LJ Idol Topic 13: Inside Baseball

[zaichikarky]

Yeah I'm not writing about "Inside Baseball" this week. I don't like the topic and I take it upon myself to read all you guys' horribly off topic entries (some of you anyway) so because I'm annoyed there was no free topic this far into the game, I think I'll just write whatever I want to and see if I make it to next week. It will be most amusing if I do, but help me accomplish my goal because this season, it's to week 15.

I think I'll just write some bitchy thing about the competition because I'm lazy and don't really feel like thinking of something any more interesting to write about.

First of all, I'm really pleased with the tribe system this season. It was a very easy solution to what I sometimes perceive as unfairness considering the people with the biggest friends lists (tribe 4) obviously always get the most votes.

That's not to say that the suck-tribe, tribe 1, doesn't deserve to be on the bottom rung of this hierarchy. Other than maybe some of the people who keep coming in from Second Chance Idol, some weeks I really vote for maybe 3 people from tribe 1. That doesn't really come from having small to non-existent friends lists, it comes from either sucking in general, or hardly spending any effort in writing.

Let's go to the last point for a minute. I'm sorry but in my very humble(HAH) opinion, if you don't spend at *least* half an hour trying to write an entry for us Idol readers to read, you aren't putting enough effort into your entries. There are a few of you who are like this, and I don't vote for you 90% of the time. It really irks me that people who genuinely do put effort into their writing are voted out and a one paragraph entry does well.

I think that at least 80% of poetry is a cop-out. And it's not only because I have never liked poetry. I actually have voted for poetry about 3 times this season- all three times when I see that the person has made an effort to not only connect their poem to the topic, but to make it interesting.

I dislike fluffy writing. Maybe that's not the term, but whatever it is that many of you do where there is nothing happening in the context of the entry but a lot of metaphors and description. I've never voted for any entry where it was about some idea or metaphorical gibberish. I never understand it or maybe if I do, I think it sucks and I won't vote for it. I hated the Lord of the Rings saga- the Tolkien, not the movies, and that was a major factor.

Second Chance Idol is pretty cool, I have to say. I think you guys should be paying more attention to it. Again, I'm kind of annoyed that some good writers from it aren't voted through, but they have kind of a small circle of voters to begin with.

I think some of you are horribly over rated, but I'm not going to name any names just because it's mean to single out people and even I'm not that bitchy.

I am more impressed with the quality of fiction this year. Though I will have to admit that the few of you who are/were writing the sagas did lose my interest at some point.

I would say that the last thing that annoys me is that some of you don't write on topic, but hey, look at me this week :).

Feel free to disagree with everything and air your complaints about this entry. In other words, I always am open to any kind of criticism . I have a feeling that at least some of you are going to complain that I'm trying to start drama. I would definitely disagree, but if you feel that way, then that's fine.

If I go out, I go out "blazing" I guess. That would be really funny if this were a gate keeper week. If I don't make it through this week, next week I am going to comment on every single one of your entries. Even if I hate it, which will happen quite a few times. You made it to week 13. Either you are talented(at least somewhat), ambitious(by not flaking out due to "real life") or have a nice friends list. Both are cause for celebration, really.

Edit:

According to spydielives, this entire entry actually fits the topic well and thinking about it, she's probably right. I guess I just find that amusing where I spent a long while trying to write my first entry only to give up and write this and somehow it ended up being on topic : ).

Comments

[spydielives.livejournal.com]

This is about as on-topic for "inside baseball" as you could get, if you consider the definition, and of course, you look at all the "inside LJIdol" references you managed to work in.

Down in flames? Well, that isn't for me to judge, but the rest of the voters.

Who knows, maybe you have a fan or two out there too. After all, you've certainly managed to survive this long, and no one can last in Idol without the support of people who like what they write, regardless of what tribe they are in.

Of course, I am new to this round, so what do I know.

