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***relentlessflame*** · 2017-02-08, 23:50

I would like to contribute that I think it would be helpful to separate the project into two aspects: the "Academy Awards" aspect, and a new "People's Choice Award" aspect.

Basically, the sort of event this is now is fine for what it is, but I believe it is never going to reach "wide appeal" (regardless of advertising) because it is has a very formal process and nature that appeals more to specific kinds of fans (basically "anime-as-a-medium" fans who like comparative analysis and debates about procedure). This sort of person will always be a minority on every fandom forum, because the vast majority are casual fans, genre fans, and people who just don't want to go through this sort of formal process. I realize there has never been any rule or requirement that you had to vote in every category or be part of the entire "democratic process," but I think the overall impression of the whole process (from beginning to end) is that it requires you to really sit down and give it some thought. And again, I think that is perfectly fine -- the Academy Awards are decided by a panel of judges. I would embrace that aspect of this endeavor, and accept it as part of the design rather than trying to fight it. Let the panel of judges be the group of people who are interested in and committed to having the breadth of experience to watch lots of anime and use their critical thinking to make solid judgements. (For example, have the judges write a short paragraph to justify their selection in each category, and have an editor pick a representative sample statement or two about each category's winner. Make it an actual critical thinking exercise even more than it already is now.)

Then I would complement that with a much simpler "People's Choice Awards" series of maybe 3 multiple-choice polls -- simple calls-to-action that just ask people to make their selection for one question, like "Best Anime of <year>" or "Best Male Character" or "Best Female Character". The options can be pre-determined by the judges based on a combination of critical appeal and raw popularity; don't overthink it too much. This is more like your Saimoe contests and the like, and are very easy to promote and get participation. This can then be incorporated into the overall project, just as People's Choice Awards are incorporated into other Award Shows. It's a lot easier to push these simple calls to action in signatures and on social media. (Consider also the huge number of reality TV "text your votes to 12345" whatever shows that are based on this same, simple call-to-action model.)

The result can also present a bit of a contrast between the "judge's picks" and the "people's picks" which encourages discussion and debate in the final thread, just as happens now with real Award Shows. It creates another form of tension that is by design to create hype and conversation. You separate out all the procedural aspects just to those who want to be on the judge's panel, and get wide participation on simple calls to action that are part of the larger project.

In other words, even though AnimeSuki has hundreds of active members who discuss anime on the site every day, most of them are not ever going to be comfortable being anime judges or feel like they are in a position to vote on these awards due to their formal, procedural nature (again, similar to how actual award shows work). The democratization of the awards show model is too lofty a goal because a large part of any award show process is really about politics. So, in essence, keep all the politics between the organizers and judges, and just make it real simple for everyone else. Then I think you can leverage the interest of the "core team" for what this project actually is in practice (a chance to for a group of people to work together to organize an awards show), while still having a more effective call-to-action to reach out to people you're not currently reaching.

In time this sort of model could be expanded to other media like Light/Web Novels. I realize that a lot of the core organizers of this project come from more of an anime background (as do most of the site staff, in fact), but as was noted in the previous thread, Novels are really a central growth area for the site in recent years. As the bench of "experts" expands in those other media, there's an opportunity to expand the concept to cover these other media by following a similar model. It may be possible to go slowly by first introducing some "People's Choice Awards" in those other media to start seeing if there's any momentum and potential organizers. Right now, by focusing so much on anime in isolation (in addition to the focus on protocol/procedure), I believe the contest is excluding a lot of AnimeSuki's current (and, to be frank, younger/more vibrant) audience. That will be another hindrance to potential future growth.

These are just ideas and certainly not perfect by any means, but for what it's worth, anyway...

P.S. As an aside to all the above, I agree with the Rem Rule.

2017-02-08, 23:50	Link #19
*relentlessflame* 　 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2003 Age: 41	I would like to contribute that I think it would be helpful to separate the project into two aspects: the "Academy Awards" aspect, and a new "People's Choice Award" aspect. Basically, the sort of event this is now is fine for what it is, but I believe it is never going to reach "wide appeal" (regardless of advertising) because it is has a very formal process and nature that appeals more to specific kinds of fans (basically "anime-as-a-medium" fans who like comparative analysis and debates about procedure). This sort of person will always be a minority on every fandom forum, because the vast majority are casual fans, genre fans, and people who just don't want to go through this sort of formal process. I realize there has never been any rule or requirement that you had to vote in every category or be part of the entire "democratic process," but I think the overall impression of the whole process (from beginning to end) is that it requires you to really sit down and give it some thought. And again, I think that is perfectly fine -- the Academy Awards are decided by a panel of judges. I would embrace that aspect of this endeavor, and accept it as part of the design rather than trying to fight it. Let the panel of judges be the group of people who are interested in and committed to having the breadth of experience to watch lots of anime and use their critical thinking to make solid judgements. (For example, have the judges write a short paragraph to justify their selection in each category, and have an editor pick a representative sample statement or two about each category's winner. Make it an actual critical thinking exercise even more than it already is now.) Then I would complement that with a much simpler "People's Choice Awards" series of maybe 3 multiple-choice polls -- simple calls-to-action that just ask people to make their selection for one question, like "Best Anime of <year>" or "Best Male Character" or "Best Female Character". The options can be pre-determined by the judges based on a combination of critical appeal and raw popularity; don't overthink it too much. This is more like your Saimoe contests and the like, and are very easy to promote and get participation. This can then be incorporated into the overall project, just as People's Choice Awards are incorporated into other Award Shows. It's a lot easier to push these simple calls to action in signatures and on social media. (Consider also the huge number of reality TV "text your votes to 12345" whatever shows that are based on this same, simple call-to-action model.) The result can also present a bit of a contrast between the "judge's picks" and the "people's picks" which encourages discussion and debate in the final thread, just as happens now with real Award Shows. It creates another form of tension that is by design to create hype and conversation. You separate out all the procedural aspects just to those who want to be on the judge's panel, and get wide participation on simple calls to action that are part of the larger project. In other words, even though AnimeSuki has hundreds of active members who discuss anime on the site every day, most of them are not ever going to be comfortable being anime judges or feel like they are in a position to vote on these awards due to their formal, procedural nature (again, similar to how actual award shows work). The democratization of the awards show model is too lofty a goal because a large part of any award show process is really about politics. So, in essence, keep all the politics between the organizers and judges, and just make it real simple for everyone else. Then I think you can leverage the interest of the "core team" for what this project actually is in practice (a chance to for a group of people to work together to organize an awards show), while still having a more effective call-to-action to reach out to people you're not currently reaching. In time this sort of model could be expanded to other media like Light/Web Novels. I realize that a lot of the core organizers of this project come from more of an anime background (as do most of the site staff, in fact), but as was noted in the previous thread, Novels are really a central growth area for the site in recent years. As the bench of "experts" expands in those other media, there's an opportunity to expand the concept to cover these other media by following a similar model. It may be possible to go slowly by first introducing some "People's Choice Awards" in those other media to start seeing if there's any momentum and potential organizers. Right now, by focusing so much on anime in isolation (in addition to the focus on protocol/procedure), I believe the contest is excluding a lot of AnimeSuki's current (and, to be frank, younger/more vibrant) audience. That will be another hindrance to potential future growth. These are just ideas and certainly not perfect by any means, but for what it's worth, anyway... P.S. As an aside to all the above, I agree with the Rem Rule. __________________ [...]