Diary Awards Discussion Thread

[BHK1978]

*the following is a joke to lighten the mood*

 

I want the ability to sway the vote.

 

next month vote mistaken!

 

(for full disclosure I am 100% sure I will have no valid diary to vote for, please use your write in vote any way )

 

Vote for mistaken in 2012!

 

Ok, that's fair. But here we come to the next step of the question.

 

Would you say someone IS playing politics? If not, is it *purely* about popularity?

 

And I don't see how you eliminate popularity from the equation entirely. If fifteen people read Writer A's diary, but only three read Writer B's, then Writer B can persuade 100% of his fanbase to vote for him and Writer A only needs a little over 25% to cement the win.

 

Winning a DOTM or a RDOTM is going to go to someone who's already built the fanbase. Nominations might help build it; certainly a win might cause someone to check a diary out but they must already have a following.

 

You can never eliminate popularity out of a public vote because the is the whole reason for a public vote.

 

As to your question, yeah I would say that there have been writers in the past that have made friends with others just to get those writers support. The following is just an example I am not saying it actually happened and I am only using BigPapa as an example of a writer that others respect:

 

If a writer becomes friendly with BigPapa and BP starts to pick in that writers diary. Of course your audience is going to grow just for the simple fact that if people see BigPapa picking in your diary and voting for you, they will want to see why a respected writer like BP is a supporter of your diary.

 

There have been writers in the past that have become popular because they became friendly with the right people. Now I am not saying it is a bad thing I am just saying it happens.

 

I am not saying that the writers that support them are doing so because of politics either; it is just the nature of the beast. Now there are writers on here that are respected that have thrown out there support to other writers because they like their work and the respected writer in that case becomes a kingmaker. I am not saying that, by them voicing support that they are playing any political game because I do not think that is the case.

 

What I am saying is that in the past people have won DOTM and gained a larger audience because the right person became the kingmaker for them.

 

So yes there probably have been people that have played politics but I do not think it happens often. I do think if you have the right supporters you are more likely to win DOTM over someone who does not.

 

At the end of the day though sebsplex is right, what does it matter if you win a fake award?

 

Does it make you a better writer? No and if it does well that is just odd.

 

Does it change your life for the better? Once again no and once again if it does well that is just odd.

 

Heck I have won awards down in the Mafia section and while I appreciated the fact that people took the time to vote for me. They in no way make me feel like I accomplished any great feats.

[sebsplex]

And I think you are overestimating the value of merely being nominated. Regardless of whether you think winning first in ROTM is overvalued, merely being nominated is moreso. How many second place winners went onto winning the first place the next time? How many third place went onto win the second or third place next time? And how many fourth places went on to win the first, second or third place next time? Not many.

 

As for winning ROTM being overvalued, so what? Every little thing for genuine Rookies can help. It's hard enough as it is. Even if you say people prefer to stick with certain writers, so what? People stick more with Cverse, does that mean we should ignore RWverse diaries? People stick more with diaries based on Bigger Promotions, therefore, we should ignore diaries on Smaller Promotions? It's self-defeating.

 

I never said there was more value to being nominated than winning, I'm simply stating that there is some value to it as opposed to there being none. For me, winning is not the be-all-and-end-all, although obviously different people will apply different importance to it.

 

I'm lost on your second paragraph, you start by seemingly agreeing with the point I'm trying to make and then go off on a tangent to develop your own argument to have with yourself. The only point I made about following certain/established writers was that as far as they may have built a following, there are also people who know what they're about and for whatever reason don't follow them (and ultimately won't vote for them).

 

At the end of the day though sebsplex is right, what does it matter if you win a fake award?

 

Sort of paraphrasing what I meant. It's not fake as such, because although there's no physical medal or anything, it is a nice symbolic (and probably motivational) acknowledgement from the GDS community that a number of us like your work, but I get what you mean.

[ampulator]

I'm not arguing with myself. I'm merely point why I don't like those particular arguments against for the changes for ROTM. The thing is, Rookie diaries AND Writers need more assistance. The system is designed to favor non-Rookies. On other hand, there's not much you can do to help RWverse diaries or smaller promotions... unless you are popular, which of course, if you are rookie, means you're not.