#39: "The little man is healthy, happy, and as loud as his daddy"

[Couch Tomato]

I think it's all just a natural flow of message boards. ... all message boards. I think we all just started on one big high together and had probably one big thing in common -- we wanted Clay to stick around. Ok yeah he's sticking around for a bit..YAY he has a contract and is going to get an album. Yay he is like the defacto winner...well then once again the majority of us all wanted the same thing... SOLO TOUR SOLO TOUR SOLO TOUR... well we got that early and we got that often and one year turned into 2 turned into 3 and we got to know each other and the trajectory of Clay's career didin't keep going up in one direction (which would have been a first) and well the same thing happens as it does in most aspects of life. I think people now want a thousand different things for Clay. Looking back the boards always had these highs and lows from the beginning but they didn't last long. I also agree that although some may have lost interest in Clay they just can't let go of the message board. I know that maybe they still have hopes that he'll do something they like and approve of but there are ways to do that like get CNN *the clay news network.* It's tough to walk off quietly into the night and so it changes what really is a "fan board" into something in between. Add into the mix the seamy underground and it makes for a more volatile combination. I've know a lot of people in this fandom and some have just moved on to other interests. Others have moved away from the boards. Others have moved to smaller groups of friends for the majority of their talk.

And then there's the people change thing. I know I used to ENJOY the back and forth and high spirit of fight that came on a Clay Aiken message board. After years of that I just find it draining. You can have critical thinking, lively conversation, in a tone that is still be easily distinguishable as a fan board and not say TWoP. And I find that after all these years I don't care if "we" tear each other limb from limb on the board (well I care heee but I hope it's short and sweet LOL) but Clay isn't around to defend himself so the be more respectful to each other than Clay is just not my thang anymore. But even still, when you love your home you don't want to leave it and you hang on. I think a lot of it is defending the home turf that has changed from under you. And I'm sure it's the same here as it is every where else.

Oh btw, bwah..they honored my request and banned me at TWoP. LOL. I just looked last night.

oooh lookie at now who's a thread killer

[playbiller]

Hey! I am not the only person who has problems with Explorer - will wonders never cease! I have 6 browsers on my computer - no single browser can do everything, well partly because it is an old computer and a lot of software demands more memory that I can handle, so I open one browser to read my e-mail since they have one to a new type of software (&*%^&^$%$#& bastards!) and onther if I want to play games and antoher to read a certain board........ and back to an old non-supported version that lets me read message boards.

Moderation is a tricky thing - it is mostly done by amatuers and volunteers, as if you couldn't tell, that probably don't understand the TOU better than any of us. I have no fear of heavy moderation, I posted enough on children's boards and one oversensitive one with a language filter that makes things pretty funny - don't ever try talking about your blue ribbon winning country fair prized cock, you would be shocked at what prints out, heh. It is more a problem when certain posters are prized more than others and the tilt in moderating just opinions when yours is not in the moderators favored version. Now, while I say that, I have to admit most mods have given me more leeway than other posters have received, with the exception of one who tried to drive me from the board when they could not ban me for anything I said cause it was not rude or insulting or even an opinion, I just asked simple questions like can I have a source becaue I knew she wanted to get me out of there - bitch - hee. Well, TWOP is the exception because I believe their mods are paid and are extremely opinionated and bitchy.

I do think we are influenced by the boards we hang around. I try and alter my posts to each environment, but am not always successful. I do still post on strict boards because I have friends there and to keep in practice. On one board that some people dislike, I have written to the mods directly and asked them to ban people and they did 3 times in the last year on my request. I do think posting on Sucks can affect your mindset to accept more offensive posts, you get used to it, while on others you have to tip toe so much you may never actually get to the message across. Obviously it is just how I feel about it and I understand others can enjoy things. I do note that negativity tends to cluster together and the people who are unhappy tend to post in groups. I also know that there are back channel boards where attacks or group postings are planned - and you might be surprised at just how many there are and how many boards are subject to these attacks.. People like to think the board they post on is the most intelligent one and the only reasonable one, but there are lots of good people out there on a lot of boards, some misguidedly in the wrong place for them (sometimes I want to move posters around from board to board and get them in the right place, but realize how fake god like this wish is, not my job and way to egotistical) and good ideas can be found in a lot of places.

