2000 GO-FAQ for alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated
Golden Orgasms Supplement
Oct 29, 2000
This document is a detailed guide to the Golden Orgasms, the annual
fanfic awards of ASCEM. It draws heavily upon the main ASCEM FAQ's
appendices for basic information like character codes and story
descriptors. The main FAQ can be found at:
http://www.onelist.com/files/ASCEML
http://tsu_campus.tripod.com/ASCEML
http://www.egroups.com/files/ASCEML/faq.txt
Please send any questions or comments to ASCEMGO@yahoo.com .
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Updates
10/00: Contains many changes from 1999, though the goal has been to
preserve the intent of the past awards. This FAQ should be read in
its entirety.
10/29/00: Expanded Eligibility to include stories accidentally left
out of voting during a previous year.
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Table of contents
1 Introduction
Overview & History
Personnel
2 Rules
General
Eligibility
CheckBallots and Ballots
Voting Basics
How to Vote (web or email)
3 Categories
Categorization Process
Possible Categories (including definitions)
More Categorization caveats
This year's Categories
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1 Introduction
- Overview & History
The intention of the Golden Orgasms (GOs) is to recognize those
writers and stories that have had the most impact on readers each
year. Voting is done anonymously.
The Golden Orgasms were first awarded in 1997. These and subsequent
results are available at The Golden Orgasm Archive, located at
http://www.geocities.com/ASCEMGO/ .
In 1997 and 1998, voting was done through the newsgroup. In 1999,
the web-based voting option was brought online. Trekiverse, the new
ASC* archive, is intended to automate the archiving and voting
process. At this time, it is not known if Trekiverse voting will be
available. Thus, the specific GO 2000 voting process is yet to be
determined.
- Personnel
Awards Coordinator Mary Ellen mecurtin@alumni.Princeton.EDU
Responsible for overall GO 2000 implementation. Includes oversight
and making necessary alterations to the process. Works closely with
Trekiverse staff. Keeps ASCEM Volunteer Staff Organization (VSO) and
the newsgroup informed. Makes announcements as necessary.
Awards Co-Coordinator Being recruited
Assists Coordinator and takes lead in Coordinator's absence.
SOS Maintainer JJuls jjuls@enternet.com
Compiles a list of all eligible stories posted during
the calendar year and sorts them into Ballot categories. Issues
official CheckBallots for comment/correction and then issues final
Ballots for voting.
Voting Website Bonnie zorrorojo@slashcity.com
Using Ballots, creates web-based Voting site. This may or may not be
done with Trekiverse.
Vote Counter Jane skazki@globalnet.co.uk
Collects and counts votes and publishes results to the newsgroup.
GO FAQ Maintainer datalaur datalaur@yahoo.com
Maintains the GO FAQ in accordance with direction from the GO
Coordinator. Posts FAQ and author/voter training materials on
critical awards topics like coding and categorization definitions.
ASCEMGO Archive datalaur datalaur@yahoo.com
Maintains website with links to GO award-winning stories, and links
to some eligibles. When Trekiverse becomes active, ASCEMGO will
become obsolete.
Other volunteers Jenn jenn@igg-tx.net
Salatrel salatrel@excite.com
T'Thrill TThrill1216@aol.com
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2 Rules
- General
Votes are cast anonymously. Voters are also encouraged to make
constructive comments (anonymously or non-anonymously) about stories
or authors. First, Second and Third Place are awarded in each
category. A contender that is one point short of third place
receives an "Honorable Mention".
A voting category is established when at least 5 eligible stories by
at least 2 authors ("5x2 rule") were posted. Categories with more
than 50 eligible stories will be split into "Single Part" stories and
"Multi Part" stories to make voting simpler.
Authors can vote for their own stories; however, this is discouraged.
Authors may not vote for themselves in the Best Author and Best
New Author categories.
- Eligibility
Any new story posted to ASCEM between January 1st and December 31st
of 2000 is eligible for inclusion in the appropriate categories. A
story is not eligible if the 2000 posting is merely a repost or
revision of a previous year's posting. If a story was inadvertently
left out of the awards process during a prior year, it is eligible in
the year the error is discovered.
All authors are automatically eligible for Best Author honors. To be
eligible for Best New Author, authors must have posted their first
story to ASCEM. The first post is the key; previously-posted authors
who have written in a different series do not become a New Author in
that series.
Anonymous authors or those posting under the pseudo-anonymous "Ascem
Noone" pen-name are not eligible for Best Author awards. The stories
themselves have no such restriction placed upon them.
- CheckBallots and Ballots
This process is crucial in catching coding and/or categorization
errors. All authors and readers are urged to participate!
In February 2001, lists of all eligible stories will be posted to
ASCEM in the form of CheckBallots. These are done by category.
Authors should verify that their stories are correctly categorized,
and should also check the New Author and Author Check Ballots to
ensure they are properly slotted. Reader comments and questions on
categorization are also welcome. Submit corrections to the SOS
Maintainer (jjuls@enternet.com) .
Once the comment period is over, CheckBallots become Ballots. They
are made available as soon as possible, but no less than 2 weeks
prior to the voting period.
- Voting basics
Voting is done by series. Each voting period lasts at least one week
and ends at midnight GMT on the closing date. The exact procedure
will be determined later, once it is known whether Trekiverse can
support GO-2000.
TOS
TNG
DS9
VOY
Original Crew/Characters (formerly MIS)
Overall
Each voter may place up to three votes in each category: one for
First Place (3 points), one for Second (2 points) and one for Third
(1 point). These must be cast for separate stories. If the voter
votes for only one or two stories, unused votes are ignored.
