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Who can vote?
To vote you must have a membership at the MEFA2010 website either as an author or as a member of the MEFAwards Yahoo group.
Please note that your MEFA2010 membership is not the same as your Yahoo account. You can choose to make your Yahoo password the same as the password you use to log in to the MEFA2010 website, but changing one will not affect the other.
Memberships at the MEFA2010 website are set up manually by volunteers. Someone should contact you within a few days of joining the MEFAwards Yahoo group with your password for the MEFA2010 website.
How do I vote?
You can vote for any story nominated (except those where you are the author or a co-author) by writing a review of that story. Each review gives its story points, up to ten points for 1,000 characters. The longer you write, the more points you give your story, and the stories with the most points in their subcategory win an award.
To vote you will need to log in to the MEFA2010 website. Once you are logged in click the "Stories" link at the top of this page. You will see a list of all the nominated stories, along with some information about the stories. In addition, if you have voting privileges you should see a link in the right column to enter a new vote or edit your already-existing vote.
(In order to vote you either need to be a nominated author or a member of the MEFAwards Yahoo group. If you don't see these links and think you should, please contact mefasupport@mefawards.net.)
Once you've read a story and are ready to enter your vote, click on the "Enter New Review" link to the right of the story's listing to enter a new review. This will open a new window into which you can type your review. Select the status you would like to give your review (more info on that below), and type or copy-and-paste your review into the "story review" field. When you're done click "save review".
Your web browser will display the page you see when first logging in, with a bar at the top verifying that you have submitted a review. As soon as you see this bar you can close the window; your review has been saved.
When you close the window you will see the page of nominations. From here you can find another story to review or go to any other section of the website using the navigation bar at the top of the page.
(Note: You will automatically be logged out of the MEFA website after two hours. If this happens while you are typing in your review, you will be redirected to the log-in page. If this happens your review will not be saved and you will have to retype it. We have added a counter that shows you how much time you have left until you are logged out, and you will receive an alert just before the two hours is up. However, we do suggest you write longer reviews in a word processor and copy-and-paste them into the review form to avoid losing them as a result of being logged out.)
How do I find a story to vote for?
If you know a certain story you would like to vote for and you know the ID # it has on the MEFA website you can find it easily. While logged to the MEFA2010 website, click on the "Stories" link at the top of any page. Once the "List of Nominations" page loads, enter the ID number followed by the # sign into the search bar and click search.
If you know the title but not the ID number, you can search for that using the search bar. This will return any stories with those words in the title, author's name, or summary, so you will need to pick the right one.
Hopefully you will also want to read new stories and review them. If you aren't trying to review a certain story but want help narrowing down the list of nominated stories, the story filters are your friend. The filters are a set of drop-down menus that allow you to find certain types of stories.
(Note: If you select more than one filter, you will only see stories that match all the choices you've set in the filters--not every story that matches any one of the filters.)
1. Story Type
The story type filter returns all of the stories of a certain type. You can choose from drabbles; poetry; incomplete stories (works-in-progress); non-fiction; or stories (everything that isn't covered by one of the other filters).
2. Author
Select an author from this list to get a list of stories by that author. You can also search for the author's name using the search bar, but this may find stories where the author's name is mentioned in the title or summary (but where what you are searching for isn't the author).
3. Main Category and SubCategory
After categories are set up, you will be able to find all of the stories in a main category or a sub-category by selecting it from these two lists. To get a list of stories in a subcategory, you need to first select the appropriate main category from the "Main Category" dropdown list and click the "Display Selected Nominations" button. This will display the list of subcategories in that main category in the "Subcategory" dropdown list. You can then select the subcategory you’re interested in and click the "Display Selected Nominations" button again to see the stories in that subcategory.
4. Review Status
This list lets you see all those stories you have reviewed (or not reviewed). You can also find stories that you have added to your wish list or skip list, and stories that do not have very many reviews entered for them.
5. Story Length
Every story has a length assigned to it, and you can use this filter to see all of the stories that have a certain length. You can select
6. Genre, Race, Time Choice
When a story is nominated an author chooses three main category choices where volunteers will try to place the story. The main category filter above only shows stories actually placed in that main category. This filter lets you display all of the stories that chose a certain main category as one of their choices, even if the story didn't end up placed there.
7. Character; Setting; Sub-Genre or Poetic Form; and Canonical Event or Time Period
These four lists return stories where an author has said the story involves a certain character, setting, sub-genre or poetic form, or canonical event or time period. Authors can select multiple entries for all of these lists, so the same story may appear on lists about more than one character, etc.
8. Source
The story type filter returns all of the stories that an author has marked as being based on a certain source. You can use this filter if you're interested in finding stories that, for instance, make use of material in The Silmarillion or which are based on Peter Jackson's movies.
You can also use the QuickLinks underneath the filter to get lists of stories by character, setting, sub-genre or poetic form, canonical event or time period, length and source.
How do I find stories featuring a certain romantic pairing? Can I read just het or slash?
You are free to choose whatever stories you like to read and review. While the MEFAs do not label stories as het or slash, we do ask authors to list any romantic partners involved. A story listing Legolas/Gimli or f/f as a romance partner is obviously slash; Faramir/Eowyn would likewise indicate a het story. An author may also identify their story as het or slash in their story summary.
This information is displayed as part of the listing for each piece. Look for the line beginning "Romance Partners: " You will find here a specific romance partner, a more general description of whether the piece is het or slash (m/f, m/m, or f/f), or that the piece does not have romance partners (n/a).
Because of the way authors enter this information, voters cannot filter the list of nominations for a certain romance partner the way you can for a particular character. The easiest way to find the stories with a certain romance partner is to filter for one of the two characters in the pairing, and then to look at the romance partners of each story displayed. If you do not know how to filter for a certain character, see How do I find a story to vote for?
