Post by VanillaFlava on Sept 17, 2006 22:32:49 GMT -5
Statement from the joined Moderation and Administration team of The
Children of Anchor Cove Community.
Dear all,
We have all been following the Cassieiswatching project over the past
days. Despite our best efforts, we could not assert whether this is an
official product from the LG15 product team, a renegade effort by a
disgruntled co-creator, or an independant fan creation.
If you are unfamiliar with the unfolding development, please refer to
our timeline of events pertaining to this project
(http://tinyurl.com/m2p9d). Note, contained therein are also references
to all the media surrounding this project.
We have done our best to support you all in your discussion of this
highly popular topic. However, over the past few days, we have been
watching the development of this story, or possible Alternate Reality
Game (ARG), with growing concern.
The undertones of this content has from the start been darker, and
possibly more sinister in it's themes, than any of the content that has
been presented to us by the LG15 team to this date.
After the publication of the second installment of the
'cassieiswatching' project, we have, after some deliberation,
unanimously decided to distance ourselves from this project.
While it was certainly suspensful to watch until this point, we feel
that this is developing in a direction we find morally reprehensible,
damaging to the Lonelygirl15 brand and its continued postive image in
the media and the community at large. Finally, it is our opinion that
this project could quite possibly be dangerous to the persons involving
themselves in the field trips that are motivated by it.
The weakly disguised images of the horrendous murder of the actress
Sharon Tate included in the video have led many of our members to
research the Manson Murder case. This almost immediately exposed our
users to the even more graphic images of the actual crime scenes. In
addition to the fact the we so inadvertently exposed underage members to
this content, we have registered several complaints by adult members
disturbed by the casual use of a real-life crime in what we are led to
believe is an entertainment product.
Finally, the allusions made in the 'cassieiswatching' content, namely
the connections of the real-life actress Sharon Tate killed in such a
tragic fashion, with the fictional character accusing the also fictional
character Bree of lies and hinting at judgement, or vengeance cannot be
tolerated any longer by us.
The blurring of fictional and reality lines, might be part of this new
genre that we are discovering. However, the conscious linkage of a
terrible real-life crime, with the allusion of the possible assault on
the fictional character Bree is highly distasteful to us.
The graphic images of a killed actress led to a further theory that this
might actually be a threat made on the safety of real-life persons, or
motivate a third party to pursue such a threat. Since we cannot, at this
stage, determine the nature of this content, we see ourselves forced to
react.
We hereby distance ourselves from the 'cassieiswatching' content,
regardless of its various sources (i.e. YouTube, MySpace, Ebay, etc.
regardless of them being linked or not), and will not be supporting it
from this moment on. We realise that we cannot tell you what to discuss,
and therefore leave the discussion board open in the Spin-off & Tie-Ins
section. You are free to continue your discussion of the subject. We
will, however, from this point forward step in with more moderation
should we deem it necessary.
Undersigned,
VanillaFlava, on behalf of the
The Children of Anchor Cove Admin & Moderation Team
EDIT:
We have just been informed that the Creators of Lonelygirl15 are at this moment preparing a similar statement to be issued at the offical site. They state, and I quote:
The official response has now been posted. You can find it here:
lonelygirl15.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=718
Children of Anchor Cove Community.
Dear all,
We have all been following the Cassieiswatching project over the past
days. Despite our best efforts, we could not assert whether this is an
official product from the LG15 product team, a renegade effort by a
disgruntled co-creator, or an independant fan creation.
If you are unfamiliar with the unfolding development, please refer to
our timeline of events pertaining to this project
(http://tinyurl.com/m2p9d). Note, contained therein are also references
to all the media surrounding this project.
We have done our best to support you all in your discussion of this
highly popular topic. However, over the past few days, we have been
watching the development of this story, or possible Alternate Reality
Game (ARG), with growing concern.
The undertones of this content has from the start been darker, and
possibly more sinister in it's themes, than any of the content that has
been presented to us by the LG15 team to this date.
After the publication of the second installment of the
'cassieiswatching' project, we have, after some deliberation,
unanimously decided to distance ourselves from this project.
While it was certainly suspensful to watch until this point, we feel
that this is developing in a direction we find morally reprehensible,
damaging to the Lonelygirl15 brand and its continued postive image in
the media and the community at large. Finally, it is our opinion that
this project could quite possibly be dangerous to the persons involving
themselves in the field trips that are motivated by it.
The weakly disguised images of the horrendous murder of the actress
Sharon Tate included in the video have led many of our members to
research the Manson Murder case. This almost immediately exposed our
users to the even more graphic images of the actual crime scenes. In
addition to the fact the we so inadvertently exposed underage members to
this content, we have registered several complaints by adult members
disturbed by the casual use of a real-life crime in what we are led to
believe is an entertainment product.
Finally, the allusions made in the 'cassieiswatching' content, namely
the connections of the real-life actress Sharon Tate killed in such a
tragic fashion, with the fictional character accusing the also fictional
character Bree of lies and hinting at judgement, or vengeance cannot be
tolerated any longer by us.
The blurring of fictional and reality lines, might be part of this new
genre that we are discovering. However, the conscious linkage of a
terrible real-life crime, with the allusion of the possible assault on
the fictional character Bree is highly distasteful to us.
The graphic images of a killed actress led to a further theory that this
might actually be a threat made on the safety of real-life persons, or
motivate a third party to pursue such a threat. Since we cannot, at this
stage, determine the nature of this content, we see ourselves forced to
react.
We hereby distance ourselves from the 'cassieiswatching' content,
regardless of its various sources (i.e. YouTube, MySpace, Ebay, etc.
regardless of them being linked or not), and will not be supporting it
from this moment on. We realise that we cannot tell you what to discuss,
and therefore leave the discussion board open in the Spin-off & Tie-Ins
section. You are free to continue your discussion of the subject. We
will, however, from this point forward step in with more moderation
should we deem it necessary.
Undersigned,
VanillaFlava, on behalf of the
The Children of Anchor Cove Admin & Moderation Team
EDIT:
We have just been informed that the Creators of Lonelygirl15 are at this moment preparing a similar statement to be issued at the offical site. They state, and I quote:
It is not the work of our team or a "splinter group." Although we encourage creativity and storytelling by our fans, we cannot be responsible for the outcome of the Cassieiswatching story, the content and imagery, or any harm that may occur to individuals who choose to go to the locations depicted in the cassieiswatching videos. Incidentally we already have plans to incorporate ARG elements into LG15 so we are excited to see such a vigorous investigative response to cassieiswatching despite the fact that subject matter is darker than we would like.
The official response has now been posted. You can find it here:
lonelygirl15.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=718
