There are still some things that I'm thinking about, that I don't quite have a response to quite yet. But since when does "not knowing what to say" stop me from posting
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I find the notion of swearing by data fascinating. Perhaps if every single variable was accounted for, but this is hard at the best of times let alone in LJ Idol. We know relatively little about each others personal lives, these would be massive factors in a person's ability to write an entry. And we know relatively little about which factors might effect other factors, when is correlation not causation? How much are we going to consider outliers and multi-colinearity?
Well, we know very little about each other. Gary knows more about us. And I'm sure LJ itself has a decent amount of data on our access patterns, posting habits, the linguistics of what we write, mood over time. Depending upon your browser settings, they may be seeing what other websites you visit, get a feel for other social media use, and then start parsing that into an interesting picture of this particular account.
... which they can they correlate with datasets from other companies, all the better to advertise to you. Trick is, you need enough of it to make an informed decision. But it's out there, for those who can find it -- data is yesterday's wave of the future.
Oh yes definitely, the data is out there. I do feel it's kind of a necessary evil at this point. But that still doesn't necessarily mean that even with that tremendous amount of data that there would be enough to cover all variables needed for a proper analysis.
Oh, I don't know about that. It'd never be perfect, since individual actions and random chance can always cause an upset. But with enough data points, I think one could come close.
They're just beyond the scope of what any one of us could pull together ... especially given that we write different entries based on random prompts, and our entries aren't independent of the previous weeks' entries (ours or each others'), and the voting crowd changes from week to week to year to year, and there's a trend over time for the "average" entry to be of one genre over another (e.g., how did nonfiction, poetry, or "meta" entries fare in Season 9 on average?), and an entrant may have a predilection for one style over another, a certain tolerance for risk or experimentation, may react to a variable volume of positive or negative comments ... there's a lot that could be considered.
After all, they already do this sort of thing for sports.
These are all Idol writers who knocked my socks off over and over again. They also have the staying power for the grueling marathon of Idol. And they're all people I completely respect and enjoy interacting with.
If I were choosing a champion to finish out my run in THIS season, there are two more amazing writers who come to mind. They just tend to wander off and abandon Idol (and LJ!) from time to time, which is why I wouldn't choose them for a full season:
Admission: I feel SUPER awkward seeing my name on such a list. Also super flattered. Thank you! :)
For what it's worth, I"m reallllllly glad Idol-to-the-death isn't a thing. I think writing under THIS pressure is hard enough. That pressure would be nuts. Heh.
Yeah, being someone else's champion is a bit stressful. Gary sprung that on us a few seasons back. He had remaining contestants choose an intersection partner from the pool of eliminated contestants. I was Sean's partner. When the deadline hit, Gary told us that the eliminated contestants would be champions - and that we would be the only ones in the poll. Contestants survived or got eliminated based on the votes for their intersection partners.
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... which they can they correlate with datasets from other companies, all the better to advertise to you. Trick is, you need enough of it to make an informed decision. But it's out there, for those who can find it -- data is yesterday's wave of the future.
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They're just beyond the scope of what any one of us could pull together ... especially given that we write different entries based on random prompts, and our entries aren't independent of the previous weeks' entries (ours or each others'), and the voting crowd changes from week to week to year to year, and there's a trend over time for the "average" entry to be of one genre over another (e.g., how did nonfiction, poetry, or "meta" entries fare in Season 9 on average?), and an entrant may have a predilection for one style over another, a certain tolerance for risk or experimentation, may react to a variable volume of positive or negative comments ... there's a lot that could be considered.
After all, they already do this sort of thing for sports.
Next up: the first "Fantasy LJ Idol" season. :-D
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Crap, it might be even more fun than being a regular contestant!
ETA: But think how much more of a kerfluffle spreadsheets would cause then!
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If you had to pick one contestant to PLAY FOR YOUR LIFE (as in, if they win - you get to live. If they don't, you don't) who would you pick, and why?
From this season...
and from ANY season.
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For THIS season, it's as of right now. (and you can't pick yourself)
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Here are the first several who come to mind for me...
darkprism
lrig_rorrim
talonkarrde88
beautyofgrey
kickthehobbit
zia_narratora
These are all Idol writers who knocked my socks off over and over again. They also have the staying power for the grueling marathon of Idol. And they're all people I completely respect and enjoy interacting with.
If I were choosing a champion to finish out my run in THIS season, there are two more amazing writers who come to mind. They just tend to wander off and abandon Idol (and LJ!) from time to time, which is why I wouldn't choose them for a full season:
rejeneration
drjeff
Also, I know I will think of 50 more people the second I hit Post Comment.
ETA: If our "rest of this season" champion has to be another current contestant, I would tap kickthehobbit.
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For what it's worth, I"m reallllllly glad Idol-to-the-death isn't a thing. I think writing under THIS pressure is hard enough. That pressure would be nuts. Heh.
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