What Can We Do to Make MFC Better?

[Loo]

Thank you for all your clarifications and thank you for that too:

 

32 minutes ago, dcdeb said:

 Thank you all SO much for your input! And let's all keep talking! And please do NOT be afraid to share your thoughts -- honestly, we will not blacklist you! 

it's true that it can be a fear to express oneself for some people since banishment is common in some forums.

[carafon]

Hi 

I don't know if it's easy to do ,but speaking about how difficult it is to find a special topic sometimes ,what about "archiving" old  concert ,media and press topics by years?

As for people behaviour I believe there's nothing to do with being registred in MFC or not

Selfish people are the way they are ,no matter if they are in or not ,it's a matter of education and character 

 

As for the connection between MFC and Mika's team ,I don't know how it works so can't give any advice but for example it could be quite dismotivating that if you're not giving it in hands ,we are not sure if he got his birthday gift or yearbook for example ....

 

Edited January 28, 2018 by carafon

[cat_loves_mika]

32 minutes ago, carafon said:

Hi 

I don't know if it's easy to do ,but speaking about how difficult it is to find a special topic sometimes ,what about "archiving" old  concert ,media and press topics by years?

 

 

Yeah, I agree. I was just thinking about how unorganized it was. I wish there was one thread that would tell me where and what Mika was doing, then other threads about more important things in the in the Mika press and news topic. Its kinda of a s**t show, to be frank. Or maybe it be permanently pin it in order of when the event happened, to make it easier to sort through. 

[dcdeb]

2 hours ago, carafon said:

Hi 

I don't know if it's easy to do ,but speaking about how difficult it is to find a special topic sometimes ,what about "archiving" old  concert ,media and press topics by years?

As for people behaviour I believe there's nothing to do with being registred in MFC or not

Selfish people are the way they are ,no matter if they are in or not ,it's a matter of education and character 

 

As for the connection between MFC and Mika's team ,I don't know how it works so can't give any advice but for example it could be quite dismotivating that if you're not giving it in hands ,we are not sure if he got his birthday gift or yearbook for example ....

 

 

I believe we can archive old posts, but if I understand correctly, when we do a search on the forums, the archived posts will not be included in the search. That seems to defeat the purpose of the search to me, which is why I haven't archived anything since we moved sites. I'll double-check with our Tech Support people to get some clarification on this.

 

As for the yearbook -- believe me, I have asked his team at least once a week since I sent it to them, and they keep telling me that he'll get it soon, he'll get it soon. I know Mika has seen the cover, but I think because he has been traveling around so much the last few months, they haven't been able to get the yearbook to him physically. I spoke to his team about it again on Friday and they told me, again, that he knows it's coming, and that now that he is in one place for more than a few days they will be able to finally get it to him. It is as frustrating to me as it is for you all, because I spent a bit of money having the thing express-mailed to me, then express-shipped to them... only to have to wait for a couple months for him to actually receive it.

 

1 hour ago, cat_loves_mika said:

 

Yeah, I agree. I was just thinking about how unorganized it was. I wish there was one thread that would tell me where and what Mika was doing, then other threads about more important things in the in the Mika press and news topic. Its kinda of a s**t show, to be frank. Or maybe it be permanently pin it in order of when the event happened, to make it easier to sort through. 

 

I hear you. Keep throwing out ideas -- we'll play around with things and see what works best. We are a bit restricted with the forum format, but I'll look to see what other sort of modules are available with this software and see what we can come up with.

[cat_loves_mika]

22 minutes ago, dcdeb said:

 

I hear you. Keep throwing out ideas -- we'll play around with things and see what works best. We are a bit restricted with the forum format, but I'll look to see what other sort of modules are available with this software and see what we can come up with.

 

Let me know if I can help. I have a bit of programming under my belt as I was in college for it for awhile. I can probably get a website like this the way you want it pretty easily. Good luck with the refurbishment!

[mellody]

3 hours ago, cat_loves_mika said:

 

Yeah, I agree. I was just thinking about how unorganized it was. I wish there was one thread that would tell me where and what Mika was doing, then other threads about more important things in the in the Mika press and news topic. Its kinda of a s**t show, to be frank. Or maybe it be permanently pin it in order of when the event happened, to make it easier to sort through. 

 

Doesn't the calendar help with seeing what Mika is and has been doing? I don't know if you've used this function here before, guess it's also something we should communicate better... but the calendar gives a pretty good overview over all the public appointments of Mika.

 

As for sorting old topics by years, I guess we could do that with sub-forums, then we don't have to use the archive function. We'd just have to find a solution for the problem that there'll be a list of (so far) 10 years before the other posts then... But maybe we could just add an extra section, called "Archives", to make the current boards more organized.

 

48 minutes ago, cat_loves_mika said:

 

Let me know if I can help. I have a bit of programming under my belt as I was in college for it for awhile. I can probably get a website like this the way you want it pretty easily. Good luck with the refurbishment!

 

It's probably all in the software. But it is HUGE, you can take days going through all functions, and that doesn't even include additional modules we haven't installed yet. That's why this thread is so important, to help us find out what the forum should look like, which functions we need and which we don't. Usability, based on the way people use the internet nowadays. I'm not sure if anyone has given this much thought since the forum was started in 2007. It just grew over the years, at some point the board structure and the design got changed, as the members and topics got more and to give it a fresh look. And at some point we moved to a different server, and a different forum software. Not too long ago, there was a huge update of this software, that led to more changes, in the design as well as in the function (front-end and back-end). Basically I think we just tried to adapt the forum in a way members could continue to use it in the familiar way without too many changes. But I guess it's time for some changes now, to turn this dinosaur into a weasel, so to speak.

 

May I ask which programming language(s) you've learned at college?

[tiibet]

I really hope that MFC will stay as a forum even it's not so fashionable anymore, I like this form. For me the hardest part is always finding important new threads but I think I'm the one to blame, not the forum and its structure. I'm so stuck with my own habits that I can't see things even I look at them at the front page. I saw only now there's a list of "hot topics" and found this thread and it was started on Tuesday already. I'm used to check only "news" because that part feels most important and lately I've checked also members area hoping to see updates about the Yearbook (but I saw your answer Deb, Mika hasn't even received the book yet). Somehow I'm almost blind to everything else. However, MFC is the place where I come whenever I need any information: lyrics, subtitles, facts, anything. Usually I always find what I need, I like it that some of those threads are pinned and that way easy to see  I would love it if MFC as Mika's official fan club could be the place where to find news first but I do understand why it can't happen and that someone always leaks before his team is allowed to confirm anything.

