I want to state, first and foremost, that I do not intend to be hurtful or insulting. I'm just clarifying my viewpoint, because I imagine I'm not alone in it. If I am, feel free to ignore me <g>.
I've been writing my whole life. When I was a very small child, I had a tape recorder to narrate stories into because I couldn't write/type yet. Whatever else I may be, I've always considered myself a writer.
However, I'm not a creative writing major. When I started applying to colleges, I took a good look at myself and decided that it was important to have a skill/career where I thought I could support myself and any family I might have. Given my habit to start a lot of stories and finish very few of them, writing didn't seem like a logical choice.
So I majored in something else. Do I think that makes me less of a writer? Absolutely not. Does it make my opinion on writing less valid? Absolutely not.
Does being published make my opinion more valid? Fine. Been there, done that. But I've met plenty of published authors whose opinions didn't mean much to me, either. At the end of the day, being published just means that you convinced someone who has enough money to put out a publication that your work is worthy of publishing. And hey, there are plenty of people with money whose opinions I don't value <g>.
Seems to me that those who are making it an issue just might not be confident in their skills as writers.
It's not about being confident in your skills as a writer. I'm pretty confident I can string some words together in a format that's both technically correct and aesthetically pleasing to some audience somewhere <g>. Would I submit my work to an audience I know won't enjoy it? No, because I don't see the point.
And would I like to submit my work to a panel of anonymous judges whose credentials are unknown, who were selected by an anonymous committee who may or may not hate me, so that it could be maliciously taken apart? (Especially fanfic, which is for the most part a labor of love done with no hope of any material gain?) Frankly that sounds painful, and for an activity that's supposed to be fun it doesn't seem worth it. And the way things stand right now, I don't know enough about the Merriweathers to know that's not what I'm doing.
If you're determined to be offended by what seems to be an innocent little contest, go right on ahead.
The same thing could be said of the Kerths. At least there I knew who was voting, and I got to vote for myself once in a while.
I don't think it's too much to ask that the MComm reveal themselvses. If the writers are supposed to trust their judgment, it seems only fair that some trust be shown in return. We're all supposed to be adults here.
Just my 2 cents,
Kaylle
(No offense intended to those of us who aren't legally adults yet.
At any rate, we're all supposed to be mature enough to handle this <g>)
