GOF Awards 2010 Official Rules

[Littlefoot1616]

Hey Gang!

Below are the official rules for engagement for the 2010 Gang of Five Membership Awards. Please read the following statements below carefully as these outline the DO's and DO NOT's of the voting process of this year's awards. These are here to help guide you as you cast your votes particularly for those new nominees eligible to vote and gain awards this year.

The voting process will officially open on FRIDAY 4th JUNE 2010 and will be kicked started by an opening speech from one of the members of staff of the GOF.
***DO NOT START VOTING BEFORE THEN!!!***
Voting for the initial 8 categories (listed below) will last for 2 weeks and will close at 12midnight on FRIDAY 18th JUNE 2010 (forum standard time)

Please take time out to read these statements carefully so not to accidentally (or otherwise) breach any of the rules

***OFFICIAL RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR 2010 GANG OF FIVE MEMBERSHIP AWARDS***

- All selected GOF members listed are invited to participate in the GOF Awards. These candidates have been granted participation on clearing of the following conditions:
         1. Have a post count of at least 100 posts
         2. Have actively posted on the GOF within the past 3 months
         3. Have been a member of the GOF since 1st January 2010
The list of eligible candidates for this year's awards can be found by clicking HERE. If you're name is NOT on the register, you are NOT eligible to receive an award in this year's nominations

- The main categories for this year's Awards are as follows:
~Fanart Award
~Feedback Award
~Friendly Member Award
~Helpful Member Award
~Philosopher Award
~Proactive Award
~Project Award
~Role Play Gamer Award

- The Appreciated Member Award will also be included but nominations for this award will be conducted AFTER the main 8 categories have been finalised and the awards distributed. DO NOT reveal your nomination for the Appreciated Member Award alongside your votes for the initial 8 categories because it won't be counted.

- You are to offer ONE (1) nomination per category highlighting the nominee's GOF username in underline and/or bold to aid with the tallying process. We strongly advise all participants to vote in ALL categories if they can. Understandably there may be some areas you are not too sure on if you haven't been involved directly (e.g. the RPG section) or are genuinely unable to select one candidate but we urge you try to offer a nomination if you can.

- No member participating in the GOF Awards 2010 is entitled to an award if they DID NOT vote in at least six (6) of the initial 8 categories. By NOT voting in at least 6 categories, you WILL NOT receive any awards you may be entitled to once the results are recorded and finalised. The award will instead go to which ever member gained the second highest amount of votes in that category provided that no other rulings have been breached.

- You are permitted to skip a maximum of two (2) of the 8 initial awards. By skipping no more than two votes, you will still be eligible for any awards you may have coming your way. Skipping more than two votes will see you being stripped of any award you may obtain once the results are recorded and finalised with the award going to which ever member gained the second highest amount of votes provided that no other rulings have been breached.

- All nominations MUST be accompanied with a few lines or a brief statement as to why you feel your choice deserves the stated award. It doesn't have to be an essay nor does it have to hail them as royalty but it will help enforce your choice and can be counted as vaild reasoning. Please feel free to express credit to those members you felt were close contenders for an award if you so wish. Nominations that DO NOT include these explanatory lines for your choice will be considered INVALID and WILL NOT COUNT towards that member's score tally. Furthermore, nominations without explanatory comments will COUNT AGAINST YOU AS A SKIPPED VOTE and may jeopardise your own chances of obtaining an award you may be entitled to.

- When casting your votes, if you DO NOT complete all of your nominations in one post, please submit the remainder of your nominations IN A SEPERATE POST. Please DO NOT UPDATE OR EDIT OLD/PREVIOUS POSTS as this can confuse record keeping of who has cast what votes in which category. The Admin team will keep a record of your voting progress which will be viewable once voting has started.

- We VERY STRONGLY DISCOURAGE voting for yourself in any given category for the GOF awards. If you genuinely feel that there are no other eligible candidates who deserve a specific award then you are permitted to vote for yourself in one (1) category ONLY. Voting for yourself in more than one category will INVALIDATE your nomination and will be counted as a SKIPPED VOTE. In the event of a tie in number of votes for a category, the candidate who DID NOT nominate themselves within the category will be granted the award as the overall winner.

