Happy President’s Day!
First, I would like to thank every one who entered the Helena dress contest, especially Sarah and Kara!
Second, there is an issue I want to address in relation to the contest and some inappropriate comments being posted on the blog and on the Youtube site. It began at 5:24pm PST on 2/14, the last day of the contest with a seemingly non-threatening email from a person I did not believe to be involved with the contest. Please see below to read the entire email:
From: Johnathon Crain [mailto:johnathoncrain@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 5:24 PM
To: Renee
Subject: Helena Contest!
Dear Renee,
First off, I’d like to say you’re amazing. ā¤ Anyways, I came across your wonderful contest for the dress from the Helena video by My Chemical Romance. I then watched your guidelines carefully and then watched both of the contestant’s videos. I noticed that Kara did not follow each necessary guideline that you had made as requirements in your first video. In her video, she did not include the following: where she lives, what goes on in her typical day, and why she loves the Helena dress. In my opinion, the part about where she lives isn’t that important. However, what goes on in her typical day should have been a major part of her video and she did not have this anywhere. She also did not include why she actually loves this dress. She did say what she would do with the dress (wear it to prom) but did not say what she loves about it which shows her lack of interest really. She also just spent a good majority of the video sitting in her room talking about herself. Which shows the lack of effort and time that she spent putting together her video. After being disgusted by all of this, I moved on to Sarah’s video. She followed each guideline perfectly and her video flowed together as one big whole project. She included what goes on in her typical day marvelously. She then went on to show each person she cares about and even had both her mom and dad on video explaining why she should win. Her accomplishments with “Band-Together” sound like an amazing thing to do. The story about her grandmother is heart touching and she should definitely get brownie points for that one (: ! I also believe that the way the contest is being judged is entirely unfair. Kara had uploaded her video multiple days before Sarah had meaning she had extra days to rack up those views. I believe it would have been a lot better if you had them email you the videos so YOU could take them and upload them on your own youtube account at the SAME time and then say something like the contest ends in a week. That way, they both had the same equal opportunity to get more views. I also noticed that youtube views don’t always necessarily update regularly. Sometimes they take many hours to update, meaning one girl could actually have more views than another and you wouldn’t even know it. But overall, I do believe you should take this wonderful note in consideration because I spent a long time thinking about all this. You should definitely look over both videos and base your decision on more of the video content rather than views. As for my opinion, I believe Sarah used creativity and followed each requirement and overall had a much better video. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Love,
Johnathon also known as ilovekinkychinky ā¤
I was caught off guard by this person’s email about how I was running the contest and politely replied:
Dearest Johnathon,
Thank you for your well thought out response to the contest. I do appreciate your suggestions and in the future will definitely apply them to the next contest.
This contest was a test for the brand and I didn’t know how the responses would be. Therefore, I intentionally let the contestants interpret the guidelines, while adding the disclaimer “there are no rules-be creative.”
The idea of the KinkyChinky brand is not be too serious, have fun, and be creative so I don’t want to be too harsh on Kara for not showing her typical day, etc. Both finalists were given the same opportunity to upload their videos via simultaneous emails. Sarah chose to make a video that was “perfect” and take more time while Kara had a strategy to put together a quick video to get the most votes within the timeframe allotted.
I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to email me and will keep your recommendations close to heart.
Best,
Renee
Guess what kind of response I received from this person, claiming to be so enthralled with the contest?
So your saying that she won because she made a horrible video and got more views which you can cheat on getting and the views don’t even load correctly. thats some bs right there renee. Seriously.. wow.. There were requirements, and Kara should have followed them. They should both get a dress or nobody. because you were not clear about it and its causing great disputes.
I did not respond to this person because it was obvious that he was a person who wanted to cause problems and wasn’t respecting my decision to run the contest MY WAY.
However, I did reach out to both Kara and Sarah about the contest to inform both of them about this naysayer causing a rift between them by posting malicious comments. I connected the two finalists to allow them both to read about this individual. Both Kara and Sarah had hurt feelings from comments left by individuals and lashed back at each other because of it.
I sent the following email to both finalists yesterday, February 15th:
Kara + Sarah –
The issues raised by Mr. Cain and comments left by him have disrupted our contest in the way that I would have never wanted.