[silver]

Re old gigs/performances gig reports, we produce a list of events for each calendar year when we do the Yearbook, so maybe that could be the basis of an index thread giving the name/date/venue and a link to the relevant report thread.  The Mika Gigs Archive calendar shows the dates, but doesn't always have links to further information.

 

Mika News and Press would be harder to sort, but I think having annual threads has helped a bit.

[Anditwassummer]

Keep this as a Forum, just re-invent the form.  It could be really something, there are enough people to work on it, but I am not the one to figure out how.  

 

I agree the forum should be super colorful.  I am always surprised it is so plain.  I would find illustrations, books that Mika loves, and plays and poetry and use hem all over the place (excerptsof course."  I would use fan illustrations of songs and use them too.  If you put a frame around anything, it looks better, so I would frame every one of these.  You could use them on the front page, on FB etc.  Images are much more important to most people when online thanalot of writing or even unframed photos with no titles.  Think memes.  Mika memes.  And Mika fan memes.  If I ever have time I will do a Mika meme.  Also, I am not really a fan of the gifs.  But I don't like them generally, not just here .  Also, what about Mika stickers?  That might be fun.

 

 

I joined to hear about concerts but found the forum full of interesting things and people.  I do think Mika's own web page is uninspired and it's clear that merch is not high on anyone's list.  In fact, I think Mika's web presence is not very exciting. "Remember this" posts are somewhat sad to me.  As if Mika was not here and now doing anything worth mentioning.  I might think that his team and himself have really linited your ability to float rumors or little bits of info to keep it new, but I thought he was done with hiding his life.

 

I  now do my search on a browser, not in the forum.  I can never find anything here.  I think there is just too much material.   

 

If Mika owns this and doesn't ever give it his attention, that explains alot.  Working in a void is a miserable thing.  Honoring someone who never shows up to say hello, good job, is kind of a thankless thing.

 

It's easy for me to talk, I don't put the energy into this forum that alot of you do.  And maybe I have said some unhappy things.  Some of what I have suggested though, might brighten things up.  I do enjoy the forum, but I am older, and have mostly been on here to put together an idea of Mika's art and how who he is might make sense of some of it.  Not that the sense I make is right, or useful. It's just who I am.

 

Thank you for all your good work.  It matters.

 

 

[cat_loves_mika]

2 hours ago, mellody said:

 

Doesn't the calendar help with seeing what Mika is and has been doing? I don't know if you've used this function here before, guess it's also something we should communicate better... but the calendar gives a pretty good overview over all the public appointments of Mika.

 

As for sorting old topics by years, I guess we could do that with sub-forums, then we don't have to use the archive function. We'd just have to find a solution for the problem that there'll be a list of (so far) 10 years before the other posts then... But maybe we could just add an extra section, called "Archives", to make the current boards more organized.

 

 

It's probably all in the software. But it is HUGE, you can take days going through all functions, and that doesn't even include additional modules we haven't installed yet. That's why this thread is so important, to help us find out what the forum should look like, which functions we need and which we don't. Usability, based on the way people use the internet nowadays. I'm not sure if anyone has given this much thought since the forum was started in 2007. It just grew over the years, at some point the board structure and the design got changed, as the members and topics got more and to give it a fresh look. And at some point we moved to a different server, and a different forum software. Not too long ago, there was a huge update of this software, that led to more changes, in the design as well as in the function (front-end and back-end). Basically I think we just tried to adapt the forum in a way members could continue to use it in the familiar way without too many changes. But I guess it's time for some changes now, to turn this dinosaur into a weasel, so to speak.

 

May I ask which programming language(s) you've learned at college?

 

It does to an extent, but also I haven’t been around that much for the past few years. So I can’t really say how much it’s helped. I  don’t know if I’ve ever been very active on the forum when Mika was very active in his career. I don’t think the calendar ever did much for me in that regard when it I was here when Mika was touring or whatever.

 

I learned C++ and I taught myself html for tumblr purposes years ago. I probably need to brush up on some things though.

 

I think I’m going to look into the software to give better suggestions, so I can take on consideration what it can do. 

 

Edit: Here's what I found when I looked at the website for the forum software

 

First, Siri mentioned that since the website is mostly in english, people who don't speak english back off from using it. There is a localization element in on the forum software that I'm wondering is in use or not. I know that would help people who speak different languages navigate the website better, if they are on their phones of if they don't use google chrome that would already automatically translate the website for them. I know this won't change things that are posted in certain languages, but still, it'll help if its not already in use. 

 

Second, theres a feature that can promote content from the forum on external website run with a CMS (content management system, most websites these says are run with one of these because its easier for people to manage and they don't really need to have any programming knowledge). So, maybe you want to explore the possibility of promoting forum content on Mika's website instead of just having a link to it at the bottom of the page. It might attract more interest to us as a website and a fan club than just a link. 

Edited January 28, 2018 by cat_loves_mika

[crazyaboutmika]

I meant to post in this thread earlier but real life got in the way...

First I must say how much I love MFC and how many wonderful friends I have met here

I love MFC because it is a safe place to make Mika friends, to put together group projects for Mika, to learn all Mika related information, get together while searching for Mika's lyrics to a song  with lots of supporting and friendly fans, also a sanctuary for all Mika related archives and the one and only official Mika owned fanclub

Also it is free to join and commercials free which is a blessing. 

MFC as a forum is not hard to use, it only takes a little practise and I'd say it's a good way to find out about people's motivations

That being said, I'm awfully sorry about parts of the archives we lost in old threads (broken links and sadly a bunch of pics that were on photobucket.com) 

I was a witness of some storms here I won't deny it...but there are also such storms on twitter, instagram and rl...it's just part of human nature not to agree...can't blame MFC for that..

As an answer to Siri anyone can and is welcome to open a thread for a Mika gift project here. Only birthday projects are more specifically taken care of by mods but everyone can throw in ideas and there's a survey to vote for the one that will be chosen, so it's democratic.

