FAQ

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

FAQ


What the hell is this?

If you were expecting a traditional Idol, you will have to wait for a little while longer!

However, if you can’t get the thought of playing Idol out of your head, but don’t have as much time as a traditional season takes, you might be luck!

This is LJ Idol: Exhibit A!

I’m not familiar with LJ Idol at all, what is it?

It is a writing competition on Livejournal that has been around for 8 seasons (about 7 years).

Last season’s FAQ might be helpful, particularly the technical notes about how to post images and tags. http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/484986.html

This particular FAQ assumes that you have some passing familiarity with Idol and how it works. BUT if you don’t know, always feel free to ask. If I’m not personally around, there is usually a veteran or fifteen around that will be more than willing to answer!  :)

How is Exhibit A different than traditional Idol?

A lot of the elements are the same: I give you a topic, you write something and post a link to it in the topic thread by the given deadline. There is a vote, and people on the bottom are eliminated.

That part hasn’t changed. What IS different though:

- This will only last 1 ½ to 2 months (as opposed to nearly a year).
- It will be limited to 50 to 75 people. (as opposed to a growing number in the hundreds)
- This will NOT count toward “time survived” in Idol. Nor will it count to disqualify someone who wins from playing the “Real Idol”. WHICH ALSO MEANS THAT PREVIOUS IDOL WINNERS CAN PLAY!
- There is a suggested $5 (US) donation. If you can’t donate, no problem. But donors will be given priority in the available slots.  People may also choose to donate more, and “sponsor” someone who otherwise couldn’t play.

Send your donation via paypal (or amazon, details for that are on the front page) to clauderainsrm@gmail.com or clauderains@rocketmail.com.  Please include your username and TWO TOPICS. That’s right, send me your topic ideas as well. They may not be used this special season. But at least one of them will show up before the end of Season 9. Just another benefit!

- A collection of some of the best work may be included in an e-book to be published after the mini-season is over.

Is this a fundraiser?

Yes. All money raised through donations will go directly to the fund to get a “specific item” to ask a certain person a life-changing question.

Idol IS my “second job”. (Although, time-wise it tends to be my first! Shhh...) and the choice was between working a traditional job, and not giving you Idol for at least another year OR giving you a special event Idol that people can opt into!  Ideally, there will be two “special seasons” between now and Season 9.

Note, it’s a donation so once you are eliminated, no, you can’t get a refund! ;)

Also, if you donate, and then you can’t make Week 1 - you can apply your donation to someone else to sponsor them.

If you don’t want to, that’s fine. I’ll see you sometime later! If you DO though, thanks, and I hope you have a good time!

What does the winner receive?

Officially? An icon and Internet Fame!

Unofficially? There are some private individuals who might be supplying some items. More details as they decide to talk about them. These aren’t from me, but rather people who wanted to “give to the cause” in their own way by encouraging people to sign up!

Where do I sign up?

The official sign up sheet will be posted shortly! Tell your friends!

Comments

[noodledays.livejournal.com]

hey, this sounds like a lot of fun!

[beldarzfixon.livejournal.com]

I've done the sign-up post; how soon do you need the payment and topics? I'm waiting to see if Dark Snack is interested before I pay up.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Before we start. :)

(Basically, if you get in before the deadline for your first entry)

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Yay! Money and topics sent! :)

Also, much love for the Mousetrap icon!

[applespicy.livejournal.com]

So, I'm an idiot and didn't include my username when I sent the money. I'm Allison and the email's thefake.headlines. Woops.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I figured it out. :)

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Oh hey do you know how many weeks I've been in Gary? And do emo-snl's entries count for that? ;)

Also jesus I really need to get season III of ljshootout started. d:

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

PS: I'll hit up the sign up sheet for Exhibit A once I've thought of two mind-bendingly clever topics. Hopefully this evening after work. I've had some ideas I thought were pretty great in my time, but at the moment my mind is empty. Just tumbleweeds and dust mites in there...

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

"Tumbleweed and dust mites" sounds like a great prompt to me...

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

haha true. Hey are you still at all interested in the Melissa the Honeybee story as a children's book?

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

I'm not accepting any new submissions at the moment, I'm afraid.

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

You're probably going to miss the sign up if you wait that long. :P

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Well phooey it looks like I missed the boat. ::goes and sulks in the cane field::

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

That's okay, you can go read that chapter of my novel you still haven't looked at instead. XD

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I'll have to see if I can find the list!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

I might have to recheck the stat. I have you at 77, but I could swear it should be higher. Does that sound right to you?

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

It would be on the lower end of what I'd think it might be. I think I tallied them up once and felt I was pretty close to 100. Do the emo_snl entries count too? Because there were a number of those and that was part of the official contest and emo-snl is pretty much, you know, a clone of me. ;)

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

They don't count if you had your main ID in the game at the same time.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

hrmph hrmph

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

Darn it. I really wish I had the time to participate because this sounds like so much fun. Oh well. I shall watch from the sidelines and maybe do the next mini Idol, if there is one.

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

I'm so excited that these entries will be available for reading again! I probably wait with as much anticipation as the contestants do, because of how much I enjoy them.

[kittenboo.livejournal.com]

Sounds like fun, I'm in!

