Pledge My Grievance to This Message Board
Soulfire42
Posts: 404
I have no doubt that this topic has been covered in the past, and probably on the older Message Pit. This is also going to be too long for many to read. I finally have a voice back on here due to the genorisity of my girlfriend, but I'm still pissed and hope to be a bit of a voice for the now voiceless.
I've been a fan of Pearl Jam since the beginning. From when I originally heard "Why Go?" and thought it was saying "Why Go On?" in the lyrics, through scrounging up money to road trip to see them when I was in high school to modern times whenver they come near (I'm now in my 30s). I've bought plenty of items from 10 Club, entire years of bootlegs, etc. I love Pearl Jam and consider them to be "my" band. Having said that, I was very frustrated to suddenly become a muted fan when this board transitioned and became a fan club only board.
I used to be a fan club member and obviously am once more in order to post this. Why did I quit being a fan club member? Well, I wasn't getting much that I wanted from being a fan club member. I did not feel like I was receiving timely information. Christmas singles were notoriously late and on vinyl, which I do not own nor does most of the modern world. My fan club number in the 200,000s (If I remember correctly) got me tickets that were so bad that my girlfriend literally was unable to see an entire show due to not being tall enough and having security force her off chairs when she tried to see the stage. I received MUCH better seats when not going through Ten Club. So I have my reasons, which I feel are very legitimate for letting my fan club membership expire.
Regardless of that, I AM a fan of Pearl Jam and I've been a part of the community for years and years. I've enjoyed participating as a fan on the previous message pit and the one before it, etc. Hell, I even had a message I posted on the message board published in a music book. I was totally suprised when that happened. I was aware that the board was transitioning to a new board, but had no idea that it would be excluding a large number of people who had been posting for years (including myself). Now keep in mind that I have been reading the message boards for years. If I go a month for some reason without reading/posting on the board I don't sweat it nor have I ever had to even consider I'd be muted upon my return.
The board transition happened and I was cool with it. I signed in over here and saw that it looked like my account had been transfered. It looked like my post count and stuff like that was here and that was all good with me. I was under the impression that the board had simply moved. Now maybe there was a sticky post telling people they wouldn't be able to post here if they weren't a 10 club member and stuff and maybe I missed other rants. I did read about people having problems posting here and I thought I was just one of those people when I couldn't post. I thought that my inability to post was a growing pain of the board and would be ironed out soon because all my other information appeared intact. I waited awhile and finally decided to try and figure out what was going on. I tried going to the old board to see if other people were having this issue or anything and it was locked up with nothing able to be read. I looked around on here and didn't see anything about it and thought that there might be an army of people like me that couldn't post on here. I decided to finally contact the mods and asked them if I was just too stupid to locate the post button.
I received a short reply telling me that I could contact 10 club to renew my fanclub membership in order to be able to post. Now wait a minute... I know this band pretty well. I know the philosophies that drive and motivate the band members. And I can't help but think they would call bullshit on this one.
The brief summary:
Fan since the beginning who has spent thousands of dollars on the band over the years and posted in community forums is one day locked out from posting on forums without renewing a membership to the fan club. Doesn't that seem a little messed up and against pretty much any principal I believe PJ holds?
I also noticed that there are periods of time when there are as many non-registered guests who are unable to post as registered members on the board. My suspicion is that there are a lot of people out there just like I was.
I think that they really need to reconsider requiring 10 club membership to post on this fan community site. I realize I could go start my own board or something stupid like that, but why is Pearl Jam's official board now worse than when they were with money hungry entities like Epic?
My girlfriend doesn't care enough about not being able to post that she is going to buy a second 10 club membership just so she can resume posting (and isn't that sort of fucked up to even imagine requiring?)... and I wasn't going to spend my money to be able to post here either. That's two less diehard fans participating in the community than there would have otherwise been. Who is really being helped by this policy? Yeah, 10 club got 1 year of fan club membership out of it, but they won't be getting it again if the policy continues.
I've been a fan of Pearl Jam since the beginning. From when I originally heard "Why Go?" and thought it was saying "Why Go On?" in the lyrics, through scrounging up money to road trip to see them when I was in high school to modern times whenver they come near (I'm now in my 30s). I've bought plenty of items from 10 Club, entire years of bootlegs, etc. I love Pearl Jam and consider them to be "my" band. Having said that, I was very frustrated to suddenly become a muted fan when this board transitioned and became a fan club only board.