MFC language is English so every fan from every country can communicate together...and we have a thread for other languages. Many fans actually learn English and practise/improve it here. 

I agree that we need more publicity and that if the first thing people who visit MFC saw was a banner saying MFC is the one and only international official fan club, it might motivate them to visit again.Maybe a banner saying something like: Join for free and get to watch all Mika's subbed videos would convince non members to join. Also a page with translated instructions on how to fill in the joining page might encourage people to do so.

If there was a thread which would guide new fans into MFC with: 

Comprehensive lyrics thread link

Mika FAQs or Mika bio link

Mika list of songs thread link

Mika press thread link

Mika official media list thread link

Mika calendar link

International threads links

Ask the mods thread link

Ask for anything Mika related thread link

Mika Encyclopedia link

Links to reps 

Any other links that might be useful

Also the tip that it's best to google what you are looking for (Mika lyrics mikafanclub)  instead of searching in MFC build in engine should be given to newbies as it is the best way to find  what you're looking for in MFC 

 

It would help newbies

 

Maybe people who want to help promote MFC can do so on their fb, twitter, instagram and so on by adding a link to MFC and also by sharing links to MFC threads if they read a question people have about Mika and the answer is on MFC. I do it when I see fans looking for translations on instagram, twitter or fb..

Although we don't use the clubs if I got it right it's how we managed to integrate the world rep banners so at least it's useful for that purpose.

My two cents for today and if anything else comes to my mind I'll add it here later.

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2018 by crazyaboutmika

[silver]

On 1/24/2018 at 12:41 AM, Siri said:

There are also some things I don't understand.

Why do some country have more rep than others? Are they elected in some way? Is there a reason in this difference?

 

 

Sorry, I missed this question earlier.  Most countries have 1 rep, some which cross different time zones (like the USA) have 2.  The exception is Italy, simply because there are so many fans from there at the moment, all posting and asking questions, that there is too much for one rep to respond to.  Currently there are 3 reps for Italy (this is kept under review).

 

World Rep is a voluntary post with no special privileges.  Usually if we know the existing Rep is no longer active, I will ask for volunteers from that country.

 

We set up the World Reps at a time when the forum was very busy with active members from all over the world, but this is another area we could look at. 

[Loo]

"Upcoming Events" at the top of the column is better!

[mellody]

18 hours ago, crazyaboutmika said:

As an answer to Siri anyone can and is welcome to open a thread for a Mika gift project here

 

That is true, although in some cases we do say no. A few restrictions are necessary, to protect our members as well as MFC's reputation. For example, no one except the Mods/Admins is allowed to collect money from members on MFC. We can't control what the organizers do with it, so if we want to make sure members can trust a project that is organized on MFC, the most reliable way is simply to keep this within the team. Of course, if someone has a fantastic idea that happens to involve money, we can discuss this and help.

 

Also, we try to watch that the projects don't get too much (for example, Mika doesn't need 20 birthday gifts from MFC...) and that at least the big ones (official MFC birthday gift, yearbook, or gifts for special events) are well organized, so we can be sure it works out. It'll help no one if someone who offers to organize a gift for Mika realizes after a few weeks how much work that really is and gives up. Indeed it has happened before that we were stuck with a half-done gift and had to do all the organization ourselves, so the member's contributions wouldn't get lost.

 

We try to do the birthday project every year (just last year we forgot to start in time), and for this, anyone is welcome to help with their ideas and organization skills, so we can create something as a team. I've just started the brainstorming thread for this year's gift yesterday, you can find it in the members only section.

 

Of course ideas are welcome at any time. And if you look in the MFC projects board, you'll find a lot of successful projects started by members. If we say no, it's for one of the above reasons, or simply because it's too short notice. Even if some might think this forum is dead - if there's a cool gift idea for Mika, you might be surprised by the amount of people wanting to participate.

[cat_loves_mika]

6 hours ago, silver said:

 

We set up the World Reps at a time when the forum was very busy with active members from all over the world, but this is another area we could look at. 

No matter how much I love my new little world rep badge, maybe we just need a smaller welcome wagon now rather than people from every country. 

[silver]

53 minutes ago, cat_loves_mika said:

No matter how much I love my new little world rep badge, maybe we just need a smaller welcome wagon now rather than people from every country. 

 

That's what I was thinking too.  But it is nice for members to be able to chat to other fans in their own language.

[krysady]

23 hours ago, Anditwassummer said:

Think memes.  Mika memes.  If I ever have time I will do a Mika meme

 

Do you mean something like this? 

 

Edited January 29, 2018 by krysady

[kreacher]

Ive been reading all the posts here. Here's just some hastily typed comments that have popped into my head in response...

 

On 1/23/2018 at 1:35 PM, dcdeb said:

In my opinion, it doesn't cost anything to be a member, so why not join? And there are certainly advantages to belonging -- occasional meet & greets with Mika, tickets and other giveaways... And as with anything in life, you get out of it what you put in. Those of us who have been around a while and contribute -- not monetarily, but contribute our time, our trip and gig reports, our photos, our videos, our translations and subtitles, our breaking news that we stumble upon -- I think we get more out of it than others might. Plus that has helped us develop a camaraderie and friendships that are hard to find elsewhere, especially if you're not able to travel around the globe seeing Mika at all of his appearances.

 

This is definitely true for me. I've never made a Mika-friend on twitter, FB, tumblr, or instagram, but on MFC i've made ones i've met up with in person, even in non-gig situations (and as one who's so shy and rarely makes new friends this is huge!). 

 

On 1/23/2018 at 6:41 PM, Siri said:

I honestly didn't want to sign up at first. I read on the net about bad behaviours from people from MFC, and that on the site everybody act like friends, and then in person they treat you very badly.

As I continued using MFC as a visitor, I considered joining anyway, because that would have offered me those advantages you said, from M&Gs to tickets; but if it hadn't been free, I would never had signed up.

 

So people thinks MFC is useless and leave it, or at least, they aren't active normally, but when some opportunity show off, they suddenly come back and then disappear again, with a very strange timing (and/or luck).

They do so even with other people. If you give them more possibilities to see Mika, both in a correct or incorrect way, you become a big friend of them; but if you are useless they abandone you.

