So, let me run something by you guys ...

I'm contemplating my requests for Yuletide (no, signups aren't open yet, but it's never too early to start planning, right?).

In pretty much all of the fandoms I'm requesting, I have some very definite "do not want" preferences on pairings. What I'm trying to figure out is how to phrase it so that I don't make my writer feel like she's been slapped in the face. I wouldn't normally be stressing about it too much (in the bigger fandom exchanges, I don't) but if there are only 3 people writing in a fandom and they're all big X/Y shippers, is it going to be too much of a blow if my request says "Please no X/Y"? (In one teeny fandom, all the fic I've ever seen is X/Y pairing that I don't want; I think that's the one I'm most worried about.) I don't know if it would be better or worse to explain why -- that I have an incest squick, that I don't want to see canon couple Y/Z broken up, or whatnot -- or just to ask for no X/Y or ... well, I just don't know. Where do you think the line falls between a polite request and a request that bashes someone's preferences?

So, let me run something by you guys ...

I'm contemplating my requests for Yuletide (no, signups aren't open yet, but it's never too early to start planning, right?).

In pretty much all of the fandoms I'm requesting, I have some very definite "do not want" preferences on pairings. What I'm trying to figure out is how to phrase it so that I don't make my writer feel like she's been slapped in the face. I wouldn't normally be stressing about it too much (in the bigger fandom exchanges, I don't) but if there are only 3 people writing in a fandom and they're all big X/Y shippers, is it going to be too much of a blow if my request says "Please no X/Y"? (In one teeny fandom, all the fic I've ever seen is X/Y pairing that I don't want; I think that's the one I'm most worried about.) I don't know if it would be better or worse to explain why -- that I have an incest squick, that I don't want to see canon couple Y/Z broken up, or whatnot -- or just to ask for no X/Y or ... well, I just don't know. Where do you think the line falls between a polite request and a request that bashes someone's preferences?