An online contest sponsored by social networking site Buzznet gave MLWGS students an opportunity to come together and attempt bring the Maine, a popular teenage band, to Richmond.
As the possibility grew that MLWGS could win the competition, a few students dedicated themselves to the contest.
“At first, I thought, ‘There’s no way we’re going to win,’ but when it came down to the last week, I started to think that we could do this,” said Monique Dibich (‘11). “I didn’t sleep for three days before the contest ended because I was working so hard to get people registered.”
Last Friday, Dibich and a few of her friends distributed flyers encouraging people to make accounts and vote for the school. That night, Facebook exploded as people urged their friends to vote, and MLWGS began to move up the Buzznet leader board. Around 9 p.m., MLWGS moved into first, and stayed in the lead for the rest of the night.
“I voted eighty-five times,” said Teresa Dula (‘11). “Or should I say, me and eighty-four of my best friends voted.”
The official contest rules stated that the competition would end at 11:59 a.m. Pacific time, January 9, meaning the contest would have ended during school on Friday. Maggie Walker only rose to first after the contest would have been over.
However, Ryan Johnson (‘11) emailed a Buzznet administrator, and the website claims they intended the contest to end at 11:59 p.m. Although students were unsure that their votes would count, they registered anyway, and the v
Another controversy that arose about the legitimacy of MLWGS’ first place standing was that by the time the contest was no longer accepting votes, MLWGS had over two thousand votes—but the school only comprises about 700 students.
Students that never signed up for the site began to receive emails from Buzznet with usernames and passwords for accounts they never created.
When I went on the website and tried to register, I got an error message that said, ‘An account with this email address already exists,’” said Alicia Moore (‘10). “I thought, ‘what in the world?’”
Although Moore was planning on voting anyway, other students who had no interest in the band or the contest got messages as well.
“I couldn’t care less about this band, but I got an email telling me I’d signed up for this contest to bring them to Maggie Walker,” said Woody Kaine (‘10). “I’m really annoyed someone used my email address.”
A few people admitted that their friends took email addresses out of the MLWGS directory and registered accounts using the first and last name of students.
“That’s fraud,” said MLWGS Director Mr. Douglas Hunt. “It’s an invasion of privacy because someone is misrepresenting the truth. They’re trying to use your information for something you have not allowed them to do.”
If Maggie Walker actually wins the contest, then The Maine is expected come to Richmond and play a private show for MLWGS students at a local venue. However, if the band is expecting 2000 people to come to the show, then they may be disappointed by lack of support for their music among some students.
“They’re considered power pop. That’s pretty lame; I’m not going to lie,” said Lindsay Maguire (‘11). “It’s cool we won something, but it’s not cool we won them.”
The rush of support came mostly from people who wanted to support the school, not specifically the band. For MLWGS to win a national contest for a nationally-known band is something many found exciting, whether or not they listened to the Maine’s music.
“I think it was really awesome our whole school showed support for this contest,” said Dibich. “In the end, it wasn’t just for the band—it was to support the school.”
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