I'm not in favour.
I've seen some fairly rude and dismissive criticism of some of the comics here and I don't think it would be helpful for creators to be exposed to that. Some are thick-skinned enough to brush it off, obviously, but there are a lot of sensitive people making comics and I do think some creators could be hurt.
Secondly, the nice thing about the confidential nature of the categories is that judges are free to be very honest about the comics they're judging. If they felt their comments were going to be open to scrutiny at a later stage, they may be tempted to say less and simply opt for a ranking.
Thirdly, I believe there's also a risk that this could reduce the number of people volunteering in the future. Why judge a category if there's a possibility that your comments could be held against you (and/or your own comic!) at a later stage?
Finally, there have always been categories in which the final result is disputed. That's fine - decisions of this nature are largely subjective after all. In my experience, however, the more people there are who have access to the reasoning behind the decisions, the more people there are who will argue that the decision was flawed/biased/unfair.
I can understand why some of the creators here do want to see the discussions surrounding their own comics. On a personal level, I must admit I'm just as interested in what people have said about Shades. But, for all the reasons given above, I do think that opening up the discussions would be a very bad thing for the awards. I do hope you don't decide to go down this route. There's a reason why the jury's deliberations are always kept secret for the Oscars!
I fully agree, especially as I am neither an author nor an artist someone might be tempted to start a what does he know he only reads, he doesn't create. I have commented for and against comics I like because some have a negative item or two about them, but I don't want the author getting made at me because I think a part of the comic needs improvement. All in all I think it would break DD apart.
