I also see a distinction between the first days of frenzied competition for the most-sought-after packets, and the leisurely pace that comes after you either got, or lost, your three-and-four-star wishes.
Actually, if the "automated" idea caught on, it could reduce the first few days of frenzy into a 20-second Big Bang.
The automated sequence could run once every few seconds, as if that were a whole day. Every few seconds, each person would get the 3 packets currently highest in their Starred List. I think we would have to limit how many "four star" and "three star" items each person could lost, so no one just put four stars on every packet they might like.
After 5-10 rounds like that, each person would have up to 15-30 packets. Then the leisurely chat-and-swap period would begin at a more human pace, like 5-8 tickets per day.
There always seems to be interactions where one person's bid or question excites other people about that or related things.
And there is a KEY aspect to swaps where one person asks for X, and then one or more people say: "Oh, X? I got that, here ya go!"
Aren't they the most pleasurable parts of a swap?
