Big Brother and Me (and you, too!)

Greetings, fellow hamster fans! Since we have some new folks coming aboard each season for the show, I thought I'd post a bit of the history of the blog, what we do, the blog community and more! If you're a returning blog community, a lot of this will be old news to you. Not to worry -- we'll have enough new news in just a few days!

Who am I?
I'm Jackie. I run the place here. I started watching Big Brother in its first season and hosted the AOL Message Boards for the show as well as some of the AOL chats. When blogs came to being more popular, I happened to be out of work with knee surgery the summer of BB6. Unlike Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, I had no neighbors committing murders. So, I turned my interest to another form of voyeurism -- a Big Brother blog on the now defunct AOL Journals product.

I decided I wanted to cover the live feeds in addition to show reviews. (I've had the live feeds every season, even the first one with its chicken coop cam!) But, since I'm just one person, there's no way I could post every breath the hamsters take 24/7. So, I created a bulleted listing, sort of a Reader's Digest condensed version of what struck me, the major happenings and just stuff I wanted to report. Very few blogs were doing the live feeds at that time.

My blog did so well that I was soon writing show reviews and live feeds reports for Blogcritics, then AOL Television, eventually getting picked up as a freelance writer for TV Squad (AOL Television, now Huffington Post). Along the way, as I wrote the paid reviews of the show, I thought I was shortchanging my own blog community -- that's when I came up with the blog parties on show nights.

During each show as it airs on the East Coast, I put up a blog party post. In the post, while I don't write a review per se, I post the major happenings on the show. Oh, sometimes I interject my own opinions in it. But, hey ... it's my place, right? The parties are actually in the comments area where dedicated show fans in this community post their thoughts throughout the show. We share cyberdrinks and eat lots of fattening food without gaining a pound during these parties!

Alas, the AOL Journal product died and it's no longer available, even cached. The paid gig went away when Huffington Post took over and didn't want freelance writers. But, this blog remains! It's actually a year-round blog and includes Survivor and The Amazing Race, plus my own weekly off television topic photography post.

As I watch the hamster introductions and those who claim to be "superfans," I can only think that I would have to qualify as a super-über-fan or something of that ilk with my BB history! I'm not stupid enough to go on the show, though.

But I couldn't have done it without you! Over the years, the blog community members have stepped up to the plate -- from Zoetawny creating cool gifs for the blog to ORKMommy (and Lifeguard Laurie and Margo) running the blog pools! The community we've built here on the blog is definitely opinionated, but generally respectful of others. Now, that's a rarity these days!

I do monitor the comments and ask that others talk about the houseguests, not their fellow commenters and that comments are kept to a PG level. I'm also not keen on people making nasty comments about the physical aspects (or religion, gender, any racial or sexual slurs, etc.) of various hamsters, nor coming up with nasty names to call them. Heck, sometimes I don't even know who people are talking about when they call a hamster other than his name! I don't like to remove comments, but will remove trolling comments or flame wars. The First Amendment does NOT apply to a blog, y'see!

That said, I go into each season hoping never to have to delete a comment. We'll see how this season does! We do have lots of fun here. We've found out that you can have fun without being hateful. That's a good thing! New commenters are always welcomed by the group, too. We're not exclusive -- the more the merrier!

What you can expect posting-wise from the blog:

• Once the live feeds start up -- Thursday night/Friday morning 1am -- I will regularly be doing two to three live feeds reports daily, along with screen caps.
• On show nights, I'll post a blog party coinciding with the East Coast airing of the show. I turn off the word verification on comments, so comments during the party are very free-flowing. You're all welcome to attend!
• When endurance comps go on after the show, I'll provide real-time coverage from the live feeds -- along with screen caps and the winner.
• Even though most comps are blocked to the live feeds, we find out shortly after who won what. Since I'm the only one posting entries, I guarantee that any winners I post actually won. Unlike some sites where anyone can post false information (and sometimes they do here in comments, but I remove false info comments), if I post something, it's because I saw it for myself. And, you can bet your bippy on that!
• This blog, with the exception of the blog party show nights, is all about spoilers. We generally know who won PoV and nominations more than a couple of days before it's shown on the air.
• We also get to know the hamsters outside of any CBS edit, plus when they show situations out of order.
• I also have a Big Brother on Jackie's TV Blog Facebook page where I link any posts I make on the blog. Occasionally I put other content on there, too. If you "like" that page, you'll know the moment I post here on the blog.
• I also link updates to this blog on Twitter, but tend not to really twitter much otherwise.
• I also have a personal Facebook page, but try not to post much on Big Brother on that page as it overwhelms the page. Believe it or not, many of my friends and family aren't into the show! Yikes! That's why I created a separate page mainly for BB. Most of my BB posts on that will be directing people to the show FB page.

SOOOO ... wanna come aboard the party boat for Big Brother 16?

You can get into the blog pool at THIS LINKED POST -- the cut-off for the blog pool is Sunday night, midnight EDT. Please only sign up on the linked post as we might miss your request on other posts.

The first blog party of the season will start on Wednesday night, 8pm EDT. Be there or be square.