Yahoo Forum Archive

Hey guys,

I have just posted the second round of check ballots. This consists of
a summary post listing the author and title of each nomination in
every subcategory, as well as a longer check ballot listing link,
summary, and other information about the stories. The summary ballot
covers all of the main categories in a single post, whereas the longer
check ballot shows one main category per post.

Also, there have been some formatting changes to the ballots to
hopefully improve readability. Each subcategory will begin with a line
of text like

***SubCategory Genres: Adventure: General***

The name of the actual subcategory will of course change, but each
subcategory name will be preceded and followed by three asterisks. So
hopefully that will help, along with the summary post.

For some members, it may also be bolded; I tried posting the check
ballots using Yahoo's Rich-Text Editor (which allows formatted
text)and it looked bolded when I posted it, but it is really hard to
predict how this will show up at the group website or in any
individual member's email.

*crosses fingers*

Now *clears throat* if I could have your attention for a moment....

I also wanted to talk a little bit about what kind of changes we are
willing to make, and what kind of changes we aren't. As I discussed in
last week's education post (#9065, I believe) the categorizations
represent quite a bit of work on the part of the categorizers, and it
can be difficult sometimes to move stories into a new subcategory.
Therefore, if you just see a category that is a better fit for your
story, we probably will not be able to move your story. We need to
save those moves for stories that are actually incorrectly categorized.

Stories *will* be recategorized if they were accidentally placed in
the wrong main category due to volunteer error (for instance, if you
selected Humor and we placed it in Horror by mistake).

Also, if your story was placed in a subcategory built around a factor
you did not select, we will *try* to move it. To give an example:
subcategories are often built around a common setting, like Gondor.
Most of these stories selected the appropriate place as their setting,
but a few stories were placed there because the summary suggested the
story was set in Gondor. If your story was placed in a subcategory
built around a setting and you did not select the setting when filling
out your story form, we can try to move it if you would prefer it not
be placed there. However, in this case we may not be able to if it
would make its current subcategory too small or its new subcategory
too large. If you are in this situation and would like your story
moved, you may ask to have it moved and the volunteers will consider
the situation.

Finally, if you have three or more stories in the same subcategory,
you may request one of them be moved. Again, we may decline to do this
for the same reasons described above.

In either of these two cases, you should request your story be moved
to a different subcategory in the same main category.

Oh, and one last thing: if you have changes to request, I would
appreciate if you could make them publicly, at the MEFAwards list if
that's at all possible. (If you're not a member here, you may request
the change at the mefas LJ.) That way the other categorizers can see
what you say, and also other members know where to find your story
when it's time to review it.

Thanks for reading this! If you have any questions, please don't
hesitate to ask.

Marta

--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, "aure_enteluva" <melayton@...> wrote:

>
>
> Finally, if you have three or more stories in the same subcategory,
> you may request one of them be moved. Again, we may decline to do this
> for the same reasons described above.
>

Hi, Marta,

That's the case for me, and due to my own haphazard categorization
when making the initial selections, or the fact that I appear to have
a "villainous" nature. ;^) Anyway, might I request that my "Broken
Star," which is a double drabble, be moved

FROM:

Check Box #2 Villains

TO:

SubCategory: Genres: Drama: General Fixed-Length Ficlets

If it's problematic, I can live with it. I'm still something of a
neophyte with this given that I had only one easily defined
(non-fiction!) piece in the running for MEFA07. This year has been a
more prolific one. ;^)

--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, "pandemonium_213" <docbushwell@...>
wrote:

>
> --- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, "aure_enteluva" <melayton@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Finally, if you have three or more stories in the same subcategory,
> > you may request one of them be moved. Again, we may decline to do this
> > for the same reasons described above.
> >
>
> Hi, Marta,
>
> That's the case for me, and due to my own haphazard categorization
> when making the initial selections, or the fact that I appear to have
> a "villainous" nature. ;^) Anyway, might I request that my "Broken
> Star," which is a double drabble, be moved
>
> FROM:
>
> Check Box #2 Villains
>
> TO:
>
> SubCategory: Genres: Drama: General Fixed-Length Ficlets
>
> If it's problematic, I can live with it. I'm still something of a
> neophyte with this given that I had only one easily defined
> (non-fiction!) piece in the running for MEFA07. This year has been a
> more prolific one. ;^)
>

And I am remiss in not thanking you all for your hard work! My
apologies for omitting that in the original post!

Hi Marta,

Is there anywhere that this is all posted together, or is it only
posted on the group in sections?

I find group message boards very difficult to work with and confusing,
so I was just wondering.

