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Subject: political parodies
Written By: Your Worst Nightmare on 01/26/05 at 8:04 am
It has been bugging me that almost everytime someone comes across a political parody, they vote 5/5/5 if they agree with it, or 1/1/1 if they don't. I got plenty of 5's and 1's for my anti-abortion parody of a Brent Burns song. Chances are that less than 1 percent of amiright.com have ever heard of Brent Burns, let alone be in the position to judge a parody of one of his songs. He has little name recognition anywhere besides in the Gulf Coast area. Now, I wrote and rewrote that parody to perfect the pacing, yet I received a truckload of 1's for pacing. Does anyone else find that immature?
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: bobbypags on 01/26/05 at 9:58 am
Why do you even bother to concern yourself with votes? If you believe you did a good job, then that should be the bar. Additionally, if you feel that your anti-choice parody was given low votes by those who are pro-choice, then you obviously did your job.
So many writers have said, and I agree, it's the comments that should be your barometer - I value the feedback from good writers more than I value the vote count.
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: Your Worst Nightmare on 01/26/05 at 12:16 pm
It is just the immaturity of people that bothers me.  When people vote on political parodies, they shouldn't vote depending on whether or not they agree with the song.  Even a song proclaiming Hitler as one of the greatest men that ever lived could have good pacing.
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: agrimorfee on 01/26/05 at 12:20 pm
It's hard to write a parody that espouses a political view that entertains all people regardless of partisanship. I think i have only come across one parody like that (not that I have sought them out). But it's also kind of like Computer Geek topics, Sports, or Sci-Fi parodies...those are hard to entertain folks who are 'outside' of the circle in those realms, too. However, Politics gets folks' Outrage Baraometer up.
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: philbo on 01/26/05 at 5:05 pm
I've done quite a few political parodies, and even the non-partisan ones have been hit by ones... Read My Lips, for example... though for a while, I thought Michael, the Right-wing Vampire was going to buck the trend... but I spoiled that one myself when I pointed the song out to my local Conservative party agent, and she hit it with 1s... but then I guess she knows her man's not getting my vote here, anyway.
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: Kim West on 01/26/05 at 7:50 pm
It seems to me these days anything that is remotely political will have people lashing out and praising it at the same time. I wrote a political song that wasn't exactly showing the President in a favorable light. I knew what sort of reaction I would receive, and I was not disappointed.
The way I look at it I can easily tell who was Republican and who was Democrat by the extreme vote for positive or negative. Of course, people could have either really liked the song or really hated it. Either way, at least it was not ignored.
Personally, I agree with the point that comments are far more valuable than simple voting variables. For example, what if somebody wrote a really great song, but it wasn't funny. The song had more of a serious tone to it, how do you vote for that? Technically you would have to score low for funny even though the song was well written. In such a situation, I would probably give high scores across, and then follow up with an explanation in the comment window. I don't know if that is exactly following the rules, but it seems like a better alternative than punishing someone by giving them a low score or not voting at all.
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: Arwen on 01/26/05 at 11:31 pm
I have written zero political parodies...and I still get ones. It's just the way it goes. There's nothing you can do about it. I mean, we could all echo your "how immature!" thoughts on this thread...and you'd know that we agree with you...but then...you'd still get ones. So...just don't sweat it.
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Stuart McArthur on 01/26/05 at 11:37 pm
I have written zero political parodies...and I still get ones. It's just the way it goes. There's nothing you can do about it. I mean, we could all echo your "how immature!" thoughts on this thread...and you'd know that we agree with you...but then...you'd still get ones. So...just don't sweat it.
exactly - because it's meaningless
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: Scathe on 01/27/05 at 2:05 am
It's hard to write a parody that espouses a political view that entertains all people regardless of partisanship. I think i have only come across one parody like that (not that I have sought them out).
I've written two non-partisan political parodies. Only my AOL parody was oned for no apparant reason. My ones guy parody was oned for obvious reasons. I guess the only thing we can do is roll with the punches. ;)
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: jreuben on 01/27/05 at 1:23 pm
I have written zero political parodies...and I still get ones.ÂÂ
I didn't want you to feel left out :P
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: Leo Jay on 01/29/05 at 1:53 am
I used to get ones occasionally, but then I started whining about it, and when the culprits realized how upset it was making me, they stopped right away.
Subject: political parodies
Written By: Stuart McArthur on 01/29/05 at 7:26 am
I used to get ones occasionally, but then I started whining about it, and when the culprits realized how upset it was making me, they stopped right away.
LOL, Leo!! Nailed it in one - good on you!! :)
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: Your Worst Nightmare on 01/29/05 at 1:42 pm
LOL! I get the picture, ok? ;D
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Kim West on 01/29/05 at 4:11 pm
exactly - because it's meaningless
If it is meaningless, then why bother with the voting feature at all?
Kim.
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: Ansky1213 on 02/08/05 at 4:59 pm
A lot of my early parodies were political, but it's depressing that so many people are so petty as to vote 1s if they disagree with me. I haven't written too many political ones lately (not because I hate getting 1s, but because I haven't had any good ideas), but I'm trying to write some more good ones.
