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Hello goonlings and welcome to the 2017 Book Barn Secret Santa! We had fun last year so I'm hoping this year will be another success with lots of goons sending each other books for Christmas. Check out last year's thread with lots of photos of presents! Sound fun? Well, a secret santa is a pretty straightforward idea, but this OP goes into detail to make it as simple as possible for me and because this is about real personal information and money. So, if you're interested, read this whole post first and ask if you've got any questions. Then you can sign up by posting in this thread and emailing bookbarnsecretsanta@gmail.com. Please put your username in the subject line. I'll reply to confirm you're in the Santa, so if I don't reply, send me another email – no reply means you're not in. You have until Monday 20th November to sign up. What to post in the thread The kinds of books you'd like or not like, and if an e-book or audiobook present is okay – if so, say what equipment you've got. Be explicit; your Santa may be a Luddite. Also add anything else you'd like to be public, such as your goodreads profile or whatever. When you email me, include the following information: Username: Please put this in your email's subject line. Real Name and Address: I'll need to tell your Santa your real name and the address you want stuff sent to (including the country). If you're in a non-English speaking country, please send me your address in both English and your local language. Postage: Your country, regional, or worldwide OK. See below for more information. Anything else: Anything else I or your Santa might need to know that you want to be private, for instance, good local bookshops/websites to order from, or people you don't want to be matched with. What to get your match The idea of the Secret Santa is to spread joy and love. Do your best to get your match something that they will enjoy. There are two big guidelines. One, read their sign-up post. Two, the present should be worth roughly the cost of a new hardback novel in your country – about US$25. This is important. Nobody should feel cheated when their Santa sends them something much less than they sent. Apart from that, it's all good. You can look at last year's thread for ideas. You don't have to just give your match one book. Nor do they have to be new, just good as new. Book-related things are also cool; a little extra unrelated to books, is fine too. Try to surprise your match – that's part of the fun! A book token is boring, so don't send that. Remember that your match may already have the book you sent them, so get a gift receipt if possible – this may not work across international borders, etc, but is a nice idea. Can anyone join in? To join, you must be an actively posting goon with an account at least six months old and at least one post outside the thread so we know you're not trying to join4books. If you aren't, but someone can vouch for you, you're in. Just ask them to email bookbarnsecretsanta@gmail.com saying you're a good sort. You must be willing to let me, Hieronymus Alloy (who will also have access to the gmail account), and your Santa know your real name and address. You must also be willing to provide some extra information, such as phone number or email, if the Post Office needs it to deliver to you. Obviously, this is all personal information. You must not use it outside of the Secret Santa – only to send your present. I will only use it to match goons up and tell Santas where to post their stuff. Two more things. First, sending ebooks/audiobooks internationally may be an issue, so you must be willing to accept a physical present. Secondly, this is a commitment. If you're about to have a baby, be sued for everything you own, or otherwise have trouble fulfilling that commitment, please think twice before joining in. There's always next year. Unless you're terminally ill, but then you've got bigger problems. Postage Postage charges come on top of the cost of the presents. Do not spend $5 on a present and $20 on postage! I advise you to post early or order online from a shop in your match's country to make it cheaper. Presents should arrive by Saturday December 23rd, so post yours by Saturday December 9th at the latest to ensure they arrive for Christmas, and earlier if possible. Postage on time and in good condition is your responsibility. You can also avoid all this trouble by sending an ebook or audiobook gift if your match is happy with that. I will try to arrange things so that postage is as easy as possible. Last year I arranged goons into regions (North America, Europe, Pacific) and people sent gifts within those regions. If this is OK with you, please describe your postage as regional when you email me. If you're rich, organised, and up for posting anywhere in the world, say worldwide OK. If you're only ready to post things within your country, say [my country] only. If you're in the USA, this shouldn't be a problem. In any other country, it might just be, so consider plugging this Secret Santa in a regional thread or somewhere you know other people from your country post. If it looks like there might be issues with postage, I'll be in touch before signups end. What exactly to do in step-by-step detail 1. Finish reading this whole post and ask any questions you have in the thread. 