My intent was to allow the 2 finalists the ability to make a video about themselves to be proud of their backgrounds, struggles, goals, etc. I really wanted to get to know my fans and find out more about them, and to allow them to be proud of who they are, regardless of what socio-economic background they are from. I understand that Kara may have alluded to this and hurt Sarah’s feelings, while Kara was acting out of hurt feelings from negative comments being posted on her video. THIS IS NOT THE POINT of the contest. It’s really about the celebration of us females and how we can all work together and support each other.
I have tried to moderate comments to the best of my ability by taking down negative things that are capable of hurting individuals. For example, I was extremely disappointed when negative comments were left on the blog during the first phase of the contest regarding a finalist and removed them to prevent anyone from reading it. I apologize for not taking swift action this round of the contest because I have been away and have no access to a computer-just the blackberry. I assure you that all comments from Mr. Cain and others, along with replies to the negative comments, will be removed IMMEDIATELY upon my return on Monday.
You’re both wondering why I would make myself unaccessible via the
internet and my laptop during the last few days of the contest, right? š
I didn’t want to tell you this and spoil the surprise but I wasn’t going to pick ONE winner. I was going to let you BOTH get a free custom dress because you both deserve it and my goal was NEVER to alienate ANY one of you special ladies.
Call me an idealist, but I believe that anyone who made the effort to enter the contest and make a personal video should be rewarded…
SO, there it is … You are BOTH going to have your custom “Helena” dress. You are both winners and I sincerely believe this “speedbump” of negative comments is a learning experience for all of us to acknowledge hurt feelings but move past them quickly and understand that they have no impact on who we are as intelligent, caring, and independent women.
We females have to take care of one another and love each other for all of our qualities and gifts. We cannot let anyone, especially a MAN, make us feel inferior and then take it out on each other…this is the lesson.
I have grown so fond of both of you during this time. I want to make sure we are totally clear about the way I ran the contest and how I had already decided how the contest was going to end, prior to Mr. Cain’s comments and attempted bullying.
Xoxo
Renee
What came out of this was unexpected but definitely one of the main reasons why I wanted to conduct this contest: friendship, comraderie, and confidence.
Kara wrote me this email a bit later:
Hi again Renee,
I just wanted to thank you again for this contest, but for a reason other than the dress (thank you x 10000 for that, though!).
Sarah and I exchanged phone numbers and have been texting back and forth all day – I am so happy to have made a new friend out of this š I sent her an apology earlier today for hurting her feelings (I wasn’t aware that I had, until your email – I didn’t do it on purpose, and I really hope it hasn’t tarnished your opinion of me; it’s not like me at all to be hurtful in any way), and it turns out that we were both caught off-guard by Johnathon Cain’s comments.
The more I think of it, though, the more disturbed I am that he came into the picture at all — Sarah doesn’t know him, I don’t know him — so where did he come from, and why was he so hellbent on being so verbally abusive and hateful towards me? Anyway, that’s not the point. I just wanted to thank you for giving me this opportunity to make new friends – both with you and with Sarah š Overall, it’s been a great experience. And in fact, if it weren’t for Mr. Cain, I might not have emailed Sarah and exchanged numbers! So it all worked out in the end. š
Thank you, again! This dress is really a dream come true for me, and my whole family is so excited. š Kara
and now, the winner is… KARA and SARAH!
BOTH are winners of their very own custom “Helena” dress!!
***On a side note, please understand that due to the inappropriate nature of the random comments left by Mr. Johnathon Cain, I have removed ALL videos from Youtube. This means that the videos in the previous postings will not work, and I apologize in advance. The personal safety of my fans is top priority. Thank you for your understanding!***
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Helena dress contest: and the winner is…
{ February 16, 2009 @ 6:17 pm } · { 1, giveaway, helena dress, Music - My Chemical Romance - Helena }
{ Tags: band together, breast cancer, brittle bone disease, brittle bones, buy helena dress, contest winner, custom made, custom made dress, dress, fashion, free dress, gerard, giveaway, helena, helena dress, helena's dress, how to buy helena dress, ilovekinkychinky, inappropriate comments, internet predator, johnathon crain, johnathoncrain@gmail.com, kinkychinky, MCR, mcr fan, mcr lover, mtv, mtv music - my chemical romance, Music - My Chemical Romance - Helena, my chemical romance, my chemical romance dress, my chemical romance fan club, my chemical romance forum, osteogenesis imperfecta, party dress, prom, prom dres, prom dress, rock music, tracey phillips, twitter, wedding dress, where to buy helena dress, youtube }
Happy President’s Day!
