JackViolet

Good, I thought this thread was dead! Christine owes me a PM. Is everyone in a bad mood? --Jack

I did, in his blog. You'll see it when he approves comments. --Jack

Oh, Mika.... sigh. --Jack

Hah, sorry, I didn't mean to pick on you! I just assumed people knew Joanna. --Jack

Actually I thought your post was one of the more helpful ones. By showing the playlist, you provided context of the kind of stuff you listen to--and so then Mika could look at whatever bands there he doesn't know and either go "oh, she has good taste, maybe I should check these out" or else "gosh, she's dull, I'll pass." --Kack

Does it make sense to recommend musicians/songs to him that he most likely already heard? Like, if we're going to do it, shouldn't we focus on more obscure/underground things? Because I think recommending Joanna Newsom or Sigur Ros to him is a bit like recommending David Bowie. --Jack

Yeah, I thought Deb said that new members are now sent a PM with a link to the FAQ and guidelines (though the FAQ has the basic guidelines already). --Jack

Agreed, actually. I felt a little out of the loop when I first started looking around the forums, but I didn't post until I've been reading for about a week or so. And I never felt rejected or looked down upon when I did start posting, though of course my few initial posts went by largely unnoticed, as I expected--until people got used to seeing my name and started to pick up on my personality. And now that Niki reminded me, the posters who do take the time to look around and carefully step in aren't usually treated like "newbies." I remember when Niki joined, and it was just "Hm, why haven't I noticed her before? Oh, she's new? Cool." A lot of members' "newbie" phase pretty much passes unnoticed unless, like I said, they come in and expect to be accommodated, rather than taking the time to accommodate themselves to the existing community. --Jack

The rules were worked out in their present format fairly recently, after an extensive of debate, and with much general input. It was a lot of work, it entailed a lot of discussion, and in the end we came to to have them the way they are through general consensus. This was a pretty draining experience, and while they are reviewed periodically, to have them be in constant flux would not only be confusing to people, but it would be absolutely exhausting. If you are a new member, I would say you should hang around a bit, maybe read through some back threads, etc, before making smug comments about the need for review. Especially since (considering that it's been less than a year since we had the rule overhaul) your "periodically" seems to mean "when I come on the scene, to accommodate my pov." Online forums and communities have rules. All of them. Even the most anarchic ones. In general, these rules are not even to be debated--they are decided by whoever runs the place. Part and parcel of participating in an online community is that you abide by these rules, whether you like them or not. I don't particularly care for the no-swearing rule, and the whole "don't-say-s*x-say-chicken" thing, but you know what? I didn't make this forum, and I'm not running it, and so I don't swear. Blame Mika for that. He and his family have made it very clear that they do NOT like for photos of his father, brother, and even mother and sisters to be circulated, and would be very happy to avoid having their photos taken after shows entirely. (They were less strict on picture-taking at first, but as these photos started to be put up online, they began to be a lot more camera-shy.) I actually think shutting down all discussion of this is good, because if we make it a no-go subject, we won't have those people who've seen Fortune and Mika's dad talking about it, and then those who haven't won't have to feel jealous. And honestly, this subject does not come up all that much. People ask, they get told we don't discuss this due to Mika's expressed wishes, most of them shrug and move on. As for the crotch-circling photos... ok, I hate them too. I would be very happy to have any sort of chance to make that sort of stuff discouraged on the forums. But... I'm not everyone else, and I'm not Mika. Mika has put himself out there, this is within the normal bounds of what goes on at fansites and within celebrity culture in general... and honestly, Mika does not discourage it himself. I wish he would! But no, the man seems quite happy to strip on stage, and make his dance moves ever-more focused on his gyrating hips, etc etc, so I don't think he is unduly bothered by this kind of attention. Again, I think it's crass and tacky and disrespectful, and I've said so. But there's really no good argument to make it an actual rule that people cannot post stuff like that (nor is it really enforceable...) Welcome to the internet. No, really. It's... pretty much part and parcel of any online community, again. Or... any community, really. New members tend to come on, and they don't know any of the history or conventions of the existing community, and if they start barging right on in without taking the time to figure things out, expecting everyone to accommodate their ignorance, of course they'll get some resistance! Especially if their behavior demands that older members have to explain stuff to them that's been hashed over a thousand times and really shouldn't be up to them to explain... of course the older memebers may get a little frustrated, or use that frustration to play jokes on the newer ones. Personally, when I join a new online community, I tend to watch it for a while without posting, acclimatise myself to the rules and general behavior, and only then join in. I consider such conduct simply basic respect on my part toward the community as a whole. Wait, why haven't people read the guidelines? Isn't the link to the guidelines and FAQ PMed to new members upon joining? In my view, it is then the new members' responsibility to familiarize themselves with the guidelines. (If it is not, then I would ask the mods to consider doing this, although I thought that was already being done.) --Jack

