AT&T Accused of "Swaying" American Idol Vote

Status
Not open for further replies.

dman3k

Distinguished
Apr 28, 2009
385
0
18,930
Out of all the American Idol contestants in the history of American Idol, Adam Lambert is absolutely the best singer/performer in the competition. I admit that I haven't watched much American Idol ever, but I do watch it some times, and of all those times, Adam reminds me of the good old days of rock. Maybe rock isn't a popular thing now, but I suspect that Fox does not want to crown a flamboyantly gay man the best American Idol ever. Fox is evil.
 

nekatreven

Distinguished
Feb 20, 2007
246
0
18,830
My girlfriend has been REAL into it this season for some reason so while I hate to admit it, I watched too and am pretty up on the subject.

Lambert and Allen were less than one million votes apart in the semi-final (out of 80 million votes), with Gokey coming in third.

For those that didn't watch...(compared to Lambert at least) Allen and Gokey are somewhat similar in look and style. Two average height, semi-soulful white guys with brown hair that is pointy in the front. They were more similar to each other in song choice than either one was to Lambert.

Even if you didn't think they were similar...when you contrast that with a 6'1" gay man with a crazy hairdo, and black eyeliner and fingernails who sings mostly rock, you start to realize that one of these things are not like the others.

I'm not suggesting an opinion or judgment on the looks, styles, or sexual preferences of any of the three; but when Lambert and Allen were that close in the semi and you tack on a couple dozen more million votes in the final you can do the math for yourself on where most of Gokey's votes went.

True, that many of Gokey's fans may have not voted at all in the final, but even if he only carried 5% of the semi-final vote and only 1/4 of his voters switched to Allen it would have been enough, and it was probably many more than that...

AT&T may have helped make it a stronger win for Allen but he still would have won. Its not hard math.
 
G

Guest

Guest
I have never seen an episode of American Idol either, however I would often catch a few minutes of it when I turned on the TV for other Fox shows. Though I never saw Allen sing, I did see Adam, and I was impressed by his choice of 70's and 80's rock songs. It's too bad he lost.

p.s. Just because this involves texting doesn't mean it's tech news ¬_¬
 

AdamB5000

Distinguished
Jan 24, 2006
93
0
18,580
Everyone says it's an upset and that Lambert is the best talent ever on the show.

Has anyone thought that maybe people don't have to like someone's style, even if they're good? He was always pitch perfect, but I found his style annoying. His look freaked me out. I can much easier get into Kris' "singer-songwriter, coffehouse" style. It was much more entertaining to me. I didn't much care for most of what Adam Lambert had to do.

Too many people call it an upset. Is it an upset if the majority of American's who watch the show vote for someone? I'd call that a simple majority, not an upset. People like Kris with a K better. My entire family found him less annoying and more entertaining.
 

69camaroSS

Distinguished
Dec 14, 2006
15
0
18,560
Please. . . Allen was fun, and some people just like that style. Lots of people can sing, and American Idol has never been about pure singing talent anyway. How many times do you hear Simon telling someone they can sing, but their style or stage presences just insn't right. I think Adam was a bit too melancholic for today's depression bound people. I mean he's borderline goth. How many people in America really relate to that.
 

bootleghooch

Distinguished
Apr 15, 2009
24
0
18,560
Who was the better singer? Adam

Who sang the new single best during the finale? Kris, sounded much more radio friendly.

It just wasn't Adams style, it was more of a emo/country/rock song anyway. This way Adam can go find his own record deal, which he should have no problem doing.

P.S. Who cares? Get over it.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Congratulations, America!!! Just like Florida stole the presidency from Al Gore, Arkansas stole the title from Adam Lambert. AT&T not only helped voters in Arkansas power text but also distributed phones already set up for FREE. One poster from Arkansas absolutely confirmed that there’s no way Adam could win with what was going on in Arkansas that Tuesday night. Krisallenation site confirmed this as well where they were congratulating themselves for outsmarting the system.
How can Arkansas, with a population of only 2.8 million cast 38 million votes? Well, if AT&T can help 1 person in Arkansas put in 45,000 votes, then anything is possible. Not only that. AT&T also helped voters in Arkansas vote in different time zones. Means, votes placed from Arkansas could easily top more than 40 million but distributed as coming from other states.
It’s so sad that this smeared The AI Kris Allen who he himself admits it’s Adam who deserves to be The American Idol. But never mind. Adam is The WORLD’S Idol. If only international fans could vote, there’s no doubt ADAM wins by a landslide.
It’s better that Adam ends up as runner up than be a questionable winner all your life. It’s a pity it had to happen to Kris.

 
G

Guest

Guest
Are you all forgetting about Sanjaya? Howard Stern & Company generated millions and millions of votes for this guy and he still got the axe even though there was no way he could lose with all of the people voting for him. This proved that the show had control of the out come by denying Sanjayas victory.
 

bill gates is your daddy

Distinguished
Apr 28, 2009
231
0
18,830
You are an idiot if you believe that voting for anything in this country matters anymore. Of course it's rigged. Unless you have a paper ballot and they sit down in front of a large crowd and manually count the votes you cannot trust it.

The show itself is a scam dating back to the very first show. They place who they want in that show and no matter how many times you text or call a "vote" in, it will not be counted.

Let's not forget the top what...10 or so finalists automatically get some sort of record contract and tour the country being pimped out making billions (but not for themselves)

When there is money to be made you will always find corruption.
 

njalterio

Distinguished
Jan 14, 2008
153
0
18,630
Let me get this straight....a crowd of mindless people who can't make up their own mind on what music they like are accusing someone of swaying the vote? Does it even matter? People need to think critically and make considerations for reasons other than popular opinion before they can make any kind of reasonable judgment.

I don't think it matters if a contest is tampered with when the judges have no idea what they are really deciding on, especially when it is something that can't be determined from popular consensus!
 

nekatreven

Distinguished
Feb 20, 2007
246
0
18,830
[citation][nom]bill gates is your daddy[/nom]They place who they want in that show and no matter how many times you text or call a "vote" in, it will not be counted.[/citation]

They make money from the commercials. The more people that watch, the higher premium they can charge...why else would superbowl commercials be so damned expensive.

When people get attached enough to a contestant many will vote for them and then watch what happens. It only makes sense for Fox to keep the most popular contestants (based on the vote) in the show since those contestants represent the largest dedicated fan bases. That will (statistically) glean the highest viewing audience. Fox would only be hurting itself if it ignored the popular vote.

Not to mention that if you call in and vote by cell phone, you would notice your call time counter never starts because even though the dude is saying "thank you for voting" the call hasn't been picked up yet...similar to ringback tones some people have that you hear before they pick up. It is a trick to reduce load on the phone switches.

Also, note that in the later stages each contestant has multiple call in (voice) lines (which still get overloaded) to even out the load. Each contestant only has one text number though since the texts take less bandwidth and will queue up when large amounts come in.

So, they have a vested interest in who the public thinks is popular, and they are employing a lot of engineering and telco tricks and load balancing techniques...its too much and money and infrastructure spent to just throw the votes away all willy-nilly. ...There are much cheaper ways to count crap votes that "don't matter". (and even if that part is sponsored...its still money to someone)

So your argument is not logical, on more than one front.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.