2. Post in this thread saying you're in, as above. Then bookmark the thread. 3. Email bookbarnsecretsanta@gmail.com, as above, and get a confirmation email. 4. Signups will close on Monday 20th November. Before Thursday 24th Novmeber, I'll email you with your match's information. You should then read their post and think of about US$25 worth of stuff they'd like. 5. Post it to them. Label the present as being part of the Secret Santa so they know what it is. You must post by Saturday December 9th, the earlier the better, and take a photo of your proof of postage. You don't need to show me, but if your present is late it'll be useful to prove that you did, in fact, send a present. Then, post in the thread that you've sent the present. If you sent ebooks, post in the thread too. 6. When your present arrives, post in the thread so I and your Santa know it arrived safely. 7. You don't have to open it at once, but when you do, post photos and thank your Santa. This is a rule, not a suggestion. 8. When your match posts to say thank you, step forward and take a bow, or at least post to say you were glad they liked it. 9. Your present should arrive by Saturday December 23rd at the latest – if not, let me know and I'll check with your Santa. This is why you need proof of postage. 10. If you have a problem with anything, please get in touch with me or the mod ASAP. Anything else? Pop quiz: How much should your gift be worth, and when should it reach your match? If you can't answer these questions, read the post again. If you might have to email you about something – if so, please reply ASAP so as not to hold everyone else up, or delay your own present. If someone vanishes I'd rather cut them out than delay everyone. If you'd like to be involved without receiving anything, you can sign up as a backup Santa. If they don't get anything, you'll be the one to make sure they do. This didn't happen last year and it's unlikely to, but if you'd like to do this, feel free. If you would like to send extra Christmas presents to everyone, like last year's sex magick pdfs from CestMoi, please get in touch! It was super cool of him to do this and I'd be delighted to make it happen again. If it does, I'll post in the thread and participants must tell me they want it by email or PMs. You don't get it automatically. If you need to contact your match, please do so via me, and I'll pass a message on to them. It's unlikely to happen, but if you mess up, expect the moderator's wrath, depending on how grievous a sin you have committed. Obviously if something is delayed, lost, or damaged in the post that's not your fault. Please tell other subforums and threads about this! The most important thing... I know there's a lot of rules here, but they're purely to prevent drama. Hopefully it'll come down to nothing more complex than “give your match a nice present well in time for Christmas”. Don't sweat it. Merry Christmas everyone! Safety Biscuits fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Nov 3, 2017 |
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Oct 26, 2017 06:20
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This year's gallery of Christmas cheer: Pleiades gave Franchescanado: Franchescanado posted:Santaman came to town early! Franchescanado posted:
TheManFromFOXHOUND gave Pleiades: Pleiades posted:I got a nice letter, three books, and a picture of a baby girl! Thank you, Santa! Safety Biscuits gave cryptoclastic: cryptoclastic posted:
cryptoclastic gave USMC_Karl: USMC_Karl posted:Man, you are the best secret santa gift giver. Another book that I wanted to read but would never buy for myself, Free Country: A Penniless Adventure the Length of Britain, and a total unknown book that sounds very interesting indeed, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. USMC_Karl gave Megabound: Megabound posted:My present just got delivered, thanks, Santa! Chocolate Milk gave Military Cervix: Bilirubin gave TheBoat: TheBoat gave TheManFromFOXHOUND: TheManFromFOXHOUND posted:https://imgur.com/a/CA5j1 Safety Biscuits fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Dec 17, 2017 |
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Oct 26, 2017 06:21
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I changed the name of "international OK" postage to "worldwide ok" to reinforce the fact that you might end up posting anywhere in the world. I'm not going to abuse this if you sign up for it, but there's a possibility we'll have one guy sign up with nobody nearby and I'll need to cover a gap. If you want to change what you wrote, email me.
