Updated Rules and Guidelines 2026

[krzeslicko]

Changes from last year will be bolded and underlined like this.

General rules:

• You must be 18+ to enter  
• The exchange is Anonymous, so please don't talk about your work until the reveals, and don't contact your recipient directly
• CHANGE FROM LAST YEAR: This year we’ll start to enforce a ban if you are a no-show on the day of or default AFTER the default deadline, otherwise you’re free to default, but you will not be permitted to go out as a pinch hit.
• Participants who act in bad faith will be banned
• The exchange is an AO3 exchange. All participants are required to have an AO3 account
• You cannot enter with more than 1 account
• All announcements will be posted on the Dreamwidth community and on tumblr. Please ensure you can access it
• AI works are not accepted. Participants using AI will be banned
• All works must be written in English
• If you receive a gift that does not meet the minimum requirements or contains your DNWs, please reach out to the mod. Otherwise, please comment on your gift! 
• Please don’t include negative self-talk in the Author’s Note! We’re sure your work is splendid.
• Please don’t badmouth your Creator in the online spaces!
• If there's an explicit Do Not Want in your gift, please contact the mods.
• Avoid character bashing, kinkshaming, and ship wars in your sign-up and when creating your fanworks.

 
Signups:

• You will be matched on one fandom + one relationship + one medium
• You can request 3-10 fandoms with 1-10 relationships, and a choice of medium. While you can repeat fandoms, you need to have 3 unique ones to qualify for a gift.
• You can offer 3-10 fandoms with 1-10 relationships, and a choice of medium.
• Unmatchables (those who do not have anyone they can create for) will be emailed and will have 72 hours to respond to add offers to become matchable. Otherwise, their signup will be deleted.
• You can edit your sign-up until the sign-up period closes.
• All fandoms and relationships requested and offered in this exchange must be chosen from those nominated into the tagset. Please nominate to make sure what you want to request/offer appears.
• Please provide at least a few things you like about each fandom you're requesting.
• In your sign-up you can provide as many prompts for your creator as you wish.

Assignments requirements:

Please ensure you stay anonymous until Creator Reveals (don’t post your work on public social media, or talk about it online)

Assignments requirements for Fics:

•  Keep your work Anonymous until the reveals
• Minimum 2000 words in one of the requester’s fandoms, featuring one or more of the characters or relationships they requested
• The fill cannot include any DNWs
• Your fill must be a newly created and complete fanwork. It must be a standalone and cannot be part of an existing series of connected fanworks. You cannot have multiple recipients for one fanwork.
• AI generated fanworks of any kind are NOT allowed.

Assignments requirements for Art:

• An original (traditional or digital) piece created by the artist
  
• Use of AI is not permitted
  
• It should be a detailed lineart at minimum, drawn on an unlined paper (applies to traditional art)
  
• Minimum size should be 500 000 pixels (for example 710 pixels x 710 pixels or 500 pixels x 1000 pixels)
  
• It should be in one of the requester's fandoms, featuring one or more of the characters they requested.
  
• Artists may sign their pieces.
  

Dear Creator Letters:

• There will be a section in the sign-up where letters can be linked to give your creator further details on your likes, dislikes, and other request details. Dear Creator letters are optional.
• Please be aware we will not be enforcing any DNWs that are in your letter. DNWs must be in your sign-up.
• You are allowed to add an optional letter to your request, but the letter must be complete and viewable by the time assignments go out. Your recipient will not be obligated to wait for your letter to be complete and viewable after they receive their assignment. Make sure the letter is easy to access as well.

DNW:

• Archive Warnings are opt-in
• DNWs must be in the optional details box to be enforceable, any DNWs in a linked letter will not be enforced. 
• All DNWs must be reasonable, clear, and judgement-free. 
• You cannot contradict your request with a DNW (ex. DNWing Geralf of Rivia/Jaskier after requesting Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier). 
• Your DNWs cannot box in your creator (ex. DNW everything except Jaskier being tortured). Any unreasonable/bad-faith DNW will not be enforced.
• You are allowed to add an optional letter to your request, but the letter must be complete and viewable by the time assignments go out. Your recipient will not be obligated to wait for your letter to be complete and viewable after they receive their assignment. Make sure the letter is easy to access as well.

Pinch Hits:

• If you cannot complete your assignment, please default as soon as possible so that the request can be put out as a Pinch Hit.
• Pinch Hits will be posted here on the Dreamwidth community and on Tumblr. 
• Comments on the Pinch Hit post will be screened; to claim a PH, reply to the post on DW with your AO3 username, the PH number you want to claim along with the AO3 username for the PH you are claiming, and your email address. 
• Anonymous comments will be enabled, and no Dreamwidth account will be required for claiming. You do not need to be signed up with the exchange either, however your gift must adhere to the recipient's DNWs.
• Pinch Hits must meet all the minimum assignment requirements.

Deadline Extension

• You may request a 7-day extension if you contact the mods via email before the deadline.

Treats:

• The treat does not need to meet the word-count/art minimum, but must meet all other requirements.
• Treats will be opt-out. If you do not wish to receive a treat, please include that in your sign-up. If you do wish to receive a treat, feel free to indicate that in your sign-up and make sure your account is set to allow gifts.

2026 ADDITIONS:

Make-up assignments:
This year, we’re introducing make-up assignments.
If you’re a no-show this year (you don’t submit your assignment on time AND/OR after you’ve requested an extension, or defaulted after the default deadline), you’ll be expected to create a make-up assignment BEFORE the next run of the exchange (if you want to participate again).
Otherwise, you’ll be banned from the exchange until you submit a make-up work.
Rules are simple - pick a combination of tags from that year (fandom + relationship + medium) and submit a completed work to that year’s collection – so at least a detailed lineart or 2k of fanfic.

Soft check-in - this round only for now
This year we’re also introducing a soft check-in – a week near the finish line where you can comment on a post to let us know you’re still working on/planning to finish your work. It’s not mandatory, but should serve as a reminder to default, if need be.

Do-not-match requests - this round only for now
This year you can request up to 2 users you do not wish to match with (as a creator or recipient). We'll not ask for your reasons but please note that if there's no one else you could create for, you might be still matched with that user.
 

Rules subject to change.