A Message to Our Readers

[Elvis]

isn't this a little off subject? diversion at its best!

I hope that's sarcasm. I'm excited to see REM again.. sheesh.

 

[LostAtMoon]

God, I'm so bored with all this! And most of you certainly are too confused (I'm not in the mood to use other proper adjectives). Is this all that's going to be discussed in this forum? For how long?
Where are the ones who really enjoy U2's music?

 

[Tip Top Prince]

In with the band nope sorry,having contact with who I thought was this Edge yes indeed I did many times as did Joel and other staff.

As I quoted earlier in this thread, and as you posted in the thread in EYKIW - you staked your reputation that it was the Edge.

I now humbly suggest you STFU.

 

[biff]

Yes, and she has never once explained what evidence she had to suggest it was the Edge, despite REPEATED questions form me and others. Katey, you told me yesterday you would answer that question. Well???

 

[martha]

you staked your reputation that it was the Edge.

This was my point too.

And now many reputations are permanently damaged.

 

[martha]

Kate has brought an incredible professional experience and personality to our team.


Each person volunteers their time (and a lot of it) and that should be respected.

I didn't attack her at all. I stated that her position as a staff member ought to be reconsidered in light of her huge mistake. I understand completely that all of you are voluntarily contributing time to the site, but a shoddy voluntary contribution is a still a shoddy contribution. I appreciate that you are taking the lion's share of the blame for this, Joel, as you should, but a "professional" should have been able to thoroughly verify everything before publishing anything. That's what a true professional does.

 

[Elvis]

I didn't attack her at all. I stated that her position as a staff member ought to be reconsidered in light of her huge mistake. I understand completely that all of you are voluntarily contributing time to the site, but a shoddy voluntary contribution is a still a shoddy contribution. I appreciate that you are taking the lion's share of the blame for this, Joel, as you should, but a "professional" should have been able to thoroughly verify everything before publishing anything. That's what a true professional does.

I'm not disagreeing, and I wasnt really meaning that you personally attacked kate... however several other people have. We're all fans, and we're all human... and we all error. If I 'fired' myself from staff everytime I fucked up here, we wouldnt even be having this conversation. Personally, I want Kate to stay on the team. In the end, I should have taken the time to push for more verification before the stuff got posted, regardless of how busy I was, or how crazy life has been lately. I'm for sure going to be more involved in that part of the process in the future.

2.5 hrs till REM plays.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

I admit I started to have my doubts after 'Edge' started saying Electric Co, Ultraviolet and Zoo Station and other really old rarities were going to be on this tour at the expense of classics like Streets and Bullet.

Sorry Dave but I don't think the person ever said they were rehearsing those songs at the expense of songs like Streets and Bullet.

I think if that person wasn’t actually The Edge than it was someone who had inside information because in the BBC show Dallas played parts of Zoo Station and The Electric Co during the soundcheck which is an indication that they might be rehearsing those songs. If this person was actually the daughter of this Smith guy than, since he works with U2, he might have said something to her and she used it here. Does anyone know if this Smith fella is still working with U2 or is there with them as they prepare for the tour?

Questions for you Elvis (or whoever that can answer it): SUPPOSE that this person was actually The Edge all the time, how could the IP be rooted in Chicago be explained? Could it have been a mistake or could Edge have used his super geek powers to fuck with his computer (which I don't think he would cause it would be too much trouble just to hide himself from us, which doesn’t' make much sense)?

Any way there are the questions.

 

[ramblin rose]

I'm not disagreeing, and I wasnt really meaning that you personally attacked kate... however several other people have. We're all fans, and we're all human... and we all error. If I 'fired' myself from staff everytime I fucked up here, we wouldnt even be having this conversation. Personally, I want Kate to stay on the team. In the end, I should have taken the time to push for more verification before the stuff got posted, regardless of how busy I was, or how crazy life has been lately. I'm for sure going to be more involved in that part of the process in the future.
2.5 hrs till REM plays.

I have tried to stay out of this today, but with regards to Katey, I'm a little surprised that even a week ago when I PM'd her with my doubts I still received a response about staking her reputation on the validity of this Edge poster.

