poll getting screwed up the first time around. These things happen. Always. As you probably know...

ETA: If in the first question, you selected the last option ["It didn't go so well for me..."], feel free to e-mail the mods at the above address to explain why if you don't want to post a public comment. We'll try to be as responsive as we can, and address any issues people may have had.

Comments

[divabat.livejournal.com]

I was slightly disappointed because a lot of things that were promised to me never got here. However, after receiving an otherwise-cool gift that got stolen (or confiscated by Customs), I'm starting to wonder if their gift got taken away and/or if my gifts ever reached their recipients. :|

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

People shouldn't promise things that they can't deliver on of course, but it does happen unfortunately (which is why it's necessary to emphasise that there are no garuntees, and no strings attached.)

The latter is possible -- I didn't make a wishlist this year so didn't receive anything, but in the past I've gotten some very beat-up packages that just weren't wrapped properly and items could have fallen out very easily, I'm sure.

Just in case, we could add to the new list of guidelines, rules, etc. to make sure that you use proper packaging. It might be common sense, but some people may not have proper materials to do so (I think the messy package that I received once was basically an old plastic mailing envelope with a lot of tape on it...)

[divabat.livejournal.com]

They get confiscated even WITH proper packaging - mine came in a seals bubblewrap envelope. The Post Office here made a fuss abut how they couldn't help because it wasn't registered. -_-;;

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

That would be good for people to know when shipping internationally. It might be discouraging, unfortunately, but it's better to know than to not know and have things go missing.

[googlebrat.livejournal.com]

If any of it was promised internationally, some of it may just be Very Very Late. Halfway through January and one of my packages apparently only arrived a couple of days ago.

[gravehearted.livejournal.com]

Thank you to the mods, you did a great job! It might be helpful to add several more mods next year, since it seemed like the amount of wishlists waiting for approval was a bit overwhelming at times.

I really enjoyed participating, the best part was the people I got to know through the community. Granting the wishes was a lot of fun. My only disappointment was that 3 out 4 people who offered to send me packages never did. Overall, the wishes people granted virtually yielded much better results. And of all the packages I sent, only two were even acknowledged, which was kinda a bummer.

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

We will definately be adding more mods next year. Five was enough until we hit the LJ-spotlight, when things got crazy! :D But by then it was a little late -- we would have had many, many people offering to help out with little way of screening them and figuring out who sincerily had the time to devote to the comm. But we've learned, and will take care of it.

We will definately try to figure out something to do about those who fail to follow through, since that's the most common complaint so far.

[thehippiepunk.livejournal.com]

Some of the ones I sent got acknowledged, and a few I was promised haven't gotten here either (one I know why it's not, they explained to me in a private email). I loved granting the wishes, just wish I knew whether or not they were *recieved*! :)

[glowing-dragon.livejournal.com]

Same.

[zellie-bean.livejournal.com]

I have the opposite problem from the commentors so far.... there were people who accepted my offering, but then never sent me the requested address! So I have the gift...but not where to send it ;p

[pbfryingpan.livejournal.com]

That happened to me, too! I asked someone for their address several times, and i still have their gift sitting in my room...

[boundandchained.livejournal.com]

I have a similar problem of all correspondence being suddenly cut off. I wanted to make the scarf for her...

[braided-vagina.livejournal.com]

I received quite a few things, I believe I thanked everyone for them.

However, I sent out several articles of clothing (many with tags), art that I had created specifically for the person, and several other miscellaneous items. I got a handful of thank you's. And those were mostly just for cards I sent. It was disappointing to send someone brand new items and not even know if they received them or not.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I still have things to send out! Oops.

[sugar-spun.livejournal.com]

Me too - I was waiting for the perfect something to leap out at me for two people. *blushes*

[bookaddict88.livejournal.com]

oh, me too! Better get on that...

[amishlurker.livejournal.com]

While I enjoyed giving, I often skipped over some posts simply because of their one: "I just created this journal because I heard about this community. I want (insert a lengthy list of expensive items). Send them to ___________." These are the Gimmes and not in the true spirit of the community. They'll never look at, let alone respond to, anyone else's requests.

In addition, I don't remember whether there was a warning for minors when signing up? Youngsters especially should not post addresses.

[amishlurker.livejournal.com]

Ooops. . . should have read "because of their tone"

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

We'll monitor that better next year, as well as post moratoriums on how long a journal must have been in existence before posting.

You know what? I am *very* ashamed to say that it wasn't. This will *definately* be monitored next year. THANK YOU for pointing this out, seriously. I can't believe we didn't have a policy about that (other than discouraging people from posting addresses in their lists, and providing them only upon request.)

[kitiaras-angel.livejournal.com]

There is only one complaint I have. Someone told me that they would grant one of my wishes and never did. If you are going to participate follow through other then that I am happy :D

Better to give, than to receive

[vsprtn.livejournal.com]

I sent packages and gave book recommendations and became several people's LJ friend. In turn, I received packages, had people light virtual candles to raise money for HIV, and made more LJ friends.

