"It is possible that I have never read anything which I have rejected so thoroughly, proposition by proposition, conclusion by conclusion, as this . . . but without the least ill humor and impatience." GM (Preface, 6) F. Nietzsche
(Throughout you'll find many quotes that I've taken from the comment box. I've left them uncredited, but you can easily find who said what. That said, nothing has really been taken out of context, since most comments discussed other ideas as well, and those ideas were secondary to this post.)
"it could really create some bitterness and tension between friends."
First, a friendly flourish.
I'd like to speak as an artist among fellow artists and non-artists. As such, I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks for those who would shield me from the harsh reality of the social world. I thank you, for your refusing to nominate anyone's achievements as noteworthy on the assumption that it would cause site-wide drama (take a deep breath; keep going, keep breathing, keep calm), well, your refusal to nominate anyone at all implies that as an artist I and almost everyone else would be deeply hurt by not being picked. Again, thanks for looking out for my feelings well before I even have the chance to say what my own thoughts are - i.e. perhaps unintentionally assuming that my feelings alone constitute the contents of my participation here. Since I'm guided by feelings alone in a social world always threatening to unleash drama that would make K-drama envious, I could not handle the shame and pain of not seeing my name in bright lights. So, after the party's over please turn off the lights, and I'll try not to let the doorknob hit my ass on the way out of this self-congratulatory backpatting party. Thank you.
Alright, let's get on with it, shall we? It won't hurt me if I don't get nominated for anything at all. Ask yourself the same thing: Will you be offended or deeply wounded if you don't get nominated? Artists, for one, can be overly-touchy, as I'll be the first to admit, but generally we don't need to be coddled by anyone. We're tougher than we look. In fact, I bet some members in fact do thrive on competition (or popularity, for that matter). Here's someone who loved it, but strangely gave up and left the site:
"I want a more vicious theOtaku. I know that might scare some people but I used to thrive on it. . . .I would be willing to stay up those extra 3 hours at night to try something new and see what kinds of votes I could get if theOtaku would just embrace its old competitive nature. Until that day returns, I just don't see myself using theOtaku like I once did." The Old Otaku (might still live on in old members) spacecowboytv
While I don't agree with most of what spacecowboytv writes and what it implies (it sounds like artworks are horses meant for competition only - may the best horse win the race...to the top!!) here was a member who clearly liked that competitive edge, and preferred to keep the "fluff" to a minimum. Scan the article's comments and you'll find similar sentiments there, too (again, by association of ideas, I don't agree with most of them either; but that's for another time). Members won't really get hurt - unless outright cheating and dishonesty is involved. However, I'm not cynical enough to believe that most of the members here would resort of those kinds of deceitful tactics on a vast scale. The comments on the main page give evidence that, on the contrary, plenty of members will think things out ahead of time, possibly even rethinking their own stances in light of new received ideas. If that isn't evidence that members can handle rigorous discussions - which involves criticism, don't forget - then I'm not sure what counts as such. Again, I think we can do these kinds of things without undermining the site itself, since we've done it many times before without dying in any Otakulypse. Mind you, some have given up and left in resignation, rather than doing something strange like, I dunno know, participating and being creative with what you have; but we can always look back and learn from those events and move on with a better understanding of what to do next time (the Greatest Character Ever was pretty much a walk in the park). Whatever this Member's Awards turns out to be, "I think we're all mature enough not to get our knickers in a twist at not being nominated for an award, yes?"
"Maybe we're causing more drama by saying it's a bad idea?"
The idea expressed here should be clear enough; by adopting a certain stance before we've actually done anything, we're perhaps unintentionally stopping ourselves from doing anything at all. Here's a good sample which shows the dominant perspective framing the issue, which I think is both unhelpful and misguided:
"it could hurt people's feelings and cause the same kind of drama that happened with the whole 'best anime character ever' thing this summer."
"We have enough petty drama on this site already."
"This could hurt people's feelings, and as someone already stated, it could cause Drama and there is enough of that already on this site. Though people should be mature enough not to cause Drama...still, I think this could end up sour."
"We have an awards ceremony at my job every year and as professional adults in the workplace, even this caues drama."
"there will be even more drama then there already is"
"I come here because there are is LESS drama-rama."
"this is just gong to cause a lot of drama that we don't need on here."
"it's just bound to turn sour with drama"
"I haven't noticed or been in any of the drama so far on theO"
"I love the idea, I love the drama"
"I was merely trying to avoid drama where drama could potentially crop up."
"it'll just cause hurt feelings and drama."
"Things like this are what cause drama and fights."
"I've never been part of drama, don't intend to ever be."
"I love drama just as much as the next person, but it will lead to talking behind backs - especially if the voting is done out in the open."
"there is enough drama here..dont want to make it worse.."
"They say there's drama but I personally have never seen any."
"While I agree that there isn't as much drama as everyone claims (atleast as far as I've seen) I think people are more concerned about being fair."
"screwattack.com had a member of the year thing too, didn't cause drama over there"
"it should be anonymous to avoid unnecessary drama spurring up between friends and associates."
"This is gonna cause alot of unwanted drama. ]:"
It's not "drama"; it's discussing our disagreements in an open manner where we have no need or use to resort to tired, worn forum tricks like calling people trolls, accusing them of flaming or baiting, or passing it off as drama. Once you call it drama, then you risk passing it all off as simply a case of ruffled-feathers all-around, thus we don't really need to think about it too much. We can be a site that has no need for those handy rhetorical tricks which more often that not subvert discussion before it even starts. I think we can do better than that. We need to drop unhelpful baggage that's saddled many a forum and blog with labels and name-calling. A helpful first step is to stop seeing drama (whatever that actually is) and start engaging in discussions. Now, if anyone continues to see it all as drama, I hereby deny you victim-status henceforth: the martyr who challenged opinion with opinion and fled in the face pressure to give good reasons instead. We don't need to see or act in dramas, because we never really did - we were having an open dialog where we're free to agree, disagree, and come to our own reasoned conclusions.
Lastly, even if you're only stating your opinion, don't simply pass it off as such: it's only my opinion. Don't let that be your conclusion which undermines everything you had previously said. While there's an argument to be made in the idea that opinions aren't inherently flawed or terrible, like Shinmaru's article In Your Opinion, and Why it Sucks (IMO) clarifies, "opinion" tends to have a pejorative sense when brought up in dialog. (In fact, there's some tension in the idea of "debating an opinion", but again, that's for another time.) Claiming "IMO" suggests that whatever else you had previously written or argued for should be disregarded as inherently subjective and freely replaceable. If that's the case, then there's no need even to take into account what you've written, since it's, you know, like, just an opinion among many. If there's many opinions, then we can discount them as well as simply distractions, too. Heck, why not delete them outright, since they're only opinions not meant to really do anything meaningful, right? I doubt anyone meant it that way, but that's what the opinion rhetoric implies. Again, it's another unhelpful way to approach things, which should be dropped like a hot...uh...500 degree hot thing. If you say something, stand by it and be heard. Define this community as your being an important part of it, no matter what your place is, where whatever you say isn't a valueless throwaway opinion. After all, I couldn't have written this without any of your ideas.
