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Posted by andi on 10/3/2008, 5:45 am
74.77.237.122
Here it is again folks! The winter exchange. And as always; you will be matched with a person to send to and a person to recieve from, they will not be the same person.
This is open to all board participants OVER the age of 17 ( this is for legal reasons). We don't care what your board history is, if you're mad at one of us or if you are new or old....we just want folks to have some fun with it.
We do however have a few rules,
1) sign-ups will be through the official email address ONLY. No exceptions. We've had a few folks try to sign up though alternate emails or PMs over the past few exchanges and this is just too "iffy" for you and for us, so we are limiting it to just the email address set up for this exchange. And to avoid confusion and much hair pulling on our parts...we will not be sending out confirmation emails this year.
2) sign-ups will be held until October25th, 11:59 pm EST.
3) There will be NO sign ups taken after October 25th. For the past few exchanges we've had folks try to sign up well after the posted date. And we've run into problems with trying to accommodate them, so no sign-ups after October 25th, and yes, that is written in stone.
4)Packages should be mailed no later than November 29th for North America, Earlier if you are sending overseas, so that the person can receive it by late December.
5)Please include your full address and boardname (and info on which board)when signing up and use a return address when mailing.
6) Price range is about $10 of local currency.
Please remember that exchange rates are involved and that not everyone is in the same financial situation as you.
7) While we can not accept request as to whom you send to, we will honour requests that your info not be given to someone...if you don't want someone to have your info feel free to tell us. Several folks have said that they would like "new" people...we'd love to honour that request to. If you know who you've had in the past we can help with this better. After ten years of doing this, we don't always know who each person has had. Also if this is your first year tell us please 
8)Please do not feel that living outside of North America means you can't participate. We'd love to have you join us from Australia, France, England, Germany or wherever. Come have some fun and get to know your fellow OKPers!
9) This is a gift exchange. While we had one request to change it to a "charity donation exchange", this has been for the past 10 + years been a gift exchange and will remain so. It is simply not feasible to have it as anything other. We have no desire to sort through everyone's religious, Philosophical or ideological preferences and *try* to match them up. It's not feasible. There are many belief systems represented on this board and we are not about to start asking the very personal questions that we would need to in order to run that type of exchange. Having been involved with a board where people started saying "we won't exchange with folks who don't believe as we do." I can tell you that this is a minefield of hurt and We are not going to be party to it.Forcing folks to disclose their religion or other personal info is JUST not going to happen. Some folks feel comfortable discussing their personal info, others do not. WE are going to respect that. If you can't handle the way the exchange is run, don't join, it's just that simple. It's a GIFT exchange meant to celebrate ALL the winter holidays and to have fun with. While we'd love to have you, we're not changing it.
10) This is by "popular demand". In the past we have had folks who signed up for the exchanges and then not sent anything..in some cases it been the same person in three consecutive exchanges, some have disappeared altogether, some have disappeared and then come back months later with no explinations. After much thought and debate we are saying "enough" and if you have signed up in the past and not sent *AND* not contacted us before hand then you're not eligible for any further exchanges. Also if you have contacted us and still not sent after we've made special arrangements for you, then you're also banned from further participation. In the past Anne and I have taken turns with making sure that folks get something - in one exchange we had 5 people not send and not respond to repeated attempts at contacting them. We simply can not afford to send out $70 worth of gifts between us ( our two people + 5 "extras") So at the suggestion of several on these boards we have decided that if you have not sent and not contacted us about the circumstances BEFORE the deadlines for sending you are hence forth ineligible. I am sorry that we have to do this but it's unfair for all of us involved for people to continue to be signed up and not send. ***THIS IS absolutely NOT directed at the one person who contacted us for the winterangels exchange of '06*** She is more than welcome to join again. Family emergencies we fully understand, having been through our share of them ourselves.
11) and this is a polite but firm request: Please tell both your giver and us that you received your gift. We have heard from several folks that they were never notified of their gift actually get there. We keep track of who posts in the thread that pops up, but a thank you note is always appreciated either by email if they include it or by snailmail. I know it meant the world to me when someone sent me a thank you note for a gift I made and was very nervous about having someone send off for me...the littlest things mean alot. BUT if you are truely uncomfortable about sending a note directly to them, a post in the OKP thr4ead would be helpful for all of us.
****Several folks are banned because of conduct in the past. Since it is your own behaviour that has brought this on yourself, there will be no appeals process and no amount of whining in public forums or badgering mommy can change it.****
The email for sign ups is winterangels@gmail.com
What we need to get this rolling, so when you email us to sign up, send us the following:
Your board name
Your Real Name
Your mailing addy
a few interests to make it easier for your gifter to purchase that perfect gift. ( trust me this helps immensely) And if you DON"T want some one to have your info tell us.
The most important thing in this is to have Fun .
***Also due to the fact that it is just too hard for us to keep track of communications that come in personal email, pms, IMs, ect and too ify for you from now on ALL communications regarding problems and/or requests about the exchange will be through the exchange email.**** this is born out of three seperate situtaions in the summer
exchange and it's just too ify for us and you to do it any other way. sorry.
This year we are going to suggest that you send things that are going to places like NFLD, or Overseas or across boarders that you send by traceable means...your post office can direct you on this. We are suggesting this because we have had several instances of packages crossing boarders getting lost. At least if you have a way to trace it, you can try and see where the issue is. Your post office, customs, it being delivered and placed somewhere and the person just not finding it ( then you can say" it was placed here") and so forth.
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