I used to be a fan club member and obviously am once more in order to post this. Why did I quit being a fan club member? Well, I wasn't getting much that I wanted from being a fan club member. I did not feel like I was receiving timely information. Christmas singles were notoriously late and on vinyl, which I do not own nor does most of the modern world. My fan club number in the 200,000s (If I remember correctly) got me tickets that were so bad that my girlfriend literally was unable to see an entire show due to not being tall enough and having security force her off chairs when she tried to see the stage. I received MUCH better seats when not going through Ten Club. So I have my reasons, which I feel are very legitimate for letting my fan club membership expire.
Regardless of that, I AM a fan of Pearl Jam and I've been a part of the community for years and years. I've enjoyed participating as a fan on the previous message pit and the one before it, etc. Hell, I even had a message I posted on the message board published in a music book. I was totally suprised when that happened. I was aware that the board was transitioning to a new board, but had no idea that it would be excluding a large number of people who had been posting for years (including myself). Now keep in mind that I have been reading the message boards for years. If I go a month for some reason without reading/posting on the board I don't sweat it nor have I ever had to even consider I'd be muted upon my return.
The board transition happened and I was cool with it. I signed in over here and saw that it looked like my account had been transfered. It looked like my post count and stuff like that was here and that was all good with me. I was under the impression that the board had simply moved. Now maybe there was a sticky post telling people they wouldn't be able to post here if they weren't a 10 club member and stuff and maybe I missed other rants. I did read about people having problems posting here and I thought I was just one of those people when I couldn't post. I thought that my inability to post was a growing pain of the board and would be ironed out soon because all my other information appeared intact. I waited awhile and finally decided to try and figure out what was going on. I tried going to the old board to see if other people were having this issue or anything and it was locked up with nothing able to be read. I looked around on here and didn't see anything about it and thought that there might be an army of people like me that couldn't post on here. I decided to finally contact the mods and asked them if I was just too stupid to locate the post button.
I received a short reply telling me that I could contact 10 club to renew my fanclub membership in order to be able to post. Now wait a minute... I know this band pretty well. I know the philosophies that drive and motivate the band members. And I can't help but think they would call bullshit on this one.
The brief summary:
Fan since the beginning who has spent thousands of dollars on the band over the years and posted in community forums is one day locked out from posting on forums without renewing a membership to the fan club. Doesn't that seem a little messed up and against pretty much any principal I believe PJ holds?
I also noticed that there are periods of time when there are as many non-registered guests who are unable to post as registered members on the board. My suspicion is that there are a lot of people out there just like I was.
I think that they really need to reconsider requiring 10 club membership to post on this fan community site. I realize I could go start my own board or something stupid like that, but why is Pearl Jam's official board now worse than when they were with money hungry entities like Epic?
My girlfriend doesn't care enough about not being able to post that she is going to buy a second 10 club membership just so she can resume posting (and isn't that sort of fucked up to even imagine requiring?)... and I wasn't going to spend my money to be able to post here either. That's two less diehard fans participating in the community than there would have otherwise been. Who is really being helped by this policy? Yeah, 10 club got 1 year of fan club membership out of it, but they won't be getting it again if the policy continues.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
best of luck
I feel you though...i enjoy my membership benefits..but i wouldn't join solely for the ability to post...we have lost a lot of fellow fans around here since the transition..and this new board just doesn't have the same feeling without them here.
Yeah, I'd think Ed would be a huge believer of free speech. FREE being the operative word here
I didn't say he/they didn't know...i said i would like to hear what he has to say about it.
1996: Ft Lauderdale
1998: Birmingham
2000: Charlotte, Tampa
2003: Tampa, Atlanta, Phoenix
2004: Kissimmee
2008: West Palm Beach, Bonnaroo, Columbia
2010: MSG2
2012: Music Midtown
2014: Memphis
2018: Wrigley 1, Fenway 1
2022: Nashville
2023: Ft. Worth II
2024: Baltimore
Upcoming: 2025 Hollywood, FL Night 2
that's easier for you to say than those left out in the cold..yes?
hmmmmm...Orwellian (addition by subtraction)...i never looked at it like that before....good point!
