Small rant
Okay. Not to be too oblique, but naming no names; this relates to a discussion on the HA Yahoo list proceeding from someone posting about the MPA awards. There were some negative, though not actually rude or flaming, comments made about the site and the awards, and one member leapt to the defense of its creator. Which is fine, but when the tenor of the discussion drifted into saying that it was okay to think negative things but not to say them, I began to get very hot under the collar.
I will quote part of what I said - since I said it, I have no qualms about making it public:
"The "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" attitude is good for children who don't know where to draw the line. As an adult I take responsibility for my own opinions, and I will not cease from giving them when I choose. There are, in fact, many many occasions on which I decide it's not worth my time and energy to make a criticism, but if *I* choose to refrain for whatever reason, that is different from being told by someone else what I may or may not say.
"Personally I find discussion and commentary that is universally positive both dull and useless. If there is never any disagreement or criticism allowed, there's not much point in the conversation. It's like talking to an echo - and one learns nothing new. A waste of time, IMO."
And later:
"Sorry, I'm not going to be answering to any higher power. You may if you choose, but please don't inflict your religious beliefs on me. Thank you. I answer to my own conscience and sense of honor and I don't appreciate having it implied that I get my kicks from hurting others."
What do I actually think of the MPA awards myself? Well, this is one of those times when perhaps I should choose to refrain, but WTH. The way they're set up seems to me unlikely to result in the best stories winning - more like the most popular stories winning, which could easily mean the authors with the most friends, whether or not their stories are really very good. Since I think awards should reward genuine merit, rather than popularity, this strikes me as a problem. But I'm not terribly exercised about it - I have no stories nominated, I am not reading nor voting for anything in this particular set of awards. I respect the person who created them, because I know it's a lot of work, but I don't consider them terribly meaningful.
For an award that I felt meant something - that is, it was carefully set up to avoid any nepotism, vote-flooding, etc. and judged more on genuine merit rather than personal preference - I'd point to the Mithril Awards. For which one of my stories was nominated (by someone else) and was a finalist, though not a winner. I didn't participate in that as a judge or a voter, though I did nominate one essay for the initial pool.
This gets back to something I've felt for a long time. I'm just astounded at how many people apparently think that if everything under the sun receives an award, or an A, or a squee review, or etc., then that means something. In order for excellence to have meaning, there must also be recognition that not everything is excellent. And that that is okay. We can't all be Olympic gymnasts, right? Equally we can't all be the next Shakespeare, or [insert your preferred great author here].
Recognition is great, but if there's no distinction permissible between good and bad, why should anyone strive for excellence? I don't give As for effort to my students, I'm not going to give them to fanfic authors either. Yes, it's just for fun. But I like to take my fun somewhat seriously - because to me that's part of the fun. If someone doesn't like my criticism, they're perfectly free to ignore it. In fact I rarely give criticism except to those who've asked for it. But I don't want to be told that I can't, because that would be dishonest.
One more thing I said in that discussion:
"I refuse to say only good things about people or stories or whatever. I will say good things if I consider them warranted, and bad things if those are warranted. Otherwise I'm not being very fair, am I? I'm not saying them deliberately to hurt, and to imply that if I say anything negative I have a nasty character isn't very kind of *you* either."
"If someone only ever says nice things, how can you believe them? If they say what they think is both good and bad, you can be pretty sure that if they give a compliment it's meant and earned."
So Dr. Bitch is IN today. Actually I don't think I was terribly bitchy, but being told what to do or think pushes all the wrong buttons with me.