Cloud USA

— WRITTEN, RESEARCHED, AND COMPILED BY: Stephe Thornton @ CloudUSA.org, Media Blog Managing Editor ^@@^

All screen caps by Stephe @ CloudUSA unless otherwise credited.

IF YOU USE ANY OF THIS INFORMATION, WHOLE OR IN PART, PLEASE BE COURTEOUS AND GIVE PROPER CREDIT. THANK YOU!

» ADD’L INFO 4/21: The 2006 TIME Online Readers Poll.

» ADD’L INFO 4/21: Rain has topped the Online Readers Poll every year since he showed up. Rain won the TIME poll in 2007. He came in as the #2 runner-up in 2008. TIME claims no placings for anyone in 2009 because of the moot hack (though they did claim moot the winner. Odd.) Rain came in at #4 in 2010. He won in 2011. Sources say he won it in 2006. He has won three years, but NOT IN A ROW. ^@@^

» ADD’L INFO 4/21: Restating the obvious… Rain is the 2011 Online Readers Poll winner.

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[ORIGINAL POST]

I’m more than ready to fill in my three-year TIME knowledge gap from 2007 to 2009, when I wasn’t yet involved with the love affair between TIME and Rain, a.k.a. Jung JiHoon, and brush up on the years I do know at the same time. Aren’t you?

This is the time line of events as I understand it, from my research. I’ve compiled it to the best of my ability, and will continue to watch for any discrepancies.

So here we go, beginning at The Very Beginning… ^@@^

°

2006: Rain, of course, falls on everyone.

Rain was first chosen for the Time 100 Most Influential People during this year. He was included in the 2006 special issue and, on the evening of May 8, walked the Red Carpet into the TIME 100 party/reception at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. (After returning to Korea around the 10th, he went directly to the city of Busan to begin filming “I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK.”) There may have been an online readers poll held, but it appears that Rain was noticed and chosen by TIME themselves in 2006 rather than winning a poll. ***[Edited to Add 4/17: Yes indeed, there was an Online Readers Poll in 2006! Evidence of it is right HERE. And evidence still points to Rain being chosen outright by TIME editors for their 2006 TIME 100, not because of a poll.]

On the online page shown below, Rain’s name was linked to this finely written, introductory online article HERE. ^@@^

The Magic Feet From Korea: The actual TIME 100 magazine on newsstands contained that same Rain article, as presented below. ^@@^

Rain at the TIME 100 party/reception with Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer. (Bruckheimer is one of my favorite producers, by the way. And he is huge.) ^@@^

2007: Let it Rain!

This year, on the online readers’ poll, Rain came away with the #1 spot.

As the online poll (decided by readers) and the TIME 100 special issue (decided by writers and editors of TIME) were and still are two completely separate lists, Rain’s win here did not earn him inclusion in the special issue or a place at the TIME 100 reception. This appears to be before TIME decided to start that particular practice.

This is also when Rain first drew the notice of his soon-to-be pretend nemesis Stephen Colbert. 😀 ^@@^

2008: Runner-up Rain!

The final posting of TIME’s online readers’ poll this year was a bit skewed, only because Stephen Colbert’s average rating of 69 was higher than Rain’s, which was 67. (That is why Colbert showed in the second position, the chart was going by the average rating instead of the total votes.) But TIME made absolutely no bones about who the 2008 runner-up was—Rain. Rain was not cheated of his second-place rating the way some fans believe he was. Here it is, in black and white.

Soon after this, Rain and Colbert fans alike would be cracking up at the two going at it in a mock feud dance-off, when Colbert invited Rain to appear on his show in New York City. In truth they were quite friendly behind the scenes, and Colbert admired Rain greatly for his talent and dedication to his craft. ^@@^

2009: The year that was rendered moot by precision hacking.

There is no trace of the online readers’ poll chart for this year anywhere on TIME.com (so I had to get it somewhere else), and the reason for that is quite clear—hackers and bots abounded (and none of them were Clouds). VERY embarrassing. A young college student and Internet entrepreneur nicknamed “moot” won the poll by a stunning number of votes, because a community who admired his site created autovoters to stuff the ballot boxes in his favor. They also left numerous voting links across the Internet for Rain fans to use, and all of those votes went to moot instead (which is why Clouds really should be more careful and not be so quick to jump on stuff). They even tried to get over on the reCAPTCHA system. After TIME made that too hard, they then resorted to brute force and special streamlined manual software.

Very eighth grade, in my opinion. But whatever. TIME learned a pretty good lesson (and kept their mouths completely shut about it). And everybody got screwed along with Rain that year. ^@@^

2010: Rain was like a yo-yo.

From the start of the opening gun that year, Rain was up and down and all around that online poll, along with everyone else. He started at #48, shot up like a rocket, and then ping-ponged back and forth between #6 and #5 and #4 and #3 for the longest time. It was a real fight, with Adam Lambert’s fans constantly making a run for Rain’s position, and 2010’s athletic darling Kim YuNa making a well-deserved stand. There were rumors of cheating (one of our community members even found voting software for one of the Top 3 people on an Internet download site…we were really shocked to see it), but the poll rolled onward.

In the end, we held no ill will towards freedom fighter Mousauvi winning the #1 spot because, frankly, with the dangers and sacrifices he had faced in the name of freedom, he deserved the honor.

This appears to be the first year that TIME decided to give the winner of the online readers’ poll a spot in their TIME 100 special issue. ^@@^

°

There you have it, fans.

Of course, Rain has won the #1 spot in this year’s online readers’ poll, and after a long drought, has won the honor of being included in the 2011 TIME 100 Most Influential special issue (the same way Mousavi won his inclusion in the 2010 issue). More than likely, this post will end up on its own Page for future reference, with the final 2011 online poll chart from TIME.com added to it.

I’ve learned quite a lot, and I hope you have too.

Now we’re all in the know about Rain’s time line on TIME.

» His 2011 TIME online readers poll voting page is HERE.

By: Stephe @cloudusa.wordpress.com ^@@^

www.cloudusa.org 

~ by Cloud USA on April 16, 2011.

Posted in Bi Rain, Cloud USA, Jung Ji Hoon, Rain Topics
Tags: Cloud USA original article, Jung Ji Hoon, need to know, rain bi, Rain Time Magazine, Time's World's 100 Most Influential People