sterekreversebang-blog

[sterekreversebang-blog]

Sterek Valentine Week is here!

This is the first time out of the gate for Sterek Valentine Week, but it’s determined to have some holiday fun. And regardless of your current relationship status, Valentine’s Day is coming! (dun dun dunnnn) So let’s get creative and celebrate the love, hate, ups, downs, mildly confused, adorkable, sometimes angsty, but often fluffy, and always eternal STEREK ship!

So what is this? Sterek Valentine Week is an event from (February 8th-February 14th). Each of those seven days will have a Valentine’s Day theme assigned to it. The list of themes is as follows:

February 8th- Cozy February 9th- Bear/Bare February 10th- Snuggle February 11th- Chocolate Covered February 12th- Kinky February 13th- Secret Admirer February 14th- Be Mine

How to participate: all you have to do is examine the theme list, and create a work/s that corresponds with your chosen theme. 

Note: each theme is assigned to a specific day. So post your work on the day your theme is assigned. NOT BEFORE. If the date has passed, that’s ok, feel free to post on any other day after, but not before.

Acceptable works include, but are not limited to: fics, art, edits, playlists, vids, etc. Express yourself however you wish. If it’s Sterek related, we wanna see it!

If you like a theme but don’t wish to make it all Valentines-ish. That’s cool too. As long as it features Stiles and Derek.

This also means there’s no limit to where Sterek can go or what that ship can do. All crossovers, AUs, kinks what have you, are all on the table. Go crazy. It should also be said, your works can feature any other characters and their relationships, as long as Sterek is the star.

Tags: I’ve established a tag to keep it simple. When you post your work here on Tumblr, please tag it with “sterekvalentineweek”. I’ll be following that tag and will reblog all works and posts to the Sterek Valentine Week blog (HERE). Please note: if this tag is not one of the first 5 tags you list in your post, then I cannot track it. I don’t know why. But apparently, it’s a thing.

Archive of Our Own: I’ve set up a collection on Ao3. If you worry about your work being flagged or you just like Ao3, the collection is an option for you. Just sign in to your account, search for: “Sterek_Valentine_Week”, or find the link (HERE) and you’re good to go. It is open and not moderated.  

So let your imagination guide you, and let’s enjoy Valentine’s day together! If you don’t want to participate, you can always follow the tag “sterekvalentineweek” on Tumblr and/or check out the collection on Ao3: Sterek_Valentine_Week (HERE)

Final note: I am dyslexic, my brain moves in and out of the mirror dimension at random. So I apologize for any mistakes.  operationpositivity

[sterekreversebang-blog]

Hi! Just wondered if you'll be running this year and if so will it be here? :)

Hi.

As of now, we’re still looking into all the possible platforms to run the reversebang again. It’s highly unlikely that we’ll run the event here though, due to the ongoing issues with tumblr’s current guidelines. 

Unfortunately, that means we don’t have dates or a definite answer for when or if the reversebang will happen anytime soon. :( 

~Jen/froggydarren

PS: places that we have looked at so far (each of which comes with a downside and stumbling block to run the RB as it is): Pillowfort, Dreamwidth, Livejournal, AO3, tumblr, twitter, Discord. Anyone who participated in last year’s RB should have the invite link for our Discord server - feel free to come over and chime in. (if you lost your link but participated previously, send us an email and we’ll invite you again - former participants only please). 

[sterekreversebang-blog]

tumblr & nsfw flagging

So, in case anyone was still questioning why we don’t think running the reversebang on here is possible, there are about 10 posts flagged across the two rounds  (and since most of them are reblogs, they can’t be submitted for review by us), including a mod post that is absolutely sfw. (cryptomoon, originfire, rumi-nyo, comedicdrama have one each, frrogsandboxes three) 

We’re looking at possibilities of a new home, but so far we’ve not found anything that looks like a good place to set up. We’ll keep you posted. 

~Jen/froggydarren

[sterekreversebang-blog]

Hi, you mentioned that you'll be keeping the discord open, you can also host images on discord (once you upload the image to a discord server you can use that link). If you're looking for an easy image hosting option that is

Hi!

Thank you, that’s good info to have for our participants.

Those who took part in the 2018 round of the Reversebang: you have the invite link in the sign up confirmation email we sent out. If you can’t find it or you deleted it, you can contact us via email (please let us know the username you had for the RB, in case you changed it). 

~Jen/froggydarren

[sterekreversebang-blog]

dimondlite replied to your post: “tumblr shenanigans and the future of the Sterek RB”:

What name is discord unde

Hi. As we mentioned before, the Discord is currently only for those who participated in the Reversebang previously.