Votes are collated privately since voting is anonymous. Comments may
be attributed or anonymous; voters must specifically indicate that
they want the comments attributed.
If a person submits more than one set of votes (i.e., to correct an
error in an earlier vote), only the last set will be counted.
Attempts to use several identities to cast multiple votes is
considered "ballot stuffing" and all such votes will be discarded.
Points are totaled at the end of the voting period for each
Category. The top three stories and any Honorable Mentions are
subsequently announced. If there is a tie, the total number of
placeholders will be adjusted to account for the tie. Example: Two
stories tying for second place will result in 2 awards of "2nd place -
tie" and no award of third place.
Results are posted on a weekly basis and a round-up of all results
also goes out once all voting is complete. Tallies will be
included so those who didn't get on the podium will still know they
garnered a vote or two.
- How to Vote
Specific procedures will be promulgated once it is known whether
Trekiverse will support the GO-2000 process.
In general terms, votes and comments may be submitted via the web,
following directions at the site. They may also be submitted by
email using cut and paste from the newsgroup Ballots.
WARNING: Votes posted directly to ASCEM will be ignored.
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3 Categories
- Categorization Process
Normally, a work will be slotted into appropriate categories, based
on the coding provided by the author(s). Official slotting can be
found in CheckBallots / Ballots. Anyone may question a work's
categorization at any time prior to issuance of final Ballots.
If coding is missing, or is believed to be inconsistent with
definitions (coding and/or category), GO staff will attempt to
contact the author(s) for clarification. If that is not possible, GO
staff will review the work for proper coding/categorization. In grey
areas, GO staff will uphold the author's original coding and slot
accordingly.
- Possible Categories
** NOTE: The indented structure of the below table is critical to
understanding slotting of works. The three main categories are
Poems/Filks, Drabbles and Stories. Works must fall in one and only
one of these three areas. Within the Story category, a work may
compete in as many of the subcategories as it qualifies for.
Example: a (TNG D/La, P/C, R/T, challenge) would compete in 7
places: Story, Challenge, Slash, D/La, Het, P/C, R/T.
The following list shows potential categories. Many categories dont
meet the 5x2 criteria, so Ballots are actually far less complicated:
1. Overall Categories (compiles contenders from the Trek series and
Original Crew/Characters categories)
Author (Captain Jinx award)
New Author
Story
Contributor ("Ruth Gifford award" for contribution
to discussions and writing)
2. Original Crew/Characters Category (works set in a Trek universe
that focus on original ships, crews or characters)
Author
New Author
Story
3. Categories per Trek Series (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY)
Author
New Author
Poem/filk (song rewritten to be Trek-related, often humorous)
Drabble (fanfic that is exactly 100 words long)
Story
Challenge (story that answers a Challenge posted on ASCEM)
Humor/parody
Series (a group of 3 or more related but stand-alone stories
that establish a consistent and unique "universe". Each
story may also compete in other Story subcategories.)
**See more information below (Categorization Caveats).**
Suite (One story, composed of 3 or more highly interdependent
works intended to be read as a set. Think of chapters
in a book, or of a trilogy like Tolkien's Lord
of The Rings.)
**See more information below (Categorization Caveats).**
Single-Person (focus on character(s) *as individuals*,
rather than focusing on relationships)
Slash (focus on relationship between same-sex characters)
Slash with 2 specific characters (ie, Data/LaForge)
Slash with 1 specific character and generic same-sex
partner (ie, Data/m or Troi/f)
Misc Slash (ie, any slash not meeting "5x2" rule)
Hetsmut (focus on relationship between het characters)
Hetsmut with 2 specific characters (ie, Janeway/Chakotay)
Hetsmut with 1 specific character and generic opposite-sex
partner (ie, Paris/f or Torres/m)
Misc Hetsmut (ie, any hetsmut not meeting "5x2" rule)
Multiple-Partner (focus on sex involving 3 or more people)
(ie, (Riker/f/f/m) but *not* (Riker/f, Riker/m))
- More categorization caveats
Special categories for specific types of stories like TSU, "Rude
Person" or 2000's Fuhqfests, may be introduced as needed, in
accordance with the 5x2 rule.
ASCEM no longer uses the term "MIS", since the term was being used
differently between ASC and ASCEM. ASCEM will continue its tradition
of placing Crossovers (story featuring Trek and another show, like
VOY/X-Files) and Combined (stories featuring 2 Trek series, like
TOS/TNG) with the appropriate Trek series.
Suites and Series are normally classified as such by their author(s).
Since a Suite by definition tells *one* story, whereas a Series
contains multiple related stories, a body of works can be a Suite or
a Series, but not both. A Suite can only compete as one story in the
Story categories, although it can also be part of a larger Series
(think Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings).
If a large Suite or Series' posts begin in one calendar year and
continue into the next, it is eligible in both years, provided that
three or more substantive parts are posted in each calendar year.
- Categories for 2000
Obviously, the categories for 2000 cannot be finalized until all
eligible stories have been posted. A significant number of possible
categories will drop out as a result of the 5x2 rule. Expected new
special categories for 2000 include several Fuhqfests (Spock, Kirk,
Ensign), and Getting To Know You (GTKY) questionnaires.
GTKY are not considered stories, and (just like Poems and Drabbles)
will not be eligible for Story categories.
The Fuhqfests, however, clearly are stories and are in fact a type of
Challenge. Therefore, they will handled in the same manner as a
Challenge story, which means they are eligible for all Story
categories for which they qualify (pairings, humor, etc.)
CheckBallots will give the first glimpse at the official 2000
categories. After the CheckBallot comment period, categories will be
finalized and Ballots produced. The Ballots will reflect the
official categories.
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