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Nov 3, 2017 07:02
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USMC_Karl posted:Just browsing around through the good reads profiles of everyone that has posted thus far and realized that a few of you only have a couple books listed up there. I have a couple good ideas for gifts and all of them seem to be pretty safe, but what exactly happens if I get someone a book that they already have? Read your match's post, use your common sense, and hope for the best. This is why you should put lots of details in your sign up post! But don't sweat it; there's a lot of books in the world and you're unlikely to give your match something they already have unless it's Hamlet. If you do, well, that's just bad luck. Try to include a gift receipt if possible, but there's only so much you can do and if you're acting in good faith, you won't get in any kind of trouble. quote:As a secondary question, one of my idea books comes in paperback and electronic format which are <$10, but the hardback starts at something crazy like $400. If I were to, say, buy two or three books for whomever I'm buying a gift for, would that be kosher? As long as the price is at/near $25, that is. Buying multiple books is fine, it's in the op. Look at last year's thread if you want ideas.
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Nov 6, 2017 07:09
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Now someone else will see the posts and won't have to ask  Just as a reminder, if you've been in a Secret Santa before, you still have to email me your details or you're not in the Santa! I need to know! Meanwhile, I just made a thread to post your bookshelves to definitively answer whether your match has that book you're thinking of getting him.
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Nov 7, 2017 06:41
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CestMoi posted:I'll send fun books to anyone that takes part again Thank you very much! For anyone who didn't get them last year, CestMoi put together a weird stocking-filler anthology to everyone who said they wanted one. Mine had a Tang Dynasty poem, a hangover cure, and an Englishwoman's probably-fictional account of meeting tantric cults in Tibet, or something. I have no idea what's going to be in them, but please email me if you want one. A human heart, I see you don't have PMs so feel free to email me too.
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Nov 7, 2017 13:38
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TheBoat posted:How do I jump in on this stocking--filler-train? Email me. I'll remind everyone when signups go out too. I'm in the Secret Santa too. You can see a list of almost everything I've read this year in the booklord thread. The list is, like my cock, risibly short, but I hope I'll have more reading time next year. (And here's my bookshelves.) You can see I'm more into literature and nonfiction, but I'm easy within those guidelines; I'm particularly into history and I've just started reading criticism. I can get classic stuff and the latest releases here, so something a bit more obscure or a few years old would be nice. The best books I read this year were 100 Years of Solitude, The Man with the Compound Eyes, and The Motion of Light in Water, but don't think you have to look for magic realism about gay black people in NYC. Safety Biscuits fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Nov 20, 2017 |
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Nov 20, 2017 05:18
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Sign-ups are now closed. I'll send you your match in a day or two.
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Nov 21, 2017 05:13
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Matches have been sent out!USMC_Karl posted:Stoked, this should be fun. Actually it's really boring, I only tell people it's fun to get them to join in. Sorry about that.
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Nov 21, 2017 12:31
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I just posted my gift, and I had to get the priority mail which was expensive and a pain in the neck because you have to write out your address and the recipient's three times, ugh. I should have done it earlier. Thanks for everyone posting that they have sent their package, and if you have, please let me know.Franchescanado posted:Santaman came to town early! Wow, someone was organised. Step up and take a bow, Santa! I hope you enjoy The Devil You Know - it's a really good urban fantasy/mystery. Mike Carey wrote a stint on HELLBLAZER, and it shows. Safety Biscuits fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Dec 5, 2017 |
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Dec 5, 2017 15:18
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I hope you like them!
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Dec 9, 2017 16:15
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I'm glad to see Christmas cheer arriving everywhere! Yesterday was the deadline for posting presents. If you haven't told me you've posted your present, please do. As long as it gets there by Christmas, it's fine, of course - just please let me know so I don't worry about it! Thanks.
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Dec 10, 2017 13:52
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Check it out! The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima and Inherent Vice by Pynchon! I've only read one of Mishima's books so I'm excited to be getting on with this one. Meanwhile, Pynchon is one of my favourite writers but I haven't read his newer novels yet, so another great choice. Oh, and that thing in the middle? A 3D-printed bust of Evangelion Unit 01! Thanks a bunch, Megabound, what great presents! - And that (almost) concludes our Secret Santa 2018! If you've got any comments, complaints, suggestions, or anything, please email or PM me. If you'd like to me to tell you when the next one starts, drop me a line and I'll store your email (and no other personal information).
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Jan 5, 2018 15:22
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