When can I vote?
You may begin voting as soon as a piece is nominated, and you may vote until voting season ends on December 15 2010.
Do remember that not every nominated story competes. In 2006 718 stories were nominated of which 657 competed (91.5%). If a story is withdrawn from the awards your vote will not count simply because there is no story entered toward which it would count. For this reason many people only review stories during nomination season if the story is labeled "Nomination Complete" in the right hand column on the "Browse Nominated Stories" page. Occasionally a completed nomination will be withdrawn if the author changes his or her mind about competing, but this is pretty rare.
Can I encourage people to vote for a specific story?
No. Members are not allowed to solicit votes for either their own stories or anyone else's, which means that they cannot encourage members to vote for specific stories. Nor can they encourage people to join the MEFAs specifically to vote for specific stories.
Getting nominated for an awards program is fun and exciting. This rule doesn't mean that you can't tell people that you or your friends were nominated. Quite the contrary: talk it up. Tell your friends about the MEFAs. Download a nominee button or banner and display it with pride. Even encourage them to get involved.
However: Do not tell people to vote for specific stories that have been nominated.
The first time this happens, we'll probably give you the benefit of the doubt and just ask you to take down the comment encouraging people to vote for your stories. The MEFAs can be complicated, and it's easy to not know about some of the rules when you first get involved. However, if you repeatedly break this rule, here are some of the potential consequences:
The same action may be taken the first time you solicit votes, if you refuse to take the comment down when asked to do so by the MEFA administrator.
This isn't because we don't want you to enjoy the awards, or get other people excited. Far from it. But for the MEFAs to be fair, we need a fair playing field – and that means not telling people to vote for specific stories.
If you're unsure whether a comment is appropriate or not, you can always email the administrator before posting it.
Where can I find out how many reviews I’ve written so far?
Once you’ve written your first review, you’ll see a section called "Reviewing" appear on your home page that tells you how many draft, hidden and final reviews you’ve written. You’ll also see if you’ve written any reviews for stories where the author declined to compete, as these count towards Reviewer Recognition targets. If you set a Reviewer Recognition target, you’ll see your progress towards it in this section as well.
What status should I give my vote?
When you enter a vote you can give it one of three statuses: draft, hidden, and final. Which you should use depends on just how "finished" you are with your review.
Draft Reviews
Draft reviews are often used by reviewers for story notes they take on longer stories and intend to turn into a review. Volunteers also use the draft status when they have to edit reviews and want to give the reviewer a chance to add to it. If you would like a draft review to contribute to a story's points, you must change its status to hidden or final.
Hidden Reviews
Many reviewers use hidden reviews when they want to edit a review further, but would be happy with it counting as-is if they do not edit it.
Final Reviews
Reviews with the "final" status can only be edited by volunteers once they have been submitted - reviewers should not select it unless they're sure they do not want to edit it further.
(*Note: No reviews are made visible until nominations close. If you submit a final review before the end of nominations, you can still edit it until June 15 2010. At that point, it will be displayed on the website, and you won't be able to edit it any more.)
I have trouble writing longer reviews. Any suggestions?
Each person adopts their own strategies to deal with this problem. Here are some suggestions.
If you find that you really can't write anything longer than 5-6 points, adjust your other reviews accordingly. In this case you might give 3-4 point reviews for pieces that were good but not spectacular and 5-6 points for the truly spectacular ones.
And remember, the highest possible score is given for reviews longer than 1100 characters. It doesn't matter whether you write 1,101 characters, 1,500 characters or 4,000 characters. It all counts the same.
Can I include quotes?
You may use quotes, from Tolkien or any other source, but they do not count toward the number of characters counted when determining points. This means you can quote as much as you like, but it won't add any points to your review.
Make sure to put a [ before the beginning of the passage you wish to quote and a ] at the end, so the website calculates the score correctly. For example, to quote the first line of The Hobbit, you would type
["In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit."]
Doing this will ensure that your review complies with the above rule stating that quotes are not counted when determining how many points your review is worth. MEFA volunteers will add brackets around any quotes not properly marked, possibly resulting in a review being worth less points than you intended.
If you are unsure how to mark a passage you wish to quote, please email mefasupport@mefawards.net.
Can I include spoilers for the story in my review?
When reviewing a story you may find that you want to include plot details. This is not against the MEFA rules, but many reviewers wish to avoid reading spoilers before reviewing the post themselves. You should warn them that your review includes spoilers by checking the box for "Spoilers" on the Review Form. Reviews will be marked with the text "Spoilers!" in red, so that readers can choose to skip them, but will otherwise be displayed exactly the same as all other reviews. (Click here for an example of what such a review will look like.)
If your review gives away a crucial plot point that you think the author would like to keep a surprise for readers, you may also consider selecting the "hidden" rather than the "final" status for your review. This way, it will not be displayed until after MEFA voting closes, but it will still be counted without you needing to do anything else.
Can I be critical in my reviews?
Yes--within reason.
When deciding how critical you want to remember that, except for the works-in-progress, these stories are finished. Most will have been published months if not years before you see them as part of the Middle-earth Fanfiction Awards, and many authors are no longer interested in revising that particular story.
Ask yourself why you want to be critical. Is it to help the author? Since they've finished writing the story you're reviewing the criticisms should either be easily fixable (i.e., typos) or useful for future stories. Also, if you write about what you like in addition to where you see room for improvement, the author is more likely to listen to what you have to say.
Criticism in reviews can also be a useful way to give other readers a balanced impression of the story. You can certainly do this. However, remember that by reviewing a story at all you are giving it points and so you obviously must have liked something about it. Again, please mix what you liked about the piece with more critical comments.
