2019 Secret Sophie

[SGHawkins09]

2 hours ago, Auberon said:

Out of curiosity, how many participants are there this time around?

 

Only 21 this year.

[rubegon]

4 hours ago, SGHawkins09 said:

 

Only 21 this year.

 

Is that low?  How many have there been in previous years?

[Auberon]

There were 25 in 2017, but some years there have been more.

[Kangaroorex]

have we looked at possible regional SS or letting people know that it will be regional?  I know the cost of shipping can drive some people away.  The other part I am horrible at but: advertising and expanding to other blocks like twitch and facebook.

[SGHawkins09]

9 hours ago, rubegon said:

 

Is that low?  How many have there been in previous years?

 

4 hours ago, Auberon said:

There were 25 in 2017, but some years there have been more.

 

Last time I helped out with Secret Sophie which was 2016, we had 32. 21 is about what we were getting for the other exchanges and I was used to SS having more. 

 

54 minutes ago, Kangaroorex said:

have we looked at possible regional SS or letting people know that it will be regional?  I know the cost of shipping can drive some people away.  The other part I am horrible at but: advertising and expanding to other blocks like twitch and facebook.

 

Good suggestions. Regional might be hard to implement as we already trying to match based on what people like to paint to what others want. Keeping local people together would add another element that we would have to consider and would limit what matches we could do. While shipping has increased, unless you send a lot of extras it should not be that expensive for a painted miniature. I know for me in times past, it usually runs $5 or less. We could add a question to the questionnaire though asking if the participant wants to be matched with someone local to keep shipping costs down like the question about sending international. 

 

I briefly considered doing a post on the Reaper Miniatures Facebook group but since Secret Sophie is for the forums, I thought there would be some confusion with people thinking it was an exchange for the Facebook group. In regards to Twitch, I wouldn't even know where to begin as I do not do anything with that platform. I did post in the Randomness thread to get word to people who may not visit the Exchange/Contest section of the forums. 

 

 

[Auberon]

I looked back at some of the old threads and it looks like most exchanges have 20-30 participants.  The 2015 Fall exchange had 51, but it also had Uber's enthusiastic recruiting going for it.

[Inarah]

It's one partner per person and everyone who signs up gets to participate.  It doesn't matter if there are more or less people, you get a partner regardless.

 

I'm most comfortable keeping it within the forum group, including the new members.  There's a sort of accountability here.  I'm not sure that adding more random people makes it a better exchange. 

[Darcstaar]

8 minutes ago, Inarah said:

It's one partner per person and everyone who signs up gets to participate.  It doesn't matter if there are more or less people, you get a partner regardless.

 

I'm most comfortable keeping it within the forum group, including the new members.  There's a sort of accountability here.  I'm not sure that adding more random people makes it a better exchange. 

I agree with this.  The absolute number of participants doesn’t matter.  At the fundamental level what matters is that each participant fulfills their obligation, does so on time, and receives their mini/gift as well.  That could be two people or 100 people, but at the participant level, that doesn’t change the experience.

 

What DOES change by adding more people are the strains on the organizers.  
 

20 participants is just fine.

[rubegon]

45 minutes ago, Inarah said:

It's one partner per person and everyone who signs up gets to participate.  It doesn't matter if there are more or less people, you get a partner regardless.

 

I'm most comfortable keeping it within the forum group, including the new members.  There's a sort of accountability here.  I'm not sure that adding more random people makes it a better exchange. 

 

31 minutes ago, Darcstaar said:

I agree with this.  The absolute number of participants doesn’t matter.  At the fundamental level what matters is that each participant fulfills their obligation, does so on time, and receives their mini/gift as well.  That could be two people or 100 people, but at the participant level, that doesn’t change the experience.

 

What DOES change by adding more people are the strains on the organizers.  
 

20 participants is just fine.

 

For what it’s worth, my opinion is that it’s better to keep it to forum participants too.  I was just curious how big it had been before.

 

A forum like this one feels like more of a real community than a more open platform like FB.  I think there would be more risk of people not doing their part when they’re less engaged like a casual FB group member might be

 

21 people is plenty anyway, and like @Inarah and @Darcstaar said above - everyone gets and gives minis from/to one person.  It doesn’t make it any better for those involved if there are a lot more participants.  Worse if more are flaky.

[SGHawkins09]

Alright, I just finished sending everyone their recipient's information. 

[Auberon]

I put some items in my cart, noticed I wasn't logged in, did so, and the Reaper store saw fit to empty my cart.    Cart refilled and order placed.

[Darcstaar]

Sent out my order, postage received.

[Fealron]

I had found the perfect mini  but I haven't used the store since the revamp and I see that free shipping to Canada has spiked a lot from what it use to be. I may need to dig through my pile of unpainted minis to see if something jumps out at me or bite the bullet in the shop.

[HateToWin]

It took me a couple of days but I finally placed my order so I should be able to start painting by next week.

[Kangaroorex]

Hmmm, I think I have my partners hearts desires, now to decide what to paint and what to give...