On why George R.R. Martin is wrong: No Awarding the slate

[nwhyte]

When I saw the domination of this year's Hugo finalists by a slate of works nominated by a misogynist racist and his colluders, my immediate reaction was that I should vote "No Award" ahead of every one of their nominations, no questions asked or quarter given. (I was not alone.)

There has been some debate about this in the last week. Notably,

Comments

[hairyears]

The worst offence may well turn out to be bring in Gamergaters.

So far, the worst they've done is vote for a slate of nominations: it's not the worst thing they can do.

This isn't about ethics in games journalism; and neither was 'Gamergate'; it was and is about a hate campaign, and people who pursue it with passionate malice. They're here, and they were invited.

[nancylebov]

For what it's worth, the Gamergaters seem to have been invited in, but haven't shown up in any significant way-- possibly a few votes.

[nwhyte]

I disagree, Nancy. Look at the dozens of people who came out of nowhere to support Beale's slate. Genuinely dedicated fans of Beale and Wright? Or Gamergaters doing it for the lulz, and chortling over $40 well spent for a laugh? I know which I think is more likely.

[nancylebov]

It's hard to tell. I've assumed they were bad-tempered conservatives, but not gamergaters-- certainly there are plenty of both. I've haven't heard of any evidence either way.

[daveon]

I'm with you on this, the actual success of the Rabid Puppies suggests the Gamergate types were actually the driving force.

That said, the mechanics of the vote are much more complex than any of the puppies I've spoken to seem to understand.

[mecurtin]

Beale has a *lot* of fans, I fear. When I run the traffic numbers at alexa, voxday's site is in the same general ballpark as Scalzi's or Correia's sites. They're all getting a lot more traffic than the Nielsen Haydens or, say, file770.

[nwhyte]

Of his site and general rantings, sure. But of his publishing house and its output?

[mecurtin]

CastaliaHouse and SubterraneanPress (which published, ya know, good stories) have roughly similar traffic rankings -- though CH seems to be seeing a lot of traffic from India, wtf?

[nwhyte]

Well, Sasquan doesn't have a single member from India, so that traffic won't have had any effect on the Hugo nominations!

[nwhyte]

Indeed. I'm saving this for another post, if indeed I go there at all, but basically it seems clear to me that Beale mobilised his Gamergater chums to engage in a block vote.