 

This athmosphere, where fans are in competition with each other, so if I know Mika would be guess at xxx I won't tell you so I'll have him only for me, or fans that overtake the official fan club, doesn't make you want to join, does it?

 

Plus I noticed many people have troubles in understanding/writing english, but here we can do nothing (it's only a fact. Many people tell they don't use the site because "it's in english!!!")

 

 

Really? I tend to think MFCers (at least those who care & are still somewhat active) are better behaved than non-MFCers, mostly because MFCers don't want to get banned from the forum and M&Gs and such, but non-MFCers don't have that incentive. I wonder if at least some of people that said those things on the net had some kind of past run-in with an MFCer or are jealous and want to badmouth all MFC as some sort of petty revenge.

I address ideas regarding some of these other bolded things in comments below.

 

On 1/24/2018 at 1:10 PM, CristinaC. said:

I won’t go into technical problems because I’m not very good at writing in English and in fact I always write in the Italian thread.
MFC gave me occasion to meet wonderful people and to take part to several initiatives and I will always be grateful, however, I’ve noticed that some people show up only to have passes for gigs and/or events and than they disappear, or they even criticise if they don’t win: this is unfair and rude.
From my point of view, the FC would be better organised and managed if one had to pay in order to enter, so that there would be founds for many initiatives and there could be conditions for events for Mika and fans: by this way only those who really follow him would partecipate… as it often happens for many artists.

 

I agree, this is a real problem, but I think making MFC cost money to join is not the best way to get people to use MFC at all. Perhaps some stipulations could be made for getting into meet & greets and for entering competitions? For example perhaps we can require someone to have a certain number (even if its a really small number!) of posts (real posts, not just junk posts) per month in order to get on the list or to enter comps.

 

On 1/24/2018 at 7:05 PM, cat_loves_mika said:

Agreed. Some of this is mentioned on the homepage, but its something that should be really highlighted. (We used to be linked on Mika's website, if I remember correctly. All that internet traffic is gone. We don't show up in the first few results when you google "mika" anymore. What happened?)

 

Maybe more online events or games that make being on the forum more fun and interactive would be a good idea. I don't know if you guys still do anything like that, but I remember activities like that from awhile ago and they were fun. It doesn't have to be a huge thing, but just something to pique interest. 

 

What happened? Too many fake Mikas have popped up now and muddle his search results! 

I love the MFC anniversary games/puzzles. Those always seem to bring people out of the woodwork. I'd participate in some even if a prize isn't offered.

 

On 1/24/2018 at 7:20 PM, dcdeb said:

I'm surprised to hear you say that it's not user-friendly -- maybe it's because I'm old and have been on message boards and forums for a long time, but it seemed pretty easy for me to figure it out. Maybe not entirely intuitive as you said, but still not too bad. We'll work on that -- maybe come up with a kind of "Quick Start" Guide, with forum basics.

 

Well, we chose these colors to match Mika's website, mikasounds.com -- We don't just have two colors, you'll notice on our left and right borders the colors gradually change. I think they used to on mikasounds.com, too, didn't they? Or am I misremembering? In any case, Mika's team asked us to try to match his site, which we did at the time. Perhaps we need to update the look again.

 

I appreciate your thoughts and agree that we might need to do some image building. As you said, MFC is near and dear to my heart and I certainly don't want people to think badly of it, and will do what I can to make it as good as it can be.

 

Maybe make the quick start guide in different languages? What about instead of having just one thread for French, one for Italian, etc could you make sub-forums for each of the main languages? I can see how people who don't know much English and can only post in their one language thread might feel left out or restricted or something.

I don't ever look at this page http://www.mikafanclub.com/index.html/ (i bookmark directly to the forums) but i realize other people maybe do look at it, so I went and checked it out. Our colorful new logo isn't even on the front page?! Also what are those articles at the bottom? Can what's listed there be changed to be more relevant?

Regarding image building: From my personal experience in the queue at concerts I do think MFCers can seem a bit... cliqueish or even standoffish (i know i'm guilty of glaring at people so they don't try to cut in line xD). At past Mika gigs while I was sitting with my fellow MFCers for hours laughing and chatting and holding each others spots in line while we went to use the restroom i couldn't help but think of those poor folks behind us who just stood there with no one to talk to. I'm super shy with new people so from being by myself at other gigs & just dying to have someone to fangurl a little bit with i know the agony of this firsthand! Perhaps we can try to do better at engaging with other fans while we wait, even if a few MFC representatives can go down the line and just chat with people and hand out little MFC flyers. If people don't want to join or whatever, they can politely decline.

 

On 1/25/2018 at 4:43 AM, Siri said:

That's another "problem". I do know MFC is linked on mikasounds.com, but there are thousands of sites, fb/tw/ig pages Mika related. And that doesn't help. 
For example, I first used Mikawebsite.com before MFC, because is the first one I found and it's simple to understand. There's a bar on the top of the screen that help a lot for the site's organisation and to find what you're looking for (I don't know if I'm allowed to post a screen, so I won't do that).

 

In addition, I know we're not on a social, but we're going through the imageification (? I just invented this word, I'm sure) of all the medias, and here on MFC images have no clear organisation and are not easy to find (many of them have also been lost in the last site's update)

 

Mikawebsite is a website tho, not a forum, so i think it's easier for them to be organized with that bar at the top & such. Maybe MFC needs to reach out to these other unofficial Mika sites (which i think do have value) and do some kind of link swap?

I think a lot of the photos were lost due to image hosts shutting down, blocking third party linking, etc, not because of the site update  I fear they're lost forever.

 

On 1/25/2018 at 1:35 PM, mellody said:

Websites these days don't need Guides and explanations, those companies have a team of employees who do nothing but make the site more intuitive, so anyone can understand and use it the first time they visit. It's a good point, actually it happens to me as well that I can't find threads anymore and I have to search a bit - although I know the forum layout very well. Maybe we have too many sub-forums... I know I wanted to work out a few changes at least on the MFC section of the forum already a year ago, but as so often, real life got in the way.  I think I should get started on that asap.

Also I get confused if I see a whole screen of pinned threads, then I have to scroll down for the new threads with current discussions. For those not used to forums it might not be obvious that these are pinned, so they think the new thread has disappeared, because they don't scroll further down.

