Green Room - Week 18 - Day 4
Sep. 23rd, 2013 02:50 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
clauderainsrm.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
therealljidolEveryone 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!!!
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!!!
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no subject
Date: 2013-09-23 05:46 pm (UTC)It freaked me out at the beginning when I would comment and people would thank me for reading their entries. Why thank me for what I should be doing? It made me think "Well, I know you're not reading mine, huh?" Because if they were reading everything themselves, they wouldn't have projected and assumed that I wasn't reading everything.
Also it still hurts that one of my favorite stories that I've ever written was during a week when there were no eliminations, and I think maybe like five people read it. It's beautiful, and I did wonderful things with the words and the rhythm and the imagery, but no one read it.
It's like why even bother. Also the vote counts aren't even real, because if people aren't reading everything then their votes don't matter and are not a measure of quality.
I think in the end I'm more suited to just sharing things freely, like my Sims stories, and votes and competition and numbers and dealing with humans just aren't for me.
The more that I read and learn about other humans, in my years of attempting to understand things like Simsecret and gossip and hate and drama and the emotionally abusive ex-best friend and how he turned so many people in the Sims community against me, and how they were willing to believe his lies and reject me without ever getting to know me and make fun of my writing without ever giving it a real chance....
It's like I've realized that I am really writing entirely for me, and I cannot depend on other people for anything, and votes and comments and all that - it's completely meaningless. Because most humans are really extremely weird, and their brains work in these alien ways that I can't understand, no matter how hard I try. It's like they refuse to believe in reality, and they make up this entire fake world that serves their ego, and they just live in their own little ego world and they don't even see you or your work for who you actually are or what your work actually is.
But, you know, it took eight years but I eventually found the good people in the Sims community, and I grew boundaries and I have a zero tolerance policy now - if you read Simsecret, if you show any support for hate/drama blogs at all, if you ever judge anyone, if you ever say anything negative about anyone else - I don't care who you are, what you post, or what our previous relationship was. You're gone. You're outside my moral circle.
I guess the secret to Idol is learning how to apply those boundaries here. But the whole voting thing makes it harder to do that. I've written my heart out and cried myself sick when I was only in the lower middle of the poll, because I thought that meant that I sucked at the thing that I love most in the world.
But that was before I learned all this stuff about how the perceptions of other humans work, and how completely and entirely arbitrary the perception of the human species is.
I'm off to take a walk and then work on the update of my Sims story.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-23 05:58 pm (UTC)Many people love your stories and comment on them. You enjoy being part of a supportive community. Do you really believe that it's 'projecting' to say Thank You when someone is kind enough to compliment your work, or gracious enough to give useful feedback?
My mother 'should' feed me. But I still say thank you when she sets down the plate.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-23 06:27 pm (UTC)I read all the entries every week, and on the weeks I can't, I don't vote. But I also sometimes reply to comments on my entry (or put at the bottom of the entry itself) "Thanks for reading," because not everyone does read everything, and not everyone who reads is doing it because they're planning to vote. It's just a nice thing to say. I think you're reading extra meaning into it.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-23 06:33 pm (UTC)They wanted *more* out of her, then just acknowledging their comments and thanking them... and when they didn't get it, they got quite riled.
I wonder how in a few years we've gotten from that being dismissive to it being a sincere thank you? (I agree that it IS, but then I've *always* thought that it was!)
no subject
Date: 2013-09-23 06:38 pm (UTC)I've always meant it when I've said it. Sometimes it's been the only thing I said, but sometimes I've said it in addition to whatever else I've said. I just don't think that saying it implies anything other than I appreciate you reading this thing I wrote.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-23 06:44 pm (UTC)