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I am so crazy busy and my mom arrives for a visit at the end of March, so a mini idol sounds just right!!

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I sent you a fiver, but then paypal wouldn't load the confirmation page, so I did it again. oops.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

It only showed up once. If I see it again, I'll let you know.

[n-maranda-coy.livejournal.com]

Sent!

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

received. ;)

[i-love-freddie.livejournal.com]

I sent the donation fee, did you receive it okay? The page crashed while it was sending, so I thought I'd better check that it went through okay.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

*checks*

Yep, it did! Thank you!

[mac-arthur-park.livejournal.com]

PayPal is being a creep and not letting me donate. I have to head to work in a few, so could you count me in for my donation and a sponsorship and I'll try this again when I get home from the textbook mines?

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Yep. We can do that! Thanks!

[spydielives.livejournal.com]

Is there going to be a thread somewhere to discuss the non-iconic "prizes" people might want to toss into the pool? I might have something some people would be interested in owning... (and no, I am not talking about my own book, although I would gladly to throw a copy of that in there too).

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

There will be. But not yet.

[spydielives.livejournal.com]

As long as there **will** be, I won't worry.

[shadowwolf13.livejournal.com]

When will we know if we're in the contest or not, for those of us who are unable to pay to compete?

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

So far everyone who has signed up can play. I'm just waiting to see about a few people and see their intentions (to pay or get sponsorship).

Since you let me know - you now have a sponsor, so you are good. :)

[shadowwolf13.livejournal.com]

OH! Wow, thank you!

[jem0000000.livejournal.com]

That's really sweet, and I wish you both the best. :)

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

She still hasn't read the FAQ. Hopefully she stays too busy and never does. Until it's too late! Bwahahahahha! :)

By now calculations, if I did one more mini-season like this during the late spring/early summer, I will be able to get the ring!

[jem0000000.livejournal.com]

Welcome!

Mwahahaha! But proposals are still pretty cool even if you know they're coming, so don't worry about it being ruined if she does. :)

Sweet! Are you going to show it to us (after the proposal, of course) so we can coo admiringly over it? :)

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

It will definitely be on facebook.

OK, let's be honest, I'll probably post it here too. :)

[jem0000000.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh that's evil! I don't have a FB.

Ok, as long as you post it here too. :)

Heeey, look over there! *noms cookie on your icon and runs*

[waveform-delta.livejournal.com]

I've got a problem: I have neither a PayPal nor an AmazonPayments account. I just set one through Amazon, but they tell me it may take at least five days for any money to become available through it.

That won't be enough time to make a donation by deadline. I wanted to play, but I may not be able to now.

I wanted to let you know.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

It's fine. Even if you can't, there are people who are offering sponsorships. You are listed on the official poll and spreadsheet.

So get to writing that introduction! Everything will work itself out.

[witchwife.livejournal.com]

I would really love to get involved with the community, but I feel like it's been strategically formatted to keep new people out and enforce a feeling of fellowship with old members. (For example, not having very much information on the profile page and not having a clear set of rules or things that new members can do to get involved while a season is still running. It's all very overwhelming to try and figure out!) I'm still interested, but not really sure where to go from here. Help?

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

but I feel like it's been strategically formatted to keep new people out and enforce a feeling of fellowship with old members.

I'm sorry you've felt that way.

Honestly, Idol is pretty much in a constant state of taking in new members, and new folks become "old" folks pretty quickly compared to most places, in my experience.

We're a really friendly bunch, and very open to answering questions, etc. so please feel free to jump in and ask whatever.

I can kinda see how jumping in between season starting points can seem intimidating. Let me see if I can get you started. :)

While there's a season (or a mini season) going on, there's a (pretty much) daily Green Room. It's just a chat room for people to talk about whatever - the contest, entries, family stuff, daily events in the news, pretty much anything goes. Gary (that's clauderainsrm's actual name varies the time he puts the room up, depending (we never really know why Gary does anything).

The best way to start feeling not-quite-so-new is to hang out in the Green Room (read or track or post in the GR posts) and say hi so people will know you're there. The most recent Green Room is here: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/646020.html

Another thing anyone can do to be more involved while the (mini) season is happening, is post home-game entries. Basically there's a topic every week or so, and the current contestants are linking their entries in the topic post (one of the community "rules" is that only current contestants comment on the topic post). Anyone who wants to write a "home game" entry just posts their entry on their LJ and puts a link in the Green Room. ("Hey, I wrote a home game entry, here's a link.")

This week would be weird to join in for a new person probably, because it's the last round and the traditional topic is "Why I should win/why my opponent should win."

Another "best" way to be involved is to read the entries (you can do it between polls by looking for links in the comments on the topic thread), posting comments on the contestants' entries saying, "Hi, I'm new to Idol, (and whatever you want to say about their post)," and then voting when the poll goes up.

Hope that helps. :) Let me know if you have any other questions. Or just shout them out in the Green Room. :)

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Oops! Figures a new Green Room would get posted minutes after I link you. Here you go. :)

http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/646150.html

[witchwife.livejournal.com]

aw, thank you! This is all so helpful. I really appreciate it!

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. Like I said. Friendly bunch. Gary actually welcomed you by name in comments in that GR. He decided to reply to you there instead of here, I guess.