Assignments are due November 4, 2015. To avoid time zone confusion, please consult the countdown clock.
Information about posting and about dropping out (defaulting) is below.
Posting Your Fill
Log in to AO3 and go to your Assignments page. Find the assignment marked “2015 Tachibana Makoto Birthday Exchange.” There will be two buttons:
- To post your fill, click “Fulfill.” This will take you to the page where you can post your work, with the challenge and your recipient’s name already filled in.
- If you are doing a Party Favors fill, please see the section after this.
Posting Mini-FAQ
- When I post my fill on AO3, what happens? Does it appear at once or does it stay hidden until Makoto’s birthday?
When you post, the work will be fully visible only to you and the event coordinator (when logged in). To everyone else, it will appear as “Mystery Work by Anonymous,” until the collection goes live.
All fanworks for the exchange will be revealed simultaneously on Makoto’s birthday (November 17th) or when everyone has a completed gift, whichever is later.
- What if I can’t finish by the deadline?
If you only need a day or two, please contact us to request an extension.
If you don’t think you’ll be able to finish, please default as soon as possible so a pinch hitter may be found. (see “Dropping Out” below)
- Will I be able to edit my work after posting?
Yes! There are many reasons to edit after posting. We want you to be happy with the final work your recipient sees, so please edit away.
While editing is fine, you should still post a complete work by the deadline. Event coordinators will be going through to identify incomplete/placeholder works. If you haven’t asked for and received an extension, the work will be removed from the archive and the assignment sent to a pinch hitter.
- What is the “Publication Date” field? Should I change it?
In the Associations section of the posting form on AO3, you will see an option to “Set a different publication date.”
This is the date that shows on the work. It affects how the work appears in the fandom tags once the collection has gone live.
The default publication date is the date of posting, regardless of whether the work is publicly viewable. That means if you post your fill on November 4 (the deadline), it will be several pages back in the Free! tags by the time the collection is live on November 17.
To change that, check the box next to “Set a different publication date” and enter the date you want (November 17). Please note that AO3 does not allow future dating, so you will not be able to change the date until it’s actually the 17th according to AO3. (If in doubt, you can give it a try; if you get an error message, cancel the changes and try again later).
- I’ve done an art fill. How do I post images on AO3?
1. Upload your image off-site.
AO3 does not have native image hosting yet, so the first thing you will need to do is upload the image elsewhere. You can use a free site like postimage.org, which allows adult content, or another one of your choice; or you can make a private post on a site like tumblr.
NOTE: If you use an account somewhere (like tumblr, livejournal, deviantart, etc.), be sure to to post privately. Works should not be posted publicly until after the collection is live on AO3.
2. Obtain the direct link or embed code.
Once you have the image uploaded, get the direct link. One way to do this is to use the “view image” option from the context/right-click menu.
Some image hosting sites will give you the option of an “embed code” or an “embed link” after you’ve uploaded the picture. You can also use this.
3. Post on AO3.
If you are using a direct link: In the “Work Text” field, choose the “Rich Text” tab. Click the “insert/edit image” button (7th from the left). Paste the direct link in the pop up form.
If you are using an embed code: In the “Work Text” field, choose the “HTML" option. Paste the embed code.
4. Confirming.
Press “Preview” to make sure it looks the way you want it to. You can edit to make any changed you want.
When you’re happy with how it looks, press “Post”.
- I have a question you haven’t answered here / I don’t understand one of the answers
No problem — just leave us a comment and we’ll do our best to help!
Posting a Party Favors Fill
1. Go to the page for the 2015 Tachibana Makoto Birthday Exchange (makobday2015).
2. Click the “Post to Collection” button (upper right corner). This will take you to the Post New Work page, with the collection already filled out for you.
3. In the “Associations” section, you will want to put the name of requester whose prompt you did in the “Gift this work to” field. You can find their name from the Requests Summary, if you didn’t write it down.
4. Fill out the rest of the fields as you normally would and hit the “Post” button at the bottom when you’re done.(If you haven’t used AO3 before, it’s fairly intuitive— but feel free to contact us if you need help.)
As with assignment fills, please do not post your work anywhere else until after works are live on AO3. An announcement will be made on DW and tumblr when works are live and you’re free to post wherever you like.
Dropping Out (Defaulting)
Log in to AO3 and go to your Assignments page. Find the assignment marked “2015 Tachibana Makoto Birthday Exchange.” There will be two buttons:
- To drop out, click “Default.” The event coordinator will get a message and send the assignment to a pinch hitter.
Please note that if you drop out for whatever reason and the person drawing/writing for you also drops, your requests will not go to the pinch hitter list.
If you’re dropping out because you don’t like your assignment, please read these notes:
- Remember that you do not need to fill a specific prompt. You only need to do a fill of the type requested, using the characters requested. All other details are optional, including relationships and nsfw content/rating.
- Some people put their general likes/dislikes in their “Dear Creator” letter – so if your recipient included a link, be sure to check that out.
In the spirit of Makoto swimming in the ocean in Season 1, it would be great if you could do your best. But if you simply cannot, please default through AO3 as soon as possible, so we can give the pinch hitter who picks it up as much time as possible.
