Green Room - Week 29 - Day 6

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

It was a dark and stormy night...

No, really, it was.

Really stormy.

It didn't make matters any better that there ended up being a water pipe that burst a couple streets over from where we were heading.

Traffic is bad on an average day when you are leaving the city and coming into suburbia. But when you add "bad weather" into the mix, it's just going to get worse. Throw in "traveling on bus" - and then once you get home, needing to run back out into it - yeah, it becomes less of a "am I going to be late" and more of a "HOW late am I going to be?"

Especially when you haven't factored in actually eating dinner.

But that's what you sign up for - sometimes you just have to *not* eat in order to get everything done that needs to get done.

When those "perfect storm" situations hit, you try to be more understanding about other people who may be going through something of their own on their end of the internet.

Which is why I send out my patented "You coming?" emails to people who haven't made it in yet. To find out what is going on - and if they just forgot to link their entry. When I'm running ahead of schedule, I tend to look for those myself - and usually end up finding a few on even the best of weeks. (rarely the same person)

I understand - things can happen.

Which is a long way around getting to the question that I have multiple copies of in my inbox last night/this morning. What it boils down to is "Do you enforce the deadlines/why have rules if you won't enforce them?"

There are definitely people who have come in on the wrong side of being late for a poll and have been eliminated as a result.

Deadlines are set. But, since Season 1, the policy has always been "If you get it in before I post the poll - I'll allow it." That's always the been the rule for what gets in the poll and what doesn't.

I can think of someone off the top of my head (a personal favorite of mine that season actually) who ended up submitting their entry less than a minute after a posted the poll. *That* was heartbreaking, but it's one of the dangers involved with posting at last minute. You never know when I am going to be have things ready to go! Things like last night, or where LJ just goes wonky/something wrong with the coding are pretty rare. The closer you get to that edge, the more likely it is to end up costing you.

Some people don't like that. They say it shows too much mercy.

Some people don't like when I have a twist that they think is too cruel.

To me - the mercy and the cruelty ends up evening out. :)

I can let people into the polls. Or come into the game late through special events and powers. Ultimately though YOU will decide if they are going to stay.

That's your power as voters. If you want to use "were they on time?" as a criteria - that's your criteria.
"Have they been here the entire time?" Again. Your criteria.
"Can I beat them?" (I've seen that one used before) That's on you.

The main one should always be "What did I think of the entry?" But those are certainly valid tie-breakers if everything else is equal.

This week has a Contestant Only vote component to it: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/809247.html which is a chance for the contestants to have their say. I hope that you will use it - and if being late to the party is something that bugs you - don't vote for them. If it's not, and they are putting out something you enjoy, do.

This is one small area where it really is "your call", where your will is going to be enforced! Use it wisely.

Comments

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

Which is why I try to grab something that I *know* people are talking about.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

"Why are people posting late allowed to be in polls" is definitely something people are talking about. ;) (based on my inbox)

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

I have a comment I want to leave about this but I am biting my tongue, but you know what, fuck it. LET ME STIR UP DRAMA.

(outside of Idol, where I won't see it)

(Because no one is going to call me out publicly since no one seems to want to do so in the GR anymore for fear of tarnishing their ~image~)

I don't mind if you post late/after the deadline -- that unofficial rule of yours, I think, is fair. What I do mind is posting after the deadline and then editing/expanding a piece in a very noticeable way in the time it takes you (meaning Gary) to get a poll up once the deadline's passed.

This may just be a personal thing, though, because I try very hard not to edit my LJI entry in any significant ways after I've linked it to the topic thread. And the only times I have done so where in S8, when I was still a noob at this whole thing -- and I felt wrong doing it then, too.

But that edit was done days before the deadline, too -- not 40 minutes after it.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

*Nods* It's one thing to fix a typo, or if you notice you missed a word (ie: you typed "he went to the and bought..." rather than "he went to the store and bought...") but it's another thing to make major changes/additions after the poll goes up.

Before the poll, that's one thing - afterwards, that's not playing fair.

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

I specifically said "deadline" because these edits were made after 8pm but before Gary got the voting thread up.

I still feel that's a little unfair even if it's within the realm of "okay." I am bringing it up here because I don't like hiding the shit I think/feel about these sorts of things.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Of course, the other issue is who will notice the edits once they are done, you know? You'd have to see the piece and read it, then go back and say "wait-a-minute..." in order to notice the changes.

I guess between the deadline and the poll going up is sort of a grey area for me. We never know how long it will take for the poll to get posted, sometimes it's half an hour, sometimes it's two hours. *shrug*

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Yep. I've fixed typos a few times after posting, but no, I've never changed anything else.

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, I agree. And I have been one of those late posters a couple of times. The one time I was suuuuper late, I was still making sentence-level edits to the last few paragraphs after I linked up to the poll. I felt guilty about it, but I did it.

