Idol Face Off Debate - Should I Change the Voting?
Okay, this weekend things got kinda hairy in the “Unchained Melody” Idol Face Off. Clay Aiken fans felt that Kellie Pickler had more votes than she should (poor Damien Leith had very few votes) and Kellie fans thought the Claymates were being mean. Click here to catch up on the story.
I got tons of emails from you guys asking me to check the poll. The numbers were changing like crazy and it just turned out that you guys were just voting like your lives depended on it. I thought it was great.
Since the comments were mostly in support of Clay, the Claymates felt that it made no sense that Kellie Pickler was getting as many votes.
Here’s the thing: I chose to allow multiple votes per person because it is the most like the Idol shows. Yes, it sucks, but that is the system Idol uses and I thought it was only appropriate to do the same. Therefore, one person can vote more than once.
I am open to changing it. I would love for you guys to vote here and leave your comments about the voting system. Rather than reconfigure everything, I’m leaving it as it is.
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POSTED IN: Announcements, Idol Face Off, Thinking Idol
25 opinions for Idol Face Off Debate - Should I Change the Voting?
rs
Sep 10, 2007 at 1:12 am
My suggestion is to forget these polls. Seems like people aren’t happy unless they are promoting fan wars which is rediculous. The polls are meaningless anyway.
jess
Sep 10, 2007 at 1:43 am
I agree Forget the polls, maybe just showcase the different artists versions of the songs.
toby's mom
Sep 10, 2007 at 2:07 am
These polls always start out fun and civil with people giving their honest opinions as to why they prefer one over the other, but then it just takes one person being ugly and then everyone seems to think it’s their job to convert everyone over to vote for their choice with long biographical information. I don’t think this is the place to do that.
Therefore, I also think you should limit the number of words for each comment to avoid page-long posts that really have nothing to do with the poll and you probably aren’t going to change anyone’s mind anyway.
Bouffe
Sep 10, 2007 at 6:34 am
Jeanne, I admire you for wanting to “please the fans” and wanting to find the best way to go about these polls.
But you can’t please everyone. I do think that the way the poll is set up now is the best way to go about it - just like it is on Idol. As long as people are civil and give honest opinions about the performances (and not just vote for their favs just because they are their favs - finding a performance from your favs to not be the best doesn’t make anyone any less of a fan of said artist, it makes you objective), I think it’s the best way to go.
But unfortunately, there will always be rotten apples that spoil the basket.
Therefore, I suggest you leave the poll as it is now. And maybe moderate the comments? Set a word limit to the comment?
Jeanne
Sep 10, 2007 at 7:51 am
Hmmm… that certainly is interesting.
I don’t think the polls are meaningless, by the way. Okay, no one is going to win as a result of it but if you are an Idol fan, it is fun to compare artists for different seasons/countries and it’s a way to be exposed to artists you may not have known about.
I do think that you guys have a point about the comments. I will look into my options in terms of word limits but at the very least, I can moderate them or eliminate the option of commenting all together.
Thanks for your feedback, guys. I will be checking on this post for the rest of the day.
Linda
Sep 10, 2007 at 8:35 am
Jeanne, I agree that this is a great way to “meet” new artists we might not have heard otherwise, and to revisit some of our favorites. “Somewhere over the rainbow” is a perfect example of that. My favorite ended up being a gal from a differerent country and I would never had heard her otherwise.
I also agree that this is NOT the place to start rambling on about the singers qualifications of being a good and smart person and giving a big bio of their life.
This IS about listening to several artists performing a song and critiquing them, and picking a favorite. THAT’s IT.
If people will keep their comments appropriate, stop the cat fights, and stop the bio’s, I don’t see why comments would need to be limited.
I am a big Clay fan, but am enjoying learning new artists also. And even listening to clips that I saw on TV originally during the show, some of them I’m having a different take on now.
So please keep the polls coming and please everyone lets stay civil and comments appropriate.
Linda
Sep 10, 2007 at 8:39 am
And as Simon would say “It’s a singing competition people!!!”
Linda
Sep 10, 2007 at 8:43 am
Sorry, one last thought on this. I voted to keep the voting as it. If it is changed to one vote per name or email addy, we all know that people have multiple accounts and could log on in several different names to vote, so it’s easier to just keep open voting. And more fair to people who DON’T have multi names
pat
Sep 10, 2007 at 9:28 am
I think the polls can be fun and I will listen to all choices before voting. It is the comment section that promotes the fan wars. I vote for no comments.
me
Sep 10, 2007 at 10:29 am
WEll now we ALL DIDN’T GET TO VOTE MORE THEN ONCE.. ur stupid poll only let me vote once and only once… that BS…
and if we were SUPPOSED to beable to vote as much as we wanted, then how in the world could anyone been cheating??? DUH…. just because Kellie fans weren’t here commenting back to the rude comments being made twards her, doesn’t mean we weren’t here voting,, we TRY to let our fingers do the talking. she has quite the following, and if EVERYONE WAS ABLE to vote mulitple times like they were supposed to, then i am sure the results would have been different.
and in all actuality, i see no point in these polls.. why , it just nother excuse , /reason
for non fans to bash the artist who isn’t there “fav”.. and frankly that crap is gettin old!!
