Rougarou

SSign ups are still happening, so tell a friend, and make sure to go say hello to any new friends who might be posting their statements of intent. therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1219874.html

(and yes, I am aware that two of those declarations are tentative and do not have links. I know both of them are still deciding, but I think they just wanted to get something out there so people would stop bothering them. :D If they do decide to play, they will be posting links. If they don't, I will delete those so the numbers won't be off. But keep in mind that my 100 contestants - 3 byes deal only counts people who are signed up! Not maybes. Honestly, that deal is pretty insane and I hope people know just how generous that actually is!


It might get a little weird over the next week with people already settled in and watching a poll and other people coming into the room But it will settle back down again when we hit the deadline for Week 1.


The poll for Week 0 is closing Monday. Which introductions have caught your interest and having you wanting to see more? therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1222808.html





***

And having said "wanting to see", completely off the cuff, it reminded me of something I have on my list of Idol History.

I wanted to get my details right, so I went back into my email and then to the entries in question and honestly it wasn't as big of an explosion as I remember it being at the time. It could have been though. and it was big enough for my tastes. But more importantly, I found a way to link it to the First Idol Murder!! I


I was wondering if there was enough "there" for a whole entry. Honestly, there is with both subjects. But let's go ahead and jump back to Season 3 before jumping forward to Season 6.

( Read more... )The purpose and scope of Sheep Stations ended up changing over the next few months and even into Season 4 where they played their own role in the nightmare that was to come. 

There's a lot more details to it, but that Contestant Only vote came back to take out (among other people) ANOTHER huge name on the leaderboard in Season 5 - RM. Who was, and is, just an incredible force of nature in and outside of writing. It was the second Murder of LJ Idol history, 

It got to the point where people started fearing that Contestant Only votes would only take out the biggest competition. However, there ended up being quite a few people at the top of the polls who survived them. The key to that was much like Survivor's final tribal council - you needed people to WANT you to succeed. It's simple in theory but tricky when it comes to pulling it off. 

The tie in to the next subject is that RM was eliminated the *following season* in a Contestant Only vote. But it wasn't a murder this time. It was an act of mercy. This was the time period where she ran for Livejournal "office". I don't even remember all the details about what that even was, I think it was a short-lived Advisory Board that clearly never advocated for anything that would turn out to be useful like, I dunno, "Don't Sell Your Company to the Russians!"  During that time, one of her chief rivals was a member of that glorious site of fantastic people called Stupid_Free. (Note my use of irony. There were perfectly lovely people in that group I'm sure. But also some of the biggest trolls on Livejournal.  Their anti-RM campaign was a graphic that said "RM eats babies!"  (which you don't have to go too far down the rabbit hole to see a pretty horrible reference. They decided to make RM's life as annoying as possible - everywhere she went, including Idol.  They flooded the Green Rooms, they flooded the polls, all in an attempt to claim victory that they had voted her out.  If she went out in the poll, they won.  If she quit, they won. 

The contestants, with her nod and gracefulness, voted her out in the next Contestant Only vote to happened.  It was probably one of the weirdest and yet kind gestures I've ever seen. But it worked out for everyone involved - except stupid_free (and their affiliates) , who were frustrated that their plan had failed! 

Which is where we jump forward to Season 6, when Stupid_free showed up again! This time getting involved in, again, one of the weirdest Idol related or adjacent debates in the history of Idol. Yes, you guessed it, BOOBGATE. 

(I didn't coin the phrase. But it stuck) 
There are different sides of boobgate, much like... nevermind...  Most of them are quite personal for those involved in related matters. Bottom line, there was a lot more playing out in the Green Room than anyone really knew. What people DID know however is that a male contestant came up with the idea of "The Girls of LJ Idol" nude calendar and started mentioning it to people, being fairly obnoxious about it. 

There were women who loved the idea and wanted to participate. There were women who hated the idea and wanted nothing to do with it. I had both of them contacting me about the other side and basically how if I allowed this to happen I was allowing women to be exploited and if I didn't I was taking away their right to choose to do what they wanted with their bodies. 

