Exchanges After Dark
| Discord server | |
|---|---|
| Name | Exchanges After Dark (EAD) |
| Date(s) | January 12th, 2018–[1][2][3] |
| Owner(s) | shadowsapiens |
| Fandom(s) | Exchange Fandom |
| Scope | AO3 Exchanges and similar events |
| Access | public to those over 18 years old |
| URL | EAD's Discord[note 1] |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Exchanges After Dark (EAD) is "an 18+, NSFW-friendly discussion space focused on fanwork exchanges, fests, bangs, and the like"[2] Discord server run by shadowsapiens. It was created following FFA discussion of Rosencrantz's moderation of the Yuletide Discord Server in the lead up to Smut Swap 2018[4] but ultimately came together more out of a desire to have an exchange discussion server that was separate from Yuletide.
[shadow_lover]
EAD mod here, and I certainly talk about smut in both places :D EAD's niche is as much "less official, less Yuletide-centric" as it is "pornier." Crantz's initial hesitance to create a smut swap channel was one factor in starting it, but not the biggest since he ended up creating one anyway.[5]
EAD features general channels for discussion as well as channels for individual exchanges, which are created on request.[1][6] EAD is considered a good resource for people who want to learn to run an AO3-based exchange, especially since it got a channel to talk about exchange modding.[7][8]
EAD's annual exchange celebrating its own founding, EAD Birthday Bash, can be considered the first flash exchange, although the format didn't take off until Morne ran the first round of We Die Like Fen out of EAD. Several exchanges have started on EAD, including Canon Ball, We Die Like Fen, Iron Triangle, Writing Rainbow, and Untitled Goose Exchange.
In January 2020, Shadow provided these growth numbers in a Dreamwidth post:
January 2019: over 300
June 2019: 400
August 2019: 500
November 2019: 600
January 2020: 698
I regularly prune duplicate accounts, so the above numbers are a decent estimate of actual server population.
There was a big spike in (northern hemisphere) Summer 2019, due to the number of flash exchanges starting on the server. The first of the batch, We Die Like Fen, was a community event run primarily on the server, so a lot of people joined in order to take part. I saw similar spikes for Iron Triangle and other following exchanges. Most of them were less EAD-centric than WDLF, but anyone who wanted to claim pinch hits needed to be on the server.
There was an especially big spike the weekend Mpreg Flash and Writing Rainbow: Blue started - the mods for both of those exchanges included EAD invite links in their fandomcalendar ads.[3]
Notes
- ^ The invitation link to Exchanges After Dark Discord has been included on this page with permission from shadowsapiens.
References
- ^ a b anon at fail-fandomanon (2018-01-13). "..is open. The premise: an exchange discussion discord with fewer channels …". Dreamwidth. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02.
- ^ a b shadowsapiens (2019-01-07). "Exchanges After Dark Birthday Bash 2019 Archive of Our Own". AO3. Archived from the original on 2021-03-04.
- ^ a b shadowsapiens (2020-01-16). "EAD by the numbers". Dreamwidth. Archived from the original on 2020-01-17.
- ^ Various nonnies, here on January 03, 2018, here on January 09 2018 and finally here on January 10 2019.
- ^ anon at fail-fandomanon (2018-04-26). "EAD mod here, and I certainly talk about smut in both places :D EAD's niche is …". Dreamwidth. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02.
- ^ anon at fail_fandomanon (2018-03-22). "General fic/art exchange discussion, with channels …". Dreamwidth. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02.
- ^ anon at fail_fandomanon (2019-06-03). "If you're not already a member of the Exchanges After Dark …". Dreamwidth. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02.
- ^ anon at fail_fandomanon (2019-05-21). "I was that anon quite a few posts back who had offered to run an exchange …". Dreamwidth. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02.