Adapted from [livejournal.com profile] packbat:

This is the meme evolution meme. Copy this text, change it however you like, and repost it in your own journal. Remember to post a link to your version here as a reply to the person whose text you altered, so we can see how it evolves!
NOTE: THIS POST IS FOR MEME COMMENTS ONLY. For discussion, please see this post.

The point of this meme is to watch the spread of a meme through LiveJournal. While others have focused on friends and popularity, as far as I know, the spread of LJ memes has been largely ignored.

It's time to fix that.

So, the instructions:
  1. Go here, and leave a comment replying to the LJer you got the meme from
  2. Copy either the reply or link URL for your comment
  3. Put a link to that URL in step 1
  4. Repost these instructions
Please reply only to the person you got the meme from.
Although, really, it's kind of cheap popular science. But still! Popular EllJay Science!

What I propose to do is this: to make a meme, to track the spread of a meme.

The model I'm currently considering is posting the meme, and having people who repost the meme comment on my original post. They'd reply to the comment of the person who they took the meme from, and then they'd propagate it throughout all of LJ. Those of you who took it from here would, of course, comment on the post itself.

The problem I see with this methodology is, at its simplest, that there's very little payoff to doing the meme; they get to comment, and repost some instructions, but it's predisposed to only be done by those who have a degree of curiosity in the subject. Or, maybe, those who want to commentwhore on a post in a journal far, far away. (Plus, I'm not actually sure what I'd do with the data, except look at it and make interested noises)



Still, it would interest me to do so. This is my discussion post for it; I'm interested to see what you, my many-talented readership, think of this, this maaaadness. I'll field pretty much any comment - on the idea, on any possible value of the data gathered, on the proposed methodology, on the utter silliness of having though of it in the first place, and absolutely anything in between.
This post comes about as a result of a few things, namely:
  1. I should update more.
  2. Updates have recently been complicated some, by lack of stuff on which to update.
  3. Making stuff up can help make an update.
  4. Making something int-err-akt-iv can help make made-up stuff fun.
So, what thing could I make up for my readership to assemble and play with?
As a followup to that, what kind of interactive thing could involve the newest members of my readership?
Lastly, what interactive thing could provide material for further posts?

The obvious answer is a poll, but the obvious thing is less interesting than I'd like, and I can't really think of much to poll people on at this very moment. Obviously, this is somewhat problematic.

The solution seems, to me, that it'd be best to open the floor for the communal design of a poll for later posting. The next step, then, is to come up with a topic.

That bit was easy.

[Poll #702203]

For those who haven't had it yet, the EllJay Famous argument is based on a few simple events.
  1. Someone suggests I'm EllJay Famous.
  2. I disbelieve and therefore disagree. My laundry basket, on the other hand...
  3. Argument ensues, typically in a civil manner.
No-one knows how many times this argument's been had, but the outcome is always the same - there isn't one. So, it seems to me that it could be semi-useful to resolve the argument once and for all by:
  1. Coming up with a test to determine the EllJay Fame of any given LJer.
  2. Finding a way to squish that test into a poll.
  3. Posting the poll.
  4. Seeing what happens.
  5. Optionally, applying the test to determine EllJay Fame in other cases.
Just to clarify: by 'test', I mean 'criteria for determining whether a given LJer is EllJay Famous', rather than a clickymemethingy. The test should be fairly simple, and it must be possible to collect the necessary data by way of LJpoll.

Arguably, I could just make up a test all by myself, but this wouldn't really prove anything to other people. I've shown that I like making up wildly unusual and inappropriate explanations of poll statistics, after all. This is where the whole other people bit comes in, so that I have a test which will prove forevermore that I'm right. Unless, of course, it proves something else.

If this is the most ridiculous thing ever on the Intarwebs, do feel free to say so. If not, then everyone's invited for the making-up-a-test bit. And all the other bits too, but they're not happening just yet.

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