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: PRobinson on 02/10/05 at 12:36 am
Yeah, when you go political, expect some 1's, especially if you are getting a little rough on the object(s)/person(s) you are writing about...goes with the territory...if you really have something to say it shouldn't do more than moderately annoy you...moderately annoyed doesn't rank very highly among bad things that can happen to me on any particular day of my life. Now, I got my first speeding ticket in 29 years the other night...after a 12-hour day at work (the 4th in a row)...now THAT annoyed me...but only at myself...cop was just doing his job and I was going too fast...WAY too fast...I had just glanced down at the speedometer perhaps a minute before those lights came on behind me...thought about slowing...didn't...OW! But...what were we talking about, anyway?
pr
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: philbo on 02/10/05 at 8:00 am
True of attack parodies, generally - this one has more than fifty 1s against it (I wouldn't mind betting even Will would find that hard to match ;-))
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: PRobinson on 02/10/05 at 3:00 pm
True of attack parodies, generally - this one has more than fifty 1s against it (I wouldn't mind betting even Will would find that hard to match ;-))
Philbo - OH, YEAH...that one...I remember glancing at it and then going after some geek for ugly comments he made about this site's author's of the fairer gender...I wasn't particularly gentle with him, either...
pr
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: Ashkicksass on 02/10/05 at 3:58 pm
Philbo - OH, YEAH...that one...I remember glancing at it and then going after some geek for ugly comments he made about this site's author's of the fairer gender...I wasn't particularly gentle with him, either...
pr
I thought your comments kicked ass Paul! No one could have said it better...
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Stuart McArthur on 02/10/05 at 4:45 pm
If it is meaningless, then why bother with the voting feature at all?
Kim.
voting isn't meaningless - 111s are
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Ashkicksass on 02/10/05 at 4:49 pm
voting isn't meaningless
It is if you're a God-forsaken Democrat living in a Red state! But I'm not bitter...
(Sorry - just thought I'd bring this back to the topic...) ;)
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Kim West on 02/11/05 at 2:30 pm
voting isn't meaningless - 111s are
Kim:
Need I remind you that you were the one who brought up the word "meaningless" when replying to Super Arwen. Her philosophy seemed to be that you will get ones regardless of what you do or how good you are. You seemed to agree by saying it was "meaningless."
Now you are saying that only ones are meaningless, well then, why have ones then? I suppose if you removed the ones option, then people would be complaining about getting twos, that is, until they removed the twos. It could quite possibly go all the way until the only option left would be to vote fives. If such a thing happened, then it goes back to the original question at hand. Why bother to vote at all? This is more of a question for the purposes of discussion rather than actively seeking to remove or change the voting feature.
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Stuart McArthur on 02/11/05 at 8:12 pm
Kim:
Need I remind you that you were the one who brought up the word "meaningless" when replying to Super Arwen. Her philosophy seemed to be that you will get ones regardless of what you do or how good you are. You seemed to agree by saying it was "meaningless."
Now you are saying that only ones are meaningless
no - I was ALWAYS saying that only 111s are meaningless ( re-read what I said - I was agreeing with Arwen)
as I explained in my last post
and 1s have to stay precisely FOR that reason - so the 1-voters can project their anger with the world
THAT'S why I said 111s are meaningless
they only have meaning to the 111 voter
they have no meaning regarding the parody, so they're "meaningless" to the parody's writer
ie. no need to bother even thinking about them, let alone interpreting them, let alone getting emotionally affected by them
but voting itself, about a parody, ISN'T meaningless - it's meaningful
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: Robert J. Pagliaro on 02/11/05 at 9:15 pm
I think you've got to use "one's guy" to your advantage as far as feedback. Look, you pretty much know when you've written something good - you're more surprised when you get a better reaction than you expected. Assuming that "one's guy" targets political parodies, the votes become very meaningful - it tells you who your audience is and if you accomplished what you set out to do. For example, if I'm trying to trash the right and piss off the red staters, the attack by "one's guy" means that I hit. ("One's guy" took the time to view the work and vote on it - therefore it must have made an impact, otherwise, why try to influence my work?)
The candid comments by the better writers on this site are really what you want to pay attention to first.
bob
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: Stuart McArthur on 02/11/05 at 9:33 pm
I think you've got to use "one's guy" to your advantage as far as feedback. Look, you pretty much know when you've written something good - you're more surprised when you get a better reaction than you expected. Assuming that "one's guy" targets political parodies, the votes become very meaningful - it tells you who your audience is and if you accomplished what you set out to do. For example, if I'm trying to trash the right and tick off the red staters, the attack by "one's guy" means that I hit. ("One's guy" took the time to view the work and vote on it - therefore it must have made an impact, otherwise, why try to influence my work?)