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

I don't really have any fans. I notice that if people like what I have done for a particular week, my votes will reflect it. It's kind of hard for me to figure out what people like, though, but I try, I really do. I have never been that popular. I have survived this long this season because I was in tribe 1 or 2 for most of it.

Wow, I never really considered that it's on topic. That is... kind of awesome XD. Thanks for pointing that out! As someone who was specifically targeted by this kind of thing last season( one of the main reason why I am not going to name any names even if some are curious), I am surprised that you don't have something negative to say to me, so I appreciate that : ).

[katieupsidedown.livejournal.com]

A few people who do know me know that I definitely agree with some of what you said. I pretty much never comment on entries and, honestly, I vote for fewer people every week. Last week I voted for three people per tribe. I think some of the best writers in the competition left voluntarily weeks ago, and also I think my standards get higher the longer this goes on.

But I'm definitely guilty of taking less than 30 minutes to write my entries and turning in short stuff. Unfortunately, that's just my style. I read the topic when it goes up, then spend the rest of the week twisting it around in my head, deciding what angle to take. I'm usually not sure what exactly I'll be doing until Friday, when I plan out what I want to say. Eventually I actually sit down. I type up my entries really quickly and yeah, they're succinct. I'm a succinct type of person. Why spend 2,000 words on something when I can say it with 400?

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Hm I dunno. I vote for you most weeks. I wouldn't say that you are *that* succinct, though you can be sometimes. Maybe you don't always spend a long time writing your entries, but to me you write something interesting a good chunk of the time. And actually, I count *thinking* about the entry as actual time spent on the entry. Because sometimes I think about what I want to write about longer than the time it takes to write about the entry. As long as I see that the writer has taken some effort and the entry is interesting for me, I usually vote for it.

[lawchicky.livejournal.com]

I think we all have our likes/dislikes, which is part of the reason the voting varies from week to week. I'm not much of a poetry fan either, and I prefer entries that are on topic, especially if they find a creative angle to use the topic.

As for writing an entry in half an hour, most of mine take much longer, but I give props to anyone who can write a quality entry that quickly.

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Yeah I think that few people can write a quality entry in that short a time span, but it has been done.

[basric.livejournal.com]

One I agree about a third of the entries have NOTHING to do with the topic. But I disagree tht just because you are in tribe four you have a huge friends list base. I knew exactly two people when I started this season. I write what I know and think about it before I do usually to tone it down. I know that SOME people have a FL they just go through and vote and never read, I've read comments where they admit it. You can tell this when a bye gets 18 votes????

I read every entry and try to comment on them all good and bad, trying to give the bad some encouragement.

Since so many people just write whatever the hell they want I don't see why you shouldn't too. You've got my vote even if I am in TRIBE 4 (against my will I assure you.)

Good luck.

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Well, when you started out, it was clear that you were a really great writer so you gained popularity quickly. And now you have over a hundred people on your friendslist, so I think it applies to you too. I would have to admit that I find few people in tribe 4 over-rated, because most of them actually are really good writers and during the tribe 4 weeks, I would usually not vote for no more than 5 entries. I believe it was last week that I voted for all but 2.

[purplehaze9.livejournal.com]

Bashing people for being off-topic in LJI is really unfair because the topics are so open-ended and obscure that there might as well not be a topic in the first place. There are some nice perks to having open-ended topics, but I feel completely lost on some weeks and feel as though I am winging it, which leads me to hating my writing and losing my motivation.

Will agree with you on the poetry bit. Overall, I find poetry to be boring to write, boring to read, and boring to watch people use it in some spoken word presentation complete with bongo drums.

lolz @ people who spend less than a half hour on LJI. How is that even possible? I thought taking 1 hour - 90 minutes was not enough time (from brainstorming to completed writing).

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's unfair. I have found almost every single topic this season to be difficult. I have spend quite a while thinking about what kind of entry to write so that I can try my best to at least fit the topic in some sort of way. It frustrates me when people don't bother doing that and just write whatever they want. I mean, if you write a good entry and it's off topic, chances are you will go through anyway.

