Nominations Open!
May. 11th, 2023 08:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Nominations for BDSM Exchange 2023 are now open! Please read the guidelines carefully, as the rules have changed. Go here and click "Nominate" in the top right corner to nominate.
Fandoms:
You may nominate up to 10 fandoms. In general, all fandoms are eligible (with a couple of exceptions below). You may nominate Creator's Choice of Fandom. You may nominate fanworks if the creator has made a public permission statement for transformative works.
All crossovers should be nominated under Crossover Fandom. (More info on formatting under relationships).
RPF involving real life serial killers or people famous for participation in the Nazi regime is not allowed. I may add to this list, or ban thinly fictionalized versions thereof, according to my sole discretion.
Franchises:
Please nominate Star Wars fandoms under their specific property, e.g., Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Old Republic, etc. Note that characters are only eligible in properties they appear in or under Crossover Fandom, so for example, Ahsoka Tano cannot be nominated under Star Wars Prequel Trilogy.
Please nominate MCU movies under MCU, and MCU TV shows by individual show.
Please nominate Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series under Buffyverse.
Relationships:
Characters and relationships should be nominated under the relationship category. You may nominate up to 20 per fandom.
Individual characters should be nominated in the format "Solo: X." Note that these tags cover any fanwork including at least that character, and other characters may appear in the fanwork.
Relationships should be nominated in one of the following formats:
-X/Y for sexual, romantic, or kink play between two or more characters, in which any or no characters may top
-X tops Y for sexual, romantic or kink play between two or more characters in which X will top in the application of the freeform tag. If you match on a freeform involving penetration, this may refer to X penetrating Y, but for other freeforms it may mean that X dominates Y without indicating the order of penetration. If you would like to nominate a group of more than two characters in this format, please use the format X + Y top A + B (with apologies for making the tagset look increasingly like math class).
-X & Y for a BDSM-themed fanwork involving X and Y in a platonic relationship in which the fanwork does not focus on kink play between them. For example, this may mean a fanwork where X and Y are undercover at a fetish club together without engaging in play, or where they commiserate over trying to date in the BDSM community.
-Larger groups may be combined, for example, X/Y & A/B/C or A & X tops Y.
You may nominate members of groups, "Any Character" or original characters as part of relationships. In this case required details must be baked into the tag. Any ambiguous details will be up to the creator's choice. For example, you may nominate "Natasha Romanoff/Any Female Avenger," but you may not request "Natasha Romanoff/Any Avenger" and then insist upon or DNW Natasha Romanoff shipped with a male Avenger. Particularly keep in mind that in cases of ambiguous group nominations, creators may choose any member of that group.
Disambiguation (putting the fandom after the pairing in parentheses) is nice but not mandatory except for crossovers. Crossover pairings should be nominated in the format X (fandom)/Y (fandom), X (Fandom) tops Y (Fandom), etc.
Freeforms:
You may nominate up to 10 freeforms.
Freeforms must be on topic to be eligible. The rules for what is considered on topic have changed. In order to be eligible, a freeform tag must either fall under an umbrella category in the acronym (bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism or masochism), or reference BDSM community, symbols, traditions, etc. directly. "Any Kink"-type nominations are still allowed, with the understanding that they must be filled with an eligible kink.
The line between fictional noncon and kink can be thin. In general, noncon is not eligible alone as a freeform, but nonconsensual kink is, e.g., blackmail or noncon are ineligible by themselves but "Blackmailed Into Ponyplay" or "Nonconsensual Bondage" would be eligible. Ritual, formalized or extended domination is also usually eligible, e.g., "AU - Marriage Involves Obedience Magic" or "Sex Slavery."
The "Smut" prefix rule has been eliminated, and sign ups will include ratings-based matching for directly requesting smut or works without smut.
I encourage participants to consider whether their freeforms are potentially ambiguous when nominating. For example, "formal BDSM" has many radically diverging meanings and you will have no guarantee that if you match on it, your matching participant will interpret it the same way. It may help to add more information to clarify.
I will query freeforms that are ambiguous or if I am undecided if they are on topic, but will otherwise reject off topic freeforms this year. If you feel a freeform was rejected when it should have been accepted, you are welcome to comment with questions. You are also welcome to comment with questions before nominating.
Specific Clarifications:
Freeforms that are eligible:
-Clothing which restricts movement, e.g., hobble skirts, corsets
-Any pain-related kink
-Freeforms which specify doms or subs doing something or with certain traits, e.g., "AU - All Doms Are Cat People"
-Collars
Off topic freeforms (may be made eligible by adding on topic details):
-Material and texture-based clothing, e.g., leather or latex
-Crossdressing (forced feminization and similar are eligible but must be specified)
-Most uniform fetishes
-Body fluid kinks (except most bloodplay)
Banned Kinks: Freeforms involving historical Nazis, Nazis symbols, ideology or atrocities, or in-character Nazi fetishism/roleplay are not allowed. I reserve the right to add to this list or ban thinly fictionalized versions thereof. Note: Hydra and Hydra-related freeforms are permitted as long as they do not appear to be meant to circumvent this rule, do not involve Nazi symbols, ideology or war crimes, and are not set during WWII or Nazi Germany.