It is okay simply not to review a story if you don't like it, or if you don't think you can be a fair judge of it for some reason. For example, if you dislike slash on principle, you can decide not to review or even to read stories that have a romance pairing where both partners are the same gender. And if you do decide to review such a story, you can talk about other aspects of it than the slash. It's up to you to decide what kind of feedback you want to give an author.
That said, it is perfectly acceptable to discuss specific aspects of a story, if you want to. You can talk about the characterization, use of canon, writing style, pacing, theme, whatever aspect you want to. Doing this can often help you write longer reviews, if you want to give a story more points.
To summarize: reviews can be critical, but you should also include what you liked about a story. Reviews that are entirely or overwhelmingly negative may be removed. If you are unsure if a review you'd like to enter is too negative you can email the administrator.
Can I edit a review after I write it?
It depends on the status you gave your review. Draft and hidden reviews can be edited; final reviews cannot be edited after voting season starts on July 16 2010.
If you make a mistake and would like to change a final review after this date you will need to email the administrator. Include the story title, story ID# (if you know it), and the new text that you would like the review changed to. Don't describe changes you'd like made; just provide the text of a vote you'd like to replace what is currently in the vote. The administrator will change votes that are wrong, but will not allow you to add to a vote because you decided to give a story more points. If you want to add more to your review, give it a status of hidden and not final.
How do I edit my vote?
If the review is draft or hidden, or final before July 16 2010:
After July 15 2010, if your review is a final review it can only be changed by a volunteer. Email the administrator if you'd like such a review changed.
I received an error when trying to enter a vote. What should I do?
This probably means there is a problem with our website. Either post to the MEFAwards Yahoo group or email the administrator. We will look into the problem as soon as possible.
Please include your operating system, browser, and error message when reporting an error.
I received an error when trying to read a story. What should I do?
The problem usually lies with the archive hosting the story. You should contact that web site's tech support.
If you think the link is broken, email the administrator and we'll look into it.
Can I have more than one account?
In general, no. In rare cases, certain types of volunteers will be given a second account if they need a second account for their volunteer responsibilities. The second account will not be able to vote or nominate stories, and will be used exclusively for their volunteer work.
Otherwise: each member is only allowed one account. If you are known by more than one name in the fandom, you may choose to mention both names in your MEFA penname (what is displayed on the MEFA website). For instance:
If you prefer to keep your identities separate, you may change the way your name is displayed on our website from year to year. Unfortunately our website cannot allow the same author to have stories nominated under different names in the same year.
If you are nominated as an author and later decide to join the MEFAwards Yahoo group, you should still only have one account. Your new status as a MEFAwards member will be added to your current account, so that you will be able to nominate stories by logging in to the same account. If you are ever given more than one account, please email the administrator so that we can correct the situation.
Members who are authors but do not belong to the MEFAwards Yahoo group are added to the site each year; only accounts of MEFAwards members carry over from year to year. So some authors may have more than one account, but never in the same year. This is not a problem, so long as you only have one account within a given year.
However, if you have more than one account in the same year -- or know of anyone who does -- please email the administrator so that the situation can be investigated and corrected.
If you forget your password, do not attempt to register for another account. Use the "Forgot your password?" link on the sign-in page, or email the administrator if you need assistance retrieving your password.
Can I use the same vote more than once?
You cannot reuse any part of a review that you entered for another story in the MEFAs. Any part found to be copied from another MEFA review will not be counted.
Ideally every MEFA review will be completely new, but time constraints sometimes make this difficult. For this reason you may reuse a review (or part of a review) you wrote for another site such as the archive where the story is posted. Remember that the longer the review the more points you give the story so make sure you edit accordingly. If you do this do not say that you are reusing an old review; this inflates the review's score and can confuse other reviewers about what is permissible and what is not.
If you see a review inappropriately copied from a review for another MEFA story, please email the administrator.
Can I use HTML in my review?
When you enter a review, the website stores exactly what you type in. If you type in a HTML tag like "<i>", the website will store that as the characters <, i, and > and will display them that way. The site won't recognize them as a HTML tag. So if you enter HTML, the site will display every character you type; it will not recognize tags and display them as such. You can use underscores (_) to indicate italics, and asterisks (*) for emphasis.
Some reviewers want to provide links in their reviews. You may give a site URL if it is not so long it makes your review hard to read. However, you must put the site URL in [square brackets] just like you would a quote. This will instruct the website not to count the characters of the URL when determining how many points your review is worth.
If you want to use a URL but are worried that it is too long and will make it difficult for people to read your review, use the site http://www.tinyurl.com/ to generate a shorter link. This will make it easier for other people to read your review, and they will still be able to get to your longer link by visiting the shorter one generated by tinyurl.com
What do I do if a review contains spoilers, but isn't labelled as such?
When you see a review that contains spoilers for the story being reviewed, but isn't labelled as containing a spoiler, you should email the administrator. Please include the reviewer's name, the story ID #, the text of the review, and why you think it contains spoilers.
If the administrator agrees that it should be marked as containing spoilers, the administrator will add the spoiler warning.
Someone left me a review, and I'd like to reply to it. How do I do this?
Authors are welcome to reply to reviews left their stories. To do this, you'll need to be logged in to the MEFA2010 website using the name and password you used to complete your story form.
Once logged in, look at the reviews displayed and find the review you'd like to reply to. Click the "Reply to Review" link for that review. This will open up a pop-up window giving you instructions on how to reply to a review.
Essentially, you'll be writing a reply to the review and sending it to the award administrator. The administrator will read over your reply and, if it is appropriate (i.e. not spam and not a flame), your email will be forwarded by the administrator to the reviewer. The reviewer may choose to reply back, or they may not. Your email address will be made available to the reviewer, but you will not receive theirs unless the reviewer chooses to reply back.
This feature is only available to authors of the story being reviewed. We do not currently allow third-party members to reply to the reviews submitted.
