Secret Santa 2019 Thread #6: Salty Aftermath Edition

[Anonymous No.10329479]

Sign Up Deadline: October 16, 2019
Matches Sent Out: October 21, 2019 (early!)
Domestic Shipping Deadline: December 15, 2019
Domestic Grinch Check: January 10, 2020
International Shipping Deadline: December 15, 2019
International Grinch Check: January 31, 2020

FAQ, rules, info, etc:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16LJX1HRw9tsGnPCooQD3Rk9MbLvwFaAMw27XAsgn8AQ/edit?usp=sharing

Looks like all gifts have been sent out and most have been received! If somehow you feel like something was missed, haven't sent your gifts already, or haven't received an update to your gift, please let Santa or the helpers know. And please remember to post using ID numbers or initials to respect privacy of giftees.

Last thread >>10311744

[Anonymous No.10329503]

Santa #7001
$100+ tier

Let me start by saying how sweet and well thought out your gift is. Thank you so much! You really took your time to pick everything and you even made me a macaron pillow (which matches my living room perfectly!) which I really appreciate.

Everything was wrapped in festive wrapping paper and looked gorgeous. I loved all the accessories you included, especially the resin jewelry and the teapot necklace! Honestly, everything was so cute.

However, I am also a little sad, because it looks like the weather and the postal service weren't on my side this time. 1/3 of the stationary got damaged by water, as well as the beautiful OP... I feared this may happen, especially once I saw the shape the box was in when I received it. There is mold and rust from the detachable bow. I will take it to dry cleaning, and the stationary will dry in the sun for a little bit.

Hoping for the best. I would advise gulls to waterproof their gifts in the future, just to avoid anything like this happening! I really loved the gift, once again thanks so much santa, and I hope I will manage to save (and wear) this OP. Hope you're having a great year so far.

- #4787

[Anonymous No.10329505]

>>10329503
#4786* too

[PartyShark !!at4riut4I6p No.10329762]

Thank you to the person who started the thread!

ALL gifts gave been sent out! There are still some waiting on recieving gifts, so if you haven't recieved an email from me and are still awaiting a gift, please drop your ID and I'll have a look to see what's going on!

[Anonymous No.10330103]

>>10329503
Now this makes me excited for next year for the 100+ tier!! This looks like a great haul. I also love your Second kitty hiding under the table with just her butt sticking out haha.

>>10329479

Hey Santa When will all the gifts be posted for us to look Santa

[PartyShark !!at4riut4I6p No.10330148]

Here are the photos from this year (should be on top of the album) I tried to order them from cards to $100+ but a lot of it was guesswork! Apologies for long link.. everything else is spam?

> https://photos.google.com/u/1/share/AF1QipM6dx7ts_60aDENmoOfm6-FFdJOKJAXMupiL61rBsGPtI7BdS5Cwx0TNaTO0C-Wkg?key=Vk9acV9oa1ROUW9vV0xoNFlMc3BVZklWTFpoUGFR

[Anonymous No.10330169]

>>10329316
>>10329317
I'm relieved it arrived safely! I had a lot of fun with this match. The organizers did a great job.

[SantaGull2019 !!qj1PMYTHNS/ No.10330292]

Thank you all for participating, I would like to post this feedback form and encourage everyone to fill it out.
There are two sections, one with feedback for the event, and one with feedback and proposed changes to the whitelist and tier system for next year. Let your vote shape how we conduct our event next year!

https://forms.gle/X5mNboo44vmvKn8e8

[SantaGull2019 !!qj1PMYTHNS/ No.10330294]

>>10330292
Oh, one more thing- I will (hopefully soon) post the stats from this year’s exchange and the always popular word cloud!

[SantaGull2019 !!qj1PMYTHNS/ No.10330346]

Just got this first one done- these are all the tags for what people had under their 'likes' section, stuff they wanted, hobbies, etc.

[Anonymous No.10330358]

>>10330346
love how big cats is compared to dogs

[Anonymous No.10330482]

>>10330346
>Disney
>Listen Flavor
Glad to know I'm not the only one with good taste.

[Anonymous No.10330486]

>>10330292
The proposed changes for the whitelist is very smart. I think it's something we'll all agree on as well.

I do have a suggestion though about the tiers just after seeing complaints about splurging in the higher tiers and the limited amount of $100+ matches leading to an incident.

Do you think the $50-75 and 100+ tiers could just be adjusted?

