Well, and these are just my thoughts for what they're worth, but, here's what I noticed about the hole idol thing, and, quite frankly, this is the exact reason that I chose not to participate this year. I've noticed that the people that do well aren't necessarily the people with the largest friends lists, but rather, the people who have the time to not just participate in Idol but actually live LJ Idol. Please, make no mistake when I say that if that's how some of you choose to handle things, I respect that that's your choice. But, for me personally, I do not have the time to get overly involved in the green room and all of the little side dramas and chats that go along with it, and, I'd suspect that this is how a lot of the alliances and loyalties are formed. I, unlike many of you, unfortunately, cannot access LJ from my job because the evil work has blocked the LJ website, therefore, my LJ time is restricted to when I'm at home in the evenings. When I participated back in 2007, I was doing good just to get my entries posted, let alone even begin to look at the greenroom, and, as a result, I really don't think I made a connection with anyone.