Unbiased Reviews by Real People
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Unbiased Reviews by Real People
Lean-n-mean IV . . .hard to believe, ain't it..?Oct 30, 2005 (Updated Dec 1, 2005) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line 'Lean-n-mean IV' . . .a bit more 'laid-back' but still just as fun and challenging . . .we hope. Check the new 'rules' carefully, OK..?!?
.. A long time ago (2002) a young user here at Epinions had an idea: why not challenge his fellow users to write a shorter style review, a 'lean-n-mean' product review that would 'weigh in' at or under 666 words. It must have seemed a bodacious idea for a write-off, by a writer who had been active on the site for less than a year. That user ( me! ) was gratified that so many of his new friends joined in with their contributions. A year later, 2003, brought 'Lean-n-Mean-Two' with a direct challenge to all 'newbies' on the site to step up from the 'express review' format and write a 'lean-n-mean regular review'. While perhaps not many 'newbies' joined in ( 'What would a newbie know a write-off from..?! ) the w/o did gather 319 total reviews. In 2004 the third reincarnation, 'Lean-n-mean III' surfaced. Again, 300-plus reviews were contributed by 70-plus fellow writers from across the site. My many thanks to all those who have participated in the past. Please scroll down past (while carefully noting the fine writers already participating) the list of participants to find the rules/suggestions for 'Lean-n-mean IV'. - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - Participants to date: evening, November 30, 2005 Wall of Honor, built by those who have contributed reviews Seven categories: three_ster Six categories: mmcphee | dlstewart | alexdg1 Five categories: daumco Four categories: scmrak | carstairs38 | drdevience | mcmaster Three categories: trailhound | captaind | fuche_bu | Stephen_Murray | pmills1210 kld718 | northeastgal | jc_hall | plorentz | october1176 popsrocks Two categories: dramastef | openroad | mrkstvns | Pavel21 | hardcoreham ifif1938 | kamel622 | jankp | netnut746 | artemis8 Candice923 One category: sadgit | isebell | tiffy0380 | skbreese | heymrdj2k williamjones | deadmilkboy | ricardo_ramos | dbcint | pearannoyed daddym | jellyn | befus | lorendiac | brendan2 pduval69 | horswispr | drfaustus | lorace | pippadaisy dionne25 | PattyTherre | pilarzmom | gaelkm Total # participants: 56 'lean-n-mean' writers..!! Total # reviews collected here: 125 'lean-n-mean' reviews..!! ( and undoubtedly many more out there waiting to be read..!! ) CATEGORIES AND PARTICIPANTS Movies | 24 writers sadgit | Stephen_Murray | Pavel21 | dramastef | carstairs38 three_ster | drdevience | mcmaster | mmcphee | isebell tiffy0380 | skbreese | heymrdj2k | pmills1210 | WilliamJones captaind | daumco | alexdg1 | deadmilkboy | Ricardo_Ramos ifif1938 | netnut746 | jankp | dbcint Books | 23 writers trailhound | carstairs38 | popsrocks | sleeper54 | dramastef pearannoyed | artemis8 | scmrak | plorentz | three_ster captaind | daddym | plorentz | daumco | Pavel21 dlstewart | alexdg1 | fuche_bu | Jellyn | befus jankp | jc_hall | lorendiac | Music | 13 writers sleeper54 | brendan2 | pmills1210 | pduval69 | daumco alexdg1 | Horswispr | fuche_bu | carstairs38 | Stephen_Murray drfaustus | netnut746 | plorentz | Home & Garden | 10 writers dlstewart | scmrak | lorace | mmcphee | northeastgal october1176 | kld718 | Candice923 | mcmaster | kamel622 Kids & Family | 8 writers carstairs38 | mmcphee | pippadaisy | northeastgal | artemis8 three_ster | Dionne25 | october1176 | Restaurants & Gourmet | 7 writers popsrocks | mrkstvns | ifif1938 | trailhound | fuche_bu dlstewart | drdevience | Beauty | 7 writers mmcphee | PattyTherre | pilarzom | kld718 | dlstewart jc_hall | alexdg1 | Hotels & Travel | 6 writers popsrocks | drdevience | trailhound | mrkstvns | Stephen_Murray daumco | Sports & Outdoors | 6 writers mcmaster | openroad | hardcoreham | kld718 | pmills1210 jc_hall | Business & Technology | 4 writers mmcphee | dlstewart | kamel622 | three_ster | Online Stores & Services | 4 writers drdevience | northeastgal | dlstewart | october1176 | Computer Hardware | 3 writers hardcoreham | scmrak | three_ster | Magazines & Newspapers | 3 writers scmrak | Candice923 | three_ster | Electronics | 3 writers mcmaster | alexdg1 | three_ster | Games | 2 writers captaind | alexdg1 | Health | 2 writers mmcphee | gaelkm | Cars & Motorsports | 2 writers openroad | daumco | Lean-n-mean IV, 2005 edition, is herewith announced. -- Basic ground rules -- • Submission dates: November 1 through November 30 (But hopefully, 'lean-n-mean' might continue to be something you think about when writing.) • Target length this year is again 666 words. But we are not going to niggle over a _few_ extra words. • Product reviews only, as is the custom! No 'delete and republish' reviews please! • Do not include 'Lean-n-mean' in your review title. Lets do it 'semi-stealth' this time, OK..? Restrict any mention of this write-off to the bottom of your product review. Lets make this about reviews first and 'lean-n-mean' second. • Please do include a link back to this essay at the bottom of your review. I will place one below that can be copied-n-pasted for the HTML-challenged. • Leave a comment here indicating you are participating and in which category your review is published. But do not leave an URL..! You are on your honor to write and publish the 'lean-n-mean' review. • Read and rate any 'lean-n-mean' reviews that you encounter across the site as you normally would. • Remember. Every section, every member, is welcome to participate! . . . 'But sleeper . . .where's our 'pimpage'..?? What is this gonna do for us..? We wanna kick the 'widgets' category's arse again..how we gonna do that if no URLS are wanted and no links are posted..?? Geez, man oh man sleeper...' There will still be recognition, there will still be room for competition among the various categories. I think both are worthy goals of 'Lean-n-mean IV' or any write-off. Every writer that contributes a 'Lean-n-mean IV' review will have their user-page linked from this essay (see note below). You will be identified as a participant from the category in which you write the review. Each user will be listed only once in each category. No need to write ten, twenty, thirty 'lean-n-mean' reviews just so your category can kick the another category's arse. The only way to 'kick the widgets category's booty' this time is to _recruit_more_writers_ from your favorite category. More writers = more category bragging rights for 'lean-n-mean IV'. Why the change..?? Over the years I have participated here my perception of the site and 'how things work' here has evolved. At this point in time it just seems a little silly to collect another three hundred-plus review links from across the site. Especially when I could collect three hundred links to fellow users instead. The Bottom Line November 1 through November 30. 666 words. Product reviews only. No URLs please. No 'lean-n-mean' titles. Recruit your fellow members. Invite strangers on the street. Involve your favorite (and perhaps not-so-favorite!) fellow writers. Have fun. Write as many as you want. In as many categories as you want. Your participation and support with just one review is as important to me as would be ten or a hundred reviews. As always, any questions: leave a comment or drop me an e-mail. ...tom... Note Those writers who want to create an 'anchor tag' and list your 'lean-n-mean' reviews, collected together, on your user-page, I can show you how to do that. Drop me an e-mail. That will be the only 'alternate' link type I will publish here. It would be similar to the 9/11 anchor tag on my user-page. Update: Please check these instructions for assistance in creating a direct link to a specific spot on your user-page. Extras HTML code for link back to this essay: <a href="http://www.epinions.com/content_4557283460">Lean-n-mean IV</a> ...will produce this active link: Lean-n-mean IV Word-count page, courtesy of Pavel21: http://javascriptkit.com/script/script2/countwords.shtml  |
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