Thank you,
Pearl

It's also posted at the mefas LJ community!
Dreamflower

On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 3:35 PM, pearltook1 <radicalmomssr@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi Marta,
>
> Is there anywhere that this is all posted together, or is it only
> posted on the group in sections?
>
> I find group message boards very difficult to work with and confusing,
> so I was just wondering.
>
> Thank you,
> Pearl
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Pearl,

There is what is known as a summary ballot. It lists every nomination in
every subcategory, but only gives very basic information about each
nomination - the story title, author name, and the ID # which can be
used to look up more detailed information at our website. To give you
one example, here is what the summary ballot for Genres: Non-Fiction:
Character Studies looks like.

***SubCategory: Genres: Non-Fiction: Character Studies***

One Step More - The Heroism of Frodo Baggins (395): ConnieMarie
A Woman in Few Words: The Character of Nerdanel and Her Treatment in
Canon and Fandom (107): Dawn Felagund
The Importance of Being Bilbo (686): Dreamflower
Galdor: An Elf By Any Other Name.... (475): Marta
Pride and Despair: A Defense of Ecthelion's Son (624): Marta
Aulë the Smith (530): Oshun

This lists all of the subcategories in a single post, but obviously
doesn't give you the summary or any other information about the stories.
I think most people use it to find where their pieces have been placed,
so they know which of the longer check ballots they could examine.
Anyway, you can find this summary at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MEFAwards/message/9153

I could easily put the full check ballot into a text document and either
email it out to you privately, or put it in the files section of this
group. When I post it t the group I break it into main categories, but
the website is capable of displaying one huge check ballot for all of
the categories. It would just be too long to send as an email/group
post. You could open up the file using any word processor program. If
you'd find this helpful, it would take me less than two minutes to do;
just let me know.

Marta

pearltook1 wrote:

>
>
> Hi Marta,
>
> Is there anywhere that this is all posted together, or is it only
> posted on the group in sections?
>
> I find group message boards very difficult to work with and confusing,
> so I was just wondering.
>
> Thank you,
> Pearl
>

Hi Pandemonium,

I wanted to let you know that I saw your request. I'll discuss it with
the other categorizers, and as soon as we get a chance to make a
decision, I will post here again.

Thanks for the thanks, too! That means a lot to me, and I'm sure the
other volunteers feel similarly.

Marta

pandemonium_213 wrote:

>
>
> --- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com <mailto:MEFAwards%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "aure_enteluva" <melayton@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Finally, if you have three or more stories in the same subcategory,
> > you may request one of them be moved. Again, we may decline to do this
> > for the same reasons described above.
> >
>
> Hi, Marta,
>
> That's the case for me, and due to my own haphazard categorization
> when making the initial selections, or the fact that I appear to have
> a "villainous" nature. ;^) Anyway, might I request that my "Broken
> Star," which is a double drabble, be moved
>
> FROM:
>
> Check Box #2 Villains
>
> TO:
>
> SubCategory: Genres: Drama: General Fixed-Length Ficlets
>
> If it's problematic, I can live with it. I'm still something of a
> neophyte with this given that I had only one easily defined
> (non-fiction!) piece in the running for MEFA07. This year has been a
> more prolific one. ;^)
>

Hi Marta,

I think it would help to have that in the group Files, thank you :-)
What I always have trouble with on the message board is "losing" stuff
as it gets pushed back by new posts and then not remembering how it
was headed so I then can't look it up in the search.

Thank you for all your care and work :-)

Pearl

--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, "melayton@..." <melayton@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Pearl,
>
> There is what is known as a summary ballot. It lists every
nomination in
> every subcategory, but only gives very basic information about each
> nomination - the story title, author name, and the ID # which can be
> used to look up more detailed information at our website. To give you
> one example, here is what the summary ballot for Genres: Non-Fiction:
> Character Studies looks like.
>
> ***SubCategory: Genres: Non-Fiction: Character Studies***
>
> One Step More - The Heroism of Frodo Baggins (395): ConnieMarie
> A Woman in Few Words: The Character of Nerdanel and Her Treatment in
> Canon and Fandom (107): Dawn Felagund
> The Importance of Being Bilbo (686): Dreamflower
> Galdor: An Elf By Any Other Name.... (475): Marta
> Pride and Despair: A Defense of Ecthelion's Son (624): Marta
> Aulë the Smith (530): Oshun
>
> This lists all of the subcategories in a single post, but obviously
> doesn't give you the summary or any other information about the
stories.
> I think most people use it to find where their pieces have been placed,
> so they know which of the longer check ballots they could examine.
> Anyway, you can find this summary at
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MEFAwards/message/9153
>
> I could easily put the full check ballot into a text document and
either
> email it out to you privately, or put it in the files section of this
> group. When I post it t the group I break it into main categories, but
> the website is capable of displaying one huge check ballot for all of
> the categories. It would just be too long to send as an email/group
> post. You could open up the file using any word processor program. If
> you'd find this helpful, it would take me less than two minutes to do;
> just let me know.
>
> Marta
>
> pearltook1 wrote:
> >
> >
> > Hi Marta,
> >
> > Is there anywhere that this is all posted together, or is it only
> > posted on the group in sections?
> >
> > I find group message boards very difficult to work with and confusing,
> > so I was just wondering.
> >
> > Thank you,
> > Pearl
> >
>