- The eligible candidate who got MOST VOTES for a given award will be permitted to add one of the drafts of the said award to his or her signature. If the eligible candidate with the SECOND MOST VOTES for an award achieved at least A THIRD OF THE NUMBER OF VOTES OF THE WINNER he or she qualifies for a RUNNER UP AWARD. He or she may then add one of the drafts for the award in question THAT HAS NOT BEEN PICKED BY THE WINNER ALREADY to his or her signature.

- We VERY STRONGLY DISAPPROVE AND DISCOURAGE any kind of activity that deems as cheating, vote fixing, conspiring, bribing or any general misconduct of ensuring that any one GOF member will be guaranteed an award. If any admin or moderator suspects members conspiring to ensure that a pre-determined candidate receives an award by solely voting for them without a certifible reason for the nomination, those members involved will be: 1. Disqualified from the nominations. 2. Not be permitted to participate in the remainder of the event including being stripped of any awards they would potentially receive. 3. Face disciplinary measures outside of the awards which may lead to membership suspension or possibly permenant exclusion and banning from the Gang of Five forum. By any judgement, the word of the Administration Staff of the GOF is FINAL.

-The award vote is a public and democratic decision in which the voters have to state the reasons for their decisions. Individual members therefore DO NOT HAVE ANY "CLAIM" TO AN AWARD UNLESS ELECTED. Because whining and complaints of members who cannot accept the decisions of their fellow members KILL THE FUN for the other members and COMPROMISE THE CONTINUATION OF THE AWARD VOTING complaints and whining about not winning an award can result in A MEMBER'S EXCLUSION FROM THE AWARD VOTING AND DISCIPLINARY MEASURES OUTSIDE THE VOTING PROCESS

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Remember! Voting starts on FRIDAY 4th JUNE 2010 and ends at 12midnight on FRIDAY 18th JUNE 2010 (forum standard time). A GOF member of staff will begin the voting process with an opening speech. That's your cue to start! If you have any questions regarding the rules or anything about the GOF Membership Awards, please don't hesitate to ask us using this topic page.

Best of luck to everyone!

[Alex]

I might've missed this, but is it okay to vote for a user in more than one category?

[Malte279]

Yes, unless the user is yourself. One may vote for the same user on various awards only the option of self-election is restricted to one single case (and we discourage even the single case self-election)

[Caustizer]

Just a thought, but how come their isn't a category for Fan Fiction or is that considered to be part of Fan Art?

If it is a part of that, then it would be nice if the description was a bit more clear, such as being "Fanart & Fanfiction Award"

I feel that there are a number of good writers who there such as Brekclub, Babkrakenguard (sorry if i misspelled), Serris, LBTFan13, and DarkHummon (sorry again if i misspelled) whom don't get any credit for their work over members who draw instead.  

Caustizer.

[Mumbling]

Just a thought, but how come their isn't a category for Fan Fiction or is that considered to be part of Fan Art?

If it is a part of that, then it would be nice if the description was a bit more clear, such as being "Fanart & Fanfiction Award"

I feel that there are a number of good writers who there such as Brekclub, Babkrakenguard (sorry if i misspelled), Serris, LBTFan13, and DarkHummon (sorry again if i misspelled) whom don't get any credit for their work over members who draw instead.  

Caustizer.

This has been discussed several times before. Since everyone has a different taste of fanfiction and does not read all the fanfiction which is posted on this board, it is hard to judge whether the voting would be fair.

[Sky]

This has been discussed several times before. Since everyone has a different taste of fanfiction and does not read all the fanfiction which is posted on this board, it is hard to judge whether the voting would be fair.

Does that mean that we can only vote members with artworks and not with fan fictions?  :unsure:

[Petrie.]

Hmmm...good questions.  We've not had a lot of fanfiction in the past on the GOF, hence we've never done a separate award for fanfictions.  Additionally, as Iris has said, tastes are different and it does bring a good amount of bias into the vote.

We'll get back to you on it if anything is changing.  I don't think it will, but you never know.

