MaryAnne
06-12-2008, 11:13 AM
I'm afraid the 2008 swap will be the last UKS Advent Swap.
For years there have been issues - in some cases, yes, people have received what can only be called tat, leftovers, freebie rubbish, and smelly or shabby gifts. BUT in many cases the gifts were of reasonable quality, within the limit, and despite the fact they were not to the specific recipients taste, they WERE within the budget and did follow the rules, even if the sender was not as dedicated to reviewing every bit of info the swappee posted about likes and dislikes.
The huge disconnect between what you think is a good swap package and what the sender thinks was always going to be a problem, given personal taste, but with the appearance of the threads saying "Show us what you got" (which I hope began not so people could share "bad" swaps but truly with the intention of having loads of lovely goodies to share and to post thanks to their senders) and the anonymous Smack blog (which I feel compelled to confirm has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO with UKS or me, even if there are members of UKS who post there!) the witch hunt and calls for banning swappers who don't live up to some expectations or worse, calls to "name and shame" them has in effect sucked the joy out of what is meant to be a bit of fun.
And comments that UKS is doing nothing are very wrong - The Swap host been sat at her computer for this last week emailing and pming with people about complaints and has been online most of the evening until very late. There are 7 host ladies, all emailing with updates and information, and they in turn are communicating with the unhappy parties - it all takes time, a lot of time and at the end of the day, there is really very little we can actually do. To suggest that nothing is happening or that people are being ignored though is wrong.
The fun of the Advent Swap was always in the surprise element - what was going to be in that package? And the disappointment when opening it to find things that didn't fit your own taste was that much more acute because the expectations were just too high. The hurt and upset on BOTH sides (those who sent what they thought were acceptable gifts, working on a budget AND those who could not see any merit in the gifts they got or who exceeded the budget then got a strict budget swap back) is not worth it. And the fact that many, many swappers have had fun, enjoyed the experience, and look forward to the event each year is simply not enough to balance out.
So try though I may to come up with some sort of solution, from making people send in a photo of their goodies in advance and matching the "quality" (as perceived by the swap host) when matching swappers, to organizing much smaller groups of say 10 of people who all know each other and know what they might expect, it either becomes a logistical nightmare or becomes something that is NOT an Advent swap. In any case it's clear that this should not continue as a UKS event.
So this will serve as advance warning that this is the last Advent Swap that will be allowed on UKS. And will be reposted for Christmas 2009 so everyone is aware.
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For years there have been issues - in some cases, yes, people have received what can only be called tat, leftovers, freebie rubbish, and smelly or shabby gifts. BUT in many cases the gifts were of reasonable quality, within the limit, and despite the fact they were not to the specific recipients taste, they WERE within the budget and did follow the rules, even if the sender was not as dedicated to reviewing every bit of info the swappee posted about likes and dislikes.
The huge disconnect between what you think is a good swap package and what the sender thinks was always going to be a problem, given personal taste, but with the appearance of the threads saying "Show us what you got" (which I hope began not so people could share "bad" swaps but truly with the intention of having loads of lovely goodies to share and to post thanks to their senders) and the anonymous Smack blog (which I feel compelled to confirm has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO with UKS or me, even if there are members of UKS who post there!) the witch hunt and calls for banning swappers who don't live up to some expectations or worse, calls to "name and shame" them has in effect sucked the joy out of what is meant to be a bit of fun.
And comments that UKS is doing nothing are very wrong - The Swap host been sat at her computer for this last week emailing and pming with people about complaints and has been online most of the evening until very late. There are 7 host ladies, all emailing with updates and information, and they in turn are communicating with the unhappy parties - it all takes time, a lot of time and at the end of the day, there is really very little we can actually do. To suggest that nothing is happening or that people are being ignored though is wrong.
The fun of the Advent Swap was always in the surprise element - what was going to be in that package? And the disappointment when opening it to find things that didn't fit your own taste was that much more acute because the expectations were just too high. The hurt and upset on BOTH sides (those who sent what they thought were acceptable gifts, working on a budget AND those who could not see any merit in the gifts they got or who exceeded the budget then got a strict budget swap back) is not worth it. And the fact that many, many swappers have had fun, enjoyed the experience, and look forward to the event each year is simply not enough to balance out.
So try though I may to come up with some sort of solution, from making people send in a photo of their goodies in advance and matching the "quality" (as perceived by the swap host) when matching swappers, to organizing much smaller groups of say 10 of people who all know each other and know what they might expect, it either becomes a logistical nightmare or becomes something that is NOT an Advent swap. In any case it's clear that this should not continue as a UKS event.
So this will serve as advance warning that this is the last Advent Swap that will be allowed on UKS. And will be reposted for Christmas 2009 so everyone is aware.
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