Wow. What an oppressive regime on this forum! How surprising, considering the peace and love that was being preached before.
I also would like to know why this thread was locked? It is usually the duty of admin to explain why this was done, otherwise it's a bit of power abuse isn't it?
Was there something inappropriate going on? All I saw was people pointing out verbal abuse, and coming to set the record straight. Defending ourselves against untrue comments surely is allowed?
Admin didn't like what they were seeing the past few days? So you are saying that the past nastiness was ok by you?
You all are saying basically that because you don't agree with what we are saying that we should just shut up?
Enough is enough?
Why not actually read the comments? We were not trying to pollute this thread. It's been done enough already by others! And we are pointing out what we think is extremely out of order. And you are trying to silence us? What kind of dictatorship is this? Will this post get me banned?
We came here thinking we could connect with Mika fans who are also Rufus fans, and then to read into past comments, and not just this thread but the other ones about Rufus as well, and to see such horribly offensive comments back and forth about people I personally know...
You say we have no right to feel insulted and to express our outrage?
Or just to keep our outrage private? There is no guarantee a PM would be answered or even acknowledged and the problem is much deeper than that in any case. This is something that should be talked about publicly, if anything to prevent others from behaving in a similar manner in the future.
This is not some petty argument between fans or however people are trying to portray it. It is much bigger than that.
It truly is an unpleasant business and not so much fun to talk about, but surely such behavior should be addressed instead of ignored or accepted?
Why is it that those in question have not actually responded? Sure the initial comments started here 2 years ago, but having read this entire thread before posts started to disappear, I saw a systematic tendency by some to just say awful things about the RWMB whenever it was brought up. A veritable smear campaign. Detrimental to everyone involved, because it causes people to not want to meet other fans and just destroys the fan culture.
And as was pointed out this was still going on until very recently!
Everyone seems to be trying to sweep all of this under the rug, or dismiss us as trying to stir up controversy. What I see is a serious breach of respect by outright lying and nobody caring that it was going on.
I'm sorry, but editing and deleting said offensive comments, trying to make it look like they were never there, a thread where previously there were disparaging comments, suddenly the number of pages in that thread goes down? Posts that used to exist suddenly have mysteriously disappeared. Someone is working hard to cover their tracks.
That suggests guilt to me. And believe me, those mentioned in the rude comments already know and have seen them for themselves. So deleting the words will not make them forget how they were insulted. Whitewashing everything is not going to make it go away.
Why not be an adult and own up to your comments? If you think you are absolutely correct, why all of these actions that suggest guilt?
You say if you wanted to discuss it you would have come to our forum? Well it is clear you had a lot to say considering the volume of insults I read on here.
What gives you the right to spread malicious lies about people? It sure is easy when you think you won't get caught doing it.
Is this not a discussion forum? Why will nobody discuss the blatant insulting that was taking place? Are your memories so short or selective that you choose to ignore it?
The comment I quoted before, what about that? Is that acceptable behavior? Or is it ok because it wasn't about anyone on this forum?
When you post a link to a video and then point someone out in it saying, oh this is her name and she did this and that, how is this appropriate? It is not only defaming someone's character, but also now complete strangers will know her face.
And whoever said it does not matter to them the provenance of photos and videos, well it wouldn't matter to you since you did not take them. But the people who own them certainly DO care. They don't want people taking credit for their hard work. Would you?
We are not here to insult anyone, and I do not see any real nastiness except what was already written before we even got here. It's unfortunate that when we are pointing out wrong-doing it is seen as tiresome, instead of something that should have been looked into a while ago.
Just because the bulk of the comments were from 2 years ago, does not make it ok.
Just because comments have now been amended or deleted does not make it ok.
And there has been no hint of remorse whatsoever, which is shocking.
It's easy to dismiss something that doesn't concern you, but if someone referred to you and fellow fans as skanky bitches with their heads up their arses, how would you feel?
Maybe it is because we are talking about your fellow MFCers that you know and like that it is difficult to read and accept or understand. But using such language about anyone is just wrong, especially when there is no truth in it. Everyone knows this, surely.
Admins are not able to check up on every single thread all the time, and on a forum like this one with such a large number of them I am sure it can be difficult.
So shouldn't members police themselves and others? If you see such a rude and inappropriate remark, should you not suggest the person who wrote it perhaps curb their language? Or leave it for a private setting?
You're telling us to settle it via private messages, well that is certainly hypocritical.
When insulting others was the order of the day, nobody told them to keep it private. I can only assume the people who made the disparaging remarks thought of this thread and the other one about the Florida shows as their own private discussion area, and never thought that those talked about
would ever see it let alone speak up.
We thought this could be a nice place to talk about an artist we all enjoy, and instead we see it's just been a thread where insults were thrown around and people just let it slide. It is frankly rather disgusting, and even after having pointed it out nobody is stepping up to talk about it. Which is disappointing and disconcerting.
I like Mika a lot, but am not so sure I would want to meet any of you if there was a possibility I'd get bitched about when my back was turned.
So perhaps the lesson should be to watch what you say on the internet, because there are no guarantees that your comments won't make it back to the people they were about. And once it's out in the open, you really can't take it back. No matter how powerful the editing tools at your disposal are.
I'd like to apologize again to other members for the length of my post and for not speaking directly on the topic of this thread, but censorship angers me.
Apathy or acceptance in the face of verbal abuse, even more so.
