Soaring Simpson

Life eh! Should probably have thanked you publicly for helping me get activated, but was too shy to do anything but PM then I've made up for it since, mind!

This being MFC I did wonder afterwards if I should have posted: You can't catch me like that- I've read the FAQs so know what an apple is Disclaimer This comment is not meant as a criticism of any person living or dead. The phrase "You can't catch me" should not be taken to indicate that I think people are out to get me or that I am paranoid- my therapist will confirm this on request. The phrase "I've read the FAQs" should not be taken to imply that I've memorised them, that I've understood them, that I speak the language they are written in or that I even know what an FAQ is. Neither should it be taken to imply that I do not do any of the above. The phrase "I know what an apple is" should not be taken to imply that I know everything about them, or who they are, merely that I have assimilated the information provided by the FAQs. And if this is an old joke- tough!

Hevthehampster if you're reading... BEACHY HEAD :lol3:

Not me- but this way we get twice the fun- the show we thought we saw and the show Mika thought we saw

OK, my luck's run out- I'm back to not understanding. Is Sunderland staking a claim?

You can't catch me like that- I've read the FAQs so know what an apple is

Thanks for your comments on the No Question Too Dumb thread. I think this thread makes it clear that some people don't appreciate irony. And now for a horrific confession- read if you dare: When I posted the comments about the relative appropriateness of comments on family v comments about private parts, which ignited this whole thread, I was joking (though I admit I got defensive when I saw the response). Grovel, grovel Don't all shoot me at once... oh, go on, then, it's not like there's anything on the telly.

I wanted to comment that these backstage glimpses were the best- no the poetry was- no the art was and that the dvd sounded fantastic and... then I realised I sounded like a gibbering idiot so I changed it to something like "that's interesting, I was too far from the stage to undertand what was going on" and now I feel REALLY MEAN.

Thanks, both of you

Not only do members congratulate people announcing themselves, before I was activated (quite a while) Dilek must have seen my name often on the logged in/ homepage list and PMd me to say hi. That made an impression!

Well hopefully the "No Question Too Dumb" thread will help, though I dare say it'll be merged with an older one because it's hardly an original idea

Irony is BANNED. And threads don't get cluttered with repeat questions. (Mods- I know this is probably a repeat, sorry, but I can't find the original. Move it/ close it if you like) Sometimes MFC seem to be speaking a whole different English. Sometimes everyone's talking about someone who's unheard of in your country. Sometimes you've been away for a while and need an update. You don't want to interupt the flow? Try posting here. Hopefully someone'll take pity. And if you do post and get an answer, pass it forward and answer the thread now and again yourself. (And if the thread dies a death that's fine, there's obviously not much of a problem) I'll go first: what's a "troll" in MFC speak? I thought I had it figured then it showed up in the Mika's Dad thread and I realised I didn't.

Yeah, I'm currently "searching threads" for MFC speak, language etc. Not having much luck, such a thread could be called so many things

That's OK- I thought you'd appreciate a comment you couldn't call wimpish (I hope) Perhaps I should start a newbies/ random questions (you don't need to be new to ask who Amy Winehouse is) thread where we could help each other and other need only dip in as they chose, or would that clash with the existing MFC queries thread. I think it probably would.

THIS IS NOT A CRITICISM as this is a long and confusing thread, but if anyone goes back to find the post in question, they'll find this, which I think is the one Hele_Noor is referring to: It quotes me and people will assume Christine is describing me, while I'm pretty confident she's describing someone else. In a later post Jack expounds that people have to earn respect. Quite. That's why I'm not bothering to respond to Jack's recent post.

When you're signed in to Youtube and click on the name of mikasoundsblog you can see when they last signed in and how many vids they've watched. Maybe also if you're not signed in

Below is a quote from Okie Dokie, which I seem to have mucked up: EDIT: Another thing - it's like in the Lebanon press conference video thread, it's fine for people to say "Oh, his dad is there with him, and he looks so proud of his son, how sweet!" but this observation is a privilege limited to people who have seen him before in RL? Other people can't be 'let in' on it, when so many people already know what he looks like? I dunno, it just comes across as unfair towards the newer/disadvantaged people, and that's pretty much the whole reason this thread managed to go from "is it okay to talk about his family" to "are newbies treated unfairly". I basically agree with this and having just re-read the rule, notice it prohibits asking for information about family members. I think it would probably save a lot of stress all round if the rule was amended to a blanket ban on discussion of family members, other than those named by the moderators on some stated basis. A further rule, banning public responses like "I'm not allowed to say, so I'll PM it" might also be useful (or enforced, if we've already got one- I only remember rules I might be tempted to break) as they make the rule a bit pointless and inflame curiosity. Also, I think it was Rak that said (more or less) that the ban of photos was by Mika's request so what's with the complaints about heavy handedness? (If it was someone else, sorry.) I'd say that the reason for a rule is unrelated to the way in which it's enforced - which is not a comment on whether those complaints are justified.

Well if it was in another thread fine. I'm enjoying looking through them, but there are a lot. You've probably deduced that the other MFC is my local football (soccer) team and that I think they get praised and purple prose far beyond any link to their reality. That's all I was getting at really. But the two MFCs are going to get me into trouble. My employer does a lot of business with the other one, and they're usually referred to by their initials. But every time I see them I think "Mika Fan Club". One day, very soon, I'm going to make a complete fool of myself, probably in front of senior management...