Hahah, we all know that whatever we may say, most of us will totally want the shots to be posted. Tacky, invasive, trashy? Sure. But come on, are you telling me that if Mika's snapped snogging some guy/girl at a nightclub and it's in the blogs or tabloids, no one would want those photos to be posted here? Are you kidding? People would go crazy either wanting to discuss it, or if they kept hearing talk about it but couldn't see it firsthand... or worse yet if they live in another country and only found out a week/month/whatever later after everyone in the UK already knew. I'm not saying it's admirable, but I'm saying it's human nature, and it's kind of silly to pretend this is an issue when 95% of this board would certainly want to see those pics if they were taken. Might as well accept it, since as we've seen before, those shots will surface anyway. --Jack

Could well be! That's the beauty of it. --Jack

That's the plan, actually. I say a lot of nonsense so that when I do say something that's true, everyone will continue to think I'm just making things up. Maybe even I think that! --Jack

Nope. He's just not dating Adele. I continue to maintain that he's been dating someone since at least October now. Likely earlier. Basically, since around the time he stopped whining about how he couldn't get a date and was single... which he did in the middle of last summer, I think? --Jack

Actually, when Mika's sisters and mum are with him at public events, people do post photos on MFC and discuss them, and that's fine. But Yasmine, for instance, has specifically requested time and time again that if people must take photos of her after shows, she'd rather they not be posted online, so we know even she wants to protect her privacy. Paloma, too, seemed uncomfortable the few times we've seen her on camera, and quite happy to get out of the shot. Mika's father and Fortune have largely made an effort to stay out of the spotlight as best they can. Mika almost never talks about them the way he'll talk about his mother and sisters, and they don't attend publicity events with Mika, they don't go with him to interviews, they don't tour with him--so MFC policy is to respect that and give them space. After all, it would be a shame if his dad couldn't even watch his son's shows or film some special moments in peace, without having to hide, just to avoid unwanted publicity. Mika may have made the choice to be in the public eye, but it's rather unfair to force its consequences on his family if they never made the choice, isn't it? --Jack

Okay, I agree with kk448 on this one. He's an attractive boy but I am not sure I could handle dating him. Luckily for me though, I'm not asked to. Also, I can't believe some of you guys needed this article to know that he and Adele are just friends. No, he's not dating her. But, he's got love (or so I say). Nope, I have no sources on this, but it's still true. --Jack

So true. --Jack

Yes I can. Who asked for your "honesty"? Does Mika require your approval of his lovers' looks before dating anyone? Is Adele asking you to date her? Your opinion of her looks is entirely irrelevant and unnecessary, and you only said what you said to be insulting. And that's really ugly. --Jack

That's okay, you're really very ugly and ordinary to my view. --Jack

Interesting--so apparently no one minds if Mika's dated several men as long as he also dates women. --Jack

Oh my, you are right! I have to admit I'm not super-informed on that part though. Violet_sky, Sariflor, if the mods want me to take this down, I shall of course do so. I wouldn't want to be inappropriate! --Jack

When I was working on the FAQ I had to do a lot of research. --Jack

All right, I guess now that he's happy with Adele I can spill the beans. Which old gf do you mean though? In high school he briefly dated the girl who starred as Sally Bowles with him in their production of Cabaret. That didn't really work out though, and then he dated the guy who played Maximillian for a few months. That was all over by the time he graduated, since neither wanted to be tied down in college. While going to the Royal College of Music and waitressing he had a short fling with a pretty co-worker who had come from France, and she really encouraged him to pursue pop music if he wanted it. (I think her name was Severine Vignes?) They didn't last long but stayed friends. In fact, she helped him with his next break-up. His next (and first serious love) was a classmate, a tenor from Royal College of Music. They were together for over a year, and then it ended badly, as you all know. However, it inspired a lot of Mika's songwriting and also helped him decide to drop out and (with the encouragement of the aforementioned waitress) pursue his own music full-stop. He was single for a while after that, especially since he had to concentrate on the album, and travel between LA, NY, London and Miami so much. He met Katy Perry when she was in between boyfriends and they almost started dating, but in the end it didn't happen--they had conflicting schedules, Katy wasn't over her ex, they couldn't see each other often enough, etc... So he remained single until his album was out. Organizing the promo tour for the album, however, he started hanging out a lot with his best friend from Royal College of Music, Lorna. Since she was going to be touring with him, it was perfect--they could date and still keep it a secret from reporters. They were caught once though--you may remember those French paparazzi photos of them on vacation. Eventually Lorna had to leave to pursue her own career though. They ended amicably. After this, he may or may not have dated Andy. And now he's dating Adele. And they're expecting! It's so exciting. --Jack

It looked strange because he wasn't actually kissing her on the mouth. It was a weird moment. He basically came up to her to kiss her on the cheek, but she wasn't expecting it so she turned her face a bit in surprise. So he ended up kissing her just next to the mouth, at the corner of her lips and cheek. And that was the moment that the photographer snapped the picture. --Jack

So you're saying he's gay? He was the one who initiated the kiss, by the way. She didn't know it was coming. --Jack

I refuse to believe they're broken up till Andy's out of the picture and the entourage. He can date Andy and Adele at the same time (sounds rather nice, doesn't it? "Andy & Adele"?), but no breaking up with Andy! --Jack