4392 Reasons I Still Have Faith in Humanity

4392. That’s the number of people who got involved in the biggest secret santa ever, this December, on a website called reddit!

I got involved as well, and as I followed the whole event, I realized that even anonymous internet strangers can be really nice people!

How it all started

Reddit is a social news site, where people can submit links to interesting content, and other people can “upvote” or “downvote” these links based on what they think is interesting. It also has a thriving community of people who comment on these links if they have something worthwhile to say (usually).

One day, a user called kickme444 asked if anybody would be interested in a reddit gift exchange (secret santa). And as sometimes happens with online communities, the idea caught on like a wildfire!

20 days later, by the December 1st deadline, 4392 people from 54 countries have signed up.

Figuring out what to send

So we all got our assigned santees. All we knew were their reddit username and their address.

With such limited information, most people started at the obvious place. Reading their santees’ comment history on reddit.

This lead to some fun e-stalking, and some wonderful personalized gifts! For example:

• A computer gamer who got the Orange Box (a set of 5 great shooter games), which he’d wanted for ages
• A ukelele player whose ukulele broke a few weeks previously. His secret santa sent him a green ukulele… and green was the santee’s favorite colour!

But even the santas who couldn’t figure out much about their santees’ interests sent some really nice and thoughtful presents. Often involving reddit memes (narwhals, bacon, etc.) – here’s one example for all – a handsown plush narwhal:

The wait, the excitement…

We had until December 10th to ship our gifts. Or that was the idea. Of course, 10 days is only a long time when you’re super-excited about something. It actually passes really quickly when life interferes!

I shipped my gift before the deadline, but (if I recall correctly) only about half the people sent their presents by the 10th. We started worrying the secret santa might be a huge disappointment for many people… but the gifts kept steadily pouring in, and many people commented on reasons why they haven’t shipped yet.

I was one of those whose santa hasn’t met the deadline. Over the next few days, I kept checking the website several times a day, waiting for the little present icon to change (indicating my present had been shipped):

Finally, after 4 endless days, on December 14th, the icon changed:

My santa had shipped their present! Hooray!

(In case you’re curious what I got, here’s a picture… it’s the Twilight novel and The Gentlemen’s Ballscratcher! )

(I’m pretty sure I never mentioned scratching my balls in my reddit comments… but I love the present )

Why I still have faith in humanity

As I’m writing this, several days after Christmas, 4943 out of 5206 gifts have been sent (people could volunteer to send&receive more than one gift). This means 94.8% of the promised gifts have actually been sent. Call me cynical, but even from a great community like reddit, I expected far more flakes!

And even better – some people were so excited about sending out a present, they offered to send an extra gift to those whose santa hasn’t shipped! (I would have done the same (because I REALLY enjoyed making my present, and seeing it appear in the gift gallery), but I was on holidays at the time, and would find it hard to make and ship the present.). So in the end, just about everyone will be getting a gift!

Also, I was amazed by the amount of thought and effort that went into some of these presents. From the handsown plush narwhal, to the painting of the reddit coat of arms, to arranging an autographed photograph by the santee’s hometown hero (can’t find the link, sorry), to the thoughtful way just about everyone wrapped their presents.

All in all, I have strong faith in humanity now. When several thousand anonymous internet strangers can get together and send each other really nice thoughtful presents, there’s something right in the world.

If you want to know more about the reddit secret santa, check out the secret santa subreddit, or the reddit gifts website (includes a gallery of all the received presents!).

I loved the reddit secret santa, and if they run it again next year, I will definitely get involved!