I don't participate in this community because "If I send out this many packages, then I'll get this many presents in return." I stayed with the community, even through the LJ Spotlight onslaught, because the giving of time and treasure is what the winter holiday season is about. Give because you want to, not because you expect something in return. The generosity of spirit is a gift you give to yourself every time.

This is not to say that you should not receive acknowledgement for your gift.

When I had to hunt down a person to ask if s/he had received the gift that I sent, I learned then to be more courteous and to send thank you cards & emails promptly because I now knew how much joy could be had from knowing that gifts were appreciated.

I'm really glad that I stopped lurking and jumped into the Holiday Wish granting. I learned a lot more than I thought I would.

One more thing

[vsprtn.livejournal.com]

I thought posting Amazon wishlists, "I want Seasons 1-5, any Season of ::show: and ::show:: on DVD", "I want gift cards from here, here, here, here, or here" was against the rules.

I thought you could ask for one specific thing per wish. As in "I want this book," "I want Season 5," and "I want a gift card from here."

Re: One more thing

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

That is definately going to change next year, or at least be clearer. The reason why we couldn't enforce it was because we posted the new rule after a number of people had already posted wishlists.

At the very least, we will limit ONE external wishlist (i.e. amazon).

The bottom line is, even if we don't limit what people ask for -- it's up to others as to whether or not they want to send something.

But yes -- rules will definately be clarified next year.

Re: One more thing

[vsprtn.livejournal.com]

The bottom line is, even if we don't limit what people ask for -- it's up to others as to whether or not they want to send something.

You are absolutely correct. Thanks for the response!

Re: One more thing

[memoryanddream.livejournal.com]

I think that it's good to allow someone a link to pick whatever they might want to get off of one list. Simply because it's a way of showing general things you like a broad price range. It's also good way to give your address without actually giving your address. Protects your privacy and opens up options. I had someone pick up a dvd AND a book for me from my list. What an amazing surprise. Things I wouldn't have thought to ask for specifically, you know? It also allows someone to see if they might have a used copy of something on the list they can send directly.

[sivullinen.livejournal.com]

For "where did you hear about us": In another community (which one?): I'm not sure if I remember right, but I think it was daily_snitch that mentioned you :)

For "what would you like to change":
Tagging system or some other system that helps searchability somehow would be nice. Of course there are already tags, but not all use them, and personally I'd like them to be a bit more specific, at least for some popular items, than they're now. Also a link list to wishes (with usernames) would be really helpful, I think. It's another question how difficult it'd be to make...

Then just a suggestion: it could be added to guidelines that wishlists be made easy to read - if there're lots of posts, it's nice to be able to just quickly look through them for what you can give. Such as proper grammar or bolding the keywords (eg "I'd like cards) which most admittedly already did, but not all.

Then about thanking. There's holiday_thanks, but I'm not sure how many actually used it... So, personally, I'd prefer it that people thanked you by e-mail/LJ comment rather than a post on community, because that way they make sure you see it. Giving is nice, but it's also nice to know it was received :)

All in all, I had a really great experience with holiday_wishes and I'm sure I'll participate next year! I got so much more than I expected, and I enjoyed the granting wishes a lot :) Thanks to the mods for all their hard work!

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

Nice! I could barely keep up with my own flist this past season, so it's always good to know where we're being mentioned :)

We emphasize the use of tags as much as we can, but some people don't bother, forget, or can't figure them out. We're adding more mods next year, so hopefully we'll be able to pick up the slack.

Bolding is a good suggestion. Also, possibly telling people not to use fancy fonts. Some people don't know that what looks pretty on their own screen might be virtually unreadable on others :)

We tried to emphasize personal thanks as well. The creation of holiday_thanks was primarily to have a public forum where people could post publically about the community, but not adhering to the strict guidelines of this community (which are in place becuase of the high traffic.) We're aware that it's not ideal though, so we'll try to figure out if there's a better way to handle non-wishlist traffic for next year.

Great! And thank YOU for participating! :)

[falkie.livejournal.com]

I like how there were the tags listed for regions and the week you posted, I just wish more people had used them.

It would be really cool if there was a way that a post could be auto-tagged. Say if you posted the first week of December, your post would be tagged for that week. I don't know if that's possible, but I think it'd be helpful for people trying to read through ALL of the posts looking for wishes to grant. Although I suppose it would be possible now, with someone else being able to add a tag to a post.

It got a little chaotic for a while, trying to keep up with the posts and trying to find ones to answer. I think quite a few posts got 'lost' in the shuffle.

I liked it though, made a few new LJ friends, got a few cards and even a present, but it was a little overwhelming, scanning through posts of people asking for outrageous things. *guilty look* I had a few "dream" wishes on my list, but then several more sensible and reasonable ones.

