Update

[clauderainsrm]

Good Morning and welcome to September!

Just to keep you in the loop, my plan is to get started as soon as possible (or at least put out the sign up sheet)

But we hit a bit of a snag when the person helping me put the site together (graphics, the technical stuff :to make it look right:, etc) has been hospitalized. She's been in and out for the last week (currently in) and wasn't feeling great before that.

I mention this (1) for people to keep her in your thoughts and also (2) to let you know that I'm bumbling through that part of things on my own right now. I have someone else helping me fix some problems with the main graphic, hopefully he will have an answer for me soon.

I also need to finish the FAQs. I was planning on getting that done this weekend. So I'd better get to work! ;)



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For those interested - the Community Chest, as of this moment, stands at $153.59! Again, half of what is received is going to the final four, so we're almost up to $20 each right now!

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Make sure to start telling your friends that we are coming, because Idol has always been about word of mouth, and this pop-up idea of coming over to DW can only work if YOU are letting people know about it. We don't have the luxury of a fanbase build since 2006 checking in to see what is going on now and then. It's up to you to build the audience, and new contestant base, that you want to see!

FAQ

[clauderainsrm]

Some questions you might be asking alongside others that you didn’t know you wanted to know about.

What is LJ Idol? Why is it here at DW?
LJ Idol was founded in 2006 over at Livejournal and has been ongoing since that inception. With 10 seasons, 3 mini seasons and 2 “kids only” seasons for younger writers, the Idol experience isn’t one that fits neatly into a box. But that is why FAQs exist, so let’s try to do just that.

LJ Idol is an online writing competition mixed with a love of reality television. (Survivor, The Amazing Race, American Idol, Top Chef, etc… not the “Real Criminals of Los Angeles Caught on Tape” variety).

As for “why is it here at Dreamwidth”? If you are here reading this, I probably don’t need to tell you about the various “Livejournal exodus” movements. After being asked for years to do something in this DW space, I decided to host a pop-up mini-season. It’s a trial run. If it’s successful, who knows what the future might hold?

How does this work?

Every week there is a prompt, a deadline and voting. That’s the heart of it right there. You write. You read. You vote. (Sometimes there are twists to that, but that is the standard format)
Someone is eliminated. You move on to the next week until only 1 writer is left standing.

What are the rules?

Don’t be an asshat.
See above section about how this works.

There is an excellent guide to Idol that a contestant made a couple years ago. Rather than recreate the wheel, I’m going to link it here in the FAQs. Just change all the LJ references to DW as you read it. :)
https://therealljidol.livejournal.com/945497.html

Most of the coding seems to be the same here, since it’s all based in Open Coding. The biggest difference seems to be that DW doesn’t have the FB/Twitter access. Which might not be the worst thing.

Specific Mini Season Information:


The Mini Season is “LJ Idol Presents: Literary Prize Fight” (Idol or just LPF are probably going to be what you will see it referred to during the course of the season)
LSF has a few special twists not featured in other mini seasons:
The Community Chest
Prize Fights: The Prize Fight is an optional “extra round” of writing between up to 4 contestants.
Someone issues a challenge “I challenge writer X and writer Y”.
Writers X and Y have to accept the challenge
If they do not, then there is no Prize Fight for that week. If one accepts and the other does not, then it is only between the willing parties.
Anyone interested in the outcome (other contestants, readers, random passersby) can donate to the Prize Fight fund (“the purse”). This is a separate fund that is ONLY for an individual Fight.
Whoever has the most votes in the Prize Fight poll when it closes wins 100% of the “purse”.


Depending on how many people sign up, my goal for the duration of this mini season is about 6 months. The schedule, as usual, will lighten around US Thanksgiving and Christmas.


If you have any specific questions not addressed here, leave them in the comments and I will do my best to make up an answer. :)