MAL Secret Santa 2025

This will be my 4th year. I have yet to gift to someone who has actually watched ANY of the recommendations. I gave 2 recs the first year, then 3 the second, and then 5 last year. You can't tell me they couldn't be bothered to watch a single one. It's so incredibly disheartening.

On a side note I always find it hilarious when people say "No" to the gift being on their PTW when the PTW is super long. One I found today has 1,176 PTW and 216 Completed.

i'm wondering if i'm able to participate if my list is private? i'm not comfortable making it public but am still wanting to participate.

@subahokke You will have to make your list public if you want to participate, otherwise your secret santa won't know what to recommend you or could gift you something you've already seen.

hii can i be an elf AND a santa?

i filled the #1: Anime Recommendations but how do i recommend to someone? Where is the post to do?

The manga one got an error :(

Wow the new form is amazing makes it super simple and easy.
My only thing would be it would be nice if no sequels to anime already watched was able to be guaranteed.
But man the form itself is amazing 10/10 idea, well done to whoever came up with it.

It is guaranteed, subject to human elf error ;)

Though I agree in concept, I feel anxious about the whole "people who use AI to create a recommendation will be banned from the event" piece when there are increasingly few reliable ways to tell the difference between something that was AI-generated, versus somebody who just has a certain writing style that can get read as similar; or the difference between an AI "hallucination" (factual inaccuracy) versus a human who misremembered something. Particularly since websites that claim to be able to detect AI are known to be at risk of false positives (particularly for people who are neurodivergent or ESL speakers). (Though of course, people who paste in very obvious things like, "Sure, I can write that for you!" or, "Would you like me to rewrite that with a warmer tone, or a more casual tone?" are a different story.)

I wouldn't particularly want a Secret Santa recommendation to come from an AI either (if I wanted an AI recommendation, I'd just ask an AI myself), but personally, the possibility of getting banned from an event I've participated in for years because of a false positive makes me second-guess whether to participate. Most MAL events really go on the honor system -- like, with the interest stack badges, there's technically nothing stopping somebody from lying and claiming to have watched the series when they didn't by falsely marking it as completed (though it would be pretty pointless to do that, but still, it's possible), but the threat of bans suggests there may be some sort of plan for trying to detect AI use?

I recognize that you probably can't realistically say how you intend to monitor for potential AI use, since saying that would just tell people who might intend to break the rules how to cover their tracks better. So I'm not really looking for an answer. I guess I just want to voice this feedback.

I have no idea not a single clue how this event even works lol
(not skill issue that's for sure)

Hi, I'm having some trouble with the forms. There are some genres I want to watch/read, but they only appear in the "I don't want to watch" category, or they're not in either category at all. Can I just write them in myself, or can't we choose them for this activity? (For example, in anime, some are "Love Status Quo" or "Idols (Female)" in "I don't want to watch," or "Idols (Male)" which isn't even on any list.)

❅ Type: TV series
❅ Max. Length: Any
❅ I'm in the mood for: Any,
❅ I don't want to watch: , ✦✦✦ BL, GL, Ecchi, Harem, Reverse Harem
❅ Can the anime be on your Plan to Watch list?: Yes
❅ Link to anime list: https://myanimelist.net/profile/Veltanyxe
❅ Requests for Santa: No excessive physical violence, No sexual abuse and/or child abuse, No or limited fan service, No sad/tragic ending, Nothing released before 1990
❅ [b]Gift ideas for Santa: Nothing freaky pls. I like animes like Fragrant flower and attack on titan.

❅ Type: TV series
❅ Max. Length: 26 eps
❅ I'm in the mood for: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Slice of Life, Iyashikei
❅ I don't want to watch: , Crossdressing ✦✦✦ BL, GL, Ecchi, Horror
❅ Can the anime be on your Plan to Watch list?: No
❅ Link to anime list: https://myanimelist.net/profile/Th3LuckyOne
❅ Requests for Santa: No excessive physical violence, No sexual abuse and/or child abuse, No full 3DCGI, No or limited fan service
❅ Gift ideas for Santa: I like animes that have some silly characters :]