Green Room - Week 4 - Day 6

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

"Now that your picture's in the paper being rhythmically admired you can
Have anyone that you have ever desired,
All you gotta tell me now is why, why, why, why"

Welcome to the new week.

I know it don't thrill you, I hope it doesn't - well, you know. . .

Speaking of - there is still a poll out there http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/392874.html and folks hanging by their fingertips waiting for the voters to decide their fate. Have you gotten your votes in yet?

Who isn't getting the love and attention that you think they should be receiving?

Who moved the cheese?
Who cut the cheese?
Who put the bomp in the bomp bah bomp bah bomp? Don't they know some people have allergies???

***

Also, to join the rest of the internet: RIP Leslie Nielsen and Happy Birthday to comedychick. That seems like a weird thing to request as a birthday gift though.

Comments

[vaguelyclear.livejournal.com]

Leslie Nielsen :(

As for voting, I've been wondering how people vote. What their strategy is, if they have one. I don't have a strategy; I simply vote week-by-week. Do you do the same, or do you take into account all weeks? Are there people you automatically vote for, even if you haven't read their entry for the week (you don't have to name names)? I have to admit, the process fascinates me.

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

My strategy is to vote for people and entries I like and not for those that I don't like. If someone's a consistently good read, I might vote for them on an off week if I would prefer them to stay in the contest over someone else. I try to avoid voting without reading, but I have done it on occasion if I've not been able to read everything and see a favourite in danger. I wouldn't do it automatically, but I have done it in the past and will probably do it again if the circumstances dictate. I'd much rather vote after reading everything though.

The entry is more important than the person behind it though. If I think an entry is outstanding, I'll vote for it, even if I don't like the person writing for whatever reason. They just have to be a little more outstanding than most to win me over.

At this stage, it's on a week by week basis. That gradually changes as the competition wears on and I get a stronger sense of who I do and don't enjoy reading.

[vaguelyclear.livejournal.com]

The entry is more important than the person behind it though.

I agree with this, which is why I vote week-by-week. Also I don't know, I kinda feel like I'm being unfair if I vote for people who aren't having as strong a week as they have in the past, over people who are. But that's me. I'm all about the fairness.

I'll be interested to see if my voting habits change as the weeks go by.

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

Uh huh... like I'm supposed to *believe* you stating this strategy out in the open like this. I know how you evil genius types work. All of the evil behind the scenes machinations and all. I know your type. :-p

[xreesex.livejournal.com]

I am all over this damn post this morning.

Anyhow, the way I personally do it is I try to read entries when they are posted, but I never have time. So on Saturday night I open up the poll entry. Then I go tribe by tribe, opening each entry in the tribe so I can vote as I read. I vote for everything I really love, or anything that seems exceptionally written even if the subject matter doesn't appeal to me. I vote for multiple people in each tribe, sometimes I vote for like 10 people in a tribe, sometimes only 3.

There are only three people I automatically vote for, and they are friends. But, they are talented writers, so I don't feel bad doing so haha.

[vaguelyclear.livejournal.com]

I try to read when the entries are posted, too. I'm mostly successful. I usually get to page three or four before things start to pile up and I'm left to catch up on the remaining pages when the polls go up.

The kinds of entries I vote for are the same. There might be one or two entries whose subject matter makes me uncomfortable, so I might not vote for them (it really depends), but for the most part, if it's well written, in my opinion, it's got my vote.

Heh. I wonder if everyone automatically votes for their friends?

[tentaclecore]

THIS IN EVERT SENSE OF THE WORD. This is how I go about reading and voting as well-- wait until the poll is up, then go entry by entry and check off the ones I like, leave blank the ones I don't, and hit submit when I'm finished.

I've got four I automatically vote for-- two are friends, and two are consistent in keeping me interested. Everyone else is week-by-week.

[robertlyon.livejournal.com]

I always find it strange when people with byes for that week get votes.

[xreesex.livejournal.com]

I always assume it's because some people vote for everyone.

[vaguelyclear.livejournal.com]

I always assumed it was one of two reasons: voting for everyone or simply voting to be able to see the results of the poll (which I definitely get; if you haven't voted yet, it's annoying to have to click on each individual poll to see the results!). Apparently, as Gary pointed out, there are a couple of other reasons, too.

[lilycobalt.livejournal.com]

I also don't have a strategy. I go tribe-by-tribe and vote for whatever entries speak to me in one way or another. Usually, it's week-by-week, but the competition's been going on for long enough that I'm starting to notice some standouts whom I might be willing to vote for based on the strength of past entries.

I'll also mention that my commenting and voting patterns are linked. If I comment on a post, there's about a 99% chance that the person I'm commenting on will also get my vote.

[xreesex.livejournal.com]

That's kind of true for me as well. If I haven't commented, it's just about 100% that I won't vote. If I have commented, it's like 85% that I'll vote for it.

[vaguelyclear.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to notice some standouts, too, but luckily, I haven't had to vote for them based on their past entries. Yet ;)

Interesting! I don't comment on everything, I don't vote for everything I comment on, and there are always a few entries I don't comment on that get my vote. Sometimes, I don't have time to leave a comment and other times, I really just don't know what to say.