This was a debate, and a situation that quite frankly I wanted nothing to do with.  I try my best to stay out of other people's business and let them do whatever they want to do in their own free time as long as it's not hurting anyone. But I also agreed with the exploitation angle.  There were talented writers on both sides making their case and it ended up spilling out in the Green Room.  I made the only executive decision that I felt comfortable making - I couldn't forbid this from happening for anyone who wanted to participate. But I absolutely was NOT going to allow the LJ Idol name to be used, or the competition to become a feeder for his "project".   (He backed off this time and scrapped the idea, I actually tried to smooth over the waters between the two factions and sort of was able to bring him back into the fold, concentrating on his writing rather than his instincts to just disrupt shit. But he later came back with his own trolling, he really couldn't change who he was, which landed him as the unofficial ban (because I never actually had to make it official, he got the message of not being welcome) 

(I tend to be quite "conservative" when it comes to sexuality in my own life, in that it's private for me. I don't talk about my sex life and don't really care to talk about yours. It's gotten me labeled as a "prude" at times. But that's just how I am.  Adpaz actually knows that first hand better than anyone! She used to cover up every time I came over because she knew I was uncomfortable. Which was extremely sweet!  If you had "victims of childhood sexual abuse tend to go to one extreme or the other as they develop", mark it off on your BINGO card!) 


Someone brought this "debate" to the attention of stupid_free and Idol again was under their spotlight!! Between Seasons 4-6 it honestly felt like we couldn't catch a break, It was all of the worst natures of Livejournal, where I was trying to highlight some of the best.  We weathered the storm though and kept moving forward.  

That was 2010. What no knew is that there was a far bigger challenge to LJ Idol that would forever change the game, not even a year later. No one saw it coming, and nothing was the same after that.  (coming soon to a Green Room near you) 

The Week 0 poll is up! So make sure to Read, Comment and Vote for your favorites!! therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1222808.html

I just realized that in my instructions on what you should do with the poll  I left out "VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITES!*  I said it in another place in the text. But it's usually part of the spiel! Guess I'm rusty. Or maybe just tired. I haven't been sleeping lately.  (Can't Sleep, Our Lady of the Underground Will Get Me!!) 

In addition to reading the entries, please remember that there are still people joining us! So even if you're already signed up, keep an eye on the Sign Up Sheet and say Hello to those coming into the party! therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1219874.html


     ***

In the comments section below (honestly probably when sometime during the afternoon) I'm going to add an ongoing "in search of" thread for people that I (and you for that matter) would love to see here for the Anniversary.  We can try to find them together! 


     ***

I've been going back and forth on what Idol history I want to talk about next. Because there's so much that ties into each other. So I'll just start talking and we'll find out together where I'm going with this!  Sound good?  

( Read more... )

 The poll is here: therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1222808.html

Sign-ups are here:    therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1219874.html  There have been a few people who have signed up since the Week 9 poll went up. So make sure to go welcome them! 

The FAQ is here for anyone who needs it!: therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1218443.html

***

A few more housekeeping items:

- This is Year 20. Not Season 20.  One of the not-so-secret behind the scenes "secrets" is that I was really dreading having a Season 13. There was definitely a point in my life where 13 was my lucky number. But at some point that reversed itself and I fell into the trap of triskaidekaphobia!  ;) That, and LJ's steady decline is why I opted to make "full seasons" of Idol more rare and started doing more mini seasons and special events.   It's silly I know. As time has gone on the distinction between mini and full seasons has blurred, although the mini ones do tend to have a "theme" and specific twists that are an inherent part of that event, and the regular seasons don't! 

- I've been asked if contestants can have 3 byes this season. I'll make you a deal. You get me to 100 contestants (and no, I'm not saying people make alts that aren't going to actually play. But real honest to goodness returning and new contestants, and I will give you 3 byes!  Honestly, it sounds like a good deal to me!  You're at 74 right now and I know of at least another 6-7 people off the top of my head who said they were showing but haven't posted their intent yet. Honestly, I should probably make that number more steep now that I'm actually looking it. But you know what? I'm feeling generous and that was the number I picked off the top of my head before looking at the current number. So let's go with that! Go forth and recruit, and you will get an extra bye!   (See, it pays to read the Green Room!) 

