GUIDELINES AND INTRO

ONE: Participants sign up, in a screened post, providing information about what mediums they're willing to work in (fic, art, or both), what pairings they're willing to write/draw for, and what kinds of things they are and aren't willing to write and draw. (The more specific this last part, the better -- it allows your fellow participants to create better requests for you.)

TWO: I post all those participant profiles as anonymous "ads" in the community. (This means that you won't know the names of the people you're making requests of -- all you'll have to go on will be the information they provide in their ads.)

THREE: Participants make up to five requests, each for a different writer/artist -- also screened -- based on the information in the ads.

FOUR: The mod sends each participant a list of all the requests posted for that ad. (Optional step four and a half: I do some finagling to make sure everyone gets at least one request.)

FIVE: Participants commit to one or more of the requests sent to them. (Optional step five and a half: I do some finagling to make sure every participant will have at least one request filled.) There's no identifying information attached to the prompts, either, so you won't know whose request you're fulfilling until the posting date rolls around.

SIX: Participants post their fills to the community during a designated week. Participants who wish to remain anonymous can post their fills from a specially-created mod account; they'll receive the username and password to that account when I send them the lists of their requests.

SEVEN: Fun and rarepairs for all!

Here's a hypothetical participant -- we'll call her "Luxembourg." Luxembourg signs up for the challenge with the following information:
Name: Luxembourg
Email: de_lux_living at whatever dot com
Will you be participating anonymously? Nope!
If so, what pseudonym would you like to use? n/a
I am offering: [fic / art / fic and art] fic and art
Highest rating I'll write/draw: R
Preferred pairings: [OPTIONAL: is there anything you want to add about why you like this dynamic/why you find it interesting/why you ship it?]
Cameroon/Sealand: [very long shipping manifesto attached!]
Taiwan/Liechtenstein: I think that tiny girls look really pretty together.
Norway/Germania: They're both really stoic, and in my head, they totally have understated bitching sessions about how crazy their various companions (Denmark and Ancient Rome) are.
Austria/Australia: [...]
Themes/genres/kinks/etc. I enjoy writing/drawing: AUs -- the crazier, the better! High school AUs are a specialty of mine. I enjoy writing and drawing quiet scenes of domesticity, hilariously bad sex, and things involving fluffy kittens.
Themes/genres/kinks/etc. I DON'T enjoy writing/drawing: No mpreg, please, and I can't write or draw action sequences very well. I'm also iffy on fic or art involving puppies.

Luxembourg gets the following requests:
Austria/Australia: fic or art. They mix up their own names in bed. Maximum rating: whatever you think best.
Norway/Germania: Fic, please! High school AU! Germania's a teacher at International High, and his students are all a little bit afraid of him -- except for the school's "ice prince" Norway. Norway hides his genius behind a mask of sarcasm and indifference, and it's up to Germania to reach through to his best student and warm his *ice-cold heart*! Maximum rating: R.
Taiwan/Liechtenstein: Art -- cuddling with kittens. (Nothing above PG-13, please.)

Luxembourg also looks at the list of ads and picks out five she likes.
Participant four's ad mentions that she likes Cameroon/Sealand and adventure stories, so Luxembourg asks her for Cameroon/Sealand, fic, any rating -- Cameroon and Sealand are sailing, find themselves caught in the storm of the century, and end up stranded on a desert island! How will they make it back home -- or has Sealand managed to assemble the first pieces of the empire that will rival that jerk England's?
Participant sixteen's ad mentions that she likes to draw Bulgaria/Thailand and facepunching, so Luxembourg asks her for Bulgaria/Thailand, art, PG-13 max -- Bulgaria knows he SHOULD be able to punch Thailand, but somehow his fist of justice just can't connect.
...and so on.

Luxembourg picks her favorite requests, at least one of the people she asked picks her request, and when posting week rolls around, everyone's happy!

Friday, February 26, 2010: Signups open.
Friday, March 5, 2010, 11:59 PM EST: Signups close.
Sunday, March 7, 2010, 12:00 PM EST: Participant's ads are posted; each participant leaves requests for up to five different writers/artists.
Friday, March 12, 2010, 11:59 PM EST: The request period ends.
Sunday, March 14, 2010: Participants receive the lists of requests posted for their ads.
Friday, March 19, 2010: Participants confirm which request, or which requests, they plan to fill by or before this date.
Sunday, April 25, 2010, 12:00 AM EST: Posting week begins.
Saturday, May 1, 2010, 11:59 PM EST: Posting week ends.
Monday, May 3, 2010: Backup posting week begins (as soon as I have confirmations from pinch-hitters).
Saturday, May 8, 2010, 11:59 PM EST: Backup posting week ends.

