Green Room - Week 36 - Day 18

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

For those of you waiting for confirmation emails from me – don’t worry, they are coming later today. I have about 10 of them currently sitting in my inbox from the last 24 hours. If you sent it *before* that… well, then there might be a problem! ;)

For those of you *not* waiting for confirmation emails – what’s wrong with you???

Well, let’s be real – that “what’s wrong with you” pretty much applies to anyone who comes around here for any length of time! ;)

I will remind people though – because there seems to be a little confusion: there are THREE DIFFERENT sets of voting going on… the poll: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/595911.html, Gatekeepers, and the contestant/Home Gamer for Week 36 only.

How do you know if you are eligible to vote in any of these?

The poll: Are you a member of the community? No? Then join it. Now you are. I’ve seen LJ remove some votes in the past when you leave the community – so I’d stick around after the fact. (There was someone a few weeks ago advocating the “join, vote and leave” strategy. I know some people don’t want an extra group on their feed… and so it seems like a way of easing them into the process… but the whole point is getting fresh faces through the door. Which means I’m not a fan of that tactic.)

Gatekeepers – Have I emailed you about being a Gatekeeper? Yes. Then you are one. Did I not? Then you are not. It’s not personal, and there’s no sign up list. I appreciate the interest. But it’s not to be right now. However, you *can* still vote in the community only poll http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/595911.html and potentially in the Contestant Only one! (see below)

Contestant Only/Home Gamers vote – Are you a current contestant? Yes? Then you can vote. No? Did you submit a Home Game entry for Week 36? Yes? Then you can vote! No? Sorry, you are not eligible to vote in that particular poll. However, you *can* still vote in the community only poll http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/595911.html !

Did you go to college thanks to Social Security benefits after losing your Father – but now want to make sure that no one else can do that by cutting them? You may not be eligible for a special poll, but you could potentially be VP!

Comments

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

Firstly, I'm not sure why you couldn't have PMed me about this if you were concerned

I'm not speaking for Java, but I will say that I was going to comment using your name once I found out who was doing the vote and then unjoin thing, so he's not the only person who prefers the public approach.

Why would I do this rather than in private? Because I hate the secret squirrel thing that's going on this season. I hate that I'll ask a question in the GR and I'll get an email instead of a direct response because people don't want to stir up drama. What's dramatic about discussing pimping? For us vets who've been around for a few years, it's a discussion we've seen before, will again and it isn't one which needs to be done in secret.

If you are doing something that you feel perfectly happy and comfortable in doing because you're doing it for altruistic reasons, why hide? Seriously, why hide?

That's why I'd use your name publicly - that way EVERYONE gets to see the discussion, everyone gets to make up their own mind and everyone gets to decide where their own personal comfort zone is.

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

Here's the thing. Unless someone knows you, they don't know what you're doing. And apparently you've been doing this for a while. Which is cool. It's not against the rules and if that's how you want to play the game, that's totally fine. We'll have to agree to disagree that it's necessary to actively advocate people leaving the community (because I happen to think that people have the intelligence to figure that one out for themselves if they don't want to stick around and don't know how to join without following) and that if someone genuinely believed they deserved their place in the final (bearing in mind everyone left has done more than enough to merit that distinction), they wouldn't ask friends to ask *their* friends to vote for someone they don't know in a contest they haven't heard of - because that just wouldn't be necessary.

But you know what? That's all part of playing the game. And I guarantee you that whoever wins will be a brilliant player and following in the tradition of winners who were fantastic at playing the game of Idol. The fact that they all happen to also be very good writers almost goes without saying, but I think it does need to be stressed that everyone left is a good writer in case anyone with self esteem issues should kid themselves I'm suggesting otherwise.

But.

Java's opinion is his. He expressed it in a manner that was perhaps more forceful than I would have done - but then I tend towards more blunt sarcasm when I'm annoyed, so I'd just have been a bit more snarky if he hadn't said something. As far as an attack is concerned, I don't see anyone making any attacks on you, just discussing the tactic. It might be a subtle distinction, but it's an important one and it's there. Like I said, if he hadn't have said something, I would have and I do wonder whether you would have stuck your hand up if he hadn't said anything and instead we just had a general discussion on pimping inspired by Gary's original post.

Full transparency. It's how Idol usually works sooner or later. When someone does something that the community *might* not like (bearing in mind no one person gets to decide what that is except possibly Gary), it's better for the community as a whole that we discuss it as a whole - not behind closed doors. Because I can also speak from experience when I say that those private discussions have a tendency to become public and open to misinterpretation. It might not be pleasant to be publicly called out for something, but I do think it's much healthier for the community at large to have these discussions so people can decide where their own personal comfort level lies.