Blind Print Exchange

[Jim Moore]

Count me in for this exchange if it gets going again.

I would also like address the issue of getting 'stiffed'.

It is a given that when you get this many people together to do something like this you are bound to get a few dead-beats that have no intention of sending something out in exchange for what they received.

This is a risk that you take when doing something like this. To me the rewards are much, much greater than the risk. The beautiful work that I have received form fellow APUGers far outweights the "loss" of a couple of prints that I have sent out and not received one in return.

My 2 Cents.....

Jim

 

[matt miller]

Does it really happen that often, getting "stiffed" I mean? That surprises me quite a bit, given the nature of most of the participants here.

Please count me in on this exchange as well. I'm involved in my first print exchange right now & it's pretty cool.

 

[kwmullet]

Sorry I have not replied to this thread before now, but I encourage anyone who wants to collect and send out names go for it.

Thanks, Jim. That's terrific.​

I simply asked for people to submit addresses by PM and then tried to pair everyone up to a diferent partner, keeping in mind the costs of sending overseas.

My initial thought is that the value of exchanging prints within a larger pool of participants outweighs the added cost of sending one print overseas.​

Originally there was no obligation too participate every time. I would Email or Pm participants each time to find out if they were in that time around. Once I knew who wanted to exchange I would send each particpant a mailing address. When someone new wanted to join I would ask permission to send out his address.

You really need to provide an option for people to skip exchanges. It makes it user friendly for everone.

I don't think anyone has suggested compulsory participation. I think I might have given that impression though by suggesting that folks who promise sending a print and don't for some reason should be left out of one cycle. I didn't mean for that to imply that anyone else would be required to participate.​

When two new people join you start them off together. If you have an odd number someone will always volunteer to send two prints to not leave anyone out.

For our European friends one way to keep shipping costs down is to encourage other European APUGers to join. The more participants on your side of the pond the fewer times in a year you would need to send overseas.

Maybe others have some ideas to help defray costs for members in South America, Africa, Asia/Far East.

I think encouraging members outside the US to recruit membership within their own geographic area is a great idea, and ultimately, the best way to balance out the cost to participants outside the continental US.​

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Here are my starting ideas about how I'd be inclined to moderate the blind exchange. If no one has any serious objections or suggestions for other moderators, I'd be happy to moderate the blind exchange for a while, until Jim decides he'd like to take it back or until another moderator wants to present h(im|er)self.

I'd like to take the lead from the postcard exchange and have the blind exchange run in three month cycles.

• Month 1: members volunteer to participate.
• Month 2: prints are made and sent.
• Month 3: rest.

I suggest that each member who participates in the blind exchange agree to the following expectations of participants:

• They will be asked to send one analog photography product by the last day of month 2 to a user whose name, userid and mailing address they will receive on APUG as a private message.
• "analog photography product" could include a minilab print from a slide or negative, a polaroid print, a handmade proof or custom print, a contact sheet , slide or alt process print. I'd also like to open up the possibilities to negatives, if someone wants to give up a negative for the exchange, it will give them a chance to do things like share the effects of different film/developer combinations or exposure approaches on the negative.
• Each participant must supply a name and mailing address at which they can receive their product. Additionally, each participant agrees that their own name, userid and mailing address shall be released to other APUG members in the exchange.
• Each participant acknowledges by joining that they might draw a name and address of an exchangee that is on the other side of the world, and they should be prepared to send their product that far.
• If a participant commits to send a photo product out and for some reason , isn't able to send it out by the last day of month 2 in a cycle, they'll have to sit out a cycle while they attempt to resolve the issue(s) that prevented them from following through on their commitment.
• [updated 29DEC2004] If a participant doesn't receive their print by day 15 of month 3 in a cycle, they should PM the moderator, who will verify that the sender isn't able to send the product in a reasonable period of time, then if they aren't, drop their sender from elgibility for the next cycle and ask for volunteers to send a print to the member who didn't get a product.[/update]

Additionally, I think these are reasonable expectations of the moderator:

• The moderator should randomize the list of participants, and ensure that a PM is sent to each participant by the 7th day of month 2 with the name, userid and mailing address of their intended recipient.
• The moderator shall make a reasonable effort to provide as much circulation as possible within the list, and to ensure that once someone draws a given name, they won't draw the same name again for at least three cycles.

chew this over and let me know if this sounds good.

-KwM-

 

[BWGirl]

Count me in, Kevin! I'll PM you later today with my address! Thanks for offering to moderator this in Jim's stead!

 

[oriecat]

It sounds good to me, except:

If a participant doesn't receive their print by day 15 of month 3 in a cycle, they should PM the moderator, who will drop their sender from elgibility for the next cycle and ask for volunteers to send a print to the member who was stiffed.

I think the mod should first contact the delinquent sender and find out if it was sent and when. It could just be a delay. Check first, then drop em if necessary.

 

[kwmullet]

It sounds good to me, except:
[...]
I think the mod should first contact the delinquent sender and find out if it was sent and when. It could just be a delay. Check first, then drop em if necessary.

Good point, oriecat. Re-reading that, it does seem a bit too anal.

-KwM-

 

[kwmullet]

With the exception of updating the expectations above to incorporate requests and suggestions, I'll just hang idle on this thread until Friday or so to see if anyone says they'd rather be moderator themselves or they'd rather someone else be moderator. If that doesn't happen, I'll start a new thread, post the expectations and the beginnings of the initial participant list, ask Sean to make those messages in the thread sticky and we can start the clock on a new blind exchange cycle.

Cheers,

-KwM-

 

[kwmullet]

Okay folks,

It sounds like no one so far has any real objections to the way I've outlined the exchange, and no one is more inclined to be moderator for now than I am, so I'll post a new thread and organize things a bit, make the initial list and we can go from there. Sound good?

See you later today, probably.

-KwM-