American Idol 2009!!!

[SDKath]

Does anyone else think that with 100,000,000 votes, perhaps some sort of computer software was generated by someone to vote automatically for a contestant over and over again?

Wouldn't that be an easy way to cheat? I mean people can vote only so many times in a few hours. But a computer can make a million phone calls awefully fast. With Skype, Vonage and other VOIP programs, it would be easily doable...

Or am I a conspiracy theorist?

Katherine

 

[Jaybee]

I think I'll save this note, and take a look at it some time later.

Maybe they should just call the debut (and most likely last) cd from Kris "Songs from the Fair" as most likely it will be free County Fairs he'll be doing in a year or two just like Ruben and Taylor. Hey, every two or three years the vote goes wrong but it was fun getting there.

 

[Rose Pink]

We mere mortals will never know all the wheres and whyfors of this vote such as:

How many individuals voted. It's easily possible that a mere 1000 people could account for 1 million votes in a 4 hour timeframe.

How many votes were cast for a contestant vs how many were cast against that contestant.

Did a significant number of people vote for or against Adam because he is gay? Or for or against Kris because of his religious background? (edited to add that this and the other questions are merely rhetorical and don't need a response. They have simply been brought up before on this thread.)

How big a factor-pro or con-was the judges' blatant campaigning?

All we were told was that almost 100 million calls/texts were recieved. Clearly, the idol machine won. And I fear it is eating us alive.

 

[Rose Pink]

... I did text vote a few thousand times - simultaneously pressing re-send on two phones ....

Do you have unlimited texting on your cell service?

 

[pedro47]

Did the best person win the contest with the best singing talent or did the best morally right person win the contest ?

 

[Rose Pink]

... I understand Queen and Kiss have offered Adam a job? I don't think he should latch on to any aging, though immensely popular, group for a career. He will make a name for himself independently. Doesn't need anyone else's coattails.

I think that if this is true, those aging rock stars are trying to latch onto Adam's coattails. I think he is too smart to fall for that. Old fat guys in goth make-up just aren't sexy.

 

[ace2000]

Did the best person win the contest with the best singing talent or did the best morally right person win the contest ?

It's just like voting for President... the person with the most votes won the contest. And that can be based on any factor deemed important by the voter. I feel that Adam had the most singing talent, but I wanted Kris to win. Not based on morals, but by overall likeability.

If it was based on singing talent, how would that contest be decided?

The show made the choice that the viewing audience gets the final say.

 

[Rose Pink]

Did the best person win the contest with the best singing talent or did the best morally right person win the contest ?

That's a loaded question and I won't even try to answer the moral part. I do not know what is in their hearts. Judge not.

Firmly declaring one the better singer is, imo, a conceit and rather condescending. We all like art for different reasons. Many styles of music exist because we don't all like the same thing.

One could say that operatic singers are the best. Some don't really like the operatic style. Same can be said for any style of music.

What makes the "best" singer? Is it vocal range? Vocal gymnastics? Vocal tone--as in clear and bell-like? Being pitch-perfect? If those were the criteria, then we'd get better singing from technology. We listen to imperfect people because they can infuse emotion into a song and make us feel something. Adam often made me feel irritated so I voted for Kris.

 

[Karen G]

Did the best person win the contest with the best singing talent or did the best morally right person win the contest ?

Since TUG policy prohibits discussing religion and controversial social issues, there's no way to discuss this question. So I ask that we not go down this road because it would be a shame to have to close down this very long and interesting thread.

 

[Deb from NC]

Oh my. I thought Kris was pleasant, but rather boring. (I kept forgetting his name !) Have loved Adam all season. I also thought both Allison and Danny were better than Kris. Go figure.....maybe I'm just out of touch But it will be interesting to see what lies in store for them in the future....

 

[pedro47]

Since TUG policy prohibits discussing religion and controversial social issues, there's no way to discuss this question. So I ask that we not go down this road because it would be a shame to have to close down this very long and interesting thread.

This is not a controversial social issues, American voted base upon whom they liked as the American Idol for 2009 and Chris won hands down.

 

[Mosca]

This is not a controversial social issues, American voted base upon whom they liked as the American Idol for 2009 and Chris won hands down.

Well geez pedro47, maybe the TOPIC isn't controversial, but your post sure was. Did the best "morally right" person win? I don't know. Which one is the serial killer? Which one kicks puppies? Which one is a lousy tipper? Which one was a shoplifter when he was a teenager? Which one doesn't pay his parking tickets?

America wants to know, after all.

 

[BSQ]

Does anyone else think that with 100,000,000 votes, perhaps some sort of computer software was generated by someone to vote automatically for a contestant over and over again?

sure, you can download a program off of dialidol. Just as each year Vote for the Worst also plays a part in the outcome.

 

[pjrose]

Do you have unlimited texting on your cell service?

Yes. Goodness, I sure wouldn't do it if I had to pay for it!

I used Motorola Razrs, which let you keep pressing "send" over and over and over..... About 3 seconds per text, or about 4-5 seconds to send two if I have both thumbs alternating. That's around 20 per minute, or about 1,200 per hour. I did it off and on for an hour or so - definitely not for the full four hours or even two hours.

After the first vote they send back a text along the lines of "This one-time text message confirms your vote for (whoever). You may text vote as many times as you like before voting closes at XXX time."