Jeanne
Sep 10, 2007 at 10:51 am
Me - most people did get to vote more than once. It is a cookies thing so maybe your browser is set to hold on to the cookies from the poll longer. I’m sorry you thought it was stupid :(
I do want everyone to know that Kellie fans may not have been commenting as much but I got a HUGE number of emails from them and I believe that most of them were voting for hours on end. I don’t know if Claymates will believe that but it is the truth. I got the emails and I went to the forums. Sometime, later in the afternoon, I think a boycott started because they felt bullied but, to the best of my knowledge, the Kellie fans were voting like crazy.
WhatEver
Sep 10, 2007 at 10:57 am
My suggestion is to leave the voting as it is. and where fans can vote as much as they like. And do away with the comment box. That way fans can’t accuse and bash another artist and there fans, when the poll can’t be cheated in the first place when your able to vote as much as you want. Let the vote count speak for itself. Some of us fan’s got tired of reading all the trash and in turn left the poll.
toby's mom
Sep 10, 2007 at 11:01 am
Jeanne, your last post is exactly why I think limiting the voting would make things a bit more fair and then the question of spamming might not become such an issue; thus possibly eliminating the fan war business. But then, who knows, maybe not.
And moderating the comments sounds like a real headache for you and will probably end up with people hating on you! You know, with the “free speech” and all.
It’s all ultimately up to you though. Are we having fun yet? ):
Linda
Sep 10, 2007 at 11:10 am
The polls are fun and I enjoy reading SOME of the comments. What a shame that a couple of people might ruin it for everyone.
And for those who say they are tired of polls - why even come here in the first place??? Nobody is forcing the to take the poll or to read the comments. Good grief.
me
Sep 10, 2007 at 11:25 am
I deleted cookies, and history.. i still could not vote…more then once….
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm????
yes, kellie fans were here, in full force for sometime, but, then did get fed up with the bashing,/bullying ( as you put it)… we know how great Kellie is, we don’t a poll to tell us that, if clay fans wanted it that badly then… whatever… we don’t need to read trash talk twards or about kellie,, i am not saying all kellie fas are innocent.. but, the majority was coming from clay fans, there may have been a couple back, possibly due to feeling kellie was being attacked and bashed wrongly,,
so, ya , maybe pulling comments all together would be best..
Bouffe
Sep 10, 2007 at 11:35 am
This is really a shame that some people can spoil it for others. This is suppose to be fun! Commenting on what one thinks of the performances is part of the fun! Why do people need to start fights over things like these? We are here to have fun, listen to great performances, remember some we had forgotten, discover some we didn’t know/heard about… It’s all about music, people! Not fandom, not who wins or looses or who was done wrong on the show or pimped to death. MUSIC! It’s all about music!
WhatEver
Sep 10, 2007 at 11:44 am
Me ..
Maybe try firefox. I know with IE7 I was able to close browser reopen it delete cookies and vote again. I spent many hours on the poll voting for Kellie. As did many others I sent this poll to. But we did get tired of the bashing. And stopped ..
me
Sep 10, 2007 at 12:28 pm
lol.. i tried both, i actually used firefox /mozilla first… then tried E7…????
WhatEver
Sep 10, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Well I’m not really sure how some can just refresh the page and vote again. As you see I have to do it the hard way. But will check into it. I think I know who you are. Seeing I got asked this in an email the other day. So will figure it out, and get back to you.
WhatEver
Sep 10, 2007 at 1:07 pm
But if I’m wrong about who you are, let me know. Would love to add you to are email team , me :)
R\oise
Sep 10, 2007 at 3:50 pm
I am crazy about Clay and his rendition of Over The Rainbow,,In fact ,, I love everything he ever sang,,that man has a voice of an angel,,so gifted,,do as you wish with the voting,,I will follow,,
LisaLee
Sep 11, 2007 at 3:58 am
The main thing I like about this poll is that its least likely to be spammed by Claymates. For them to complain about Kellie getting too many votes is nothing less than disgusting! I’m a big fan of Clay Aiken but I voted for Brian Melo on the ‘Mack the Knife” poll. Please keep up this comparison poll, it really is a lot of fun.
Braffy
Sep 11, 2007 at 5:51 am
I apologise etc anyone who didn’t like me putting up some information about Damien. It was mainly because you were all saying that you didn’t know anything about him and Carol (I think) posted some very useful information about Clay. I replied along the same vein as her post to show how similar the men were as far as charity work etc.
I haven’t been on this poll before so was eager to join in the discussions. SOme of the posts were a lot friendlier than others. i believe that you should only be allowed to vote once. Another thing too, is that when you compare singers from different countries you must take into consideration the population of each country. The US has many, many millions more people than Australia (21 million). The vast majority of people will vote for their favourite regardless of whether it really is the best version or not. Sorry, I have probably gone over the word limit here.
Off topic… Here in Australia we share your pain on 9//11
Linda
Sep 11, 2007 at 8:28 am
Braffy - “Off topic… Here in Australia we share your pain on 9//11″
Thank you for your kind mention of our sad anniversary. It truly was a changing of life and lifestyle for us in the U.S. I know it’s off topic, but I did appreciate it :)
clara Boyer
Nov 13, 2007 at 9:50 am
How about the old addage, “if you can’t find something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”?Wouldn’t that solve the problem?
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