If you think the review is overwhelmingly negative and would like it taken down, please email the administrator to discuss the situation. For more on negative reviews, please see the following FAQs:
Please do not use the "Reply to Review" feature to report negative reviews.
Can an offensive review be removed?
Yes, if the awards administrators agree that it is truly inappropriate.
Authors: If you would like a review about one of your stories removed, you should email the administrator. If the administrator agrees that the review is offensive it will be removed. If a review is removed its points will not be counted. A review will only be removed if the administrator agrees that the review is entirely or overwhelmingly negative.
Other members: If you see a review for someone else's story that you think is too negative, please email the administrator. The administrator will examine the review and decide whether it is too negative. If it is, the administrator will contact the author and ask if they would like it removed. If the author asks for it to be taken down the review will be deleted, and its points will not be counted. A review will only be removed if the administrator agrees that the review is entirely or overwhelmingly negative.
The administrator may ask other volunteers for advice on whether a certain review should be removed. The final decision still rests with the administrator whether to remove the review or not.
If an administrator or other volunteer is either the author or the reviewer, they will not be involved in the decision to delete the review (or not). Another volunteer will be appointed to decide.
How are reviews scored?
The number of characters in a review is counted by the website. Only the following characters are counted:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789
.,;":'!?-()
Note that characters with diacriticals such as É, æ, and ð are not counted. This is for technical reasons. If you want them to count toward your vote length you should transliterate them (i.e., E for É, ae for æ). Spaces and anything inside [square brackets] are also not counted.
Each vote is then assigned a point value based on the number of characters.
At the end of voting, the point values for all the votes received by a certain work are added together. The story in each subcategory that earns the most points gets first place, second highest gets second place, and third highest gets third place.
Honorable mentions will be awarded to each of the next highest scoring stories until such time as half the stories in the subcategory have received an award (either first, second, or third place or honorable mention) i.e. in a subcategory with 6 stories, 3 stories will receive an award, in a subcategory with 7 or 8 stories, 4 stories will receive an award, in a subcategory with 9 or 10 stories, 5 stories will receive an award and in a subcategory with 11 or 12 stories, 6 stories will receive an award. Additionally, any story with the same number of points as the third-place story in that subcategory will get an honorable mention.
How are ties handled?
If two pieces have the same number of points we then look at the number of people who voted for each story. The story with the most people voting for it is placed above the story with less people voting for it.
If the number of people voting for a story is still tied we look at the character count. Let's say two stories receive the following votes:
Story A
Vote #1 - 148 characters (2 points)
Vote #2 - 227 characters (3 points)
Story B
Vote #1 - 389 characters (4 points)
Vote #2 - 67 characters (1 point)
Both stories received 5 points so they are tied on this basis. They both received votes by two people, so they also are tied on that basis. However, story A received 375 characters while story B received 456 characters. Therefore story B ranks above story A.
If two stories have the same number of points, number of people voting for it, and number of characters, those stories are tied, and both receive the same award. In the case of a tie we do not skip the next "place" (so if two stories tie for second place, third place is still awarded).
What happens if I review a piece that doesn't end up competing?
There are two situations where this might happen. First, you may review a piece that is nominated but that the author declines to have compete in our awards (or where the author cannot be reached). In this case, your reviews will be hidden so that other reviewers do not think the stories are in competition. The review will, however, count toward your Reviewer Recognition status.
Occasionally the same story will temporarily be nominated under more than one ID #. This happens when someone nominates a piece that was already nominated earlier in the same year's nominations season. The second nomination is withdrawn as soon as it is noticed by the author's liaison, but occasionally reviewers will vote for the story under its second ID # before this second nomination can be withdrawn. In this case, any reviews written for the second ID # will need to be re-entered as reviews for the first ID #. Should this affect one of your reviews, your first review will be withdrawn, and you will be contacted by the administrator to re-enter your review under the story ID # that is actually competing. The withdrawn review will not count toward your Reviewer Recognition status, but the review entered under the competing ID # will count.
Back to FAQ index
Page Serve Time = 0.078535795211792 seconds. Frequently Asked Questions: Voting
- Who can vote?
- How do I vote?
- How do I find a story to vote for?
- How do I find stories featuring a certain romantic pairing? Can I read just het or slash?
- When can I vote?
- Can I encourage people to vote for a specific story?
- Where can I find out how many reviews I’ve written so far?
- What status should I give my vote?
- I have trouble writing longer reviews. Any suggestions?
- Can I include quotes?
- Can I include spoilers for the story in my review?
- Can I be critical in my reviews?
- Can I edit a review after I write it?
- How do I edit my vote?
- I received an error when trying to enter a vote. What should I do?
- I received an error when trying to read a story. What should I do?
- Can I vote under more than one name?
- Can I use the same vote more than once?
- Can I use HTML in my review?
- What do I do if a review contains spoilers, but isn't labelled as such?
- Someone left me a review, and I'd like to reply to it. How do I do this?
- Can an offensive review be removed?
- How are reviews scored?
- How are ties handled?
- What happens if I review a piece that doesn't end up competing?
Who can vote?
To vote you must have a membership at the MEFA2010 website either as an author or as a member of the MEFAwards Yahoo group.
Please note that your MEFA2010 membership is not the same as your Yahoo account. You can choose to make your Yahoo password the same as the password you use to log in to the MEFA2010 website, but changing one will not affect the other.
Memberships at the MEFA2010 website are set up manually by volunteers. Someone should contact you within a few days of joining the MEFAwards Yahoo group with your password for the MEFA2010 website.
How do I vote?
You can vote for any story nominated (except those where you are the author or a co-author) by writing a review of that story. Each review gives its story points, up to ten points for 1,000 characters. The longer you write, the more points you give your story, and the stories with the most points in their subcategory win an award.
