Nominations are open!
Jun. 3rd, 2023 10:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
olentowrites posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
first_time_exchangeNominations are open! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧
Remember to follow the nomination guidelines. The moderators might make some small edits to your nominations, to remove typos or to clarify things.
If we need to make any major changes, we will ask for clarification on this post.
Link to the tagset: BUT PLEASE READ THE NOMINATION RULES FIRST
The nominations will close on June 18, 10 AM (UTC+3).
Here are the rules again, just to be safe:
Nominations:
You may nominate 1-10 fandoms, 1-10 pairings in each fandom, and 1-10 additional freeform tags.
All crossover pairings will go under a “Crossover Fandom” fandom. Original work nominations will go under the “Original Work” fandom. "Canon character/original character" pairings are also allowed, and they will go under the canon character's fandom.
Please nominate romantic relationships as “Character A/Character B (Fandom)” and non-romantic relationships as “Character A & Character B (Fandom)”. Please indicate in parentheses which one of the characters is a virgin.
(“Non-romantic relationships” can mean many things: a friends with benefits-type arrangement, a queerplatonic relationship, brothers in arms who seek comfort from each other… By definition they exclude romantic feelings, however!)
Examples of how to nominate:
Fandom pairings:
Crossover pairings:
Original Work pairings:
Freeforms:
The freeforms should all be related to the theme of the exchange somehow. Some examples:
Edit: Decided to include the following in this post also:
What's the deal with the & pairings?
This has caused some confusion, and I apologize for that. While "&" type pairings are not commonly used on AO3 to include relationships with a sexual element, they are used in this tagset, specifically, for that purpose.
The tagset is meant to be used only for matching. The tags are not necessarily something you would use for the fic itself. Consider a relationship tag like "Vivianne Westwood/Attila the Hun (historical RPF) (virgin Attila)" - it's written that way only for matching purposes, you wouldn't use it like that when it's time to post the fic to AO3.
Likewise, &-pairings are used only for matching people who want to request and/or offer aromantic or platonic pairings that are still sexual in nature. That's the only function they have.
I am not going to change the rules at this point, not when so many tags have already been nominated, and when so many people have expressed genuine joy for this option. You can still post the finished fic as a /-pairing to AO3: you don't have to go against the general conventions. Again, this way of tagging is only for matching purposes.
If someone doesn't want to request or offer a &-pairing, or finds them too confusing, they can stick to the more traditional /-pairing instead.
(People have suggested that one way to solve this would be using freeforms to indicate aromantic/platonic pairings. The problem is that it would be just one freeform out of ten, and since you only need to match on one single freeform, it wouldn't necessarily be that one. And that wouldn't be binding in any way.)
***
Should I nominate a nonconsensual relationship as a & pairing?
Well. I admit that this is a tricky question. Since I've allowed non-romantic pairings to be tagged with &, logic dictates that nonconsensual pairings should use the same. But as I said previously, the general convention is to use /-pairings, even when the sexual content is nonconsensual, and this might be a more familiar way to tag them for most people. (Though I'd like to point out that, unfortunately, it's quite possible for there to be nonconsensual sex in a romantic relationship. But I digress.)
My advice would be just to use your best judgment in this case.
People have also expressed concerns that people who want a consensual, aromantic pairing would get matched with someone who wants just to write noncon, or vice versa. But this is where the freeforms come in handy! There are plenty of freeforms in the tagset, quite a lot of noncon-related too: I encourage people to use them to actively "game" their offers and requests. That's what they are there for! (Also, in my experience, those of us who want to request noncon are usually pretty damn clear about it. 😅)
Besides, obviously everyone should respect the DNWs of their recipient. If someone has "rape/noncon" in their DNWs, then you are not going to write that. Period.
***
What about unrequited romantic feelings? Or a relationship where A pines for B who has feelings for C instead? How do I nominate those?
Respectfully, these kind of relationship dynamics are not really the point of this particular exchange. But if pressed, I would say to tag them as /-pairings, because romantic feelings are still the underlying motivation for these ships, even if they are unrequited.
Have fun!!! I can't wait to see what you will nominate! :D
Remember to follow the nomination guidelines. The moderators might make some small edits to your nominations, to remove typos or to clarify things.
If we need to make any major changes, we will ask for clarification on this post.
Link to the tagset: BUT PLEASE READ THE NOMINATION RULES FIRST
The nominations will close on June 18, 10 AM (UTC+3).