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

It's not possible to auto-tag things unfortunately, but we're bringing on more mods next year to take up the slack when people don't tag their own. But really, people should tag their own :)

Well, er, with any luck -- we WON'T be LJ-spotted next year, and we won't have such a barrage of posts in such a short period of time, and everything will be spread out over November and December like it was originally intended ;D

Glad you had fun! :) But yes, usually easy and sensible wishes get the most response, LOL.

[fer-de-lance.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know there was a tagging system in place -- so if you want more people to tag their own entries, you might consider some kind of floating post (or weekly reminder) that clearly shows what tags should be used. It would be really handy both in making it clear that tagging is a Good thing, and also help keep the categories useful and limited. If no one knows what's "standard," we'd end with ten+ different tags for, say, the United States as people entered whatever version they prefer: US, U.S., USA, America, United States, U.S.A., etc.

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

Actually we do have a post explaining how to tag which we try to regularly promote (see there, on the side bar?)

Don't worry though, there will definitely be more reminders in store :) Plus, more volunteers on the moderator end to help with tagging. Stay tuned!

[dove95.livejournal.com]

I skipped this year because between wanting to send cards to RL friends and family and then LJ friends, I knew I wouldn't be able to afford to send cards to strangers. And, while that's nice to give and receive to/from strangers, it just doesn't mean anything in the end.

Of all of the money that I've spent, I've only got about three LJ friends to show for it. And, about that many people who were appreciative. I put a lot of heart and personality into my gifts, and it seemed to me that the lot of people I was granting to just took it without much of a thanks.

Maybe I'm cynical, I don't know. But I'm glad to hear that some people had a good experience with it this past year. I'm hoping maybe later this year I can try it again. We'll see.

[dove95.livejournal.com]

I should add to that that I did participate in 2004 and 2005.

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience. While we make it known that this isn't a swapping community, and there are no guaruntees, it's always disappointing when you put in a lot of effort and don't get much in return. We try to keep the community centered around giving, but there will always be gimme-gimme and ungrateful folk out there, unfortunately.

I hope you had a good holiday, regardless :) And we will definately be implementing some changes for next year to attempt to do something about 'deadbeats' (i.e. making sure that journals have been in existence for a certain amount of time, emphasizing not to comment unless you actually intend to send something, always bookmark your giftee's wishlist so you know where to send something, etc.) so I hope you won't give up hope yet :)

[dove95.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your comments! I will definitely keep open for this year.

BTW, I do have to mention though that the people who I have befriended from this community are some of the sweetest and loveliest, so it hasn't been all bad ;)

[greenwitch.livejournal.com]

This year we were, unfortunately, a little bit more disorganized than we planned on being, mostly because of the enourmous influx of posters from lj_spotlight. We'll be better prepared next year :D

Great to know! :D

[memoryanddream.livejournal.com]

I actually had a WONDERFUL time with the community. This was my first year participating and it was great. I think, all told (including ones from my friends-list), I wound up with like 60 cards this year!! Many came from the community. I also had several packages ranging from bath items to a book and a dvd. It was overwhelming how nice everyone truly was.

I sent out around two dozen physical cards and about five gifts but spent literally hours every day giving as many virtual gifts as possible (icons, recommendations, etc.) Because of my health, I don't have a job so mailing things were hard. Still, it felt damned good to give people something and pretty much everyone I made virtual presents for thanked me right away in comments. (Which was fine by me.)

I actually felt bad because I didn't avail myself of the holiday_thanks community enough. I did post, but by the time I got to it, I was swamped and couldn't thank everyone personally. So I felt bad that I couldn't name everyone individually, but I truly can't express how happy everyone's thoughtfulness meant to me.

I just wanted to thank everyone - mods included - for a wonderful time. I will certainly be back next year!

[but_can_i_be_trusted]

I lost Internet access back in December, and only got it back yesterday, so I lost the addresses of everyone I was going to send things to. For everyone that happened to, please don't be angry at me. :-( I was very disappointed that I couldn't do all that I said I would.

I also was unable to thank everyone who sent me things. I forget who it was, but someone sent me some manga on a CD-ROM, and I really enjoyed it. :D Whoever you were, thank you!

And whoever sent me the cute stuffed Saint Bernard puppy from England, thanks!!! I was so excited to get him; I've named him Scruffy.

Also, the two people in Finland who sent me the little chocolates in wrappers that looked like their national flag, thank you! It was delicious; I'm always curious to see how other countries do chocolate. :)

Thanks to the mods for making this community such an enjoyable experience. I wasn't able to do much (sorry again), but I had fun doing what I was able to.

cards only

[cuteapple.livejournal.com]

This was my first year and I had a wonderful time. It was my first holiday away from home and I was very lonely. I chose to only ask and offer to send cards and it worked out very well. Every time I checked my PO box, I had cards from all over the world. I also recieved a lovely gift which I promptly sent a thank you card for. I saw the whole experince as a way to connect to people, not a gimmie thing. I can't wait to do it again. Maybe my low expectations helped the whole thing go well. =)