Caroline Ann Seawright wrote:

No.  These "awards" are AGAIN only people's personal opinions.  There IS
no impartiality, and there never will be.  Don't even bother trying to say
this was posing as an impartial award, because YOU DIDN'T KNOW.  And it
wasn't anyway, as the original poster himself said below.

If voting is done correctly, then it's rather impartial - or at least
it shows what MOST people think are the best 'fics, and so there is a
system for giving out "awards". This is just ... Someone saying "I loved
these 'fics", but in a way that makes others think he finds all the
rest of the 'fics worthless. That's the title, the "Award" in the
subject name. If it's just someone's personal oppinion, he shouldn't
be saying it's an "award"... If he wants to give out "awards" he should
do so privately. The thing he's doing makes it seem that no-one else
made the cut. He doesn't even have runners up or what have you. He's
got the WRONG set up for an "award", so he should not call it that. It
does annoy people, it makes them think that htier 'fics aren't even good
enough to get considered as an option for these awards. He just
says, basically, "Awards go to <blah> <blah2> <blah3>" then talks about them.
He doesn't say "There 'fics were also great, but didn't get awards
because ...."

He should stop calling it an "Award" when it obviously is upsetting people,
annoying people, whatever. He says it's just saying his favourite fics.
He should call it that, and stop calling it "awards". "Taleswapper's
Favourite Fics" would be fine. NOT "Taleswapper's Awards".

I think what makes Taleswapper's opinions so valueable is that he puts a
lot of time and thought into his evaluation.  He has terrific insight
and a wonderful critiquing style.

People, I think, are reading too much into the word "Awards".  It is
"Taleswapper's Awards".  He chose them, he gets to designate them.

The difference between Taleswapper's critiques and a voting form is that
voting only tells you what the most POPULAR fanfic was, not necessarily
which fanfic had the highest QUALITY.  Did you know that the last movie
to win both the Academy Award for best movie AND be the top-grossing
movie at the box office was "The Sting"?  What makes a story popular is
not necessarily what makes a story of high quality.

Taleswapper's Awards are a good counterpoint to the "Best of Ranma"
voting that's going on.  He judges quality, and judges it pretty well,
IMO.  There is no way to objectively judge fanfics, as Taleswapper
freely admits.  Yet I believe his judgement to be good, and I at least
respect his opinions even if I don't agree with all of them.

I have refrained from entering the debate before, since my opinions can
be judged as biased.  I can only say in my defense that, while
Taleswapper liked some of my fanfics, he tore heavily into "The Right
Side of the Ledger" and refused to grant "Storm's End" any kind of
acknowledgment (for reasons of plagiarism, which I respect).  I
disagreed with a lot of what he said about "The Right Side of the
Ledger", but I still admired the insight he brought into its evaluation.

I truly don't know why people are taking one person's opinions so
personally.  I don't see how the fact that he calls his opinions
"Awards" automatically grant him some sort of power over the rest of
us.  It's up to each of us to read his reviews and discover for
ourselves whether we respect his opinions.  

I do respect his opinion.  <shrug>

Kun-chan...

 
-Richard
sterman@sprynet.com

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All my fanfics can be found at:   
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/sterman/fanfic.htm
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