Eliminations and an announcement

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

This wasn't a good week for sentimental choices.

bloodread dropped out of the competition. girl_carcinogen has apparently deleted her LJ and two fan favorites missed the deadline, becoming the latest two boots:

cricketshay
and
drewshi have left the building.

Goodbye to all four of you.

This means of course that everyone who got their entry in survives to face the challenges of the a DUAL REWARD and the strangest week yet topic wise.

The reward vote will be posted soon.

As for the topic situation, next week there will be *3* topics for you to choose from. All 3 of them selected by your fellow contestants. 1 will be from the reward vote, and the other two selected by ME.

imafarmgirl and agirlnamedluna please email me asap at clauderainsrm@gmail.com - you are two that I have selected, so get me your topic selection as soon as possible!

Comments

[shalanna.livejournal.com]

Oh! Sorry to see people dropping out. I know real life gets in the way, though. There are 2 things (3 if you count the laundry--you know, that animated pile of crumpled fabric muttering to itself in the corner over there) that I should be doing other than checking in on LJ and Idol.

This has been good for me, as without the LJ Idol topic-entries, I would probably post only on esoteric topics that strike my fancy and whiny entries about how my novel(s) got rejected again. And it's fun to read so many different takes on the topics.

Y'all TRY to hang in there, y'hear?

[dizzydog.livejournal.com]

Looks like we'll be doing another special vote, with the winner getting to pick 1 of the 3 topics for next week, and a second unannounced prize. But that'll be the only vote, there won't be a second one for who leaves this week.

[agirlnamedluna.livejournal.com]

I've emailed you :)

[dizzydog.livejournal.com]

Sad to see so many folks get cut all at once, especially several people I enjoyed reading.

I like the idea of having multiple topics to choose from for a week, along with the way they'll be chosen next week should prove interesting.

For this weeks entries, I'd like to make a request of the participants. Please make an effort to read them all and give them a chance? I know there's a lot of entries, and it'd be a lot of work and time. It's just starting to feel like people are falling into a comfortable rut of looking at their favorites and making a quick vote, or just reading the first and last few in the list. Last weeks poll had a lot of votes in the top and bottom ballots, and the middle looked a bit left out even though there were some great entries there. With 3 days to read and vote over the weekend, if you sit down and read 3-4 at a time and jot a note on what you liked, it's not so overwhelming. I know some people have really busy schedules, and this isn't a "You all suck I think you're too lazy get to work post", I just want people to think about the work and thought everyone's put into their entries and fit in what they can to respect the other participants efforts.

Oops, my 6 cents again :) Just something to think about :)

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to choose the folk to pick topics from the "middle of the pack", so hopefully that will result in some future name recognition.

Just an extra something I'm trying to do because I agree with you 100%.

[evansmj.livejournal.com]

What about putting the ballots in random order instead of alphabetical? That way if there is a "bias" toward the people in the top and bottom, it'll be for different people every week.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Honestly? I've considered that and not done it for one reason. Complete and utter paranoia that in shifting people around on the ballot that I would forget to re-add someone, or include someone who was gone or... you get the picture. Considering that I have tech support from onyxblue1 and in the in-coming tinhuviel I'm not sure how to make it truly random and a workable solution, but it's something I'm willing to sit down with them in email and discuss.
And there IS a traditional bias in LJ Idol - no one in the final two has ever had a user name above "O", and both winners have been women in their 30s who's user names start with a "T"!

(waits to see if anyone rushes off to add a "t" to the front end of their user name!*g*)

[onyxblue1.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't think it would be that big of a problem. I could work something out. But then, I'm amazing that way.

[imafarmgirl.livejournal.com]

I won't bother with the T. I guess I'm just not old enough to win. sniffle.

[welfy.livejournal.com]

I read all of them. :^)

[bettybaker.livejournal.com]

I do too. I keep a spreadsheet and I mark down each week who I want to vote for. When the time comes for voting, I use that same spreadsheet as a voting guide. That way I know who I've voted for in the past, to see what my voting record is.

[imafarmgirl.livejournal.com]

This is what I do. I just keep a file in ms word with the names for each week. When it is time to vote all I have to do is look.

[aeritone.livejournal.com]

I pretty much do the same thing, or I'll temporarily bookmark the LJ entry with keywords (such as themes), then come back to them on Friday afternoon.

This is way too much fun.

[anamacha.livejournal.com]

I wish I had the time and intestinal fortitude to read all the entries, but I don't. So I console myself by looking at the entries that have the LEAST number of votes when I am looking at the poll. If they're good, then I vote for them.

[oceansedge.livejournal.com]

Does take me a chunk of time, but I do read every entry. There's usually a note pad or an old envelope on my desk, and I just jot down names as I read the entries.

Usually I have 2 lists: those that have really impressed me and I'm definately throwing a vote to, and those I'm kinda comme ci comme ca about. The ones I'm a bit lukewarm on and a bit undecided I go back and read again.

[imafarmgirl.livejournal.com]

I usually read all or most. This week I read a few and they were some of the first ones posted. I just did not have time. I think reading ones favorites doesn't make sense if you never get to know anyone else.

[anamacha.livejournal.com]

I read the ones that have the least votes when I am looking at the poll. I should keep a spreadsheet or notate those I want to vote for, though. Not sure why I didn't think of that earlier :P

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna blame Prince for this too.

I mean people dropping out. Three subjects. The confusion and bias. It's ALL Prince's fault, him and his superbowl halftime show and his scarf on his head.

[marjory.livejournal.com]

Prince is to blame for an awful,lot of what is wrog with the world...

[jesterstear.livejournal.com]

Hey, I sort of blame him for starting what would evolve into Netspeak...

[cricketshay.livejournal.com]

I hated to drop out, but it was too hard to continue without net access at home. :(

Good luck to all who remain! As for me, there's always Season Four to look forward too. ;)