I will freely admit that I have had many conflicting thoughts about "outside" votes. There is a part of me that thinks of Idol and LJ as its own bubble, and that asking for votes inside that bubble (promoting yourself on LJ) was fine, while asking for votes outside that bubble (other social media) was not okay. I also had a little bit of an attitude regarding asking for votes in general, because I only did that once this season, and it didn't feel "fair" to me. My LJ friends are not active anymore, I don't use Facebook, and I only have a small handful of followers on Instagram. Basically, I can't count on outside votes.
That being said, I have to consider that LJ allows outside votes, so that then does become part of "the game," and I also have to consider that while LJ is dead for many people (like myself), it's not for others. But those people for whom LJ is dead may be able to promote themselves elsewhere. Is there really a difference between someone with a bunch of LJ friends asking for votes on LJ and someone with a bunch of Facebook friends asking for votes on Facebook? Not really. And honestly I kind of feel like asking for votes on other social media is partly an uphill battle. Those people without LJ accounts still have to go through an extra hoop to get to vote that people with LJ accounts don't have to go through.
The more I think about it, the more I really think it's a non-issue as far as fairness is concerned. It does suck that some gifted writers may be knocked out for not having enough of a social media presence, but I got to the top 4 with no self-promotion except for at the top 5 mark, when I posted on Instagram encouraging my friends and family to read all of the entries and vote for their favorites. I don't know how much of a difference that made, but I do know that my co-worker is now a fan of both rayaso and kittenboo (you're welcome) because of it. And she's a writer so she might even show up next season.
Basically, I don't know for sure how important social media is. And without access to the detailed results, none of us will really know. And when we look at the polls and see who's getting votes and when, we can come up with some narrative of someone doing something we feel is unfair. But we don't know what anyone is doing short of them telling us, and even then that's a matter of whether you believe them or not. And the bottom line is that I fully believe Gary would disqualify someone who was actually breaking rules to get votes.
I'd love to see a version of Idol played like Survivor where it's always contestant only votes and the Jury decides the winner, but I understand that's not really a good way to get the community at large invested.
That being said, I have to consider that LJ allows outside votes, so that then does become part of "the game," and I also have to consider that while LJ is dead for many people (like myself), it's not for others. But those people for whom LJ is dead may be able to promote themselves elsewhere. Is there really a difference between someone with a bunch of LJ friends asking for votes on LJ and someone with a bunch of Facebook friends asking for votes on Facebook? Not really. And honestly I kind of feel like asking for votes on other social media is partly an uphill battle. Those people without LJ accounts still have to go through an extra hoop to get to vote that people with LJ accounts don't have to go through.
The more I think about it, the more I really think it's a non-issue as far as fairness is concerned. It does suck that some gifted writers may be knocked out for not having enough of a social media presence, but I got to the top 4 with no self-promotion except for at the top 5 mark, when I posted on Instagram encouraging my friends and family to read all of the entries and vote for their favorites. I don't know how much of a difference that made, but I do know that my co-worker is now a fan of both rayaso and kittenboo (you're welcome) because of it. And she's a writer so she might even show up next season.
Basically, I don't know for sure how important social media is. And without access to the detailed results, none of us will really know. And when we look at the polls and see who's getting votes and when, we can come up with some narrative of someone doing something we feel is unfair. But we don't know what anyone is doing short of them telling us, and even then that's a matter of whether you believe them or not. And the bottom line is that I fully believe Gary would disqualify someone who was actually breaking rules to get votes.
I'd love to see a version of Idol played like Survivor where it's always contestant only votes and the Jury decides the winner, but I understand that's not really a good way to get the community at large invested.
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That was Fanfic Survivor, which was the ancestor of LJ Idol. I ran it in the early 2000s. (Back when I was writing fanfic.)
I think there were 7 contestants and it went well enough. But then again, there were only 7 people, so there's only so much drama to be had. :)
A lot of the ideas that eventually became Idol were born there.
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