Well if you look at the list of eligible names Justin Bieber is at least genuinely popular so it's not a surprise that he appears in the top 10. Remember that the poll is actually called ALT.FAN.TEEN.IDOLS (please excuse the caps, I'm not trying to be rude), which is a usenet group and the poll is not conducted by the BoyActors site. What I find bewildering is why they don't try to improve the polling methods to get a greater level of participation. Many of the usenet junkies are still yet to acknowledge that anything outside of usenet has much validity.

At least this year's list is believable   

I think it's 'cause it was really conceived as a "cutest boy in the media" kinda poll. Talent doesn't really come into it, and that's why you can compare actors and singers.

I'm not saying that everybody is voting only on the basis of looks. But that's obviously a big part of it. Otherwise, as Phenom says, it doesn't make sense to compare actors and singers.

I've watched quite a few of the events live (5 channels to choose from) and particularly enjoyed the Skiing and Snowboarding events so far.

I was keen to see how well 15 year old Australian Scott James performed in his Snowboarding events but he fractured a wrist which I would assume hindered his chances somewhat...

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

josephk wrote on 19. Feb 2010 at 14:09:


Wow. What an expensive and ill designed piece of crap. I realize that it's difficult to stop progress but I really hate to see such an old and historic city like Montreal with its old French architecture ruined by the encroaching modern world.

Well, they have been saying that Canada has never won Gold in any of the Olympics hosted by Canada on its home turf so far. But they have several Golds now. 

I'm not sure I agree that you can't equate and compare talent in one area (acting) to talent in another (singing). Whether Justin Bieber is talented at all is another issue...

I can't speak for the original poll when it was started by Lonomyth, but the current poll is supposed to be more focused on talent than looks (the rules do state this), however we can't force the voters to do that (and I'm sure they would defend their choices as being talented rather than just good looking).

As for splitting the poll up, there have been suggestions in the past, whether it's having an Oscars-style set of categories, a separate poll for non-English speaking performers, or in your case a separate poll for musicians, given the decreasing number of voters (although it does appear to have plateaued for the last few years), I'm not sure that fracturing those votes further helps the results and is more likely to lead to a small number of voters having a greater influence.

The poll has often had singers in the top 10 over the years (some more talented than others, in my opinion). There's also the issue of what you do about performers who both act and sing...

Quantum wrote on 20. Feb 2010 at 11:47:



This parody video illustrates that in a very humorous way.



Personally, I think Justin has a good voice but all he is doing is mimicking the way popular black singers sing. It's all style and no substance. There's nothing original about him.