$50-75 and then $75+

I know I personally don't join the $100+ tier thinking "Well what if I get someone that i don't know how to buy for? How am I supposed to spend $100 on them?" and yet at the same time I spent well over $100 on my $50-75 matches, which seemed to be a big no-no in many opinions this year.

The difference between the two tiers is just an extra $25. Would it just be easier to make the $100+ tier into a $75+ tier and open it up to more people joining/being matches?

[Anonymous No.10330633]

>>10330292
Doesn't this change to whitelist mean that new participants could only sign up for the lowest tier (15-25)?

[Anonymous No.10330648]

>>10330633
if I understood correctly, you could sign up for a higher tier if it was your second, or third (etc) gift. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Anonymous No.10330718]

ID 6006 checking in. My card matches 6646 and 3131 have not posted that my cards arrived. Did they arrive safely? I'm a little bit worried since I sent them drawings and now I'm just sitting here wondering if they were too ugly or too personal to post. Did you like them? I haven't been contacted as a potential Grinch so I'm a bit confused.

[Anonymous No.10330746]

>>10330718
I was also matched with 3131, and they haven't posted mine either, so I don't think it's personal. Shit happens.

[Anonymous No.10330840]

>>10330718
6646 here! I was waiting to receive all my cards and post a big collage of them (also because I was out of town and my family was holding them for me). But I will post it soon, I’m really sorry to keep you waiting so long.

[Anonymous No.10330877]

Mine received their gift on the 27th and haven't posted ( They could be upset I guess >.<). I think I will stick to in state next time. I shipped my gift out on the 2nd of December and it got to them on the 27th of January. Paid almost 70 bucks in shipping international to. I was hoping that it would get to them in time before Christmas to, since they said shipping would take only 15 days.

[Anonymous No.10331010]

>>10330718
I also sent a card to 3131, kind of glad I'm not the only one. as long as you have proof that you sent the cards out you shouldn't be worried about being labelled a grinch.

[Anonymous No.10331059]

>>10330877
Mine did the same thing. Received it and never posted it or responded to me asking if they got it.
I'd contact the santa team about it just to cover yourself so they know you sent it.

[Anonymous No.10331074]

Two cards and one gift never posted either, though I know they got them bc they posted on their social media which they linked on their form. Posting here is part of the rules too!

[Anonymous No.10331147]

ID: 3523

I had a good laugh because I bought some japanese candy for myself the day before, so suddenly I had a lot! I absolutely love the shirts, they are 100% what I meant in my form.

The no more movie thief keychains are great too, and they're going straight to my itabag.

[Anonymous No.10331181]

>>10330877
27th is kind of recent to be worried, no?

[Anonymous No.10331563]

>>10331147
Glad you liked your gift and it made it to you safe. Sorry it got to you pretty late.
It took me a while to track down those keychains since you had specific ones you wanted. :3

[Anonymous No.10331578]

>>10330840
Apology accepted! I can breathe a sigh of relief now that there's no uncertainty as to why my card hasn't been posted. Here's to hoping that 3131 can do something similar with all the cards she received. It's better late than never!

[Anonymous No.10332063]

please please dont change how white list works.

Ive done this for three years and finally have a job where I can participate in 100+ and wanted to do it for 2-3 people. Ive been looking forward to doing this for like 3 years. I really dont want to be forced to do 50$ tier. If this white list change happens Im not even going to bother joining next year. Man..I was so so excited that I could finally participate in the big stuff and even have money put aside for 2020 secret santa. BIG SAD.

[Anonymous No.10332069]

>>10332063
If you've done this for three years and have been on the white list, it shouldn't effect you. I think this is just for new whitelist people.

[Anonymous No.10332077]

>>10332069
Ive only been in the 25$ tier every year and some cards because I didnt have a job, but now that I do I can actually really put in a lot of extra love into my gifts. Medical problems prevented me from having a job for awhile.

[Anonymous No.10332461]

I couldn't sleep last night, and my sleep-deprived brain thought it was a good idea to fill out the survey at 3am. I'm worried my ramblings may have gotten incoherent, so here's a retry:

I'm against the whitelist change.

It was my 1st time participating. I did my time in the newbie pool of 30-40, and I feel like I did a good job (got my match the category they requested, from their favorite brand, from japan) so I should be able to participate in the potential-to-get-each-other-decent-main-pieces tier, 100+. I'm not looking forward to a grind of 3 more years of lower-tier stuff before I get a chance at the ideal gull moment where I get my match a nice main piece and my santa does likewise.

