If they are truly good, then they will get notoriety. It's as simple as that. People aren't mysteriously going to get skipped over. Everyone appears on the same forum and everyone is on the same page as everyone else. If you write a good story then somebody will find out and the word will get spread around.
Either you've been posting in smaller communities, or you haven't posted that often. Quality fic that gets skipped over
does actually exist. For example... *motions to DGexe*
For another, I'd hate to be egotistical, but I'd like to think what I write is pretty quality. However, it's not unusual for me to write a chapter, post it, and not get a response on places like FFNet. Why? Because I also don't write about bandwagon stuff like new trainer journeys or romance fics -- things readers tend to look for. Does that mean I suck? Given the fact that I've studied fiction intensely (*motions to the fact that she's an English major*) enough to know the basic parts and how to make my fic readable and the fact that the number of times I've gotten negative reviews can be counted on one hand, I think it's safe to say I can write quality fic that's a crapload better than the unreadable tripe that's usually touted on FFNet. It's just that I'm neither a well-known name nor someone who pumps my story full of the familiar stuff to really get noticed.
So, no, I'm not saying "what if" here. I'm saying "this actually happens, and I don't think you realize it does." And that, of course, writing a good fic and being popular are two different things.
undoubtedly you will, but the sheer amount of voters will outweigh the steep bias and things will fall to a median--
If you have a large number of voters. However, given how many people pay attention to this section and, out of that, how many people really care about awards (given how much of an uproar there was over the fact that FFotM was discontinued), you're not going to get that large population of voters. Ergo, you'll still have bias, particularly from kid writers who think voting's serious business.
Just look at other "popularity" contests such as the Grammies, the Golden Globes,
I don't mean to offend you, but do you realize that both of these awards are decided by
panels of judges and not by a populous? Specifically, for example, the Grammies work as such: an organization (the NARAS) of professionals who understand the business thoroughly select possible artists who deserve the awards of each category. From there, a panel of 150 experts in music carefully pore over each and every nomination to select the most deserving. It is
not a voting contest in which anyone who
thinks they're an expert can decide who gets what. It's an arduous process taken by people who have enough credentials to say they can, in fact, spot quality.
In fact: since this would be a community award I have to argue that your opinion on quality doesn't matter.
Well, yes, that's my point and problem with the matter. What you're basically saying is that everyone except the most vocal don't matter here. That includes the people abstaining from voting and the people voting against -- who, combined, might both think that what's winning is a pile of crap compared to the underdogs who don't get looked at because of what they are.
That and you're assuming
everyone is going to vote. What about those who wish to abstain? I'm pretty sure MotM doesn't have
every member of PC taking the time to submit votes to it.
While it may not fit to your standards it will have fit to the collective PokeCommunities standards, and that is what matters.
So, basically, you're saying that we should advertise a possible crapfic as the quality and standards for PC, rather than a fic that's actually good but gets skipped over because it's not a bandwagon piece. Gotcha.
Your other point was: "Do you really think everyone will vote?". No, I don't. But the people who do care about the awards WILL vote and--much like the Presidential elections--this will help to weed out uninformed voters. I think that is a positive.
Uninformed voters? You know, in order to vote in this contest, you need to fall into either of two categories:
1. The voter who's going to be voting only for the fics they've read. (I'm assuming few people are actually hardcore enough to read
every fic on PC, but that's just an assumption here.) Otherwise, you don't really know the story enough to actually vote for it.
2. The voter who's voting for what their friend chose. (Which, incidentally,
also happens in presidential elections. After all, how do you think Bush got a second term?)
That aside, if you've got the n00bs who go "omg ill vote 4 u if u vote 4 me" as your initial population of voters, would people be inclined to vote? Actual question that I'm posing to the general community here.