At a time when apparently behind the scenes everything was already unraveling.

To me that is extremely irresponsible. I asked for confirmation that she had read my PM and that was all she had to do. Instead I got a message back that to be honest, I found rather disturbing in tone and content.

 

[Katey]

Hi guys, I know after this I really will as someone requested STFU. But I want to say this I really take full responsibiity for my actions and I can't apologise enough for my part in all of this. I can't go back and undo, and my apology might not mean all that much to some but it is a very deep apology. There my last post here, everybody take care!!
Ohh and to Joel, you are a stand up guy I know it and thanks for that!!

 

[drealynn42]

I have officially declared ThatGuy my favorite person of the day for his use of reason and rationality. For instance, his post in the closed thread:

"Whether the staff of Interference were the deceivers, or were themselves deceived, it shows a gross level of incompetence.

And given the repeated assertations that Interference has close ties to PM and the band it should have been very, very easy from the get-go to verify whether or not it was really The Edge posting."

Some of us who followed this whole thing in other chat rooms and forums believed this was a troll from the very beginning. I was dumbstruck by how many people actually believed it, but then, this sort of thing happens on the internet sites all the time. Just not on heavily moderated, paid sites...I certainly won't be paying for new membership once my two month extension runs out, because there was nothing professional about what happened here.

 

[Sue DeNym]

We interrupt the dead horse beating for this important message:

Folks, SHIT HAPPENS. Many people throughout history have fallen to far worse deceptions than this. The staff here made a mistake, admitted it, apologized for it...let's learn from it and move on.

 

[Angela Harlem]

hindsight?

there was no hindsight needed
you were told from the very beginning that this was crap

instead of investigating this
you provoked Anna
kicked both of us out of here
maintained in public that this really, really, really is The Edge
and offered no answers to anything


hindsight?

 

[Angela Harlem]

Ohh and to Joel, you are a stand up guy I know it and thanks for that!!

You're the FallGuy Katey. Congrats. I dont know you Katey and dont even have any level of blame toward you at all. Some certainly seem to, yet your dedication to sticking by this is....frankly it makes no sense. I do wonder....

 

[DaveC]

Sorry Dave but I don't think the person ever said they were rehearsing those songs at the expense of songs like Streets and Bullet.

I think if that person wasn’t actually The Edge than it was someone who had inside information because in the BBC show Dallas played parts of Zoo Station and The Electric Co during the soundcheck which is an indication that they might be rehearsing those songs. If this person was actually the daughter of this Smith guy than, since he works with U2, he might have said something to her and she used it here. Does anyone know if this Smith fella is still working with U2 or is there with them as they prepare for the tour?

Questions for you Elvis (or whoever that can answer it): SUPPOSE that this person was actually The Edge all the time, how could the IP be rooted in Chicago be explained? Could it have been a mistake or could Edge have used his super geek powers to fuck with his computer (which I don't think he would cause it would be too much trouble just to hide himself from us, which doesn’t' make much sense)?

Any way there are the questions.

He/she/it posted a setlist with those songs added and Streets/Bullet removed.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

He/she/it posted a setlist with those songs added and Streets/Bullet removed.

But I think that was intentionally done as a joke cause there was songs there that they probably are not going to play again. But whatever.

 

[Blue Room]

I'm all about moving on from this at this point.

Alot of us are pissed off about it and I think we have a legitimate right to feel that way. Most of us will get over it. BUT we wont forget. The reputation and credibility of this site is down the tubes completely. Hell, Edge could actually visit someday. Almost everyone would doubdt it and flat out not believe it. You could actually get an exclusive interview, same would be true.

Its quite obvious that these "connections" that have been eluded to and almost bragged about in the past are not that well connected or may even be false. OR if they are, they were not checked in this instance. If so, WHY? Because you were pretty sure it wasnt Edge and wanted it to be true so bad you just let it go? We will never know and its obvious you will never say what transpired for sure. Its obvious you wont because it makes the people running this site look like morons, OR it will show that you deceived or partially deceived everyone here. Its just BAD any way you slice it.

