The Press announcement is up:

Voting Has Begun!

And with that, I close this thread.

From PixKristin:

Proposal: To set a closing deadline of March 31st for the Goodbye and Good Riddance Thread (I think the actual date is good thing to debate in Lightbulbs), with the caveat that any ungifted Santa or Slacker Santa giftees at that point will have the option to throw their names back into the pool to be gifted by other volunteers (with the wonderful, "shit happens, no hard feelings" attitude Vortex and others demonstrated in B'craxy). This would be a way for people who found themselves unable to gift for one reason or another to bow out gracefully and for everyone to get closure on the year without the thread going on for months.

I think March 31st is a fine closure date. I would definitely not go later. That's the whole first quarter. If you're going to participate then you can make some time to get it all in the mail by then.

One thing that's held me up is writing a note. So when I'm late on getting it in the mail I just put a post-it note on it and say, "Here 'tis!" and shove it at the post office clerk.

And I like the idea of pinch hitters and a supportive "It's okay, shit happens" attitude about it. But this way it doesn't linger on.

I am not sure I know the righ way to say this, but while I definitely am in favor of having a "shit happens" attitude for myself, I'm not crazy about voting on how people should feel or act.

I think I see what you're saying, Perkins. FWIW, I didn't mean that to be the point of the proposal--the closing of the thread and opportunity for regifting was the main point. That wording was more just suggesting that the "regifting" period focus on next steps rather than accusations. How people feel is up to them, of course, but since we try to be a positive, supportive place overall, I thought that would be more in the spirit of the board.

As one of the people who has slacked epically this year, I can say that I already know that I screwed up, I feel pretty rotten about the length of time that it has taken, and it feels even worse to have it drilled into me, and now to also be blamed for ruining the whole spirit of the thread. Trust me, had I know that I'd suck this badly at getting my gift sent I never would have participated and I've learned my lesson and won't do so again.

It is now November and my gift has finally made it into a box and into my car and in theory was going to be mailed on Friday. Alas, LA traffic proved to be a massive time suck, and now I leave on a business trip tomorrow morning and return Tuesday evening. If all goes well it will be overnighted on Wednesday.

Time limits and rules are fine, but that should be the extent of it, not a judgement on the person that fucked up.

And I get that, but all the same, I think it's legitimate for someone who has spent a lot of time, thought, and effort into picking out a gift for someone to feel bummed and a little burned if they get absolutely nothing in return, so it bothers me that it's written into the proposal that they have to have an upbeat attitude about it.

eta: Obvious cross post there--I was responding to PK's post.

We can take that parenthetical out if it's going to be an issue. It was never meant to actually dictate an attitude.

Proposal: To set a closing deadline of March 31st for the Goodbye and Good Riddance Thread, with the caveat that any ungifted Santa or Slacker Santa giftees at that point will have the option to throw their names back into the pool to be gifted by other volunteers. This would be a way for people who found themselves unable to gift for one reason or another to bow out gracefully and for everyone to get closure on the year without the thread going on for months.

That works better for me, obviously, so thanks. I wasn't trying to speak for anyone else though.

No worries. This is the fun that Lightbulbs is all about! Besides, it was a valid point.