Comments | paranoid_woman: Discussion Topic: What do the Fandom Awards mean to you?

paranoid_woman

Discussion Topic: What do the Fandom Awards mean to you?

Jan 30, 2010 16:50

The Numb3rs Awards are open now, as we all should know by now.

Which brings up a question in my mind about all awards in all fandoms, and lillyg is totally going to laugh when she sees this public post.

How do you make your choices when it comes to who and what to nominate?

In my particular case, I do tend to read the fics my favorite writers publish ( Read more... )

fandom awards, discussion topic, awards

Comments 59

magisterequitum January 31 2010, 01:00:03 UTC

I don't hate you for this post or anything at all. I think it's great to talk about and discuss.

I almost feel almost ambivalent about the awards. Like you said, the same people win every year and that doesn't change.

I nominate fics that I really enjoyed and that stick with me after I read them. Even if they don't win, I still feel like it makes them happy and a bit pleased to be recognized that someone enjoyed their piece of work.

Does that make any sense?

paranoid_woman January 31 2010, 01:05:24 UTC

Well, great, because this is not about the N3 awards in particular but about all awards in every single fandom I could find.

I feel like it's not that exciting to vote because I already know who's going to win, but nominating... yeah. Like you said, you do it because you're trying to make people feel recognized for their work. All of this because you truly believe they deserve it and you want them to know that, you want them to be happy, which is really cool.

And yes, it makes perfect sense to me. *nods*

lillyg January 31 2010, 01:11:55 UTC

This is too true. The Numb3rs Fake Awards are here again. I wouldn't vote, I didn't read anything outstanding this year, even if I like some fics. I don't read 99% of the fics in general of the list because they treat subject I 'Ewwww' completely like incest, or most of them bore me to death because it's Ian being a psycho in a BDSM relationship...

The author wining are always the same and it just serve the annual feeding of their egos, instead of promoting new writers...

paranoid_woman January 31 2010, 01:16:33 UTC

I get your point since I know there is a lot of stuff out there that is not your cup of tea. In my case, I do not find myself attracted to incest but hey, people like what they like. I'd just like to find even more variety out there. :)

However, keep in mind that this happens everywhere, not just in the N3 fandom, which is pretty small. The thing is that the fandom I have been able to observe for a longer time is Numb3rs. :)

mustangcandi January 31 2010, 03:08:24 UTC

I think you make some good points here but I also think that some things aren't being considered ( ... )

paranoid_woman January 31 2010, 13:01:38 UTC

Candi - first let me tell you that I never meant to upset you by raising this issue. To be honest, I was pretty sure people were going to get mad at me anyway for saying how I feel about the awards, but I didn't state things were exactly the way I described them here. That's why I asked people to vote for this poll, because I wanted to see what this means to others and try to understand why I feel this way.

I do know that I would have never met you if it weren't for this fandom and savecolby. This, of course, applies to a thousand other friendships. Like you said, it is more likely that you vote for those who are in your f-list because you follow their work more than you follow a new writer's fics. I totally get that and it happens to me too ( ... )

mustangcandi January 31 2010, 15:16:03 UTC

Sweetie, you didn't offend me. The only thing that offended me was lillyg's "Numb3rs Fake Awards" and the only reason that offended me is because ALL of the committee members are my friends and they work REALLY hard and spend A LOT of time from January until April - time that they don't always have to spend. They do their best to keep the nominations fair. The voting is out of their hands - all they can do is only let ONE person cast ONE vote in each category. And even lillyg didn't offend me with her comment because every one is entitled to an opinion. I know you weren't slamming the awards committee, you were posting a point for discussion... but name-calling (again, not by you) is a bit unfair ( ... )

paranoid_woman January 31 2010, 18:04:05 UTC

Hey, it's okay. You run communities, you're doing your best at giving fandom something they can enjoy. Of course you're going to be seen and recognized for it. It's like spikedluv, who should be recognized for working so hard in all the comms she mods.

