Didn't really know where else to do this at [secret santa]

THEPAIN73

I know it's August but I have a few questions. I have been on here for almost a year and I think that qualifies me for PA's secret santa this year.

1. What is the monetary limit?
2. How often do people back out?
3. What are some of the cooler gifts people have gotten?
4. Who runs it?

Any help or stories would be greatly appreciated.

VisionOfClarity

You mean the SE++ secret santa or a different forum?

THEPAIN73

VisionOfClarity wrote: »

You mean the SE++ secret santa or a different forum?

Well I guess all of them then.

Which are run better?

Figgy

The idea is to join the one(s) in the forums which you frequent the most. There is no point in joining the G&T SS, for example, if you rarely post there.

G&T:

The monetary limit is $10 or $15, fairly low.
People rarely back out, to the tune of maybe 3-5 in hundreds.
Cooler gifts are usually the ones that are hand made: bowser statue, dead space nerf gun, etc.
It's run by different people every year. Last year was Doc Holiday.

VisionOfClarity

I only know the SE++ Secret Satan because that's the only forum I really post in excluding H&A. This coming year will be my first year because I didn't feel like I posted enough there last year to do it. Here's last year's thread. It pretty much says it all. if you don't post there though you shouldn't do it, I think that's par for the other forums as well. I don't know if H&A has one, I know G&T does but I think AC does as well.

matt has a problem

D&D and SE++ have no limit. People have gotten consoles before. The only real rule is you have to send something, and don't be a dick about it. A bag of gummy worms from CVS doesn't cut it. There's a lot of handmade stuff that gets given as gifts too. Personally I've gotten a box of books including the first two PA collections, a subscription to National Geographic, a copy of Brothers in Arms and Beyond Good & Evil.


There have been a few people who received but didn't send anything.

Those people no longer post here.

VisionOfClarity

This year SE also did a part 2 to get something for the people who's Satans didn't send anything. I believe a couple people get Everybody Poops each year.

LewieP's Mummy

I've been involved in G&T's SS for 2 years now - first as the painter for LewieP's gift, then in my own right last year. I was an Easter Bunny as well, last year cos a few people didn't get a gift, but the vast majority do. Its good fun - I've learnt how to cyber stalk now, so as well as an increased vocabulary, I've learnt a new skill (albeit not that useful, but fun).

I god fab gifts off my Santa, and will be joining in again this year.

Nova_C

Whether or not you can participate is usually up to the discretion of the person running the SS. Once signups open, just ask if you can participate. If they don't let you, don't argue the point, because if you're still around the following year they'll probably let you in then. But if you're a dick about it, they probably won't. :P

I get wildly different stuff each year. My first year I got a waffle iron. :P

Lord Yod

Secret Santa is probably my favorite thing about the PA forums. Last year I got a set of metal dice and an octagon to roll them in. They get used every weekend now.

If you have the chance to participate you definitely should.

Raneados

I've done SE's a few times



1) no monetary limit or minimum. Get as much or as little as you want. Don't be surprised if spending a dollar gets you lumped into the "did not participate" category. I believe Katchen_ash was ejected from the SS for just this reason last time. Also spending hundreds of dollars might be a little uncomfortable for the other person.


2) it'll happen. and surprisingly it tends to happen with the more well-known posters. Sometimes there are good excuses but sometimes they're just assholes. We do try to make sure everyone gets something every year.

3) shrug. books and dvds and personalized gifts are pretty standard

4) Kuribo's Shoe and Ani_B

MichaelLC

I've done G&T for the last two years, and it's a great experience. Was a Bunny the first year too.

As Figgy said, the minimum limit is around $15, but no one was a dick unless they got a rock or something. On the other end, someone bought a trip to and a place in the Smash Bros. tourney. Yes, a trip.

Creativity/artistic ability is always appreciated. I, sadly, have none.

cooljammer00

Hmm, I might have to finally throw my hat into the ring this year. The threat of utter destruction has always kept me wary of participating, lest my sent package get lost in transit shipping overseas or something, getting me banned hard.

