Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Unless they can institute a voting system that encompasses more than a tiny fraction of the genre reader base (likely impossible) the most they can ensure is that *his* brand of gaming can't succeed. And in the process make it easier for gamers with other agendas.
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The Hugos are a popularity award. I've been in discussions elsewhere about the process, where the issue was greater representation of minority groups in the awards.
My response was "It's population demographics. It
will happen. As more people of color read the genre, and write in it, there will be more likelihood of people of color getting nominated for and receiving awards. The question isn't
whether it will happen, it's
when, and this discussion is ultimately about how to speed the process.
Meanwhile, it's a popular vote. Vote with your wallet. Buy a supporting membership to an upcoming Worldcon, which will give you voting rights, and nominate stuff you think is worthy. When the ballots are issued, pick which you think should get awards."
The people who nominate and vote for Hugo Awards are the members of the Worldcon that awards them. They are of necessity a tiny fraction of the total genre readership. (The Worldcon has between 5K and 10K members, depending on which one you point at.) Whether they are representative of the total genre readership is unknowable. But the folks administering the Hugos have been trying hard to get out the vote and increase the number of folks voting. (They've also been pushing hard to get copies of everything nominated
to voting members in at least electronic form, so voters can actually read the works nominated that year. Many earlier awards had been "body of work" awards, because voters
hadn't read current stuff nominated.)
I've been involved in organized SF fandom for over four decades, and have worked on Worldcons among others. I know a lot of the folks involved in efforts to make the voting process more resilient and less subject to gaming. (And some of them have subject matter expertise in voting systems and actually know something about the topic.) They'll do their best to improve it. Perfection is not possible.
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Dennis