I'm glad I didn't offend you. I don't mind at all people not agreeing with me. *hugs back* Still, I feel like I have to go silent on fandom for a few weeks until everyone calms down. :(

Thread 5

*takes a deep breath* mercilynn January 31 2010, 05:54:46 UTC

I've been trying to formulate a coherent response to this most of the night. I can't speak for any of the other numb3rs_awards committee, but you know that being silent when I disagree with something has never been my strong suit. *g ( ... )

Re: *takes a deep breath* paranoid_woman January 31 2010, 13:11:08 UTC

Merci, first off I didn't mean to offend you. That's why I said you guys were organizing the awards with so much passion and effort.

I'm also sorry that this kept you awake at night. I feared that my words were going to make people upset but I really needed to get this out of my chest and ask for other people's perspective. Maybe it's because I take the awards too seriously and I need to change that.

Like I said, I know that what you read is mostly what you have on your friends page -it happens to me too, so I totally get that.

The truth is, being nominated feeds the ego of every single writer, whether they're popular or not. Everyone knows that. What I mean is that there are particular cases in every fandom where some people take it to the next level and that is not pleasant to see. But I'm all right with everyone feeling happy about getting nominated, of course! It means someone took the time to remember their fic and submit a nomination.

I have to admit that you are right about ladygray99, even if I didn't read most of her darker job ( ... )

Re: *takes a deep breath* mercilynn January 31 2010, 17:04:24 UTC

*hugs*

Like I said in the beginning, I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at the misrepresentation the Awards apparently have.

I will be the first one to admit that I'm oversensitive to the Awards, because I believe in them. They're fun and they WORK. And I'm glad you got this off your chest, but you had to know the can of worms you were opening (especially with my on your f-list, sweetie. You know I have Opinions *g*).

Okay, so RE: feeding the ego. I see what you were trying to say now, however I think it wasn't the best word choice as not everyone acts like that. I will be the one of the ones that definitely agree with you about the "entitled" feeling that some get about the awards. They write X amount of fic, so of course they should get nominated and of course it should win. You already know the problems with one of the people that I'm thinking about in that statement... I don't think there's more need to go on ( ... )

Re: *takes a deep breath* paranoid_woman January 31 2010, 18:07:21 UTC

I was aware that people could take this the wrong way and yes, I admit that some of my wording was not as clear as I thought. For that, again, I'm sorry.

I really hope more people get nominated and get involved with the awards. *hugs back*

Thread 20

munchkinofdoom January 31 2010, 07:23:29 UTC

mercilynn pointed me in this direction, so you can blame her. *veg*

I answered the poll based on being a screencapper/occasional iconer rather than as a writer. I think the questions work well for all of the N3 Awards categories.

Now, as a Numb3rs_Awards committee member, I'd like to add a few points. Bearing in mind that I am speaking privately, from my own experience on the committee for a few rounds now, and have not cleared this with the rest of the committee. *takes committee hat off*

I understand that there will always be people who are not happy with awards in general, and the N3 Awards in particular. Some are philosophically opposed, some feel they have not been given the recognition they deserve, some feel that it is nothing more than ego stroking for the BNFs, and some simply don't have the time or energy to participate.

I just went back and looked at the winners in all categories for the last two rounds, and yes, there are names that crop up regularly in many of the categories: mustangcandi, spikedluv, elysium1996, irena_adler, jelsemium and emmademarais, to name a few. But there are also names that crop ( ... )

paranoid_woman January 31 2010, 13:26:51 UTC

I think what makes me feel this way is that I take the awards too seriously. I get so worried about them sometimes.

Let me tell you that this post wasn't against the N3 committee members at all, it was about awards in all fandoms in general, which was triggered by the Numb3rs Awards because they just opened for nominations. I even submitted new "I was nominated" icons for people who got nominated and I was really happy to see that they were used. I also nominated people last year because I truly liked what they'd produced.

You all are doing the best for the Numb3rs Awards, I'm not saying otherswise. It's up to people whether they want some to be nominated/win or not. Totally.

munchkinofdoom January 31 2010, 14:13:12 UTC

Don't worry, I wasn't in any way upset by your post, and was, in fact, commenting more toward those on your flist who are concerned about how certain names turn up year after year in the winners lists.

Your post gave me a chance to address their concerns. And all I can do is repeat what I wrote, maybe a little more concisely. Any awards are only as good as the people who nominate and vote. To complain about the awards, but not nominate or vote, is at best a hollow gesture.

So I thank you for giving me this space to address those fans. *grins*