- One of the main reasons why this isn't "All Stars" is the obvious - the only TRUE "All Star" was kittymichaels!  He won the All Star season before it ever started, and he's also won this season and every other season that has been or ever will be!  ;)   (If you were there, you get it. If you weren't check out this link to his final post: kittymichaels.livejournal.com/58919.html

Which serves not only as a snapshot of Idol history but also as a teaser for a future Idol history lesson entitled "The Time When I Didn't Like Kittymichaels, and why!"  Clearly I was mistaken and learned my lesson. But to get to there we have to get through some other stuff. And besides, that's enough to make you keep coming back! Because who doesn't want to know about someone being stupid enough to not like kittymichaels!! 

                                       ***

That's a tale for another time though. Today I want to tell you of 3 women who shaped the earliest days of LJ Idol. If you've been around for any length of time, you've probably heard the names. But I want to set this up to give you some context and answer a question that I saw asked out there in the wilderness. (Without directly answering it of course. Because I'm nothing if not vague!) 

Some important things to remember from the earliest days of Idol is that I did not actually have a laptop at my apartment.  I did Idol at work, both my work station computer *and* the computers they had in the various break room(s)  (Remember, this was the mid-2000s. Office jobs did things like that!) The other big one point of access was the library.  Deadlines had to be set up when I could be at one of those places. OR, I had to have an assistant who copied and pasted a LOT of my spiel as well as set up the polls from Seasons 1-partway through Season 4.  (Oh, and I also had an internet package with unlimited data - on my flip phone.  Yes, they saw a sucker and took him for everything they could! But at least I could access Idol from wherever I needed to access it. (I had that phone until 2011!! Yes, you read that correctly) 

The first of the women is allpeachy4u (Hilary) She not only was the one who kept bugging me to move Idol off my personal Live journal account (I hosted the 1st season there because it was just me hanging out with my friends and doing some weird little writing game to kill some time and amuse ourselves. Or rather, to amuse me! Mostly me! 

But Hilary kept INSISTING that I move it to a community. I'd never set up a community. I'd never ran a community before (Well, I'd ran various groups and websites. but this was my first LJ community)  I did not have a clue on how to set it up.  She did that for me!  I told her the general vision of how I wanted it set up and she did the actual early work.  

The second woman comes into play here - helenangel. She created that LJ Idol logo that I'm STILL using. I told her what I wanted, she did the actual work to create it! (and honestly made it better than it was in my head) 

The third woman was onxyblue1.  She took over as my assistant after Hilary and I had a falling out. I was stupid and apologized a long time ago. But for anyone reading this who has any doubt, I was completely in the wrong on that one and Hilary was completely right. No, I'm not getting into it because honestly it's personally embarrassing.  Let's just say I was wound pretty tight and had an inflexible set of "right and wrong" even when it was not my business and where a third party was clearly manipulating us into a fight, using that against me. 

Which brings me to back to onxyblue1 because in addition to doing all that work that I described earlier, and putting up with me being well, "Me".. being the nuts and bolts actually making the group work in those early days, she gave me some incredible advice that I did not take at the time and it cost me later.  For me, even into season 3 when things were starting to take off (we jumped from 9 contestants to the 20s to 75!) I was still very much in the mindset of "these are my friends"   I'd believe people when they told me something.  I'd regularly give out my address and phone number to anyone who wanted/needed it.  (More on that in Season 4. Oh yes. I'll leave the gun right here for that to be picked up in a later post!!)   She told me that I needed to keep more of a distance and not be as naive as I was.  She wanted me to be professional before I actually wanted Idol to be something even halfway professional.  But asking me to not be naive was, and still is in some ways, a pretty big ask.  I tend to want to think the best of people and then get surprised when it bites me. 

She tried to spare me that and if I'd listened sooner I think a lot of what happened in the infamous season 4 could have been avoided. She said, and did, a lot more than that. But that's one series of conversations that has stuck with me this entire time and that I've gone back to quite a lot over the years. 

