I get what you mean. Personally, I don't know who these people are so I just ignore the picks. I have no problem with it. And come on, it's the Fanpop Users' spot!

I made this pick for the plain and simple reason that I'm so sick and tired of seeing so many user related picks (particularly in this spot)being considered "popularity" picks.
Maybe I'm just dunce - it is a high possibility. However, for the life of me I don't understand why a pick that assembles a group of users and asks for a vote has to be considered a popularity tactic.
It raises some questions regarding the Fan of the Fortnight, followed by the the Popper of the Year and Fan of the Year. I would assume that they are also considered popularity categories. Should we dispose of those too? What about the Fanpoppy Awards? You nominate a bunch of users and then pick one as the best. Eliminate the Fanpoppy's too?

I find that on this particular spot, there are what you would consider "regulars", the people that make their picks, comment, answer questions and so on and so forth. So I don't see anything wrong with making picks or "voting" for people who tend to participate the most on here. Dammit, they deserve some recognition.

I think some people on here are liked more than others just because they do 'funnier' comments or picks or whatever (especially the people who have been here longer)

I dont think its popularity for picks to contain the more known users. Fan of The Fortnight (and year) are great ways of showing apprication to fans who are active and lets face if you get nominated your gonna be happy.

Ok first of all I want to make it clear that I don't think the word 'favouritism' properly puts across what I think. (I kinda only chose this option because it says 'I'm unsure')
Since I've been on fanpop there have always been picks where the answers involve and name users who are well known around this spot. To me this doesn't really mean that these users are any more popular or superior than other users, who may be more well known on a more obscure spot. The users in these pick are however much more vocal and out spoken here on the Fanpop Users spot. Through my time on fanpop these types of picks have included a different range of users depending who is more active at the time, I don't think that they are ever created to boast about their popularity here or to make sure that people know who they are.

However if/when these picks are not left open for other users to add their own options (to add people they know rather than the people in the pick who they have never spoken to or read comments from) it can make people feel like they are being excluded slightly.
But then there is nothing stopping others from making picks about users they know.

As you can see I'm sitting fairly comfortabley on the fence here :P as I can pretty much see both sides.
Rant over, hope it makes sense and thank you for your attention :D

(edited because my English and spelling was just crap! Sorry!)

yes but its still a great spot and also a great way to get known on fanpop. But really all spots are kinda about popularity and this one isnt as bad as some others. I like this spot in general but it still has favouritism.

I agree with em_em, pretty much. If you're active here, you'll be included. Nobody's stopping you from adding yourself to picks and whatnot (even though you'll look like a tool and everyone will know it) - get active in the spot and you'll get your recognition. Don't just whine about it.

By picking the nearly cop-out answer, I'm saying that I do see the same people winning a lot. But it's because they are more well known than others who may have been included. Which brings me back to part one of my kind-of-rant: get involved!

BTW, if I see my name in a pick and I'm not winning by at least 70%, there will be hell to pay. ;)

get active in the spot and you'll get your recognition. Don't just whine about it. get involved! nuff said!!

i often feel that people who are put on to the hypothetical picks are usually the see people, the 'popular' people i think.

but hey i'm not complaining.

I don't see how a pick that asks, "Who's your favorite Fanpopper?" or some variation of that could be seen as anything BUT a popularity contest. Anyone who claims it's anything else is living in denial... or blind. So at least bone up and admit you like popularity contests, if that's your stand. Claiming they're not what they are is lame.

But there are plenty of picks on this spot that AREN'T popularity contests and are fun in their own right.

As for comments and whining... I've said time and again that I don't like that kind of pick, yeah. So I'm sure everyone's referring to me (at least in part) with their comments on that. But the beauty of it is, I don't really care what anyone thinks of my opinion. It's mine and I'm not about to change it just because others don't like it. As for getting active and "getting recognition" - to be honest, I AM fairly active here... and I don't WANT to be involved in ANY popularity contest picks. And I would ask to be removed from any picks I was included in. I haven't cared about being popular or well-liked since high school.

Seriously... Fanpop just continually amazes me. It's like a whole other reality on here. It all gets a little AOL-circa-1997 at times. Or Neopetty XD

It a tough situation. I mean, with the Fan of the Fortnight picks, I often feel like it is the same list of people all the time, and most of them I never see around the place anyway. That doesn't mean I don't think they are great fans, but I just don't know if they are great fans because I am clearly moving in different Fanpop circles.

I guess my problem with those "popularity picks" is that people become obsessed with getting into them, so they add any peice of crap they can find so that they get noticed. And then other fans feel discouraged if they don't get on them and so they leave Fanpop because they don't get the recognition that they think they deserve. I don't think that that should be a motivation to be here on Fanpop, but those popularity picks kinda support that kind of attitude, even if they don't intend to.

Overall, I don't really care that much, but it does hurt my soul when I see people "popularity whoreing" or feeling like they aren't good Fanpoppers because they aren't in those picks.

Mostly, yes.

not all of them. It does get on my nerves a little because the questions assume that I know about this person and there children or pets, when really I havnt the faintest Isea about there personal life. That said, I would like to see a few of my friends or even myself in the spotlight for once. btw I dont really think its about user popularity, I think its about spot popularity. for instance, everyone who is everyone is a fan of house and that gets talked about a hell of a lot. so natrually if you are popular there you are popular everywhere. Now, take the shonen jump spot. Great little spot with a homely feel and dedicated users. Three of us decided to add each other in fan of the fortnight, we're kicking ass and we're not popular at all.

Um I don't know I don't care because if you're popular you're popular! If you're no you're not! I can't be mad at that! I'm popular where I live. Everyone knows me. But anyways, I don't know and I don't care.

or maybe i just haven't been on this spot long enough to notice =P!

Sure, as long as the populace you're referring to is the Fanpop user base. This is only appropriate, because this club was created for questions and discussion about the user population. In case that's not clear, let me say it slightly differently:
This club is ABOUT THE USERS of Fanpop. Since picks are the one question feature dedicated to opinions, having opinion questions about the club topic is appropriate. There's also questions about the behavior of users, demographic information about users, and the like. This is the place to celebrate and recognize other users of the site, so people don't feel the need to clutter up other clubs with personal information or even (the horror!) create personal spots dedicated to one user...

That said, recognition should be appreciated, not sought. If you feel bad - resentful, even - that you're not getting recognized by your "fellow fans", you need to evaluate your priorities. Recognition is candy; cataloging the online content available for the topics that interest you is the bread and butter of the site. If you feel unfulfilled because your contributions aren't being rated/lauded/favorited, or if you're envious of others for getting recognition you feel you "deserve", you should probably fix your attitude. It's just not what the site's about. It is, in part, what this club's about, though, insofar as it's cataloging the information about other users that you find of interest. But this club is a teeny, tiny, miniscule fraction of the site as a whole.

Returning to picks, if you feel that there's a group of users who self-promote or promote their favorites in this club, you have three choices aside from avoiding the club entirely:

1) Lambast the users creating the picks for posting picks about users in the spot about users.

2) Answer the existing picks, wishing that someone would add picks for different but no less deserving users.

3) Participate by adding picks for the users you admire/appreciate.

To me, the third option seems the most sane.

(edited to fix some verb tense problems)

It's not about popularity, it's about being yourself!

Some people around here don`t get that though. ○_○