Hi folks,
As the year draws to a close, there comes a time for reflection, for summaries of all kinds, and plans for the next year.
With that in mind, I'd be grateful if you could help me choose the event(s) to run in 2026
Which of the following events are you most likely to take part in next year?
AUpocalypse
Durin's Day Gift Exchange
Fandom Raffle Exchange
Fanfic Rec Bingo
Fic of a Fic
H/C Bingo
Kink Bingo
Round Robins
Secret Admirers
Show Some Love
Trick or Treat
Voting ended onJan 3
If you don't remember what's what, here are the links: AUpocalypse, Durin's Day Gift Exchange, Fandom Raffle Exchange, Fanfic Rec Bingo, Fic of a Fic, H/C Bingo, Kink Bingo, Round Robins, Secret Admirers, Show Some Love, Trick or Treat
You may notice that some events are not on that list: Drabble Challenge, FiKi Weak and 12 Days of Christmas. This is because I know you love them already.
Important explanation under the cut - I didn't want to clutter the dashboards.
Let's talk. I think we have to be realistic and acknowledge: we have a rapidly shrinking fandom. It's lovely to sometimes see a name that used to be common on my dash pop back in and dabble in some writing again, but those instances are few and far between, and new names are even rarer.
For me, personally, my latest 6k of writing that I poured my heart and soul into saw 17 hits and 1 comment; the one before saw 6 hits and 1 comment. My last comment on anything before that was 77 days earlier. And I know I'm the lucky one - most writers get even less. I do really write for myself, and I know many others do too, but it's an awful lot like screaming into the void these days.
So initially, the 12 Days of Christmas 2025 was meant to be the last event of GatheringFiKi.
There just doesn't seem to be an audience any more, or the need for it, and this isn't even an accusation of any kind: life just has a habit of... moving on. But then I found myself automatically making photosets for 12 Days of Christmas 2026, and I just could not imagine Christams without them. I was forced to face the fact that I am not yet prepared to let go of this one event at least. Is there anything else I would run, even if nobody (or like, 3 people, maybe) took part? That IDK yet.
Hence the survey. I'd like to see how many people will respond to it and if there's any clear event that will get the majority of votes, or is it going to be all evenly distributed, 1 vote each?
Depending on the outcome, I might:
Only run 12 Days of Christmas 2026
Run 12 Days + FiKi Week + Drabble Challenge
Run 12 Days + FiKi Week + Drabble Challenge + 1-2 events with most votes / some new events
Stop running events on GF altogether
I will need to have a think and come up with a sensible plan going forward - this should be posted on GF in the first days of January.
To clarify: I am not talking about me leaving the fandom per se, even if there are no more events. I still have some stories to tell (and artwork to post, actually), and I will continue writing them for the 17+6 of you who are interested in reading them. And for myself - recently I'm my own favourite reader.
I hope you can understand where I'm coming from. Please vote, and I will get back to you with plans for next year in a couple of days. Thank you so much for your support over all those years, and hopefully see you next year!
germansingergirl
kaledo-art
origamiaround
romaincrisis
yousharknotpass