The problem with the first gift exchange was that there were
zero requirements to be met. Anyone and everyone could join, even members who were a day new or who had one post in a year. And, in the end, everyone did get their gift.. but it was because of a few generous members that were offering to help take on two buddies while they only got one package in return. I thought that was unfair and I am going to take money out of my pocket to thank them for it. I just don't know how to thank them, yet!
The beginning post limit was at 200 but Admin thought it should be raised higher than that. So, it was raised to 250. Until, we just agreed on 500. It is a bit high and I do understand what you mean by some people who do not post as much are still as valuable to this board as anyone else. I know that there are people who may not post a lot but when they do post, give very valuable information. But, the deposit has nothing to do with the value of the member but when new members sign up, we cannot predict how long they will stay. This was mistake #1 in the first gift exchange. We let everyone participate and some were here for the first month of the gift exchange to sign up and a week after everything was together, they left YT and I never heard from them again. In return, their buddy never received their gift but they received theirs and never said a word to their buddy. Not even a PM to say Thank You. So Admin and I agreed that although it may be a little too high, it ensures Admin that the member with 500+ post has been here long enough and will stick around.
And with the monetary deposit of $25.00, I didn't agree with this in the beginning either. It didn't make sense since the YorkieTalk Gift Exchange is solely based on TRUST and when you participate, you are taking the risk of not receiving a gift. This was the rule in the first gift exchange. But, after everyone received their gift, there were a lot that had not. That put A LOT of guilt on me and Admin both because we felt like it was our fault that we did not check out the buddies as much as we should have. So, I was going to take it out of my pocket to give all of those Yorkies that did not receive a gift something, too. (Before the other awesome members helped and volunteered their kindess)
It is a security deposit, just to know that whether or not your buddy will send a gift.. you WILL get a gift in return. Since it was Admin's idea for the deposit, he has been the one who has taken up the responsibility of returning them. It is a bit time consuming to return deposits but we will take any measures we can to make sure that everyone gets a gift and everything is fair with noone feeling left out or guilty.
A non-refunable deposit is pretty much paying to join. The reason why we do not want to have non-refundable deposits is because we do not want members to have to pay for this privilege on YorkieTalk.
You have to keep in mind that we want things to be fair and everyone to receive a gift. We do understand that there are some people who cannot afford the deposit, but perhaps there are other alternatives such as waiting for the next round on the Gift Exchange when you do have more money.
I wanted this to be a fun, enjoyable experience for everyone and while I know I cannot make everyone happy and grant everyone's wishes,
I am trying my best. 