This isn't a competition
Sep. 23rd, 2010 11:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pensnestI just saw an announcement for a new community on LJ that made me wince. It's for fan awards. Not, I should add, in popslash.
Like the poster says, "it's being able to say you are THE BEST EVER that's important". Except, not. I just don't like the idea of fan stories being judged in this way. I think it's actually divisive—for every individual who squeaks with joy to find that her/his story has been nominated, there are going to be a dozen, a hundred, who are crushed that their story has not been nominated. For every 'winner', a dozen 'losers'.
I don't think this is a good approach. I perfectly understand the inner desire of every—okay, of *most* authors to be hailed as THE BEST WRITER EVAH!!! I mean, yeah. Sure. But I just don't think it's necessary, and I don't think it's worth the disappointment to everyone else. Instead of being a fun thing where everyone gets to share, it's a divisive thing where some people are deemed worthy and others… aren't. Damn it, it's frustrating, disappointing, upsetting enough to see, say, rec lists which don't feature the story you so painstakingly wrote—even when you *know* it's just a matter of the reccer's personal taste—but now there are to be prizes? Gah.
Besides—how, for heaven's sake, do you judge?
Like the poster says, "it's being able to say you are THE BEST EVER that's important". Except, not. I just don't like the idea of fan stories being judged in this way. I think it's actually divisive—for every individual who squeaks with joy to find that her/his story has been nominated, there are going to be a dozen, a hundred, who are crushed that their story has not been nominated. For every 'winner', a dozen 'losers'.
I don't think this is a good approach. I perfectly understand the inner desire of every—okay, of *most* authors to be hailed as THE BEST WRITER EVAH!!! I mean, yeah. Sure. But I just don't think it's necessary, and I don't think it's worth the disappointment to everyone else. Instead of being a fun thing where everyone gets to share, it's a divisive thing where some people are deemed worthy and others… aren't. Damn it, it's frustrating, disappointing, upsetting enough to see, say, rec lists which don't feature the story you so painstakingly wrote—even when you *know* it's just a matter of the reccer's personal taste—but now there are to be prizes? Gah.
Besides—how, for heaven's sake, do you judge?
no subject
Date: 2010-09-25 08:42 am (UTC)I also agree with you about self-nomination. Sometimes people just aren't visible to a wide circle, and it's a pity to let good stories languish unread for want of a little publicity.
It's just the prize-giving aspect that I'm uncomfortable with. People didn't write their stories as entries for a competition, but the whole thing effectively judges them anyway. Even not being nominated is a judgment, and how are the authors to know whether they were not nominated because everyone thought their stories were rubbish, or because nobody thought of them? (In either case, it's a bit depressing...) And this kind of thing is likely to turn into a popularity contest rather than an honest judgment of the stories, anyway. Meh.