This morning fans both in Baku and away from Baku were shocked to hear of the hacking of EscToday. They were attacked through what is rumoured to be a denial of service attack, conducted by anti-gay protesters.
When I was only starting to use the internet as a media for my interest in Eurovision EscToday was a key Eurovision website for me. Almost all fans use it regularly and they are the largest Eurovision website after eurovision.tv [the official one]. EscToday above all other Eurovision fan sites have been the most reliable and has been the longest serving website, having been run for over 10 years now.
It is a terrible shame that within a couple of minutes the entire website can be taken down but it is one of the disadvantages of the modern age in which we live. In statement EscToday have confirmed that they will do their best to get back up and running but there has been no indication about how long this will take.
Eurovision websites of any size are run almost exclusively by volunteers who give their time and money to get to Eurovision and to keep their sites up and running. It is not fair that this should happen to EscToday or any website for that matter. But Eurovision is not simply meant to be simply for gay fans. As a heterosexual I do believe that the contest the contest contains something for everyone, not just for the gay community. While hetrosexual fans are probably in a minority there still are many fans out there who are not gay. This is what Eurovision is about, bringing people together. I dislike this whole idea that Eurovision is for a particular group in society or for a particular group of countries. We must strive to overcome this, in doing so attacking Eurovision will not just be about attacking one group, it will be attacking society as a whole.
When I wrote this post originally I had some awkward phrasing which I was unhappy about. I have corrected that now but I would like to acknowledge that this attack does show that there is some people out there who are very much against the gay community, especially on this International day against homophobia. Though at times I am afraid to say something controversial, I do think that even though I come from a Christian family, that the number one thing that Christianity teaches us is Love Thy Neighbour. This above all else should be the basis on which we form our moral codes, before all other teachings. I apologise to anyone who feels offended by this post, this can be a very tricky issue for some.
I wish EscToday all the best in these challenging times.
Showing posts with label EscToday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EscToday. Show all posts
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Fan Favourites?
Before any of the OGAE results come in, before everyone completes their reviews we take a look at who might be doing well across the amazing world of Eurovision Fandom.
This year there is no shortage of songs for die hard fans. I think that there is quite a number of strong songs in Eurovision this year and recently EscToday launched their polls of fans. This a good gauge because the readership of the website is so huge that they give a fairly accurate view of fans thoughts on the songs. So I took a look at the results coming through, and then twisted them around in a simple but bizarre formula to get the fan favourite.
So aside from the limitations of the model so lets have a look at the bottom two on the list.
So this is a interesting batch of songs. Romania are probably correctly gauged and Netherlands look about right in 11th but as you will see as we go up the list there are surprises. Netherlands don't hold a commanding number of 12's in the poll but as we look at 10's they have quite a few. For me Netherlands song as gotten a surprising reaction from fans. Cyrus being in tenth is a surprise as I had assumed that it would come out in the top 5 of this. I firstly thought that the mathematical model might be wrong but no, it only has around 26% 12's.
We now move on to the next couple of songs.
I guess the only surprise here Germany, whose song is slightly too inoffensive, in my opinion. I was surprised to see it do so well as it is not being heavily talked about. Norway and the UK is expected, the UK has been gaining as a fan favourite country over the last number of years. Norway, well, is Norway.
On these figures Serbia might seem a little low but it got more 12's than Italy but a lot less 10's therefore Italy is a bit higher. Spain is a bit surprising to see up that far, with no disrespect to Pastora I still think that it isn't a strong enough song to do as well on the night.
This year there is no shortage of songs for die hard fans. I think that there is quite a number of strong songs in Eurovision this year and recently EscToday launched their polls of fans. This a good gauge because the readership of the website is so huge that they give a fairly accurate view of fans thoughts on the songs. So I took a look at the results coming through, and then twisted them around in a simple but bizarre formula to get the fan favourite.
So aside from the limitations of the model so lets have a look at the bottom two on the list.
10 Cyprus
11 Netherlands
12 Romania
So this is a interesting batch of songs. Romania are probably correctly gauged and Netherlands look about right in 11th but as you will see as we go up the list there are surprises. Netherlands don't hold a commanding number of 12's in the poll but as we look at 10's they have quite a few. For me Netherlands song as gotten a surprising reaction from fans. Cyrus being in tenth is a surprise as I had assumed that it would come out in the top 5 of this. I firstly thought that the mathematical model might be wrong but no, it only has around 26% 12's.
We now move on to the next couple of songs.
7 Norway
8 UK
9 Germany
I guess the only surprise here Germany, whose song is slightly too inoffensive, in my opinion. I was surprised to see it do so well as it is not being heavily talked about. Norway and the UK is expected, the UK has been gaining as a fan favourite country over the last number of years. Norway, well, is Norway.
4 Spain
5 Italy
6 Serbia
On these figures Serbia might seem a little low but it got more 12's than Italy but a lot less 10's therefore Italy is a bit higher. Spain is a bit surprising to see up that far, with no disrespect to Pastora I still think that it isn't a strong enough song to do as well on the night.
1 Sweden
2 Iceland
3 Slovenia
Sweden is certainly no surprise, the only surprise is the amount of 12's they have received. Sweden scored about 56% of the 12's. Iceland also surprised me by scoring just over 50% of 12's, while I had expected them to do well and indeed in second, but the scale of the 12's really surprised me. Really and truly Slovenia is a shock to see it do so well.
In comparison to last year fans appear to be a lot happier with the songs. Last year in EscToday's polls few songs broke 25% of 12's. This year many songs are breaking 25% (about 12 of them). Last year France and Estonia both were touching 40% however this year the top 2 are breaking 50%.
In comparison to last year fans appear to be a lot happier with the songs. Last year in EscToday's polls few songs broke 25% of 12's. This year many songs are breaking 25% (about 12 of them). Last year France and Estonia both were touching 40% however this year the top 2 are breaking 50%.
So this might not be the OGAE, but this is a first look at fan votes. The OGAE usually delivers a highly conservative vote, so it will be interesting to see how it shapes up. Of course I will be keeping a close eye on how these countries vote. Until then we will keep the reviews flowing.
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