(and as with everything else stupid I do, I feel the need to tell everyone *headdesk*)

So maybe I have no room to talk, but I think if you're fixing a couple things, great. If you're writing three new sections with your post linked up at 8:45, less great. And now let's all pretend I'm not just a teensy bit jealous of people who are even capable of writing three new sections that fast. xD

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

lololol, I was the one encouraging you to finish those edits and post and link up already, soooo. But sentence-level edits are different than LET ME WRITE ANOTHER 500 MORE WORDS. Just saying.

I am one of those people and I would never use my Powers for evil, like that. ;)

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

The only way I could write another 500 words after the deadline would be if Gary were, like, half a day late posting the poll, so. World's Slowest Writer, signing off. xD

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it... I couldn't write that fast either Kiddo! It would be as garbled as my brain.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

At the risk of defusing potential drama (and having fewer comments) - that's definitely a risk.

I've been asked "Can I do this?" before and my response has always been the same: "It's your LJ. It's your entry. But keep in mind that people may have already read it and that folks don't tend to like it when you change things after the deadline".

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figured that your response was something along those lines. Which is why I was hesitant to say anything, anyway.

But it's a pattern of behavior I've noticed, and I wonder if I'm the only one, at times.

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

I mean, I think it's nice that some people even ask. I didn't. I was just like, "Hell no, potty training isn't gonna take me out twice." *editedit*

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

This is a non-issue for me, as far as other contestants are concerned, because I barely make time to read everything (yes, even now), and certainly not to return to any entries.

So it's just a thing I myself do not do (I only correct the typos and minor wording things people point out, and even that really makes me cringe a little. But leaving deceased instead of diseased in the entry is even worse.)

So I agree that it is not a way to go, but it's just a matter personal scruples for me.

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Yeah, for me personally, it super does not sit well. I haven't been voting for one individual in particular because I noticed they did it on an almost regular basis and felt it supremely unfair.

And yeah, I hear you on the small corrections thing -- my entry this week at "shorted" instead of "shortened" and it was a typo my bff missed. I fixed it the moment I noticed it. :) (a whole day before the deadline!)

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

"What I do mind is posting after the deadline and then editing/expanding a piece in a very noticeable way in the time it takes you (meaning Gary) to get a poll up once the deadline's passed."

This is one of those things that I've never noticed, and I don't personally think it would bother me if I did. Major edits after the poll is up? Sure, that would bug me. But when you're linking in last minute or late anyway, making frantic changes in the however long before the poll goes up just seems like anyone making tweaks before the poll goes up, period - which people do. That window is so small, and the group of people posting in it also so small, that it doesn't really seem like a major advantage - more like playing with fire (which is what any edits at all after linking seem like to me. It's a risk and people get grumpy about it).

I think the more interesting claim is this, though: "(Because no one is going to call me out publicly since no one seems to want to do so in the GR anymore for fear of tarnishing their ~image~)"

Really? Nah, I'll call you out on that. I don't think people are so concerned with image as all that. *shrugs* Mostly, I think people just aren't present, or don't have strong opinions on things one way or another. I mean, I could be wrong, but it seems like a stretch to me to read the silence on controversial issues (or even agreement on them) as a desire to look good.

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Yeah, definitely a risk, and this is one of the very few things I tend to get gwumpy about when it comes to this competition. That, and that Gary's gone easy on us until now. ;)

I just get this sense on LJ in general that everything is done off to the side/in groups/in PMs and not anywhere where it can be publicly accessed, anymore. And that includes myself, because I do the majority of my wangsting about the competition (I mean, it HAS been 8 months and I am also getting antsy and close to a personal goal line and I don't think I'm going to hit it and it makes me gwumpy at times) to a choice few individuals.

Part of the "image" thing has also been ingrained in me thanks to the troubles anon groups have given me, in the past. I mean, when someone pretends to be you on fb and sends private messages to everyone who was friends with your (at the time) ex's abuser to out them for their abuse? All because of the stuff you were unafraid to share (at the time) in a public space?

Being the target of anon hate/anon trolling has made me skittish about saying anything remotely controversial in the public spaces of the communities I frequent. So that part may be more projection -- and I will own that. But things have been so quiet in the GR in general, well...

(And this is my way of going FUCK IT'S EIGHT MONTHS I AM GOING INSANE -- by starting discussion in the GRs about the things that ~bother~ me and speaking more freely. Woops)

[anyonesghost.livejournal.com]

I usually link my entry once I have the bones in place. It means some people may read different versions of the same story. I try not to mod a story while the poll is up. If voting is active, I consider that knives down and walk away.

But I edit after polls close. Because screw all y'all - I'm getting the story right, good lord willin' and the creek don't rise.

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Editing after the poll closes doesn't phase me, either. THE POLL IS OVER. xD

What you do is different to me, though, than other things I've seen -- you frequently post a day or two or three before the deadline; you label the entry "draft." You warn people it's still a WIP. That feels different and very transparent, to me.

