Heretical Hugo Thought
Feb. 2nd, 2010 10:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeI don't think I'm the first person to every think of this, and I may be simply be remembering something someone else suggested, in which case I apologize for not giving credit.
There are thousands of members of the current and past Worldcons who are eligible to nominate for this year's Hugo Awards and who never cast a ballot. Conversely, there are many -- an unquantifiable figure -- people who would like to nominate but who cannot afford $50 to join a convention in Australia or something like that. If you're a voter who has no use for his/her ballot, why not partner up with someone who has the desire but no money? If you're a would-be nominator who can't afford the membership (and it's too late to join before nominating anyway), why not look for a "Hugo buddy" among people who have memberships but won't use them.
Now before y'all start yelling "Fraud! Ballot Box Stuffing!" let me point out that the effect of what I'm suggesting is that person A is transferring his/her membership to person B, who then uses that membership's Hugo voting rights and then transfers the membership back to person A. None of those transactions is illegal, and all are consistent with current practice.
Yes, I know, I'm a dangerous lunatic who wants to Destroy Us All. But I don't see any real harm in this. For that matter, I expect it's already going on, quietly and under the radar of those people who want voting to be Pure And Unsulliedby anyone other than my personal friends voting. So for those of you who want to nominate but can't, you have at least one possible option, although of course finding someone willing to informally transfer his/her membership to you temporarily will be a bit of a challenge.
There are thousands of members of the current and past Worldcons who are eligible to nominate for this year's Hugo Awards and who never cast a ballot. Conversely, there are many -- an unquantifiable figure -- people who would like to nominate but who cannot afford $50 to join a convention in Australia or something like that. If you're a voter who has no use for his/her ballot, why not partner up with someone who has the desire but no money? If you're a would-be nominator who can't afford the membership (and it's too late to join before nominating anyway), why not look for a "Hugo buddy" among people who have memberships but won't use them.
Now before y'all start yelling "Fraud! Ballot Box Stuffing!" let me point out that the effect of what I'm suggesting is that person A is transferring his/her membership to person B, who then uses that membership's Hugo voting rights and then transfers the membership back to person A. None of those transactions is illegal, and all are consistent with current practice.
Yes, I know, I'm a dangerous lunatic who wants to Destroy Us All. But I don't see any real harm in this. For that matter, I expect it's already going on, quietly and under the radar of those people who want voting to be Pure And Unsullied
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-03 04:37 pm (UTC)