January 29, 2012

MDM People's Choice Awards

Awards season is in full swing. And Stardoll is no exception when it comes to the season of the celebs. Blogs like Today's Top Trends, Perez Hilton of Stardoll, and Beg For More are keeping up with this glamorous tradition. And MDM could be rolling out the read carpet too.  That is if our fabulous readers are ready to take charge!

That's right, the first annual Mémoires of a Medoll People's Choice Awards(that's a mouthful!) is being placed into the more than able hands of our readers. Not only will you have the chance to nominate other Stardollians for awards, as well as vote for them, but you will also have the privilege of choosing the award categories.

The MDM People's Choice Awards is still in the first stage of development. This post is for our readers to express their ideas and opinions. Let us know about any ideas you believe would make the MDM People's Choice Awards better.

We're looking forward to your feedback!

January 24, 2012

Welcome Back


Hello lovely ladies and genteel gentlemen. We're back from our weekend-long hiatus. And with us we brought a fresh and clean, temporary layout. Yes, I said temporary. Once preparations for our long-anticipated makeover are complete, we will transform once again. Until then, we hope you enjoy the temporary changes.


Media Partners
If your project is being displayed on the sidebars, please apply our logo(located on the upper right sidebar) to your page.


Hope you have a happy Monday!

January 21, 2012

Closing


MDM will be closing for the weekend, as layout updates are configured.
See you all on Monday!

January 18, 2012

May I Have Your Attention Please


I want to start by saying that this post is in response to the comments we've been receiving, as well as a post made by the newest Stardoll anonymous blogger.

If you haven't read the comments or the post, feel free to do so before continuing to read this post.

It has come to my attention that some readers may be displeased with the work Deidra and I have been doing for MDM. Whether it be the makeover delay, the graphic designer we're using, who's to blame for the delay, selection of writers based on social status, or Dei and myself being "stiff necks". Some of our readers are clearly not happy. So I'm using this post to explain all the issues that have surfaced in recent days, as well as, give you a chance, as readers, to voice your opinion.

The paragraphs below are a collaboration of Dei's opinions edits, as well as my own opinions.
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MDM Makeover

Before Noelle took a break from Stardoll, Deidra and I spoke to her over Skype about the results of the Writer's Poll and how to proceed.

Main Parts of Conversation:
Larger view HERE
 With all of the ideas we had for the blog, Noelle decided to make us admin so that we could freely express those ideas. That's one thing I've always loved about this blog. Noelle didn't restrict us. Shortly afterwards, Noelle disappeared; and after not hearing from her for months, we decided to take our makeover ideas to the next step. And constantly, we reiterated that we were not the new owners of MDM. We were just keeping it up and running while Noelle was away.

Dei's Edit: Here is part of a conversation I had with Noelle when she came on Skype after her hiatus.

Larger view HERE
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Choosing a Graphic Designer

Chace is a great designer. And I really enjoy seeing his work in POSH. Why else would I have asked him to do the graphics for MDM? I'm not going to ask someone to let me pay them for something if I don't believe they have the potential to do well. When Chace showed me my banner, I was pleased overall and I did say it looked great, despite having a few issues with the graphic. It wasn't until I talked with Deidra about the banners he made, that we decided to take a different route. That's when we decided to hire Nika. Unfortunately, with all the chaos, I neglected to tell Chace that we had hired someone else. 

Here are the messages Chace and I(Aislin) exchanged about the banners:
Larger view HERE
Dei's edit: I didn't see the banners he made up until right before we decided on another, before he posted the one for Lia. After we talked about them, Aislin started to not grow found of them, and I thought they looked nice as well, but I didn't favor Chace's style for them for the banners, and we decided to find a different graphic designer, and silly Aislin, after I told her to, forgot to tell him otherwise but eventually did.

These next messages are what Aislin showed me of her and Chace's personal conversation from the last 2 days when Aislin talked to him about Chace's post on his graphics blog.

Larger view HERE
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When I mailed Nika about doing the graphics for MDM, she seemed very pleasant and happy to do them. We worked out prices and she told me that she had a couple of things to do before starting the banners. She told Deidra the same thing, but promised that she would start within a week. That was in December of 2011. 

Dei's Edit: We asked her to in the beginning of of December, around the 5th-10?

Here are some snippets from the conversation(s):
Larger view HERE
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Larger view HERE

Nika, as I've said over a thousand times, failed in multiple instances to keep in contact with us. And believe me, we tried more than several times to talk to her. She just failed to respond.  We are not blaming her for the makeover not being completed. However, I do believe that it's her fault that the banners weren't completed. Simply because we gave her several opportunities to tell us that she wouldn't be able to do them. It was her choice to wait until mid-January to let us know. And as I've said before, we didn't want to create MDM's new layout until we had the banners, so that the layout would be cohesive with the banners.