We'll make a post if/when it becomes public.

~Jen/froggydarren

[sterekreversebang-blog]

Re the art on AO3: you will need a different host for the images, because AO3 doesn't have on-site hosting. I am currently using tumblr and embed the image url via html to AO3, but I will have to find a new host for my nsfw gifs or everything is gone. AO3 has a list with sites that they allow archiveofourown(.)org/admin_posts/201

Thank you for that! 

My bad, I meant to mention that art has to be hosted off-site when it comes to AO3 and embedded from there. 

The upside of tumblr is that the flagged posts will not be deleted (or well, so they say) but changed into private posts. And those can still be used as hosts for embeds the same way public posts are. It’s not a permanent solution and the image links do change sometimes without warning. Also, if you stick to doing this, I’d recommend a sideblog, because private posts are really hard to find unless you save the direct links to them somewhere. 

I wasn’t aware of the allowed list of sites, so thank you for that! (here’s the post) - they don’t restrict image sites, only video and audio, per their post. I did hosting on Imgur at one point but wasn’t aware of the ToS against embedding (also, it was a long time ago, so it’s possible that it’s changed since?). Flickr is currently changing their ToS too and restricts the number of images they’ll host for free (1000 pics), but if you don’t already have an account and a gallery there, it’s an option. 

If anyone has any other tips for this, they’re welcome! 

~Jen/froggydarren

[sterekreversebang-blog]

hd-hale replied to your post “tumblr shenanigans and the future of the Sterek RB”

Thanks for the update. I'm quite gutted about my nsfw srb piece in particular. It's good to hear the event will still continue and I hope you still allow nsfw content through other platforms. I hope you can get another site going elsewhere for those of us preparing to leave fumblr. ♡

We’ll definitely do our best to either make it work here (depending on how things shake out) or find a new home that’s nsfw-friendly. 

For the time being:

hyperlittlenori replied to your post “tumblr shenanigans and the future of the Sterek RB”

For FanArt peoples, you can host art on AO3 too and post to the collection so we don't lose you too! FanArt have their own tags and everything :)

Thank you for that! The collection is open but moderated, so if you add your art there, we’ll approve it as soon as we can. 

~Jen/froggydarren

[sterekreversebang-blog]

Tumblrs nsfw rules still are nsfw fanfic and original art though? It's just not people people porn, I'm kind of stressed out that I keep reading a bunch of blogs "disclaimers" because I don't think anyone is actually reading the guidelines, and are just taking word of mouth

Yeah see, I did read the guidelines. The ones that specifically also mention illustrations. 

And yes, written erotica is okay, but how long until someone kicks up a fuss against that too? How long before only stories that are at most Teen rated are allowed?

I’ve also been around enough to know that when something like this starts, it’s never as clear-cut as it’s claiming to be. The flagging of nsfw work is unreliable at best and downright wrong at worst. With a challenge that heavily relies on art, running an event on a platform that unceremoniously flags images as sensitive, regardless of whether they are, is not worth the potential hassle of reviewing, delays, and flat-out having artworks not allowed and possibly getting people’s blogs, including this one, suspended.

So yeah, until this all shakes out and we see what’s happening, and how many people, after this, even stay on tumblr, we’re not willing to make any plans that will end up not working out due to either the censorship that’s going on, or because we just won’t have enough people willing to be on tumblr to participate. 

Those are the reasons for our disclaimer about being on hold for now. 

~Jen/froggydarren

[sterekreversebang-blog]

tumblr shenanigans and the future of the Sterek RB

*peeks in* 

*taps mic* Is this thing on? 

So hey, first of all, apologies for dropping the ball on the wrap up of the reversebang. The reasons are multiple and right now, it’s not really important.

What is important is the current state of tumblr and their decision to ban adult content. 

As you know, we never disallowed nsfw art or explicit fics during the event. We have no plans to do that either, nor do we plan on deleting anything that’s already on here. But with the way things are going, running the reversebang here will no longer be possible - works that are nsfw won’t be allowed, works that are sfw are being flagged anyway, who knows how long the exemption for written content is going to last. 

So, as it is, the reversebang is only going to stay up as an archive and we’ll keep maintaining it to the best of our abilities. 

The majority of the stories written for both our rounds are still on AO3 (if you haven’t added yours to the appropriate collection, please do so). We’re not sure what’s going to happen to artworks, unfortunately, but for now the reblogs (unless deleted by tumblr) will remain on here and those that have been posted on AO3 will remain there. 

