2024 Rules & Guidelines.

[rarepairmod]

Please familiarise yourself with the rules of the exchange before participating. We've compiled these to ensure that participants have a great time with us, and that nominations and works created are in line with the exchange's theme.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them on this post (anonymous commenting is on) or email rarepairexmod@gmail.com. (If you email us, please allow two business days for a response before following up.)

Eligibility:

You must be 18+ to participate in this exchange. We allow only one sign-up per person (no sock accounts will be allowed).

A pairing must fill the following criteria to be eligible:
1. Be a "/" ship (this denotes a romantic and/or sexual relationship).
2. Have no more than 250 works on AO3, completed (no WIPs), and written in English, while using the otp:true filter.

Nominations:

The exchange is hosted on AO3, including nominations. An AO3 account is required to participate.

A nominations post will be made once it is time for them to open. You will only be allowed to nominate during the nomination period.

Each participant may nominate up to 10 fandoms with up to 10 relationships in each. Ships must be disambiguated with their fandom tag (e.g. Maria Hill/Sam Wilson (MCU)). ("Maria Hill/Sam Wilson" is the ship and "(MCU)" is the fandom disambiguation.)

All fandoms and ships requested and offered in this exchange must be chosen from those nominated into the tagset. Should you miss nominations, you are welcome to contact the moderators between when they close and sign-ups open. We are happy to add additional nominations on your behalf.

We do not allow two different ships to be nominated in one nomination slot, i.e. "Amy/Laurie & Jo/Bhaer (Little Women)". Each nomination slot must be one ship with no "&" signifier.

RPF: RPF is permitted, subject to eligibility as outlined above. Non-famous family members are not eligible. Under-18s are not eligible for modern RPF.

Threesomes/moresomes: Polyamorous and threesome/moresome ships are allowed, as long as they are eligible.

We do not allow v-shaped polyamorous relationships to be nominated; however, participants are welcome to state they would like v-shaped in their optional details.

Crossovers: Crossover ships are permitted, subject to the eligibility rules above. These should be nominated under 'Crossover Fandom' with the fandom name for each character in brackets, e.g. "Natasha Romanov (MCU)/Leia Organa (Star Wars: Original Trilogy)".

Original characters in non-original canons: You may nominate Character/Original Character(s) and are welcome to be as specific or as broad as you wish, e.g. "Leia Organa/Original Jedi Character (Star Wars)" or "Steve Rogers/Original Male Character (MCU)".

Please remember that you cannot box your creator into a specific gender configuration if you do not specify the gender of your OC. Nominating the specific gender you want will guarantee you receive it if your creator opts to fulfil that request.

Original Works: Original ships are permitted. These must be nominated under "Original Work" in the format "Character Type/Character Type" e.g. "Princess/Maid", "Pilot/Soldier/General", etc. Again, please be specific if you would like a preferred gender combination.

We do not allow Reader/Canon Character pairings to be nominated for this exchange.

We do not allow recursive fandoms to be nominated in this exchange.

If you're wondering how to use the otp:true filter, please see our guide below:

The otp:true filter is a way to isolate the works using a specific ship tag. Since a lot of works tag multiple ships for the one story, our criteria exclude including those stories as counting toward the maximum 250 work limit for a ship.

If we use MCU as an example, we want to see how many works are in the Natasha/T'Challa ship tag and that are specifically about that ship to see if it's eligible.

When we search Natasha/T'Challa, AO3 will show us there's 67 works under that tag. You can see from some of the fics on the first page that the tag has been used with other ship tags. We don't want those stories to count toward the 250 work limit. That's when the otp:true filter comes in.

Go to the grey search and filter box on the right-hand side and click on the section under "More options." In the "Search within results" textbox, type in "otp:true." Then click "sort and filter."

This will show you the works that are solely tagged as Natasha/T'Challa (which you can see here). We're using this criteria to determine if a ship is a "rare pair" for this exchange. Since there are less than 250 works in the isolated ship tag, it's eligible for the exchange.

Sign-Ups:

An AO3 account is required to sign-up/participate.

You can request 3-10 fandoms with 1-10 ships and a choice of fiction, art, or both. While you can repeat fandoms, you must have 3 unique ones selected to participate.

You can offer 3-10 fandoms with 1-10 ships and a choice of fiction, art, or both. You must offer 3 unique fandoms to participate.

If you requesting one or the other type of medium and are open to treats (e.g. requesting fic but welcome art treats), please make a mention of it in the details of your sign-up.

You can edit/delete your sign-ups until the sign-up period closes.

If a sign-up does not include the required number of fandoms, it will be deleted when sign-ups close.

All fandoms and ships 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.

If no offers match your requests, you will go out for claiming as an initial pinch hit (IPH).

If there aren't any requests that match your offers, the mods will contact you at the email address associated with your AO3 account to see if there is anything else you can offer. If you do not reply within 24 hours, or there is nothing else you can offer, your sign-up will be deleted.

Dear Creator letters: There will be a section in the sign-up where letters can be linked to give your gifter further details on your likes, dislikes and other request details. Dear Creator letters are optional.

In the optional details and in Dear Creator letters, please do not place preference for one ship over the others, as there isn't a guarantee you will be matched on that ship.

Please include anything you don't want to receive in the Optional Details field in your AO3 sign-up and label this clearly as "Do Not Wants" (DNW). If a DNW is included in your gift, only reasonable DNWs in your sign-up will be enforced. Please remember that DNWs cannot be used to box your creator into producing a very specific work.

We will not be enforcing DNWs in letters.

If your sign-up breaks any of the above rules or is found to be in bad faith, the mods will contact you. Please respond; otherwise, you risk your sign-up being deleted. We want everyone to have fun!