What you don't do is post minutes after the deadline with an entry that is partially done and then finish it in the space between the deadline and the poll going up. Otherwise, I think I'd have an issue with what you do, too. :)

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Well, "late" is relative depending on one's time zone...? I mean, Nathalie always posted right either minutes before the deadline or just after the deadline, and the time difference IIRC was negligible -- it wasn't like she posted, say, a half hour AFTER the deadline. Are people complaining about something like that?

OR...you posted the poll late, so people who were coming up on List O' Shame time had that extra time to post because the poll was late?

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

I read from the topic thread from week to week instead of going straight down the poll (it feels like it takes longer to fill in my spreadsheet -- don't ask me why).

There was four people who posted after the deadline. At these times:

8:02, 8:26 (with an apology for forgetting to link back in the topic thread), 8:31, and 9:30.

I can see people getting up in arms about the 9:30 individual; the others I shrug my own shoulders at.

So I'm guessing people are complaining about posting a half hour after the deadline. :)

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

The first three are people who I reminded "You forgot to link your entry" who came back and did it.

The last one actually planned on dropping, and let me know that -I said "I'm actually running way behind. So if you get something in before I get back..." So they knew that the poll was going to be late, and instead of dropping out decided to write something.

I have a really difficult time with the idea of saying *DON'T WRITE*.

People can vote however they want. But I'm always going to encourage people to write over *not* writing.

[gratefuladdict.livejournal.com]

I don't vote for any entry that was posted after the deadline. I am often writing up to the last minute myself, and there are plenty of days when an extra 2, 26, 31, or 90 minutes could have helped me post a better entry.

But I don't think it's fair to take more than the allotted time and then get the same consideration for votes, whether it's a couple minutes or a longer chunk of time.

The same goes for throwing up some placeholder text and then revising or fleshing it out after the deadline.

[strryeyedgrrl.livejournal.com]

Since it's no secret that I was the 9:30 person, I'll just go ahead and jump into the fray here. I had not fully intended to drop out, but the fates seemed destined to work against me.

I'd noodled on the topic since it was posted and had nothing. Well, not nothing, but not in the storyline I wanted to write on. I figured I'd try to get something to paper while at work on Tuesday, but things went haywire and I had some last minute fires to put out before going out of office for the holiday. Okay, fine - I usually get home with 90 minutes to spare before the deadline, I can do it then.

Nope. Traffic was shit and I got home with just 30 minutes to spare, a fish tank to set up and a missing prescription to locate before the pharmacy closed. So I emailed Gary and let him know I'd be bowing out. And to be perfectly frank, I was fine with it. I came in from LCI for the sole purpose of kicking life into a couple storylines I had rolling around in my head. I figured I'd make some headway on the Alice/Travesty world, but the zombie plot took off in my head. So...*shrugs*. I was disappointed that I hadn't been able to come up with something and posted it before the deadline, but I was okay with owning it.

*snort* I actually told Gary I couldn't get anything done in a reasonable amount of extra time and told him not to hold things up for little ol' me. But I also realized I was being overcautious in my abilities - I didn't want to write to the zombie story again, but I had a great idea for it rolling in my head. So I went with it and I posted it and Gary allowed it. And for that, I'm grateful.

This isn't my first go-round with Idol. I don't think I've ever posted this late after a deadline before and I don't think I've ever asked for any special allowances. (Though Gary can always tell me if I'm a shittin' liar.) I've made last minute posts from abroad, I've typed up entries on my phone from Girl Scout camp. Does this mean I think I deserve a freebie? Naw. But it makes me appreciate it just that much more.

[zhent.livejournal.com]

I'm something of an odd duck. No matter what the group of people, I'm the guy who's generally part of a minority in some way. I decided long ago that I will not compromise my values when it comes to how I deal with situations that arise.

I'm a law and order kind of guy. I work in IT and thus have to be. Policies are put in place in the corporate IT world for a reason, and it's a slippery slope when you start making exceptions to them. When someone calls me at 2am because their server certifications have expired because they didn't do their job, I don't have a lot of sympathy. You signed up to this circus, you manage your monkeys to get things done when they need doing.

Sure, everyone has their moments of failure. We're all people and people are fallible, so I am understanding when someone misses an update or server certification once in a while. We can take care of it. When people miss them repeatedly and their excuse is, "I'm just too busy," I lose all sympathy for them.

All of that is a long winded way to say that yes, it bugs me when people are late to the party.

I read people's entries when they're linked to the topic post, so once the deadline has passed I close that post in my browser and consider the issue done. Is that fair? Maybe not, but like you've said, we vote the way we see fit. I always vote for those entries that spoke to me, no matter who wrote them, but only if they're in on time.

There. I've done it. I've outed myself on this issue...