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Post by curiousgeorge on Sept 15, 2006 18:48:40 GMT -5
OK, so after watching the creators being interviewed on MTV I had some thoughts. They made it clear that they wanted fan participation via vlogs, forums, etc. BUT they also implied that this (in the future) was going to all be done on their site. Hmmmm, this has me thinking about things.
I think that we have an obligation to maintain our independence here as the preeminent web forum related to LG15 for the following reasons:
The fact that they allowed us all to do a mass exodus from the (horribly run) original Burk Phorum. That thing was completely unacceptable and Alissa rules for setting this up. If not for us, this thing may not have taken off like it has.
I think we need an entity whose goal is NOT making the creators money, which is surely their motivation. I don’t blame them for this, but I think we need to be the voice of the fans, not just consumers jumping through their hoops.
The apparent deal with Revver does not give me a warm and funny. I am suspicious when corporate types get involved. Call me a child of the sixties, which I was…
I am hoping this will spur some lively discussion and am especially interested in the thoughts of Alissa and the mods. I think that we indeed need to be the voice of the Loyal Opposition!
Postscript: I want to go ahead and nullify any objections to two of our Mods being involved in the “Corporate” site. These two have shown nothing but integrity and I think that is a GOOD thing that we have some folks working both sides of the fence as it were.
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Post by noasinger on Sept 15, 2006 19:29:52 GMT -5
The mods have been discussing this among ourselves as well. We've reached a solid consensus that there is room for both forums, just as you've said.
I believe there is some open dialogue happening between some of the Creators and some of our mods to make sure nobody's toes are getting stepped on. Here's my personal perspective: I don't perceive any conflict or rivalry developing. We can still be fans of the Lonelygirl15 story, its cast and crew, wish them success, continue to enjoy their efforts (and hotness), and share other new forms of entertainment as well. This board seems to have been developing a penchant for humor and for sharing other creative projects, and that can only be a good thing for the growth of a shared-fiction online community.
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Post by VanillaFlava on Sept 15, 2006 20:11:35 GMT -5
Let me second this sentiment. We are here to stay. What is more, there is no opposition. We are the fans, and maybe even a very nice, extra juicy and not-at-all lemon flavoured segment of the whole. Now, this is Alissa's board, so please accept the following as my personal opinion only. I am sure the Creators have a plan for their site, and their project. And who is to fault them, if said plan involves a steady stream of revenue? One can be a starving artist for only so long. However, I am not sure who is advising them on this venture. They said before that they are filmmakers, not community experts. The plan of creating their own, exclusive destination might ultimately be more dividing to the community than the diversity we and the diaspora of blogs, chats and other forums represent. At this point I am getting more concerned that their creation is starting to slip a little through their fingers, and maybe that is why they have the natural tendency to circle the wagons. The whole Cassie, Un-Cassie and the various teams going Lake tripping today leaves a slightly bitter taste. Frustrations are running high among people who probably lost a bit of sleep tonight. I am all for their idea of an open, audience driven narrative. That is an amazing idea, maybe not all that novel, but certainly original when it comes to video content. The problems that I see is this: When the audience loses sight of which part of the narrative is a deliberate deception by the creators, a vaild fan created addition or an attention-grabbing deception by even more fans confusion reigns supreme. Some say frustration turns to anger etc. In this case frustration will ultimately lead to indifference. They need to introduce a way of channeling the created content of ranking and validating it. Even if only they would present the submitted content and then let their audience decide if they want to have it added to the canon. However, there ultimately needs to be a canon. A narrative, that despite its patchwork nature can still be deciphered and followed. Anything else would be an excercise in playful post-modern pastiche and self-reference that might be amusing, but can never be consumed with any kind of satisfaction in the end. We love stories. We thrive on stories. Even more so when they are of a mysterious nature. I mean, we are testament of that, are we not? But even if there are many story-tellers in the end, we need an arbiter to lead us through this web, or we'll just get stuck in it. As such, I see them as this arbiter, and their site, as maybe the hub where the stories converge. I wouldn't even mind only watching them there exclusively so they can maximise their traffic and revenues to be able to continue the project. But, the smartest thing to do is to allow for as wide a net of fans, blogs, forums so that as many people as possible can be drawn into their universe. Some people like apartments, some like houses, some like to live outdoors. Don't make them all live together in a basement flat. There would only be food fights I hope that they are open to dialogue, because unlike them, we seem to have gathered a group of people with a lot of web experience. Then again, we mostly stink at making movies, so it's all fair. I am confident that we will work this out. So, please there is no need to create antagonism or an us and them situation. It does not exist. We like them and their creation. And I hope they like us too. I am really starting to grow fond of this Children of Anchor Cove theme. It feels right. Let's not grow up too soon
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Post by curiousgeorge on Sept 15, 2006 20:54:20 GMT -5
Well said.