Creating Ads
* The Hetalia Rarepairs Exchange is open to both fic and art, and you can offer to create either (or to create both, if you're just that multitalented). If you have something else in mind that isn't easily classifiable under either of those two headers, e-mail me at puella.nerdii at gmail dot com or send me a PM, and we'll talk.
* You must offer to write or draw for at least THREE different pairings, though you are welcome (and encouraged) to offer more than three.
* Try not to put down "any" or "any except..." for pairings you're willing to write. For one, it's a lot easier for people to leave prompts for pairings that they know other participants are interested in. For another, putting down "any" or "any except..." means you might well end up with requests for, say, Cameroon/Sealand.
* The Hetalia Rarepairs Exchange is only for pairings, guys -- for the purposes of this challenge, I'm defining a pairing as a relationship between exactly two Nation-tans who have appeared at least once in Hetalia canon. "Hetalia canon" includes the anime, the comics, and Himaruya's sketches, so yes, you can ask for characters who've only appeared in drawings and not in the strips proper. (This does, however, exclude characters like Kumajirou and Shinatty-chan. Sorry.) So threesomes/moresomes are out for this one, simply because they make my life that much harder. (Other characters besides the main pair can appear in your fill, but the pairing requested should be the central focus of the fic/art.)
* Genderbends don't qualify as rarepairs for the purposes of this challenge, either. Sorry.
* Be specific about the kinds of things (themes/genres/kinks/tropes/etc.) you like and don't like to write/draw -- this makes it easier for the other participants to create requests tailored to your interests. If there's something you really don't want to write/draw, mention it! (Otherwise, Murphy's Law being what it is, I can guarantee that you'll get at least one request for a Do Not Want.)

Creating Requests
* You may make up to five requests. Each request must be for a different participant. Participants won't have names attached to their ads, just numbers, so when you're formatting your request, put the number of the ad you're interested in right at the beginning.
* In your request, be sure to include:
---the number of the ad you're querying
---the pairing
---whether you're asking for fic or art (if the requester has said sie'll do both)
---the maximum rating you'll accept
---prompt details
* Details are your friend! Try not to just ask for a pairing -- toss out prompts and scenarios and situations you'd like to see, and think about offering a backup prompt or two if your author struggles with your primary prompt. (If you're making a historical request, giving your author or artist a few links really helps.) Think about what the author/artist has said about hir likes and dislikes, and include themes and scenarios and kinks that will make the author/artist go "oooh."

Anonymous Participation
* You do not need a Livejournal account to participate in this challenge. If you have no Livejournal account, please put "none" on the part of the form marked "Livejournal Name."
* If you do have a livejournal account but wish to participate anonymously, indicate "yes" in the appropriate area on the form and come up with a pseudonym you'd like to use for the challenge. (Using a pseudonym makes your mod's life that much easier; if you don't pick one, I'll come up with one for you, and you might not like what I come up with.)
* If you choose to participate anonymously, you will receive the username and password to a specially-created mod account when you receive your list of requests.
* During the posting week (April 25 - May 1), log into the mod account and post your fill from it.
* ???
* Profit!

* Pairings with communities that have over 300 members are not, as a general rule, eligible for the Hetalia Rarepairs Exchange. Arbitrary, I know, but that's the way it goes.

* The following pairings are ineligible for the Hetalia Rarepairs Exchange:
America/Canada
America/England
Austria/Hungary
England/Japan
France/Canada
France/England
Germany/Italy (this includes HRE/Chibitalia)
Germany/Prussia
Greece/Japan
Lithuania/Poland
Prussia/Austria
Prussia/Canada
Prussia/Hungary
Russia/America
Russia/China
Russia/Lithuania
Spain/Romano
Sweden/Finland

* Fills can be any rating, from G to NC-17, but all mature content should be clearly warned for in the header, if it's present. Failure to warn adequately may result in the deletion of your post.

* Fic fills must be at least 800 words long, and ideally should be proofed and beta-read.

* Art fills should look like they've had some effort invested in them -- no doodles on notebook paper, please.