Here are the rules again, just to be safe:
Nominations:
You may nominate 1-10 fandoms, 1-10 pairings in each fandom, and 1-10 additional freeform tags.
All crossover pairings will go under a “Crossover Fandom” fandom. Original work nominations will go under the “Original Work” fandom. "Canon character/original character" pairings are also allowed, and they will go under the canon character's fandom.
Please nominate romantic relationships as “Character A/Character B (Fandom)” and non-romantic relationships as “Character A & Character B (Fandom)”. Please indicate in parentheses which one of the characters is a virgin.
(“Non-romantic relationships” can mean many things: a friends with benefits-type arrangement, a queerplatonic relationship, brothers in arms who seek comfort from each other… By definition they exclude romantic feelings, however!)
Examples of how to nominate:
Fandom pairings:
- Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy (HP) (virgin Harry)
- Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy (HP) (virgin Draco)
- Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy (HP) (both virgins)
Crossover pairings:
- Harry Potter (HP)/Steve Rogers (MCU) (virgin Steve)
Original Work pairings:
- Jaded old superheroine about to retire/Cocky young supervillain (virgin supervillain)
- Absent-minded and bookish king/His stoic and faithful bodyguard (both virgins)
- Middle-aged Trans man & his cis male coworker (virgin Trans man)
Freeforms:
The freeforms should all be related to the theme of the exchange somehow. Some examples:
- A is enthusiastic to lose their virginity; B is terrified of the responsibility
- Magical sex ritual requires a virgin
- First time - consensual
- First time - traumatic
- Kinky character was bored with their vanilla first time; wants a do-over
Edit: Decided to include the following in this post also:
What's the deal with the & pairings?
This has caused some confusion, and I apologize for that. While "&" type pairings are not commonly used on AO3 to include relationships with a sexual element, they are used in this tagset, specifically, for that purpose.
The tagset is meant to be used only for matching. The tags are not necessarily something you would use for the fic itself. Consider a relationship tag like "Vivianne Westwood/Attila the Hun (historical RPF) (virgin Attila)" - it's written that way only for matching purposes, you wouldn't use it like that when it's time to post the fic to AO3.
Likewise, &-pairings are used only for matching people who want to request and/or offer aromantic or platonic pairings that are still sexual in nature. That's the only function they have.
I am not going to change the rules at this point, not when so many tags have already been nominated, and when so many people have expressed genuine joy for this option. You can still post the finished fic as a /-pairing to AO3: you don't have to go against the general conventions. Again, this way of tagging is only for matching purposes.
If someone doesn't want to request or offer a &-pairing, or finds them too confusing, they can stick to the more traditional /-pairing instead.
(People have suggested that one way to solve this would be using freeforms to indicate aromantic/platonic pairings. The problem is that it would be just one freeform out of ten, and since you only need to match on one single freeform, it wouldn't necessarily be that one. And that wouldn't be binding in any way.)
***
Should I nominate a nonconsensual relationship as a & pairing?
Well. I admit that this is a tricky question. Since I've allowed non-romantic pairings to be tagged with &, logic dictates that nonconsensual pairings should use the same. But as I said previously, the general convention is to use /-pairings, even when the sexual content is nonconsensual, and this might be a more familiar way to tag them for most people. (Though I'd like to point out that, unfortunately, it's quite possible for there to be nonconsensual sex in a romantic relationship. But I digress.)
My advice would be just to use your best judgment in this case.
People have also expressed concerns that people who want a consensual, aromantic pairing would get matched with someone who wants just to write noncon, or vice versa. But this is where the freeforms come in handy! There are plenty of freeforms in the tagset, quite a lot of noncon-related too: I encourage people to use them to actively "game" their offers and requests. That's what they are there for! (Also, in my experience, those of us who want to request noncon are usually pretty damn clear about it. 😅)
Besides, obviously everyone should respect the DNWs of their recipient. If someone has "rape/noncon" in their DNWs, then you are not going to write that. Period.
***
What about unrequited romantic feelings? Or a relationship where A pines for B who has feelings for C instead? How do I nominate those?
Respectfully, these kind of relationship dynamics are not really the point of this particular exchange. But if pressed, I would say to tag them as /-pairings, because romantic feelings are still the underlying motivation for these ships, even if they are unrequited.
Have fun!!! I can't wait to see what you will nominate! :D