First, I would like to thank every one who entered the Helena dress contest, especially Sarah and Kara!
Second, there is an issue I want to address in relation to the contest and some inappropriate comments being posted on the blog and on the Youtube site. It began at 5:24pm PST on 2/14, the last day of the contest with a seemingly non-threatening email from a person I did not believe to be involved with the contest. Please see below to read the entire email:
From: Johnathon Crain [mailto:johnathoncrain@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2009 5:24 PM
To: Renee
Subject: Helena Contest!
Dear Renee,
First off, I’d like to say you’re amazing. ā¤ Anyways, I came across your wonderful contest for the dress from the Helena video by My Chemical Romance. I then watched your guidelines carefully and then watched both of the contestant’s videos. I noticed that Kara did not follow each necessary guideline that you had made as requirements in your first video. In her video, she did not include the following: where she lives, what goes on in her typical day, and why she loves the Helena dress. In my opinion, the part about where she lives isn’t that important. However, what goes on in her typical day should have been a major part of her video and she did not have this anywhere. She also did not include why she actually loves this dress. She did say what she would do with the dress (wear it to prom) but did not say what she loves about it which shows her lack of interest really. She also just spent a good majority of the video sitting in her room talking about herself. Which shows the lack of effort and time that she spent putting together her video. After being disgusted by all of this, I moved on to Sarah’s video. She followed each guideline perfectly and her video flowed together as one big whole project. She included what goes on in her typical day marvelously. She then went on to show each person she cares about and even had both her mom and dad on video explaining why she should win. Her accomplishments with “Band-Together” sound like an amazing thing to do. The story about her grandmother is heart touching and she should definitely get brownie points for that one (: ! I also believe that the way the contest is being judged is entirely unfair. Kara had uploaded her video multiple days before Sarah had meaning she had extra days to rack up those views. I believe it would have been a lot better if you had them email you the videos so YOU could take them and upload them on your own youtube account at the SAME time and then say something like the contest ends in a week. That way, they both had the same equal opportunity to get more views. I also noticed that youtube views don’t always necessarily update regularly. Sometimes they take many hours to update, meaning one girl could actually have more views than another and you wouldn’t even know it. But overall, I do believe you should take this wonderful note in consideration because I spent a long time thinking about all this. You should definitely look over both videos and base your decision on more of the video content rather than views. As for my opinion, I believe Sarah used creativity and followed each requirement and overall had a much better video. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Love,
Johnathon also known as ilovekinkychinky ā¤
I was caught off guard by this person’s email about how I was running the contest and politely replied:
Dearest Johnathon,
Thank you for your well thought out response to the contest. I do appreciate your suggestions and in the future will definitely apply them to the next contest.
This contest was a test for the brand and I didn’t know how the responses would be. Therefore, I intentionally let the contestants interpret the guidelines, while adding the disclaimer “there are no rules-be creative.”
The idea of the KinkyChinky brand is not be too serious, have fun, and be creative so I don’t want to be too harsh on Kara for not showing her typical day, etc. Both finalists were given the same opportunity to upload their videos via simultaneous emails. Sarah chose to make a video that was “perfect” and take more time while Kara had a strategy to put together a quick video to get the most votes within the timeframe allotted.
I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to email me and will keep your recommendations close to heart.
Best,
Renee
Guess what kind of response I received from this person, claiming to be so enthralled with the contest?
So your saying that she won because she made a horrible video and got more views which you can cheat on getting and the views don’t even load correctly. thats some bs right there renee. Seriously.. wow.. There were requirements, and Kara should have followed them. They should both get a dress or nobody. because you were not clear about it and its causing great disputes.
I did not respond to this person because it was obvious that he was a person who wanted to cause problems and wasn’t respecting my decision to run the contest MY WAY.