For the time being, we can still be found on twitter (sterekRB) and the Discord server hasn’t gone anywhere. Our email (sterekrb@gmail) remains open too. 

We’ll let you all know if/when we find a new home. 

Thank you for being part of the reversebang thus far. 

Your SRB Mods

[sterekreversebang-blog]

Feedback Request

Hi everyone! 

As we’re working on wrapping up this year’s Sterek Reversebang, we’d like to ask you all a favor. Last year, we asked for feedback about the first round and it’s been helpful for us to make changes so we try and make the event better (for you all and for us). 

We’d appreciate if you did that again this year. 

FEEDBACK FORM HERE

There are sections for authors, artists, Beta readers, pinch hitters, and for those who were readers this time, so even if you didn’t create work for the 2018 round, we’d like to hear from you. 

Thank you! 

Your SRB Mods

[sterekreversebang-blog]

Feedback Request

Hi everyone! 

As we’re working on wrapping up this year’s Sterek Reversebang, we’d like to ask you all a favor. Last year, we asked for feedback about the first round and it’s been helpful for us to make changes so we try and make the event better (for you all and for us). 

We’d appreciate if you did that again this year. 

FEEDBACK FORM HERE

There are sections for authors, artists, Beta readers, pinch hitters, and for those who were readers this time, so even if you didn’t create work for the 2018 round, we’d like to hear from you. 

Thank you! 

Your SRB Mods

[sterekreversebang-blog]

Feedback Request

Hi everyone! 

As we’re working on wrapping up this year’s Sterek Reversebang, we’d like to ask you all a favor. Last year, we asked for feedback about the first round and it’s been helpful for us to make changes so we try and make the event better (for you all and for us). 

We’d appreciate if you did that again this year. 

FEEDBACK FORM HERE

There are sections for authors, artists, Beta readers, pinch hitters, and for those who were readers this time, so even if you didn’t create work for the 2018 round, we’d like to hear from you. 

Thank you! 

Your SRB Mods

[sterekreversebang-blog]

*wave*

Hi everyone? *taps mic* Is this thing still on? Yeah? Okay!

First of all, apologies from us that it’s been a little quiet on here since posting ended. It’s been a few weeks which we’ve taken to regroup and recover from the event. 

A few things we’d like to let you know now:

the feedback BINGO We hope you’ve been reading through the fics and looking at the art from our 2018 round and giving love to all our authors and artists!  There will be a more detailed post soon about how to post your bingo cards and your feedback (aka rec) lists.  (and also maybe a little reward for those of you who did. so if you didn’t yet... go for it :D) 

event feedback We’ll be emailing out feedback forms to all our participants and also posting the link here on the blog. We’d very much appreciate if you took the time to let us know what did or didn’t work about this most recent round so we know what can be improved

2018 masterlist As for our 2017 round, we will be compiling all this year’s fics and art into a masterlist page. What would help immensely is if your fics were on AO3 and submitted to our collection. If you haven’t added your work to the collection yet, please do so (we’ll also be inviting the works which haven’t been added - we’ll email all the authors who get the invite)

For now, that’s all. Please keep a lookout for the above-mentioned posts and emails. We’ll see you soon! 

Your SRB Mods

[sterekreversebang-blog]

post-mortem of the 2018 round

Hi everyone!

So this one's a little late, but we needed some time to regroup once posting was done and we looked back at how this round of the reversebang went.

There are a few things we want to address, so here goes.

First of all, we want to thank everyone who has participated in the reversebang this year - to all the artists who contributed amazing pieces of art, to all the authors who put time and hard work into writing stories to accompany those art pieces, to our unsung heroes the Beta readers who helped make those stories even more awesome, and to every single one of our pinch hitters who stepped in at a short notice to write their stories: thank you so much for being part of this event and for dedicating your time to it.

We're so glad that there's interest in events like this and it's so awesome to see you guys having fun!

We also want to throw out a thank you to everyone who decided to join in on the Discord server: we hope you had as much fun on there as we did, and we hope it helped to have that little extra bit of community layer added to the reversebang :D

-=-=-=-

Now for a few organizational notes:

the RB Discord isn't closing down anytime soon, but we're still not sure how it's going to be reorganized. If you've been a part of it this year, you can continue chatting away there as you did, we'll make server-specific announcements on there

the fics that haven't been added to the AO3 collection will receive an invite (and an email about it from us, in case you don't have alerts for this set up on AO3). We'd appreciate if you accepted that invite so that all stories are tidily compiled in one place for any future readers out there.

there will be a masterlist page on the blog (as there is for the 2017 round) once we put everything together and make the page itself

all the fics for this (and last) year can be found via the links listed on the sidebar of the blog - "srb fic round up" tag for the fic and "srb art post" for the art pieces.

we will do a feedback poll - as we did last year - to ask what you did or didn't like about the event.

the Feedback Bingo is still in full force - keep reading and commenting and collecting those details about what you (especially the readers) did. We'll be back with more details about everything related to it closer to the end of the month.

