Results - Week 37

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

What an amazing turnout!

People have been asking if this was “some sort of record” for number of votes, and the answer is “yes and no”.

It’s a record for how many people showed up to vote, however the record for how many votes a single contestant received still stands. And yes, you guessed it, it was in Season 4. :)

I’ve taken a look at the votes, and before I say anything else, let me just say that I was shocked at what I saw.

Why? Because, with numbers like that, you expect to see a whole lot more hijnks than actually occurred.

There were a couple people who double-dipped with Twitter and/or Google Plus accounts. (Oddly enough, facebook didn’t seem to have a problem. Or at least an obvious one.)

I think it’s an example of how most people, when given the chance, are going to side with their better angels. However, there’s always going to be one or two... and in this case, those one or two did end up affecting things.

It wasn’t major, and I’m absolutely certain that no one set out to do anything wrong/encouraged it, etc... but there is enough of a question mark that I want a run-off.

notodette and whipchick - you are through to the next round. Congratulations.

n3m3sis42 and pixie117 - You will be in a run-off. It was close enough to almost be a tie anyway. So, it’s close enough that I’m sure neither of you want this decided by someone who just got a little too “supportive”. You’ve done too much, and worked too hard for that.

Your topic is Making Fire, an appropriate tie-breaker! I’ll post a topic thread here in a moment, link your entries there by Tomorrow, Wednesday August 22 at 9pm EDT.

Good luck to you both!

Comments

tie-breaker topic links

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Please post them here.

Re: tie-breaker topic links

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

http://n3m3sis42.livejournal.com/1120057.html

Re: tie-breaker topic links

[pixiebelle.livejournal.com]

Wanna know how to make fire? Piss off a redhead :P

http://pixie117.livejournal.com/688662.html

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Wow. A 23-hour tie breaker!

Congrats whipchick and notodette.

Good luck to the competitors.

[notodette.livejournal.com]

OIC. This isn't the topic for everyone.

By the way, WOOT RUN OFF! Way to go EVERYONE!

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

Ok, now other people have posted something here, I'll do it too. I thought for a minute it might be just for the topic liknk and felt like a fool, so I deleted my comment XD

Can't believe how close this is getting!

Good luck to you all :)

[m-malcontent.livejournal.com]

(groan) so you are willing to imply someone cheated...but not willing to eliminate them....Gary, this isn't right.....

[m-malcontent.livejournal.com]

sorry Gary, I know you will make this right..but it is kind of upsetting.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was a close one! Good luck in the run-off you two!

Congrats to notodette and whipchick!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Because I've already been asked this twice in the amount of time that this post has been up:

NO. Under no circumstances, conditions, magical fantasies or cryptographics do I think that either of these two fine individuals and incredible writers "cheated", and anyone who thinks that's the case needs to... I don't know, I've toyed with a few violent imaginary bits here, but none of them seem quite right for what should happen to them. So supply your own.

People get excited. They want to support their friends. It's happened before. It will happen again. I can pretty much guarantee it.

It wasn't just one person or one "side". Honestly - all four of them had it happen.

But it only ended up affecting the outcome of the bottom. Which is why we are correcting that!

[lilycobalt.livejournal.com]

This tie-breaker topic conjures images of bored jury members rolling their eyes at the camera for over an hour. I know n3m3sis42 and pixie117 are better than that, though :)

Congratulations to notodette and whipchick!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Cook Islands Final Four!!!!

[oneonthefence.livejournal.com]

Holy. Crap.

Congrats to those going through, and fingers crossed for the Tie-breaker Two! And no, that wasn't supposed to rhyme, dammit.

Odd how things work out, but it seems like everything is being corrected. It's down to the wire, people get excited, and things happen. I think this seems like a fair way to work things out.

Good luck!

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Not the finale?!?

Cripes on a cracker, Gary! Are we going to finish this season in 2012 at least?

I was looking forward to watching the last poll of Season 8.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_luaineach/]

I suppose it is wrong to think "yay! bonus stuff to read!!!" but as a non-contestant with no pressure on, well, yay! bonus stuff to read!

Good luck you two!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I'll admit, once I realized that it was happening, that was my reaction as well. :)

[ashgaelsonaria.livejournal.com]

WOW.
people make some interesting videos with it and if my disability goes threw I'm going to start playing. That or evercrack. I know people on evercrack ((their name for everquest) and they have pushed it at me.
But I digress, it's a monster season and we gots a tie. Two actually. Its going to be close people. Close.
Root root root.
Arg.
home game?
http://ashgaelsonaria.livejournal.com/245409.html
dragon prime
http://ashgaelsonaria.livejournal.com/245236.html

[morning-stand.livejournal.com]

I'll be sad to see either of those great ladies go :(

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[sarcasmoqueen.livejournal.com]

Congratulations to the victors, and best of luck to my 2 friends! <3

And...have I been living under a rock? I had no idea one could vote through Facebook or any other medium aside from LJ itself! Someone's going to have to show me how that works for next season.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

LJ opened up their platform to cross-post to various sites over the years, in an effort to keep people from migrating away completely.

