by Chris M. Barkley and Jason Sanford This report is being released simultaneously on File770 and Genre Grapevine and is also available to download as an e-book epub file and as a PDF. “You acquire information and you convey the information. That’s the job.” -- National Public Radio News Director, Editor and Reporter Emeritus Linda Wertheimer, 7 February 2024
This feels like a repeat of the Sad Puppies fiasco to me?
Like... it sort of was already decided that the Hugos were going to be aligned with our politics, and the whole 'slates not allowed' idea was a really ugly hack solution to the problem of coordinated politics-aligned voting
But I remember at the time thinking that if we were willing to fiddle with votes for reasons that (let's not lie to ourselves) had to do with disagreeing with the political content of those votes, we were entering very slippery and dangerous territory
this feels like the chickens came home to roost. the precedent was already set. this time the censorship was 'bad' (in that it didn't align with my politics) instead of 'good' (in that it did align with my politics), but it's the exact same thought process either way
I'm not exactly sure if it would have been better to go back and let the sad puppies vote their vote... i think it would have made it a lot harder for the worldcom admins to feel like this was justifiable. but also, frankly, i kinda doubt the hugos would have survived to 2023 in that case
This feels like a repeat of the Sad Puppies fiasco to me?
Like... it sort of was already decided that the Hugos were going to be aligned with our politics, and the whole 'slates not allowed' idea was a really ugly hack solution to the problem of coordinated politics-aligned voting
But I remember at the time thinking that if we were willing to fiddle with votes for reasons that (let's not lie to ourselves) had to do with disagreeing with the political content of those votes, we were entering very slippery and dangerous territory
this feels like the chickens came home to roost. the precedent was already set. this time the censorship was 'bad' (in that it didn't align with my politics) instead of 'good' (in that it did align with my politics), but it's the exact same thought process either way
I'm not exactly sure if it would have been better to go back and let the sad puppies vote their vote... i think it would have made it a lot harder for the worldcom admins to feel like this was justifiable. but also, frankly, i kinda doubt the hugos would have survived to 2023 in that case