Blogflog: Who is the loser? EVERYONE.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

URL: http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/2008/02/jason-stage-name-take-two.html

So after the whole, "We has a winnar!" thing, and then taking it back with an, "oh no, it inspired me!" and leaving everyone confused about A) who won, and B) Alien, we now get a bit of clarification in the tradition of sense that's not.

LKH bold, me not so much.

Okay, you know how I said that no one sent in the name Ripley for the Jason contest? Well, two people sent in the name. Why didn't I know that? Because the spam filter decided since so many e-mails had the same header, Jason Stage Name Contest, it must be spam. Darla found about six or seven entries trapped in with the real spam. Strangely, two of those were the Ripley entries.

I TOLD YOU SO! DIDN'T I TELL YOU SO? This is what happens when you invite the entire populace of the internets to email you. I am now going to sit at my keyboard with a smug sense of superiority while I polish my crystal ball. I'd like to think that any half-competant office worker would have anticipated and dreaded having to check for the flood of emails, and would check the spam filter just in case. I know I used to do that when I worked for the government. And come to think of it, this whole thing reminds me of that far too much.

So, we will take the first person to send in the name and make them our official winner.

Which is what they said they'd do, but this begs the question, what happened to the Ridley guesser?

Worry not, my friends, as Ms Hamilton goes on to say that she thinks that the Ridley guesser should still get a book as the "two people [who] sent in the name Ripley, I never saw them."

They're ninjas! They're hiding as lamps and possibly dogs or even magical post-its in her office! That's where those two people are!

Annnd then there's more gushing of, "oh wow, you guys sent in the same name I chose! We're, like, brain twins!"

You know what they say, great minds think alike.

But fools seldom differ.

I feel so sorry for the person who was the original "winner" and totally pissed off on their behalf -- they won, she blogged it.  She should use Ridley, and thank them profusely in the acknowledgements.  Because that was the winner.  Not Ripley, not because she was dylexic and thought it was Ripley and decided that was it, not because two other people sent in Ripley and O HAI that just-so-happens to turn out to be what SHE CAME UP WITH TOO OMG!!!1! NO. Ridley's the winner.  I feel like I should send a politely irate letter, or leave a message on MeatSpace.

Comments

[delphinapterus.livejournal.com]

This doesn't work how could she know about Ripley/Ridley if "[she] never saw them"? Psychic powers perhaps?

I find it vaguely worrisome that they seem to have this much trouble running a very simple contest. It does not bode well for future plot construction.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

This is why I'm having flashbacks to working for the government. Really nice people, and I liked hanging out with them, but I also hated every molecule of their bodies because I never realised just. how. stupid. peolpe could be over the simplest of things.

Seriously -- people send in names, you pick one. Ta-da! How hard was that? Our poll for the names to send in for the comp was so simple, it hurts.

[easol.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain. Once at my job I had to deal with this absolute nitwit -- briefcase, expensive suit, expensive haircut -- who was staring in this blinkered way at two bagel baskets. Why? Because someone had switched the bagel flavour signs and he apparently couldn't figure this out by just looking, even though one was banana and one was choco.

Sorry to vent, but it burns me that people can be so damn stupid. I think that dude would've starved to death if I hadn't switched the signs back.

(BTW, today is my birthday)

[mm_madb]

Happy birthday!

It doesn't surprise me that LKH is having such a hard time with this contest purely because if she'd run it straight she would have had to acknowledge giving up some iota of control over the series. I see all of this as an attempt to both look like the good guy and keep control over everything.

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

Ages ago when I was on a fan site we had 'Character of the Month' contests and one of us poor admins would be the 'target' for the month to get the bazillion emails it generated.

It was HELL.

We did it for less than a year...thank gods.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

e_e Ye gods, that sounds awful. Okay, yay...fans, but yeesh getting swamped is not fun. I'm now glad I wasn't in charge of email for my editing committee when we sent out the call for story submissions.

[ellenel13.livejournal.com]

I'm still so fucking confused.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I've had some time to think on it now and it's basically this:

LKH: Send me your names!
NAMES: *are sent*
LKH: Oooh, I like this one. RIPLEY IT IS!
NAME: *is really Ridley*
LKH: MY BAD, BUT I AM STILL USING RIPLEY.
SPAM FILTER: *coughs out two more Ripleys*
LKH: Well, lookit! I'll give the prize to the first one who sent in that name. How was *I* supposed to know that the actual name I wanted was all the way over there in the spam filter?
RIDLEY: *gets no love* ;_;

...when reading it like that, it's like some bizarre admin officer soap opera tragedy.

[ellenel13.livejournal.com]

Both names don't really make sense for a striper though. That's what fucking annoys me. Aren't stripper names supposed to be cheesy and sexual. What the hell does . . . whatever Ripley or Riddley she's talking about have to with . . . the stripper name? Just call him Major Schlong or something!

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I don't know! Nathaniel is "Brandon" for crying out loud. Unless his surname is Myass, I don't get it.

