Where have all the good swaps gone? Hosts needed for new ideas

[Oneleo1]

personally i think so many people have been burned by other people in swaps that many are starting to not want to participate, or even host! (cause hosting means you are making extra customs when people go MIA)
but just my opinion.

Totally agree! Late shipping, pairings, and people flaking out and going MIA.

[Lucky4leafclover]

I rarely join a swap unless it is run by an organizer I know, with participants I know also. I make sure I check feedback of course, but I have been burnt four times by a custom swap, and once by a non-custom swap, so I am very selective. I think what has been said is true about the things that have been happening lately.
It's really a disappointment when you put your all into a custom, thinking it is awesome and knowing you will get one equally as awesome, but then something happens. You don't get a custom of equal quality, or not getting one at all. Sometimes it is the HOST that doesn't follow through as your partner, or with replacement customs that they offered.
In one of my first custom swaps my partner was the HOST. I waited MONTHS after the ship date for my custom, spendng countless hours of communication, half of this time they ignored my PMs. I did get a custom months late, but it was of a poor quality and looked like it was a rush job. Another swap I got a custom that literally made me cry.

My point is that I think there are reasons we all have for sticking to our guns on what (if any!) swaps we've been in recently. It may not be there are no good ones, and it might not even be the host or participants, it may be past swaps leaving a bitter taste in our mouths, or something like real life coming in the way.

[Ambar]

For me there aren´t good or bad themes, i think is completely subjective. For me there is or has been  many swaps in which I was not interested because I do not like the theme, or didn´t know anything about it (but i must to say that some of that kind of swaps are exciting) Also for the time, and the fact i have many private swaps by the moment and i don´t like disappoint people.

In my case I have very good experiences in official swaps (with ultra gorgeous customs!!! that i love with all my heart) and only one very bad, or at least disappointing (Disney Princess swap i think it was, i never received nothing, the host was MIA and my partner never told me anything about if she likes or not the custom i sent ) so yes, before joining any swap i check who is the host, who approved it, and if the participants are active, constant and if we made trades or sales in the past. At least the ones are options to be my partners.
 
The dragon swap was a madness full of masterpieces, also the oriental, the peacock, steampunk, and so many . customizers sometimes have more free time to start with personal challenges

[jupiternwndrlnd]

Sometimes the problem ends up being that, even though the host checks feedback, proper feedback was not initially left.

I have checked up on feedback left by PMing the person who left it, and had them tell me they got the pony late but felt bad leaving and such feedback.

[Ren-Ren]

I'd like to see a "sculpted hair" swap. I'm always drooling over the G4s w/ sculpted hair and REALLY want one, heh.  And I'd like to try my doing it myself . But I don't know if that would be a focused enough theme.   

[NoDivision]

Sometimes the problem ends up being that, even though the host checks feedback, proper feedback was not initially left.

I have checked up on feedback left by PMing the person who left it, and had them tell me they got the pony late but felt bad leaving and such feedback.

This is a good point as well. I have recently looked at some feedback of people who I know have had problems in swaps before and it is all still glowingly positive, which is super misleading.

[Eviecorn]

Sometimes the problem ends up being that, even though the host checks feedback, proper feedback was not initially left.

I have checked up on feedback left by PMing the person who left it, and had them tell me they got the pony late but felt bad leaving and such feedback.

This is a good point as well. I have recently looked at some feedback of people who I know have had problems in swaps before and it is all still glowingly positive, which is super misleading.

Seconded.  It's incredibly important to leave proper feedback, even if it seems cruel.

[kaoskat]

Sometimes the problem ends up being that, even though the host checks feedback, proper feedback was not initially left.

I have checked up on feedback left by PMing the person who left it, and had them tell me they got the pony late but felt bad leaving and such feedback.

This is a good point as well. I have recently looked at some feedback of people who I know have had problems in swaps before and it is all still glowingly positive, which is super misleading.

Seconded.  It's incredibly important to leave proper feedback, even if it seems cruel.

Agreed. This is one of the big reasons there is so much disappointment in swaps, everything looks fine even when it really isn't. You aren't doing the community any favors by not being honest with your feedback. All you are doing is making it easier for the same person that disappointed you to disappoint others. It's our job to let each other know were the problems are. If hosts knew what participants they could trust, they might be willing to host more swaps.

[AllyKat]

I would love to host a swap, but I think I'm terrified of doing something wrong. Plus I can't seem to think of themes. So if you keep listing themes, I might pick one up, once I get over my fear of actually hosting.