 

My only issues with the subforums are: sometimes i don't know whether to put/find threads in Mika News and Press or Chat About Mika. And the Mika's Music & Artwork and Mika Media threads always confuse me.  Perhaps the distinctions can be clarified, or a mod can go through the threads and sort them better?

 

On 1/28/2018 at 11:00 AM, dcdeb said:

Now, as for the behavior of fans outside the forum, you have to understand that we are not the boss or mother of every fan, so we can't order them to behave a certain way. We are not responsible for how you behave in the Real World. I think it's natural in every fandom that you will have some people who will want to help others, and other fans who are just "in it for themselves" and will be very cutthroat about getting things for themselves and their friends only. I like to think that the people who behave in this selfish, negative way are not representative of MFC in general. They may say they are MFCers, but are they really? Anyone can say that. I believe, in general, most members of MFC -- the ones who have been here a while and who participate actively -- are helpers and try to do positive things for other fans, whether it's translating, providing subtitles to videos, posting information, sharing photos and videos and reports... that sort of thing.

 

I generally think MFCers are very helpful about sharing about where he'll be and when! Maybe people think we're being selfish because they don't understand that Mika won't do an M&G with 100 fans so we have to draw the line somewhere  Even if I can't meet him I'm just glad someone does! Especially if they post a report about the encounter later as I love to hear about Mika's reactions to gifts and funny moments and how much he appreciates his fans! Why would anyone want to deny someone that chance if at all possible?

I want to say perhaps the people who think MFCers behave in a negative way are just super butthurt  ...but i won't. 

 

On 1/28/2018 at 2:17 PM, dcdeb said:

I believe we can archive old posts, but if I understand correctly, when we do a search on the forums, the archived posts will not be included in the search. That seems to defeat the purpose of the search to me, which is why I haven't archived anything since we moved sites. I'll double-check with our Tech Support people to get some clarification on this.

 

One thing I love about MFC that all those other forms don't have is that MFC is a storehouse for all those threads from long ago, they are very valuable for researching. So please don't make them not show up in search results!  The other social media platforms are much too messy to be of any real research value.

 

On 1/28/2018 at 3:29 PM, mellody said:

As for sorting old topics by years, I guess we could do that with sub-forums, then we don't have to use the archive function. We'd just have to find a solution for the problem that there'll be a list of (so far) 10 years before the other posts then... But maybe we could just add an extra section, called "Archives", to make the current boards more organized.

 

On 1/28/2018 at 3:46 PM, silver said:

Re old gigs/performances gig reports, we produce a list of events for each calendar year when we do the Yearbook, so maybe that could be the basis of an index thread giving the name/date/venue and a link to the relevant report thread.  The Mika Gigs Archive calendar shows the dates, but doesn't always have links to further information.

Mika News and Press would be harder to sort, but I think having annual threads has helped a bit.

 

These sound like good options to me 

 

On 1/28/2018 at 3:32 PM, tiibet said:

I really hope that MFC will stay as a forum even it's not so fashionable anymore, I like this form. For me the hardest part is always finding important new threads but I think I'm the one to blame, not the forum and its structure. I'm so stuck with my own habits that I can't see things even I look at them at the front page. I saw only now there's a list of "hot topics" and found this thread and it was started on Tuesday already. I'm used to check only "news" because that part feels most important and lately I've checked also members area hoping to see updates about the Yearbook (but I saw your answer Deb, Mika hasn't even received the book yet). Somehow I'm almost blind to everything else. However, MFC is the place where I come whenever I need any information: lyrics, subtitles, facts, anything. Usually I always find what I need, I like it that some of those threads are pinned and that way easy to see  I would love it if MFC as Mika's official fan club could be the place where to find news first but I do understand why it can't happen and that someone always leaks before his team is allowed to confirm anything.

 

Do you use the "activity" feature? It can show unread content, and you can sort it all sorts of ways. I love it and use it all the time!

Sometimes I access MFC on my phone, and rarely (if ever?) does that side bar w/ hot topics, birthdays, etc show up. That could be an issue addressed if we do a survey like Mellody mentioned.

 

On 1/28/2018 at 4:16 PM, Anditwassummer said:

I joined to hear about concerts but found the forum full of interesting things and people.  I do think Mika's own web page is uninspired and it's clear that merch is not high on anyone's list.  In fact, I think Mika's web presence is not very exciting. "Remember this" posts are somewhat sad to me.  As if Mika was not here and now doing anything worth mentioning.  I might think that his team and himself have really linited your ability to float rumors or little bits of info to keep it new, but I thought he was done with hiding his life.

 

Amen to this! I think MFC fills that void as much as it can & that's another reason it's so valuable & i really wish Mika would utilize us more.

 

23 hours ago, crazyaboutmika said:

Also it is free to join and commercials free which is a blessing. 

 

I was a witness of some storms here I won't deny it...but there are also such storms on twitter, instagram and rl...it's just part of human nature not to agree...can't blame MFC for that..

 

I agree that we need more publicity and that if the first thing people who visit MFC saw was a banner saying MFC is the one and only international official fan club, it might motivate them to visit again.Maybe a banner saying something like: Join for free and get to watch all Mika's subbed videos would convince non members to join. Also a page with translated instructions on how to fill in the joining page might encourage people to do so.

If there was a thread which would guide new fans into MFC with: 

Comprehensive lyrics thread link

Mika FAQs or Mika bio link

Mika list of songs thread link

Mika press thread link

Mika official media list thread link

Mika calendar link

International threads links

Ask the mods thread link

Ask for anything Mika related thread link

Mika Encyclopedia link

Links to reps 

Any other links that might be useful

 

Just voicing my agreement with the bolded parts.

Good list, i'd add the subtitled vids thread and the Mika twitter/FB/etc thread, and the video treasures for newbies too. Perhaps then some of these pinned threads could be unpinned, because yeah like Mellody said so many can be confusing? If we do link these threads in some sort of master thread it seems we'd need to be even more vigilant about keeping the threads up to date with news, new songs, events, etc.

 

BTW please bring back a chat room feature! it was great for real time discussion

 

Gee whiz, this post is long! I might add some more thoughts later, i gotta go but i'm sure i'm forgetting some comments i meant to make.

