It's occurred to me to point out that Paul's not
accusing anyone of anything. Given our history, he thinks he sees a pattern. Given the MCom's anonymity, he wonders if the pattern's true. But he was asking for clarification -- and if this isn't anything to do with old tensions, wouldn't it be better to have that completely cleared up and out of the way?
Heck, even if it *is* a product of past arguments, I'd seriously think about coming clean, telling everyone to deal with it, and then moving on to the awards.
Again, *no one* has done anything wrong, here. I firmly believe that the MCom -- whoever they are -- have every right to run their contest their way. They put in the work; they make the rules. The other half of that bargain is that FOLCs have the right to ask questions. And FOLCs also have the right to think it's a great idea and come to its defense. That doesn't make them committee members.
If enough FOLCs decide to participate, then the Merriweathers will be a smashing success, and a great addition to our fandom.
That's what I'm rooting for.
I think a lot of people are willing to give the Merriweathers a chance. And I think there are more who would be willing, if they had a little bit more information. It's totally up to MCom to decide if they want to release that information -- releasing it might widen the pool of participants, but they probably have very legitimate concerns about going public. I know that being on the K-Com has opened me up to a lot of criticism I wouldn't otherwise have had to deal with.
I think it's worth it, obviously, since I'm still here, but trust me, I can see how someone else would really really
really want to avoid being in that position.
PJ
