Hello everyone! Long time no see! ;) Yes, I know I really MUST be better about writing the list every once in a while. Remember when I was one of the biggest loud mouths on here? Ahh...those were the good ol' days. ;) Heh heh...
Anyway, I admittedly haven't read all of the emails that have been going back and forth about the Fanfic Awards, but I have caught little snippets here and there, and it seems to me that the major issues people are having a problem with are: 1)the way the forms are set up and 2)whether or not older fics should be included in nominations. I first wanted to explain that running the fanfic awards is NOT as easy as it seems. Anthony (my hubby) actually first came up with the idea, and as a lot of you know, the first time we ran the thing, it was very raw, and had much room for improvement. Each year, I've tried to improve the process to make it run more smoothly, but there will probably always be some type of flaw. It's the nature of the beast, really. I also wanted to explain how much work goes into this thing. Not only must forms be set up for each process throughout the awards (voting, nominating, at times category picking...etc, which is a tedious process in itself), but there is also the task of organizing all of the submissions and updating constantly to keep everything current and make sure you haven't missed any submissions. It's very time consuming. Also, sometimes the urls aren't provided (even though they're asked for) or they're wrong. It takes a lot of time trying to track fics down. Then there's the plaque creation--finding someone to do them or creating them yourself. I created them myself for two years, and I couldn't believe how tedious that was! I really appreciate people like Javvi who took the time to help me out with things like that. And I really appreciate Mike and GreenWillow's efforts for this year. As some of you know, I'm dealing with enough stresses and things in my life (not all of it bad) right now, and I just didn't have the time or energy to take on this task this year. So thanks for taking this on! I know it hasn't been easy, and you've been doing a fabulous job! Like I said, there is always room for improvement. Suggestions are always welcome. I think the nomination and voting process can still be improved upon, for instance, like some people said--only nominating ONE person per category each, instead of allowing as many as a person wants (like 20). The reason I didn't limit it at the beginning was because I wanted everyone to feel like they had a chance to win. Obviously, that didn't really work anyway, as some people still feel cheated, so perhaps next year, we can take the "one per category" approach and see how that works out. As far as which stories should be included in nominations, I stick to the idea that as long as a story hasn't won in that category, it should be able to be nominated. Now, maybe we can make a rule that limits the total number of winnings of a fic (like maybe 3). So say if "New House, Old Home" won for Best Short Fic, Most Moving and Best New Fic (or something), it would now be disqualified from being nominated again. *shrug* But in any case, I don't think it's fair to say that just because a story is "old", it should be disqualified. There are many great older stories that either haven't won yet, or have won only one or two categories. I think it only fair that ALL stories should have an equal chance. That's just my opinion though. To sum it up, suggestions are great. Improvements are wonderful, but please be patient. There are some things that were set up a certain way for a reason, and some things are better said than done. Please be understanding with Mike and GW. Yes, they volunteered to do this (and I'm sooo grateful!), but they are also having to work with a system *I* set up. And they are devoting a great amount of their time to do so. Dawnatello -- Dawnatello ____________________________________________ "There's a lot one could say about masks..." http://www.behindthemasks.com ******************************************** "Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business." "Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony, and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git." "Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a professor." "Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball." ********************************************* --