* Posting begins at 12:00 AM EST on Sunday, April 25, 2010 and closes at 11:59 PM PST on Saturday, May 1, 2010. You may post your fill at any time during this week, and you're free to advertise it on other communities or on your own journals, if you so choose. Posting is your responsibility.

* As mentioned above, participants who wish to remain anonymous can post their fills on a specially-created mod account. I will give anonymous participants the username and password to this account when I e-mail them their lists of requests; it is the anonymous poster's responsibility to log into that account sometime during the week and post their fill.

* Place all fic and art under a cut, though you can post a 300x300 teaser image of artwork if you so choose. Not sure how to create a cut? Check this out.

* Use some form of this header. The header should be placed outside the LJ-cut.
Title:
Author/Artist: [anonymous participants will use the pseudonym they've picked out]
Prompt: [the prompt that you're filling -- please repost the prompt in its entirety, so your requester knows sie's gotten a fill!]
Pairings:
Rating/Warnings:
Summary:
Link/LJ-cut:
(Fanart fills don't require a title or summary.)

Tagging Etiquette
* Tag your post! This makes finding fills a lot easier.
* Tag for the round, the fill type, the filler, the rating, and the pairing.
* Fills for the Spring 2010 round should use the "round: spring 2010" tag.
* Art fills should use the "fill: art" tag. Fic fills should use the "fill: fic" tag.
* Tags for the filler should be formatted like so: "filler: [your name here]".
* The Hetalia Rarepairs Exchange uses the MPAA ratings system. Figure out where your fill fits in that scheme, and tag it with the appropriate "rating: [g/pg/pg-13/r/nc-17]" tag. NC-17 content does not have to be locked, but it MUST be clearly labeled as such.
* For pairings, format the tag like so: "pairing: [pairing goes here]". The Nation whose name appears first in the alphabet should be listed first -- "pairing: america/france" is correct, "pairing: france/america" is not.

* Since the Hetalia Rarepairs Exchange is, well, an exchange, try to sign up only if you're sure you have the time to commit to this. I understand, however, that sometimes real life bites you in the ass. If you do have to drop out from the Hetalia Rarepairs Exchange, notify me as soon as possible, either through e-mail or PM, and I'll assign a pinch-hitter right away.

* If at all possible, try to notify me about dropping before April 15, and please notify me before posting week begins. If you haven't posted your fill by May 1 and I haven't heard anything from you, you'll be marked as a defaulter and banned from future rounds of The Hetalia Rarepairs Exchange. No exceptions.

* If you think you'll be able to complete your fill but you just need more time, you can ask me for an extension. PM or e-mail me with the request, and I'll give you until Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST to finish your fic or art. If at all possible, try to ask me for an extension before the week of posting begins on Saturday, May 1, 2010.

* If the fic or art just isn't happening even after I grant you the extension, LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE so I can find a pinch-hitter. If, however, you do not notify me, or if you notify me after May 1, you will be banned from future rounds of The Hetalia Rarepairs Exchange.

* If you sign up to pinch-hit and get your back-up request before Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST, your fill is still due before Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST. If you get your back-up request from April 16 - April April 24, you have until Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST to complete your fill.

* Emergency pinch-hitting takes place between April 25 and May 2, 2010. If people drop out during the week of posting, I'll try to assign pinch-hitters as soon as possible. At 12:00 AM EST on May 2, the community goes into moderation for a day while I see who's defaulted without notification and assign emergency pinch-hitters to people who still haven't received fills. Ideally, emergency pinch-hitters have until Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST to complete their fills, but I might end up extending this deadline by a week if people are struggling to finish. Either way, though, everyone will get a fill.

Livejournal Name:
Email: [please use an address that you check fairly often, as this is the primary way I'll contact you during the exchange]
Will you be participating anonymously?
If so, what pseudonym would you like to use? n/a

I am offering: [fic / art / fic and art]
Highest rating I'll write/draw: [use the MPAA rating system, please]
Preferred pairings: [OPTIONAL: is there anything you want to add about why you like this dynamic/why you find it interesting/why you ship it? This step isn't at all necessary, but if you want to give requesters even more ideas, or get them to see why you think Pairing X is so cool, you might think about doing it.]
Things I enjoy writing/drawing: [themes, genres, scenarios, tropes, kinks, and anything else you can think of]
Things I DON'T enjoy writing/drawing: [themes, genres, scenarios, tropes, kinks, and anything else you can think of]

Are you willing to pinch-hit?
Are you willing to emergency pinch-hit?