She was a fantastic friend to me, and to Idol. One thing that does tend to be overlooked though when talking about her as my assistant is that she was a contestant in Season 1 and 2 and had shown herself to be a talented writer as well. I really enjoyed reading her entries and getting to know her through her words. 

Who did something that was intended as a joke. I knew it was a joke. But if you look back over what I said the situation is, maybe you will spot what no one really thought too hard on, and I thought *way* too hard about. 

During Season 3 (again, the first major expansion where a lot of these people weren't friends and friends of friends - they were several people removed from anyone who knew or really cared much about me on the best day) I went on a road trip with Season 2 winner (and my best friend at the time) and her teenage daughter.  It was my first big trip of my post divorce life (About 4 years into it!) We had a blast.  I left my trusty assistant in charge, the first time I'd ever just let completely go and put everything in the hands of someone else without constantly micromanaging them. (Because I needed to, see above; I did not have access myself. If I wasn't involved on a micromanaging level - was it really MINE? Sure it was my idea and I set the prompts (or topics as I called them then. Probably more on that later too!)  

Cutting to the chase, she decided it would be funny to have a mutiny - Change the graphics and lock me out of the system.  I won't lie, I was pissed. But far more accurately, I was scared out of my mind.  I had just effectively lost this project that I cared about a lot, just as it seemed to be taking off.  Everyone else seemed to love it and think it was the funniest thing.  So I not only lost my competition, I'd lost the room as well. 

There is only one reason why I got it back and we are celebrating the 20th Year of this thing we call Idol. Because oynxblue1 was someone of great character, who was a good friend to both myself and Idol, who made a joke that, probably without her even thinking about it, hit me squarely where I was the most structurally, and emotionally vulnerable.  Idol had become a really big part of what was keeping me going at that point, and the thought of having it gone really shook me far more than I ever expressed at the time. (and I expressed a LOT!) 




She actually stayed on for a bit and helped transition to a new assistant (kithan/Stephanie. Someone else who started as a contestant who moved into the assistant role. More on her later too.) 

I've seen surprise that I would invite her for this event from people who only know the story from her Introduction, but being completely honest here, there was no way that invitation was not going to be sent. She was a HUGE part of Seasons 1-3 and something that was meant to be laughed about isn't how I remember her, nor do I want that to be her Idol legacy.  I'm so happy to have her back in the fold to write whatever this next chapter is unfolding this season and I'm glad that other people will get the chance to meet this incredibly special woman who truly is a primary figure in why Idol survived this long. 

       ***
Coming soon in the history lesson:  the first Idol murder and when this business suddenly got serious. Getting Wise to Sophism. Lessons of boobgate and the two great betrayals (and why in 20 years there are only TWO former contestants with permanent bans) that shaped Season 4 and everything that happened after. 

The poll for Week 0 is up:therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1222808.html

There were a couple SNAFUs but it seems to have gone OK otherwise.  

                                            ****
Sign-Ups are still happening - therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1219874.html

                      ***

Like any community that has been around for a long time, there is a shared vocabulary that newbies might not understand.   kathrynrose  created this write up over a decade ago. (I reposted it in 2016 (which is where I found it) but it was well established by then.  But most of it still stands.  I really wish she was still around to harass me for Year 20.  You know she would be!! Hopefully this helps someone. If it doesn't, well I've found a way to keep her involved from the grave!  YOU CAN NEVER ESCAPE IDOL!!!  ;)  

You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.

Maybe not. Idol does have its own jargon. Here's a list of common Idol terms. Remember, you can always ask in the Green Room if you have a question. Folks are pretty friendly, and you're probably not the only person wondering.

'merica - A Gary-ism referring only to the apartment or house in which Gary currently lives. People who do not live in 'merica are all foreigners, and will share various attributes as defined in any given Green Room post.

"A" game - Your best possible effort. When Gary starts telling people, "Bring your 'A game,'" he is either hinting about an unexpected twist, or trying to fake people out to ramp up the adrenaline level. Check the Green Room for reactions from veterans. They won't know either, but sometimes there are additional clues to be interpreted.

