…But I am sorely tempted to.
I finally received my Geeky Craft Swap and I was very … underwhelmed. And a bit peeved.
For a refresher, here is what I sent to my partner, who was not the same person who sent my package to me.
I WILL make one of these for myself - someday.
I carefully read my partner’s profile, selected something she liked, and constructed my project around it, as I try to do with all my swaps.
I received a message from the sender on 12/2 that she was going to send it that day, when I got it the postmark was from 12/9.
Here is what I received on Monday.
Ummm...
The Union Jack is a postcard and reads:
Thanks for being the most patient swap partner in the universe! I made this pouch for you out of an old wool sweater I felted & the label on the front came on a pair of jeans I bought my son. thought it would be a nice place to stash a cool notebook for your ‘doodles’ =) Also the pouch I made from a tie & it’s the perfect size for pantyliners or condoms … whatever. the buttons are vintage from my collection
I am accustomed to receiving swaps that have differing levels of craftsmanship and do not rate down because what I got wasn’t up to my own personal standards. While it does look like she put some effort into it, with the exception on the small ball of yarn, none of the items I received really had anything to do with my profile at all, not to mention any of the many geeky things I list as things I like or enjoy. (You can read my Swap-Bot profile here)
I went back and checked on the original swap text, just to make sure I wasn’t misunderstanding things.
The text of the swap reads like this;
It’s not fair! The ATCers get all the fun topics!
Well, not anymore. This is a broad topic, and if it takes off, I’ll make it more specific in future swaps!
For this swap, you will take your favorite craft and create something geeky based on your partners profile. For example: If I sew, and my partner loves Doctor Who…I might sew them a Doctor Who based pillow or custom design them a shirt. Or if I scrapbook, and my partner loves Supernatural…I might make them a greeting card or a small Supernatural scrapbook. This can also mean an entire genre, not just television. Steampunk, Diselpunk, Gamers, Zombies, etc…
The one rule is, the craft can not be an ATC!
I’m giving everyone two weeks to get this together. Ratings must be above a 4.8 and completed 10 type 3 swaps before. Sorry for the strickness, but that’s life. I’m sure there will be more of these in the future. 🙂
Also, this is international because some peoples favorites aren’t American!
Happy Swapping, Everyone!!
While checking profiles, I noticed a couple of people hadn’t listed what makes them geeky or what they nerd out about. So please, update your profile or drop a note to your partner or leave a comment here about it
If you don’t tell your partner, and you don’t mention it on your profile or comments, you can not rate a 3 if you get something the sender feels you should have. Being communicative is just as important in a swap like this
While my profile doesn’t have a specific section marked “These are things I am geeky for” there are many things mentioned that are considered geeky that the sender could have incorporated into any of the items she sent me – even a single appliqué from one of the geeky things I like would have met the requirements.
I messaged the swap coordinator (who was nice enough to message me to check and see if I had been flaked on, since the sender never bothered to contact her) and asked for her advice. The sender has almost two hundred swaps under her belt and a perfect 5.00, I don’t want to be the one responsible for ruining that but I don’t think I can truthfully give her a good rating based on what she sent me.
Am I overreacting? Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?
I agree with you on this one. I think the sender read the word “craft” and then stopped reading the swap and joined just so they could make pouches. I would not call any of that stuff geeky, to the point where I wonder if your sender even knows what the word “geeky” means.
She sent you a condom purse. Do what you feel is right.
Well, I think the person tried. The comment about doodles shows she put some effort, if you mentioned anywhere that you draw. Personally, I consider sketchbooks and drawing “geeky” to begin with.
I’m always afraid to join swaps like that for exactly this reason. I always give each swap a 100% effort, but some swap partners may not like what I sent or may not consider it to be something that meets the requirements, especially when the requirements are kind of open ended or profile-based. I once had a partner in an ATC swap, where I really tried to do something artsy and special, tell me that she was going to give me a low rating if I didn’t send another ATC because she felt that my ATC wasn’t good enough. I have never been so hurt in swapping. I considered her demand extortion. I contacted the host, blocked the swapper and refuse to allow her to participate in swaps I host. Her actions probably ended up hurting her as much as they hurt me because now she has a reputation as an unfair swapper, at least in my small circle of the world. (I didn’t know about the PFs then.)