And on the flipside, I don't feel like I need more protection provided by the organizers. I was 100% satisfied with this event, and it's not because my santa turned out to be Mana and overspent on me and became my lifelong penpal or some other fantasy situation. I was prepared to be 100% satisfied even with a gift I hate as long as it fulfills the rules of being in the price mimimum, arriving approximately on time, and being based on my interests form. I trust the organizers and grinch squad to uphold that, and I don't think it's their job to make sure your matches are mind-readers with top-tier taste. I think 1 year is sufficient to find out whether a person is a scammer, and we don't need a 4-year tournament a la Flavor of Love.

[Anonymous No.10332474]

>>10332461
>I think 1 year is sufficient to find out whether a person is a scammer

You'd be surprised.

[Anonymous No.10332477]

>>10332474
if someone is such a cold-blooded scammer that they have a multi-year plan to decieve, isn't the grinch squad sufficient for covering those psychopath cases?

[Anonymous No.10332535]

>>10332461
This. I don't know why anyone thinks grinding for years just to get to a decent tier is fun. It's going to make gifts lamer and a lot of people won't want to participate. Doesn't seem like anyone agrees with it desu. Whoever thought this up needs to burn this idea plz

[Anonymous No.10332910]

>tfw you are finally able to post on 4chan by going to another country due to local bans

ID 2555: gift RECEIVED (2/2)

So A MIRACLE HAS HAPPENED thanks all the gods and goddesses - I was able to finally receive the second part of my 75-100$ tier gift the last day of storage on 23th of January. This could not have happened at all and my gift could have been sent back to the sender because it had no tracking BUT I was granted a miracle of local chief’s presence last day I went to ask who just couldn’t ignore my inquiry and finally helped me out. She didn’t have to do so by the rules, but I guess she was in the right mood to look it up - if it wasn’t for her this could have been a truly pitiful experience for both sides. To all the Santas and helpers: please mind the tracking numbers when sending internationally!

And now for the gift: MY SANTA IS AMAZING. You’re truly wonderful, right?! Not only you got me so well with the first package, you literally sent me to the moon and back with joy. By the time I received the parcel I already knew what was inside (books), but I didn’t know which ones they were. And god I literally screamed unpacking when I saw those dream copies! The beadweaving book is, like you said in the message, almost impossible to find, and I’m so so touched and happy that you went through all the trouble to get it for me! The enameling books are wonderful and I really enjoyed your custom selection of other jewelry project books! Thank you so much, I’m so happy and grateful! I honestly couldn’t been happier!!!

[Anonymous No.10332977]

>>10329503
Aw I'm so glad you received it, it was stuck in customs for a worryingly long time.. I should have considered waterproofing it, but at least the damage can be fixed hopefully.. I think I read somewhere that white vinegar can help with that..? I'm glad you like everything! I was actually working on a little bonus thing relating to your character, but unfortunately it had to be put on hold. Hopefully I can finish it soon!

[Anonymous No.10333106]

>>10332977
I tried washing it in cold water with vinegar and some detergent, but it didn't take the mold out, at least not entirely. Rust didn't budge. I let it dry and will take it to a cleaning service asap. And omg, thank you so much! You're really talented, I'm so excited to see what it is now!

[Anonymous No.10333117]

>>10332461
this reflects my same opinion completely (as a member this year in a lower tier who had a great time). I spoiled my match and now know that a higher tier better would suit my gift-giving preferences. Lots of people are always willing to chip in and help grinched anons but most years there's only a few cases that need addressing by the end.

[Anonymous No.10333123]

>>10330877
Could be me you are referring to? So sorry to cause you stress in that case anon. The package did indeed arrive on the 27th after a nightmarish time in customs. Since I have been out of town since the 21st and was first able to pick it up yesterday when I got back :)

Thank you so much for the dress anon! I really dod not expect a main piece at this tier and Im so touched that you got inspiration from my dream dress. Im looking forward to trying the facial masks as well! Already tried the chak-chak and its amazing! lol you might have given me a new addiction.

Tier gift $30-$40.

[Anonymous No.10333129]

>>10332461

I had no issues with the whitelist change proposed as it was what I was gonna do anyway, If anything, allowing someone to be participate in $100+ after one lowest tier just makes me feel like it's the right decision to stick to the lower levels -- I can buy $100 main pieces for myself tyvm, I'd rather not entrust it to some noob who only did a low tier gift last year.

