Alas for those outside the US unless they regularly travel to the worldcons predominantly held in US, it is difficult to see through successive WSFS business meetings to get a substantive change through.
You speak of "the US" as though it was a geographically small place like the UK. It's not. Aside from the sheer cussidness of US officials making it difficult to come to the US (not trivial, I admit), the physical difficulty of attending Worldcons as far apart as Chicago and Spokane is not that much more than the difference between Worldcons in (say) London and Montreal. (Yes, I know you can't drive between them.)
The past sixteen Worldcons (as I write this) were in:
2014: London UK 2013: San Antonio TX 2012: Chicago IL 2011: Reno NV 2010: Melbourne AU 2009: Montreal QC 2008: Denver CO 2007: Yokohama JP 2006: Anaheim CA 2005: Glasgow UK 2004: Boston MA 2003: Toronto ON 2002: San Jose CA 2001: Philadelphia PA 2000: Chicago IL 1999: Melbourne AU
While there have been a pair of three-year US runs (2000-2002, 2011-2013), I would point out that despite what some people might think, Philadelphia and San Jose aren't very close to each other, and in fact we've spent most of the past two decades where consecutive Worldcons in different countries are considered the rule, not the exception.
My point is that it's not really as easy for Americans to attend two consecutive Worldcons as you may think it is, so Americans are not quite as privileged as you may think they are when it comes to changing WSFS rules. In fact, it's not that unusual for people who propose a change to not be able to attend the following Worldcon and speak to the motion. That does not guarantee its defeat. If the proposal is sufficiently well thought out and argued, the presence of the original maker shouldn't make or break it.
Besides, changing the rules isn't supposed to be easy.
I do not think you will ever be able to get a motion to split SF and Fantasy. The Locus Awards can do that because they are owned by an entity that can make arbitrary editorial decisions and who is responsible only to itself, not to thousands of individual members. Trying to actually split SF/F in practice for the Hugo Awards isn't practical. You may think you can draw a bright line between SF/F, but I hold up The Dragonriders of Pern as the object example of a work that can easily be classified as both simultaneously. You say to let the voters decide? What if the same work got half its nominations in both categories, but in neither case enough to make the ballot, but that together it might appear in one or the other? Administrators can move works around, but (1) Generally this only works in length-delimited categories and (2) It's not allowed if you didn't leave enough room on your ballot to allow it. (For example, if you nominated five Best SF and five Best Fantasy, the administrator wouldn't be allowed to shift works back and forth to create a "6/4" split. Besides, do you really want the administrator applying his/her own opinion as to whether a work is SF or Fantasy?) What if the same work got enough votes in both categories? No, I think the administrative nightmares alone are enough to keep WSFS from trying that particular trick.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2015-03-19 12:02 am (UTC)You speak of "the US" as though it was a geographically small place like the UK. It's not. Aside from the sheer cussidness of US officials making it difficult to come to the US (not trivial, I admit), the physical difficulty of attending Worldcons as far apart as Chicago and Spokane is not that much more than the difference between Worldcons in (say) London and Montreal. (Yes, I know you can't drive between them.)
The past sixteen Worldcons (as I write this) were in:
2014: London UK
2013: San Antonio TX
2012: Chicago IL
2011: Reno NV
2010: Melbourne AU
2009: Montreal QC
2008: Denver CO
2007: Yokohama JP
2006: Anaheim CA
2005: Glasgow UK
2004: Boston MA
2003: Toronto ON
2002: San Jose CA
2001: Philadelphia PA
2000: Chicago IL
1999: Melbourne AU
While there have been a pair of three-year US runs (2000-2002, 2011-2013), I would point out that despite what some people might think, Philadelphia and San Jose aren't very close to each other, and in fact we've spent most of the past two decades where consecutive Worldcons in different countries are considered the rule, not the exception.
My point is that it's not really as easy for Americans to attend two consecutive Worldcons as you may think it is, so Americans are not quite as privileged as you may think they are when it comes to changing WSFS rules. In fact, it's not that unusual for people who propose a change to not be able to attend the following Worldcon and speak to the motion. That does not guarantee its defeat. If the proposal is sufficiently well thought out and argued, the presence of the original maker shouldn't make or break it.
Besides, changing the rules isn't supposed to be easy.
I do not think you will ever be able to get a motion to split SF and Fantasy. The Locus Awards can do that because they are owned by an entity that can make arbitrary editorial decisions and who is responsible only to itself, not to thousands of individual members. Trying to actually split SF/F in practice for the Hugo Awards isn't practical. You may think you can draw a bright line between SF/F, but I hold up The Dragonriders of Pern as the object example of a work that can easily be classified as both simultaneously. You say to let the voters decide? What if the same work got half its nominations in both categories, but in neither case enough to make the ballot, but that together it might appear in one or the other? Administrators can move works around, but (1) Generally this only works in length-delimited categories and (2) It's not allowed if you didn't leave enough room on your ballot to allow it. (For example, if you nominated five Best SF and five Best Fantasy, the administrator wouldn't be allowed to shift works back and forth to create a "6/4" split. Besides, do you really want the administrator applying his/her own opinion as to whether a work is SF or Fantasy?) What if the same work got enough votes in both categories? No, I think the administrative nightmares alone are enough to keep WSFS from trying that particular trick.