You must have at least 20 comics in your archive. We had problems with freshly-started comics joining up, but the people who received these comics had problems doing anything, because the recipients didn't have a lot to go on. This way, you're at least somewhat established in your webcomickry.

Please note that by a "comic," I mean an actual comic strip or page, not a dead artist day, a random sketch showing a possible future character, a tribute, or so forth. Preferably, this number of comics doesn't include guest comics for/by other people. This WILL be checked.

You must be updating, or otherwise not on hiatus or dead, and plan to continue updating during the Secret Santa timespan. If you're not currently doing a comic, but you have in the past, please don't submit your comic. It's not fair for the rest of us. If you have two comics, one dead and one currently updating, you're invited to submit the current one.

You must adhere to the schedule and commitment. This activity does require some effort on your part. By signing up for the Web Comic Secret Santa, you agree to produce giftwork for the comic you receive, and you must commit yourself to the schedule given. The timeline is fairly generous, because I know that people are especially busy at this time of year.

You do not tell people who you got. That ruins the whole point of it being the SECRET Santa.

Your comic must be easy for everyone to access. If you're on Modern Tales or some other pay-for-view site, unless you're willing to give a free subscription, we're going to have issues :) This also deals with sites where your comic is somehow buried about six links deep.

You must not be part of the deadbeat list. Starting this year (2004), we have a deadbeat list. This list contains all people who participated last year, but who still owe someone artwork. By no means is the list current, so if you find yourself on the deadbeat list, but you did complete the requirement, please contact me.

What happens if you're on the deadbeat list? You are banned from participating in this year's Secret Santa. This is why it's important to notify me if you're on the deadbeat list unfairly.

No sprite comics or photo comics. I've been lenient on this in the past, but starting this year, please do not submit a sprite comic. I'd rather not deal with the hassle. (Due to complaints, I must include photo comics in this category as well.)

Your comic must meet a minimum art standard. Don't be afraid; basically, this is to weed out people who make comics in 2 minutes and don't otherwise put any effort into their comic craft.