[darkese.livejournal.com]

*lol* Brandon Myass. That's funny shit there. Nice one

[moonbeamdancer.livejournal.com]

Actually no they don't. Most of the dancers that I know, have a normal stage name and it's normally just a first name. And it's not her real name just something for work.

[easol.livejournal.com]

So why didn't she go to some strip club and ask, purely in the pursuit of "teh artiness," what male strippers would call themselves? If she's done everything Anita has (except save the world, have sex with leopardmen, etc) wouldn't she go ask strippers for REAL?

[moonbeamdancer.livejournal.com]

Really? The one's I know have normal names. Mina, Brandi/Brandy, and Cynthia.

[daphne-gateau.livejournal.com]

And the drama just continues to unfold before our very eyes. I know I'm riveted. I even made an icon to celebrate. Heck, this name contest has more twists and turns in it than the plots of the last three Anita Blake books.

Darla 'just happened' to find two Ripley's in the spam filter. Riiight. I bet Darla was sent looking for those entries after these two fans wrote LKH scathing emails along the lines of - "WTF. I sent in Ripley. Prize. Now."

Ridley. Ripley. I still don't understand why she didn't edit her initial blog entry to fix this mess when she realized the name wasn't Ripley and she wasn't going to use Ridley.

Actually, I'm just shocked THREE PEOPLE thought Ripley was a good stripper name. ??? Lastly, I'm sad Sigourney has been sullied with a mention in LKH's blog.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Your icon...is hypnotic. But yes, this whole drama is just so absorbing! The glory of watching this whole thing come unstuck is just...too good to pass up. But at the same time, that poor person that sent in Ridely. We should find a way to send...something nice to them. Even if it's just in spirit.

[daphne-gateau.livejournal.com]

Aw thanks. I just felt like someone needed to put the tacky back in male strippers. I'm the best woman for any tacky job. ;)

This contest is a hot mess. IMHO Ridley is not a bad name at all. The fan who sent it in deserved better treatment. Laurell probably doesn't even realize how she basically insulted that person on a public blog. Pretty sad. Yeah, I wish we could give them a kind word or something too.

Sucks to be the second person to send in Ripley also. Would it really have killed Laurell to just give that person some swag. Sheesh.

Still in shock.

[cicipsychobunny.livejournal.com]

Just two words. FUCKING "RIPLEY"?????

[dwg.livejournal.com]

*pets* You're not alone in WTFistan.

[atypia.livejournal.com]

Ripley is a fucking champion, I cannot believe her name is going to be sullied as Jason's stripper name, fergodsakes.

I hope he screams, "GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU BITCH!" at some point in the book. That would make it all ok.

She should give the prize to all three people. It's just a copy of a fucking book, is it really that hard to award the prize to everyone?!?! Not to mention, normally she lists at least ten names that no-one gives a fuck about in her dedications, adding three extra names instead of one extra name is hardly difficult.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Or Jason can take to everything with Edward's flamethrower. That'd be ace.

You know, that solution right there is the easiest one of the lot. Which is probably why it's not going to happen, because there's no way the answer could be so obvious. *facepalm*

[easol.livejournal.com]

Specially since authors are usually sent a WHOLE BUNCH of advance copies. Would it kill her to part with two or three more? She got them for friggin' FREE!

Ripley Longwood

[daphne-gateau.livejournal.com]

I like Ripley better when we combine it with the Lashout entry's last name.

Rippley Longwood. It's a little catchy. Dare I dream? ;)

Re: Ripley Longwood

[othellia.livejournal.com]

I need a "I reject your reality and substitute my own" icon... for there shall always be a Longwood in mine.

[darkese.livejournal.com]

Darla found about six or seven entries trapped in with the real spam.

They weren't trapped. They were trying to escape.

Seriously how hard is to decide on a contest, read ALL your email, pick a winner from that email, announce winner and reward winner? Too hard for MPE that managed to screw up 4 out of the 5 easy steps. Team LKH for the win!

[x-trickster-x.livejournal.com]

Okay, one, I like Ridley more than Ripley anyway as a name. Two, GET OUT OF ALIEN, BITCH. Ripley's far too cool to be associated with the crotch of doom. Three, NEITHER of them really sound like good stripper names to me. =\

Seriously, I'd be mighty pissed off if I sent in an entry, someone MESSED UP my entry and then picked it and then decided it wasn't the winner because someone else picked the messed up one.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

This is why I really hope that the Original Ridley kicks up a stink about things, because dude...they won fair and square and are getting totally screwed over. I know it's only a book, it's only name, and in the annals of history this will mean nothing. But someone obviously cared enough to send in the name and might have gotten a special feeling that, "omg, my favourite author is using the name *I* thought up!" And now they're DENIED! *golf claps* Fan service, Team LKH no has it.

[lastshotringing.livejournal.com]

Wow. This is really fucked up. Even for Laurell.

[roguetailkinker.livejournal.com]

To be fair, I think she did decide to give the free book to all three. Not sure what she intends to do about the dedications, though.