I love this thread. Stephen King! These are probably not definate enought to go on the list, but nice to talk about- In the "I got life" clips from Jools Hootenay David Tennant was certainly enjoying Mika, so was Lenny Henry (although other people can be seen TALKING through the song!) In a recent Anne Hathaway interview/profile/thingy in one of the UK fashion mags (Elle? Marie Claire?) the reporter described the room he was invited into, including the Mika CD near her player

That is a truly horrible thought! And not just becuase they're a children's band (from 2001)

I will PM dcdeb over the weekend a detailed analysis of the situation which I felt was heavily handled, but am not going to post them all here out of context. I assume dcdeb will respect my privacy- she might or might not agree with me, but I think (certainly hope) that she'll see I wasn't making wild and unfounded accusations. I don't. May I also add that I did not initially comment on the moderation, I was pushed into it by long and detailed demands to know exactly what I meant. But part of the reason I was glad that some of the comments hadn't been directed at me was the vast number of responses seconding the warning against asking about family pictures. Something that has been echoed here. My lighthearted comments that the issues surrounding the roles of Mika and MFC were repeated often throughout the forum, and that I thought the site's values concerning discussion of family v discussion of private parts were odd, has led to 34 long and detailed comments, mostly indignant, demanding clarification and jumping to conclusions. It's not always clear who's being addressed, (which is probably just as well) but in case you mean me: I read the rules and FAQs before I posted- and not only because server problems kept me from posting. But if everyone did, you wouldn't keep having to tell them that posting pics of the family is prohibited. I do not feel lost and rejected, although I'm glad Chickadee is posting on this thread I listen before I speak, though actually I don't see any problem with immediately jumping in enthusiastically . I do not think MFC is a weird and wonderful utopian experiment (unless you are referring to Middlesbrough Football Club) I do not think everything should be changed to suit me or that the time to review policies is when I joined. Neither do I expect "unnatural accomadation" whatever that is. In fact, Niki, Jack Violet and Christine's comments appear to be a bit of a knee-jerk reaction, as I can't see anything in any of my posts, or anyone else's on this thread, to suggest new members think anything of the sort. I certainly don't. I simply think that the issues surrounding the roles of Mika and MFC are repeated often throughout the forum, and that the site's values concerning discussion of family v discussion of private parts are odd.

It's always difficult with something like this, but I'm going to stick my neck out - I think there's an actual problem. That's exactly how I feel about it (apart from the Australia bit) very well expressed I'm getting at the fact that new members, like old ones, are not a homogenous lump If edicts coming from Mika and his management are written in stone, then he has got control of the site I agree in general, but I wasn't referring to whether Mika enjoyed the attention so much as whether men generally would. I guess that most would loathe it. When someone made unkind remarks about Adele's weight (I think, certainly her appearence), lots of people intinctively stopped her- and I think it's a shame male size issues aren't treated the same way. Moderators and others trying to keep the discussion fun but reasonable are often in a no-win situation, and generally do pretty well. Who knows what would have happened if you'd closed it down? Maybe the same, or worse. I think Mika's family are unusual among celebrity families in being so camera shy, and that it's a pain in the neck. But the other extreme would be worse- at least none of them are selling their "stories" to Heat etc. (Although I admit I'm being a bit hypocritical here, owning books by Eminem's former bodyguard and former best friend)

I haven't been a member long, but I've certainly seen these facts worked into quite a number of threads. I'm not against an FAQ, though. I found the existing ones helpful. OK, to be fair, I knew you didn't mean to be patronising. Unfortunely, I have often in the past picked up a sense from many members that there were two classes of member on this site- and that new members were the lower order. And given that this is a heavily moderated site, I feel more attention could be paid to this. As an official site it's now, presumably, for all fans. I didn't personally like the idea of discussing his package myself, so I didn't, but I still think that it IS different to comment on HIM, when he's chosen this public life, to comment his parents or siblings who have actively asked for pictures of them not to be posted or circulated. Yes and no. I've already said we should respect his family's requests for privacy, but I also think that moderators come down very heavily on people who ask about Mika's family. Certainly I've been glad that some of their comments haven't been addressed to me, and I wouldn't say I was particularly sensitive. I KNOW it's the millionth time they've had to tell people that we don't discuss the family and suggest that people read the guidelines and FAQs. But each of the questioners has hopefully only asked the once. And the point I was trying to make is that to people who haven't read the guidelines - and few people do- there would seem to be evidence from these other threads that anything goes. Also, members who have seen or met the family do talk about them- how happy they look and stuff. Which again encourages the questions. I'm confident I probably could find evidence of this if I trawled through this and other threads- but I'll let it pass. I wasn't referring to the family snaps issue which, as I said in the original post, I support. A periodic review of all policies is standard business practice. And a useful one.

It's a forlorn hope, but I'd really appreciate it if there weren't so many different versions of the second album, or at least if all tracks were on iTunes, so we weren't faced with a choice between doing without some tracks or shelling out for a mostly redundant import. (Which I haven't done, but the temptation's MASSIVE)

How very depressing- I think you're right. But then, I don't know about these things either.