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.

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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).

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

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

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

[mstrobel.livejournal.com]

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

[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.

[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. ^^

[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.

[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.

[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?)

[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

[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. :)

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

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

[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.