What is interesting to me is the way that some nastiness can be passed off as an opinion. You can have an opinion without being offensive. I think choice of words has a lot to do with it - we were going to have a discussion period about this one, but I either missed it or it didn't happen. A lot of manners is adjusting to the sensibilities to those around you, if you are in a bunch of cursing blowhards, cursing is totally appropriate, but if you are near virgin ears, not so much, There is a big difference between saying you don't care for a particular look and saying Clay looks like shit. The fact that people believe they have a right to free speech but don't recognize that you can't yell fire in a theater (if it is not a fact, but an opinion, heh). Sometimes insulting Clay in a forum where people do not use the same wordage, is like crying fire, it is deliberate stirring of the turd, that may or may not be deliberate. Part of civilization is adapting our behavior to others around us, maybe I should become tougher and come out swinging, maybe not.

Maybe the problem is a lot of groups formed during the eeeeing years and have now settled into people being themselves and, well, we are very different people. <-----heh, what couchie said

That is why I feel it is neccessary to wander about to differnet places. But during the worst of the storms now, you will probably find me in a non-Clay thread - Anyone seen the Great American Dog last night - anyone wipe a tear?

[annabear]

What is interesting to me is the way that some nastiness can be passed off as an opinion. You can have an opinion without being offensive. I think choice of words has a lot to do with it <snip> There is a big difference between saying you don't care for a particular look and saying Clay looks like shit.

BINGO! I've seen this happen way too many times, especially recently.

[Lotus]

wandacleo

I can't imagine anyone not going just because they've gone before. My friend and I can hardly wait!

saltwaterdog

Me either, unless finances are an issue. Well, they're an issue for me but I'm going anyway! I loved Spam, for one thing, although I don't think I'd go if Clay wasn't in it. I just like to watch Clay. He makes me smile. Pure and simple. He makes me smile.

The best bonus is meeting up with friends! For that reason alone I can't imagine not going.

I know for me it is a matter of time and money. I simply cannot afford the money it would take to get tickets, fly to New York and stay there for a couple of nights. I would love to see Clay in Spamalot again and would love to meet more fellow fans.

When the reports start being posted of his performance and the daily peasant and what happened at the stage door, I'll be reading here and on other boards soaking up every little detail and right clicking on those beautiful photos. Obsessed much? And I will be so thankful that there are fans who take the time to write such detailed recaps of the performances and that there are fans who take and post photographs and videos of the stage door. And maybe I'll even be listening to a cellcert to hear the exclamations of "He's so effing gorgeous!"

I have my fingers crossed that there will be a tour next year so that I can combine seeing Clay with visiting family in Ontario. I don't have any hope of a tour coming out this way.

[TimetravelerPax]

Oh, Sanctuary, Sanctuary!! [tmQuasimodo, one of my idols]

Thank you FCA for a place where I can still be happy with my fandom!

Please come and visit my gallary of best Clay photos from around Clay Nation, and today I am revisiting the Independant Tour. All photos are XLarge and lickable. Listen to a favotite tour stop and rest here awhile. angst-free zone --except Clay-the-Singer-angst.:clay:

Love to all you, and Clay&Jaymes&Parker too.

http://findingclayaiken.invisionzone.com/i...um&album=41

A Sample:

JBT sample

[cindilu2]

Beautiful pics, Timetraveler :F_05BL17blowkiss: Things like looking back on IT photos really brings it home to me just how damn lucky we are. For better (almost always) or worse (only very occasionally) Clay has been adding something to our lives for five years now. For me, he's added joy and fun and laughter and lust and friendship and travel and adventure. Not to mention inspiring me to discover talents that I never dreamed were in me. And most of all, the music. That beautiful, one-of-a-kind voice that thrills me and touches me every. single. time. I. hear. it. I'd say my side of the ledger sheet is waaaaaay out of balance - the man owes me nothing. On the other hand, I could never repay what he's given me. I love him, and I mean it.

[Cotton]

cindilu2!

:F_05BL17blowkiss:

[Carolina Clay]

Hello, FCA! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Couch Tomato, you should be receiving lots of non-FCA orders. The "Spamalot pin" blog has been linked in the top right corner of the News & Articles page at IdealIdol. Keep the lines open!

Caro, you do such a great job with your blog! Thanks for keeping it so up to date and bringing it over for us.

I wrote one since I've been back and have begun to do a little maintenance on it, I pulled all the links for now and am going to go through the list and repost the ones that are still active. I had a lot of dead ones on there. I pinched that music widget that you had, Caro, and I'm going to see if I can figure out how to use it. It looks very cool. Oh and I changed the name, though the address is still the same. It's now called One Hand On The Wheel And that's just me....always changing things, just for the heck of it. Bookmarks still work.

Thnx, Kareneh! Also, thank you for telling us your blog's new name. It's kewl, and I changed the ID in my Blogroll.