To vote you will need to log in to the MEFA2010 website. Once you are logged in click the "Stories" link at the top of this page. You will see a list of all the nominated stories, along with some information about the stories. In addition, if you have voting privileges you should see a link in the right column to enter a new vote or edit your already-existing vote.
(In order to vote you either need to be a nominated author or a member of the MEFAwards Yahoo group. If you don't see these links and think you should, please contact mefasupport@mefawards.net.)
Once you've read a story and are ready to enter your vote, click on the "Enter New Review" link to the right of the story's listing to enter a new review. This will open a new window into which you can type your review. Select the status you would like to give your review (more info on that below), and type or copy-and-paste your review into the "story review" field. When you're done click "save review".
Your web browser will display the page you see when first logging in, with a bar at the top verifying that you have submitted a review. As soon as you see this bar you can close the window; your review has been saved.
When you close the window you will see the page of nominations. From here you can find another story to review or go to any other section of the website using the navigation bar at the top of the page.
(Note: You will automatically be logged out of the MEFA website after two hours. If this happens while you are typing in your review, you will be redirected to the log-in page. If this happens your review will not be saved and you will have to retype it. We have added a counter that shows you how much time you have left until you are logged out, and you will receive an alert just before the two hours is up. However, we do suggest you write longer reviews in a word processor and copy-and-paste them into the review form to avoid losing them as a result of being logged out.)
How do I find a story to vote for?
If you know a certain story you would like to vote for and you know the ID # it has on the MEFA website you can find it easily. While logged to the MEFA2010 website, click on the "Stories" link at the top of any page. Once the "List of Nominations" page loads, enter the ID number followed by the # sign into the search bar and click search.
If you know the title but not the ID number, you can search for that using the search bar. This will return any stories with those words in the title, author's name, or summary, so you will need to pick the right one.
Hopefully you will also want to read new stories and review them. If you aren't trying to review a certain story but want help narrowing down the list of nominated stories, the story filters are your friend. The filters are a set of drop-down menus that allow you to find certain types of stories.
(Note: If you select more than one filter, you will only see stories that match all the choices you've set in the filters--not every story that matches any one of the filters.)
1. Story Type
The story type filter returns all of the stories of a certain type. You can choose from drabbles; poetry; incomplete stories (works-in-progress); non-fiction; or stories (everything that isn't covered by one of the other filters).
2. Author
Select an author from this list to get a list of stories by that author. You can also search for the author's name using the search bar, but this may find stories where the author's name is mentioned in the title or summary (but where what you are searching for isn't the author).
3. Main Category and SubCategory
After categories are set up, you will be able to find all of the stories in a main category or a sub-category by selecting it from these two lists. To get a list of stories in a subcategory, you need to first select the appropriate main category from the "Main Category" dropdown list and click the "Display Selected Nominations" button. This will display the list of subcategories in that main category in the "Subcategory" dropdown list. You can then select the subcategory you’re interested in and click the "Display Selected Nominations" button again to see the stories in that subcategory.
4. Review Status
This list lets you see all those stories you have reviewed (or not reviewed). You can also find stories that you have added to your wish list or skip list, and stories that do not have very many reviews entered for them.
5. Story Length
Every story has a length assigned to it, and you can use this filter to see all of the stories that have a certain length. You can select
- True Drabble: Exactly 100 words
- True Drabble Series -- any number of pieces, each exactly 100 words long.
- Ficlet: one piece, up to 1,000 words, not also a true drabble.
- Ficlet series -- any number of pieces, each no more than 1,000 words, not all a true drabble.
- Short Story: A story 1,001 to 10,000 words
- Medium Length: A story 10,001 to 40,000 words
- Novel: A story 40,001 words or longer.
- N/A: This length is usually used for poetry, non-fiction, or other forms that don't fit the above lengths.
6. Genre, Race, Time Choice
When a story is nominated an author chooses three main category choices where volunteers will try to place the story. The main category filter above only shows stories actually placed in that main category. This filter lets you display all of the stories that chose a certain main category as one of their choices, even if the story didn't end up placed there.
7. Character; Setting; Sub-Genre or Poetic Form; and Canonical Event or Time Period
These four lists return stories where an author has said the story involves a certain character, setting, sub-genre or poetic form, or canonical event or time period. Authors can select multiple entries for all of these lists, so the same story may appear on lists about more than one character, etc.
8. Source
The story type filter returns all of the stories that an author has marked as being based on a certain source. You can use this filter if you're interested in finding stories that, for instance, make use of material in The Silmarillion or which are based on Peter Jackson's movies.
You can also use the QuickLinks underneath the filter to get lists of stories by character, setting, sub-genre or poetic form, canonical event or time period, length and source.
How do I find stories featuring a certain romantic pairing? Can I read just het or slash?
You are free to choose whatever stories you like to read and review. While the MEFAs do not label stories as het or slash, we do ask authors to list any romantic partners involved. A story listing Legolas/Gimli or f/f as a romance partner is obviously slash; Faramir/Eowyn would likewise indicate a het story. An author may also identify their story as het or slash in their story summary.
This information is displayed as part of the listing for each piece. Look for the line beginning "Romance Partners: " You will find here a specific romance partner, a more general description of whether the piece is het or slash (m/f, m/m, or f/f), or that the piece does not have romance partners (n/a).
Because of the way authors enter this information, voters cannot filter the list of nominations for a certain romance partner the way you can for a particular character. The easiest way to find the stories with a certain romance partner is to filter for one of the two characters in the pairing, and then to look at the romance partners of each story displayed. If you do not know how to filter for a certain character, see How do I find a story to vote for?
When can I vote?
You may begin voting as soon as a piece is nominated, and you may vote until voting season ends on December 15 2010.