I actually removed the SIMM chips from our current phone, on which repeated sending takes more steps, and put them in our old Razrs

Honestly I would prefer it if it was limited to one vote per phone, though. Since they only accept one call per number, and since they clearly know the number that sent the text, they should be able to limit it.

Re computer voting, I have read on the Idol site - under FAQs I believe - that it is not accepted because of the possibility of auto-vote programs.

 

[Rose Pink]

The Allison Factor

Allison was voted off when in 4th place. The following week the three guys had three close votes according to Dial Idol. Assuming that Adam got Allison's fan's votes, I wonder if he made the top two because of that. IOW, if it weren't for those votes, would the top two have been Danny and Kris? It's a possibility. If Kris won because he got Danny's votes, then it is entirely possible that Adam was in the top two because he got Allison's votes.

Now, I have a question for all of you multiple voters. Are you going to buy that many CDs? I mean, if you're going to cast 1000 votes for your idol, shouldn't you buy 1000 CDs? That would only be fair.

If all those people who voted for Taylor and Ruben had bought their CDs, they would be doing okay.

And no one has brought up Steve Martin yet. He seemed to be in pain.

 

[Clemson Fan]

What gets me is Kris knew Adam was more deserving, he said so himself, but I think so many people wanted to stick it to the judges that Adam was ousted without cause. Too bad.. He was the best preformer that ever stepped on the Idol stage.

Kris has always been self depricating throughout the whole show. So, that comment by him was just his personality. He probably would've said the same thing had it been him vs. Gokey or Allison.

IMO, Adam was one of the WORST singers that ever stepped onto the Idol stage. He only made it this far because of his over the top theatrical style and not his actual voice. He also made it that far because of the judges - not in spite of them. I'm so glad his shrill and whinny singing didn't win. He was original, but man he couldn't sing a lick.

 

[pjrose]

Now, I have a question for all of you multiple voters. Are you going to buy that many CDs? I mean, if you're going to cast 1000 votes for your idol, shouldn't you buy 1000 CDs? That would only be fair.

Nope. What would be fair is if they didn't allow OR promote multiple votes. If they hadn't invited me to do so with the "you may text vote as many times as you wish" message, it would have been once and done. I mention that only to point out that I wasn't in any way trying to beat or get around the system - that is the system as they set it up, most likely to gain revenue for ATT.

 

[Eli Mairs]

I think that it's ridiculous that people are allowed to vote thousands of times.

The only fair way is to have one vote per phone and computer.

I wonder what the outcome would have been if this rule had been in effect.

 

[Clemson Fan]

I think that it's ridiculous that people are allowed to vote thousands of times.

The only fair way is to have one vote per phone and computer.

I wonder what the outcome would have been if this rule had been in effect.

[post removed]

 

[pjrose]

I think that it's ridiculous that people are allowed to vote thousands of times.

The only fair way is to have one vote per phone and computer.

I wonder what the outcome would have been if this rule had been in effect.

I hope I made it clear that even though I did it, I agree that the rule should be changed.

Is there any reason to believe that one contestant's fans are more likely to have unlimited ATT texting than any other contestant's fans? Without that, the best I can guess is that it evens out and doesn't affect the outcome.

It would be very interesting to have all the raw data, including the originating phone numbers. We could analyze all of this, including who Allison's or Danny's fans voted for, who was more likely to get multiple votes, etc etc. Not gonna happen - but would be interesting!

 

[Karen G]

How much money do the Idols make?

I just saw this article about how much money former Idols have made. Even though Taylor Hicks isn't in the spotlight so much, he did pretty well for himself. Click on Carrie Underwood's photo and it will bring up the top money earners.

 

[Clemson Fan]

I'm not the only one who thought Adam was terrible for a long time with that shrill voice of his. It looks like Clay Aiken thought the same thing the first time he heard him.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/realityrocks/215180/aikens-lambert-rant-claymate-turns-to-clayhate/

 

[ace2000]

I'm not the only one who thought Adam was terrible for a long time with that shrill voice of his. It looks like Clay Aiken thought the same thing the first time he heard him.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/realityrocks/215180/aikens-lambert-rant-claymate-turns-to-clayhate/

One thing I learned by participating in this thread and seeing other's thoughts... is that people hear music in different ways.

I can say honestly that I didn't care for Adam from the beginning, but after hearing the other's comments on Adam in this thread, and after I started trying to listen in different ways, I actually started warming up to his style a bit.

Still wanted him to lose in the end, but did respect him a lot more towards the end also. And his graciousness and class after Kris was announced the winner only made me respect him more.

As far as Clay and his thoughts, he's just one of many opinions out there. I don't see why his opinion makes any more difference.

 

[pjrose]

I'm not the only one who thought Adam was terrible for a long time with that shrill voice of his. It looks like Clay Aiken thought the same thing the first time he heard him.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/realityrocks/215180/aikens-lambert-rant-claymate-turns-to-clayhate/

I read the article - seems that Aiken based this on only ONE Adam performance, Ring of Fire, which even many Adam supporters thought was peculiar or hated. He said he didn't hear any of Adam's other performances. He also said he liked the way it turned out, but he had never heard Kris.

At least here we have been basing our opinions on actually having seen/heard the performances!

 

[Janette]

Ryan is host of Larry King Live and has Kris, Adam and Paula on the show. Top ten is supposed to be on after commercial.