#polyswap replies

[homestuckpolyswap]

Who are the mods?

Oh perfect timing, thank you for the reminder to update part of the FAQ! Our mod team consists of: Mod Aux, Mod Mage, Mod Mith, Mod Orange, Mod Rafi, and Mod Scy!

[homestuckpolyswap]

Hi, erm, I'm not sure where to raise this concern. As an artist, I don't really feel comfortable sticking around in the swap servers and chats because it's mostly all focused around writing? And I know thats the majority but it just makes me personally feel a bit unwelcome and outcast. I'm not the best writer but I'm proud of my art. I'd like to socialize with other folks but it's difficult when most things are about writers and writing.

Let us start off by saying—from the Mod Team as a whole—that we freaking love seeing art fills. Seeing art come out of Polyswap is pretty dang amazing!

To fully answer your ask, we’re going to need to go a little more in-depth. Out of all the assignments submitted for Polyswap Last Year, 7 were art. We had 58 signups, total. Artists don’t always sign up for Polyswap, or when they do, will sometimes write instead of drawing art.

There’s an image associated with Homestuck exchanges hosted on AO3, of “writing only swaps”, which is categorically untrue, and something we and Drone Season want to reverse. It’s kind of a counterpart to “zines are only for artists”, from what we can see. Zines tend to be specifically art-focused spaces, unless they’re deliberately organized for writing, whereas AO3 tends to be known for fanfiction.

After receiving your ask, we contacted artists and artist/writers we know. We talked to people about what they would needed to help them flourish in a creative space, and we’ll be implementing some of their suggestions soon.

In the mean time, we can’t do much if we don’t know what’s needed. Not all of us are artists, not all of us are writers—if we can find a way to build a creative space that works for any kind of content, that would be pretty damn great. Come talk to us.

[homestuckpolyswap]

Wait so you're saying the prompts are released like now? Omg! 💝 ... but where can I find them?

THEY ARE INDEED! You should be able to find the Prospit ones here:

http://archiveofourown.org/collections/HS_Polyship_Swap_Prospit_2017/requests

And the Derse ones here:

http://archiveofourown.org/collections/HS_Polyship_Swap_Derse_2017/requests

Let us know if they don’t work!!

- Mod Sky

[homestuckpolyswap]

I love snails thank you for my life

and the party snails love you

-mod fish

(EDIT: THE IMAGE IS FROM GOOGLE, here have a source!)

[homestuckpolyswap]

Yoo all the fills are amazing!! Thank you to each and every mod for running this lovely exchange <3

And thank YOU random swapper!!

But really, seriously, we really really appreciate all the hard work y’all have put in to making this thing a success.

Speaking personally, this swap wouldn’t have been HALF as awesome as it’s turned out to be without the mod team this year, and I love each and every one of those nerds. Thank you guys so so so so much <33333

- Mod Sky

[homestuckpolyswap]

While this exchange has been running ive gone from being single to being in a happy, polyamorous relationship. This exchange holds a special place in my heart, thank you all so much for putting so much love and care into running it!

THAT’S SO AWESOME ANON CONGRATULATIONS!

A fair few of us mod nerds are poly ourselves, and honestly, creating this exchange is what helped me personally realize that I was poly. Best of luck to you!!!

- Mod Sky

[homestuckpolyswap]

Oh thank gd you turned anon back on (me nd a few others r sort of scared to talk with u guys) not the same prson who sent that ask, but I think part of the prob with artists is that writers can freely talk abt getting to 5k words but artists can't talk abt their art without giving themselves away. It's harder to be secretive abt it. I know it's not someth you can rlly control but I just wanted to express a crtain view of it helps at all. Evn tho a lil harsh and scary, thx for bein communicative

Oh thank gd you turned anon back on (me nd a few others r sort of scared to talk with u guys)…Evn tho a lil harsh and scary, thx for bein communicative

We turned anon off because we needed a quick break! Mods are human and we get tired sometimes too.

As to being scared of talking with us, there’s not that much we can do about policy things unless you do talk to us, which does kind of suck. We’ll work on the telepathy thing. Also, we’re not trying to be harsh and scary? We’re humans, and we’re all really tired people in general.