Alias or alt - A user name that is not the contestant's normal LJ account. Contestants may want to keep their Idol entries separate from their main journal, compete under multiple names to try different writing styles, or get reactions to their writing without the influence of their reputation or popularity. Most start the season all secretive and incognito, but it's rare for someone to make it to the end of the season without being outed, at least to their friends. Note: Anyone participating under an alt must let Gary know via email at clauderainsrm@gmail.com.

Beta reader - A person who reads and gives feedback before an entry goes public. If you're not sure about a part of your entry, or you want to see if a character comes across the way you intended, asking a friend to read the entry before your final edits can be a big help. If you don't currently have a friend who might beta read for you, give a shout in the Green Room or Work Room. You may find a volunteer there.

Bye - A "free pass" allowing the contestant to skip a week without being eliminated. Each contestant gets a certain number of byes, which can be used any time before the Top 50 (meaning until there are only 50 contestants remaining). Some Idolers consider it a badge of honor to make it through the season without using a bye, but there's no actual extra credit for it.

Concrit - Short for "constructive criticism." Giving and receiving specific, thoughtful feedback can be a valuable learning experience. While in some writing communities concrit is expected unless the writer "opts out" or asks not to receive it, Idol doesn't have a standard feedback practice. Idolers who definitely want feedback often dedicate a comment thread on their entry asking for it. You might want to ask for specific feedback if you're working on something particular like dialogue, characterization, or hooking people with a great opening line.

Controversy - Can't we all just get along? Idolers are a diverse and opinion-packed group of wordy people, all working under the pressures of Gary-antics and deadlines. There are some disagreements that come up every season. Among them are:
- Alts - Are people hiding? Should we feel "lied to?" Does it discourage people from getting to know new people?
- Beta readers - Is it "fair" to use them. What's the difference between feedback and editing? How much is too much and when does it become a collaboration instead of a single-author piece?
- Fiction vs Nonfiction vs Poetry - Which is better/worse/more worthy? Are voters discriminating? Is one the "kiss of death?"
- Game twists and turns - Are they fair? Do they detract from the game? Are they integral to the game? Is Gary evil? (Actually, we all agree on that last one. Gary is evil.)
- Pimping/vote farming - Is it fair? Is it right? Is it out of control? Are the "best" writers winning? What is a "best" writer?
- Trigger warnings - Should they be required? Are they useful? Do they mean anything? Are they spoilery? Overused?
- What is a "good" entry? What is or isn't poetry? What about serials? What does it mean for an entry to "stand alone?"
- When is it ok to edit an entry? After it's posted but before it's linked in the topic post? Any time before the poll is posted? What if it's edited after voting begins?
- Voting - How do you decide what gets a vote? Should you vote if you haven't read every entry? Should you vote based on friendship or on each entry individually? Is it ok not to vote for an entry because the font is hard to read?

First - More often than not, the first comment on the Green Room will include the declaration, "First!" Why do we do this? We're competitive by nature. People rush to be the first to comment, and everyone congratulates them on the accomplishment. Sometimes you will see people type "Frist." This is an intentional misspelling. It may be accompanied by shouts of being dead to someone and refusal to share cookies. Don't try to figure it out and don't take it personally if it happens to you. It's an old joke that just never dies.

Footnotes - Some people use footnotes in their entries.⁵ Code the number for the footnote by typing (sup)1(/sup), substituting <> for the (). Do the same thing at the bottom of the entry.⁶ See more info down there.

Gary - The evil overlord. Gary, aka clauderainsrm is the creator and maintainer of Idol. The buck stops with him when there are questions, concerns or controversies. We talk a lot of smack about him, but he cares very deeply about Idol, which includes all the Idolers. Don't be afraid to email or message him if you need to. (clauderainsrm@gmail.com)

Gatekeepers - An invited group of experts who vote on a week's entries. Once or so a season, instead of there being a poll, Gary will invite an unidentified group of previous contestants, winners, and/or professional writer/publisher types to read the entries and vote for their favorites. It's a big deal because you can't watch a poll, you don't know who's voting, and we're usually not sure how many people will be eliminated. When the results come out, Gary identifies the Gatekeepers, and sometimes the Gatekeepers will write a post explaining the logic or process they used when voting.