I think that I used the term "Loyal Opposition" more as a way of being independent from the creators, NOT antagonistic towards them. They have indeed created something pretty special, with our help of course.
I would be much more inclined to be antagonistic to wannabees and profiteers of the likes that you mentioned. I care nothing for these clowns trying to promote themselves without contributing anything meaningful to the community.
I too like the Children of Anchor Cove theme, it does fit the spirit of the community that Alissa and we all have created.
Besides, I doubt they would have the cultural sensitivity to remind us all of the upcoming "Talk Like a Pirate Day"! I did this last year with my son, very fun!
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Post by morninglory on Sept 15, 2006 23:27:17 GMT -5
My input on this is that we remain at this board, but are conscious of the other board. The creators are aware of this forum and will acknowledge our ideas no matter what. If we stay put, they cannot force us to the lonelygirl site, and they sure as hell won't ignore us...I think everyone knows pretty well that the intelligent fans the media keeps talking about can all be found around here. Now that's a generalization, and not a very nice one. But what can I say, i'm proud of this forum. The other one is a mess, and as long as we keep tabs on it there's no reason to post. Keep it here,where spelling and grammar is valued and funny posts make people *choke on their wine*, not on their apple juice.
catch my drift? (I'm a fan of maturity.)
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Post by Terryfic on Sept 16, 2006 0:10:31 GMT -5
I greatly prefer this board to the official one for many the same reasons people have already listed. But I do think we may be being a little arrogant to think that the creators “will acknowledge our ideas no matter what”. They are, I assume, very busy and likely do not have time to read their board as well as ours. I feel if on this board we come up with some clever or comic ideas, which we would like integrated into the story then we should post a summary of these on the official board. Perhaps this is something we could do on a regular basis like a “The Best of The Children of Anchor Cove”. This allows us to stay on our board and discuss LG in an intelligent way, but still makes it easy for the Creators to see our ideas.
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Post by harlequin on Sept 16, 2006 0:12:57 GMT -5
the problem with the main site tho is the clutter, people asking the same question 10 times, new members joining without watching any of the vids ect ect.
i fear anything we posted would be lost in the clutter pretty quickly with new threads reaching 30+ pages in about an hr.
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Post by milowent on Sept 16, 2006 1:13:51 GMT -5
Terryfic's idea is a good one. In fact, if Terryfic, Hyemew, Alissa, or I [or other mods as they get to know them] emailed a summary of the "Best of the Children of Anchor Cove" occassionally to The Creators (tm), they might actually read it based on the authorship.
I 2nd just about everything vanillaflava said, too.
The lonelygirl15.com forum is going to perpetually suffer from being the "first line" of fandom. Similar to the youtube comment threads, you'll get a variety of posts: newbys asking the same questions again and again ("e.g., are you a satanist?"), trolls ("youz fakerz"), and future hard-core fans. This is what happens at most official sites - they are the "barrier island" of the internet, if you will, taking the brunt of waves of traffic from all sources.
Beyond official sites of popular bands/shows, etc., there usually develops primary unofficial sites which feature more in-depth analysis and dedicated fans. They are sought out by, and managed by, hardcore fans, so their quality is usually much better. They are the harbors, or coves :-), behind the barrier islands, where the long term fans can live.
I think the development of this site was inevitable, spurred on by Bukanator's predictble inability to adjust to skyrocketing fame. Hopefully the Creators (tm) will be open to incorporpating us with open arms into the Breeniverse.