I think part of the prob with artists is that writers can freely talk abt getting to 5k words but artists can’t talk abt their art without giving themselves away. It’s harder to be secretive abt it.

Would something like “working on my lines :eyes-emoji:” or “trying to decide between the sketches I did, comment with an emoji if you think I should do :flower: :heart: :pinetree:” work? If you personally have a way you break your work up into stages, then posting your “stage list” and ticking off as you go might be another possibility.

This is something we have been concerned about for a while, and it’s difficult to come up with good solutions. We actually don’t even want writers getting too detailed about their word count! No public speculation allowed!

I know it’s not someth you can rlly control but I just wanted to express a crtain view of it helps at all.

It’s not something we can control, but it is something we have been looking into and trying to work on since 2017. We put a lot of work, time, effort, and love into the swaps! There’s work going on behind the scenes that people aren’t aware of, and when we get asks from people who haven’t read up on what we have actually done or what we’re trying to do, or even blame us for not doing enough on something we have actually been working on, it really doesn’t feel great?

Here’s some of what we’ve been looking into for artists and other content creators:

How we as mods can help expand or explain prompts that focus on one particular medium and make them more accessible for a variety of content creators

If there’s a Sprinto equivalent that artists could use. We’ve tried to set up art dashes in the past, but we’re still refining the concept and what we can do with it

Miniswaps with visual and audio themes. Some of the miniswap ideas we have on the voting table are “draw/write the OT+ as meme”, “OT+ character/relationship playlist”, and a “moodboard prompt” one. We’re hoping to get and include others as well

Codifying the actual guideline we have in our Guide, and have had since Polyswap began: “a descriptive blurb detailing your request. Please, please, PLEASE try to make your blurb something that would work for an artist or a writer!” This, unfortunately, has not been well-respected. We’re planning to make it into an official rule.

Ensuring we have support for content creators who have never worked with AO3, especially in the form of mods who work with art, music, and uploading.

not the same prson who sent that ask

Whether you are or not, you can still ask questions! Whoever sent whatever asks can still ask questions! We’re trying to make things better every year, and each year is essentially a trial run for the next one. Managing 50+ people is scary. 

We might have other things going on in our lives, we might be annoyed that someone didn’t read our guidelines, we might even be mad that people are trying to break or subvert our rules, but we will not stop answering the questions we get, regardless of who sends them!

About Polyswap’s Servers

The Homestuck Polyswap Exchange is an Event! The discord server is for the event, and the event participants, and it was never meant to be a content creation-centric space, or a community based around sharing information, because it can’t be. Fandom Exchanges are all about that surprise and secrecy!

We want to encourage you guys to create, and build, and to that end, we have tried to make the space more content-creative friendly! But that still isn’t what it’s about—at least, not until the reveals drop, at which point it will be a lot easier to post what you’re working on and share with everyone.

Also, this does not mean that we will not keep trying to make our space more accessible for everyone! It’s an explanation of why our system is the way it is, and why we have to think carefully about what changes we make and how we make them.

Don’t be scared to ask questions. If it’s something covered in the rules, guidelines, or FAQ we will refer you there, of course, but if you need clarification or your question isn’t covered by any of those, we’re here to help.

[homestuckpolyswap]

have you considered allowing people to sign up as cheerleaders for the artists and writers? i know a lot of people already do it while participating but i've seen some events that allow people to be there just to cheer on the progress and that may encourage people to share their art wips? idk if it would work, just a suggestion to kick off a conversation about what could be helpful or totally wouldn't be

Wow, quick response!

Unfortunately, this is impossible. Polyswap—and many other fandom exchanges and events like it—are centered around the element of surprise. Maintaining secrecy, vetting or containing what people do and don’t know, it would rapidly hit a tier of “why the fuck are we not getting paid to do this”.

We strive to foster a community focused on creative and built on positive feedback, but there are limits to what we (again, unpaid mods) can do! If you’d like to cheer members on, consider becoming a Pinch Hitter, or writing treats for participants that you think deserve a thank you. It’s how we ourselves thank people for their hard work during the Polyswap Season!