1996: Ft Lauderdale
1998: Birmingham
2000: Charlotte, Tampa
2003: Tampa, Atlanta, Phoenix
2004: Kissimmee
2008: West Palm Beach, Bonnaroo, Columbia
2010: MSG2
2012: Music Midtown
2014: Memphis
2018: Wrigley 1, Fenway 1
2022: Nashville
2023: Ft. Worth II
2024: Baltimore
Upcoming: 2025 Hollywood, FL Night 2
I feel you..and I'm not trying to start an argument over something that has been beat to death..but at the same time i feel for the countless board members lost in the transition and part of me will always feel that the whole situation sucked.
Have a nice weekend...
1996: Ft Lauderdale
1998: Birmingham
2000: Charlotte, Tampa
2003: Tampa, Atlanta, Phoenix
2004: Kissimmee
2008: West Palm Beach, Bonnaroo, Columbia
2010: MSG2
2012: Music Midtown
2014: Memphis
2018: Wrigley 1, Fenway 1
2022: Nashville
2023: Ft. Worth II
2024: Baltimore
Upcoming: 2025 Hollywood, FL Night 2
ditto. and even tho i'm a 402*** i got to see eddie second row center last summer, so im not complaining
06: Pittsburgh
07: Lollapalooza
08: Bonnaroo, DC
EV (second row!!!!!!) in DC
09: Philly 2 & 3
10: Newark
If I knew where it was I would take you there. There's much more than this
I'm glad you got it out though. I can think of about a hundred more pressing issues to get out before I complain about a fan club membership, but hey, thats me.
People will always want a bigger piece of the cake.
Why don't I write the band a letter? Well, to be honest I feel like I'm doing that by posting my protest here and hoping that my sentiment gets relayed and read by not just the band, but moderators from this board and the overall 10 Club. I am under the impression that if I were to write the band a letter directly (which I don't know where to even start to attempt that), that it would be unlikely to reach its destination. Here, I hope at least Kat reads this and can step back and think about the whole thing for a moment. And as I believe I already said, I'm trying to also be a voice for the unknown numbers of muted people left out in the cold like I was. It's bullshit and rather than be silent about it I'm going to try and speak up for them, myself and my girlfriend.
The person mentioning addition by subtraction is absolutely correct. I'd not be protesting a 10 Club only message board IF the old one remained available for general fans. As a former webmaster, I know the cost of running these message boards and any supposed savings or earnings generated by operating a message board either exclusive or not is pretty trivial. For a band like Pearl Jam to require payment to be a participant on their FAN message board is ludicrous.
To those who don't want to read about this issue, don't read this thread. Don't know what else to tell you. This is a relevant issue to plenty of people, involves Pearl Jam, involves this message board and you may be sick of the topic... but I'm also sick of posts about posters. I deal with it though and try to make suggestions to improve the situation (like the creation of a poster forum).
As for stating that I need some fresh air, need to find more pressing issues or want a bigger piece of cake... aren't you at the most the same as me, because you're here posting your complaint and opinion about me and such. You're welcome to your opinion and I'm not asking for a bigger piece of cake. I'm being pretty logical in thinking it is nonsense to be charged to post on a fan message board that has been previously free since I can remember.
Who is gaining a benefit by having this board closed to any fan of Pearl Jam? Why is the board better for requiring that only 10 club members be permitted to post? Do we, as fans, consider this in the spirit of the music, philosophies, or otherwise general attitudes expressed by the band? Do we think the band would be supportive of people like myself being prohibited from posting because I choose not to join a fanclub that is of no real benefit to me?
I'm not sitting around hating Pearl Jam because of this new message board. I'm inclined to think that a person or small group of people (10 Club?... most likely) thought something might be a good idea without thinking it through totally or seeing the effects of what it their decisions would do to long term and pretty damn diehard fans. If a FAN CLUB wants to fuck FANS who don't join their club, I'll never support them again. That's my personal choice, but I imagine I'm not alone and IF all those people who are out there and muted could express themselves here too... I think they'd have similar things to say. It's not me turning my back on Pearl Jam or their music, but it's me voicing my disapproval of the situation that has been only recently created. I also think that this decision causes a pointless schism in the fan community of Pearl Jam and helps make it more difficult to be a connected member of the Pearl Jam community. I think that's relevant. I'd rather see the fan community strengthened and broadened than sealed and fractured. I'd rather it be easier to stay connected than more difficult and I'd rather see openess than closure.