Do remember that not every nominated story competes. In 2006 718 stories were nominated of which 657 competed (91.5%). If a story is withdrawn from the awards your vote will not count simply because there is no story entered toward which it would count. For this reason many people only review stories during nomination season if the story is labeled "Nomination Complete" in the right hand column on the "Browse Nominated Stories" page. Occasionally a completed nomination will be withdrawn if the author changes his or her mind about competing, but this is pretty rare.
Can I encourage people to vote for a specific story?
No. Members are not allowed to solicit votes for either their own stories or anyone else's, which means that they cannot encourage members to vote for specific stories. Nor can they encourage people to join the MEFAs specifically to vote for specific stories.
Getting nominated for an awards program is fun and exciting. This rule doesn't mean that you can't tell people that you or your friends were nominated. Quite the contrary: talk it up. Tell your friends about the MEFAs. Download a nominee button or banner and display it with pride. Even encourage them to get involved.
However: Do not tell people to vote for specific stories that have been nominated.
- Saying you've been nominated = good.
- Congratulating other nominated authors = good.
- Telling people to go vote for those stories = bad.
The first time this happens, we'll probably give you the benefit of the doubt and just ask you to take down the comment encouraging people to vote for your stories. The MEFAs can be complicated, and it's easy to not know about some of the rules when you first get involved. However, if you repeatedly break this rule, here are some of the potential consequences:
- If you continue to solicit votes for your own story, your story may be withdrawn.
- If you repeatedly solicit votes despite being asked not to (for your own stories or someone else's), you may lose your voting and/or nominating privileges.
The same action may be taken the first time you solicit votes, if you refuse to take the comment down when asked to do so by the MEFA administrator.
This isn't because we don't want you to enjoy the awards, or get other people excited. Far from it. But for the MEFAs to be fair, we need a fair playing field – and that means not telling people to vote for specific stories.
If you're unsure whether a comment is appropriate or not, you can always email the administrator before posting it.
Where can I find out how many reviews I’ve written so far?
Once you’ve written your first review, you’ll see a section called "Reviewing" appear on your home page that tells you how many draft, hidden and final reviews you’ve written. You’ll also see if you’ve written any reviews for stories where the author declined to compete, as these count towards Reviewer Recognition targets. If you set a Reviewer Recognition target, you’ll see your progress towards it in this section as well.
What status should I give my vote?
When you enter a vote you can give it one of three statuses: draft, hidden, and final. Which you should use depends on just how "finished" you are with your review.
Draft Reviews
- never counted
- editable until end of awards
- never visible to anyone except reviewer and awards volunteers
Draft reviews are often used by reviewers for story notes they take on longer stories and intend to turn into a review. Volunteers also use the draft status when they have to edit reviews and want to give the reviewer a chance to add to it. If you would like a draft review to contribute to a story's points, you must change its status to hidden or final.
Hidden Reviews
- counted at the end of the awards
- can be edited until end of awards
- made visible at end of awards - not before
Many reviewers use hidden reviews when they want to edit a review further, but would be happy with it counting as-is if they do not edit it.
Final Reviews
- counted as soon as they are submitted
- cannot be edited after they are submitted*
- made visible as soon as they are submitted*
Reviews with the "final" status can only be edited by volunteers once they have been submitted - reviewers should not select it unless they're sure they do not want to edit it further.
(*Note: No reviews are made visible until nominations close. If you submit a final review before the end of nominations, you can still edit it until June 15 2010. At that point, it will be displayed on the website, and you won't be able to edit it any more.)
I have trouble writing longer reviews. Any suggestions?
Each person adopts their own strategies to deal with this problem. Here are some suggestions.
- Talk about what you liked best. Don't just say you liked it, but single out some of the elements that worked particularly well.
- Every piece out there, no matter how perfect, has some room for improvement. It may just be something that you would do differently if you were writing it. Many ten-point reviews have criticisms of some elements of a story the reviewer obviously liked a lot overall. (If you decide to do this read Can I be critical in my reviews? to make sure your criticism is constructive rather than a flame.)
- Compare the story to another piece on the same theme. Doing this requires that you describe how the pieces are similar or different, which will push you to make the review longer.
- Describe how the story affected you. Did a story remind you of a certain memory from your own childhood?
If you find that you really can't write anything longer than 5-6 points, adjust your other reviews accordingly. In this case you might give 3-4 point reviews for pieces that were good but not spectacular and 5-6 points for the truly spectacular ones.
And remember, the highest possible score is given for reviews longer than 1100 characters. It doesn't matter whether you write 1,101 characters, 1,500 characters or 4,000 characters. It all counts the same.
Can I include quotes?
You may use quotes, from Tolkien or any other source, but they do not count toward the number of characters counted when determining points. This means you can quote as much as you like, but it won't add any points to your review.
Make sure to put a [ before the beginning of the passage you wish to quote and a ] at the end, so the website calculates the score correctly. For example, to quote the first line of The Hobbit, you would type
["In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit."]
Doing this will ensure that your review complies with the above rule stating that quotes are not counted when determining how many points your review is worth. MEFA volunteers will add brackets around any quotes not properly marked, possibly resulting in a review being worth less points than you intended.
If you are unsure how to mark a passage you wish to quote, please email mefasupport@mefawards.net.
Can I include spoilers for the story in my review?
When reviewing a story you may find that you want to include plot details. This is not against the MEFA rules, but many reviewers wish to avoid reading spoilers before reviewing the post themselves. You should warn them that your review includes spoilers by checking the box for "Spoilers" on the Review Form. Reviews will be marked with the text "Spoilers!" in red, so that readers can choose to skip them, but will otherwise be displayed exactly the same as all other reviews. (Click here for an example of what such a review will look like.)
