j5 wrote:One element is missing. It's the same reason Universities don't don't like to hire their grad students into faculty positions. Stagnation. You yourself complained of the HMs being "just the fog, so why bother." Editors will pick what they always pick, so the guest editor is crucial to cultivating fresh derby entries.
The problem being that once upon a time, ECs were "whatever". There were weeks of absolute shite, for sure (ironically the EC week right before Ramy's ascent was uncharacteristically terrible), but for a long while, there was a chance of something truly different coming across the table. I don't know what's been up for the last few renditions of the doubletake, but I admit that part of what made me stop caring what got printed ever is that the editors DID start choosing worse work, the same generic trash that the voters would choose. Especially on doubletakes where talented designers who hadn't won in the entire span between doubletakes and had prodigious amounts of HMs would still not print, but "designers" who regularly got printed with weak work would get a print spot instead.
Still, the editors are automatically a shake-up in that they are not the voters. Even if they are picking the same thing (and for at least two of the guest editors, I have all the faith in the world that they picked the same thing), there is the -chance-. That small chance is enough to make it better. A complete purge of editors for fresh faced idealist artists and critics with a strong sense of intellectual property rights would be even better yet. But until then, if the voters are continually voting for retrogressive design which is dangerous for the artistic community on the whole, I approve any checks and balances that might lead to a fairer selection process.
Lest we forget, when the idea of taking a bit more editorial influence into the derby winners was first brought up by unknown users, presumably with incredibly dashing good looks, things were higher on the hill. It was when the editors, while imperfect, were continually selecting at least different things for dailies, and regularly honoring excellent work or artists in EC weeks. As time has gone on, that separation of integrity has deteriorated, but then, so too has the wooter base. At this late period, it might be too little too late to regain a modicum of quality control, or it might be a method of quashing the remaining outside vote that injects the slight bit of intrigue and rare quality derby print into the woot print schedule. It's hard to say. But the potential exists for great things as compared to the old guard. After all, just because you teach a student doesn't mean they become you. The young blood might inject life into your faculty simply through having a more contemporary worldview.
no1 wrote:for them to pick dailies they'd have to see what's submitted to woot or be a curator. either way, it'd take enough time that i think it wouldn't be appropriate for an unpaid volunteer to do it. picking one from the derby is doable for a volunteer who's already watching the derby anyway. as far as rotation goes, sure, after some more artists come back. but to get the "guest editor" thing off the ground, imo there aren't enough malcontents who are familiar enough with the derby to do a decent job, to rotate that often. plus i think adder may be famous enough to pull in some more diverse artists.
The thing with non-rotational guest editors is that then you get the pander vote in full force. Rats and cats and, at least in one case, new users with familiarly shiny and dead-eyed styles and anime-sounding names. The difficulty is that yes, most of the most active people here are either longtimers who were here before shirt and are only peripherally interested in art, or the most social-clubby aspects of the site who are going to clearly be influenced by loyalties just like picking prom queens. As for their promised "outside" influences, well, we all remember Wil Wheaton's beautifully rendered daily contribution, or the guest editor weeks that were inevitably populated by nerditude so strong not even woot regulars would buy. And by "we all," I guess I mean "me," because regulars around here forget years of design theft every time a new design theft happens, let alone obscure old tees.
But that almost makes it all the more important to have a weekly, secret guest editor, and not monthly residences. Especially if this is an "experiment". It's best to run the gamut, see who the buyers and community (who am I kidding, just the buyers) respond to best, who is unbiased as possible, etc etc. Also, let's be honest, if someone is guest editor for a month, and there's a fairly weak selection of designs and themes, they might just pick the same artist every week simply for being the least bad every time.
And honored though I am that you'd suggest it, I wouldn't have the power to bring better names in. No one really would. The artists would need to be watching woot regularly (doubtful) to know the person was the editor, they'd need to be inspired by the theme enough to create something good, and even if an influential guest editor could sway them into entry, and it did bring in droves, what motivation would there be? The editor would pick one of them, the others would go on to HMs with no eventual EC print (gotta keep the bunnies up!) and when the editor's run was over the derby would once again thin out of talent. What the average wooter may not realize is how many top tier shirt designers have spent a month or two here and then simply left for not being appreciated, either by staff or voters. There would need to already be a trend of regular derby prints going to top-tier work before we reliably saw the top-tier work return.
It would also probably require a change from Anvil blanks, but that's another discussion entirely.
And yes, daily selection is a whole different animal as well, and even at their weakest, I support 100% keeping the balance of dailies to derbies about as they are right now. If this move is about art and artist diversity, killing a daily off will only harm that (dailies can come from any artist on any topic, after all).
