/aicg/ Halloween Exchange 2026

Overview

This exchange event follows the same basic principles as previous ones: participants will come up with bot ideas—requests—and then receive assorted requests from other participants to make bots from. These ideas will be worked on until Halloween, at which point the sweet candy products will be released for all but dentists' enjoyment!

Public requests will also be available! Such requests can be fulfilled by anyone, anonymously or otherwise, and will be considered part of the event. Simply reply to Hostie with an idea for a card, and it will be added to a separate rentry. So long as the card is finished before the event concludes, it will be added to the main rentry (i.e. the one you are currently reading).

All participants will also receive a FREE™ hand-drawn MSPaint drawing of their bot(s)!

Exchange Participation

To enter, e-mail shavingupforahaircut@protonmail.com with the following:

1. Chub/Rentry/Neocities/etc. link(s) containing the e-mail address you're using.
   • Recipients will receive their requestor's botmaker handle by default, so this is not inherently anonymous.
   • If you so wish, you may ask to be known anonymously, in which case I won't send your typical botmaking handle or your Chub/Rentry/Neocities/etc. info to your recipient. Anonymous entrants will only be known by randomly assigned code names.
2. Your written request(s).
   • Send between one and three requests. Participants are only required to finish one.
   • It is highly suggested that you request something spooky, or at least adhere to a Halloween or Autumn theme.
   • You may send images, audio, or any other form of media to function as or supplement your request(s).
3. Your general preferences and/or hard nos.
   • These can be in reference to the requests you want to receive, or the request(s) you will send out.
   • If you do not indicate that there is anything you would rather not work on, then I will assume you have no objections to working on any content whatsoever. It is for this reason that I recommend you either indicate any common bot categories which you are against (e.g., loli, male, female, giantess, mechanics, etc.), or make your preferred content clear.
4. Miscellaneous comments, questions, etc.

You don't have to adhere to that exact format, but doing so makes coordination & management easier on my end.

All pairings will be decided randomly, though I will take general preferences and hard nos into account and adjust accordingly. After receiving your request(s), I will return an e-mail confirming that I have received your message and entered you into the event.

Once the sign-up deadline arrives, I will send another e-mail containing your pairing. You will know who you are writing a bot for, but will not know who is writing your bot until they have released their finished product on Halloween! These e-mails will be sent from either shavingupforahaircut@protonmail.com or shavingupforanotherhaircutproton.me@proton.me (yes the second address lists proton.me twice), though the second address will only be used if the first one is ratelimited.

Public Requests

For those who do not feel comfortable participating in the exchange itself, public requests are available!

There are no strict requirements for coming up with a public request. To create one, simply reply to Hostie's Halloween Exchange shillpost with the details of a public request, or send an e-mail directly to shavingupforahaircut@protonmail.com and the request will be added to a separate rentry within 24 hours. The wording of the request will be lifted from the reply, though if there are any modifications to that reply, such as additional details achieved through brainstorming with other anons, then I will do my best to modify the request wording to suit the updated information.

As with the exchange itself, it is highly suggested that you request something spooky, or at least adhere to a Halloween or Autumn theme, but this is not strictly required.

Making or fulfilling a public request is an act undertaken at an anon's own discretion; anons may choose to come up with public requests at any time, with requests being added to the public request rentry until this event is finished. However, it is probably best to come up with requests in the two weeks preceding Halloween, so that people have enough time to work on the public request(s). Completed bots will be added to both the main rentry and the public request rentry, but only on the condition that these bots are submitted before 3 November 2026 12:00 AM UTC. Any public submissions submitted after this will not be considered grinches, but they will be ineligible for inclusion.

Again, see the relevant rentry to view all public requests!

More Detailed Guidelines & Fake FAQ

The Spirit of Halloween's new HR department has requested that I include an FAQ to obviate the cost of resurrecting new employees. If you have any unanswered questions, feel free to contact me over e-mail or vis-a-vis the thread.

Q: How come this 2026 event opened a bit late compared to 2025 and 2024?
A: Sorry... my life has been a tad hectic. I also wanted to wait and see how things would go with the 8chan migration.

