The World Science Fiction Society

Minutes of the Business Meeting at Bucconeer
Thursday 6th August 1998 to Saturday 8th August 1998
APPENDIX E - New Motions

Return to 1998 Business Meeting Minutes

New Business First Presented at Bucconeer

4. New Business Part I

Items under this heading have not been given first passage, but do not require ratification at Aussiecon Three.

4.1 Petition to extend Susan Matthews' Campbell Award Eligibility

Susan R. Matthews' first novel, AN EXCHANGE OF HOSTAGES, was released in a limited edition in November, 1996 and then in a mass market edition in April, 1997. The first edition was intended to be a reading copy only - however in the mass market edition, the publisher (contrary to the usual practice) listed the earlier date as the official publication date. This means that, technically, 1997 is Susan Matthews' second, and final, year of eligibility for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.The WSFS Constitution allows a work, which received limited exposure its first year, to be granted an additional year of eligibility for the Hugo Awards. We're asking that this year's Business Meeting follow the spirit of this rule and request that an additional year of eligibility for the Campbell Award be granted to Ms. Matthews. Stanley Schmidt, the administrator of this award for Dell Publications, agrees to this request.

John Lorentz & Ruth Sachter, Bucconeer Hugo Administrators

"RESOLVED, that this meeting believes that Susan Matthews' eligibility for the Campbell Award should be extended to include the Award presented at Aussiecon Three, the 1999 World Science Fiction Convention."

4.2 Short Titles

Resolved, to direct the Secretary, under the authority of Standing Rule 23, to modify the WSFS Constitution as follows:

In Section 1. 1, insert title "Name.".
In Section 1.2, insert title "Objectives.", and replace the numbering "1.2.1" to "1.2.5" with "(1)" to "(5)".
In Section 1.3, insert title "Restrictions.".
In Section 1.4, insert title "Membership.".
In Section 1.5, insert title "Memberships.".
In Section 1.6, insert title "Authority.".
In Section 1.7, insert title "Marks.".[1]
In Section 1.8, insert title "Financial Reports.".[1]
In Section 3.1, insert title "Voting", and number each sentence as a separate subsection.
In Section 3.2, insert title "Voter Eligibility.", and divide the section into two subsections as follows:
3.2.1: Voting shall be limited to WSFS members who have purchased at least a supporting membership in the Worldcon whose site is being selected.
3.2.2: The supporting membership rate shall be set by unanimous agreement of the current Worldcon Committee and all bidding committees who have filed before the ballot deadline. If agreement is not reached, the default fee shall be the median (middle value) of the US dollar fees used in the previous three (3) Worldcon site selections.
In Section 3.3, insert title "Non-natural Persons.".
In Section 3.4, insert title "Ballots.".
In Section 3.5, insert title "Tallying.".
In Section 3.6, insert title "Bid Eligibility.".[31
In Section 3.7, insert title "Site Eligibility.".
In Section 3.8, insert title "North America.", and replace the numbering "3.8.1" to "3.8.3" with "(1)" to "(3)".
In Section 3.9, insert title "NASFiC.".
In Section 3.10, insert title "Bid Presentations.".[l ]
In Section 3.11, insert title "Incapacity of Committees.".[1]
In Section 4. 1, insert title "WSFS Business Meetings.".[4]
In Section 4.2, insert title "Official Representative.".[l]
In Section 4.3, insert title "Continuation of Committees.".[4]
In Section 4.4, insert title "The Mark Protection Committee.". [2]
In Section 4.5, insert title "Duties of the Mark Protection Committee.".[2]
In Section 5.1, insert title "Conduct.".
In Section 5.2, insert title "Natural Persons.".
In Section 5.3, insert title "Amendment.".
In Section 5.4, insert title "Commencement.".
In Section 5.5, insert title "Standing Rules.".
In Section 5.6, insert title "Constitutional Pass-along.".[4]
In Section 5.7, insert title "Distribution of Rules.".[1]

Moved by the Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee.