If your review gives away a crucial plot point that you think the author would like to keep a surprise for readers, you may also consider selecting the "hidden" rather than the "final" status for your review. This way, it will not be displayed until after MEFA voting closes, but it will still be counted without you needing to do anything else.
Can I be critical in my reviews?
Yes--within reason.
When deciding how critical you want to remember that, except for the works-in-progress, these stories are finished. Most will have been published months if not years before you see them as part of the Middle-earth Fanfiction Awards, and many authors are no longer interested in revising that particular story.
Ask yourself why you want to be critical. Is it to help the author? Since they've finished writing the story you're reviewing the criticisms should either be easily fixable (i.e., typos) or useful for future stories. Also, if you write about what you like in addition to where you see room for improvement, the author is more likely to listen to what you have to say.
Criticism in reviews can also be a useful way to give other readers a balanced impression of the story. You can certainly do this. However, remember that by reviewing a story at all you are giving it points and so you obviously must have liked something about it. Again, please mix what you liked about the piece with more critical comments.
It is okay simply not to review a story if you don't like it, or if you don't think you can be a fair judge of it for some reason. For example, if you dislike slash on principle, you can decide not to review or even to read stories that have a romance pairing where both partners are the same gender. And if you do decide to review such a story, you can talk about other aspects of it than the slash. It's up to you to decide what kind of feedback you want to give an author.
That said, it is perfectly acceptable to discuss specific aspects of a story, if you want to. You can talk about the characterization, use of canon, writing style, pacing, theme, whatever aspect you want to. Doing this can often help you write longer reviews, if you want to give a story more points.
To summarize: reviews can be critical, but you should also include what you liked about a story. Reviews that are entirely or overwhelmingly negative may be removed. If you are unsure if a review you'd like to enter is too negative you can email the administrator.
Can I edit a review after I write it?
It depends on the status you gave your review. Draft and hidden reviews can be edited; final reviews cannot be edited after voting season starts on July 16 2010.
If you make a mistake and would like to change a final review after this date you will need to email the administrator. Include the story title, story ID# (if you know it), and the new text that you would like the review changed to. Don't describe changes you'd like made; just provide the text of a vote you'd like to replace what is currently in the vote. The administrator will change votes that are wrong, but will not allow you to add to a vote because you decided to give a story more points. If you want to add more to your review, give it a status of hidden and not final.
How do I edit my vote?
If the review is draft or hidden, or final before July 16 2010:
- Log in to the voting website.
- Click "Browse Nominated Stories".
- Find the story whose review you wish to edit.
- Click the link on the right column that you would click to enter a new vote. It will now say something along the lines of "edit [draft/hidden/final] review".
- This will open the review in a new window. Make any changes you would like and save the review.
After July 15 2010, if your review is a final review it can only be changed by a volunteer. Email the administrator if you'd like such a review changed.
I received an error when trying to enter a vote. What should I do?
This probably means there is a problem with our website. Either post to the MEFAwards Yahoo group or email the administrator. We will look into the problem as soon as possible.
Please include your operating system, browser, and error message when reporting an error.
I received an error when trying to read a story. What should I do?
The problem usually lies with the archive hosting the story. You should contact that web site's tech support.
If you think the link is broken, email the administrator and we'll look into it.
Can I have more than one account?
In general, no. In rare cases, certain types of volunteers will be given a second account if they need a second account for their volunteer responsibilities. The second account will not be able to vote or nominate stories, and will be used exclusively for their volunteer work.
Otherwise: each member is only allowed one account. If you are known by more than one name in the fandom, you may choose to mention both names in your MEFA penname (what is displayed on the MEFA website). For instance:
- Aragorn (Strider)
- Aragorn/Strider
- Aragorn aka Strider
If you prefer to keep your identities separate, you may change the way your name is displayed on our website from year to year. Unfortunately our website cannot allow the same author to have stories nominated under different names in the same year.
If you are nominated as an author and later decide to join the MEFAwards Yahoo group, you should still only have one account. Your new status as a MEFAwards member will be added to your current account, so that you will be able to nominate stories by logging in to the same account. If you are ever given more than one account, please email the administrator so that we can correct the situation.
Members who are authors but do not belong to the MEFAwards Yahoo group are added to the site each year; only accounts of MEFAwards members carry over from year to year. So some authors may have more than one account, but never in the same year. This is not a problem, so long as you only have one account within a given year.
However, if you have more than one account in the same year -- or know of anyone who does -- please email the administrator so that the situation can be investigated and corrected.
If you forget your password, do not attempt to register for another account. Use the "Forgot your password?" link on the sign-in page, or email the administrator if you need assistance retrieving your password.
Can I use the same vote more than once?
You cannot reuse any part of a review that you entered for another story in the MEFAs. Any part found to be copied from another MEFA review will not be counted.
Ideally every MEFA review will be completely new, but time constraints sometimes make this difficult. For this reason you may reuse a review (or part of a review) you wrote for another site such as the archive where the story is posted. Remember that the longer the review the more points you give the story so make sure you edit accordingly. If you do this do not say that you are reusing an old review; this inflates the review's score and can confuse other reviewers about what is permissible and what is not.
If you see a review inappropriately copied from a review for another MEFA story, please email the administrator.
Can I use HTML in my review?
When you enter a review, the website stores exactly what you type in. If you type in a HTML tag like "<i>", the website will store that as the characters <, i, and > and will display them that way. The site won't recognize them as a HTML tag. So if you enter HTML, the site will display every character you type; it will not recognize tags and display them as such. You can use underscores (_) to indicate italics, and asterisks (*) for emphasis.
Some reviewers want to provide links in their reviews. You may give a site URL if it is not so long it makes your review hard to read. However, you must put the site URL in [square brackets] just like you would a quote. This will instruct the website not to count the characters of the URL when determining how many points your review is worth.