Raneados

cooljammer00 wrote: »

Hmm, I might have to finally throw my hat into the ring this year. The threat of utter destruction has always kept me wary of participating, lest my sent package get lost in transit shipping overseas or something, getting me banned hard.

you're always given plenty of time to resend gifts

another reason not to spend hundreds of dollars

Kuribo's Shoe

Raneados wrote: »

I've done SE's a few times



1) no monetary limit or minimum. Get as much or as little as you want. Don't be surprised if spending a dollar gets you lumped into the "did not participate" category. I believe Katchen_ash was ejected from the SS for just this reason last time. Also spending hundreds of dollars might be a little uncomfortable for the other person.


2) it'll happen. and surprisingly it tends to happen with the more well-known posters. Sometimes there are good excuses but sometimes they're just assholes. We do try to make sure everyone gets something every year.

3) shrug. books and dvds and personalized gifts are pretty standard

4) Kuribo's Shoe and Ani_B

I'm actually not doing it this year. It looks like neville wants to take over, but I don't know anything official about that.

Captain Vash

I missed out 2008, but I participated in the GT secret santa 2006 and 2007, and it's been real awesome. the second time I participated I was unfortunate enough to be one of the very few people who didn't receive anything, but I was very very fortunate to be included in the "easter bunny donations" or what have you that they did that year for people who were ignored by their Santas.

aside from being an incredibly generous and kind human being, forum-er Kendrik, turned me on to a really great book series that I would have never heard of otherwise.

I sometimes forget I've been an active member on this board since F**king 2005. thanks for making me feel old.

at any rate, provided I remember this year I'll for sure be signing up. it's good fun.

Zyre

H&A (this forum) is really the only one I post in, very rarely do I venture onto the others as I do not have the time and patience to read through 20+ pages of posts on a topic, where-as this forum most topics range from 1-5 pages at most.

I would really like to see a Secret Santa for H&A.

I'd Fuck Chuck Lidell Up

Zyre wrote: »

H&A (this forum) is really the only one I post in, very rarely do I venture onto the others as I do not have the time and patience to read through 20+ pages of posts on a topic, where-as this forum most topics range from 1-5 pages at most.

I would really like to see a Secret Santa for H&A.

H/A SS would be hard as posting is usually fairly sporadic and I've only seen a few people who post constantly in this forum. As far as SE++ SS goes that's probably my favorite. it hits a wider target so you're less likely to know what you are getting (I think I got Snow Crash, 4 tradeback comic books, and shark week one year) which was awesome.

another thing i like about it is if you didn't get a gift from yours a lot pf times people who either didn't participate or are feeling generous will band together and send you something awesome.

JaysonFour

Can you only participate in one Secret Santa a year?

VisionOfClarity

Zyre wrote: »

H&A (this forum) is really the only one I post in, very rarely do I venture onto the others as I do not have the time and patience to read through 20+ pages of posts on a topic, where-as this forum most topics range from 1-5 pages at most.

I would really like to see a Secret Santa for H&A.

Well you could always talk to the mods about getting permission to start one but I hear running one can be very stressful. I know there are a good amount of people who post here regularly but some post in one of the other forums as well. I say talk to Than and Pheezer about if you could start a thread to see if there's interest for an H/A SS or if they even think it would be a good idea to have one.

Willeth

Figgy wrote: »

The monetary limit is $10 or $15, fairly low.

This isn't exactly hard and fast. I'm sure no-one would object to receiving more - I seem to remember that quite a few people got rather decent packages last year, and I know that I sent quite a bit more than the limit. As long as you are comfortable with spending a lot and receiving no more than the limit, feel free to go nuts if you can.

I will echo that for it to be a good time for all, make sure you look into who the person is, what their hobbies are, what they would like and already have etc. Obviously games are the first solution anyone jumps to here, but in my experience they've been frowned upon precisely because we're all gamers - we buy what we want before anyone else has a chance to buy it for us.

matt has a problem

JaysonFour wrote: »

Can you only participate in one Secret Santa a year?

