Dessert swap is SUCH a great idea...masquerade too

So pretty! I don't think I've seen those two hair colors together and they look great.

Everyones customs look great... Drooling over all of them

Quote from: NoDivision on February 21, 2012, 06:51:55 AM

Quote from: pop-girl on February 20, 2012, 10:13:41 PM

Quote from: deeleelambbaa on February 20, 2012, 08:25:14 PM

My biggest beef with all the swaps is that they don't welcome newbies, and those that do, welcome the newbies with +3 feedback already, or 3 months of membership, or both and more...
in my opinion, those things don't judge if someone is new or worthy of participating with others, it should be up to the judgement of the host to pair people of similar talent.
I understand that it's the way things have been for a long time, and everyone has done it the hard way through personal swaps and all, but it really isn't a very good representing system. I and I'm sure several other "newbies" were customizing before I was a member on here, and you all have seen our work and seen us around a bit- we're trustworthy people, or else we wouldn't be allowed on the arena in the first place.
It's a bit of an elitist viewpoint, to make us "prove ourselves" in order to run with the rest of the clan.
In my opinion, there should be more (I'm not calling for all!) swaps that welcome ACTUAL newbies to the arena. Judge it by the number and quality of customs a person has done so far, the amount of technique s/he has explored. It may take some more effort to background check each participant, but it'll be more fun as well- Aren't we all on here stalking new posts of customs all the time anyway? It's fun to look up someone's entire gallery, see his/her progression.

I'm not sure I understand how it is "elitist" to require some proof of reliability.
Just because a person has made custom ponies before doesn't automatically make them a responsible trade partner.

Feedback requirements do not exist to prove you can paint a pony - they exist to show you can be counted on to follow through and ship on time. Also, your feedback doesn't have to involve custom ponies, it can involve selling or trading Hasbro ponies and merchandise.

Quote for truth. I mean I'm sorry that some newer members feel left out but what would you rather we do? Let all people in to whatever swaps they want without having any proof if they are trustworthy or not? People would be dropping out all over the place, not sending ponies, swap hosts would be over run with unhappy participants...

Like Pop said, it's not about artistic skill. Swaps are open to people of all skill levels and are matched accordingly, and yor artistic skill has nothing to do with how long you've been here and we know that.  The requirements for feedback and being around a certain amount of time are to prove you can be trusted to follow through with commitments. It baffles me that people don't understand why that is important.
 
Also, there is no "trustworthy" test that you pass to join the arena. You sign up with a name and an e-mail address, so I don't see why you think "we're trustworthy people, or else we wouldn't be allowed on the arena in the first place" is a valid statement.

well, it is technically elitist, by definition, to have rankings and divisions of classes between people, such as the moderators, then the people with the most posts and feedback, then the 'newbies' at the bottom with unequal rights, but I am obviously not calling for the destruction of order.
And I understand that the feedback is supposed to represent our strength of commitment, but as previously stated, there have been plenty of non-newbies that don't follow through as well, so there are holes in the feedback system.
I'd be interested to see how these strictly newbie swaps turned out in the past, if they all were wondering if their partner would follow through, being a newbie and such...
Also, many people look at feedback before buying from someone because, like you all said, it's supposed to represent if someone is trustworthy enough to ship within a reasonable time. Do you see the paradoxical cycle here? Newbies need feedback to join a swap and get more feedback to prove themselves as trustworthy members of the society, however they can only get feedback from sales that require/prefer feedback, or newbies can do personal swaps, which some people look at feedback to judge if the personal swap will be worth it. This is a very demanding niche to make home!
Finally, my note on being trustworthy in order to be on this arena is directed more towards the policies that we all agreed to, such as posting only clean content and such, showing that we're all controlled adults ( in the manners that are necessary, of course ;p ) united by such an innocent commonality- ponies. Ponies. I'll say it one more time to let it sink in: We. paint. ponies. I couldn't find it in my heart not to trust someone like that until proven otherwise.
Wouldn't it be nice to take a cue from our own governmental system: Innocent of being untrustworthy until proven guilty?
Maybe I will host a swap sometime as an experiment. Thank you for the inspiration, all.

I may have only hosted one swap and I really loved doing it but at the same time it is nerve wracking. You have to worry about every single person shipping on time and doing the job they promised. If they don't it falls to you to "pick up the pieces" and make sure the non receiver gets something.  It's pretty hard to "make" someone do something over the internet so the only thing to go by is the feedback that others have left about their transactions with the person.  By looking at someone's feedback you can get the piece of mind of knowing they have followed through before.

As for personal swaps, I don't think that is really building feedback the hard way. It can be a great experience and can also give you the sense of what it's like to have a time frame, parameters around which to create your custom, and see just how important communication is.  No one goes into a swap (at least I hope they don't) with the intentions of going MIA or not creating a pony, but sometimes people don't know what they're getting into until it is too late. Feedback lets the swap organizer know that this is somewhat less likely to happen.

There are also other ways to gain feedback besides personal swaps. I've traded ponies I have already made with people, you can sell customs/custom supplies/ or just loose MLPs.

I love her so far... and the little roses are a great touch

Candy/sweets themed customs are some of my favs! These all look great

I had totally been toying with the idea of hosting a "Spring has Sprung" swap but I didn't think Id  have enough time to be a good host....so I'm VERY happy you decided to!


I'd for sure join.