I'm between students. Have a great evening, all! :thbighug-1:

Caro

[liney23]

CG... glad you and lurker friend had a great time in NYC!!! Thanks for sharing your walks with us. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Some boards with declining posterage (I have trademarked that word. So there!) might want to consider that reading picky critical shit or thinly veiled self-important neener-neener crap every day is just not how others want to spend their free time. Has nothing to do with Clay's personal life choices.

You know this is the part that always seems to get left out of the equation IMO after 5 years many fans just outgrew the message boards. They are just over the heavy-handed moderation, incessant 'round and 'round and the same old personalities. They haven't stopped being fans...just have found other ways to have conversations about Clay. I know that this is true of most of friends that I have in this fandom. The way I see it, it has less to do with approval/disapproval of what Clay is doing and more to do with the environment of the conversation.

Jamar.... WORD!!! I was soooo happy when I found FCA cause I was just about to give up on the message boards. Soooo tired of the incessant carping. I understood some of it was expressing their fears that we'd lose him, but it got so tiring. Thanks couchie and ansa!!!

Hello FCAers!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

I have been off the board for a while and I've missed you all!!

My computer wouldnt let me do web searches or get to pages linked from "favourites" so after much scanning for spyware/viruses and fruitless conversations with ISP someone suggested it might be Internet Explorer. I have switched to another browser and YAY! Problem not fixed yet but at least we are back on line. Now off to catch up! XXX

ausdon... glad you're back!!!

Beautiful pics, Timetraveler :F_05BL17blowkiss: Things like looking back on IT photos really brings it home to me just how damn lucky we are. For better (almost always) or worse (only very occasionally) Clay has been adding something to our lives for five years now. For me, he's added joy and fun and laughter and lust and friendship and travel and adventure. Not to mention inspiring me to discover talents that I never dreamed were in me. And most of all, the music. That beautiful, one-of-a-kind voice that thrills me and touches me every. single. time. I. hear. it. I'd say my side of the ledger sheet is waaaaaay out of balance - the man owes me nothing. On the other hand, I could never repay what he's given me. I love him, and I mean it.

cindilu... will you marry me???? WORD!!! I love your whole post excessively!!!

Isn't today when KAndre and Scarlett are supposed to meet up again? Course I don't know whether it's Thursday in China or not right now.

[aikim]

:clap: You guys are the best!

Message boards can be the worst of times and the best of times...here's looking forward to the best of times yet to be.

Kim

[playbiller]

Ome of the things that amuses me is the sadness and regret when Clay finished at Spamalot and how many people wished they could go back in time to then, that was the majorit posters, now it seems reversed, like why is he going back, heh,. I should go back and check if it is the same people or if posters just take turns in their unhappiness. Like if you are happy, you have nothingto say.

Let me say - I am happy, Clay will be back in Spamalot, I can visit with lots of people who will come to the show, I can see Clay with out too much trouble, I can listen to his album as I drive to the show, the album I love every song on, yes, that one.Now, If I can only get the things fixed that I need fixed, I will be happy. I have to order a sink and have it delivered and then hire someone to put it in. You would think it was easy, but it has to be timed right.

[merryclay]

From canuck/ CV

Michael Siberry to reprise his role as King Arthur in Spamalot in Sept!

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/120827.html

The cast sounds great. Nice king.

[annabear]

Let me say - I am happy, Clay will be back in Spamalot

So am I - whether I can manage to get there or not!

Clay will be back in a place and a role where he seemed to have fun and was respected and successful beyond anyone's wildest dreams and he'll be dressing up and dancing and talking about coconuts and swallows and soiling his pants and singing about lovely Spam, wonderful Spam and how they won't succeed on Broadway without any Jews and instructing King Arthur on the proper use of the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch and we'll have recaps and stories and stage door pics and videos and pre and post show cellcerts and friends meeting up for the 1st time and the 100th time and every time in between!

What's not to be happy about? :8:

[merryclay]

Let me say - I am happy, Clay will be back in Spamalot

So am I - whether I can manage to get there or not!

Clay will be back in a place and a role where he seemed to have fun and was respected and successful beyond anyone's wildest dreams and he'll be dressing up and dancing and talking about coconuts and swallows and soiling his pants and singing about lovely Spam, wonderful Spam and how they won't succeed on Broadway without any Jews and instructing King Arthur on the proper use of the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch and we'll have recaps and stories and stage door pics and videos and pre and post show cellcerts and friends meeting up for the 1st time and the 100th time and every time in between!

What's not to be happy about? :8:

I just have to agree with you guys. I'm glad , too. I sure do miss seeing him. He loved Spamalot and I loved his success.

