It's a work space.
Given the nature of this mini-season, you can also use it for forming new teams or recruiting new members to existing ones if that's what you feel like doing.
The new topics are up: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/870987.html
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Some general things I observed from Week 1:
Formatting issues seemed to be a "thing". Not sure if it's because people are posting from phones or not, although that seems to be the popular theory. If so, just be aware of how line spaces are going to be read. If that's not the case - or if you are someone who might need someone to look over your work, this is a really good place to ask for a second opinion on whatever it is you are working on.
I always mention this - but it's always relevant. There was a contestant years ago (wow, it's years ago at this point!!) who was writing these incredible pieces, but early on was really suffering in the polls. She had her default set to a black background with green text (because it looked cool). Granted, there were some people who used "view in my style" but that didn't work for everyone.
Once it was mentioned to her, she switched things over to a more readable style and ended up *in the finals* of that season!
Sometimes it can be something as little as "How easy is this for other people to read" that can get you the attention you deserve. After all, they are already putting in the effort of showing up to see what you are doing - you should make it as easy as you can for them to do so.
Speaking of "making it easy":
Also there seems to be an issue with CAPTCHA being required to post comments. It's your LJ, and you can certainly do whatever you want with it. Just be aware that there are some fellow contestants, as well as community supporters who are blind or visually impaired who will not be able to leave you any feedback on your writing.
There's more - but I figure I should just throw this out into the pit: What else have you noticed (not naming names, but general "this might need to be fixed going forward") issues. I'm not just looking at the veterans here, because often times it is the newbies who see things that never were an issue before, and now are!
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