And so it begins.....

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Originally posted by Twizzle:
Amanda, just to clarify one small point here, my 'don't give a rat's arse' comment was just me being having a case of 'mouth in gear; brain in neutral' and I retracted it soon after I'd posted it! I obviously do give a rat's arse or else I wouldn't have become all heated about this latest idiocy. [img]wink.gif[/img]

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<font size="3" face="Tempus sans ITC, Papyrus,Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Oh I know [img]smile.gif[/img] I was just going on some time a while back where you liked using the "rats arse" comment a lot - I transmogrified that into "rats arse" into my meaning of "I'm at the stage of getting sick of the silly situation". Nothing meant by it [img]smile.gif[/img]

Back on topic - ya know, it would be really amusing if we've got the very wrong end of the stick. The only thing is, we'll never know if we have, because we don't get communicated to any more.

The whole "We don't need to explain why something was deleted in case it was obvious" has morphed into "We WON'T explain why something was deleted EVER, to cover our asses." Which leaves it WIDE open to interpretation.

It might have been somebody with a spazzy finger, or someone cleaning up threads and accidently deleting it.

And as for this whole "media reads forums" issue - Darren has created his "I don't need celebrity" celebrity status, so therefore why should he care whether the media read his boards? A whole LOT worse has and can be said on the Sony BBS, and he can't control that.

And really, why should the media care for Darren? Like George Micheal, he eschews the media except for when he needs them. It's not like Darren is a publicity bitch - the less he wants to give to the media, the less they will care for him. It's not like we're a Britney or Paris Hilton forum which WOULD be trawled by loathsome tabloid slugs.

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Originally posted by little bird:
[img]frown.gif[/img] *shakes head* I replied to that thread twice and I was very dissappointed to see that it had been removed it really is sad. I don't understand it at all! as everyone has said, it was not malicious or overly critical ect. It simply asked a question (and a valid one in my opinion) and expressed that a oppotunity was missed. What is so wrong with that!? God forbid people actually care about him doing as well as he can [img]frown.gif[/img] I'm tired of walking on eggshells and having to worry about every little thing you say being taken as "negative" I've just had it with everything related to being a fan.. I guess I was stupid to think that things would be different now with the public board but it's just the same. *sighs* I swore I wouldn't get back into it, but I did. I thought I would give it one more try. I just wonder why I still care so much anymore. Maybe it really is time for me to leave the online part behind I'm so sick of it all and yet something in can't let go *cries*

<font color="#9966FF"><font size="1">[ March 29, 2005 10:30 AM: Message edited by: little bird ]</font></font>

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<font size="3" face="Tempus sans ITC, Papyrus,Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hang in there Tamara, I can most definitely relate to everything you've said!

It is not silly or stupid to harbour some hope that in time things may change, after all there has to be hope based on the intelligence of the music Darren produces. In the meantime there are a few DH boards where intelligent conversations flow, thank goodness [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font color="#000000" size="1">[ March 30, 2005 12:32 AM: Message edited by: BarbT ]</font>

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Back on topic - ya know, it would be really amusing if we've got the very wrong end of the stick. The only thing is, we'll never know if we have, because we don't get communicated to any more.

The whole "We don't need to explain why something was deleted in case it was obvious" has morphed into "We WON'T explain why something was deleted EVER, to cover our asses." Which leaves it WIDE open to interpretation.

It might have been somebody with a spazzy finger, or someone cleaning up threads and accidently deleting it.

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<font size="3" face="Tempus sans ITC, Papyrus,Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hell yeah Amanda, I reckon someone hit that 'bitch'button by mistake! [img]wink.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Janie xx

LOL @ 'bitch button' [img]wink.gif[/img]

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Originally posted by Laurina:
I have been thinking a heck of alot about this, since I read your original post Terry, and I'm not sure if I can clearly express what is going on in my head; but I'm going to give it a try.

When Darren was younger (and I think we can all admit he was silly and childish [img]smile.gif[/img] ) intelligent conversations by intelligent people were welcomed, and even commented on, by him and others. At the same time there were posts, and fans who posted, pervy types of topics etc.. and there was a very happy medium. But undoubtedly there were alot of fabulous, deep, clever conversations about the music and other things as well.