The candid comments by the better writers on this site are really what you want to pay attention to first.
bob
yeah I agree with both points - and political parodies ARE an exception to my point.ÂÂ
With political parodies 111s are aimed for, so getting them becomes meaningful - I was just making the general case about your typical garden inoffensive well-paced humorous piece that for some meaningless (to the writer) reason suddenly scores 111s
they're the times that writers say they get offended and I was just saying they shouldn't get offended, because the 111s are meaningless
BUT I now also realise this thread is ABOUT political parodies, so I now withdraw my "meaningless" point ;)
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Kim West on 02/12/05 at 6:24 pm
no - I was ALWAYS saying that only 111s are meaningless ( re-read what I said - I was agreeing with Arwen)
as I explained in my last post
and 1s have to stay precisely FOR that reason - so the 1-voters can project their anger with the world
THAT'S why I said 111s are meaningless
they only have meaning to the 111 voter
they have no meaning regarding the parody, so they're "meaningless" to the parody's writer
ie. no need to bother even thinking about them, let alone interpreting them, let alone getting emotionally affected by them
but voting itself, about a parody, ISN'T meaningless - it's meaningful
Truly you have a dizzying intellect. You are either Vizzini from "Princess Bride" or perhaps Mo Jo Jo Jo from "Power Puff Girls"
1,1,1s are meaningless
They only have meaning to the one's voter
Thus the one's voter must be meaningless
For how can he have any meaning if he votes 1,1,1s
Because 1,1,1s cannot have any meaning for they are meaningless.
Sorry about that if you do feel offended. I meant it as a lighthearted jab and nothing more. Comments made by people should always have more value than a simple numeric system. I think that is probably thre most you can get to a universal agreement.
Kim.
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Stuart McArthur on 02/13/05 at 5:41 am
Truly you have a dizzying intellect. You are either Vizzini from "Princess Bride" or perhaps Mo Jo Jo Jo from "Power Puff Girls"
1,1,1s are meaningless
They only have meaning to the one's voter
Thus the one's voter must be meaningless
For how can he have any meaning if he votes 1,1,1s
Because 1,1,1s cannot have any meaning for they are meaningless.
Sorry about that if you do feel offended. I meant it as a lighthearted jab and nothing more. Comments made by people should always have more value than a simple numeric system. I think that is probably thre most you can get to a universal agreement.
Kim.
Kim ! ! :)
are you trying to seduce me....
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Kim West on 02/14/05 at 2:25 pm
Kim ! ! :)
are you trying to seduce me....
Why do I get the feeling I am suddenly Mrs. Robinson? ;)
Kim.
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Stuart McArthur on 02/14/05 at 8:08 pm
Why do I get the feeling I am suddenly Mrs. Robinson? ;)
Kim.
right movie Kim, although I was thinking more this...
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: PRobinson on 02/14/05 at 10:28 pm
right movie Kim, although I was thinking more this...
Hey, careful what you do with my Mother there, Stu...
P. Robinson
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Stuart McArthur on 02/14/05 at 11:42 pm
Hey, careful what you do with my Mother there, Stu...
P. Robinson
LOL - it did actually occur to me that you might respond, paul :)
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: A. Guest on 02/15/05 at 6:33 pm
I know! There should be something against voting triple ones on a perfectly paced parody. I can understand voting 1 for how funny and overall if you DON'T like something, but voting 1 for pacing just because you don't like it? Now that's where I draw the line.
Subject: Re: political parodies
Written By: Kim West on 02/15/05 at 9:48 pm
I know! There should be something against voting triple ones on a perfectly paced parody. I can understand voting 1 for how funny and overall if you DON'T like something, but voting 1 for pacing just because you don't like it? Now that's where I draw the line.
I agree that a song shouldn't be penalized because you may not like it, but that is just the way it goes. Short of making radical changes to the voting system, I don't think there is much to be done.
Consider for a moment that if you suddenly made changes that limited the way a person can vote. Will there be a drop off in votes because people will feel there is no point in voting? Certainly the people who are casting 111s on purpose will suffer, but what about those instances that 111s are justified (hypothetically there have to be songs that really are that bad)? How do you separate the legitimate instances from the instances where it is nothing more than people causing mischief? Policing the voting, and deleting those votes that are false can be a time consuming effort. Of course you could have a neighborhood watch actively seek out possible voter fraud, and then report to a higher authority. You do have that feature for comments in which someone can report. You could extend that to the voting as well I suppose.
I have no answers for this particular problem. I see votes, especially for political parodies, as something that will invoke strong reactions from both sides. In some ways I find it funny that some people will take such a strong stance against a song based on political beliefs alone.
Kim.
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Kim West on 02/15/05 at 10:06 pm
right movie Kim, although I was thinking more this...
I hear that gentlemen prefer blondes
But then scruffy rogues go for the princess type
So if that is the case, then what sort fancies a Mrs. Robinson type?
Kim
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Kim West on 02/15/05 at 10:15 pm
Hey, careful what you do with my Mother there, Stu...
P. Robinson
I have a child?
Why am I always the last one to know about these things?
Subject: Re: The Only Thread That Matters
Written By: Stuart McArthur on 02/16/05 at 4:47 am
I hear that gentlemen prefer blondes
But then scruffy rogues go for the princess type
So if that is the case, then what sort fancies a Mrs. Robinson type?
Kim
well, not Mr Robinson, we know that much
and no, not a "gentleman" or a "scruffy rogue"
more your "little rascal" type - whose tastes are quite clear...