Tim Hall

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• Commented on All that is old is new again (heavy politics dance remix)
  Although there's a quote going around in LibDem circles (And I have no idea if it's genuine) that states that the only way a Liberal Democrat revival was possible was if Corbyn won the Labour leadership race and David Cameron...
• Commented on All that is old is new again (heavy politics dance remix)
  I've seen suggestions that this isn't about trying to bring down Cameron, at least in the short term. It's all about undermining his credibility and authority prior to the EU referendum just enough to tilt the balance in favour of...
• Commented on How I learned to stop worrying and love the concept of punitive slating....
  Only if it's that violin....
• Commented on How I learned to stop worrying and love the concept of punitive slating....
  Charlie and the Mods -- it's too late to ask people to not imagine the band, isn't it? Yes. Does it have Adolph Hitler on vibes (looking very relaxed), and Quentin Hogg on piggy-grunts? OK. My take on the Sad...
• Commented on How I learned to stop worrying and love the concept of punitive slating....
  Going back to the main topic, I have to agree with Elizabeth Bear in that only the way to save the Hugos is far wider participation in the nomination rounds, especially in the short fiction categories. Only that will dilute...
• Commented on How I learned to stop worrying and love the concept of punitive slating....
  Do you really mean to say that, for example, a cascade of rape and death threats fits into your notion of polite society? I should not like to accept a notion that fandom need not exist inside the bounds of...
• Commented on How I learned to stop worrying and love the concept of punitive slating....
  Gamergate and the Puppies do include some deeply unpleasant reactionary individuals (for example, John C. Wright), but I'm very wary of assigning attributes of toxic individuals to entire groups, and guilt-by-association never ends well. If you're going to start applying...
• Commented on How I learned to stop worrying and love the concept of punitive slating....
  A large variety of (counter-)strategies would actually be useful. The Sad Puppies, being a loose grouping with low voter discipline (or, more politely, a group who contain a large variety of opinions), are unlikely to be able to construct a...
• Commented on How I learned to stop worrying and love the concept of punitive slating....
  I'd propose a more restrictive use of No Award; think of it as a tactical nuke rather than a strategic one. It's based on the principle that the harm done by slates is not that it gets underserving work on...
• Commented on How I learned to stop worrying and love the concept of punitive slating....
  Do the Hugo rules prohibit publication of the nomination totals at the time the nominations are announced? If not, then publishing the numbers will show whether any "spoiler slate" had any effect on the actual nominations, and will save potential...