Saturday, October 24, 2009

Comment Moderation - update

UPDATE :
LOL. I extended the poll by an extra day, and I'm back at where I started.
52% (pls moderate) vs 47% (let me speak freely).

So you've decided. Thank you for participating. Let's give moderation a try for a week and see how it goes :)

thanks again for taking the time to vote to help me decide - much appreciated!
xoxo, s.


Hi Folks,
I've extended the voting period for the poll (left sidebar) to midnight today(Friday 23rd) cos the votes are so close (52% moderation vs 47% don't moderate). Am hoping the extra day will give me a clearer idea of what most of you want.

So please vote if you want to be heard (and moderated :))

Thank you. Your opinion is much appreciated :)
s.

12 comments:

  1. Thanks Summerr, you've been so sweet and considerate :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Summerr, honestly I'm fine with either arrangement (to moderate or not). Seriously, the haters are only wasting their time. I think that majority of the readers are sensible enough to take comments with a pinch of salt, or exercise some critical thinking. If moderating comments will take alot more of your time and you've to end up getting an assistant to moderate, then I'd say it's better to leave the comments not moderated (unless they involve unnecessary namecallings and profanities). Really, a sensible reader is not going to be bothered with unnecessary flaming - everyone has his/her own judgement. Even if comments have to be moderated, people's opinions of certain contestants will not changed. Anyway, I don't see how is a critic such as saying "one is lacking of consistency in her performance", is getting out of hand? Viewers have their rights to express their honest views on contestants who still get through even after a series of lacklustre performances while they got upset with consistent contestants whom they have been voting for, get booted prematurely.

    Frankly speaking, I really think it'll be more constructive if we're able to petition for transparency of the voting system, and having the voting charges REDUCED as well - it's ridiculously expensive, and it hurts alot when you see your phone bills - sometimes this really distract you from wanting to vote. Also, while we need not copy American Idol entirely, we should make an effort to be as fair as them in giving every contestant equal amount of media coverage - for example, one contestant's Korean vocal coach got to say something briefly on TV while other contestants' vocal coaches did not get to be featured. But, in American Idol 9, in some of the weekly themes, the vocal coach got to speak on every contestant.

    The only issue I see is, Singapore tend to vote for those who got featured more on TV irregardless of how they perform. For now, I am happy to see contestants like Tabitha, Sylvia, Sezairi, Malaque advancing to the top 8 (they really deserve based on their consistent performances) - but I can't say the same for next week, because either one of them might get the boot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Anon2,
    Great to know what you think. Agree with you that msot readers SHOULD know what to and what not to post. trouble is, when it comes to racial, religious and sexual orientation stabs, it has gotten out of hand - if you've not seen any of these comments its because I've deleted them.
    Some have gone on personal attack crusades on everyone thinkable from other posters to each of the Idols (everyone's been flamed), myself and also the Official blogger. I think its out of hand when a personal attack turns vicious and obviously not objective.
    Its fine to express one's opinion. Am totally for open discussion and freedom of speech, which I why I tend not to want to moderate. Its good to get a chat going and hear whats on everyone's mind, but it gets 'out of hand' when those comments are derogatory in any sense.
    Thanks for reading, lets see what end of today yields.

    s.

    ps. If moderating comments takes too much time, oh well, it'll just take longer for comments to go up - and if thats what people have chosen, they should be aware of it. I am ONE person, no assistants, am SO NOT PAID (therefore can't afford assistants), so it will be snail's pace comment posting if its overwhelming (especially for older posts).

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Summerr, I'm Anon 2 whom you are replying to. It's always a joy to hear from you as usual. Again, I want to express my appreciation for the good work you have done on this blog, especially trying to communicate with us. Honestly, my concern is: Sylvia is awesome but seems to receive very little or almost no extra media coverage - I can only remember her being featured before her performance, but I don't remember seeing her audition and pre-spectacular clips. Fortunately, she has grown on me with her nice personality and talent - but Singaporeans feel the same too instead of voting for the faces whom they see more on TV.