But since a lot of folks seem to be objecting to this, I wonder if it's a good idea to allow some exceptions, eg:
- you've completed at least one gift exchange and have at least 3 years of positive lacemarket/keimarket/ebay feedback, then you're whitelist to participate at any tier
- If you don't have any feedback then you have to climb the ladder year by year.

iirc there's already a question about being paired with someone who is both whitelisted and has lacemarket feedback, but that leaves out the cosplayers and jfashion folks, so doing eBay, etsy, or some other feedback might help with that. It'd create more work for the organisers though (I assume they do message the profiles to check if it's legit)

I wonder if there's other ways we can leverage social media or lacemarket accounts to hold folks accountable if they grinch.

It's nice we have a grinch squad step in, but at the same time, let's not make it so easy for freeloaders to game the system and then pass the buck to actual kind-hearted santas.

[Anonymous No.10333146]

>>10333129
you guys are making this too difficult. just require anons to send the cost of the tier amount and then send it back to them when their giftee gets the gifts.

[Anonymous No.10333154]

>>10333146
... What?

[Anonymous No.10333160]

>>10333154
lolitas used to do this alot for trades. imagine this example with 2 anons matched in say a $30 tier. kind of like a secured hold or collateral.
>both anons send the secret santa organizer $30 through something non-refundable like venmo
>anons send eachother their gifts, and proof to the organizer
>once both anons receive gifts, organizer sends them $30 back
>if one of them gets grinched the organizer sends $60 to the person who was grinched ($30 of their money and the $30 from the anon who grinched them)

the likelihood of grinching goes down and cheapskates won't even enter if they have to put down real $$.

[Anonymous No.10333165]

>>10333160
That’s kind of extreme, and don’t think is going to happen.

[Anonymous No.10333173]

>>10333165
well either getting grinched is an issue cause of $$ and that would solve it, or it's just a bad feels thing, in which case people should just sign up assuming they will get nothing in return and get over it.

[Anonymous No.10333179]

>>10333160

You'd have to have a lot of trust in santagull for that to happen, or santagull has to out themselves somehow. Even if there's some other gulls vouching for santagull, you'd have to trust the other gulls are real and not sockpuppets. Difficult to get this going on an anon forum.

[Anonymous No.10333214]

>>10333129
just let the noobs buy each other main pieces and you can stay in your disgruntled lower levels

I have lots of positive LM feedback, but it doesn't count because I actually keep and use the clothes instead of reselling them

[Anonymous No.10333590]

>>10333117
This. why punish everyone for a small amount of people who are grinched? The grinched people are always given people who fix the situaiton for them ..so this isnt like a huge issue that would demand such a insane rule.

>>10333129
ok? but why punish everyone ? You just said yourself you dont want to do the higher tier gifting because you dont want to spend that much . Thats fine, you get the choice to pick what tiers you want, no one is forcing you to do the higher tiers. However if this new rule is implemented the people who DO want to do the higher tiers will NOT be able to pick it if its something they DO want to do. (unlike you) so Idk why you would force everyone to suffer when this rule doesnt even effect you??

[Anonymous No.10333706]

>>10333590

Did I word >>10333129 badly.

- I have no issues with the whitelist change. I simply have no issues with it.
- I'm not the one forcing it
- I simply have no issues with it

- Since other people have issues with it, I suggested an alternative.

In other words, I'm trying to suggest ways so you can jump tiers, even though I have no interest to do the higher tiers. I'm on your side, anon. I just have no interest in doing it myself.

[2555 No.10342131]

CF from NZ, I got your warmest card!! (sorry couldn’t find an ID anywhere)
It actually could’ve arrived late Jan-early Feb but I was absent for quite some so I found it in the box only upon my arrival today. Fun fact - when I opened the envelope at the side first thing I noticed were four legs haha, and then it was the hi-sheen. Thank you so much for a card full of these cuties! I really enjoyed everything and those sticky notes is what I’m gonna use very often lol. And just in case - please don’t worry that it arrived so late, it was totally worth it!

[Anonymous No.10342388]

>>10333123
Nayrt but I'm your santa:) I'm happy you finally received it and triple happy that you liked it, searching things for you was an interesting and enjoyable experience.

[Anonymous No.10345358]

0864 here!
Happy Valentine’s Day y’all, I just got my very last card and it seems like it was delayed because it went on a bit of a vacation...

[Anonymous No.10345361]

>>10345358
It’s all very cute but I sure as hell hope it DOESN’T snow here in Florida. Thank you so much scotland-chan!!!

[Anonymous No.10345583]

>>10345358
The least they could have done was taped a Thailand postcard to it for you after that journey.