Awards Official Summer 2006 Beyond the Saga Awards Thread: Ceremony Noon board time Sat July 29th

Excerpt submissions are now closed. Thanks to everyone who submitted!

The excerpt thread will be appearing in Resource shortly, once we have finished the final checks. A link will also be provided here.

Thanks again, everyone!

 

The excerpt thread has arrived!

It can be found stickied at the top of Resource, as well.

We will begin accepting votes on July 15th.

Thanks everybody!

 

Just checking. Perhaps, since we have many new users that have been fortunate enough to qualify, we should revisit the merits - and pitfalls - of campaigning before it gets out of hand.

Zonoma



Edited - please address all further concerns via PM to the Overseer or mods.

 

Zonoma--I will have Nat (the overseer) come in here for that very issue.

And, ladies and gentlemen--voting is officially open for the Beyond Awards!

Just as a reminder--send your votes in one pm to this sock. You can only vote for those fics and authors that are listed in the qualifying list and the excerpt thread stickied at the top of Resource. You do NOT need to provide us the links to the stories receiving your votes.

Your vote pm will be read within 24 hours of being sent, depending on the volunteer schedule, and you will receive a reply to tell you that it has been recorded.

Thank you all, and we look forward to getting your votes!

 

Campaigning in any form is not allowed.

 

Well... as one of the new people... what qualifies as campaigning?

Obviously PMing random people and demanding votes would be ridiculous, and I assume excessive re-bumping of stories with nothing actually to say would be a bad thing.

But... well, for instance, the example above is a sig. I've been linking stories in my signature since I first posted any, and wasn't given any sign that it was a problem.

Should I remove them?

If so, would it be acceptable to link instead to stories that aren't under consideration for anything?

Or is it okay as long as the awards aren't mentioned? (In my case, I'm pushing the character limit already, so it's not like I was planning to add this, but I'm sure the information would be useful to someone similarly clueless.)

Or is the problem in the above only the "Vote for" -- so that sigs or subject lines or thank-you posts (in the story thread, as instructed in the rules) mentioning what a fic is eligible or nominated or qualified for are okay?

I don't want to make things more difficult for anybody, and as I've seen posts suggesting that it's possible to get in trouble (at least in public opinion, if not with the mods) for readers' misbehavior, I especially don't want to mess things up for the authors of stories I like.

 

The "Vote for..." in the signature line is what makes it campaigning.
You can definitely have your stories linked in your signature.

An author thanking his/her readers in a story for their nominations is not campaigning.
An author requesting votes for those nominations would be campaigning.

A reader congratulating an author for his/her nominations is not campaigning.
A reader suggesting that others should vote for said author is campaigning.

Additionally, if the reader is in error, i.e., the person campaigning, there is no penalty to the author. The reader will receive any warning levied. We understand that this is a matter of etiquette and a bit of a gray area to new users. I hope this helps clear things up.

If you have concerns about defining campaigning for future awards programs we'll slate it for discussion in the Post Awards Discussion Thread.

 

I do have concerns and I do think it merits discussion. As it is, I find the notion of enforcing unwritten rules with nebulous and tenuous definitions that are out of synch with the culture here mid-way through the awards season to be an unwise course of action. While it may be clear that "Vote for..." might be poor etiquette, I have yet to find anywhere up until this point where it was forbidden. I'll happily apologize if someone can point me in the direction of the rule that addresses this in the fanfic awards forum.

There is a big difference between "we don't like what you're doing" and "you have violated the rules." The former is a personal choice and entirely subjective. You can't legislate personal choice (ask the US politicians in power how effective that is). If one feels strongly enough about personal choice, then one changes the rules to reflect that. Of course, you have the principle of the grandfather clause and the like but I digress.