You can participate in as many as will include you. Usually it's limited to the forums where you're well known though.

Teslan26

VisionOfClarity wrote: »

I only know the SE++ Secret Satan because that's the only forum I really post in excluding H&A. This coming year will be my first year because I didn't feel like I posted enough there last year to do it. Here's last year's thread. It pretty much says it all. if you don't post there though you shouldn't do it, I think that's par for the other forums as well. I don't know if H&A has one, I know G&T does but I think AC does as well.

Freudian slip? >_>

I'd Fuck Chuck Lidell Up

Teslan26 wrote: »

VisionOfClarity wrote: »

I only know the SE++ Secret Satan because that's the only forum I really post in excluding H&A. This coming year will be my first year because I didn't feel like I posted enough there last year to do it. Here's last year's thread. It pretty much says it all. if you don't post there though you shouldn't do it, I think that's par for the other forums as well. I don't know if H&A has one, I know G&T does but I think AC does as well.

Freudian slip? >_>

not so, SE++ calls it just that... we even have a theme song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De8ykmm_2_o

LewieP's Mummy

Even I know that!

Teslan26

Yeah, well, I only came here in January so I know nothing ^_^

Interjection

I remember seeing these, and I think I would like to participate. But I really jump around too much, and it's hard to imagine anybody remembering me from anywhere in these forums. Unless I offended them in some way...which would have been totally unintentional and I don't know about it.

Improvolone

Interjection wrote: »

I remember seeing these, and I think I would like to participate. But I really jump around too much, and it's hard to imagine anybody remembering me from anywhere in these forums. Unless I offended them in some way...which would have been totally unintentional and I don't know about it.

Searching your username and googling your real name (which is provided to your Santa for shipping/stalking purposes) helps quite a bit. Then you be a good Santee and post more than normal about things you like in random threads.

Last year I asked for anything awesome. I got a great book, RC helicopters, and candy. This was for the G&T SS, even though I rarely post in there. This year I've been posting there even less, so Santa usually stalks by HA, DD, and Tech posts.

MichaelLC

Improvolone wrote: »

Interjection wrote: »

I remember seeing these, and I think I would like to participate. But I really jump around too much, and it's hard to imagine anybody remembering me from anywhere in these forums. Unless I offended them in some way...which would have been totally unintentional and I don't know about it.

Searching your username and googling your real name (which is provided to your Santa for shipping/stalking purposes) helps quite a bit. Then you be a good Santee and post more than normal about things you like in random threads.

Yeah, it's a good idea to start seeding threads now, so your Santa can search 60, 90 days back. Some Santees will post their other handles if their really active on another site too. Sort of depends on how much you want them to know.

Sure is a nice day out, wish I had a Bugatti Veyron to go cruising in.

Hypatia

If I remember correctly (and I probably don't) I think that the G&T Secret Santa the minimum to spend was $20 and there was no maximum. It was run by Doc Holliday and if you'd like to see what people got I dumped all of the pictures with what people posted about their gifts on Flickr, it's sorted by the forum name of the receiver.

There's also a page with a listing of everyone who participated and how many deadbeat Santas there were.

Edit: Added the link to the list of Secret Santa peeps for the G&T one last year

THEPAIN73

Hypatia wrote: »

If I remember correctly (and I probably don't) I think that the G&T Secret Santa the minimum to spend was $20 and there was no maximum. It was run by Doc Holliday and if you'd like to see what people got I dumped all of the pictures with what people posted about their gifts on Flickr, it's sorted by the forum name of the receiver.

There's also a page with a listing of everyone who participated and how many deadbeat Santas there were.

Edit: Added the link to the list of Secret Santa peeps for the G&T one last year

Wow yeah that should give me some good ideas as well.

Thanks.