[Malte279]

The fanart award is meant to refer to visual art by a single artist (the later point setting it apart from the projects award). It is not meant to include fanfiction. There had been debating about a fanfiction award in the last years. The problem is that with the sheer amount of fanfiction out there it is highly unlikely for anyone to have read all of it and thereby be able to make a fair decision. Moreover fanfiction is kind of polarizing where it comes to content. If all the content of fanfictions with all the high degree violence and sometimes sexually explicit content was posted as pictures it would not be tolerated on the GOF. Because of the near impossibility to get a real overview over all the fanfiction out there and because of the polarizing nature of the content of most fanfiction the fanart award is meant to refer only to visual, not to literary fanart.

[Caustizer]

Is it the intent of the admins then that GOF members who partake in this area should remain unrecognized by the site?   It doesn't seem fair to discount an entire area of LBT fandom just because it may be subject to bias.

It may be true, but the same way of thinking also applies to other awards such as 'Helpful Member' for example, where someone is only going to vote for the member who has been the most helpful to them personally.

The reason I pursue this topic is because my biggest contribution to the Gang of Five is through Fan Fiction... it is my passion and for the most part why I am here.  In the current award scheme, not only can I not vote for talented writers who I feel deserve recognition but I myself cannot recieve any votes for my primary area of expertise.  

One does not have to read every line of Fan Fiction on the site to know who is contributing to the area on a regular basis, much like one does not have to investigate every LBT Project to know who is the most active in this area of the site and deserving of an award.  

Caustizer

[Petrie.]

Point taken.  As I said, give us time and as I've stated before, fanfiction in the past has not been a very large part of the community, hence we have not done a fanfiction award before, and that is why it was not on the list this year.  We will certainly take your words into consideration and add it to voting if we feel there is a large fanfiction community on the GOF.

[Dima02]

Are there any rules regarding who is allowed to vote. Are all members allowed to vote?

[Alex]

There's a list. Or something. It's another thread. In fact, there's a link to it in Littlefoot1616's original post.

[LBTFan13]

Like it's been said, the only problem with making a fanfiction award is that everybody has different tastes. Also, writers have different writing styles, so to choose somebody for an award would be the same as saying that person has the best writing style, which would alienate the other authors.

Besides, I don't write my fanfictions to be recognized for any award. I write them because I enjoy doing so, and people enjoy reading them. If they happen to be recognized for something like that, then great, but it is not required for me.

I thank you though for your concern on the matter Caustizer

[Kor]

Are there any rules regarding who is allowed to vote. Are all members allowed to vote?

The rules about who is allowed to vote and a list of members who can vote is at: http://z7.invisionfree.com/thegangoffive/i...?showtopic=8065

It looks like you are on the list of ones who can vote, and colored red which I believe means you have not yet voted.

[Caustizer]

On a seperate note, what happens in the event of a strong tie between two members?  Say something to the effect of 3-3 or 6-6 like we could see in the Friendly Member and Fanart sections.

[Mumbling]

There would be a final voting section in which people can only vote for those two, to see who would win that award

[Petrie.]

On a seperate note, what happens in the event of a strong tie between two members?  Say something to the effect of 3-3 or 6-6 like we could see in the Friendly Member and Fanart sections.

Let me double check on that.  I believe we do a revote to the community.

[Petrie.]

Double checked what we have done in the past....a revote is put to the community and they have 24 hours to cast new votes.  Should another tie occur, the vote goes to the admins whose votes are the tiebreaker (5 admins - no ties).

[Pangaea]

If you nominate someone who has not been a member since at least the beginning of the year (and thus is not eligible to vote), is that vote not counted towards the minimum number of six votes you need to make in order to be eligible to receive an award yourself?

[Littlefoot1616]

You MUST make votes for eligible candidates ONLY. If you vote for someone who IS NOT on the voter's list, your vote will be INVALID and WILL COUNT AGAINST YOU as a SKIPPED VOTE. Please make sure you vote ONLY for those who are registered. Make sure you double check who is on the voting list before casting votes. Don't lose out on awards you might receive for voting for ineligible candidates.