Assignments:

Assignments are only guaranteed to match on one fandom, one ship and one medium.

Minimum requirements are a complete work of fanfiction of at least 1,000 words of a piece or clean lineart on unlined paper.

AI/AI-assisted works are not permitted in this exchange.

Your assignment must focus on one of the requested ships. Your recipient may have anywhere between 3-10 requests but you are only required to create for one. This doesn't have to be the one you matched, as long as it is one they requested.

If your assignment does not match the fandoms/ships/medium you offered, please get in touch with the mods as soon as possible. We will do our best to match you to a participant you can create for. We will not allow assignment changes for any other reason.

Please do not discuss or post about your assignment in public in a way that will reveal who your recipient is. Creators should remain anonymous until it is time for reveals.

If you would like to seek clarification from your recipient about your assignment, please email the mods at rarepairexmod@gmail.com with your AO3 username, your recipient's AO3 name, and your question. We will send it to your recipient on your behalf.

Feel free to make your questions as detailed as possible so that we understand what you're asking. We will do our best to rephrase questions so as not to give away what it is you're thinking about creating to leave it as a surprise for your recipient. (That said, please keep in mind the moderators are not familiar with all canons.)

Posting:

To post your fic/art on AO3, navigate to your AO3 dashboard, click on 'Assignments', find your Rare Pair Exchange 2024 assignment, and click 'fulfil'.

Works containing excessive spelling or grammar errors (enough to hinder comprehension) will not be accepted.

Gifts must be completed at the time of work reveals to fulfil the assignment requirements. If your work is incomplete, your recip will be immediately sent out as a pinch hit and you may be banned from future rounds.

WIPs and half-finished art (e.g., a fic posted as "1/?" and a piece of art posted as "1/?") will not count as completed gifts.

If you post a chaptered work, all chapters must be posted by the time works are revealed.

As works should remain anonymous during the collection's anonymous period, please do not post your work elsewhere before the creator reveals or discusses the details publicly.

You can edit your work after posting it until the collection is revealed, but your gift must be complete enough to stand as it is by the deadline.

Saved drafts do not fulfil assignments. Make sure you post your gift!

If you create a gift that intentionally crosses your recipient's DNWs, stirs up wank/drama, or harasses any other participants during the process, you will be permanently banned from the exchange.

Please avoid tagging your work as "gen" and selecting a relationship tag with "&". This is a ship exchange with a focus on romantic/sexual relationships.

Defaulting:

If you cannot finish your gift, please default.

To default, navigate to your AO3 dashboard, click 'Assignments', locate your Rare Pair Exchange assignment, and click 'Default'.

If you default and your creator also defaults, you will not be assigned a pinch hitter and are not guaranteed a gift.

There is no penalty for defaulting before the deadline.

If you need an extension, please email rarepairexmod@gmail.com, including how long you need (no more than 72 hours will be granted) and your AO3 username. We don't need any explanations regarding why you need an extension. Extensions will not be given once the deadline has passed.

We will default you if you have not posted a gift by the deadline. This may result in a one year participation ban.

Pinch Hits:

Pinch hits will be posted to the Dreamwidth community (this community!).

Please reply to the pinch hit post with the pinch hit number and your AO3 username to claim your pinch hit. If you are successful, we will reply to your comment or email (if provided when posting anonymously to claim) to confirm and will officially assign the pinch hit to you through AO3.

You can claim a pinch hit even if you aren't signed up for the exchange, but you will need an AO3 account.

If you do claim a pinch hit without logging into Dreamwidth, we will not be able to respond to your comment. If you don't have a Dreamwidth account and aren't comfortable commenting to the active Dreamwidth pinch hits post, please email us to claim at rarepairexmod@gmail.com with your AO3 username and the pinch hit you wish to be assigned.

Treats:

You can write/draw additional gifts for other participants and post them to the exchange collection as treats. These do not have to be for your assigned recipient, but they need to fulfil one of your recipient's request prompts.

If you would like a treat, we recommend including a note in your sign-up to indicate that you are open to receiving treats. (Doing this does not guarantee you will receive a treat.)

If you want a treat, please check your preferences to ensure you accept gifts from unassigned creators. You can check this setting by navigating to your AO3 page, clicking 'Preferences', and clicking 'Allow anyone to gift me works.' under 'Collections, Challenges and Gifts'. (Doing this does not guarantee you will receive a treat.)

You can create treats even if you aren't signed up for the exchange.

To post treats, navigate to the collection and click 'Post to Collection'. You will need to manually add your intended recipient's name — please check this very carefully! (This will guarantee you post to the correct collection and your work will remain anonymous.)

Treats do not have to fulfil the minimum word count. They must, however, include a fandom, relationship and medium requested by the recipient. (As the mods are not artists, we recommend artists ensure their work is clean enough to stand as complete.)

Treats will not become main gifts for this exchange.

Commenting:

Comments are mandatory as part of this exchange. Please comment on your gifts.

If you cannot comment on your gift for any reason, please get in touch with the mods before creator reveals via email at rarepairexmod@gmail.com.

If you do not comment on your gifts, you will be ineligible to participate in the next round.

Miscellaenous:

We accept do not match requests for this exchange. Please email us before sign-ups close at rarepairexmod@gmail.com letting us know your AO3 name, the AO3 name of the participant you would like not to be matched to, and what you would like us to do in the instance where you are their only match as a creator, you are their only match as a recipient, and you are a pinch hit. We don't need to know the reasons for this request (unless you feel it's in our best interests). We'll do our best to adhere to your request.

We're trialling a moderated collection this year. We will approve works that meet the exchange's minimum requirements. If we feel your work doesn't meet the requirements, we will contact you via the email associated with your AO3 account.

Please don't be an asshole. We're here to have fun with our rare pears 🍐.