I think that quite a few people spend very little time on their entries. Some of them can get away with it sometimes, but sometimes I am just not impressed at all.

Also, the entry that I was writing was about bashing D & D nerds. I was displeased with it because D & D nerds haven't pissed me off since under grad and I didn't feel great about it.Given the opportunity, I'd rather bash bad writing on idol, so that's what I did and somehow it kind of ended up being on topic anyway.

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

I love shit-starters, being one myself. :)

also I agree with virtually every point you've made.

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Yeah I was really impressed with your entry like this one last season. I think that you did a better job than me, but I've been annoyed by all this stuff for 13 weeks now, so I might as well just throw it out there. I'm surprised that I haven't gotten a negative response yet. I remember you got a few.

[mstrobel.livejournal.com]

MEOW! I loved this, it made me think evil thoughts.

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked : 3.

[shadowwolf13]

I try to read all the entries every week ... and I spend far too much time resenting that I'm spending time reading things I don't like because they're either bad writing or nowhere near topic. :/

Glad to know I'm not the only one.

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Of course not, I notice that when someone like me throws together a shit-stiring/bitchy rant, most people tend to agree. I know that when it's been done in seasons past, I agreed with at least 80% of the criticism. I know everyone doesn't agree with all my points, but that's fine, I don't expect that and I like having critical discourse : )

[yachiru]

I read all the entries! But I suck at commenting. >_< I'd have to agree with with Bas said about tribe 4 though. I think I have like 5 people who are active on lj on my FL and maybe two would go over and vote for me if I posted a link to the poll. ^^

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

I'm not as proactive with commenting sometimes as I'd like to be, because I'd like to comment everyone, but it would eat up a lot more time than I really have.

[wyliekat.livejournal.com]

I've missed reading entries maybe once. I also have some ideas of what constitutes on-topic or on-point, but I sort of think of them as my quirks, rather than flaws in the writer. Granted, some folks aren't strong, but if you read them all week by week, you'll see that even the "bad" have good weeks, and vice versa.

All that said, I wish this post hadn't been quite so cranky. An inside baseball evaluation of the game would've been awesome by itself.

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

I agree that it's cranky, and after all one of my best friends nick names for me is MajestiCranky XD. Really, I don't know how I could have made this less cranky, even if I wanted to.

[momebie.livejournal.com]

I kind of wish I could run an anonymous poll with some of my entries to see if people gauged them to be on topic or not. Every single one of my entries has been on topic in my head, but sometimes my brain works in a way that other people's brains have a hard time following. (Not to insinuate that I'm smarter, because I'm not. It's just the ADD getting the best of me.) I have seen quite a few people complain about things being on or off topic. I feel like a lot of what happens here is open to interpretation and sometimes people don't jive. Which is fine, it's how the world works.

As for the poetry, I spent more than half of the competition not even reading it. I find something about poetry to be intrinsically embarrassing in a second hand sort of way. Probably because most people seem to write poems about ~feelings and I'm just not good with feelings. Of course, all hang ups I have with poetry are my own issues to contend with, which is why I wrote a poem one week for the competition.

This is the first year I've done this, so it's been an educational experience, to say the least.

[spydielives.livejournal.com]

OK, this comment had me laughing... You must not be reading MY poetry (ok, three pieces were for SCI this season, so maybe not)

Granted, sometimes I write about "feelings" but more often than not I write about situations, or observations of life.

Then again, maybe I'm in the half you don't skip.

*chuckling*

Not to discount the people who DO write about feelings. Those can be much more difficult to write than the attempts-at-cleverness I try.

[pixiebelle.livejournal.com]

Posts like this always make me paranoid as I am not a confident writer in the slightest :P

But I have made every effort to not pimp. I will admit to doing it eventually (I didn't start it for a long time because I didn't want to bug my friends list). But this season, I am really doing my best to NOT pimp since I want to prove something to myself. I want to get better and not get by with pimping alone. I admit, it kind of disgusts me when people only survive by pimping week after week instead of aiming to improve. I understand a bad week now and then (like my entry this week.)