Green Room - Our home away from real life. Named for the room where television stars hang out waiting to go on stage, the Green Room (abbreviated "GR") is the place where Idolers and their friends hang out and chat about whatever. In the GR you will find virtual comfy furniture, a virtual stocked kitchen, coffee maker, and bar. People may serve virtual food or beverages and/or throw virtual wadded up drafts of their Idol entries at each other. On quiet days, if you listen carefully, you may hear virtual crickets. The GR is the place to get to know your fellow Idolers. Don't be shy; jump in.

Hell week - Dun dun Dunnnnnnnnnnnn! For most of the season, one entry is expected from each contestant each week. However, there have been occasions where as many as sixteen topics were assigned, and the remaining contestants had to write a post for each of them. We call that hell week, for obvious reasons. Note: this usually happens fairly late in the season when we're down to a small number of remaining contestants.

Hippies - A Gary-ism. Gary's never defined exactly what a hippie is. I guess he knows them when he sees them. And when he sees them, he kicks them.

Home Game - An entry written by a non-contestant. Some people like to "play along" without actually competing, or after they've been eliminated, so they write posts based on the topic, and link them in the Green Room (or sometimes, if a lot of people are Home Gaming, Gary will make a special post for links to HG entries). Anyone can Home Game. Tell your friends!

Icon - Each Idol season has its own banner and participant icon. Please don't alter or personalize the Idol icon. The winner will also receive a very special icon as their sole reward⁷ for months of hard work and hair-pulling.

Image descriptions - A written description of a posted photo or illustration. Some of our contestants and/or voters are blind. If your entry contains images, it's a good idea to include a description beneath the image. Some people include a link to a text only version of posts that are very image heavy.

Intersections - The partnership of two or more Idol contestants for the purposes of entry-writing. Occasionally a topic will come with the instructions to find a partner and coordinate your entries. Some partners will each write a half of the same story. Some will write similar entries that fit together in another way. Hint: if you know/find someone you'd like to work with, you can pre-arrange a partnership, "Hey, if we have to do an intersection, want to be partners?" to avoid the "OMG partner grab!" when the topic post goes up.

Link - After you post your entry to your LJ or blog, you'll need to post a link to it in comments on the topic post. If you're new to linking, here's how: While looking at your saved post (not in edit mode), look at the address bar at the top of your browser. You'll find a string of characters that look like "http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/." Drag your mouse to highlight the entire string then hit CTRL-C/COMMAND-C or right-click and choose "copy." Go to the topic post, click "Leave a comment," then hit CTRL-V/COMMAND-V or right-click and paste the link. If you want to be fancy and make the link show the name of your post instead of that string of characters, type (a href="http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/")LJ Idol Home Page(/a) substituting <> for (). It will look like this: LJ Idol Home Page. Substitute your link and the name of your post.

Meta - writing your entry (or part of your entry) about writing your entry. Sometimes new contestants are tempted to begin their entries with something like, "I hated this topic, and this was all I could think of," or "It's been a really stressful week, and I wish I'd had more time to work on this and I hope I don't get voted out over it because tomorrow's my birthday..." This kind of meta introduction will hurt an entry. It tells potential voters that even you don't think your entry is worth reading. If you feel a need to write about your own doubts or frustrations with your entry, put it in a separate post, so your friends can encourage you, ask a friend for feedback, or start a thread in the Work Room asking for suggestions or inspiration.

Meta can also refer to writing about the Idol competition itself. It is possible for a "meta" post to be well-written. When people use the term, however, they're usually talking about the meta comments at the beginning of an entry.

Pimping - Advertising the polls. Part of a writer's job is to get people to read what's been written. Most polls are open to public voting, and with the addition of Facebook and Twitter voting, that includes just about everyone. It's great to tell people about Idol and encourage them to read the entries and vote for their favorites. It's not as good an idea to ask people to "go vote for me" without reading. There are as many opinions about vote pimping as there are people who answer the question, but when it comes to that week when your vote total is at the bottom, chances are you're going to do it. Note: Pimp responsibly - ask people to read.