I think it is wrong to rate down because you don’t think the package is geeky enough or because you didn’t like it. Plus you didn’t have the geeky section, which meant your partner had to read between the lines. “Geeky” is subjective anyway. On the other hand, late sending is a reason for a low rating. So, if you do decide to give a low rating, which is probably appropriate because of the late sending, I’d hang your hat on the send date. Otherwise you seem like a swapper that rates down because you are picky and/or don’t like what people send.
I’ve never rated down simply because I didn’t like what someone sent me – as long as it fufilled the swap requirements and was sent on time I always rate a five. Personally I think it would be a pretty crappy thing to do to someone, to coerce them into sending you stuff just because you don’t happen to like what they obviously spent time and effort on.
That’s what has me so conflicted – she obviously spent time and effort to put this together for me and read my profile so that she would have some idea of what I would like. The problem is that I don’t think it meets the requirements of the swap – from how I interpret it, we were supposed to create something using our technique of choice and incorporate either a specific source material (a favorite book, movie, or TV show) or favorite genre (aliens, vampires, zombies, etc…) from our partner’s profile into that craft. While it’s true I don’t have a separate “geeky” section on my profile, I have numerous favorite TV shows, movies, books, and other assorted likes listed that could have been incorporated into any of the items the sender sent to me.
I’m with holly here. If you turn the tables and imagine this swap person looks at your profile and tries…well, I for one think that’s good enough.
I don’t know anything about late sending, but maybe she had a really good reason? Sick child, work crisis, anything could have made her late. I don’t think I’d low-rate on that.
*shrugs*
Just my two cents.
She did notify me ahead of time that she was going to be sending later than the required date, there had been a death in her family, so I was fine with that. As long as my partner tells me ahead of time, I’m usually pretty flexible when it comes to that sort of thing.
If it had been just a regular profile surprise swap I probably wouldn’t hesitate to give her a five, but I just don’t see how she incorporated any of the specific likes from my profile into what she sent me, which is what the swap required.
As far as rating low, giving her a 4 when she has nearly 200 5 ratings won’t bring down her average much. I looked at your profile, and there are a lot of likes listed there. She should have been able to come up with *something* from all that. I’d rate down, but only a little, and be sure to leave an explanation for her and others to understand why.
A 4 isn’t an option, there are only three ratings;
1 = I didn’t get anything
3 = I got my stuff, but it didn’t meet the posted swap requirements.
5 = I got my stuff and it met posted swap requirements (with the additional option of giving a heart with a 5 if it was an “extra special package”)
As it stands I’d probably have to give her a three, which would drop her ratings down a little bit but not a significant amount, but I’m still loathe to do it because I don’t like rating people down if they put an effort into what they sent me. I’ve sent her a message to see if we might be able to work something out.
I have read your Swap-bot profile and not really knowing what she was thinking, here’s what I see.
You like darker/monochromatic colors – gray pouch
You like things that are foreign – union jack
You like useful, repurposed things – tie pouch
You can use odd and useful artsy stickers, leftover scrap paper/yarn/clean trash – check, check, check
She at least stayed away from overly cutesy stuff – which you hate. To me it seems — she satisfied the swap, but did not push herself to go beyond her comfort zone of creativity. And that I think lies the rub. You always try to give better than the swap before. You push yourself to be creative and whereas she thought about different things that you might like or be able to use, she did not attempt to put it together in a creative manner. There’s no one theme in how she selected things. That is a failing on her part, but maybe it’s because her life was way too hectic and instead of bowing out/contacting the appropriate person, she put together what she could and got it out the door.
Whether she was right to do that or not, I can’t say. I say evaluate the objects on their own merit… whether or not it really is something you like, is it something that you could make use of? Or repurpose to another swap? Maybe the best thing is to ask Mother Dearest if the objects are decent or not, and rate on her opinion… 🙂
I can see your point and you are right – she did send me things that I listed as likes in my profile. But this was a theme swap and there really isn’t a theme to what she sent me. If she had contacted me and explained that she wasn’t going to be able to put together a themed package but would send a profile surprise instead, I would have been fine with it but she didn’t.I’m still waiting to hear back from her, I’m hoping she can explain her reasoning or situation more fully so I can rate her a five. I’d rather leave the swap unrated than rate someone down who was obviously trying to send something nice.
Damn decent of you. She better fess up and be straight.