Edited January 30, 2018 by kreacher

[ladyolivier]

Jumping in to say one thing: I understand the potential issue with people only appearing to take part in competitions and leave, but I s o agree that making this site paid would be terrible. I hate to disagree so vehemently, but merely reading that made me a little anxious. Mika's fans are mostly young, younger than me (I'm 20), even, and making this site paid would lock a lot of them out. Additionally, there are too many other resources (news, subtitles) on this site to take it out of easy public access. Speaking for myself, if I suddenly had to pay to be a part of this site, I would never be able to. It's not that I don't care enough, not at all, but that I'm..well, to be honest, rather poor, and could not afford that. In my opinion, things that lock people out based on money always end up selecting not the most dedicated fans, but the richest ones. The fact that this a truly official fan club which is free is something that I admire greatly about it, as many official things like this are paid.

 

I think requiring a small amount of forum use, a couple posts a month on average, is a good middle ground. Someone's post frequency here is not a foolproof meter of how dedicated/invested/appreciative someone might be, as there are a lot of people who might be the biggest fans ever but do their interacting with other fans on other platforms such as twitter or Instagram, so it's not perfect, but it's one of the best fixes I can think of that doesn't lock anyone out by an potentially un-equal or insurmountable barrier, like money.

 

I agree that Mika's internet presence isn't great. His website is horribly poorly updated and his official Facebook is weirdly managed. But this isn't something easy to fix other than Mika hiring new IT people.

(I'm majoring in IT - hey Mika, I'm so available)

Edited January 30, 2018 by ladyolivier

[cat_loves_mika]

5 minutes ago, ladyolivier said:

I agree that Mika's internet presence isn't great. His website is horribly poorly updated and his official Facebook is weirdly managed. But this isn't something easy to fix other than Mika hiring new IT people.

(I'm majoring in IT - hey Mika, I'm so available)

 

That's not IT at all, that's just social media management. 

[Anditwassummer]

5 hours ago, krysady said:

 

Do you mean something like this? 

 

Yes, but in a standard form and style, standard borders. Standard size artwork.  Same size type.  Something that is a signature.   Used in a consistant place and way.   And using mostly quotes from songs, interviews etc that come from a solid, clear point of view that is Mika's.   

[tiibet]

8 hours ago, kreacher said:

Do you use the "activity" feature? It can show unread content, and you can sort it all sorts of ways. I love it and use it all the time!

Sometimes I access MFC on my phone, and rarely (if ever?) does that side bar w/ hot topics, birthdays, etc show up. That could be an issue addressed if we do a survey like Mellody mentioned.

 

Actually, I just randomly discovered "activity" feature yesterday while checking something with my mobile. Maybe I should use it. I'v been a member 10 years and always done things the same way. I come here almost daily to quickly check if anything new. If it's gig time I directly go and check the gig threads, of course. If there's new music I see the song threads. Otherwise, like these days, I just go to see the news. And I'm so stuck with these habits that rarely see anything else so I often miss interesting topics. But that's just because I'm used to do things like that, there's nothing wrong with mfc. The only thing I really miss is the old calendar events. They disappeared at some point, didn't they, and would be so useful to be able to check some old dates. 

[Siri]

 

On 28/1/2018 at 6:00 PM, dcdeb said:

OK, back finally. Sorry for the delay, life is complicated. Anyhow, Siri, we would never ban you for expressing your opinion -- the only people who have ever been banned here are those who have been verbally abusive to other fans or who have repeatedly ignored our guidelines. No one's been banned for simply having a discussion!

 

And please do NOT be afraid to share your thoughts -- honestly, we will not blacklist you! 

Thank you!

 

 

On 26/1/2018 at 1:18 PM, BigGirl08 said:

First of all, I think the most important thing is that MFC remains free. Mika's fandom is composed for the most part by very young people who can't afford a quota and this would mean excluding them from initiatives and events.
So I think it's important to make everyone part of the fan club, even the last one, make sure everyone can feel important in the same way, because the goal of each of us is to follow a passion with the greatest possible serenity, without competitions.

 

21 hours ago, kreacher said:

I agree, this is a real problem, but I think making MFC cost money to join is not the best way to get people to use MFC at all. Perhaps some stipulations could be made for getting into meet & greets and for entering competitions? For example perhaps we can require someone to have a certain number (even if its a really small number!) of posts (real posts, not just junk posts) per month in order to get on the list or to enter comps.

 

16 hours ago, ladyolivier said:

Jumping in to say one thing: I understand the potential issue with people only appearing to take part in competitions and leave, but I s o agree that making this site paid would be terrible. I hate to disagree so vehemently, but merely reading that made me a little anxious. Mika's fans are mostly young, younger than me (I'm 20), even, and making this site paid would lock a lot of them out. Additionally, there are too many other resources (news, subtitles) on this site to take it out of easy public access. Speaking for myself, if I suddenly had to pay to be a part of this site, I would never be able to. It's not that I don't care enough, not at all, but that I'm..well, to be honest, rather poor, and could not afford that. In my opinion, things that lock people out based on money always end up selecting not the most dedicated fans, but the richest ones. The fact that this a truly official fan club which is free is something that I admire greatly about it, as many official things like this are paid.

 

I agree with this. As I already said, I had many doubts before joining and I decided to do so only because it was free; and as @ladyolivier said, it's not because I don't care, but if I'd have to pay, I would leave.

 

 

On 28/1/2018 at 6:00 PM, dcdeb said:

It's a good observation that sometimes Mika's team doesn't communicate with us. That is partly true. As I have learned, sometimes there are legal restrictions that keep them from giving us information. Often, that information leaks out earlier than it should and it makes MFC look stupid, but we can't control that. As the official fan club, we are required to do what Mika's team tells us to do, so that is a frustration for us as well as for the fans.

 

On 28/1/2018 at 10:32 PM, tiibet said:

 I would love it if MFC as Mika's official fan club could be the place where to find news first but I do understand why it can't happen and that someone always leaks before his team is allowed to confirm anything.

 

21 hours ago, kreacher said:

Amen to this! I think MFC fills that void as much as it can & that's another reason it's so valuable & i really wish Mika would utilize us more.

 

Quote

I agree that Mika's internet presence isn't great. His website is horribly poorly updated and his official Facebook is weirdly managed.