However, I did reach out to both Kara and Sarah about the contest to inform both of them about this naysayer causing a rift between them by posting malicious comments. I connected the two finalists to allow them both to read about this individual. Both Kara and Sarah had hurt feelings from comments left by individuals and lashed back at each other because of it.
I sent the following email to both finalists yesterday, February 15th:
Kara + Sarah –
The issues raised by Mr. Cain and comments left by him have disrupted our contest in the way that I would have never wanted.
My intent was to allow the 2 finalists the ability to make a video about themselves to be proud of their backgrounds, struggles, goals, etc. I really wanted to get to know my fans and find out more about them, and to allow them to be proud of who they are, regardless of what socio-economic background they are from. I understand that Kara may have alluded to this and hurt Sarah’s feelings, while Kara was acting out of hurt feelings from negative comments being posted on her video. THIS IS NOT THE POINT of the contest. It’s really about the celebration of us females and how we can all work together and support each other.
I have tried to moderate comments to the best of my ability by taking down negative things that are capable of hurting individuals. For example, I was extremely disappointed when negative comments were left on the blog during the first phase of the contest regarding a finalist and removed them to prevent anyone from reading it. I apologize for not taking swift action this round of the contest because I have been away and have no access to a computer-just the blackberry. I assure you that all comments from Mr. Cain and others, along with replies to the negative comments, will be removed IMMEDIATELY upon my return on Monday.
You’re both wondering why I would make myself unaccessible via the
internet and my laptop during the last few days of the contest, right? š
I didn’t want to tell you this and spoil the surprise but I wasn’t going to pick ONE winner. I was going to let you BOTH get a free custom dress because you both deserve it and my goal was NEVER to alienate ANY one of you special ladies.
Call me an idealist, but I believe that anyone who made the effort to enter the contest and make a personal video should be rewarded…
SO, there it is … You are BOTH going to have your custom “Helena” dress. You are both winners and I sincerely believe this “speedbump” of negative comments is a learning experience for all of us to acknowledge hurt feelings but move past them quickly and understand that they have no impact on who we are as intelligent, caring, and independent women.
We females have to take care of one another and love each other for all of our qualities and gifts. We cannot let anyone, especially a MAN, make us feel inferior and then take it out on each other…this is the lesson.
I have grown so fond of both of you during this time. I want to make sure we are totally clear about the way I ran the contest and how I had already decided how the contest was going to end, prior to Mr. Cain’s comments and attempted bullying.
Xoxo
Renee
What came out of this was unexpected but definitely one of the main reasons why I wanted to conduct this contest: friendship, comraderie, and confidence.
Kara wrote me this email a bit later:
Hi again Renee,
I just wanted to thank you again for this contest, but for a reason other than the dress (thank you x 10000 for that, though!).
Sarah and I exchanged phone numbers and have been texting back and forth all day – I am so happy to have made a new friend out of this š I sent her an apology earlier today for hurting her feelings (I wasn’t aware that I had, until your email – I didn’t do it on purpose, and I really hope it hasn’t tarnished your opinion of me; it’s not like me at all to be hurtful in any way), and it turns out that we were both caught off-guard by Johnathon Cain’s comments.
The more I think of it, though, the more disturbed I am that he came into the picture at all — Sarah doesn’t know him, I don’t know him — so where did he come from, and why was he so hellbent on being so verbally abusive and hateful towards me? Anyway, that’s not the point. I just wanted to thank you for giving me this opportunity to make new friends – both with you and with Sarah š Overall, it’s been a great experience. And in fact, if it weren’t for Mr. Cain, I might not have emailed Sarah and exchanged numbers! So it all worked out in the end. š
Thank you, again! This dress is really a dream come true for me, and my whole family is so excited. š Kara
and now, the winner is… KARA and SARAH!
BOTH are winners of their very own custom “Helena” dress!!
***On a side note, please understand that due to the inappropriate nature of the random comments left by Mr. Johnathon Cain, I have removed ALL videos from Youtube. This means that the videos in the previous postings will not work, and I apologize in advance. The personal safety of my fans is top priority. Thank you for your understanding!***
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