Hi Pandemonium,

I looked into your request, and I think there's a little bit of
confusion. You have three stories in the Villains main category, but
they're split up between the General and Fixed-Length Ficlets
subcategories. I'll put the summary check ballots at the bottom of this
email for those two subcategories, so you can see what I'm talking about.

The fact that your three stories are in the same *main* category doesn't
matter. Stories are judged at the subcategory level; the purpose of main
categories is to allow us to divide up the entries into subcategories of
roughly the same size, where the stories have something in common.

For more on this issue, you might want to read the FAQ "What are main
categories?" at

http://mefawards.net/MEFA2008/index.php?page=FAQcategories#cat_8

The bottom line is, we will hand out a first, second, and third place
award for Races: Villains: General, and *another* first, second, and
third place award for Races: Villains: Fixed-Length Ficlets. And then,
we'll look at all the stories in both subcategories that didn't get
awards, and if any have an above-average number of points they'll get an
honorable mention.

So: Cat's Paws and The Apprentice are competing against each other, but
neither is competing against Broken Star. Since you don't have three
stories in the same subcategory, we decided not to move the one you
requested.

I hope that makes sense, and if you have questions, please feel free to
ask. For your convenience, I've put the list of stories in both of those
subcategories below.

Thanks,

Marta



***SubCategory Races: Villains: General***

The Making of Werewolves (42): Ignoble Bard
Dark Light (585): Makamu
Wormtongue (240): Mariole
Cat's Paws (58): pandemonium_213
The Apprentice (52): pandemonium_213
The Captain's Mare (575): The Lauderdale


***SubCategory: Races: Villains: Fixed-Length Ficlets***

Gifts (594): Gloria Mundi
Cold Be Hand and Heart and Bone (286): Imhiriel
Black Memory (603): mrkinch
The Waker (287): Nancy Brooke
Broken Star (54): pandemonium_213
Expert Treasure Hunter (447): Tanaqui
Orc Dreams (448): Tanaqui

> --- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com <mailto:MEFAwards%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "pandemonium_213" <docbushwell@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > --- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:MEFAwards%40yahoogroups.com>, "aure_enteluva" <melayton@> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Finally, if you have three or more stories in the same subcategory,
> > > you may request one of them be moved. Again, we may decline to do this
> > > for the same reasons described above.
> > >
> >
> > Hi, Marta,
> >
> > That's the case for me, and due to my own haphazard categorization
> > when making the initial selections, or the fact that I appear to have
> > a "villainous" nature. ;^) Anyway, might I request that my "Broken
> > Star," which is a double drabble, be moved
> >
> > FROM:
> >
> > Check Box #2 Villains
> >
> > TO:
> >
> > SubCategory: Genres: Drama: General Fixed-Length Ficlets
> >
> > If it's problematic, I can live with it. I'm still something of a
> > neophyte with this given that I had only one easily defined
> > (non-fiction!) piece in the running for MEFA07. This year has been a
> > more prolific one. ;^)
> >
>

pearltook1 wrote:

>
>
> Hi Marta,
>
> I think it would help to have that in the group Files, thank you :-)
> What I always have trouble with on the message board is "losing" stuff
> as it gets pushed back by new posts and then not remembering how it
> was headed so I then can't look it up in the search.
>
> Thank you for all your care and work :-)
>
> Pearl
>

Hi Pearl,

No problem - I have added it to the group files as "2008 Check Ballot #2."

Thanks,

Marta

--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, "melayton@..." <melayton@...> wrote:

>
> Hi Pandemonium,
>
> I looked into your request, and I think there's a little bit of
> confusion.

Heh. Yes, I have been known to experience confusion on occasion.
There's some granularity to the classification scheme that I missed so
thanks much for the clarification!