MEFAs - the end of an era (or some such)

[oloriel]

dawn_felagund has summed up pretty much exactly what I think about the topic, so I am - hurrah! - no longer feeling the need to put my thoughts into words. I'll merely quote her:

Let's be frank, folks. If critique of a policy, no matter how heated, was what caused a fandom institution to close its doors, then it wasn't long for the world anyway. I say this as an admin and, again, with the recognition that you have to expect these kinds of problems, and you either deal or you don't. There's certainly nothing wrong with reaching the point where you can't or won't deal anymore, but pretending like an otherwise healthy and thriving fandom institution came suddenly crashing to the ground because of a critique over a ratings policy would be laughably ridiculous if I hadn't seen so much finger-pointing to this effect.

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS. Signed a dozen times.
(Her full, thoughtful and intelligent entry can be found here. It says everything I might want to say on the matter - only better, and providing background explanation I wouldn't even have thought of.)

(Actually, I might want to say more on the matter, but that would leave the territory of reasonable and diplomatic discourse. So I shall hold my tongue. Unless anything comes up in the comments to this entry here, of course. ;))

Comments

[allamistako.livejournal.com]

So, for the poor clueless follower of your journal - MEFAs?

[degu-aus-stahl.livejournal.com]

Das würde ich auch gerne wissen :)

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

Thirded.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Cf. my reply to allamistako's question (http://oloriel.livejournal.com/486099.html?thread=2714067#t2714067) :)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Siehe meine Antwort auf allamistako's Frage (http://oloriel.livejournal.com/486099.html?thread=2714067#t2714067) :)

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

Danke. "Inattentive" weniger als "das was mich nicht interessiert, überspringe ich und muss dann halt nach Bedarf doof nachfragen" ;)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Das "inattentive" bezog sich auch mehr auf allamistako's "clueless follower" und nicht auf euch andere. Meistens schreibe ich bei Fandom-Themen ja extra noch dran, "wer's nicht wissen will, ignoriere es einfach"... ^^

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

Hab mich mal durchgeklickt, meine Herren ...und ich dachte immer, das Tolkien-Fandom wär so vernünftig und akademisch. Aber ich weiß ja inzwischen, dass es selbst unter den Strickern Drama gibt.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Hey, unter den Akademikern gibt's doch überhaupt das größte Drama. "Wie, ihr glaubt immer noch an die Universalgrammtik? KETZER!" - "Wie mein gelehrter Kollege so naiv anmerkte..."

(Passt übrigens prima zum Tolkien-Fandom. Das allergrößte Drama im Tolkienversum fing damit an, dass ein Teil der Noldor (das Elbenvolk, dem z.B. Galadriel angehört) anfingen, das "th" wie "s" auszusprechen.... XD)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Inattentive follower? ;)
The MEFAs (Middle-earth Fanfiction Awards) are them fandom awards I've (http://oloriel.livejournal.com/404677.html) been (http://oloriel.livejournal.com/437392.html) participating (http://oloriel.livejournal.com/457553.html) in (http://oloriel.livejournal.com/470739.html) the past three years.

This year, first the usual awards seasons got postponed; then, shortly before the nomination season started, a new ratings system was introduced. It was (I think) supposed to make matters clearer and easier to navigate, but came with a long and somewhat daunting set of guidelines. I can get into more detail if you want, but for now suffice it to say that not only did the new ratings system appear to complicate matters terribly, it also appeared that it particularly made life hard for writers of smutty (but not Adult, which was never allowed in the MEFAs anyway) fanfic. So people argued and rallied and voiced their concerns, to which there was little to no response (because the responsible mods didn't have time to deal with it, apparently, but you know how things go on the internet). Then there was an open letter, summing up the main concerns and designed to spare the mods from having to read through heaps of internet discussion, which was allegedly considered condescending and hostile by the mods and other parts of the fandom (many of those who don't write smutty fanfic, for instance). Et voilà, shitstorm. Trolls got in and allegedly anonymously attacked one of the mods on personal grounds, at which point the mods decided it wasn't worth the hassle and shut the MEFAs down. Initially there was a choice of "end it right now" and "end it after this year's awards", but when technical problems popped up on top of everything else, that was the death blow.

NOW, of course, some people can't seem to differentiate between "people who raised concerns publicly and under their own (LJ) names" and "anonymous trolls", nor between "mods were under pressure anyway and that was just the final straw" and "you critics have destroyed the best fanfic awards ever"...

There you go, two weeks of fandom trouble summed up in five minutes ;)