 

I agree, Mika isn't well represented on the net, his website is really strange, not updated...it seems like he does nothing, like he is not active anymore, while is the exact opposite! As @kreacher and @tiibet said, I'd love that Mika (or his team) utilize more MFC, and that MFC was the place where to find news, not months after when everybody already knows them. I understand that there might be legal restrictions, but if the entire world already know it...I don't know.

 

 

21 hours ago, kreacher said:

My only issues with the subforums are: sometimes i don't know whether to put/find threads in Mika News and Press or Chat About Mika. And the Mika's Music & Artwork and Mika Media threads always confuse me.  Perhaps the distinctions can be clarified, or a mod can go through the threads and sort them better?

 

I always got confused if I manually search sth. Never know where to check, some forum names are the same thing in my head.

 

 

23 hours ago, mellody said:

That is true, although in some cases we do say no. A few restrictions are necessary, to protect our members as well as MFC's reputation. For example, no one except the Mods/Admins is allowed to collect money from members on MFC. We can't control what the organizers do with it, so if we want to make sure members can trust a project that is organized on MFC, the most reliable way is simply to keep this within the team. Of course, if someone has a fantastic idea that happens to involve money, we can discuss this and help.

 

Also, we try to watch that the projects don't get too much (for example, Mika doesn't need 20 birthday gifts from MFC...) and that at least the big ones (official MFC birthday gift, yearbook, or gifts for special events) are well organized, so we can be sure it works out. It'll help no one if someone who offers to organize a gift for Mika realizes after a few weeks how much work that really is and gives up. Indeed it has happened before that we were stuck with a half-done gift and had to do all the organization ourselves, so the member's contributions wouldn't get lost.

 

We try to do the birthday project every year (just last year we forgot to start in time), and for this, anyone is welcome to help with their ideas and organization skills, so we can create something as a team. I've just started the brainstorming thread for this year's gift yesterday, you can find it in the members only section.

 

Of course ideas are welcome at any time. And if you look in the MFC projects board, you'll find a lot of successful projects started by members. If we say no, it's for one of the above reasons, or simply because it's too short notice. Even if some might think this forum is dead - if there's a cool gift idea for Mika, you might be surprised by the amount of people wanting to participate.

 

Ok, that explains lot of things. I agree with the money issue; I've seen ppl collecting money not knowing what they was for, and ended up with an horrible gift. 
I was referring to special events like the cake for the ending of SCM recordings. But that implies money and short notice.

The thing is that I would expect the Official FC organize this sort of things, collecting money from memebers who are going, and maybe external ppl too if they want, leaving in any case the "event" free. I would expect everybody knows the FC is organizing this in a transparent way, and decide whether participating or not, knowing that IT IS NOT a M&G, and Mika not supposed to stop (he is free to do what he wants).

Instead the whole thing was organized by some small groups, maybe because they know those restrictions (with SCM you had very short advice) as they are mostly MFCers and Reps too. But then why Reps from countries where those events take palce have no authority to organize/collect money? I thought having Reps in every country was useful in that way, having somebody "on the field".
In that way the organisation was sort of "secret", ppl who payed think they have Mika's exclusive or preference (fortunately he doesn't do preferences between fans) and the FC was forced to "apologize" with other fans for not having organized that and not having let them know.

 

I'm talking about SCM, but it's only an example, it's the same for other nations Reps and events.

 

Talking about Reps @silver, I unfortunately had some troubles with them (as we have more than one). They were not helpful nor this kind to me (it seems like I was bothering them) and I had more help from other MFCers than from them. Maybe I was just not lucky.

 

 

21 hours ago, kreacher said:

Really? I tend to think MFCers (at least those who care & are still somewhat active) are better behaved than non-MFCers, mostly because MFCers don't want to get banned from the forum and M&Gs and such, but non-MFCers don't have that incentive. I wonder if at least some of people that said those things on the net had some kind of past run-in with an MFCer or are jealous and want to badmouth all MFC as some sort of petty revenge.

 

 

Regarding image building: From my personal experience in the queue at concerts I do think MFCers can seem a bit... cliqueish or even standoffish (i know i'm guilty of glaring at people so they don't try to cut in line xD). At past Mika gigs while I was sitting with my fellow MFCers for hours laughing and chatting and holding each others spots in line while we went to use the restroom i couldn't help but think of those poor folks behind us who just stood there with no one to talk to. I'm super shy with new people so from being by myself at other gigs & just dying to have someone to fangurl a little bit with i know the agony of this firsthand! Perhaps we can try to do better at engaging with other fans while we wait, even if a few MFC representatives can go down the line and just chat with people and hand out little MFC flyers. If people don't want to join or whatever, they can politely decline.

 

 

I generally think MFCers are very helpful about sharing about where he'll be and when! Maybe people think we're being selfish because they don't understand that Mika won't do an M&G with 100 fans so we have to draw the line somewhere  Even if I can't meet him I'm just glad someone does! Especially if they post a report about the encounter later as I love to hear about Mika's reactions to gifts and funny moments and how much he appreciates his fans! Why would anyone want to deny someone that chance if at all possible?

I want to say perhaps the people who think MFCers behave in a negative way are just super butthurt  ...but i won't. 

 

 

When I first went to a Mika concert (well, my very first concert, and the only one for now) I was with a friend. I arrived at 11 a.m. and went streight to the queue. I was alone. She arrived only hours later, and I felt terribly guilty for holding ONE place for her. Same when I asked somebody to hold our spot because we had to do the check in at the hostel for the night.
Then the queue growed up. Suddenly a group of ppl arrived and passed over us. There was one person in front of me before, and now there were five, and we had no place to stand! And it's not the only group who did so. There were really few ppl in the line when I arrived and after the day passed, I magically had a thousand ppl before me. Thats not fair. I had no rest the past days for school, but I made the line. I didn't move. I don't even know where the main entrance of the arena is, and discovered only after there was the chance to buy Mika's stuff (sh*t!).
Most of them was MFCers.
Then, as the fatidic hour was approaching, I began being nervous. I saw ppl who had make up for the concert and wanted that to. I decided to ask and have some chat with somebody (as you, I used to be really shy, but wanted so hard to fangirl with someone - my friend wasn't fan at this point). I approached some MFCers. They looked at me as they were disgusted. They was like  "how dare she approach us? The elected ones?". I felt really bad. Fortunately there was a girl that was very nice to me, we had a (very) little chat, and then I came back in my spot. 