[stormkitty.livejournal.com]

I vote based on the strength of that week's entry. I read every entry (although if I'm having a hard time reading it in the first paragraph or so, I'll abandon it and it won't get a vote from me). I do not automatically vote friends in because I wouldn't think it was fair to them to do that if I didn't think the entry warranted it.

However, I will admit that if someone has rubbed me the wrong way, I have a hard time voting for them. It's a weakness, I know, but that has changed if they have a really great entry. It's just that personal interaction sometimes colors how I approach an entry.

[vaguelyclear.livejournal.com]

I'll abandon an entry if it hasn't got my attention after the first few paragraphs.

It's interesting that people are mentioning that they probably won't vote for someone if they don't like them. That hadn't even crossed my mind, to be honest. I don't think there's anyone here that I dislike. I have more interactions with some than others, but they've always been pleasant enough. As I said above, someone would really have to piss me off to get me not to vote for them.

I don't think it's a weakness. You're right that personal interaction can change how you perceive something. You can't help that. It happens in RL; no reason why it shouldn't happen online.

[tigrkittn.livejournal.com]

I found myself doing something this time that was sort of "strategic" though not in the sense of boosting myself up. If someone wrote something I didn't personally enjoy but showed talent and writing style that I admired, it got my vote. I guess I'm trying to help the cream rise to the top, so to speak. Just because I didn't like their entry doesn't mean they don't deserve to get farther in the contest.

[vaguelyclear.livejournal.com]

Those kinds of entries get my vote, too. Unless reading it made me really uncomfortable for whatever reason, and I have to abandon it half-way through. I don't think that's happened yet, though.

[lawchicky.livejournal.com]

I vote from week to week. If I enjoy the entry, it gets a vote.

Sometimes (particularly later in the game) I may give someone a vote if their entry for the week isn't up to their usual standards, but they've impressed me on other weeks.

There are very few (if any) people that I don't "like." Maybe that's because I haven't been around long enough. Either way, there's no one that I automatically will vote against.

[vaguelyclear.livejournal.com]

I think a person's past entries/performance will probably factor into the way I vote later down the track. Much later.

I said to someone else that it's interesting people have said they won't vote for someone if they don't like them because I haven't come across anyone in the comp. that I dislike. Maybe it's because I haven't been around long enough, either (I didn't get a chance to stick around in my first Idol season last year).

[fortitudehigh.livejournal.com]

So far, I'm voting week by week, except in the case of one person, who is one of my best friends in the non-Idol world. (Not that s/he knows I'm competing...) I'm already finding, though, that there are certain names I'm more likely to read if I don't have time to read everything, so those names are more likely to get a vote on the basis of that.

[vaguelyclear.livejournal.com]

There are certain names I'm more likely to read, too, but since I try to let the entries speak for themselves every week, I don't actively seek out those people. But, if they don't show up on my list of names to vote for each week, I will seek them out and see why they're not there.

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

No real defined strategy here... I read and vote for the ones that resonate with me and don't vote for those I don't. I try to keep things simple. The only real wrinkle I have in my voting pattersn really is that if somebody I respect a lot and consistently puts out good material has a "so-so" week, I'll usually give a benefit of the doubt vote to try and keep them around if they're in danger. But yeah... simple is better I find.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

I vote week by week. I always start with my own tribe (partly so I can see how I'm doing, LOL) then go tribe by tribe, voting as I go. I vote based upon whether the entry kept my attention and interested me; if I just can't "get into it" so to speak, I'm unlikely to vote for it. I prefer shorter entries, but I'm not biased against longer ones - if it is done well, that's what matters to me.

I try to read all the entries, but sometimes that just doesn't happen because Real Life gets in the way - I always read all of a particular tribe, and if I don't get to all of the tribes, well, at least I've done my best.

There are some people on my FL and/or some former contestants whom I may be more likely to vote for than newbies that I don't know as well, but I try to be as fair as I can.

[cacophonesque.livejournal.com]

Each week I have a different system. Sometimes I vote for people automatically if I haven't had time to read them, not usually, but sometimes. Sometimes I consider peoples' whole portfolios of work, not usually, but sometimes. Sometimes I only vote for a set number of people per tribe, not usually, but sometimes...

You get the picture. :)

Mostly I vote for entries I like and that's that.
Although if someone has behaved particularly nastily, I probably won't vote for them even if they did write a good entry.

[snarkerdoodle.livejournal.com]

I read tribe by tribe once the poll is up, partly because I think it's fairest to vote in a tribe only once I've read everything there and partly because so far I've been very late in posting my own entry and I don't read others before posting my own, lol. (So trying to read as they are posted, which would be nicest in terms of spreading it out, doesn't work for me.)

An entry that's more than a single browser screen 'deep' in length has got to hook me in some way in that first screen -- if it doesn't, then it's likely not going to get my vote simply because I won't finish reading it. If it's a short entry, I'll probably read the whole thing just because I can see it's short and then decide from there.

As for whether I vote or not on a piece, it's mostly just "after reading this, would I want to read something else by this person?" as my only real criteria. If 'yes' for any reason (reasons which can be wide and varied), then they get my vote. If I'm completely 'meh' after reading, then probably not.

The one time I was strapped for time on reading, I made an effort to read just the few *lowest* ranked entries in the tribe, the assumption being that the highest ranked ones weren't in any danger of suddenly plummeting to last place, but the lowest people might truly benefit from a vote if I liked their piece, etc.