Tip: If you want to make it easy for your friends to read and vote, you can embed the poll in your own LJ post. Do this by typing (lj-poll-12345) in the body of your post. Substitute <> for () and the number of the actual poll for the 12345.

Poll - The clicky boxes that make the numbers happen. There will be a poll at the end of each week, unless it is a Gatekeeper round or a contestant-only vote. Polls will either be open to the public or open only to people who have joined the Idol community. Poll watching is quite the popular pastime. If you want to poll watch, but haven't voted yet, you can click submit on the poll without voting for anyone, and then go in and edit the poll. To edit the poll click the Poll #12345 link, then click "Fill out poll."

Note: If you edit your votes, there is a tricky glitch in the poll you'll want to know about. Some people vote as they read, so they'll vote for part of a tribe, save it, and then go in and edit the poll to finish voting for the tribe. This is risky because sometimes when you go in to edit, the LJ gods eat all your previously recorded votes except the first one at the top of the poll. This is why even the spreadsheet-phobic should keep a list of the people they are voting for in each poll. If you don't re-vote for people when your votes get eaten, their vote count will go down when you save your edit. If you don't want to un-vote for people, make a list.


Rec List - A list of recommended reading from the week's entries. Some people post a list of links to entries they feel are really well written, and/or aren't getting the attention they deserve in the polls. It's cool to let people know when you like their work.

Rules - There are very few rules in Idol. Generally having a positive attitude and treating other people with respect covers most situations. More specifically:
1. Gary is in charge. He's open to questions and feedback (clauderainsrm@gmail.com), but he has the final word.
2. One vote per person.
3. Don't advertise or plug other organizations or communities without prior approval from Gary.
4. No comments, except links to entries, on the topic posts.

Second Chance Idol (SCI) - Several weeks into the season, there might be an opportunity for late-comers, or previously eliminated players to sign up to compete for a second chance to get into the game. The SCI topics are different and the polls are posted in a separate entry. The deadlines may also be different from those for the main game.

Special powers - Ooooh, magic! From time to time, Gary will decree that the person who meets a random criteria will be awarded a special power. We're talking about Gary, so this could be anything. Some things we have seen in the past - The ability to save someone else in a poll; the ability to save oneself in a poll; the dreaded topsy-turvy (see below); the ability to bring back an eliminated player or bring into the game a home-gamer who is not currently playing.

Spreadsheets - A handy tool for keeping up with contestants and votes. Many Idolers find it helpful to keep a spreadsheet during the season. The kinds of things you might keep track of are: names of contestants, a link to their post, whether or not you voted for them, some keywords to remember what their post was about, which week they were eliminated, etc. If you're not experienced in creating a spreadsheet and need help, keep an eye out around the time the first poll goes up. Someone will post a sample spreadsheet online that you can save and use on your computer.

Time Zones - Deadlines are posted in Eastern Standard Time (UTC -5), because that's where 'merica is. Idolers are everywhere, but Gary is in 'merica. Sometimes the Green Rooms go up in daylight hours for the other side of the globe, but the poll and posting deadlines are going to be 'merican.

Topic Posts - Where we get our marching orders. There are very few hard and fast rules in Idol, but the one that people trip over more than any other is "Only links to entries go in comments to the topic post." It's so tempting sometimes to reply to someone's comment, but Gary has to delete any random conversations that pop up in the topic comments, and that makes him cranky. We don't like Gary when he's cranky. Hint: Read the topic posts very carefully. There's a tendency to only pay attention to the big bold words, but often there are clues and instructions in the rest of the post that you won't want to miss.

Topsy Turvy - A game twist in which the person with the most votes in the poll is eliminated. There are some who believe this is wrong wrong wrong and evil, but there is no power but Gary's, so there ya go.

