Before you post your wishlist, please look over the following guidelines. Wishlists that are in violation of the guidelines may be rejected from the moderation queue and we will ask you to edit your list.

Types of Wishes

Your Wishlist may contain 10 wishes.

You may include less, but please do not include more. We do permit the inclusion of one external wishlist as one of the wishes (i.e. "Wish #7: Anything from my Amazon wishlist") but wishlists with multiple links will be rejected and asked to be revised. Also, only three types of giftcards are allowed.

Please note that we also monitor for wishlists which try to sneak extra items in, either unintentionally (such as "Wish #2: Books (Interview with the Vampire, Harry Potter 6, and any of the Dark Tower series).") or intentionally (such as "Wish #5: Any CDs by U2 or REM. Doctor Who Season 2 on DVD.")  Along the same lines, "surprise me" means "surprise me".  Posts which list "Surprise me!" as a wish but specify individual items will be rejected and asked to resubmit. 

Moderators reserve the right to make a judgement on what constitutes one wish. See also: Frequently Asked Questions

PayPal Donations

PayPal buttons and general solicitations for PayPal donations are not allowed.   For example, you may not write "I'm broke, send me money," but you may ask for specific help towards buying school textbooks or paying for a pet's surgery.  Share your paypal email address only; do not clutter up people's flists with the graphical paypal buttons.

"Big Ticket" Items

This community began in 2004 based on a meme running around LJ at the time. This meme stated that the wishes on your list "can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related ('I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me') to medium ('I wish for _ on DVD') to really big ('All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.') The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want." Therefore, posting of "big ticket" items such as laptops, televisions, digital cameras, diamond earrings, etc. is entirely within the spirit of this community! Along with this, please do not berate anyone whose wishlist contains such items, calling them "greedy" or saying that they just want to take advantage of the community. Most people include such items not because they expect people to send them such items, but because it is something they "really, truly want."

General Guidelines

Sob Stories not your best approach

Up is better than down. Happy is more likely to attract readers than Gloom. While some stories may be truly desperate or sad, we've discovered that people flock to requests faster than to sob stories. If you've had a hard year (or few years) and you want to share that, we recommend limiting the downer part and focusing on the "how you're fixing it" part. If it's request for a kid that won't otherwise have much of a holiday, focus on how the kid makes *other* people's lives better and then ask. This is just a recommendation, but after 8 years, we've seen 'em all and really, this is a much more successful approach. It doesn't hurt to make sure you're granting other folk's wishes too! There's lots of virtual ones that don't cost money.

Keep it worksafe

This is a family-friendly, work-safe community. Any wishlists containing mature requests or mature content will be rejected, as well as posts made with NSFW (not safe for work) icons. This includes fanart and fanfic requests. Note that mature fanart and fanfic requests ARE permitted at the InsaneJournal community, but that we ask that they be placed under an LJ-cut.

Do not make a post announcing that you have "items up for grabs"

Everyone winds up with a pile of stuff that's in perfectly good condition that they'd like to get rid of, but instead of posting the community asking if anyone wants it, please consider searching the community by tag to see if anyone specific is interested in the items you have.

Contact Information

While we suggest that you do include contact information with your wishlist (such as an e-mail address that you frequently check), please do not post your home address on your wishlist. This is a public community, and this is the Internet. We can't ensure that everyone who joins, watches, or just browses this community is a wholesome individual. Instead, if you are asking for physical items, you should either a) include a Post Office Box address, or b) only provide your address upon request if you are comfortable with this. We are not responsible for any consequences that may result of posting your home address on a public website. If you are not comfortable with giving out your mailing address, you do not have to. There are plenty of people in the community who post wishlists not intending to receive anything from strangers, or only posts wishlists for the benefit of their real-life friends. Please use your own judgment if you are going to include a mailing address in your post.

If you are found to be under the age of 18 and include a home address in your post, your post will be rejected or deleted as applicable.

Formatting

Font, Sizes and Colors

We know that some people may want to change the default font of their entries in order to make their entries stand out, be festive or to look pretty. Please don't do this! Many people view this community on their friends pages, and nearly everyone's friends pages have a different layout. If you chose to make your font red, and someone has a red background on their friends page, they won't be able to view your wishlist.

Do not post your wishlist behind an LJ cut.

Yes, you heard that right. Odd, but true. While browsing the community, it's actually much easier to read wishlists without having to click on LJ-cut links every time. So unless your wishlist is unusually long with explanations and descriptions, OR unless it contains images, you do not have to put it behind a cut.

No large images

This is a VERY high traffic community and bandwith and screen resolution vary. Please do not post any images larger than 400 pixels in height or width to the community.

Other

Make a copy of your wishlist

As you can see, there's a number of reasons why your wishlist might be rejected the first time you submit it. Please make a copy of your wishlist so in case you are asked to resubmit you can do so after making the appropriate changes.

You may only post your wishlist once

Let others have a chance, too! If you suspect that someone has double posted their wishlist, please report it on this mod post or send an e-mail to wishlist.project (at) gmail (dot) com, and the moderators will deal with it as soon as possible.