Fandoms:
You may nominate up to 10 fandoms. In general, all fandoms are eligible (with a couple of exceptions below). You may nominate Creator's Choice of Fandom. You may nominate fanworks if the creator has made a public permission statement for transformative works.
All crossovers should be nominated under Crossover Fandom. (More info on formatting under relationships).
RPF involving real life serial killers or people famous for participation in the Nazi regime is not allowed. I may add to this list, or ban thinly fictionalized versions thereof, according to my sole discretion.
Franchises:
Please nominate Star Wars fandoms under their specific property, e.g., Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Old Republic, etc. Note that characters are only eligible in properties they appear in or under Crossover Fandom, so for example, Ahsoka Tano cannot be nominated under Star Wars Prequel Trilogy.
Please nominate MCU movies under MCU, and MCU TV shows by individual show.
Please nominate Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series under Buffyverse.
Relationships:
Characters and relationships should be nominated under the relationship category. You may nominate up to 20 per fandom.
Individual characters should be nominated in the format "Solo: X." Note that these tags cover any fanwork including at least that character, and other characters may appear in the fanwork.
Relationships should be nominated in one of the following formats:
-X/Y for sexual, romantic, or kink play between two or more characters, in which any or no characters may top
-X tops Y for sexual, romantic or kink play between two or more characters in which X will top in the application of the freeform tag. If you match on a freeform involving penetration, this may refer to X penetrating Y, but for other freeforms it may mean that X dominates Y without indicating the order of penetration. If you would like to nominate a group of more than two characters in this format, please use the format X + Y top A + B (with apologies for making the tagset look increasingly like math class).
-X & Y for a BDSM-themed fanwork involving X and Y in a platonic relationship in which the fanwork does not focus on kink play between them. For example, this may mean a fanwork where X and Y are undercover at a fetish club together without engaging in play, or where they commiserate over trying to date in the BDSM community.
-Larger groups may be combined, for example, X/Y & A/B/C or A & X tops Y.
You may nominate members of groups, "Any Character" or original characters as part of relationships. In this case required details must be baked into the tag. Any ambiguous details will be up to the creator's choice. For example, you may nominate "Natasha Romanoff/Any Female Avenger," but you may not request "Natasha Romanoff/Any Avenger" and then insist upon or DNW Natasha Romanoff shipped with a male Avenger. Particularly keep in mind that in cases of ambiguous group nominations, creators may choose any member of that group.
Disambiguation (putting the fandom after the pairing in parentheses) is nice but not mandatory except for crossovers. Crossover pairings should be nominated in the format X (fandom)/Y (fandom), X (Fandom) tops Y (Fandom), etc.
Freeforms:
You may nominate up to 10 freeforms.
Freeforms must be on topic to be eligible. The rules for what is considered on topic have changed. In order to be eligible, a freeform tag must either fall under an umbrella category in the acronym (bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism or masochism), or reference BDSM community, symbols, traditions, etc. directly. "Any Kink"-type nominations are still allowed, with the understanding that they must be filled with an eligible kink.
The line between fictional noncon and kink can be thin. In general, noncon is not eligible alone as a freeform, but nonconsensual kink is, e.g., blackmail or noncon are ineligible by themselves but "Blackmailed Into Ponyplay" or "Nonconsensual Bondage" would be eligible. Ritual, formalized or extended domination is also usually eligible, e.g., "AU - Marriage Involves Obedience Magic" or "Sex Slavery."
The "Smut" prefix rule has been eliminated, and sign ups will include ratings-based matching for directly requesting smut or works without smut.
I encourage participants to consider whether their freeforms are potentially ambiguous when nominating. For example, "formal BDSM" has many radically diverging meanings and you will have no guarantee that if you match on it, your matching participant will interpret it the same way. It may help to add more information to clarify.
I will query freeforms that are ambiguous or if I am undecided if they are on topic, but will otherwise reject off topic freeforms this year. If you feel a freeform was rejected when it should have been accepted, you are welcome to comment with questions. You are also welcome to comment with questions before nominating.
Specific Clarifications:
Freeforms that are eligible:
-Clothing which restricts movement, e.g., hobble skirts, corsets
-Any pain-related kink
-Freeforms which specify doms or subs doing something or with certain traits, e.g., "AU - All Doms Are Cat People"
-Collars
Off topic freeforms (may be made eligible by adding on topic details):
-Material and texture-based clothing, e.g., leather or latex
-Crossdressing (forced feminization and similar are eligible but must be specified)
-Most uniform fetishes
-Body fluid kinks (except most bloodplay)
Banned Kinks: Freeforms involving historical Nazis, Nazis symbols, ideology or atrocities, or in-character Nazi fetishism/roleplay are not allowed. I reserve the right to add to this list or ban thinly fictionalized versions thereof. Note: Hydra and Hydra-related freeforms are permitted as long as they do not appear to be meant to circumvent this rule, do not involve Nazi symbols, ideology or war crimes, and are not set during WWII or Nazi Germany.