    P.S.: Some posters were bringing up the Rachael Gan's case to blast Malaque - honestly I find them being very childish to dig up old scores like these and continue their hate on Malaque - if you decide to moderate, please do not approve such comments. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Correction to my above comment: but I hope Singaporeans feel the same too instead of voting for the faces whom they see more on TV.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I meant I hope Singaporeans feel the same as me about Sylvia too instead of voting for the faces whom they see more on TV.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Malaque can't even reach the high notes. She self-proclaimed 'she's good' even on the last episode. Bad personality for singapore idol. Nurul and Amira should be kept in instead of Malaque. Malaque is an obvious faker. Well, im just saying my thoughts.Afterall, 'viewers have their rights to express their honest views on contestants.' and I don't see this critic as getting out of hand.

    ReplyDelete
  8. For Sylvia: to the anon, Sylvia did receive media coverage! o.o Her first audition and first theatre round were shown. Well, I didn't remember until I rewatched it on Youtube though.

    For Malaque: I agree that Malaque is consistent, however, I disagree that it is a good thing. She is consistently giving "not so good" performances.

    ReplyDelete
  9. To the anon who call Malaque an obvious faker - whatever extreme comment you give about Malaque even though it's just your own honest opinion, it just shows that you simply don't like her and probably obsessed in hating her. Some people I know enjoyed her performances. Although I am not her fan, I honestly think she is at least not grating to listen to, even though her performances were not fantastic enough to exude a WOW factor. If we are to judge in terms of consecutive performances in a row, a few others are in fact worse than her in terms of their dictions and range. Just my opinion as a neutral observer who don't see why you need to discredit her this way.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Just to add - if we need to critique, shouldn't we also criticise in a more constructive and objective way? Summerr, what do you think of this?

    ReplyDelete
  11. To the Anonymous at Oct 4:23pm - Amira and Nurul have better voices, I agree. But this does not mean they should last longer in the competition, irregardless of how they perform. Both of them in fact have several lacklustre performances that fail to connect with the viewers - while I love their voices. As I've been following their performance since their first piano shows, I get to understand why better singers don't necessarily while those who have weaker and ordinary voices can last longer. The Singapore Idol competition is about connecting with the audience. During the Asian Fest, I was worried for Nurul as the song 'made in india' is not doing her great voice justice - I think Ken was spot on in advising her. On the same week, Malaque impressed me by surprise with her hindi song - this had honestly enticed me to vote for her.

    With the above examples, I find it pointless to use the vocal quality of each contestant as a benchmark to measure his/her level of idol-worthiness - if he/she thinks he/she is awesome after knowing that he/she can connect with the audience, I don't see why this is a Bad personality.

    While I am not interested to defend any contestant, I just would like to raise up a point on how people vote - Malaque has an ordinary voice, so does Kris Allen whom some critics taunted as being Vanilla. But he won eventually because his singing can connect with the audience and he was stepping up his game while being underrated by the judges.

    I love Amira's voice, but very sorry that her singing has failed to connect with me. Well, Sylvia became my favourite after several performances that eventually convince me that I can enjoy her music - anyway, just my personal opinion only - I am not telling you to like Sylvia. Not a fan of Malaque yet, but I can see her stepping up her game. I am a fan of Nurul because of her voice but subsequently I find Malaque's performances connecting with me - this makes me realise why she lasts longer.

    Lastly, your comment was getting out of hand - this gives us good reasons why we should vote 'Yes' for moderation.

    You've abused the freedom of speech by:
    1) calling her an obvious faker without concrete facts to support your comment. this is as good as flaming because your opinion is based on assumptions.

    2) you were not commenting objectively - as you were trying to bring to our attention ONLY her Negative points.

    3) abt hitting the high notes, I've already explained above that about the vocal quality - even if you can hit the high notes, this does not mean you are idol worthy or a better singer.

    Well Summerr, I will be more interested to read your review of how each contestant fared on Wednesday, rather than the comments over here.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi,my take on this. To not get eliminated is amount of votes you can afford, or in some cases parents who dont want to see their children get eliminated must spend more on votes.i think a talented person should not rely on votes to really be a winner in this singing or popularity competition.
    If you got what it take you make it anywhere.

    ReplyDelete