In the spirit of, er, community, Iāve decided (after consultation with @N26throwaway) to run a Secret Santa for those in the community that are interested! For some people () it may mean a lot to receive a gift from someone theyāve been chatting with, communicating with, and trying to steal a plushie from for days, weeks, months or even years!
For now - Iām just gauging interest, thereās a poll below, please read through the terms/plan - suggest changes if you think any should be made (this is for the whole community after all!). When the poll is closed, Iāll set up some system for people to submit their details etc.
Howās it gonna work?
Glad you askedā¦
You must have been a member of the community for a least 2 months - this is to reduce the risk of people joining, and not shipping something to the recipient.
You will be asked for your name, community name, email address, delivery address, and some information about you.
Why all this info you askā¦ well.
Name - to go on the package
Delivery address - how else you gonna get their stuff to them?!
Info about you - to help guide the purchaser with what you want, include things like dietary preferences (so you donāt get chocolate if youāre allergic to dairy), gender, interests, pets, or whatever. Hell, just whack an Amazon link in to what you want
Community Name - to make sure youāre actually a member (this is not sent to your secret Santa match)
Email address - to send you the details of your recipient (this is not sent to your secret Santa match)
The limit of purchase is Ā£20 - thatās a limit, you can spend less if you want, but no more. Letās keep this fair to all people. (for the purposes of this exchange, Monzo Plushies are valued at Ā£20 - hint hint).
Your personal details will only be seen by me, and the person thatās sending your gift.
You must post a picture of the gift you received, thanking the unknown person that sent it to you.
I will not reveal who sent you a gift.
No, even if you bribe me.
Anyone who fails to send a gift after opting in will be excluded from future gift exchanges.
You can not opt out after the matching process has taken place, but you can opt out up to that point by DMing me.
Cool story bro - give us the dates
Poll to gauge interest will run until Monday 18th November.
People will have until Wednesday 27th November to submit their personal details.
The matches will be drawn on Thursday 28th November
Notification sent by end of day Friday 29th November who your recipient is!
Just some thoughts for those who love the idea of something like this but are apprehensive about the infinitesimal risks that comes with your name and address being shared with a stranger (because that used to be what initially deterred me from Reddit Gifts many years ago):
Know that this is being facilitated by one of our longest standing and well respected members. I trust @michaelw90.
Your secret santa who will learn your address is most likely not going to be someone of ill intent due to the nature of the quid pro quo bargain. Theyāll be most likely taking part for the same reason youād want to.
And if that doesnāt dispel your concerns, you still have privacy preserving options. They just require a little more effort and time, and in some cases an additional cost:
There are services like this who will give you a free UK personal address at which you can receive mail or parcels. I use them when Iām out of the country and I used it for Reddit Gifts in the past. They charge a fee to receive an item for you (a flat Ā£6 for a parcel), and a small markup on Royal Mail costs to forward it on (or you can arrange for a courier of your choice to collect it).
You can head to a nearby post office and ask if they can set you up with a poste restante service. Itās designed for travellers and those with no fixed address but anyone can use it. Youāll need photo ID, and youāll then be able to use the provided poste restante address.
If you have a local pub (that youāre a regular at), a parcel shop, or a local courier depot, you can ask if you can have an item delivered to their premises instead. Most will offer that facility but some may charge a small handling fee for providing it.
To protect your name, you can use a pseudonym, but that comes with risks. If you can prove youāre known by an alias to UKpostbox online (if youāre iJustine for instance), theyāll likely accept and allow you to use it, and then forward it on addressed to your real name.
I personally love what Michael wants to do here, and if thereās enough interest from folks that it goes ahead, Iāll be taking part.
@ndrw trusted me enough with their address to ship an iPad to them. Not sure if that adds any value to what has already been said though!
Weāll find out on Monday how many people have voted to do it, or not - but so far 17 people have voted, and Iām optimistic thereāll be at least 1 person.
A quick note on Post Restante ā itās designed for people with no permanent address in the area, and it says this:
The service will be withdrawn if we believe itās being abused (eg the recipient has a permanent address in the area)
If we suspect the Poste Restante service is being abused, weāll withdraw the service immediately without notice. After this, weāll return any items we receive to the sender
The Post Office offer a PO Box service but itās Ā£42.50 a month for three months minimum, so well above the Secret Santa value.
@michaelw90 there was an iPad in it for me! Not sure Iād give out all the personal information requested above to just anyone on the forum though.
I might look into the other post forwarding service @N26throwaway posted about. Otherwise is there a way to (a) send matches via DM (Discourse limits may scupper that) and (b) only provide name but not forum user name to the Secret Santa?
I realise it does link the username and the actual name, but I think thatās key for buying the person something.
I.e. my intention was to see, for example, if they are active in the coffee thread and buy some coffee that they might have posted about.
If I donāt know their forum name then Iām buying completely blind.
I donāt really think you need my real name. Iāve sold on eBay/forums over the years and loads of stuff has arrived with whatever username on. If it ends up at a sorting office for me to collect, you can say itās a nickname and your address will match.
People can put whatever they want in the fields, Iām not going to kick someone out if they put "Jeffā in the name field.
Maybe Iāll just make a it a generic large textarea and ask for āShipping detailsā and some people can put their name there.
Itās whether people want that connection to the community profile or not - and I get that some people wonāt want to do that, and some will.
Inversely, if people would rather a limit of ensuring all people taking part are a trust level 2 vs trust level 1 etc. Thatās something I can also do.
I thought the idea of secret Santa was that you knew who you were buying for? Iāve never done one but my wife does at work every year and they know who the person they are buying for is which helps with what to buy rather than something random for Ā£20.
If I took part and got āJeff from Wiganā then it kind of takes out the fun of it when it could be a person I speak to almost daily on here.
Info about you - to help guide the purchaser with what you want, include things like dietary preferences (so you donāt get chocolate if youāre allergic to dairy), gender, interests, pets, or whatever. Hell, just whack an Amazon link in to what you want
Sorry, I just learned we can do nested quotes and wanted in on the action.
That might be how your typical work place secret Santa works, but it was never how something like Reddit Gifts worked (or other online community gift exchanges) where you only know as much as your giftee is comfortable sharing.
With that said, I think forum regulars know each other well enough at this point. I liked @davidwaltonās pub analogy (though I donāt like pubs).
You might get someone you interact with frequently and like, or you might not, or you might get someone who doesnāt want you to know. Thats just how these things go. I think that should always be up to the recipient and what theyāre comfortable with in order for it to remain as inclusive and accessible as possible.
Perhaps in a future iteration (if this one goes well) it might be worth figuring out how to accommodate matching preferences, so you could request to know who your giftee is.
I think with 13 people wanting to do it, itās enough to proceed forward! Iāll get a Form Set Up today, for people to submit their details, and then can draw matches on Thursday!
I was aiming for about 10 to make it viable I think - enough to make it clear that you wonāt know whoās buying etc.
Weāll see how many of them convert into people submitting & if we pick up any others too on the journey. People may change their mind - either way - when they see the form
Submit Your Details 
) it may mean a lot to receive a gift from someone theyāve been chatting with, communicating with, and trying to steal a plushie from for days, weeks, months or even years!
Not sure if that adds any value to what has already been said though! 
).