I am with you on not voting for those who spent no time on writing an entry. Most of my entries take me hours. I write and critique my stuff so many times, adding stuff in, taking things out, etc. It's why my posts are almost always last minute. I spend so much dang time on them. When I see an entry that was thrown together in like 2 minutes, I just can't see myself voting for them over entries where people put forth obvious effort.

So all in all, I hope no one things terribly about me (I'm paranoid after it got leaked that people were talking about me being whiny, pathetic and less than worthy last season, even if I made up with said people, it still hurts, you know?)

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Actually I think you're a really good writer : ). I mean you're in tribe 4, and even though I kind of trashed tribe 4 a bit, some weeks I have voted for everyone in tribe 4(well former tribe 4) other than maybe 2 people. It probably is the most talented tribe. I believe I have voted for all but one or two of your entries. Probably one of those two was one of the few weeks I wasn't able to read everyone and whenever that happens, I tend not to read everyone in the biggest tribe.

I can always tell that you are putting out a big effort in your entries, not only from their length, but you clearly try to do your best. Sometimes, and this is the same with javafiend, your stories are so crazy that I have a hard time believing they're fact and I have actually questioned you on this and i think that is a sign of a good writer. That you make something so entertaining that your audience questions its legitimacy : ).

[tigrkittn.livejournal.com]

I loved reading what someone really thinks about what's going on inside this game!

I've always been in awe of the people who post their entries really fast, and some of them are often quite good! Me, I take hours to finish anything enough to post it - it's frustrating!

I disagree somewhat about the tribe system- I hate it! Largely because I somehow ended up in the high-voting tribe, while I have a small friends list and everyone on it is connected to Idol because this is my "Idol journal" - so they're either competing, or at least voting anyway. It's been kind of a nightmare watching myself hover at the bottom of the poll every week. But of course YMMV, as does everyone's.

I hope you make it through this week so you make your goal :D

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Yeah I do too. I've always enjoyed entries like this, even though sometimes i think they're kind of mean. I just decided to go for it because I was getting really frustrated with my first entry and said "screw it". It's not really paying off, but *hopefully* I can make it this week.

I notice that almost everyone who is in tribe 4 hates it XD. See, for me, I was in tribe 1 or before that 2, for the entire game, so for me it's worked very well because I got to compete against people who kind of suck (well several people in the former tribe 1 weren't really that great and I got kind of annoyed reading the same type of stuff from them every week). I know that some people in the former tribe 4 have to work extra hard, and I feel that some people from it are over-rated and I got annoyed that they would continue while other people got voted out.

I hope you will stay in the competition for a while. I've actually really liked pretty much all of your entries.

[locknkey.livejournal.com]

I pretty much agree with most of what you said.

I am new to tribe four and expect to be out soon - largely because my friend's list does not read or vote in idol. And at least a third of my friends list might better be titled frenimies.

I applaud your honesty. I don't see his as starting wank - more as saying how your really feel even if it is not socially polite. :)

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

It looks like you should be good for this week. The tribes have been restructured so that tribes 1 and 2 were combined and tribes 3 and 4 were combined. You'd have ended up in tribe 2 anyway, so you have more competition and a better chance of staying in, I'd think.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Many good points - you got my vote for what it's worth!

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Really need all the votes I can get. It's getting so close : ).

[ellistrae.livejournal.com]

Dang, I wish I had paid attention this week, I would have voted for ya. I happen to agree with many of the things you said. I admit that I strayed a bit from the topic a time or two this season, but I was mostly trying to have fun with my serial story, so I really don't care all that much. I figured out last season that I took idol a bit too seriously and worried myself to death about it so I tried to just enjoy myself this season, work on my fiction a bit, and have more fun. Some might think that goes against the spirit of idol, but I think everyone wants something different from the experience anyway.