-=-=-=-

On the slightly less cheerful note:

We know that you all overwhelmingly voted Yes on the poll about another round of the RB. We hear you. As of now, we're not making any promises. As mods, we want to look back on this round and the last, and think hard about our own lives and commitments before we make a final decision - we'll let you know.

However, for full transparency on why this isn't a simple decision to make:

Running an event is time-consuming and exhausting. This year real life seemed to have it out for making it even harder than usual, which was entirely out of our control - which is why this post, too, is later than we would've wanted it to be.

There are also things that make it tempting to jump right in and announce the next round: the participation, the art and stories that came out of the RB, the friendships we and others made along the way, the fun during the event (the daggers and sacrifices and blood-letting!! ;))

But there are also things that make us hesitate. The amount of those who signed up, committed to participating, but then went missing without saying anything. The amount of extra work that we had to put in to get the event running (reminders about check-ins, about posting, about communicating between the matched pairs during the event, the repeated queries about rules outlined on our blog...)

We both understand that life gets in the way unexpectedly sometimes. Our own lives this, this year more so than last. But because of this, we do need those who sign up to communicate (with us, with whoever they're working with) about these issues as much as possible. To know what you're signing up for (check-in dates are always laid out beforehand, so you can plan for them in advance). And to be reasonably confident that this is something you can do. This is especially true for the author side of the event - once you commit and claim art, it's not just us you're letting down. We also need you to be able to communicate your thoughts to us and to your collab partners - tell them about squicks and triggers, about ideas you like or don't, about your availability for contact during the event, about how you work and what you're willing to share as you work.

And we really need everyone to read the rules: check-ins, requirements, deadlines, communication options, etc. We've always made it very clear that we're up for answering queries if anything isn't made completely clear in our rules or answered in our FAQ and queries tag. And yet, both years there were things that some people ignored or questions they had that were already answered before. (guys, there's only so many times we can answer "what's the minimum wordcount?" before it gets frustrating).

So, with all that in mind, we're discussing the possibility of the next round. There are going to be changes again about how the event is run, about rules and guidelines and our own side of the communication and how to make it all easier for everyone involved. IF there is another round, there may be more restrictions and there may be conditions for signing up, but there will also hopefully be changes that make all this easier for you and for us.

At the end of the day, we want this to be a fun part of our fandom and something that everyone (including us) is looking forward to. For our part, we really hope that those of you who took part did enjoy the reversebang, that you maybe found new friends and discovered new creators, and that you're not left disappointed.

Thank you.

Your SRB Mods

[sterekreversebang-blog]

Aaaaand we’re done. Mostly. We think. 

There’s going to be a wrap up post in the near future, and for anyone reading, don’t forget that there’s still the comment/feedback bingo running until the and of August (we’ll make reminders about that too). 

For now though, we’d like to see if there’s any interest in another round of the reversebang in the future. 

So if you can, please answer our poll here or on our twitter. 

Thank you everyone who participated! You’re awesome!

Your SRB Mods

[sterekreversebang-blog]

My entry for @sterekreversebang 2018!

Check out @triggeringthehealing (froggydarren)‘s story, “Mischief, Magic, and Mates“ on tumblr and AO3! Please leave a nice comment ^_^

Summary:  Stiles has always been curious about everything he encountered, always on the search for answers about how things worked and why they worked the way they did. The mating runs which take place in Beacon Hills every spring are no exception, but it took some time before he figured out that there’s magic involved.

He doesn’t want to find a mate for himself, not after he saw what the loss of one does to a person. He just wants to know how it all works.

Sometimes, when you take things apart and put them back together, some pieces are left behind.

[sterekreversebang-blog]

My darling @jennthereaper jumped in on this one and wrote a thing for the above photoset! Go, read, show her all the love:

Small Town Business

“Exactly. And this is why you’re paying me the big bucks.”

“We’re not paying you any bucks.”

“Yet!”

“Never.”

“You keep telling yourself you’re not gonna give it to me, I’ll keep knowing better.”

Derek/Stiles, Mature, ~8.4k