Q: How soon can I expect an e-mail response from (You)?
A: I will respond to your messages within 24 hours of receiving them.

Q: Am I allowed to join this year's exchange even if I've never joined previous Halloween exchanges before?
A: Of course! If you have any particular concerns, feel free to contact me over e-mail, or through the 8chan thread. Feel free to ask past participants, too!

Q: What can be done if you happen to screw up the wording of a public request, or if that wording needs to be updated and you fail to do so?
A: In this case, try to tell me in the thread. If you believe I have somehow failed to notice you in the thread, send me an e-mail.

Q: If I sign up anonymously, how am I supposed to post my finished bot(s) on 8chan without risking the possibility of exposing myself via the IDs?
A: I would be happy to post your bot(s) for you! Just contact me, and we will work something out.

Q: Why am I allowed to send up to three requests?
A: It's a good number.
Q: That's a stupid answer.
A: Oh, sorry... a better explanation is that it provides leeway for request recipients, and thereby helps ensure that everyone receives something enjoyable. Of course, (You) are not required to give out three requests; it's fine to send only one or two.

Q: How detailed should my request(s) be?
A: Your request(s) may be as detailed as you see fit. Try not to request anything that's extremely vague, or anything that's extremely niche. You want your request recipient to have a good idea of what they're making, but you don't want to stifle them with a strict formula. A good way to measure whether your request is reasonable is to consider whether your request would be enough to help (You) make the bot to your own expectations in a manner which lets you add to or bend it without warping everything beyond recognition. Your request(s) should be fun to make!

Q: Will the information I send in my sign-up e-mail be sent to my recipient ad verbatim? Will I receive my requestor's verbatim e-mail?
A: Everything you send, including any attachments and in-line content, will be sent ad verbatim, though there are three conditions by which your e-mails will be slightly modified:

1. (You) request anonymity, in which case I will remove anything immediately identifying your botmaker identity, such as your name, Chub/Rentry/Neocities/etc.
2. (You) include something specifically and obviously intended for Hostie rather than your recipient, such as, "hey hostie why are you hosting this event? halloween sucks btw lol".
3. (You) specifically ask that I exclude something.

I will also refrain from injecting any comments of my own into any e-mails, save for when I must indicate that a requestor is anonymous or if there is something a requestor has desired that I include.

Q: How soon will you send the e-mails containing the request(s) I must fulfill?
A: Within one or two hours of the sign-ups closing. The reason for this amount of time has to do with the possibility of entrants signing up at the last minute; the somewhat tedious process of randomizing and then examining every pairing to make sure all hard nos are adhered to while all general preferences are met as best as reasonably possible; and the additionally tedious process of properly formatting & sending out e-mails.

Q: When may I begin work on the request(s)?
A: As soon as you can! If it is a public request, you may begin whenever you please. If it is an exchange request, then you can begin as soon as your request has been sent. In either case, please do your best to being working before the conclusion of the event! Don't leave anything until the last minute!

Q: May I directly communicate with my recipient/requestor?
A: I cannot control whether you decide to communicate over e-mail, but I strongly suggest that you refrain from communicating directly with either your recipient or your requestor before the event's conclusion, at least over e-mail, as this is against the spirit of an exchange event. If you truly need to communicate, please e-mail me; I can act as a medium for your messages. Also bear in mind that 8chan has IDs that could incidentally reveal who you are!

Q: What exactly is the ordering of requests?
A: We can illustrate the order of requests by imagining a chain of four people, each of whom we may label as A, B, C, and D. Person A's requests go to Person B; Person B's requests go to Person C; Person C's requests go to person D; and Person D's requests go to Person A. Mind you, in the actual exchange, the order is random, so it may be A → C → D → B → A or something else.

Q: What will become of grinches?
A: They shall be publicly revealed, publicly gutted, and then have candy made from their organs.

Q: How soon will the MSPaint drawings of the bots be posted?
A: Within one or two days of the event's conclusion. All drawings will be posted on a separate but linked rentry.

Q: Is (X person) banned from this year's event?
A: Sorry, which botmakie?

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