The later is a big deal. Telling someone that they've broken the rules, no matter how politely or behind the scenes represents a formal rebuke. There are inherent punishments that go along with that. The simple act of telling someone they've broken the rules is a punishment in and of itself. A leader needs to recognize this and be judicious about how that punishment is meted out. Chief among the factors in that decision must be whether or not the person in question had a reasonable expectation that s/he was following the rules.

Regardless, it is clear that there is some confusion as to what exactly constitutes campaigning. It is also clear that the rules of conduct are not clearly defined on this subject. Should one peruse the various threads in the various story forums, you will find them littered with ?for your consideration? type posts. Headers have been updated with ?Nommed for [insert award here]!!? Does that constitute campaigning as well?

I agree that this issue needs to be tabled until after the awards. In the interim, I suggest that complaints regarding campaigning be carefully evaluated and compared against the existing prevailing standard on the boards, vice the personal opinion of one or two readers.

Just my two cents.

 

*Added letters so I can address individual points*

A) That's just good manners

B) Yes, this is a given.

C) Ditto

D) The key words are readers and suggesting.

In the four years I've been writing and an on and off participant in the awards, this has never been considered campaigning, especially if it's in the story thread. It's simply informing fellow readers of a situation - ie "Hey, this story qualifies, and I think it deserves to be noticed too." Heck, I've plugged OTHER fics in my story threads, both during and between awards times. Does this now equate to spamming/campaigning too?

*sigh*

Maybe people should be forbiddon from mentioning the awards in their threads at all, lest someone think that the mere mention of them constitutes 'campaining?'



Edited to add

I know this should be brought up in the post awards discussion, but as it was mentioned here I wanted to add my .02.

 

Undoubtedly, this is going to be an issue we will want to devote more attention to in the Post Awards Discussion and we'll definitely give it its due so that we can clear up all confusion on the matter for future awards programs. If you have specific questions/concerns PM the Awards Overseer or your friendly neighborhood Mod.

However, if you'd like to continue discussing campaigning more generally please visit the Etiquette Thread.

 

Thank you to those of you who have already sent in your votes--you all are doing wonderfully.

Just in case any of you are a bit confused, here we have the easy step-by-step instruction guide to filling out your votes:

1. Copy and paste the qualifying list to a PM to the sock (do not include links).

2. Delete all the stories you are not voting for until there is only one story in each category (though you do not have to vote in each category if you don't want to).

3. Doublecheck to make sure that you have followed all of the voting rules--for that, go back to the first page of this thread.

4. Send your single PM to the sock.

5. Wait excitedly for the Awards show!

Thanks everyone!

 

Just a friendly reminder that you only have until midnight July 24th to get your votes in. Don't forget!

Thanks to all that have voted so far--you're all doing wonderfully.

 

Just a bump to showcase our new title--4 days left (counting today!) Only four, everyone!

 

*bringing this to the top* 3 days!

 

Up we go!

Two days!

 

Remember to vote and thank your volunteers!

 

Thank you to all the volunteers!!





jacky

 

Thanks, both of you!

Today is the last day to get your votes in! They must be in by 11:59 PM board time. Don't forget!

Thank you all--you've all done a great job with this.

 

Voting for the Beyond Awards is now officially closed.

Thank you all for participating!

Don't forget--the Awards ceremony will be held this Saturday, July 29th, at noon board time here in Resource. It should be great fun, so we hope to see you there!

 

I'll probably miss these tomorrow so I'll say this now.

Good luck to all the nominees! I found some great new stories to be behind on. And big thanks to the Beyond staff - here's hoping the boards don't break tomorrow.

 

You just had to mention that Jade If it breaks we know who to blame

 

Good luck to all the nominees. I have a family thing so I won't be there. But great job, volunteers!

 

Thanks guys! And speak not of the Great Disaster...

Okay, everyone! The ceremony begins in a bit more than an hour!

 

Are we gonna have a pre-awards party?

 

No--we're not doing a party before the Awards start, but there will be a party afterwards. We're still busy with the streamers and such...