May the 4th Be With You Fanworks Exchange

Profile: http://archiveofourown.org/collections/maythe4th2019/profile

Schedule:
Feb 16 - Mar 2: Nominations
Mar 3 - Mar 18: Sign ups
Mar 19ish: Matching and assignments go out
Apr 19: Early default deadline
Apr 26: Assignments due, pinch hits go out
May 2: Pinch hits due
May 3: Last minute scrambling and panic
May 4: Works go live
May 11: Creators revealed

May the 4th 2019 Archive | May the 4th 2019 Tag Set | Searchable Tag Set Spreadsheet | Tag Set Spreadsheet With Eras (download) | Sign Up Form | Requests Summary | Dear Yoda Post | Initiate Trials Post | Treat Tracker Spreadsheet | Requests Spreadsheet | Grab Bag


Contact the mods by replying to posts or by email: maythe4thmod@gmail.com

May the 4th Be With You is gearing up for another round! As always, if it's Star Wars, it's in. Holiday Special, yes! Forces of Destiny, yes! Campaign podcast, why not? As in previous rounds, the rules are simple: create a minimum 500 word story or 500 x 500 pixel piece of fan art based on your recipient's requested character(s) or relationship(s) and respecting their Do Not Wants.

The tentative schedule is as follows, with most due dates and deadlines at 1159 PM UTC (Edit: Schedule has been updated with new dates!):

Feb 18 - Mar 6: Nominations
Mar 4: Tag set clean-up and last minute discussion
Mar 6 - Mar 16: Sign ups
Mar 17ish: Matching and assignments go out, requests go live
Apr 20: Early default deadline
Apr 27: Assignments due, pinch hits go out
May 2: Pinch hits due
May 3: Last minute scrambling and panic
May 4: Works go live
May 11: Archive closes and creators revealed

Nominations and assignments were early before due to real life commitments which are not a factor this year. If you have strong opinions about the timing, this is a great opportunity to speak up. We're also taking ideas for the Initiate Trials, a set of mini-challenges that we ran last year. Did you like them? Did you care? Would you rather aim for a bingo-style challenge? What kinds of activities, incentives, or games would you like to see this year? We are continuing both character and relationship matching, using the "Character & None" style in the Relationships field for nominations. We are continuing with one archive for assignments and treats. Are there other changes you'd like to see? Let us know and we can discuss it here in the comments to this post.

The deadline for submission has been extended to April 28th due to real life issues going on the week before. Works must be uploaded by 11:59 PM UTC in a reasonably complete format. The archive will be closed briefly at that time in order for us to send out pinch hits. If you are concerned about the archive's stability, or about your own availability that Friday, we encourage you to upload early and edit in leisure. You can find unrevealed works you've already uploaded from your AO3 dashboard via the Statistics page, or via Works->Works In Collections. Questions can be left here or emailed to maythe4thmod@gmail.com.

May the 4th 2017 Archive
Challenge and Treat Tracker Spreadsheet

Please note that despite the date, this is not a prank or joke post.

Reminder: AO3 has a known bug where not all tags will populate the sign-up field when you are signing up for an exchange. If you do not see a tag you think should be there, first check the tag set. You may have to copy and paste the tag into the field manually. If you have any problems, please email the mods at maythe4thmod@gmail.com.

Sign-up Form

Two days left to nominate: tag set.

To address signup concerns in one place, the maximum number of offers and requests AO3 will allow for a signup form is 10 each. The way the signup form is currently set up, you may request up to ten things, and you may offer up to fifty. The magic begins when we all find out together if this kills the archive when we run the matching this year!

A big thank you to everyone who is going through the archive! Remember, creator reveals are at 11:59PM UTC tomorrow, May 8th. If you have yet to say thanks for your own gift, please do so before that time. Mods have bounty hunters on call and intend to hand them the names of people who don't.

Since this went so well, we're definitely interested in another round next year. We'd like to open things to Legends, Clone Wars, Rebels, and so on, but to do so, we'll need another mod who's familiar with the material. Think about if you might be interested.

We have almost all the assignments and pinch hits in! There are treats for nearly half the participants and that count keeps rising. We are still well on our way to opening at midnight UTC come the morning of May 4th. The Treats List updates frequently for those who are looking for someone to create a last-minute gift for. The Requests List may also be useful.

We have created a separate permanently anonymous Star Wars collection at AO3. If you've written something you'd prefer not to own under your regular name, you can add MayTheAnonBeWithYou as a secondary collection to your own work and that fic or pic will stay anonymous when we flip the switch on May 8th.

May Mod has been informed the schedule at work is changing. Friday at 11:59 UTC, your mod will be away from the computer because those Star Destroyers will not wash space bug guts off their own windows. May Mod needs a better job or a longer squeegee.

The deadline has been extended until Saturday, 6PM UTC, when the mods will be awake enough to flip the toggles required to run the defaulting sequence and send out pinch hits. Those already writing pinch hits, thank you, and you have until May 1st. Everyone else, please try to have something posted before Saturday and be sure you take it out of "Draft" status by hitting the "Post" button at the bottom of the Edit screen.

Your mods are not the Yuletide mods, and take a broad view of what's good enough for the deadline. Edit before reveals and no one will know but us that you misspelled "Luke" in the title of your story. Any hits you are accruing on posted stories are from us or from your own views. If that throws off your kudos:hits:comments:bookmarks:midichlorians ratio, delete and repost before reveals.

Not remotely friendly reminder to post or unlock your Dear Yoda letters, especially those of you who included no prompts in your signups.