This Is Not A Democracy

It's so strange how people hate us and the way we run sherlockbbc and yet they just can't bring themselves to stay away.


♥ Michael Palin

Why must everyone be a stroppy teenager about everything?

*headdesk*

In other news (or perhaps topically), Facebook are fucking mental and decided that my name - my real name, the one on my passport, and the one my colleagues call me - is in fact fake, and have disabled my account until such time as I give them my "real" one. Which it already is and which I was already using.

How did we come to this? Well, their automated system would not accept my roller derby name (long explanation, if you don't know roller derby, but think of it kind of somewhere between an alterego and a stage name and then assume everyone who plays the sport only knows you by that roller derby name and not the one your parents gave you) so, using their help form as provided, I asked if it would be possible for it to be added as the alternate name or as a nickname. Their response was to tell me my real name was fake (proving that 'Natalia' who emailed me back had not read my email at all and just made random assumptions, as it clearly explained what the circumstances were) and disable my perfectly legitimate account.

So, if you had me friended and now can't find me, this is why. I haven't blocked you, the fucking idiots have blocked me.

Pete: austria. two meet and greet passes. taped behind the yellow lenny kravitz poster in the hall. finders, keepers.

Me: [spotting potential problem which will prevent Austrian kids from winning anything] Will people get into the hall before the M&G happens? People weren't allowed in to the entrance at Brighton before the M&G was over.

roflatusernames: icedmaple: stfu. pete: do this in canada! more specifically toronto. please thanks.

Pete: EDIT: Austria. since doors wont open in time for the meet and greet. the meet and greet passes are now under one of these rocks. youre close. trust me.

---


Seriously? What is that kid's problem?

If the M&G tickets are locked in the hall and the doors don't open until after the M&G has ended, how will they be any good to anyone? I can understand how Pete would make this mistake, because I doubt he's front of house before the show starts, too often, but what the fuck is wrong with pointing this out so the Austrian kids don't miss out on a chance?

Seriously?

That kid is on the forum (I stepped down as a mod, btw - I don't think I mentioned that - but Andy and I are still friends; everything's fine on that front) and clearly a total idiot.

It amuses me, though, that only two people - myself and someone else - thought that maybe the location would be a problem. Is the whole of bandom that stupid, or something? Jesus.

You know... so often lately I see people identifying themselves as a "Beautiful Mess" or "Hot Mess" or similar, derogatory terms. I see them refer to other people as a "hot mess" as if it's some kind of compliment.

And I really don't understand how that's a compliment.

For a start, a 'hot mess' just reminds me a of a steaming dog turd waiting for you to step in it. Secondly, yeah - it's nice to be hot, or beautiful, or whatever but... a mess? Seriously? Why would that be something to be proud of? Or pleased about?

Drug-addled, vodka-soaked, racoon-faced, scene "queens" (does that come from the fact they all look like drag queens?) are a mess in the same way roadkill is a mess. And equally unpleasant.

I am so very bored and bemused by the near-universal desire, online, to take pride in being a failure, or a bitch, or an arsehole, or a neurotic drama-magnet, or a 'mess'.

What the hell is wrong with everyone? Cheer the fuck up! Try to find something about yourself that's likeable and legitimately attractive (and don't waste your time with the "but there's nothing about me that's attractive! Wah wah wah!" bullshit, because you'll just be kidding yourself and irritating everyone else) and then embrace it. If you have nice hair, show it off. If you have pretty eyes, accentuate them. If you're a good, kind person, encourage others to get involved in your projects. If you're efficient and well-organised, help people who are less so.

Just, for the love of all that is rational: STOP PRETENDING TO BE SOMETHING LESS THAN YOU ARE. Not least because most of you are probably putting on the self-deprecating bullshit because you think it's cool. It's not. It makes you look like goth wannabe twat. And that's never cool.

Have some goddamn self-respect and learn to like yourselves a little more, will you?

Oh, bandom. I'm facepalming so hard at you right now.

This bullshit is going to do nothing except - if it gets any acknowledgement whatsoever - make Fall Out Boy fans look like bigger tossers than we're already taken for and result in the gosshit mongers claiming that Pete is getting his fans to start a vendetta against the magazine because he doesn't like how he's portrayed.

He is the one who will get more shit for the fans' behaviour and made to look like even more of a villain. Smart. That's totally going to help and make him want to come back to the internet, isn't it?

Grow up.

