Everyone on Livejournal is good. It’s doesn’t matter if you joined back when you had to get an invite from someone to sign up or signed up on a whim last week to post your stuff on that fandom community your friend was telling you about.

You are good people.

If you come over from Dreamwidth – well, chances are you used to be on Livejournal and are over there for legitimate personal reasons. So you are still pretty good.

A blogger using Open Access – you’re decent. But really, shouldn’t you have a Livejournal?

Are you coming in from Facebook or Twitter??? Why? You can’t be up to any good, why would someone from those sites actually come over to see anything on Livejournal, unless it was for nefarious purposes?

I’ll admit, I’ve had moments like that (above). Most people have. I think it comes from the inferiority complex LJ (as a culture and community) has developed toward other social media. Or perhaps the walls that people put up in their own life, keeping their LJ apart from all other social media. Walls that the rest of the world seems determined to eliminate regardless of what people think about it.

It’s been a blip in the past. But as time goes on, the presence is getting larger. Of the top 5, only ONE contestant didn’t end up benefiting from voters coming in from facebook. (and yes, they are still in the competition)

Other sites are still a blip. (There were 2 votes that came from Twitter and 1 Open Access vote as opposed to the 35 from facebook for our largest influx of any week in the history of Idol)

There are some ways to look at this – Oh, no, this is the end! Let’s hand the winner icon to the one person who didn’t use those/have people use them on their behalf! Or, these are people coming to Livejournal who might never have known about the site before, or who used to be here and are being seduced back! They are coming to support good writing – and isn’t that awesome! We should welcome these people with open arms.

If we are going to the latter though, there is a rule. It’s not a request. It’s a rule. It’s always been a rule, and it always will be a rule. Why? Because it makes sense. If you aren’t following this, you need to be…

Tell People to Read.

If you are just encouraging people to vote blindly, you aren’t doing anyone any favors. I’d like to assume that people know that they should be reading what they are actually voting for, and based on the names I’m seeing, I’m sure that they are. But there is always the chance of that not happening… after all, Idol has the prettiest clicky boxes on the Internet. Nowhere else really compares to how compelling they are, and how fun it is to watch them for hours on end. Let’s face it – isn’t “meta” just clicky box porn?

There is some great writing happening here in Idol – and being able to reach people out there in the Great Social Media Beyond and bringing them back to the fold, and exposing them to what our writers are offering, that’s amazing stuff! Thank you to anyone who is doing it. But make sure to include a line or three about checking out the entries. Not just the one, but all of them – especially since there are three people left, that’s really not going to be difficult! Lead them to the water, and we get our next generation of Idol writers for Season 9! People who experience what is going on here *want* to be a part of it. People who just see it as a clicky box… many of them don’t.

As I said, based on *who* is coming to vote, I don’t think the “not reading” is a real problem. But there is a perception problem involved and that has a habit of festering. So, let’s be proactive about that – OK?

We have three contestants, who are adding their entries as we speak: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/696365.html Let’s make these last few moments together awesome!!!