The 'Shroom:Issue 189/PC Election Proposal

PC Election Proposal

Written by: Fun With Despair (talk)

Alright gang, it's time to talk about elections, Awards Analysis, apathy, and even.... ancient history! Not necessarily in that order, but we'll get there eventually.

I'm Fun With Despair (talk), current chairperson of the Poll Committee (which is what the "PC" in the article title stands for, as opposed to Personal Computer, Politically Correct, or Party Cheese), and during my run, you may have noticed something missing if you're a 'Shroom reader. An old tradition, some might say. I'm speaking, of course, about the Awards Analysis, a long-form Poll Committee Discussion article that goes over the various results of the Mario Awards and talks about them a little bit. While initially the Analysis was simply delayed due to the fantastic Awards Killing Game Odyssey going over-schedule and running longer (with several of our committee members involved in the game), as more and more time passed, I began to notice something.

Nobody really seemed to notice the Analysis was missing.

For such a long running event, I was curious as to why that was. Was it just an unpopular article? Did the Analysis have a negative connotation? Were people just being relatively understanding with regards to the circumstances, despite a public reason for the missing article not being given? Well, after speaking with several people involved with Awards, as well as the Poll Committees both present and past, I began to formulate a list of reasons, at least as soon as I was done pinning polaroids to my cork board and building an elaborate web of red string, sharpie, and mild psychosis. I had cracked the case, the mystery of what I've come to call "Analysis Apathy". The answer was right in front of me the whole time.

So, let's get into it.

• The Awards Analysis is thrust upon a new committee each year as a near-immediate project, with no time to build rapport, workflow, writing experience, or project management experience in case of a totally new Chairperson. This presents both undue stress on an incoming committee as well as severely impacts the overall quality and experience of the article. Not only does a new committee have to rapidly learn the ins-and-outs of the process, but also juggle that with passing new polls, team building, and stocking up a healthy backlog.

While doing research for this, it came to my attention that shifting Awards Analysis to the end of the term was something that actually came up before with previous committees, but just wasn't acted on. Ideally, the proposal I'm going to make at the end of this whole thing should resolve this anyway, but it does show that the issue has been raised before.

• The Poll Committee has no involvement with Awards as elections only occur at the end of the Awards Season to begin with. This is the other big problem with the current structure of the Awards/Poll Committee cycle, and something that I've heard complaints about from both members of previous Awards and Poll Committees alike. Sometimes, even people on the former committee admitted to not reading the Awards Analysis, with the reasons cited being lack of involvement and context with regards to the Awards process making the Awards Analysis seem superficial.

...And there's a point there. Because of the election times of both the Awards Committee and the Poll Committee, the Poll Committee cannot partake in or observe the Awards process they are to write about unless they have the foresight to sit in on meetings before either the next Chairperson or themselves are chosen for the Poll Committee.

At the end of the day, the Awards Analysis is frankly, kind of boring. Not only is it usually written by a fresh committee, but it lacks anything I'd actually want to read about Awards. Sure, more people may have voted Living Game for the "Favorite Strategy Game" award this year, but what do the people behind Awards think about this? Was there heavy debate as to whether this category should exist? There's a lot to talk about that's a lot more interesting than just listing off the statistics, and my following proposal should address both of these major points.

I'm proposing, of course, that we Reschedule the Poll Committee Elections from June to February.

The Awards Election takes place in November, and the new 'Shroom Director typically makes the transition in January, which would make February the best month to hold this kind of thing while allowing the Committee to be present for most of the Awards cycle they are to write about. Rather than having a weird election in the middle of the year, should this proposal pass, it will also align most of our elections with the winter period. The only reason the Poll Committee election is when it is now is because that was when the Committee was actually formed all those years ago. See, there's the ancient history part. Might not be very interesting, but hey, never said it would be. Anyway, while this is a "fun" tradition, it serves absolutely zero practical purpose nowadays, and quite literally does exactly the opposite, actually.

I've put a formal proposal up here, which should ideally be up by the time you read this unless you're a crazy speed reader, in which case give me like ten minutes okay. Feel free to vote on or discuss this change there, or in the 'Shroom thread on the forum if you want. I'm aware that, yes, this would extend the "reign" of the current Committee should it pass, however if it does pass, there will likely be a re-application period for July-February of this year only, as my team members only signed up for one year, and if they feel like they've got their money's worth out of all this, I'm not going to force them on for another half a year that they didn't sign up for.

Anyway, that's the end of this. I wanted to write a special highlight article just in case people who engage with polls, read the 'Shroom, and might be interested in this don't bother checking the Proposals, which is honestly completely valid. I certainly never have until now. I'll see you all whenever I have to write another one of these things. Probably if it passes, I suppose.

In the meantime, be sure to check out Pipe Plaza for this month's article, and remember to vote for the options I personally agree with in every poll you see.

• Front Page
• About
• Archives
• Comments
• Forum Boards (Main — Writers)
• Subscribe
• Spotlight
• Contact us
• Manual of Style
• Sign up