Yahoo Forum Archive

Hey guys,

2010 is I think the MEFAs' sixth year running. That's really an impressive
feat, I think, and something I'm very proud of. But whatever else it means,
it also means that many stories have already competed. There are still some
great older stories out there, and many newer stories as well, but they
*can* be a little harder to find.

This naturally leads people to want to recommend some author or other that
they think may be underappreciated or under-recognized. Authors who have
been nominated, too, may want to brag about this fact. However, the MEFAs
are a competition and we don't want to give anyone an unfair advantage (or
make those people whose work isn't being recommended feel left out. There's
a right and a wrong way to make people aware of the good stories out there,
and to *squee* over your own nominated fic. This week, I want to talk about
some of these issues.

First, the business. There is one rule that you should keep in mind when
talking up the MEFAs:

"Members may not solicit votes from other MEFA members, or encourage friends
to join the MEFAs to vote on particular stories. They are permitted and
encouraged to recruit new voters, but this must not be for the purpose of
obtaining more votes for specific stories."

This means that, once a story is in the competition, you can't post to a
list like this and ask people to go vote for it specifically, and you can't
ask your friends to join up specifically to vote for a particular story.
It's just not fair. Everyone gets ten points that they can give an author by
reviewing it, and when you ask someone else to vote for it, you're really
trying to give that story more than your twenty votes. (Or at least, that
can be the practical impact, even if it isn't your intention.)

The same philosophy applies to nominations. You are limited to twenty
nominations, and part of the reason is so no one person's favorite stories
dominate the awards. Now, there's nothing wrong with me telling my friend
and fellow MEFA-member about a good story I read, perhaps even hoping that
my friend will nominate the story (when I've already used up my twenty
nominations). In that case I'm trying to introduce my friend to a story they
may not have known about, and am hoping that friend will like the story
enough to want to nominate it on her own.

You can even make these kind of recommendations publicly. Some groups allow
you to write up recommendations for old stories, and even run recommendation
challenges. Certainly if you have a blog you could post there pointing out a
story you particularly enjoyed. And if you see a recommendation for a story
you like, by all means see if it's eligible, and if it is consider
nominating it. But posting those recommendations here is going a step too
far. The one thing everyone reading this has in common is that we're
interested in the MEFAs. It's more appropriate to post that recommendation
to your personal webspace (where people follow because they want to hear
your thoughts), or to a website or listserv dedicated to that character or
genre.

[As a sidenote: there have been a few nominations withdrawn, because they
were already nominated this year: when you nominate a story, please check
both www.mefawards.net/mefa-archive/ and www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/ , to
make sure no one has nominated it yet.]

For many people, the problem isn't so much being aware of stories to
nominate, as it is remembering what you've read. Everyone has their own
strategies for dealing with this, but here are two I've found particularly
helpful.

First, many archives give you a way to see the stories you have reviewed
there. If you review a story when you find it, this is a good way to see a
review of your reading habits. Similarly, if you recommend your favorite
stories somewhere, often you can find the posts you have made in the past
wherever you make the recommendations. (At blogs like LJ, you can even "tag"
certain posts, making it even easier to find your old reviews.) This way,
you can review those stories you found particularly interesting, see which
ones are eligible, and nominate them if you'd like to.

On the authors' side, I know some authors put together a list of the stories
they wrote that they will accept nominations for. These lists often include
links to a preferred version as well as brief summaries and other basic
information. Doing this can serve many useful purposes, not all of them
MEFA-related. It lets people see what you've written lately, whether they
are involved in the MEFAs or not. It also lets people know what link you
prefer. This is not nomination-soliciting, so long as you *make it clear*
that you're not grubbing for nominations. I know when I have done this, I've
encouraged people to nominate whatever eligible authors they most like, and
have said I only put the list together for the convenience of other people.

These approaches may not be everyone's style, and that's okay. These are
just suggestions that I have found useful. If you have your own suggestions,
that's fine, too. The important thing is that these suggestions all try to
introduce people to new interesting fic, or try to remind people of what
they've read in the past. The goal isn't to get people to nominate what I
like, but to help them find things that *they* like. And that's fine re: the
MEFA rules.

****************************

So much for finding stories to nominate, without running afoul of the MEFA
rules. :-) Say you've been nominated, and want to tell all your friends.
It's good news, and it's quite natural to want to share it. You just have to
be careful not to ask people to vote for your story in particular. By all
means, thank the people that nominated you. It's even okay to explain what
the MEFAs are and tell people how to sign up to vote. But if you do that,
you need to be careful that you tell your friends to vote for *all* the
participants, not just your stories.

Don't do that to this list. That's getting a bit too close to soliciting
votes, for the same reason you shouldn't recommend specific stories to this
list. So far, that's not been a problem, but it bears mentioning so it
doesn't *become* one.

Another way to advertise that you've been nominated is through banners. We
have some very talented and industrious fanartists working with our banner
coordinator, Neume Indil, making banners and buttons for the nominated
authors. You can view the 2010 nominee banners at

http://picasaweb.google.com/MEFABanners/NomineeGraphics

and are free to use any you like with your nominated stories. Some are
character-specific while others are more generic, to be used with any story
you like. If you are artistically inclined, we also encourage you to let us
share any banners you create, so other members can enjoy them.

*********************************

It's always a bit tricky discussing specific stories when it comes to
awards. It's a fine line to walk, between having a good time and taking it a
step too far, and thereby making others feel excluded. We also don't want to
influence the awards unfairly. I hope these suggestions will help you see
how to enjoy the awards, without stepping over that line.

Marta
(Mefa Admin.)