At 04:05 AM 7/9/1997 GMT, Gary Kleppe wrote:

On Tue, 08 Jul 1997 22:37:14 -0500, Richard Lawson <sterman@sprynet.com>
wrote:

This is a great idea.  We need a way for first-time writers to get
noticed, especially with the glut of fanfics that have been appearing
recently.  (It's tapered off now, but wait until school gets back in
session.)  I'm all for anything that gets people noticed.

The problem, as I see it, is how do you define "new"?

I'd say anyone who has not had a story eligible for these awards in a
previous quarter, and who has not had any stories that *would* have been
eligible in a previous quarter had these awards existed then.

You've said anyone who has never posted to raac.  What if Robert Jordan
were to write a Ranma 1/2 fanfic?  Would he be eligible?

I'd have to say yes in this most unlikely event -- unless he decided to
disqualify himself. I'd also agree with John Collins that those who have
posted to raac but not done Ranma fics *should* be eligible. This seems
like the only fair way to do it.

How about more awards?  new-to-R-1/2 newbie and new newbie?  That way 
Bob doesn't get an unfair advantage for being famous-at-something-else 
because he can't compete with the new newbies, the same way the famous-at-R-
-1/2 authors can compete with him.

Also, maybe we need to draw a line between new-to-raac newbie and new 
newbie.  If I write a whole bunch of fanfics and wait until the last minute 
to post them, I shouldn't count as a newbie the way someone who just wrote 
and posted her first-ever fanfic is, since the idea is to recognize good-
-but-inexperienced authors.

The bigger problem, as I see it, is how easy it is to forge a new
identity on the internet.  If I wanted to, I could easily assume a new
identity and start posting fanfics.  I could claim I've never written a
fanfic before, and who's going to prove otherwise?

No one. I can't imagine why people would want to cheat for fanfic
awards, but if they did I don't see how you could stop them.

That could happen by accident, though - an raac reader might think McKinley 
and Jeff are different people.  But that's so Jeff => Rev.#9 won't happen on 
search engines, instead of cheating at polls.  If the referees decide who's 
new and who isn't instead of a whole bunch of voters ("here's a list of 
eligible newbies"), it probably won't happen though.