Tribe - A group of Idol people. Particularly in the early weeks of Idol, when there are hundreds of people competing, polls can get too cumbersome to deal with. Gary splits the contestants into tribes (using random rationale only he understands), and each tribe is listed on a separate poll. In these situations the bottom X number of people from each poll are eliminated, even if they have more votes than someone in a different poll who was X+1 from the bottom of their poll.

Trigger Warning - a brief statement of caution that an entry may contain sensitive material. If you believe your entry contains material that might be upsetting to readers, you can use a trigger warning - "TW - child abuse" at the beginning of your entry. This is a common practice in some online communities. Some readers feel the warnings can be spoilerish and detract from the experience of reading the story. Some people have compromised by adding their trigger warnings under a spoiler cut tag.

To make a spoiler cut for trigger warnings, type (lj-spoiler title="Trigger warning") Child abuse (/lj-spoiler) - substitute <> for (). It will look like this:
Child abuse

User Names - LiveJournal builds links into its user names if they're typed to look like this: clauderainsrm. People often personalize these by purchasing different graphics. If you click the graphic (the head) before the name, it will take you to that person's profile page. If you link on the name itself, it will take you to their main journal entries page. To add a user name link to your comment or post, type: (lj user="clauderainsrm") using <> instead of <>.

Veterans - Contestants who have lived through previous seasons of Idol. Ask them for help. Very few of them bite.

Vote - You can vote for an entry by clicking the box next to it on the poll. It's that easy. You can vote for as many or as few entries as you want⁸ based on whatever criteria you choose.

Most polls are open to the public, which means anyone can vote. Some weeks the voting will be "Community Only," which means only people who have joined the therealljidol community can vote. Occasionally the voting will be limited to current contestants only, which means contestants who have submitted an entry or taken a bye for the current week. Once a season or so, the voting is limited to Gatekeepers (see info on Gatekeepers above).

People can vote even if they don't have a LiveJournal account. As mentioned above, voters can participate from Open Access, Facebook, Twitter and Google accounts. Using Facebook as an example, when logged in to Facebook, go to www.therealljidol.livejournal.com, click the Facebook icon, then click "log in through Facebook" and follow log in instructions.

NOTE: ONE VOTE PER PERSON If you vote through your LJ account, you cannot then also vote through your twitter or facebook accounts. One body = one vote. There are few hard and fast rules in Idol. This is one of them.

Work Room - A post, similar to the Green Room, that is dedicated to discussion of the craft of writing. Use the work room to brainstorm story ideas, talk about your writing process, complain about what your characters are trying to do in your head without you, be in an environment where people don't think that last thing is cray-cray. Here writers be writers. Sometimes there's a designated person who brings a discussion topic to the room, sometimes it's completely participant-directed.

Win⁹ - A successful finish. At the end of the final poll, there's only going to be one person left as the winner. That person gets bragging rights and the use of an icon. But the truth is, Idol is what you make of it, and there are a lot of ways to win. If you want to get back into a regular habit of writing, and you do that through Idol, you win. If you want to create a network of writing buddies to help you through the wordless nights, and you connect with people through Idol, you win. Tip: Decide in Week 0¹⁰ what a successful Idol season will look like for you and go for it.



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¹ In this case, the word "week" is approximate. Time is relative and entirely in Gary's hands.
²Which is the most important part. But people are people, and bring their good and bad moods and hot buttons and kneejerks to the party. It's like getting the family together for holiday dinner. Sometimes you gotta just roll your eyes and pass the mashed potatoes.
³We like to add a little bit of Zen into our FAQ experience.
⁴ It's undoubtedly relevant in any other context, and at some point the whole fiction vs non vs poetry discussion will occur in the Green Room.
⁵Like this one.
⁶ Note - to make the small font at the bottom, type (small) and (/small) around your text, substituting <> for ().
⁷Plus satisfaction. Lots of satisfaction, and their name in the sidebar.
⁸Sometimes, during special votes, such as contestant-only votes, Gary will limit the number of votes each person can cast in a poll. It doesn't happen often.
⁹ Yes, this is out of alphabetical order. We're ending on a Win here.
¹⁰Week 0 is all the stuff that happens between sign-up and the first official week. If you're reading this after Week 0, then just start now.