After that, Deidra and I were frustrated to a point because Nika waited so long to tell us that she couldn't finish the banners, after she told us that she was working on them. So I thought of the most reliable graphic designer, with the best work. Having worked with Lana before, I knew that she was the person for the job. I contacted her and she said she'd do the banners. So that's that. I'm sorry if you guys are "bored" with her work, but she's a great designer, who just so happens to be very reliable and pleasant to work with. I understand everyone wanting a say in what happens during the makeover; and I am more that willing to listen. But when it comes to graphic designers, I think we all know how sketchy they can be. And at the end of the day, It's Dei and I who have to deal with designers flaking out. Which is why I didn't care that a couple of readers were "bored" with Lana's work.
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Choosing the Writers

When we started thinking about who we'd like to write for MDM, we didn't run to our friends list and pick out the people we talk to the most (Dei's Edit: Quite frankly, after we chose the majority of them was the first time I really talked to most of them.), or the people with the highest social standings. We weighed our options and chose a few people(who shall remain nameless until the makeover is completed) whom we thought had great writing skills and an equally great personality. Before we chose these people we had decided that we would only use the applications to fill the last spot. When reviewing the applications, we didn't just hastily make a decision; we read over the applications, checked out their previous work, and even interviewed the candidates. I would provide links to these conversations, but they would reveal the writers we've chosen. And we'd like it to be a surprise.
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"Stiff Necks"

I had to include this since I don't believe it's true. I don't believe that spelling correctly, using proper punctuation, and forming proper paragraphs makes us 'stiff necks'. Also, never have I looked down on anyone who wanted to be a part of MDM. And neither has Deidra. We don't believe that we are better than anyone else. And we don't hold ourselves on pedestals. If conveying intelligence through writing makes anyone think that, I am sorry.

The last thing we'd want to do is displease all of our readers. However, we all know it's impossible to please everyone. But at the end of the day, I'd like to know that at least the majority of our readers are completely happy. If ever you thought that I was neglecting your opinions, I'm sorry. It was never my intention to do so. Though we may not follow through with all  of your suggestions, we do value them, and take them into strong consideration when making blog decisions. 

I hope that this post has helped ease some of the confusion and frustration, concerning the makeover and other issues. Feel free to express any other opinions or questions you might have, and Deidra and myself will do our best to respond to them in a timely manner.

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Dei's Edit: I am just sad that people think we are this and we are that and yet we didn't even have a chance to answer if those statements are true or not.

We don't believe in 'elites'. We don't believe we are better.

We are just normal people. End of story.

January 16, 2012

MDM Makeover Update


I know you all were expecting MDM's makeover to be complete, or nearly complete by mid-January. I'm sorry to report that due to lack of communication(graphic designers are so sketch) with our previous graphic designer, Princess_kiara1, the makeover timeline has shifted slightly. Lana(forevergorgeous), has agreed to take over the writer banners. I've gotten great work, on time, from her before, so I'm completely confident that MDM's writer banners rest safely in her hands.

Also, our new writers have been chosen. If you haven't received a message from Deidra or myself by now, then it's safe to assume that you were not chosen. That doesn't mean that your writing sucks. We hand picked several writers and only used the applications to select one final writer. There were lots of very well written applications, so it was a tough decision.

As for the media partners, we haven't sorted through them, yet. But I promise you I'll have a look at them as soon as I get a chance. From there I'll notify all of the new and returning media partners.

Thank you guys for being patient with us throughout the duration of this makeover. We really do hope that you enjoy the finished product.

__________

I'd also like to address the issue of Charlotte's last couple of posts being deleted from the blog. This was my doing.  After deciding which writers to remove from MDM, I decided that Charlotte would be on the list to be removed. However, for some reason, Deidra and myself were unable to remove her from the blog. The reason is unknown. But basically, no matter how many times I attempted to remove her(and it did say she was deleted) he name was still on the author's list. In short, Charlotte is no longer writing for MDM. I'm still waiting to hear back from Blogger Support on how to handle the issue of Blogger not allowing her to be removed. In the meantime, any posts she makes will be deleted. 

January 08, 2012

Noelle_page Reactivated, YES!


Short post. But I made it because I am happy.

Noelle got back her own account after the horrible rumors spread around made by 'eliteprotect'. I was so happy I got to talk to Noelle today, since is such an amazing person, though I can't say if she is back for good, and I am just glad all those nasty rumors can be thrown away NOW.


Ironic how her name is eliteprotect and yet she was being a little turd about Noelle's very life!

Love you Noelle.

And I'm done.

Say hey to Noelle in the comments or I will make you listen to Justin Bieber!

January 06, 2012

An Ironic Tradition


The definition of resolution reads: A firm decision to do or not to do something. How ironic is it that resolution plays a major part in a tradition "practiced" worldwide? The word practice rests between quotes because it helps us understand why this holiday tradition is so ironic.

The holiday being spoke of is New Years, of course. We all become dazzled at the idea of creating resolutions for ourselves at the dawn of a new year. This tradition plays into our need to feel good or better than we were before, if I may. We are always seeking improvement in ourselves. But do we truly revel in improvement, or just the idea of improvement?

New Years resolutions are ironic in a humorous way that provokes subconscious sadness. A new year beckons us all to make ourselves new in some way. A way that requires us to rid our lives of the bad and embrace the good. Happily, we all conjure up resolutions for the new year that in some way, make us better people, leading better lives. The only thing we fail to achieve is actually standing firmly by our resolutions. Which is what makes the existence of New Years resolutions quite ironic. Maybe all the time spent aspiring to make lifestyle changes prevents us from actually being able to carry out those changes. Or maybe, subconsciously, we actually have no desire to change.

January 03, 2012

For those who care...


Another task of Editorialized Next Top Model has gone by, and so I have another stunning scenery to show you all:


This scenery was made by MMAlovergirl. Pretty spectacular right?

Sometimes it's easy to think that only 5 people read what you write here, but that's never true. That can be seen simply by the number of votes that pop up in polls. If you remember, I post a poll asking which country ENTM should travel to...Well it has 171 votes so far!

Here are the percentages:

(click to enlarge)
France is pretty far in the lead...but you can still vote! Go to my last post if you have not voted yet: http://medollmemoires.blogspot.com/2011/12/where-in-world.html

I'll tell you the final destination in a few weeks!