But now that Darren is a mature man who is obviously extremely intelligent, it appears that all that is "wanted" are unintelligent, one-dimmensional topics/fans, who can scare up, for the 1000th time, "cute pics" and "funny faces" posts. There seems to be silent discouraging of intelligent fans and intelligent conversations; where that comes from I can't even begin to clearly analyze but what bothers me is that that "message" is completely contradicting the serious, mature, intelligent music Darren is making... contradicting the intellegence that he represents!

He makes very smart music and he is a smart man and WHY can the fans not show how smart they are?

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<font size="3" face="Tempus sans ITC, Papyrus,Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">OK I've had some more thoughts about this but first let me say that this isn't aimed at anyone particularly and certainly not here, it's more of a general observation.

It seems to me that the calibre of the fanbase has changed and shifted quite considerably since the SG days. I sometimes think that when something of merit gets posted be it an intelligent observation or witty remark, I can almost feel a seismic shift of unease within certain segments of the fanbase. It's as if some of them are actually uncomfortable with intelligent discussion because possibly and I hope this isn't meant to sound patronising but some of them just don't get it and understand what is being said. Ergo, they feel happier with a level of 'fluffy' conversation. Looking at both the new boards, there are very very few of the original SG old timers around now and a whole generation of newbies has filled these places.

It seemed to me that when Darren produced Spin after the SG split, his fanbase attracted a whole new, different type of fan to those originally associated with SG. Maybe the less deep more fluffy lyrics of Spin actually attracted a more 'pop' based fanbase rather than the original diverse fanbase of old. I can see another shift happening with the fanbase if and when TTATS actually gets off the ground, because in this album Darren has gone back to those deep soul searching lyrics he's so good at writing and expressing.

I don't think that intelligent discussion per se has actually been discouraged by anyone on high, quite the reverse actually. This feeling is coming from the fans themselves in some quarters.

Janie xx

I'm sure you're right re intelligent dicussion not being actively discouraged by those 'on high' [img]wink.gif[/img] but I do believe that the contents of said discussions are being closely monitored and ultimately suffocated by those same ppl. It's all well and good to remark and discuss 'safe' issues but when any potentially poor
decision is questioned, then they show their true colours. I think that what they ultimately want is a fan base who are 100% supportive in EVERY conceivable way!

And, as an afterthought, isn't it quite disturbing that the new public bbs is even quieter than the Sony one? Where have all the fans gone to I wonder?

<font color="#000000" size="1">[ March 30, 2005 09:50 AM: Message edited by: Twizzle ]</font>

It's pretty much like the graveyard on all the official forums these days.

Janie xx

There's just a couple of things I want to say [img]smile.gif[/img]

1) I've felt for quite a while now (and I know I've said this before) that intelligent fans do = bad fans so I agree with Janie on that one and

2) I noticed long before the fanclub board existed that the fanbase had changed and those so-called 'Golden Rules' posted on Sony didn't help

However, that's a separate issue.

Michelle

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Like I said....that was the first thing that popped in my head when I read the subject of the thread. And I didn't read any of it so I'm just going by what was said here and just based on that I can think of reasons why you wouldn't want people reading that kind of discussion if you were trying to get something going in the US. If my job was public relations, I'd want that kind of discussion squashed as well...the "self-fulfilling prophecy theory".

But...I just see things different...instead of seeing everything as keeping people from speaking, I was just questioning whether it could be to keep some people from reading something.

But...perhaps you all are right and it is just about positivity. It does make me wonder though why a thread about Spin can continue but not a thread about Popular being dead?

Ok, here's another one to add to our "What the hey??"

On the members forum (checking in for the first time in forever to see if I'm missing anything...yeah, right), there's always picture threads right.

Well, one REALLY innocuous picture thread had been locked. No reason. Just WAS. The pictures were fairly harmless - mostly old pictures of SG Black Hair Darren, some nice sweaty ones...but nothing that would be offensive.

A couple of replies along the lines of "nice/thanks" and it's locksville.

Why? Gawd only knows.