Captain Vash

MichaelLC wrote: »

Improvolone wrote: »

Interjection wrote: »

I remember seeing these, and I think I would like to participate. But I really jump around too much, and it's hard to imagine anybody remembering me from anywhere in these forums. Unless I offended them in some way...which would have been totally unintentional and I don't know about it.

Searching your username and googling your real name (which is provided to your Santa for shipping/stalking purposes) helps quite a bit. Then you be a good Santee and post more than normal about things you like in random threads.

Yeah, it's a good idea to start seeding threads now, so your Santa can search 60, 90 days back. Some Santees will post their other handles if their really active on another site too. Sort of depends on how much you want them to know.

Sure is a nice day out, wish I had a Bugatti Veyron to go cruising in.

If I win the lottery, and then get you as SS, I would do it just for comic value.

Gabriel_Pitt

THEPAIN73 wrote: »

2. How often do people back out?

People rarely back out, since the penalty is usually pretty clearly stated. Still, some people do, and I got stuck with one of them for the CF SS a while back. The guy kept dropping me PMs telling me he was sorry for being late, but my present would be so awesome when he finished it, so I just kept waiting and never bothered to report his deadbeat status, and eventually just forgot about it. Until the next SS rolled around and I realized I was still waiting for my santa from the last one :P, by which point I guess it was too late to do anything about it, since last I saw, he was still posting in SE.

As for a H/A SS, I think that'd be a little weird. The other forums have something of a sense of common community, since posters are linked by interest, participation, and familiarity, which due to its nature, H/A lacks.

Willeth

Gabriel_Pitt wrote: »

THEPAIN73 wrote: »

2. How often do people back out?

People rarely back out, since the penalty is usually pretty clearly stated. Still, some people do, and I got stuck with one of them for the CF SS a while back. The guy kept dropping me PMs telling me he was sorry for being late, but my present would be so awesome when he finished it, so I just kept waiting and never bothered to report his deadbeat status, and eventually just forgot about it. Until the next SS rolled around and I realized I was still waiting for my santa from the last one :P, by which point I guess it was too late to do anything about it, since last I saw, he was still posting in SE.

That's pretty fucked up. Is he still around?

Forar

I've participated in a number of SS's over the years; usually G&T, D&D, and sometimes GV. I'm not a frequent enough poster to poke my head into the SE++ one.

I've also "bunny'd" the last few years, which is to say that I hooked up people who got screwed out of a gift by their Santa/Satan, so I wouldn't worry too much about not getting anything. Most of them have a "if you fuck this up, you will be banned" clause that keeps people in check, and I think last year most of the required you to have been an active forum member for at least a few months prior, so if you're approaching a year, you should be good.

I think last year we start talking about the various SS's around October, most of them kicked off by November, and the deadline for gifts aims for December, but a little leeway into January isn't usually too horrific. I believe the cutoff for the ones I participated in was January 31st, and then people started getting in trouble.

It's a good time, and while I hope my gifts (usually bought through Amazon, in order to put my available cash entirely into the gift, due to free shipping) aren't too weak compared to the awesome hand crafted items. Hell, one guy built a mini-rail gun (I believe it's actually a 'coil gun', but rail gun is more fun to say), which was beyond incredible.

Gabriel_Pitt

Willeth wrote: »

Gabriel_Pitt wrote: »

THEPAIN73 wrote: »

2. How often do people back out?

People rarely back out, since the penalty is usually pretty clearly stated. Still, some people do, and I got stuck with one of them for the CF SS a while back. The guy kept dropping me PMs telling me he was sorry for being late, but my present would be so awesome when he finished it, so I just kept waiting and never bothered to report his deadbeat status, and eventually just forgot about it. Until the next SS rolled around and I realized I was still waiting for my santa from the last one :P, by which point I guess it was too late to do anything about it, since last I saw, he was still posting in SE.

That's pretty fucked up. Is he still around?

According to his profile, he was online yesterday, but he hasn't posted since March or so. If anyone is really interested about who it was, I bitched about it pretty thoroughly in the previous CF Santa thread or two. I think part of the problem is that back when this happened, CF (nee Of Dice and Men) was still pretty new, and the Santa thread was more informal than in the other forums, with less explicit rules of participation and authority backing it up.