[Claymatron]

Wow, I just read words that resounded for me. "We all thought we'd lose him." Well, we're not going to lose him anytime soon. He's going to be on Broadway, again. He's going to be at the Gala, again! He'g going to be visible....at least until January 4th, again. And after that, a short break, maybe, and he'll be visible again, and again.

One can hope, and one can pray...and one can believe!!!

cindilu2, when I grow up, I want to be you :F_05BL17blowkiss: .....oh, wait...

[Couch Tomato]

Playbiller I loved your post from this morning. I would love to wake up tomorrow morning and see how you moved people to a more fitting board. Talk about power. heee.

Ausdon..nice to see you.

Caro...thanks for the news... we've had a steady flow of orders thanks to you.

Timetraveler pax thanks for the photos! yummy

KarenEh -- One Hand on the Wheel is a perfect name for your blog.

There are so many adventurous women here. I love living vicariously through you.

[Cotton]

Completely and absolutely OT, but . . .

Have you ever seen a Chair with a Tail??!!

[playbiller]

Oh, Please, moving people to more suitable boards is only a small dream. I used to want to change people's jobs to more suitable ones, I played around with my own staff and drovethem crazy (actually they all loved the chance to do something new and the challenges I gave them, so that when I had a problem, they usually dug in and helped out when they didn't have to do it. I encouraged the very few unhappy people to get another job and offered to give them appropriate recommendations, never had to fire anyone), but dreamed about promoting and demoting others around me and then when you start thinking of rearranging married couples, it is down right power madness.

Some people I would move off Clay boards and on to the idols they really like, let them criticize others and see how that goes over with other fans,heh. Some people I would move to an insane asylum, others to a better hairdresser so they cold feel better about themselves and off the computer, then some people I would move to the most eeeeingest board becasue they really just need a place to eee and some cant really do well with criticism, some I would isolate so they could spew among their own kinds and others I would move closer to me. There are happy people who are not appereciated and unhappy people that are not appreciated where they are either, it is like staying stuck in a marriage because it seems to traumatic to change, some people can thrive anywhere and that is fantastic for everyone. Life is a challenge, it gets harder when you start thinking which mooderators you would move around becaause some seem more suited to other boards.

[ivy]

There was so much said here today that I agree with that it is impossible to quote it all. So a huge WORD to all the posts from this morning until now. I don't think I disagreed with one of them.

[HeidiHo]

What is interesting to me is the way that some nastiness can be passed off as an opinion. You can have an opinion without being offensive. I think choice of words has a lot to do with it <snip> There is a big difference between saying you don't care for a particular look and saying Clay looks like shit.

BINGO! I've seen this happen way too many times, especially recently.

Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your perspective) – “offensive” is in the eye of the beholder MOST of the time. While I find a variety of things posted on message boards offensive or off-putting or just plain mind bogglingly disturbing, that’s MY definition of those things. Not everyone sees the same things as offensive. I would hate for anyone to be muzzled because someone decided they were the arbiter of offensiveness. HOWEVER, when someone posts something that a large number of people have problems with, they have to suck it up and take the criticism. This free speech thing works both ways. Much of the time the problem isn’t with the “offensive” post, it’s the posters inability to handle disagreement or the objections of others who post with them.

And dudes – I’ve been saying that word selection is half the problem for months now. <g>

I’m so happy that Clay is going back to Spamalot!! Is that what the current bitching is about? I can’t imagine….well, hell, yes I can. <g> I really want to go see it again, but I really should save my money for next years trip – I could go on Thanksgiving weekend without losing any vacation time…I guess this is something I better not debate too long or I'll be shut out of hotels and airfare.

[Carolina Clay]

Playbiller I loved your post from this morning. I would love to wake up tomorrow morning and see how you moved people to a more fitting board. Talk about power. heee.

Caro...thanks for the news... we've had a steady flow of orders thanks to you.

LOL, Couchie, I can tell how busy you are going to be by the Carolina "live feed." I kid you not, there is a steady stream of people arriving at the pin blog from Ideal Idol and heading directly to the FCA. Have fun!

Playbiller --Ditto to CT's remark!

Caro :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[Claygasm]

Why can't I find the pin ordering thread???????????

[annabear]

FCA Spam Rewind Pins order form

I see Scarlett down there!

[Cotton]

Hate to disappoint . . .

(If you want to head to sleepytime just type

: nightienight : without the spaces!)

[Scarlett]

I see Scarlett down there!

Hi annabear! Trying to get caught up before posting while watching a mesmerizing speech...

Awwww, I just missed Cotton. Sweet dreams!