If this article is taken so far out of context, how come it's largely things they've said before and didn't complain about then? Patrick probably leaves the band on a weekly basis when he throws a tantrum. Andy is ridiculously obsessed with the Packers and has a huge temper; he's not nuts (well, alright - maybe a little bit, in a lovable way), but I don't think it was ever meant to be taken that seriously. Pete wasn't portrayed all that badly, really - no worse than in any other article and especially not in his interaction with Ashlee; that was adorable - and Joe has ALWAYS been this little emo thing. Go read his ancient teenage posts where he wants to Nair his face and complains that nobody wants to date him because he's too nice. He's always been adorably neurotic. I do feel really bad for him that he apparently feels that way about the band - the comments on AP.net should be evidence enough that we think he's amazing - and I've been saying he was getting a raw deal for nearly two years. But maybe this, if nothing else, will hold up that mirror that says, "Yeah, okay - maybe we need to take a look at how we do things around here." If AP is anything to go by, Joe and Patrick have already had that conversation and are working on it.

The kid deserves more credit and more of a chance to be involved, end of story.

Is it the best article ever written? No. Is writing to KANYE FUCKING WEST going to help? No. It's going to make you, me, Pete and everyone else look like a complete prat.

Just chill out. Pete is sulking; he'll be back. He always is. John Mayer is probably cuddling him as we speak.

Seriously. UNNECESSARY DRAMZ. Pls to be stopping nao.

Wow. It takes a special level of moron to mistake a TV listing for a gossip column.

The morons just keep coming.

the more i keep reading comments, msg boards & all, the more disappointed i get in some of these fellow fans of mine. give all the 'reasonable reasons' you want, but YOU'RE the ungrateful ones. you shouldn't have shit to whine about. these guys HAVE given us a lot over the years. they've given us all they could as musicians, as people. they're not obligated to do a damn thing for us; not to blog for us, share any bit of their personal life, give us free/exclusive/discounted opportunities, not to give up what bit of average life they can have to tour and interview, even continue making music. they could be complete dicks and not give us shit, okay? there are such things as respect and understanding. oh, and for some of you...even having a life. look, i get it. i love these guys, too. but truly, some of ya'll just need to lay off and relax. this is the trouble with fans special treatment anyway, you start thinking you deserve something. lol...thats just not so.

Originally posted as a comment by purelifeideals on A Homeboy's Life using Disqus.



You honestly don't have a clue about OCK, do you? You don't seem to realise that the money isn't going to the band, it's going into the pockets of a COMPANY called Artist Arena.

None of the boys blogs are related to the fanclub - we get those for free - and virtually NOBODY is blaming the boys in the band directly for any of this. (The people blaming the boys are being smacked down by the very people complaining about Artist Arena) It seems from what Andy said to us today, that they don't even realise the extent of what is going on.

OCK has become a business rather than a fanclub, and that's what we have a problem with. They blacklist people who dare to complain - and that's if you can find a way to contact them, because they have no customer service. They scared people into renewing their memberships sometimes more than SIX MONTHS early (losing their remaining membership time) because of their new tiered system, and never used it. They treat OCKs like little children, patronise us, charge us $20 for postage - for us only to receive envelopes with $4.50 mail cost printed on them - and as part of our 'exclusive' membership packs, send us grainy, distorted copies of pictures that have been around for years, which are clearly (and poorly) printed out on the machine in the office. Some people don't get their welcome or renewal packages at all.

Nobody blames the band for that. They blame the people running the OCK and repeatedly criticise them for casting the band in a negative light through their claims that they support the rip-off schemes they come up with. If you believe the lies that they are using to cover up their mercenary crap, then you are a fool.

So before you start slagging off the fans who are out there spending more money than you can imagine on the real fan matters - getting to shows and buying their records or t-shirts and promoting the band to other people - check your goddamn facts. We ARE real fans, we love the band, but we don't love being fucked around by a company that claims to represent those four guys and is making a total mockery of the fans' loyalty to them.

And if we don't "deserve something" - such as respect from the organisers - after paying for the membership in the first place, when do fans deserve anything?

For those who don't have the wherewithal to take a hint: if I tell you to comment on a post to be added as a friend, and you can't comment, that usually means that I'm not interested in being your friend, right now.

Some weeks I'm in a more amiable mood and I set the comments back to registered users, others, I just block out the morons.

(And frankly, tongue_inxcheek, I find it ironic that you clearly tried to comment on the friending post in order to find that out and then send me your little message. Total waste of your time, I'm afraid.)

Remember I made that post about the sceptics? The original person I responded to is a mod, and she's batshit crazy.

She is one of the most childish, arrogant and petty people I've ever met on the internet. And sadly, she's modding an otherwise great community. She's a total headcase, who thinks it's been proven that telepathy cannot possibly exist and is incapable of actual debate.

She called my beliefs "nonsense" and when I pointed out that she couldn't say that about religion, which is about as easy to prove, went off on a tangent about how people don't think religion is fact either. Even though I'd just pointed out that intelligent design is taught in schools.

What a complete fucking imbecile.

Oh my God. Either people in this fandom have no sense of humour, or they're just wilfully kissing the guy's arse.

Ugh.

Please learn that sometimes people say things FOR A JOKE, and are therefore, NOT BEING SERIOUS and subsequently DON'T NEED YOU TO TRY TO CAUSE WANK. Thank you.