Trust me, those fans out there who suddenly found themselves muted and unable to post become less and less likely to visit this message board. The consequence is that they know less and less about the band and there will be attrition and damage done to Pearl Jam's fanbase, participation, education about the band, etc. The costs seem to extremely outweigh any supposed benefits.
same
200k member seats will be better than anything you will get from ticketbastard!!!
I wave to all my Friends... Yeah!
Champagne threads for everyone. Everyone.
You would think that... until you found yourself in my situation. 200k 10 Club tickets ended up causing my girlfriend to be unable to see the band at all during an entire concert. They got her yelled at constantly by security as she tried to rise up just enough to actually SEE the band we had paid to see.
While still an ACTIVE member of 10 Club, I had the opportunity to again buy 10 Club tickets. I chose to buy through Ticketbastard (which they are rightly called) instead. And guess what, the tickets were vastly superior to my 200k tickets. We were all able to see, were much closer to the stage and comfortable. After such experience with the 10 Club, I decided to end my subscription. I think most people would too in similar circumstances. And now I'm going from thinking that 10 Club isn't just not a great deal for me (which I could live with), but that they are actually taking free things away. And that is finally becoming a last straw that has me speaking up and pissed off. I hope you can see my point.
How about making the board open again. It won't hurt the club. But if there is a need to gain additional 10 club members, why doesn't 10 Club do some things to make it more enticing without screwing people in the process? For instance, how about a checkbox on the website or something we can check when sending in our applications to the 10 Club to let us choose whether or not we want vinyls or cds from the fan club? Vinyls from the fan club are an interesting idea, but in the end they are a poor choice for the majority of people who might otherwise be interested in the singles.
How about 10 Club do whatever it would take to actually be prompt in the delivery of the single instead of having it be a running joke this many years into the process?
How about making a 10 Club only board in addition to a "Message Pit" in a way similar to Metallica's site or something where there is actually unique content presented there (like contact from the band members or something). I think the guys may actually be attentive to such a request if it were presented to them and it would be a real reason to choose an exclusive message board over a standard one.
Hopefully that helps in some manner to be proactive rather than just a bitch-fest.
The thing is there are still many free places to post about pearl jam. Red Mosquito, the Alterna-pit, and a few others.
What is good about the new pit is there are far less annoying threads and less trolling going on. That is a positive thing.
Also many old message pit members that were banned (wrongly in my mind) are now allowed to post, which is a small demonstration of the free speech thing.
You gotta take the good with bad and move on.
1996: Ft Lauderdale
1998: Birmingham
2000: Charlotte, Tampa
2003: Tampa, Atlanta, Phoenix
2004: Kissimmee
2008: West Palm Beach, Bonnaroo, Columbia
2010: MSG2
2012: Music Midtown
2014: Memphis
2018: Wrigley 1, Fenway 1
2022: Nashville
2023: Ft. Worth II
2024: Baltimore
Upcoming: 2025 Hollywood, FL Night 2
Do us all a favor. Don't renew your membership next time around.
1996: Ft Lauderdale
1998: Birmingham
2000: Charlotte, Tampa
2003: Tampa, Atlanta, Phoenix
2004: Kissimmee
2008: West Palm Beach, Bonnaroo, Columbia
2010: MSG2
2012: Music Midtown
2014: Memphis
2018: Wrigley 1, Fenway 1
2022: Nashville
2023: Ft. Worth II
2024: Baltimore
Upcoming: 2025 Hollywood, FL Night 2
I would suggest that you consider the reason the board has been open to members only, MAYBE THEY WANT TO GIVE US MORE EXCLUSIVE INFORMATION ON THE UPCOMING TOURS, INFO THEY HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO GIVE US IN THE PAST BECAUSE EVERYONE AND THEIR BROTHER WAS ON HERE!!!
And honestly you lost all creditability for me when you started your complaint about your Christmas gift, seriously I believe Eddie would shutter at people like you, who just want to bitch about anything! It's $.05 a day to be a member of the very best fan club there is, and I am proud to be a member! :evil: