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More Hugo Thoughts
Apr. 6th, 2015 09:44 amIn an effort to not "waste" my best content on an away game, herewith is a recycled comment on the problem with bloc voting for awards. I will also discuss my voting intentions.
Bloc Voting, A Thought
Imagine that CBS launches a public campaign to lock up all the Emmy nominations with their shows and actors. Imagine that they then mostly succeed, so that, for example, in Best Drama it's 4 CBS shows and one HBO show.
Even if the HBO show wins, of what value is that win? Was the HBO show really the best drama, or did the voters give it an award as protest over CBS? Moreover, if CBS got their four slots with less than 20% of the nominating vote, does that really mean that the majority of the voters liked the CBS shows?
So, next year, HBO says "two can play at that" and has a competing slate. Now who gets the Emmy depends not on who has the best show but who's able to get a committed group to vote for a slate.
Awards have value only if the people voting for them are perceived to be voting on what they care about. If it's "Democrats vs. Republicans" or "Sad Puppies vs Happy Kittens" then who gives a damn about the award? Or for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jeff_duntemann - if you don't like tribalism now, wait until it's all over the Hugos like white on rice.
My Hugo Strategy
For the record, I intend to read everything provided in the Hugo packets before I vote. "Read" does not require "finish" - if I find the work not to my standards after a reasonable sampling, then I'll vote accordingly. Considering the amount of shit I was given on Torgersen's blog, this is extending to his slate vastly more courtesy then was ever extended to me.
I will say, in light of the bloc voting problem above, I intend to be very liberal with No Award. In short, the various Puppies are going to have to convince me that this really is "the best SF of the year." Again for the record, in "Best Related Work" I tend to take the strategy of "if I could only buy one book, which one would it be?" Yep, it's subjective - all awards are so deal with it.
Bloc Voting, A Thought
Imagine that CBS launches a public campaign to lock up all the Emmy nominations with their shows and actors. Imagine that they then mostly succeed, so that, for example, in Best Drama it's 4 CBS shows and one HBO show.
Even if the HBO show wins, of what value is that win? Was the HBO show really the best drama, or did the voters give it an award as protest over CBS? Moreover, if CBS got their four slots with less than 20% of the nominating vote, does that really mean that the majority of the voters liked the CBS shows?
So, next year, HBO says "two can play at that" and has a competing slate. Now who gets the Emmy depends not on who has the best show but who's able to get a committed group to vote for a slate.
Awards have value only if the people voting for them are perceived to be voting on what they care about. If it's "Democrats vs. Republicans" or "Sad Puppies vs Happy Kittens" then who gives a damn about the award? Or for
jeff_duntemann - if you don't like tribalism now, wait until it's all over the Hugos like white on rice.My Hugo Strategy
For the record, I intend to read everything provided in the Hugo packets before I vote. "Read" does not require "finish" - if I find the work not to my standards after a reasonable sampling, then I'll vote accordingly. Considering the amount of shit I was given on Torgersen's blog, this is extending to his slate vastly more courtesy then was ever extended to me.
I will say, in light of the bloc voting problem above, I intend to be very liberal with No Award. In short, the various Puppies are going to have to convince me that this really is "the best SF of the year." Again for the record, in "Best Related Work" I tend to take the strategy of "if I could only buy one book, which one would it be?" Yep, it's subjective - all awards are so deal with it.
