Lean-n-mean IV . . .hard to believe, ain't it..?
Oct 30 '05 (Updated Dec 01 '05)
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..?!?
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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'.
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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!
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'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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Epinions.com ID:
sleeper54
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: ...tom...
Location: "Is this Heaven?"......"No. It's Iowa."
Reviews written: 494
Trusted by: 548 members
About Me:
Back-in-the-heartland...brief respite before real-world work begins. Hopefully less intensive than I imagine it will be..!!
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