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MAL Secret Santa 2021: The Great Reveal!

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Jan 5, 2022 1:32 PM

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Sep 2015
56
It was fun to participate in the MAL secret santa 2021 event, looking for a recommendation for my given user was interesting. By basing my search with their requested likes/dislikes I also had to look through their favorites and highly rated anime in their list, which shaped what recommendations I was later going to give to them.

I want to thank all you elves for your hard work during this event, and I look forward to the upcoming events on MAL in the future!
Jan 5, 2022 1:34 PM

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Sep 2020
753
First off all, thank you elves for all your hard work on this event.
This was my first time participating in Secret Santa and it was really fun.
I look forward to it next year.

Thank you @Kobeanie for great gift and @mazuchi I really hope that you will like
other two recommendations better than first one.

Happy New Year, everyone.
Jan 5, 2022 1:34 PM

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Jun 2017
245
Hi there, AyuMItsuki here. Sorry for tagging all of you but since I'm changing my MAL username to -Absynthe- I wanted you guys to have a way to contact me in case you wanted to.


@along02 thank you for the anime recs!
I only got to watch Rokka so far and I found the idea interesting. Since there is no anime continuation I'll definitely pick up the light novels at some point in the future, I really want to see how the story progresses especially since it ended on a cliff-hanger. I wasn't expecting the anime to be solely focused on finding the 7th (I thought there would be more action/fighting demons) so that was a very pleasant surprise as I'll take mystery anytime!
Drifters and GitS: SAC are things I've been meaning to watch for a very long time but never got around to it. Now's my chance!



@OfDeathandLove thank you for the manga recs!
Litchi☆Hikari Club was a very pleasant surprise. While I did have it in my PTR I was always skeptical to start it due to the romance and horror tags together - I was expecting the romance to be very cliche. It was a lot more serious than I expected it to be at a first glance and I love that; there is a lot to be said about it but to keep it short I enjoyed it a lot. Also Litchi turned out to be my favorite character, hah.
I got to read Kimi ni Ienai Koto ga Aru as well as it was also short and oh boy, this was a ride. I liked how realistic and relatable it was, both in terms of the feelings and hardships experienced by the characters and their personalities. Really wish it had a continuation though - it felt very short.
Looking forward to reading the final rec!



@Jaytaro1 - thank you for writing back to me. Hope you enjoy the recs!


@pk6 - noticed you're done with Tomie. Hope you enjoy the other 2 recs!


Hope you all had some great holidays and a happy new year!
See you next time!
Jan 5, 2022 1:53 PM

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Oct 2014
3689
Thank you @Lawgun for recommending kino no tabi I already finished it and it was excellent. I'll get to other recs soonish. Also @Troodash i hope you liked my recommendations.
Jan 5, 2022 1:54 PM

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Aug 2018
1060
I kinda wished the elfs weren't such sensitieve baby's and had trouble based on their own feelings with my original recommidation message which I just had to remove like 50% of the entire message. Previous entries I participated in there were no isseus like that. I hope this gets fixed following next year.

For example: It's perfectly fine to recommend an anime that you personally didn't liked for several reasons to someone else who might like it after all. It's a suggestion, not an over exaggeration praise contest.

Bad elfs! In the naughty corner they go if I could decide.
Sorry, due to licensing limitations, this message is unavailable in your region.
Please come drink tea, eat cake and procrastinate at the Cute Girls Doing Cute Things Club. We have simulwatches! \o/
Jan 5, 2022 2:14 PM
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May 2020
52
The only thing that I hated was that my fellow FG regular immediately revealed they’re the santa for me on Images lol


But overall, loved it heh, even with the delays
Jan 5, 2022 2:31 PM
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Jun 2020
2
This was a great event and I am glad I was part of it!

@IWentToJapanOnce I am happy you enjoyed your gift! I was sure you would like Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou. Funny thing that happened while making your gift: I had to apologize to Elf-Hime and ask her to keep the anime in my recommendation, because for some reason Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou was not listed on my list! (I was sure it was there) but now it is.
Anyway I hope you have a great 2022!


@CrepeMan56 Thanks for your recommendation! I started watching Spice and Wolf and I'm loving it so far, although I am taking it slowly. You were right about the relation between the 2 main characters feeling like the relation between Mai and Sakuta in Bunny girl senpai and it makes me want to rewatch it. Also, I am looking for it to start SNAFU after I finish the other one.
Once again thank you for the gift and I hope you have a great year!
Jan 5, 2022 2:41 PM
Review Moderator
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Jun 2007
1951
@_Maneki-Neko_ Thank you for your manga recommendations <3 I had checked Paradise Kiss anime years ago and I didn't get into it, so I had left it aside completely, but I gave it a chance after what you said and I can say that I did find it good. I wanted to hit some side characters, but the main couple was very "relatable" in their flaws and feelings! Thank you for taking the time <3 (The Tales one, I wasn't able to find online all chapters, so I just let it be, but it did seem interesting enough to read!)

Also, thank you for the elf that gave me some extra manga to read as well that fit right into what I asked <3 It's so nice to get presents! :D
Jan 5, 2022 2:54 PM
✨ a lil bean ✨

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Feb 2011
18349
Many thanks to everyone involved on running the event once more!

Special thanks to the team working with Elf-tama (^_^)/


Many thanks, dear @Luna for your anime recommendations! Didn't expect to get one of our lady bosses, tbh xD

In all honesty the time between receiving the gift and today has been too short so I have been unable to watch any of them.
You did sell them well enough tho, so I will try to watch them soonish~
The one I'm looking forward the most would be "B: The Beginning". I'm still iffy about WA2 lol since I have been told quite a few times to watch the other one first, but what you wrote has me interested. The other one also seems more promising that I might have thought.


Hope you and everyone else has a great year ♥

--------------------------

I might honestly try the manga and image ones next year, it will mark my 8th participation after all
(participating since 2015!)


Participation got a boost this year, likely due the new badge (which will be coming sometime in the next week or so). [...] and to those who participated for the NINTH year in a row (there must be some!).

Evil badges! lol
This was my 7th year! Sadly, I missed the first two from 2013 and 2014. Never heard of them on time.



I do want to suggest a form of confirmation that our gift was okay. I was anxiously waiting to know if I did it right or not.
SheyCroixJan 5, 2022 3:03 PM

HiScoreLoScoreAuction

Turn-InsAWCc

ᓚᘏᗢ

Jan 5, 2022 3:04 PM
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Jan 2014
40
Heyoo,

it was my first time participating in that kind of event and I have to agree with the rest - it was really fun (:
Thank you @wswsasd for being my Secret Santa and that awesomely written recommendation!

Also thanks to all the peeps who organised it!
Jan 5, 2022 3:18 PM
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Apr 2018
4
@itz_abhi_005 Well my recommandation was kinda hard with the insane PTW I have but you managed to give me something interesting & out of my scope ,well played I got caught & rushed the first episodes !
But ... when you're playing "Secret" Santa you're not supposed to add your giftee the first day ...

@Mobe I'm very glad you took the recommandation like I wanted you too ! Warm up this winter ! !
I'll add school rumble to my list !

Thanks to the elves for the amount of work ! Elf-chama is cool !

Jan 5, 2022 3:58 PM

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Jan 2021
49
First, I want to thank you all for your efforts! It was real fun participating and you did a great job! It's remarkable to delay the schedule, just to keep your settled quality. So thank you for doing your best!

But i have a little suggestion for next year. Maybe you should change the point "number of completed entries" in the sign-up to "days of totally watched" or something like that. I can only speak for myself, but I add many entries with <5min watchtime and that increases my number of course. Here an example.
So if you change that aspect, maybe it's easier to match everyone properly.

Besides that, thank you all very much and i hope to see you all next year! :)
Jan 5, 2022 4:17 PM

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Dec 2009
3343
It was my third year doing this event, thank you elves for your hard work!
Jan 5, 2022 4:24 PM

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Jan 2020
1483
I actually found this pretty fun. I'm hoping I'm able to give a better recommendation next year. Thanks @Floshke for the recommendations! I'll definitely check them out!
Jan 5, 2022 4:27 PM

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Jul 2017
36
the event was really fun and helpful, I enjoyed almost all of my recommedations (didn't have time to get through all 5) and I can't wait to join again for the next year(s)!
Jan 5, 2022 5:31 PM

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May 2021
11
Finally , thanks to all Santas 💕 & I appreciate your work
Kon'nichiwa
Jan 5, 2022 5:47 PM

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Jun 2017
229
I loved the event and had fun :] thanks for all the hard work guys! ready to participate next year already (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و
Jan 5, 2022 6:21 PM

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Apr 2015
1573
Thank you to all the elves for all your hard work! The event was really fun, I can't believe I've never known about it until a month ago. I'm definitely going to participate again next year. Hope my recipients liked my gift! And thanks to my Secret Santas @dropthecatt and @SuperComicGeek for the amazing recommendations! I could tell from the messages that they put a lot of effort into it, and that alone made me really happy. Cheers!



"As promised, all that you seek, all that we desire, is prepared up there. On top of the Tower."
Jan 5, 2022 6:21 PM

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May 2009
139
What a wonderful experience! It was my first year taking part in the MAL Secret Santa experience and it was totally worth it! It was a lot of fun to check out your partners' profiles to see what they like and build something up that would personally match their tastes (to the best of my abilities at least!).
Thanks to all the organziers for organizing and support, it was just a blast! :)
Jan 5, 2022 7:51 PM
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Oct 2020
13
Thank you so much to the Elves and MAL for making this another wonderful Gift Exchange! This is my second year participating, and I can't wait to do it again next year!

And thank you @Monochrosanity for your recommendation, it's honestly been on my radar for years, but it must've slipped my mind to add it to my Plan To Watch list, so thanks for reminding me. I'm sure I'll love watching such a classic series.

And I'm positively late, but I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! See you all again in twelve months! :)
Jan 5, 2022 8:11 PM
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Apr 2021
116
Thx for a great event!!!!!
Jan 5, 2022 8:20 PM

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Aug 2018
709
I think it is a very good thing to find a way to interact with the community, thanks for the event and for all the effort and to my Santa Claus @Ballestra
Jan 5, 2022 8:30 PM
#1 Diva Ann simp

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Mar 2017
114
Many thanks @Negeim for the recommendation of "Black Lagoon" of course being in the anime/manga community for many years now, I have heard of the series. I really didn't know why I never watched it yet, probably just forget about it.

So I watched the whole first season here is what I thought. Really interesting premise but what really caught my eye was the casting of the English dub. Hearing the voice of Light Yagami voice actor as the lead in Black Lagoon. I'll admit while watching the first episode I could only hear was Light. But to go on to other topics that I liked. I really like the pure ruthless use of language. Really caught me off guard but I really enjoyed that.

I do plan to watch the rest of the seasons at some point throughout 2022.
Jan 5, 2022 8:34 PM

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Jan 2014
479
Thank you to all the elves for taking their time each year to do this event, this has been my second time participating and it has been wonderful :)
Also thank you to @shan0311 for the recommendation!! Although it didn't end up being quite to my taste, it really helped me to get back into the groove of watching anime, and I have been missing that for quite a few months, so this was great thank you so much <3
Game over. If that's the case, I just have to play again.
Jan 5, 2022 8:44 PM

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Nov 2013
307
Thank you to everyone who participated ヾ(@^∇^@)ノ I hope everyone who got a gift from me appreciates their Akudama DriveWolf's Rain, Golden Kamuy and/or Chihayafuru~

And thank you so much to my fellow elves (Team Tama represent), everyone made me feel so welcome as a baby elf(*^ワ^*)Ty especially to Nozo and Kermi for convincing me to join!! I better listen to more songs so I can keep my ferre radio station full of bangers next christmas~


Maloween '24: | x4
Jan 5, 2022 9:08 PM

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Oct 2012
966
Thanks @Otaku_baka_dsk for your recommendation. I'm loving Higashi no Eden so far, it's so pretty I could cry, and a theme I love. I'll be finishing it over the course of this week for sure. I've read Bartender, so I might get to that eventually, thanks for informing me that it has an anime at least.

And also big thanks to all the organizing elves, this is a great event, so I'm glad that it can keep coming back.
Jan 5, 2022 9:09 PM

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Jul 2020
41
Thank you to all the elves for working hard to hold this event, it was lots of fun to participate in.

Also a big thanks to @dugiduy for the recommendations! They all look great and I look forward to watching them as soon as possible.
Jan 5, 2022 10:27 PM
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May 2021
4
Thank you @angybakugo for the recommendations. I'm very excited to watch them. Especially Maid Sama. I had heard good things but always chickened out.
Jan 5, 2022 10:49 PM

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Nov 2020
89
Thank you @dp9! Really liked the recommendations, and thank you for your effort, but I would have preffered a second anime that was not on my plan to watch list, cheers!
Jan 5, 2022 11:22 PM

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Nov 2019
10
The event was fantastic in my opinion, I hope my recipients all enjoy the gifts I provided. I realized after I sent them out how to really use the BCC code (is that what it's called?) So next year my gifts should be a bit better tot look at.
As far as the gifts I was given, so far they're all very good! Thank you to both my secret Santas who can be seen above!
Props to the people who worked hard to plan and set this whole thing up, I give the event a 10/10 overall.
Jan 6, 2022 12:03 AM

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Jul 2017
10
Amazing event as always! I love this! Thanks everyone that participated and helped out!
Jan 6, 2022 12:17 AM
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Feb 2021
4
Thank you to all the elves for this amazing event that I think we all enjoyed.

A special thank you to my Secret Santa @Hondo5900 for your gift! I already started the first episode of Made in Abyss and I really like it! I 'm definitely gonna binge-watch it once a have some free tim
Jan 6, 2022 12:23 AM

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Oct 2020
1238
Thank you so much to all the organisers, elves and santas! I'm really happy to have been able to participate for the second year and I greatly appreciate all the work that went into making that possible. It's really fun to be able to make things for others, so I hope more events like this will be possible in the future. Really big thank you to the elves who worked overtime to fill in for all the naughty santas, your hard work has not gone unnoticed!
Happy new year to everyone as well, may it be full of good health and happiness~!
Jan 6, 2022 12:24 AM

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Jul 2009
5805
Thank you @Sh- for the great recommendations! I've been spending far less time on MAL lately due to real-life circumstances so I haven't had time to update my list, but thankfully there's a bit of leeway now for that!

I'm currently on the fourth episode of Outlaw Star and enjoying every moment of it. I knew this show from my time binging '80-'90s anime during undergrad but never got around to watching it because my backlog was already enormous at the time (probably also the reason why I forgot to add it to my PTW list lol, typical forgetful me). Definitely scratched the itch left by Cowboy Bebop long ago! Really makes me nostalgic for the good ol' action heroes like Gene and Spike.

I'm so glad you recommended two great movies! I've been transitioning to Netflix and Hollywood films lately because of the lack of time to marathon long anime series nowadays, so these choices are spot-on! For sure though, I will still give Natsume a go despite its multi-season length. Iyashikei is a genre that has never let me down, so I have high hopes for this one!


----

Thank you elves for your hard work as always!

I'm terribly sorry for volunteering then dropping out almost right away without any sort of notice. On top of that, I submitted my gift at the very last minute. So yeah, definitely number one on the Naughty list for sure this time...
Jan 6, 2022 1:08 AM

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Sep 2012
57
Thank you for taking time to look through my list and for recommending me anime @Crystaldragon36. I especially liked the way your message was constructed, as if you were real Santa! :D
Jan 6, 2022 3:37 AM

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Jul 2021
9900
This was a fun event.
@BlueBunnyPlays You did pick stuff that I was primarily avoiding due to them being 2-4x longer than the episode limit I set, but oh well... Gave Clannad a try, since it's the shortest, but it's not for me. :( Thanks anyway.
@GanSan Uramichi oniisan was one top tier recommendation, I'm really glad I didn't miss that. I have seen a clip of that show like 5 months ago, but totally forgot about it, and wouldn't have found it a second time on my own.
Anti-aliasing enthusiast
Jan 6, 2022 4:01 AM

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Sep 2021
13
Thank you to all elves and organizers, this event was really fun. Will join next year for sure.

Jan 6, 2022 4:09 AM

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Mar 2017
49
I loved the event, planning to participate again. Nice work guys
MALoween 2021 candies:
Bonus candies: x4
Jan 6, 2022 4:29 AM

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Apr 2019
120
Thanks to everyone who made this happen! It's the second time I've participated and I can't wait for December this year to do it all again. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Also, where do I go about signing up to be an elf for this year?


Jan 6, 2022 5:00 AM

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Mar 2016
1438
It seems that @Jokse gift was taken over by our elf @Hyperion_PS. But i'll take both gift tho. Sorry it's must be hard to find suitable recommendation for me.



Thank you all and lastly please stop mentioning my osu addiction lol
RioAlJan 6, 2022 5:10 AM

Jan 6, 2022 5:30 AM

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Dec 2016
66
GanSan said:
I hope all my recipients enjoy Akudama Drive :D

Thank you all for participating and making this event awesome for all parties!
Thank you to my Santas (@z1r0nes1x @CPM23 @ArtiSquared ) for putting in the effort to make me some awesome gifts!
Thank you @Kineta for entrusting me and @Cesars with the duties of Elf-chama!
Thank you for the other Chama Elves that helped putting in the work for all the chama Santas!
Thank you to the other team leaders that had to fix all the stuff I broke xD
Thank you to all the elves, I love you all :3 I hope I didn't annoy you to much with my bad jokes :)


To all my recipients, I really hope you enjoy my recs (or IMG gifts), and I would love to hear from you what you think about the shows (or images).




Thank you! I'm really glad you liked it, I wish I could've put a bit more effort into it though!
Jan 6, 2022 5:32 AM

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Mar 2017
28
Thanks to Mikaytama9 for his anime recs. I really enjoyed Gin no Saji and ended up watching the 2nd season as well. I plan to watch your other rec, Mairimashita! Iruma-kun later but look forward to watching it.
Also, big thanks to the mods for setting this event up!
Jan 6, 2022 6:26 AM

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Jan 2021
228
@Animelistsync

No problem!! I'm so glad to hear it! :D I really hope you enjoy it, and have a great year! ^^
Forum Icon is from Kekkai Sensen

Jan 6, 2022 6:33 AM

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Nov 2018
273
Araberu said:
thank you to both the elves and fellow santas for making this event possible! very much appreciated and respected! <3

and thanks a lot to @UhOhSPAGET for the beautiful forum sets~! i'll be sure to use them after my current set! i see you're a fellow idol enthusiast as well :eyes:

Aaaaaa I'm so glad you liked them! <3 <3 Haha all g, I actually did click on your current sig and figured out the whole 14 days thing xD Hope you had an amazing holiday season my friend! :eyesback: I see someone has decided to start I7 hohoho

And thank you so much for your hard work elves! This event is always one of my highlights of the Christmas season, we all appreciate it heaps! <3 <3 <3

君の声 

忘れない 

涙も 

忘れない
Jan 6, 2022 7:24 AM
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Nov 2021
3
Thanks for everything. It was a fun event. The people who recommended me anime and manga have prepared it very well. Thank you so much even though I don't know who they are.
Jan 6, 2022 9:09 AM

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Jul 2013
1556
whens the badge?
I . A M . D E A D !  C O N T I N U E ?

INSERT COIN
Jan 6, 2022 9:20 AM
Review Moderator
(。•̀ᴗ-)⌒✧

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Jun 2007
1951
I'm sorry cause I missed it, but thank you eld @Kineta!! You were the best!!
Jan 6, 2022 10:27 AM

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Jul 2015
66
@__brq__ Thanks for the recommendations.

I only started Joujuu Senjin today, but I'm already hooked.
I'm not that into Mashle, but it's still pretty fun. I'll take this one slowly, it seems like nice read when you want something lighthearted.
Funny that they're both about a physically strong MC.

I have yet to read Pochi Kuro, but I liked the synopsis.
Jan 6, 2022 10:35 AM

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May 2009
5817
LePiratePapi said:
whens the badge?

First sentence in the first post:
Participation got a boost this year, likely due the new badge (which will be coming sometime in the next week or so).
Jan 6, 2022 11:10 AM
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Nov 2020
3
This was my first year participating in event, it was fun! Thank you everyone!
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