Horntoad said:
If the system automatically picked for someone who wasn't there, then they would beat the person who took time to attend. With that system there would be no reason to attend at all. Just key in a couple hundred wish items and come back at the end of the swap to see what you got. Plus the complication of trying to program for a fair rotational system.
What I'm suggesting would be an identical experience for all the participants. The system would handle
everyone in the swaps dibs, based on their wishlist ranking. It would level the playing field for individuals who maybe had to work everyday during the set swapping time (or are sleeping if in a very different timezone), had a bad internet connection, some unforeseen circumstance, etc. People would still have a chance to re-evaluate and re-order their lists prior to each swapping session.
It could just be an option when setting up the swap. Like, setting the swapping portion to "manual or automatic". I think it would be most beneficial in large swaps, or those with international participants where there is more than a 2-3 hour time difference.