Maybe (again) it's me that isn't lucky with people in real life? I don't know. But I read such things all around the net too, so I'm not the only one. And that doesn't help MFC reputation.
 

On 26/1/2018 at 1:18 PM, BigGirl08 said:

But all this process of improvement, in my opinion, will never be possible unless we first improve the way we relate to other members of the fan club.

 

 

EDIT

21 hours ago, kreacher said:

Really? I tend to think MFCers (at least those who care & are still somewhat active) are better behaved than non-MFCers, mostly because MFCers don't want to get banned from the forum and M&Gs and such, but non-MFCers don't have that incentive.

 

As without any proof we can't know about their behaviour, even if we have ppl who report them, because we can't know if it's true or just jealousy, they can behave as they want, nobody can do nothing against them...

Edited January 30, 2018 by Siri

[mellody]

I'm sorry Siri to hear about your bad experience at your (so far) only Mika gig. I agree it really shouldn't be like that. A few points:

 

The queueing system: There have been complaints about it ever since it started back in 2007 or 2008. It's certainly not perfect. And these days, it mostly doesn't make sense at all, because no one really watches over it, and no one makes sure it works. Back in the old days (up to 2010), Mika's tour manager at the time made sure at most gigs that people could enter according to the queueing numbers, before the rest of the crowd. The queue would start some time between 4 am and 4 pm (depending on the location), everyone was given a number (MFCer or not) according to the time they arrived. One of the first people in the queue would take care of the list. Keeping places for friends who didn't arrive at the same time wasn't allowed, and it was regularly checked whether everyone in the queue was still there, and not absent for hours. But with often a maximum of 50 people in the queue by 4 pm, that wasn't hard. These days, Mika's team doesn't care who goes in first, those who start the queue might do so already the day before the gig, so it's not unusual to have 200 people in the queue already in the morning. Security often doesn't care either, so when doors open, people who arrived just minutes before can push in from the sides. It's different at every gig, but as a matter of fact, the queueing numbers system doesn't work anymore the way it used to, for several reasons. It can only work if all fans in the queue, as well as security staff work together - and with that many people and that many queueing hours as it is today, that is hardly ever the case. We still try often enough, to try and keep at least *some* sort of order in the queue. In any case, you don't have to feel bad for keeping a place for a friend, as long as it's not a whole group of friends who prefer to sleep in and rely on you to keep their place.

 

About the group you approached, I don't know who they were, maybe they really thought they were the "elected ones", there are a few who just think about themselves. But it's also possible that they were nervous as well, because in fact you always get nervous when the time of the doors opening comes close, since everyone wants to have a good spot at the gig. Maybe they thought you just wanted to talk with them to jump the queue, or they were overtired because they had spent the night in front of the venue, and thus not ready to talk with people they don't know. Or all of the above. In any case I'm pretty sure it wasn't against you personally, though I know that it's easy to think this way if you're insecure, it happens to me as well (and used to happen all the time when I was younger). It does help when you talk with people on the forum, on the gig planning thread, and already ask questions there - maybe you even can arrange in advance to meet up with other MFCers in the queue, then they'll know who you are and hopefully problems like the one you described won't turn up.

 

I guess it would indeed make sense to have a few MFC representatives in every queue, who help newbies and introduce them to other MFCers etc. - but it's really hard. I think we can talk to the MFC reps that at the gigs they visit, they should be there for the newbies and open to any questions.

I must say though that it has also happened to me that I've tried to talk to people in the queue, asking if they were on MFC, and got something like "yes but I never post there" as a reply, together with an angry look, how I could dare to ask that. In my case I guess it's also often language barriers, since I don't speak Italian or French, and not everyone understands English. Anyway, I just wanted to say that so you see it's not just from one side. It takes a while to get to know each other and become friends, but at least MFC is a good starting point for a conversation.

 

As for the project for the final Casa Mika, I wasn't there and didn't know about it in advance, I think maybe @mari62 or @dcdeb can say more about what happened in this case. But I do know that a few weeks earlier we had the big MFC party before the Casa Mika recording, with a cake and everything, and we made a gift for Mika there as well, organized by a MFCer, pretty last minute. It just worked because we all came together at this party, and Ani (the one who organized it) was able to prepare all the necessary stuff in such a short time.

 

 

[dcdeb]

I only have a short amount of time right now, but did want to reply to a few things before I have to get to work today.

 

First of all, about being a "paid" fan club -- I don't see that ever happening. I'm pretty sure Mika doesn't want us to have to pay. We have discussed this with his team several times over the years. We have even talked about having some sort of tiered membership, which would still allow people free use of the forum, but fans who paid would get additional benefits. Obviously, we've never put that idea into practice, and, like I said, I think it's mostly because Mika wants to keep things the way they are -- I think he realizes that many fans are younger and don't have the money to pay for something like that. I can't tell you how many times the word "fair" comes up in our conversations -- we want things to be fair for everyone, and we don't ever want to be be seen as being unfair in anything we do. We really do try to avoid the idea of being "exclusionary."

 

Also, some of you have talked about the language localization and the different language threads. As I said the other day, I turned on the "Clubs" module, thinking that we could use it for the various languages, but with one thing and another, I haven't had the time to learn more about how it works and figure out how we can best design it. It's on my to-do list again following this current discussion

 

I've been thinking archiving the old, old posts, and perhaps the idea of creating a subforum called "Archives" would be better than actually archiving. That way, the old posts would be out of the way, but still accessible via the search function. It's just a matter of taking the time to move everything into a subforum, but it can be done. Hmmm.

 

And Nina, you said:

 

8 hours ago, tiibet said:

 

 The only thing I really miss is the old calendar events. They disappeared at some point, didn't they, and would be so useful to be able to check some old dates. 

 

The old calendar info should all still be there. If you look at the main calendar page, in the upper left you'll see "All Calendars." Pull down the drop-down menu and select "Mika Gig Archives" then use the "Jump to" feature to the right of that to select the dates you want to see. I think everything is still there.

 

OK, I have to run, but I'll be back later tonight to reply to more.  Thanks all!