What I find absolutely amazing at this point is that some of you (including Elvis) are eluding to a theory that the poster was Edge and is now deceiving us because they changed their mind??????????? You have GOT to be kidding me!! One word comes to mind. DELUSIONAL!

With that, I'm done bitching about this for the time being and hopefully for good (only if provoked to respond ). I'm still pissed and will be for a LONG time. But its not worth my energy any longer and I have done enough venting. I will come here for the good fans, certainly not for the content of the so called "news" here or the people running this place.

 

[ThatGuy]

I have officially declared ThatGuy my favorite person of the day for his use of reason and rationality.

Your check is in the mail, by the way.

 

[ThatGuy]

I'm all about moving on from this at this point.

Alot of us are pissed off about it and I think we have a legitimate right to feel that way. Most of us will get over it. BUT we wont forget. The reputation and credibility of this site is down the tubes completely. Hell, Edge could actually visit someday. Almost everyone would doubdt it and flat out not believe it. You could actually get an exclusive interview, same would be true.

Its quite obvious that these "connections" that have been eluded to and almost bragged about in the past are not that well connected or may even be false. OR if they are, they were not checked in this instance. If so, WHY? Because you were pretty sure it wasnt Edge and wanted it to be true so bad you just let it go? We will never know and its obvious you will never say what transpired for sure. Its obvious you wont because it makes the people running this site look like morons, OR it will show that you deceived or partially deceived everyone here. Its just BAD any way you slice it.

You raise an interesting point here. Will things really be different now that this has happened? Is being misled by someone once and forgiving them any different than being misled twice by the same person and forgiving them again?

Over time people will forget and new people will join Interference, and the incident here in 2004 will fade into memory just like the earlier incident did. Even you were fooled by the impostor after being pretty pissed off about the previous hoax. I'll admit that though I was skeptical of "The Edge" at first, when I saw that you in particular believed it was him I temporarily put aside my doubts and believed too.

If something like this does happen again people will still get fooled, and people will still forgive. To say, "Okay you got me this time, but never again," is pretty disingenuous because that's essentially what you said the last time. I'm not singling you out here, really, but pointing out the general attitude I'm seeing here from some of the older posters. No offense to you personally.

 

[Blue Room]

If something like this does happen again people will still get fooled, and people will still forgive. To say, "Okay you got me this time, but never again," is pretty disingenuous because that's essentially what you said the last time. I'm not singling you out here, really, but pointing out the general attitude I'm seeing here from some of the older posters. No offense to you personally.

WTF? What EXACTLY did a say the last time? Please quote me please because I would like to see it. I actually supported alot of your view points on this crap. But to call me disingenous on something I have never said does piss me off. All I said was I was pissed the last time and I gave my reasons why I believed this time. WHO the hell are you to call me disingenous! Thats convenient to call me disingenous and then say no offense. BS! I would say something else but I would get banned. I guess your crystal ball tells you how I will react next time. F.O.!

 

[ThatGuy]

WTF? What EXACTLY did a say the last time? Please quote me please because I would like to see it. I actually supported alot of your view points on this crap. But to call me disingenous on something I have never said does piss me off. All I said was I was pissed the last time and I gave my reasons why I believed this time. WHO the hell are you to call me disingenous! Thats convenient to call me disingenous and then say no offense. BS! I would say something else but I would get banned. I guess your crystal ball tells you how I will react next time. F.O.!

Wow, you took that the worst possible way.

What I'm saying is if you felt betrayed by the site before and now feel the same way again, what will it matter if it happens a third time? I've seen a few people say that they felt terrible about what happened in 2001, and about what has happened now, and now Interference's reputation is really in the toilet, or somethng to that effect.

My point is that if something like this happened again, would it really change your opinion of the site to the point that you would consider doing anything about it? And if yes, why? Because it happened a third time? What difference would that make, really? Fool me once, etc.

I am really, truly sorry if what I wrote originally came off as a personal attack on you. That was absolutely not my intent. I was using the point you brought up to illustrate what I thought was a larger issue. Again, I sincerely apologize if you felt attacked by my post.