As a byproduct of that, it opened up their polls as well. t's one of those "blessings and a curse" aspects. We get a greater access to people to expose to Idol, but we also get extra problems as a result!

[sarcasmoqueen.livejournal.com]

Also I'm a bit confused - pixie and n3m3sis have to write an entry by tomorrow, and the topic for the top 3 is due on Thursday. How/who/when will the results of the tiebreaker happen? Will all 4 have to post for Thursday, but only 3 will count?

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

That's going to be a tactical decision by those two, now isn't it? Do they prepare as if they were moving on, and risk not using it. OR do they wait until they know for sure??? WILL THEY HAVE TIME TO 'know for sure' before that deadline?

I guess they, and everyone else, will find out!

*cue dramatic music*

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

::lights a sage stick::

::rings some bells::

::plays some new agey music::


::opens the liquor cabinet::

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

*kicks you for being a damn hippie* (and a foreigner!!)

Beautiful quote on writing

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

And perhaps this is why we get a little hyper sometimes...we don't know if the jig is up.


"But then hands grow from smudging little mitts into useful instruments. The soup does not splash up over the rim, the glitter-should one ever be moved to use any-would stay where it was meant to. One progresses from novice to adept with a soothing reliability. Except for writing. Well into adulthood, writing has never gotten easier. It still only ever begins badly, and there are no guarantees that this is not the day when the jig is finally up."

- Half Empty by David Rakoff

Re: Beautiful quote on writing

[jacq22.livejournal.com]

I like.

[impoetry.livejournal.com]

The last two weeks have been the saddest involvement I've had in the community during the three seasons I've been here.

I'm sure it's not a precedent, maybe I've been lucky to not see it, but

--Calling people out for manipulation? Or cheating?
--Personal attacks?
--Passive aggressive comments, belittling contestants who "don't belong"?

Yeah, that's kind of crappy to me. I swear every single member of this community says and knows that the entire competition is not about looking for simply the "best" writer. It's a game. And yet, it never ceases to amaze me how easily people forget that, and throw a hissy fit when things don't go their way.

There's nothing on the line here. No money, no job, no free back massages. It's about THE EXPERIENCE. And if you're taking it so seriously that you need to get pissy online and act like children, you're doing it all wrong. You are trying to ruin the one main thing Idol is about: THE EXPERIENCE.

[pixiebelle.livejournal.com]

I love this comment. Thank you.

I'm just not sure what's happened in the last few weeks, but I'm with you on it being the saddest few weeks I've seen here.

[jacq22.livejournal.com]

The experience,--- yes and its been quite a ride, I lost the battle 8 weeks ago... but still loved it. The comment above has some real truth. Shame to see such vitriol in some of the exchanges. Such is life I suppose.
I'll annoy Gary, and go all hippie now..."peace and love". dances round the fire in long dress. Offers olive branch.

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

I hope this goes without saying, but I wanted to say it anyway. After working with these three amazing ladies for almost a year, I hope I know them as well as anyone here. There is no way any of them cheated. They all deserve to be here. They beat me fair and square.

I do appreciate that Gary gave me the opportunity to fight to stay in, and if I can figure out how the heck to write a post while at a work conference from 8 am - 7:30 pm I will most definitely do it. :)

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Aw. <3 This really isn't the week for you to be doing a run-off, is it? Good luck! I hope you can manage it. I would love to see what you'd come up with, if you did. <3

[lyricmaniac.livejournal.com]

Good luck to the runoffers.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Ouch to all of this, especially with such a short deadline. I suspect n3m3sis42 is at a disadvantage here, being caught in the middle of a business trip.

I really do wish it were possible to eliminate all non-LJ voting, in that I have little confidence that people from those sources are necessarily reading all of the entries. I know the writers have encouraged them to do so (only 4 entries!!), but I doubt the emotional investment is necessarily there on the part of voters who don't really have regular visibility into Idol and the effort people put in week after week (people other than their friends).

I see from a comment elsewhere that non-LJ voting is a "feature" that LJ has inflicted on polls to lure in people from other online social arenas. Oh, LJ-- always making it harder for the people who still like being here, aren't you?

That said, good luck to all 4 contestants-- because ALL of you are writing madly right now toward one or two deadlines, and I know it's challenging and stressful. May you find inspiration and clarity!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

The good thing about it – since it’s there, we might as well find the positive, is that when you bring people in from other areas, it increases the chances that some of them will stick around.

After all, every single person (other than those who came in via Spotlight) came in because someone mentioned it to them. A fair percentage of those came in via a pimpage post. They came. They read. They stayed and wrote their own stuff.

We’re starting to see that from the other venues as well. Maybe that will come to fruit next season. Maybe it would have in a couple… if there were a couple more seasons left…

You’re battling the human aspect of “you can lead them to the water…” and hope that the majority of people who do show up are sitting down and reading everyone, or at least what they are voting for… the one ace in the hole is that whoever is inviting them has total control over it. If they don’t think people are reading and are voting for their favorite, and that they are getting sincere votes, they can stop at any time.

Sure, there’s the “but, everyone is doing it…” But when the prize is the experience… you have a choice of what you want that experience to be, and how you want to go about it.