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But what is a change of rules going to achieve? The plain unvarnished truth is that there is no institution invented by man which is devoid of politics. Ideally the Hugo's would be decided by each voter voting in accordance with their genuine opinion of the literary merit of the works concerned. This is simply not going to happen. And even if it does to an extent, many people exist for whom politics is their life, and colours all of their opinions. And this, of course, is without contending with the formal voting blocks, be it the Puppies or, as fjtorres so aptly put it, the social justice warriors. I might add that I have not done the exhaustive reading of all the Hugo nominees for the years involved which I feel would be required to have a truly informed opinion as to whether or not the nominations had been hijacked by the politically oorrect. It could be that with several thousand voters involved the greater emphasis in wider society on social justice issues was naturally reflected in the make up of the voters, with some movement to the left inevitable. What is inarguable is that there is a backlash, rightly or wrongly. But re-writing rules to produce a particular result is doomed to failure without widespread consensus on what that result is. It is likely doomed to failure anyway. Just ask any good political "operative" in any of the democracies. The more complex the rules, the more opportunity for manipulation arises.
Personally, my view is that the Sad Puppies list has some excellent books which are enjoyable reads. But of the titles I have read, none reach the level that should be required to win such an award. Of the non-puppies nominations, once again out of the titles I have read, only Ancillary Sword would make a worthy winner. Of course, I would have to do much more reading to reach a genuinely informed view on both "lists".
I think it needs to be left to the warring parties to sort out. If you want an influence, pay your money and join. But face facts. Politics is not going away. What seems to have been the saving grace to date is that some of the time enough voters, for whatever reasons and whether or not influenced by politics, pick a genuinely deserving winner. This should be the firm goal of any rule change.
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