Buddy Jewell Fans Speak Out

Three recent polls on Countrymusic.about.com, hosted by Shelley Fabian, have been the focus of Buddy Jewell's Fans and Friends (BJFF). Efforts of Buddy's fans can be seen by visiting the BJFF message board, clicking on the "How We Can Help Buddy" forum, and viewing the many poll-related threads. It must be noted that all of the polls have rules specifying the prohibition of the use of any automated voting. As ambassadors for Buddy, members of BJFF vowed to win by playing according to the rules, or not win at all. The BJFF policies state; "In keeping with the integrity and values that Buddy Jewell believes in, you will find very simple and basic rules to this message board that amount to nothing more than common courtesy and moral values".

The poll voting began in earnest from a post stating that Buddy was about to be eliminated from the Favorite New Male poll, as he had only 2% of the vote in a field of 10 artists who were vying for the title. American, Canadian and British members of the BJFF immediately began a massive voting effort that continued almost 24 hours a day. By the end of the weekly voting, fans voting for Buddy Jewell had overcome a lead of over 36,000 votes, giving Buddy the highest vote total and he was not eliminated from the round.

The BJFF next focused its attention on the week long Top Ten Songs for September poll, as voted for by members. After an intense early battle with Toby's fans, the results of this poll were #1 Buddy Jewell's "Help Pour Out The Rain (Lacey's Song)" 45,002 votes, #2 Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar" 23,008 votes, etc….

The BJFF also focused on the five-week long CMA Horizon poll, as voted by fans from the five nominees. After a few weeks of voting, a comfortable lead was built up. However, that lead soon vanished by a challenge from another fan group. Their voting was noticed by BJFF as ongoing 24/7, and the voting in the early morning hours did not fluctuate for bathroom breaks or sleep. This voting pattern was also documented as being used by a different fan group on the Favorite New Male poll. After members of BJFF became aware of the voting patterns used by other groups, complaints were submitted to Ms. Fabian. They were informed that allegations of BJFF cheating had also been received, and after being investigated, it was determined that the BJFF voting was done without automated voting.

After two weeks of posting the major offending IP Addresses and warning the offenders to cease using automated voting, Ms. Fabian reluctantly eliminated the rule against using automated voting, which had previously been giving an extreme unfair advantage to the groups who had been using it. At the beginning of the Horizon poll's final week, Buddy Jewell was over 200,000 votes behind, and many members of BJFF were delighted at the opportunity to finally vote by the updated rules, as set by Ms. Fabian. At the conclusion of the Horizon poll, Buddy Jewell won by a slim margin, and had well in excess of a million votes. Due to the Favorite New Male poll crashing from the high volume of votes, it has been declared as a three-way tie.

BJFF owes Ms. Shelley Fabian a big thank you. As an unanticipated result of her polls, members of BJFF have grown closer. The efforts of BJFF members demonstrate their belief in the BJFF motto: "One Team, One Dream, Buddy's Dream".

Article Written & Submitted by Louis Gladeau & Jenny O'Brien *Note from Jan- This article in no way reflects the opinions or views of Nashville.about.com.
*Since the publication of this article the Buddy Jewell Fans & Friends Site has disbanded.