Due to a falling number of participants, this site being insufferably laggy lately and an inability to commit to anything time-consuming right now, I am putting the Secret Trades on pause until sometime in the hopefully not-so-distant future.  In the meantime, I am still looking for someone who might be interested in at least co-running the show with me (~Poj5).  I'm bumping this post up in the meantime.

For now, the Featured gallery has been updated with the latest trade and the First Aid trade shows the new missing pieces.  I would be happy to field questions/comments if anyone has any!

I am officially looking for a co-host for the Secret Trades.  

Qualifications:
-  (Required) Strong aversion to "internet drama."  
-  (Required) Ability to stay organized.
-  (Required) Ability to keep the secret trades secret!
-  (Preferred) Long-time trader who knows how the group works.
-  (Preferred) Someone who has moderated an internet group in the past.

Duties:
-  Inventing/posting new trades in a pre-provided format
-  Developing timelines consistent with past trades
-  Assigning traders to each other, and sending out subsequent notifications on deviantART in pre-provided format
-  Answering user questions in a timely and friendly manner.
-  Creating galleries and moving artwork into them.

For now, I will still be solely responsible for:
-  Removing people from the group
-  Posting trade results
-  Extending deadlines
-  Assigning penalties for potential lateness/misconduct
-  Creating, deleting, or changing official rules

If you are interested in being the Secret Trades co-host, please send me a PM with whatever information you feel might be relevant.  Just because you are a co-host does not necessarily mean you have to sign up for trades, and it does not prohibit you from signing up for trades, either.  I will still be around to help, so you will by no means be flying solo!  

To reiterate, send me a PM if you are interested.  Do NOT reply to this blog with your interest and qualifications, as I would prefer to keep the process somewhat confidential.  If multiple candidates are qualified, I will go with whichever qualified candidate contacted me first.  If no candidates are qualified, I will continue to host on my own.

Thank you!

04/17/2011 Edit:  Added one new update.

I am instituting this post as a go-to for folks who are looking to help out traders who got late or missing work in past trades.  You will always be able to reference this post to see who has donated and who is in need of some TLC!  This is not an actual trade, but it is set up like one for easy reference!

FOLKS WHO STILL HAVE MISSING TRADES:

  ~echostar needs a CHANGING COLOR TRADE piece
  ~Jopale-Opal needs a MUGSHOT CHALLENGE piece

MAKE-UP TRADES POSTED:

For ~ragchow, from ~WolfOfSahara for the COSTUME SWAP: [link]
For ~nika-chan, from ~Poj5 for THE CAKEWALK: [link]
For ~WolfOfSahara, from ~echostar for the SCI-FI SWAP:  [link]


LIST OF GOOD SAMARITANS: