Post by Fraze on Jul 22, 2013 5:40:26 GMT -5
So, after skipping 2012, the Warm Fuzzy Project has returned once more!
If you aren't familiar with this activity, see the first three threads for a more in-depth explanation: first, second, third.
In summary: People sign up. Each person who participates will write a compliment for each of the other participants. These compliments will be sent to me, and at the end of the activity, I'll send each participant the things that other people wrote about them, with the names of the senders removed. To reiterate: these compliments are anonymous: nobody will know who said what, only that it was said.
This activity has been a grand success in previous years, but since it's been exactly the same since the project's inception, I've decided to add a little something. One of the hardest parts of Warm Fuzzies is finding something to say about everyone: writing nice things to your friends is easy; writing to people you've never spoken to or don't know very well is much more difficult. So, this year, Warm Fuzzies is going to be tied in with another long-standing NTWF tradition, PM-a-Friend. I encourage everyone who wants to participate in Warm Fuzzies to sign up for PM-a-Friend as well--this isn't necessary, but I believe that it will enrich both activities. After about a week (or however long it takes for Warm Fuzzies signups to die down), I'll send PMs to everybody who's currently signed up, asking them to send me a list of participants who they would like to get to know better. I'll forward these lists to the wonderful people running PM-a-Friend (other than this, these lists will be kept confidential), and future PM-a-Friend rounds will be organized so as to pair up Warm Fuzzies participants who want to get to know each other better. Everyone wins!
There are a few standard caveats that have been given in the past, but they all bear repeating:
The project will run for three months, meaning that:
The deadline for signing up for Warm Fuzzies will be October 15.
The deadline for completing and sending off compliments will be October 22.
And once again, please consider signing up for PM-a-Friend as well!
List of participants:
Kozma
Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff)
Tiger
Terra (No longer participating.)
Celestial
♥ Azzie
Gelquie
Yoyti
Sheik
Stal
@saeryena (No longer participating.)
@natthewriter (No longer participating.)
Alyssa
Thundy
Chao
downrightdude
Huntress
icon
Ashten
Killix (No longer participating.)
Jayeee
Ginz ❤
Fraze (Please send these fuzzies to ♥ Azzie instead of me!)
Pixie
If you aren't familiar with this activity, see the first three threads for a more in-depth explanation: first, second, third.
In summary: People sign up. Each person who participates will write a compliment for each of the other participants. These compliments will be sent to me, and at the end of the activity, I'll send each participant the things that other people wrote about them, with the names of the senders removed. To reiterate: these compliments are anonymous: nobody will know who said what, only that it was said.
This activity has been a grand success in previous years, but since it's been exactly the same since the project's inception, I've decided to add a little something. One of the hardest parts of Warm Fuzzies is finding something to say about everyone: writing nice things to your friends is easy; writing to people you've never spoken to or don't know very well is much more difficult. So, this year, Warm Fuzzies is going to be tied in with another long-standing NTWF tradition, PM-a-Friend. I encourage everyone who wants to participate in Warm Fuzzies to sign up for PM-a-Friend as well--this isn't necessary, but I believe that it will enrich both activities. After about a week (or however long it takes for Warm Fuzzies signups to die down), I'll send PMs to everybody who's currently signed up, asking them to send me a list of participants who they would like to get to know better. I'll forward these lists to the wonderful people running PM-a-Friend (other than this, these lists will be kept confidential), and future PM-a-Friend rounds will be organized so as to pair up Warm Fuzzies participants who want to get to know each other better. Everyone wins!
There are a few standard caveats that have been given in the past, but they all bear repeating:
- Warm Fuzzies compliments need substance--"Your picture looks sexy" or "I like your avatar" aren't acceptable, since they're generic and don't actually say anything about the person receiving them. "Your posts make me laugh" is a bit better, but still isn't specific--why do the person's posts make you laugh? "I appreciate how you contribute to X, Y, Z on the forum," "I really like your art/writing because _____," or "You're always so kind/helpful, it made me smile when ______" are much better, because they address something(s) that the person does, as well as why you like it.
- Because of the above, as participants in previous years will tell you, Warm Fuzzies compliments take lots of time, as well as lots of thought. In the past, the deadline has been set for several months from the start of the activity. If you try to bang out compliments to 20-30 different people two hours before the deadline, they're going to be sloppy. Work through the list of participants slowly and steadily--try writing one or two a day, and take time to think before putting anything down. You'll be given plenty of time, make sure you use it.
- You need to write something for everyone. This can be difficult, since you are bound to find participants who you don't know very well, or possibly even don't care for too much. This is the real challenge of Warm Fuzzies--not just saying nice things about your friends, but finding meaningful nice things to say to the people who aren't your friends. Once again, this can be a great reason to get to know people, since it's likely that they're having just as much trouble finding things to say about you.
- We encourage everyone to sign up, both old-timers and newbies. However, for our newer members: please understand that people might not know you too well, and therefore might have trouble finding things to say about you; similarly, you might have difficulty finding things to say about other members of the forum. Once again--a great reason to get to know people!
- Similar to the above, while everyone is encouraged to sign up, people who do so late may have trouble finding time to write compliments for everyone; at the same time, people who signed up earlier may not immediately notice the new participants. If we get a number of late participants, I will try to send out occasional PMs notifying people of the updated participant list. Also, to make sure that everyone has time to complete their final compliments, signups will be closed a week before the end of the activity as a whole.
The project will run for three months, meaning that:
The deadline for signing up for Warm Fuzzies will be October 15.
The deadline for completing and sending off compliments will be October 22.
And once again, please consider signing up for PM-a-Friend as well!
List of participants:
Kozma
Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff)
Tiger
Celestial
♥ Azzie
Gelquie
Yoyti
Sheik
Stal
Alyssa
Thundy
Chao
downrightdude
Huntress
icon
Ashten
Jayeee
Ginz ❤
Fraze (Please send these fuzzies to ♥ Azzie instead of me!)
Pixie
