Secret Solenoid Rules

General Event Rules and Guidelines

Requirements and Posting you must be completing the check-ins and then submitting a finished, polished piece. AI may NOT be used in the making of your gift. All gifts must be properly tagged with their content, any applicable warnings, and tagged as Secret Solenoid (“Secret Solenoid”, “TF Secret Solenoid”, or “Secret Solenoid 2024"). If you've posted on Tumblr, @ our Tumblr account (@secretsolenoid-revived) so that we can reblog it. Participants are responsible for posting their own gifts, unless otherwise arranged.

🎨 For Artists: Artists must produce a lined, coloured, and shaded (aka polished) piece of art (this may differ by art style). This may be posted on any social media site, and we will link to it/reblog it on our Tumblr.
🚨 Please only submit your check-in as using one of the following file types: .jpg OR .png!
✒️ For Writers: Writers must produce a edited and spell-checked (aka polished) piece of English prose with a minimum wordcount of 3000. This fic must be posted to AO3 and submitted to the 2024 Secret Solenoid Collection.
🚨 Please only submit your check-in as using one of the following file types: .odt, .docx, or .scriv. Do not send us screencaps of your writing.

This is an 18+ event. Do not enter if you are not 18 or older by the date the sign-up form closes.

No tolerance for any bigoted or hateful behaviour such as transphobia, racism, sexism, or homophobia.

This year communication for the event will be done via Discord, not email or Tumblr, due to problems with spam filters last year. Unless you have decided to be anonymous (we will contact you via email), you must join and use the Discord server.

Your prompts can't ask for reader-inserts, OCs, or your own personal AUs. General fandom AUs such as mermech or humanformers are fine to request.

Related to this, please write the characters' personalities as they are depicted in canon, and draw them as they appear in canon, unless otherwise requested by your giftee's prompts. We don't know if you giftee will enjoy your various headcanons. This also doesn't mean that you cannot draw them in your art style, just don't redesign the characters!

🛑 AI art or fic is absolutely not allowed in any way. 🛑

All times are CEST/CET!

Crossovers are okay only if they are between two different Transformers universes. Here's some examples:
- Okay: TFP Optimus in Beast Wars.
- Not Okay: TFP Optimus in Star Trek.

Do NOT harass people over or police kinks or ships. Do not bring up fandom wank.

Do not contact your giftee about the gift before it has been posted.
- If you need clarification about a prompt, contact the mods and we'll ask in your place.

Don't be rude. We're putting in dozens of hours of work behind the scenes for a community event. We're a two-man team, and while we're trying our best, mistakes will happen. Value our time and effort, and work with us to help fix problems if they arise. If people are rude, we'll stop hosting the event.

Don't post details or WIPs of your gift anywhere public before your gift has been posted! This is a Secret Solenoid(this includes: social media, Discord servers, or any community larger than a few people).

No real life exchange is arranged by this event. This is purely an online exchange.

Don’t be rude about your gift, even if you aren’t satisfied. Not everyone has the same skill. Appreciate the effort someone put into making something for you, and thank them.

It's best to wait a few days after receiving your prompts before starting work on your gift, as your assignment may get changed. This is in case any people need to be swapped around.

🔨Concerning bans (click here!)🔨
- Breaking most rules will get you a warning first, then a ban the second time. If you’re banned, you may not participate the next year. You can, however, sign up again the year after next.
- If you have been previously banned and enter again, and break another rule, you will be permanently blacklisted from entering the event in the future. This may also occur if you do something particularly egregious.
- Any form of harassment over any participants, including the moderators, is heavily prohibited and will be dealt with accordingly. This will get you permanently banned from the event.
  
  If you are found engaging in harassment or other harmful behaviors, you will be removed from the event. This includes, but isn't limited to, death threats, hate speech, and other problematic behavior. If we see you having death threats on your social media, your sign-up will automatically be blacklisted.
  
  Be respectful. Mods will work with you to make sure you don’t receive any sort of unwanted content, but bear in mind other participants might enjoy something you don’t, and vice-versa.
  
  Once again, harassing any participant over fandom content, ships, race, sexuality, identity, and likewise will NOT go unaccounted for. Do NOT harass people.
- Warnings and bans are applied at the discretion of the mods. If you find your ban unjustified, you’re free to reach out to us and we can discuss it.

🦄 Concerning Pinch-Hitters (click here!)🦄

Pinch-hitters should tick the box on their sign-up form that indicates that they’re open for creating an extra gift in case of needed backups. If you realise afterwards that you would have liked to sign up as a pinch-hitter, feel free to email us.
Being a pinch-hitter means that, alongside making your normal gift, you may get asked by the mods if you would be able to make another gift that is in line with your preferences. This happens if someone has dropped out or was banned, and we need someone to fill in.
- You can absolutely decline if we ask and you're not able to or cannot work with the given prompts.
Pinch-hitters will have two weeks starting from 23rd of December — with a preferred date being 1st of January — to finish and post their second gift.

Discord Rules & Guidelines

The Discord server will have no general chat area. It isn't to chat with other participants, it is only to communicate with mods and post updates about the event.

You will have a personal numbered participant channel only accessible by you and the mods. This is where we’ll give you your prompts, where you can ask us questions or clarification, and ask us to contact your giftee for you, if needed. If you need assistance, please the ping the @mod role or one of the individual mods in your channel.

Do not mute your personal participant channel, #updates, or @everyone.

You must reply to us on Discord within a week or you will be kicked from the event. We as mods can’t tell if someone is currently unable to respond and plans to later, or if they simply forgot to. If we’re unable to reach you, and you ghost us without any communication, you will be kicked.

All communication must be done in English.

When messaging us in your participant channel, any common squicks (dub- and non-con, medical, extreme violence, gore, death, incest, scat, urine, etc.) must be spoilered and labelled. If you're questioning if it should be, then you should. Please also label it with an applicable warning.

The Discord server is for participants only. Do not share the invite link around!

The Discord server will close approximately two weeks after the event ends.

Rules & Guidelines!

General Event Rules and Guidelines

Discord Rules & Guidelines

Deadlines & Extensions