Discussion:
This adds titles to those sections that don't currently have them, and makes the numbering style consistent. This is a Good Thing. It also breaks up the text of Sections 3.1 and 3.2 into subsections for greater clarity, without amending any wording.

[1] These sections are unnecessary if "Committee Responsibility" is ratified.
[2] These sections are unnecessary if "Mark Protection Committee Clarifications" is ratified.
[3] This section is unnecessary if "Eligibility" is ratified.
[4] These sections are unnecessary if "Yet More Business" is ratified.

5. New Business Part II

Items under this heading have not been given first passage, and will become part of the Constitution only if ratified at Bucconeer and at Aussiecon Three.

5.1 Proposal to change the designation of the Hugo Awards from "Best" to "Most Popular"

One annual complaint of fans about the Hugo awards is that people nominate and vote for their favorite choices over other works of higher quality. This cannot be avoided in the type of voting system that the Hugo awards use. This is a proposal to address this perceived problem by changing the designation of the Hugo awards from "Best" to "Most Popular".

Specifically, moved to amend section 2.2 of the WSFS Constitution by replacing "Best" by "Most Popular" throughout.

Change Article II, Section 2.2.1 "Best Novel" to "Most Popular Novel".
Change Article II, Section 2.2.2 "Best Novella" to "Most Popular Novella".
Change Article II, Section 2.2.3 "Best Novellette" to "Most Popular Novellette".
Change Article II, Section 2.2.4 "Best Related Book" to "Most Popular Related Book".
Change Article 11, Section 2.2.5 "Best Dramatic Presentation" to "Most Popular Dramatic Presentation".
Change Article 11, Section 2.2.6 "Best Professional Editor" to "Most Popular Professional Editor".
Change Article 11, Section 2.2.7 "Best Professional Artist" to "Most Popular Professional Artist".
Change Article II, Section 2.2.8 "Best Semiprozine" to "Most Popular Semiprozine".
Change Article II, Section 2.2.9 "Best " to "Most Popular ".
Change Article II, Section 2.2.10 "Best Fanzine" to "Most Popular Fanzine".
Change Article II, Section 2.2.1 1 "Best Fan Writer" to "Most Popular Fan Writer".
Change Article II, Section 2.2.12 "Best Fan Artist" to "Most Popular Fan Artist".

Anne Davenport & Terry Neill

5.2 Tidying Site Selection

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution as follows: [Text in brackets, including this text, is explanatory and not substantive.]

In Section 3. 1: replace "Voting shall be by mail or ballot cast at the current Worldcon with run-off ballot as described in Section 2.9" with "Voting shall be by written ballot cast either by mail or at the current Worldcon with tallying as described in Section 2.9".
In Section 3. 1: replace "administer the mail balloting" with "administer the voting".
[This brings the Constitution into line with current practice. It makes the Committee administer the whole process rather than just the mail balloting. This has been our practice since the abolition of the selection meeting in the 1970s.]

Replace Section 3.3 with the following new Section:
Section 3.3: Non-natural Persons. Corporations, associations, and other non-human or artificial entities may cast ballots, but only for "No Preference". "Guest of" memberships may only cast "No Preference" ballots. Memberships transferred to individual natural persons may cast preferential ballots, provided that the transfer is accepted by the administering convention.
[This rewords the section to clarify it. At the moment this section reads as if it is a restriction on who may cast 'No Preference" ballots. In fact, it relaxes the prohibition on non-natural persons casting votes in Section 5.2., so I have reworded the first sentence into active voice to clarify it. "Guest of" memberships generally have a natural person attached to them, but it may be different people at different times. This rewording would allow any membership transferred to a particular natural person to cast any ballot, which is probably what was originally intended.
Section 3.3 currently reads: ' "No Preference " ballots may be cast by corporations, associations, and other non-human or artificial entities. "Guest of" memberships must be transferred to individual natural persons before being cast for other than "No Preference ", with such transfers accepted by the administering convention.]

