Jessica Active on The Phorum (4/30/2007)

[milowent]

One post, of the serious variety, defending the latest spate of criticism of the creators:

In Their Defense:

Hi everyone,
In defense of "the creators" as ya call em, I would just like to say that from an inside perspective they are trying VERY hard to make everything work and make sure you guys are happy and interested in the storyline. It may not seem like it but they truly are. They care deeply about this show and really put their all into making it better. Since this is such a new thing in 'the industry' its very time consuming to work out deals and such as people who are not familiar with the internet concept are trying to do things as if this were TV or film.. which is not their fault they are just doing what they have always done, but this is a new medium and it will take some time to figure out. I really enjoy filming this show and watching it despite the fact that i know what is coming up! Just when you think things are in a lull they pick up again so try not to jump to the conclusion that when things are slow that means it is always going to be that way.. we can't possibly give you action packed videos everyday because it would be unrealistic in the 'breeniverse' . It's incredibly hard to please everyone, but they do try and they listen to ALL of your concerns and complaints and try their best to handle the situation.
I hope you all continue to watch our show and support us. We appreciate all you have done for us and are working towards making better quality entertainment for you! so please do just 'bear with us'!!
thanks guys 'n' gals!

and she has other random posts in this thread:

www.lonelygirl15.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=331485&highlight=#331485

[jayhenry]

Wow, that's something we haven't seen before. I love how she puts "the creators" and "breeniverse" in quotes.

[oweniscool]

She seems very nice although a little n00bish, how endearing. Anyway, you might think me whiny or overly critical for my continued complaints, but doncha think it's odd that she starts posting all of a sudden while the c's are under the most recent wave of vicious criticism? I'm not trying to be a pain the ass--actually I'm kind of worried. This kinda smells like a last-ditch effort to improve public relations and make people happy. What's the only thing that makes people consistently happy with this show? The actors. Who in particular? Jess.
It's like, "release the secret weapon!". Now everyone is happy to chat with Jess and not complaining so much about Jules, etc. If you start seeing Yousef and Jackson in the forum, remember what I said...

[hyemew]

oweniscool said:

Anyway, you might think me whiny or overly critical for my continued complaints, but doncha think it's odd that she starts posting all of a sudden while the c's are under the most recent wave of vicious criticism?... This kinda smells like a last-ditch effort to improve public relations and make people happy.

You smelled correctly.
Jess hadn't posted at the forum for quite some time, but now suddenly she shows up to defend her bros? I'm sure they told her to go do some damage control, since she's still popular with the fans. I just wish she could pay some more attention to the fans generally and not just when the Cs need her to drop by. That said her posts were enjoyable and made the fans happy, why shouldn't she do it more then?

[milowent]

i don't automatically believe jessica would post at the phorum at the creators' urging. i bet she somehow got wind of miles being depressed about the comments lately and did it on her own. her defense sounded like it was her own words, not the creators (or inspired by them).

[elixir]

Good ol' Jess. I definitely think she is operation PR.

But I gotta tell you, I'm not buying this line they keep feeding us:

"Since this is such a new thing in 'the industry' its very time consuming to work out deals and such as people who are not familiar with the internet concept are trying to do things as if this were TV or film.. which is not their fault they are just doing what they have always done, but this is a new medium and it will take some time to figure out."

I lol'ed at they way she did "the industry". I know that the Internet is different to TV and films, but come on guys.... It's not that much different! It's still video! And what do you say about all of those who have already pulled off successful Internet shows, hmmm?

[elixir]

jayhenry said:

They'd have to be almost delusional not to know that the phorum is a small portion of their audience. 4,500 are registered there. Just 5 percent of the subscribers on her YouTube channel. Only a fraction are particularly active. I think if Jess is posting it's probably out of a genuine desire to boost falling spirits..

Well even if Jess is posting of her own free will (no pun intended, lol) I think that the c's would be encouraging it. And the c's and actors stick together anyway. Of course they want to fix up their image, and PR has to start somewhere.

In any PR campaign, you need to firstly ascertain who your target 'publics' are and then basically you BS them in ways they will hopefully accept. The c's know that the fans accept Jess, and it certainly doesn't hurt to start mending the relationship with the fans, even in small steps. Many steps are taken to gain good PR - not just one (BTW, I hate PR, but I had to sit through many, many classes in it... argh! At least I know what I don't want to do with my life! lol).

I also think that if the c's really did care about the importance of their YouTube audience, they would get their butts over there a hell of a lot more often! Instead we have huge delays, no fan interaction over there, inconsistency in the structural 'form' (first it was Bree's channel, now that illusion is all but gone), and no one even so much as flinched at the rate Smosh whizzed to the top of the 'most subscribed to' list. I think that they feel it is a bit much for them to engage with people at YouTube, especially with a lot of 'fake' comments etc. They probably feel their energy is better spent at LG15.com. But I think they need to pay more attention at YouTube as well if they want to keep this series running with many fans.

jayhenry said:

They probably hoped the new girl would revitalize the series and they're probably a little panicked that it's not happening that way.

I agree with this, and I think that what we are seeing now is the panic, or the fall-out from the fall-out shelter, if you will.

[oweniscool]

jayhenry said:

I think if Jess is posting it's probably out of a genuine desire to boost falling spirits.

I don't doubt that at all, I really think she means it. However, I think she must also need their permission (and probably their encouragement) to post. Else how do you explain an almost-fired Yousef not rallying in the forum, or a scored Julesgirl not ripping through, or Jackson not using it to pick up girls? The actors never post, I think because they're generally asked to keep their distance. It's probably better for them if they don't even read it at all (they might kill themselves!). As for this...

jayhenry said:

I don't think Jess is PR.

They'd have to be almost delusional not to know that the phorum is a small portion of their audience.

We have no evidence that they don't realize this, nor that they are not delusional. Come on, Jay! We know that, but they've always acted as if they didn't realize it. Catering to the OpHeads, still planning on all these great "puzzles" and stuff... the big YouTube audience doesn't give a crap about any of that and they keep wasting their time on it.