Also the fact that he never posted in CF again, or anywhere else outside of SE++ means we've never crossed paths, and although I'm obviously still irked, I'm not inclined to track him down.

Kyougu

Man, the Secret Santa thread is always my favorite thread of the year. It's awesome seeing people's reactions to gift, and some people really go all out with thought. People "stalk" each other, finding out myspace pages, facebook things, random posting in other forums, it's really pretty cool.

The G&T thread even has it's own meme of "Books are gay", coming from a guy a couple of years back who bitched about books being gay when he got some pretty cool books. Worse part? The guy ended up either giving a really shitty gift or no gift.

MichaelLC

Captain Vash wrote: »

MichaelLC wrote: »

Yeah, it's a good idea to start seeding threads now, so your Santa can search 60, 90 days back. Some Santees will post their other handles if their really active on another site too. Sort of depends on how much you want them to know.

Sure is a nice day out, wish I had a Bugatti Veyron to go cruising in.

If I win the lottery, and then get you as SS, I would do it just for comic value.

Did I mention my favorite color is blue? :winky:

Speaking of Santa memes, may the good lord help you if you get Mike or Jerry either as a Santa or Santee.

neville

Kuribo's Shoe wrote: »

Raneados wrote: »

I've done SE's a few times



1) no monetary limit or minimum. Get as much or as little as you want. Don't be surprised if spending a dollar gets you lumped into the "did not participate" category. I believe Katchen_ash was ejected from the SS for just this reason last time. Also spending hundreds of dollars might be a little uncomfortable for the other person.


2) it'll happen. and surprisingly it tends to happen with the more well-known posters. Sometimes there are good excuses but sometimes they're just assholes. We do try to make sure everyone gets something every year.

3) shrug. books and dvds and personalized gifts are pretty standard

4) Kuribo's Shoe and Ani_B

I'm actually not doing it this year. It looks like neville wants to take over, but I don't know anything official about that.

Shoe: TELL TUBE THIS.

I'd Fuck Chuck Lidell Up

MichaelLC wrote: »

Captain Vash wrote: »

MichaelLC wrote: »

Yeah, it's a good idea to start seeding threads now, so your Santa can search 60, 90 days back. Some Santees will post their other handles if their really active on another site too. Sort of depends on how much you want them to know.

Sure is a nice day out, wish I had a Bugatti Veyron to go cruising in.

If I win the lottery, and then get you as SS, I would do it just for comic value.

Did I mention my favorite color is blue? :winky:

Speaking of Santa memes, may the good lord help you if you get Mike or Jerry either as a Santa or Santee.

the answer ot the question "what do you get a man who has everything he wants" is always

"something he never wanted but has to feign appreciation for anyways"

Front row Jonas Brothers tickets is a good way to start

I myself wouldn't mind receiving a gift from one of them.

my 2000 civic is out of date and I wouldn't mind aV12 Vantage

in all seriousness though I doubt they have as much as we think they do. I'll bet Khoo keeps most finances on lockdown so they dont go out of business

Kyougu

Raneados wrote: »

I've done SE's a few times



1) no monetary limit or minimum. Get as much or as little as you want. Don't be surprised if spending a dollar gets you lumped into the "did not participate" category. I believe Katchen_ash was ejected from the SS for just this reason last time. Also spending hundreds of dollars might be a little uncomfortable for the other person.


2) it'll happen. and surprisingly it tends to happen with the more well-known posters. Sometimes there are good excuses but sometimes they're just assholes. We do try to make sure everyone gets something every year.

3) shrug. books and dvds and personalized gifts are pretty standard

4) Kuribo's Shoe and Ani_B

Man, Ash was an ass. Last year he got kicked out of the G&T SS for ranting about how any gift that wasn't "OMG KAWAII ANIME JAPAN RULES!" would be worthless to him.