[babystarz]

I'm planning to wait to participate in swaps until I have more recent feedback. But when I do, the type I'd like to join is the type where you get rid of all your custom baits and/or some random accessories, or completely mint ponies with no marks allowed, or exactly what is on peoples' wishlists. I don't know that I would want to host a swap ever to be honest

[Sarahlacewing]

I recently held a poll about proper feedback. There were many mixed feelings but the general majority felt unable to leave appropriate feedback on the grounds that it was difficult to tell who was working hard and just needed to improve their skill, and who honestly just didn't care and slapped something together at the last minute, failed to read preferences, did not research a topic they knew nothing about and ended up with something inaccurate to the theme.

[kaoskat]

I recently held a poll about proper feedback. There were many mixed feelings but the general majority felt unable to leave appropriate feedback on the grounds that it was difficult to tell who was working hard and just needed to improve their skill, and who honestly just didn't care and slapped something together at the last minute, failed to read preferences, did not research a topic they knew nothing about and ended up with something inaccurate to the theme.

That's not the sort of feedback that is the issue, as that kinda has to be a judgment call that has to be addressed on a case by case basis. The issue is when someone is extremely late or doesn't ship at all and no one wants to be the first to say "hey, this person was really late" or "they never sent me a pony and never communicated with anyone about anything" or the like. There really is no good reason to not leave feedback in those cases and yet people fail to all the time. Then in the next swap the same people do the same things and make huge headaches for the host and everyone involved again because their last several partners never said anything.

[heftysmurf76]

... one very bad, or at least disappointing (Disney Princess swap i think it was, i never received nothing, the host was MIA and my partner never told me anything about if she likes or not the custom i sent ) so yes, before joining any swap i check who is the host, who approved it, and if the participants are active, constant and if we made trades or sales in the past. At least the ones are options to be my partners.

This was/is my number one pet peeve on swaps, was not receiving a "Thank you" from my partner, or at the very least,a PM or message in the thread that they had received their pony, even when I sent a note asking them to LMK, and to even feel free to tell me of any changes they might want if they were not satisfied, yet never heard one word. To me that's even more inconsiderate than a rush job, or work being viewed as sub-par, because I put a LOT of effort into my customs, and to not be acknowledged is incredibly bad manners IMO...

Even taking this and all ofthe above into consideration though, I really do look forward to joining another swap when one comes up that strikes my fancy :-D

[babystarz]

If people are being disappointed so much, do you think that we, as swap hosts, aren't doing a good enough job of filtering people out and pairing up? If that is the case, what do you think could be done to improve this?

I can only speak to my experiences with swaps 5 years ago, but it seems like the problems are the same now as they were then:
1. People being dissatisfied with what they end up with
2. People flaking

For the first problem, one of two things is going on. People aren't understanding the minimum guidelines, or there's something that is so inherently subjective about the condition of ponies that it's hard to match in a swap. Only one of those can be addressed by swap hosts. And the second problem isn't within the host's control.

The only ideas I can think of that would address both problems would be requiring everyone to either send their item to the swap host for inspection first, which isn't logical considering the shipping costs; or everyone sending X amount of money to the swap host, who would then pick out and send ponies of the same quality out. This opens a whole new can of worms - it's not like you really get to swap your own pony for a different one, so it kind of defeats the purpose of a pony swap, and that is a lot of trust and responsibility being placed on the host. And in the end, some people still might not feel happy.

I guess that leaves you with being very clear on guidelines for minimum pony/item condition and price, which I'm sure hosts are doing the best they can already Maybe you could put together a quiz with pictures of ponies in various conditions and require that people correctly identify which condition a pony is in 80% of the time in order to do swaps?
(edited for grammar)

[Ambar]

I recently held a poll about proper feedback. There were many mixed feelings but the general majority felt unable to leave appropriate feedback on the grounds that it was difficult to tell who was working hard and just needed to improve their skill, and who honestly just didn't care and slapped something together at the last minute, failed to read preferences, did not research a topic they knew nothing about and ended up with something inaccurate to the theme.

That's not the sort of feedback that is the issue, as that kinda has to be a judgment call that has to be addressed on a case by case basis. The issue is when someone is extremely late or doesn't ship at all and no one wants to be the first to say "hey, this person was really late" or "they never sent me a pony and never communicated with anyone about anything" or the like. There really is no good reason to not leave feedback in those cases and yet people fail to all the time. Then in the next swap the same people do the same things and make huge headaches for the host and everyone involved again because their last several partners never said anything.

that´s true, and i did that in the Disney princess swap. But really feel bad about it because the mod has personal problems when the swap was running and i felt it would be impertinent  and uncomprehending of me. Anyway the time passed and the moderator forgot about me, I never knew who was supposed to send me a custom. So when i see that this girl is interested or registered in a swap, i prefer not go.

ALso i can´t  leave a bad feedback if the custom was late, specially because i´m international and i know sometimes the mail is very slow, happened to me in a lot of times even having sent before the deadline. Sometimes customs takes 2 months to arrive :/

What i´m trying to say is i know that life happens and also problems, sometimes we try to be patient and considered, but not all are interested to do the same