Just a humble suggestion from a member who loves the GOF Awards and would hate to see them not happen again next year: Do you think the voting period could be extended by another week or two?
I know GOF members are not obliged in any way to participate in the Awards, but it concerns me that we have practically reached the end of the voting period, and yet only twelve members have voted so far, meaning that twelve or fewer members will even be eligible to receive an award (some may even win their awards by default, since none of their fellow nominees in that category voted). By comparison, twenty-five members voted last year, and I believe that number was even greater in the years before. Many of the prominent GOF members who have not voted this year have shown themselves to be eager voters in previous years, which makes me suspect that the reason they have not participated in the 2012 Awards is not due to lack of interest, but lack of knowledge that the Awards are occurring. For one thing, many of the aforementioned members have much busier lives these days than they used to; they cannot visit the GOF as often, and thus may have either overlooked the new active threads in the Awards section, or possibly not even had a chance to visit the GOF in the two-week voting period. (They may not even have expected that the awards would be taking place at this time, since they have always been held in the spring before).
Just to be clear, I don't think we would get more participants by extending the duration of the voting period alone. Perhaps a thread could be put up in the "Announcements" section letting members know about the awards and the fact that they will be ending in, say, another week. (Let's face it; the Award threads are not the most conspicuous in the GOF, tucked away as they are in a sub-forum of "The Fridge".) Another optionówhich perhaps might be regarded as a little too invasiveówould be to send PMs to members who have been nominated for the awards, with politely and cheerfully worded messages along the lines of "Hey, someone thinks you deserve a chance for one of the GOF Member Awards! If you feel like it, go over to the 'Saurus Rock' section in 'The Fridge' and participate in the voting."
Just thought I'd share my thoughts (If I was to do it, perhaps I shouldn't have taken so long
). I apologize in advance if I have been naÔve, insensitive, or ignorant regarding the GOF's views and policy of the Awards, or contrary in any way to the spirit of the award voting itself. :unsure:
