MobileRead 2015 Categories Poll

[Dazrin]

Wow! In the last 10 minutes 2 people voted for option A to give it the win!

The 2015 categories will be the same as the 2013 and 2014 categories:
January — Second Chance (no nominations, a vote of all the runners-up nominations from the last 11 months)
February — Romance
March — Travel/Adventure
April — Classics
May — Mystery/Thriller
June — Award Winners
July — Non-Fiction
August — Science Fiction
September — Banned or Challenged Books
October — Patricia Clark Memorial Library (MobileRead Library)
November — Foreign (Books originally written in a language other than English)
December — Short Stories

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS!

[JSWolf]

We have to replace foreign. It's unfair to a global readership. Can we guarantee that any book nominated would be foreign to anyone who might participate? We cannot so it has to go. We need a ruling from on high. If you think it's a fair category, tell us why. If not, dump it and we can replace it.

[WT Sharpe]

Thank you, Dazrin, for spearheading this undertaking. Nicely done.

[Dazrin]

You are welcome! It was ... interesting. I am just glad it is over with and we don't need to do this again for at least another year.

I still think there should be some changes (some way to get "fantasy" on the list), but I am satisfied as-is.

RE: Foreign, the world-wide participation is why the sub-title is "originally non-English". This is an English language book club, so most of the selected books will be "originally English". This category gives us a guaranteed book written somewhere else.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

You are welcome! It was ... interesting. I am just glad it is over with and we don't need to do this again for at least another year.

I still think there should be some changes (some way to get "fantasy" on the list), but I am satisfied as-is.

RE: Foreign, the world-wide participation is why the sub-title is "originally non-English". This is an English language book club, so most of the selected books will be "originally English". This category gives us a guaranteed book written somewhere else.

But still, it's unfair and someone biased. It needs to go. If I lived in another country and a book originally written in my country was nominated, I would not be happy about it. So in fairness to everyone, this category has to go. I don't care that mist people who participate are American, if it's unfair to even one person, it's unfair to all.

[Luffy]

It's not a big deal. For box office everyone accepts that "Domestic" is North America and "Overseas" is the rest of the world. Same case here.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I cannot say I am happy with the result, but whatever.

Originally Posted by Dazrin

RE: Foreign, the world-wide participation is why the sub-title is "originally non-English". This is an English language book club, so most of the selected books will be "originally English". This category gives us a guaranteed book written somewhere else.

I do not agree with that. Sure its a guarantee, but this is a category that can show up in every other category. I've nominated non-English books in categories outside of foreign before. I understand the idea of broadening horizons and making a conscious choice, but by being an on-line group with members from everywhere, we should be able to get that automatically. That said, if I were to rank the current categories for probability of me participating Foreign and Award Winners are probably at the top of the list. So Foreign is a great category.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I cannot say I am happy with the result, but whatever. <snip>

Well, there's always 2016. And look on the bright side: By that time, Jon might have finalized his nominations list.

[John F]

So where is the new poll for H. Not it, blue.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Luffy

It's not a big deal. For box office everyone accepts that "Domestic" is North America and "Overseas" is the rest of the world. Same case here.

But this isn't box office. This is a global forum where we try to be fair and honest. Foreign is not fair and it's not honest (non-English is not foreign to a lot of people).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I cannot say I am happy with the result, but whatever.

I do not agree with that. Sure its a guarantee, but this is a category that can show up in every other category. I've nominated non-English books in categories outside of foreign before. I understand the idea of broadening horizons and making a conscious choice, but by being an on-line group with members from everywhere, we should be able to get that automatically. That said, if I were to rank the current categories for probability of me participating Foreign and Award Winners are probably at the top of the list. So Foreign is a great category.

It's OK to nominate translations where appropriate. But foreign is not appropriate in any way shape or form.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I do not agree with that. Sure its a guarantee, but this is a category that can show up in every other category. I've nominated non-English books in categories outside of foreign before. I understand the idea of broadening horizons and making a conscious choice, but by being an on-line group with members from everywhere, we should be able to get that automatically. That said, if I were to rank the current categories for probability of me participating Foreign and Award Winners are probably at the top of the list. So Foreign is a great category.

Since this is an English language group, the majority of our selections tend to be originally written in English. I count maybe 8 or 9 books from the previous selections that were originally non-English since 2008. Not a lot of diversity there. This is a way to make sure we get that diversity. I am not saying that I want this category, just defending its inclusion as a valid category.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But this isn't box office. This is a global forum where we try to be fair and honest. Foreign is not fair and it's not honest (non-English is not foreign to a lot of people).

Would changing the category to be just "Books originally written in a language other than English" and removing the "foreign" part solve this for you? It seems like you have something against that word in particular.

And now that I have that song from Frozen stuck in my head, I need to leave.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Would changing the category to be just "Books originally written in a language other than English" and removing the "foreign" part solve this for you? It seems like you have something against that word in particular.

Nope. That would still be the same issue under a different name. We should forgo this language issue and come up with a category that's fair for everyone who might participate. That's the only way to do it to be fair and aboveboard. Do you want to be unfair to some people when we don't have to?