If you want to use a URL but are worried that it is too long and will make it difficult for people to read your review, use the site http://www.tinyurl.com/ to generate a shorter link. This will make it easier for other people to read your review, and they will still be able to get to your longer link by visiting the shorter one generated by tinyurl.com
What do I do if a review contains spoilers, but isn't labelled as such?
When you see a review that contains spoilers for the story being reviewed, but isn't labelled as containing a spoiler, you should email the administrator. Please include the reviewer's name, the story ID #, the text of the review, and why you think it contains spoilers.
If the administrator agrees that it should be marked as containing spoilers, the administrator will add the spoiler warning.
Someone left me a review, and I'd like to reply to it. How do I do this?
Authors are welcome to reply to reviews left their stories. To do this, you'll need to be logged in to the MEFA2010 website using the name and password you used to complete your story form.
Once logged in, look at the reviews displayed and find the review you'd like to reply to. Click the "Reply to Review" link for that review. This will open up a pop-up window giving you instructions on how to reply to a review.
Essentially, you'll be writing a reply to the review and sending it to the award administrator. The administrator will read over your reply and, if it is appropriate (i.e. not spam and not a flame), your email will be forwarded by the administrator to the reviewer. The reviewer may choose to reply back, or they may not. Your email address will be made available to the reviewer, but you will not receive theirs unless the reviewer chooses to reply back.
This feature is only available to authors of the story being reviewed. We do not currently allow third-party members to reply to the reviews submitted.
If you think the review is overwhelmingly negative and would like it taken down, please email the administrator to discuss the situation. For more on negative reviews, please see the following FAQs:
Please do not use the "Reply to Review" feature to report negative reviews.
Can an offensive review be removed?
Yes, if the awards administrators agree that it is truly inappropriate.
Authors: If you would like a review about one of your stories removed, you should email the administrator. If the administrator agrees that the review is offensive it will be removed. If a review is removed its points will not be counted. A review will only be removed if the administrator agrees that the review is entirely or overwhelmingly negative.
Other members: If you see a review for someone else's story that you think is too negative, please email the administrator. The administrator will examine the review and decide whether it is too negative. If it is, the administrator will contact the author and ask if they would like it removed. If the author asks for it to be taken down the review will be deleted, and its points will not be counted. A review will only be removed if the administrator agrees that the review is entirely or overwhelmingly negative.
The administrator may ask other volunteers for advice on whether a certain review should be removed. The final decision still rests with the administrator whether to remove the review or not.
If an administrator or other volunteer is either the author or the reviewer, they will not be involved in the decision to delete the review (or not). Another volunteer will be appointed to decide.
How are reviews scored?
The number of characters in a review is counted by the website. Only the following characters are counted:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789
.,;":'!?-()
Note that characters with diacriticals such as É, æ, and ð are not counted. This is for technical reasons. If you want them to count toward your vote length you should transliterate them (i.e., E for É, ae for æ). Spaces and anything inside [square brackets] are also not counted.
Each vote is then assigned a point value based on the number of characters.
| 1-75 characters | 1 point |
| 76-150 characters | 2 points |
| 151-300 characters | 3 points |
| 301-450 characters | 4 points |
| 451-600 characters | 5 points |
| 601-750 characters | 6 points |
| 751-850 characters | 7 points |
| 851-925 characters | 8 points |
| 926-1000 characters | 9 points |
| More than 1000 characters | 10 points |
At the end of voting, the point values for all the votes received by a certain work are added together. The story in each subcategory that earns the most points gets first place, second highest gets second place, and third highest gets third place.
Honorable mentions will be awarded to each of the next highest scoring stories until such time as half the stories in the subcategory have received an award (either first, second, or third place or honorable mention) i.e. in a subcategory with 6 stories, 3 stories will receive an award, in a subcategory with 7 or 8 stories, 4 stories will receive an award, in a subcategory with 9 or 10 stories, 5 stories will receive an award and in a subcategory with 11 or 12 stories, 6 stories will receive an award. Additionally, any story with the same number of points as the third-place story in that subcategory will get an honorable mention.
How are ties handled?
If two pieces have the same number of points we then look at the number of people who voted for each story. The story with the most people voting for it is placed above the story with less people voting for it.
If the number of people voting for a story is still tied we look at the character count. Let's say two stories receive the following votes:
Story A
Vote #1 - 148 characters (2 points)
Vote #2 - 227 characters (3 points)
Story B
Vote #1 - 389 characters (4 points)
Vote #2 - 67 characters (1 point)
Both stories received 5 points so they are tied on this basis. They both received votes by two people, so they also are tied on that basis. However, story A received 375 characters while story B received 456 characters. Therefore story B ranks above story A.
If two stories have the same number of points, number of people voting for it, and number of characters, those stories are tied, and both receive the same award. In the case of a tie we do not skip the next "place" (so if two stories tie for second place, third place is still awarded).
What happens if I review a piece that doesn't end up competing?
There are two situations where this might happen. First, you may review a piece that is nominated but that the author declines to have compete in our awards (or where the author cannot be reached). In this case, your reviews will be hidden so that other reviewers do not think the stories are in competition. The review will, however, count toward your Reviewer Recognition status.
Occasionally the same story will temporarily be nominated under more than one ID #. This happens when someone nominates a piece that was already nominated earlier in the same year's nominations season. The second nomination is withdrawn as soon as it is noticed by the author's liaison, but occasionally reviewers will vote for the story under its second ID # before this second nomination can be withdrawn. In this case, any reviews written for the second ID # will need to be re-entered as reviews for the first ID #. Should this affect one of your reviews, your first review will be withdrawn, and you will be contacted by the administrator to re-enter your review under the story ID # that is actually competing. The withdrawn review will not count toward your Reviewer Recognition status, but the review entered under the competing ID # will count.
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