In a comment about Aidan Moher’s Thoughts on the 2012 Hugo Award Shortlist at A Dribble of Ink, Chris Garcia confessed that his Hugo nominations have not been a source of unalloyed pleasure.
Says Chris:
I find it interesting that the two groups that are least happy with our nomination in Short Form are the Forces of Blogs and The Old Boys Club membership! I find myself wondering who actually nominated us.
The “Forces of Blogs” includes Staffer’s Book Review, whose author feels Chris’s nominations are more of the same-old, same-old.
And The Old Boys Club? They’re camped on my own doorstep! But just because two guys who don’t vote in the Hugos came to my blog, hiked their baboon butts in the air and ostentatiously crapped all over Chris doesn’t mean they were the certified ambassadors of world faanish opinion.
One of the many quaint and curious things about the internet is its ability to produce the mirage of majority opinion from a microscopic sample. Wherever two or three agree, that’s suddenly treated as having the popular force of an Occupy demonstration.
Chris ironically asked — Who nominated him? His question contains the seeds of its own answer. It’s the people who wrote his name on their Hugo nominating ballots. Dozens of fans. Including me. I’m happy to identify myself as a voter for Chris and James’ The Drink Tank.
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Just to be clear, that conversation between Chris and myself was referring to Chris and James’ nomination for their Hugo acceptance speech, not at the nominations for The Drink Tank or Journey Planet.
I won’t argue with the Internet’s ability to give create a (sometimes false) sense of majority from the mouths (or fingers) of a vocal minority, though.
Well shoot, Mike. Now you made ME look. Thanks for the link. /rabblerabble /pitchforks
The internet is tough, more so in this case perhaps because the voter pool is oddly distributed. Lots of folks who don’t do the on-line scene at all, the newer voters like Aidan and myself, and then the livejournal/old school/listserv/BBS what have you community.
Well, I wasn’t just here that I read unhappiness from long-standing fans on the Best Short Form nom. Of course, I had folks approach me before the nominations were announced (or even nomination phase was closed) who expressed varying degrees of concern/unhappiness/amazement.
But still, it means something to me, it really does. I’m working on what I’ll be saying as a part of that for Handicapping the Hugos.
Chris
The people who brought us “flash crowds,” “planking” and the curious curious spellings in “texting” will be increasingly who determines the iHugo in future…. if they don’t already! As Edward Gibbon said, “you can’t stop progress.”
For the many of us who personally know Chris – and James Bacon, too, for that matter – we have witnessed the energy of this fellow. There is no question that Chris wears his heart on the sleeve; he’s an emotional fellow, passionate about his beliefs, and also a nice guy. I don’t fault him for the fanzine nominations, but that ‘short form dramatic presentation’ is not a proper nominee. As long as there are bloc voters who cast their ballots for “their guy/gal” these kinds of odd-ball nominees will find their way onto the short lists.
@John: Your explanation that this is the product of a bloc vote invites the question – a bloc from where? You Tube viewers? Fanzine fans? Hugo ceremony tech staff? Who do you have in mind?
I’ll go along with Mike on this. If block voting a jeweler onto the fan art ballot, or block voting a professional writer onto the fanwriter ballot is legit, who’s to say Chris can’t be a Dramatic Presentation, Short Form? Vox populi is simply cutting the other way… one not to the liking of certain people who have been pushing to enlarge the scope of the iHugos.