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6th Annual Demoscene Card Exchange

category: general [glöplog]
No, because I grabbed it right before I started work for the day, but now I know who it's from, thank you. 🙂

Didn't know about xxd.

(I would've tried myself after work with some other tool.)
I'm 3/5 (with a bonus free one :) ) and the two i'm waiting on are both UK, so hurray for our postal service here locally I guess
added on the 2026-01-14 09:32:36 by spiny spiny
@Starchaser

A proposition. I was thinking.
What about adding a function which could check last year's contacts in order not to have the same correspondance every year and have a possibility to write to the new contacts? ;)
added on the 2026-01-14 14:30:50 by sim sim
Like, trying to ensure you got new people over ones you've already had?

I like that idea and was in an exchange that tried to do that, by trying to give everyone a person they'd had before but otherwise go for mostly new people.

There are a few challenges to that, though.

First, I'd have to keep names and assignment connections between years. I decided for personal well being and general legal compliance to delete all personal data between exchanges since I started this. (I am just one person.†)

It's possible I have backups of the assignment connections from past years, but that's only IDs and country codes. Nothing identifiable, unless some future person joins as the sole scener from Antarctica and widely publicizes this. 😄

Anyway, what really holds up assignments is the "local" option. Theoretically, if enough people joined (more than the < 60 we get now), anyone who asks for a local card would be assured to get someone from their own country, but I mention on sign-up that I may use directly adjacent countries since that never really quite works out.‡

This option only sticks around because enough people keep using it. Removing it would allow me to return to automating matching, which might even improve matching rates.⹋ It would also free me up to considering other constraints.

Anyway, I have given it thought before, I just would have to simplify the options before adding back in complexity.

--

† I do make sure to run updates, etc. but I am self-hosting an app I wrote myself. The server is Germany this year, and should remain so in future years.

‡ One person got unhappy they only got their international assignments because I couldn't magically assign them an equal number of people from their Oceanian country.

⹋ Though I think I'm doing pretty good as it is. Stats say the match rate is 89%. 🙂
Quote:

First, I'd have to keep names and assignment connections between years.

Alternatively, people could provide a list of people on sign-up that they would prefer to exclude, so it's up to them to keep track of who they received cards from.
Thank you OhLi for the lovely card and the fantastic lino print! <3
added on the 2026-01-15 09:49:03 by mermaid mermaid
Got also card from OhLi, thanks a lot!

Reindeer Pig! Reindeer Pig!
Does whatever a Reindeer Pig does
Can he pull Santa’s sleigh?
No he can't, he's a pig
Look out!
He is the Reindeer Pig.
@Starchaser

Thank you for your kind information.
It was a thought and proposition.
And yes, you are doing really good with this project =).
added on the 2026-01-15 20:43:23 by sim sim
Quote:
Quote:

First, I'd have to keep names and assignment connections between years.

Alternatively, people could provide a list of people on sign-up that they would prefer to exclude, so it's up to them to keep track of who they received cards from.
Yeah, that would probably work, but then I'd have to manually match up whatever people put in that box to the names people actually entered when they signed up. 😄

I'll think about it.

Quote:
@Starchaser

Thank you for your kind information.
It was a thought and proposition.
And yes, you are doing really good with this project =).
I'll add it to my general thoughts/TODO list I keep around somewhere.

This project is iterative. I didn't used to have the email option, and I also added the country dropdown since some people accidentally(?) left theirs off.

The exchange site isn't OSS, but not because I'm trying to keep it secret. It's really only because I don't think anyone would care. It's not like I get inundated with people asking how to run their own exchanges or to make direct contributions. 🙂

(Everything is simple and works well enough that this is fine with me!)
First of all, thanks a lot for doing this, Starchaser! You're doing a great work here and the card exchange is one of my demoscene highlights each year! (I try to get more creative with my cards again, I promise)

Here's an option for you if you like to store the assignments, without storing any personal data:
* concatenate the addresses or nicknames and hash them (eg. md5, sha, etc)
* then delete the data, but keep the hashes. Since hash-functions are one-way functions the original data is safe (esp. if you concatenate - for extra security you could add a word as "salt" in the end, but not really needed)
* next year you use the same hash-function when doing the assignments and compare with this year's hashes
* if people sign up next year with the same mail-addresses or same nicknames (whatever field you used for the hashes) you'll get the same hash and know that it's the same assignment

Just an idea, I personally don't mind much to get the same assignment, also it doesn't happen often.
Thanks again! Cheers!
added on the 2026-01-16 07:30:57 by v3nom v3nom

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