In Section 3.5.1, replace "with two (2) witnesses from each bidding committee allowed to observe." with ". Each bidding committee should provide at least two (2) tellers."
[Again, this is current practice. I have written 'should' rather than 'must' to prevent committees holding up the count by not providing their tellers.]

Delete Subsection 3.5.3, and insert the following new Subsections:
3.5.3:"None of the Above" shall be treated as a bid for tallying, and shall be the equivalent of "No Award" with respect to Section 2.9.
3.5.5:If "None of the Above" wins, the duty of site selection shall devolve on the Business Meeting of the current Worldcon. If the Business Meeting is unable to decide by the end of the Worldcon, the Committee for the following Worldcon shall make the selection without undue delay.
3.5.6: Where a site and Committee are chosen by a Business Meeting or Worldcon Committee, they are not restricted by region or other qualifications, and the choice of an out-of-rotation site shall not affect the regional rotation for subsequent years.
[This breaks up the existing wording into three subsections. The only change in wording is the substitution of '"None of the Above"' for "it" at the start of Section 3.5.5.]

Moved by the Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee

Discussion:
This tidies the wording of Article 3. it requires the current committee to administer the whole voting process rather than just the mail balloting, and directs the bidding committees to provide tellers rather than allowing them to provide observers. This changes the Constitution to reflect what actually happens, so there is no actual change in powers.

5.3 No-Zone Rotation

Moved: To amend Article 111 by:

1. Deleting all of section 3.7 except the last sentence.
2. Replacing "sixty (60) " with "Five hundred (500)" in the last sentence of section 3.7
3. Replacing "the North American region eligible" with "North America" in the first sentence of Section 3.9
4. Deleting the first sentence of 3.9.2

Provided that any site which would have been eligible under the old rules will also be eligible in the first three races conducted under these eligibility rules.

Discussion:
This replaces the current zone system for site eligibility in North America with an unzoned system, in which a bid from any of the rotation zones is allowed to bid in any year. While the rotation system used to be necessary in order to prevent the Worldcon from staying in one geographic area, the decrease through the years in the number of locations that can hold a Worldcon will accomplish most of these results.

This system will also mean that if a group wishes to bid in a year, and has facilities available for that year, they will generally be eligible. And, if a group has its facility taken away by another group, it doesn't need to wait three years to rebid, but may do so when it is next able.

The exclusion zone is expanded from 60 miles to 500 to ensure that having a large number of local voters won't give one site a large proximity advantage in any race.

Moved by Ben Yalow and Bruce Pelz

Effect:
Section 3.7: A site outside North America is eligible for selection in any year. A Site within North America is eligible for selection if it is within the appropriate region as defined below. The North American regions shall rotate in the order Western, Central, Eastern region. A site shall be ineligible if it is within ~~sixty (60)~~ five hundred miles of the site at which selection occurs.
Section 3.9: If the selected Worldcon site is not in North America, there shall be a NASFiC in ~~the North American region eligible~~ North America that year. Selection of the NASFiC shall be by the identical procedure to the Worldcon selection except as provided below or elsewhere in this Constitution:
3.9.1: Voting shall be by written ballot administered by the following year's Worldcon, if there is no NASFiC in that year, or by the following year's NASFiC, if there is one, with ballots cast at the administering convention or by mail, and with only members of the administering convention allowed to vote.
3.9.2: ~~Bids are restricted to sites in the appropriate regions.~~ NASFiC Committees shall make all reasonable efforts to avoid conflicts with Worldcon dates.
3.9.3:The proposed NASFiC supporting membership rate can be set by unanimous agreement of the administering Committee and all bidding committees who have filed before the ballot deadline.
3.9.4: If "None of the Above " wins, or if no eligible bid files by the deadline, then no NASFiC shall be held and any supporting membership payments collected for the NASFiC site selection shall be refunded by the administering convention without undue delay.