Please feel free to e-mail me at mcalvillo[at]gmail[dot]com if you feel my apology is insufficient.

 

[Blue Room]

See, why rehash what I said before, its obvious you didnt read it. There were things that were different the last time this was done. But since you like to slap labels around and make vague all inclusive statements about things that were never said I will explain AGAIN just for YOU!

Last time Elvis never said the posts were legitimate. The posts made were vague and said nothing basically and ended within a few days. I thought it was misleading and it did piss me off. This time, official status was afforded and supposedly confirmed. There was even an interview claiming to be real. Can you see a difference here??? I figured since "official" status was afforded Elvis had double and quadruple checked the legitimacy. I also figured because how big this site has become since the last time he would not jeapardize its reputation. So I believed it was probebly real this time. Thats why it will be different for me if anything like this happens again. Is that getting through!!

Also, I never did let the prior issue go. If you really need proof, search my posts for the past 1 1/2. I have brought up the fact that Elvis did this before several times even before the Edge posts started this time.

 

[indra]

Re: We interrupt the dead horse beating for this important message:

Folks, SHIT HAPPENS. Many people throughout history have fallen to far worse deceptions than this. The staff here made a mistake, admitted it, apologized for it...let's learn from it and move on.

Yeah.

 

[ThatGuy]

See, why rehash what I said before, its obvious you didnt read it. There were things that were different the last time this was done. But since you like to slap labels around and make vague all inclusive statements about things that were never said I will explain AGAIN just for YOU!

Last time Elvis never said the posts were legitimate. The posts made were vague and said nothing basically and ended within a few days. I thought it was misleading and it did piss me off. This time, official status was afforded and supposedly confirmed. There was even an interview claiming to be real. Can you see a difference here??? I figured since "official" status was afforded Elvis had double and quadruple checked the legitimacy. I also figured because how big this site has become since the last time he would not jeapardize its reputation. So I believed it was probebly real this time. Thats why it will be different for me if anything like this happens again. Is that getting through!!

Also, I never did let the prior issue go. If you really need proof, search my posts for the past 1 1/2. I have brought up the fact that Elvis did this before several times even before the Edge posts started this time.

I did read what you wrote, but given what you've written elsewhere it seemed to me that the most disconcerting thing to you regarding the last time was that Elvis had posted as Edge. The band status seemed to be a secondary and irrelevent concern to you. Maybe I misunderstood what I read, or perhaps you were unclear on what you meant at the time you wrote it. Regardless I feel that my original point stands, not necessarily to you specifically but to others I have seen expressing similar sentiments.

Again, I'm sorry that I made you upset.

 

[indra]

Well, I think one could give money here and also give money to other causes. I've given much more money to my church and to Amnesty than I've ever given to Interference.

Yeah...and I'm also pretty sure The Edge and Bono would like y'all to spend $12 on their cd also. I'm sure everyone here could find "better" things to do with their disposable income than almost any of the things they are currently doing with it.

And I'm already supporting a poor family (in addition to my own).

 

[Salome]

I am almost at the point of calling Elvis some colourful language myself just to check whether he hasn't just blocked me and that's why he he isn't able to read my posts and answer them
of course I wouldn't do a thing like that because all of us here are one warm happy little community

for the people who like to point out that we should be focussing on U2's music instead of this: your reason is lost on me
I can happily play U2 24/7 if I'd want to but that doesn't change that I won't let anyone treat me like I'm just so plain stupid
and that's what has happened over here the last couple of weeks to all of us
that we wouldn't find out what happened and that it will all just fade away

but I'm not willing to let another fiasco like this just fade away and pretend that weeks of being misled, lied to and ignored equals to someone just making a mistake for once in his life
it probably would be a nicer world if I could just believe this
then again I might end up buying some swamp land instead of proper real estate from some nice lady with a good story if I were that gullible

 

[Diemen]

Well said, Salome

 

[Angela Harlem]

ja

 

[Renne]

Salome: Hear, hear.

 

[Merc]

You go away for one week, and this is what you find when you get home!


I don't know what to think...