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Post by curiousgeorge on Sept 16, 2006 5:57:24 GMT -5
Another factor will be if they do something to actually attract the more reflective fans to their site. So far, apart from vids that can be see elsewhere and a chaotic forum I see no real reason to go there. If they really want to play this "game", they need to dedicate some time and build some content to attract us.
I don't mean the talent posting there or the like, but maybe they could create something else worth even going there for. I guess time will tell and I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
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Post by VanillaFlava on Sept 16, 2006 6:27:35 GMT -5
I think as popularity increases they will be completely unable to even read their own board, left alone ours. We could be cynical and assume that eventually they would come here, because the content is more structered and mature, but that would not be serving their overall fanbase either.
What would work though, is them getting a proper community manager (i.e. a position once removed from the day to day actual moderation tasks), to provide them with a daily or a weekly digest of information.
In the meantime, we could offer to create a digest for our own content. We would need to find somebody who would really commit to such a daunting and work-heavy task though.
I think Milowent is on the right track with this.
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BaileysMom
Cove Sr. Investigator
I Bring Home the Bacon...Yada, Yada, Yada
Posts: 248
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Post by BaileysMom on Sept 16, 2006 8:33:57 GMT -5
As someone in Marketing (for a very well respected marketer, I might add), and forgive me if this isn't quite the right post, I am fascinated by the missteps the Creators are making. I can't quite subscribe to the ARG theory, only because I think it is too late to turn this boat. It is what it started out as - an internet mini series (IMS - my contribution to the long list of acronyms that plague us all).
The biggest mis-step will be (as it remains to be seen if it will definitely occur) trying pull US over to the "official" website. I have a full time job, four babies (all furry, but still my children), a husband (my fifth child) and myriad hobbies and time-wasters. I do not have the time or inclination to weed through all of the nonsense that permeates the other site (no offense intended whatsoever to the moderators we share).
I enjoy the interactivity of the series - i.e. the ability to discuss, rant, theorize and wax poetic - here. I love postulating (to myself so as not to bore all of you) about the marketing possibilities, both covert and overt. Most of all, though, I have learned about so many different subjects that I would *never* have been exposed to otherwise.
Alas, I never feel energized, challenged, intrigued or thoughtful after visiting the "official" website. If anything, I give it about five minutes and then close it up in frustration.
So, if the Creators choose to make the other website the only source of communication with the fans, I can assure you that this fan will choose to tune out.
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Post by VanillaFlava on Sept 16, 2006 8:47:07 GMT -5
Great post BaileysMom. And I completely agree. I also have a marketing background, although most my experience is in community product management now.
I love to discuss the whole. Not just the plot or the latest theory. As such, you could say my main interest is the MetaGame, the artform, the business, the marketing and the emergence of something possibly quite cool we are witnessing here.
I check the official board every once in a while, but life simply is too precious to waste it on wading through the jungle there. While it lacks all the profanity and childishness of YouTube (thanks to our very own co-moderators), it is still a cacophony of voices that never seem to want to sing in tune.
I say bring on the marketing talk! That's what this section of the Cove is for.
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BaileysMom
Cove Sr. Investigator
I Bring Home the Bacon...Yada, Yada, Yada
Posts: 248
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Post by BaileysMom on Sept 16, 2006 9:13:23 GMT -5
I say bring on the marketing talk! That's what this section of the Cove is for. Yay! A topic that I can actually discuss with abandon. Can you create a Marketing section/topic? I couldn't figure out where it should go really. And thanks for the karma! ;D
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Post by clarrisa on Sept 16, 2006 13:04:39 GMT -5
I could not think of another place to post this, but I've been over at the other board...and my head hurts. It's just a total Charlie-Foxtrot over there.
Redundant posts, all kinds of people going "I don't have time to read everything, so here's my theory that was brought up 45 other times before (but I don't know cause I can't read...)"...and a total lack of moderation.
*sigh* this is my happy place.
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Post by intrigued2 on Sept 16, 2006 13:10:25 GMT -5
I couldn't agree more, Clarissa (no offense, Terry & Hye, you know I love you). The only problem with that is that any really important information from The Creators will happen on the other phorum, so we still have to monitor it. It gives me headaches, as well.
I am a much happier "child" playing in this playground (Anchor Cove). It definitely feels more like home here.
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