A Message to Our Readers

[Elvis]

I PMd you.

 

[xtal]

Angela- I want to hear what you want to say.

As for the hoaxing shit, it's juvenile to sit back and let hundreds of people believe that The Edge was posting. If none of the website owners/admin were to encourage the belief that this really was the Edge, then there would be NO problem.
None of us would even paid a speck of attention to this freak who had the name TheEdge. In fact, we'd buddy up with him as we do others. No harm would have been done.
Sadly, the fact is, that admin put up interviews, and Ask The Edge, and all that bullshit of replying to the Edge as if he were the Edge. I don't know what kind of proof they had, but oh well.
Yes I feel stupid that for a few minutes I fancied the idea of Edge paying attention to us. But just because the band members are not posting, does not mean that they don't check in from time to time.

As for the hoax,
"Don't let it happen again!"

 

[Calluna]

... we do not KNOW the truth. Even to this day, I am still finding out new information (as I recently told you in a PM), and yet.. still do not KNOW much more than a week, two weeks, ago. You have certain details, I have certain details, as do others, and most of them do not match up to make for certain that any of them are actually FACT...

The mind plays tricks on you. You play tricks back! It's like you're unraveling a big cable-knit sweater that someone keeps knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting...

 

[Dreadsox]

So let me understand this...and this is really pissing me off.....

You just admitted you knew it was not the Edge but Don. You felt it acceptable to let someone you thought was close to U2 named DON pretend to be the Edge. Isn't that in and of itself a lie that you knowingly passed off on ALL of US?

I do not give a rats ass if he is close to U2. If you A) did not think it was the Edge and B) passed said person off as the Edge you lied!

Case closed.....

 

[Elvis]

So let me understand this...and this is really pissing me off.....

You just admitted you knew it was not the Edge but Don. You felt it acceptable to let someone you thought was close to U2 named DON pretend to be the Edge. Isn't that in and of itself a lie that you knowingly passed off on ALL of US?

I do not give a rats ass if he is close to U2. If you A) did not think it was the Edge and B) passed said person off as the Edge you lied!

Case closed.....

I NEVER said I KNOW it to be someone named Don.

I have said that at this point we KNOW nothing more than IP.

Please, don't put words in my mouth.

Angela Harlem can tell you with no more certainty than I who this person(s) is or is not. All we can do at this point is speculate.

The case is hardly closed. Infact, the case will most likely never be closed unless the real person(s) behind it all ever decides to stand up and admit to it - which is highly unlikely.

 

[FallenAngel]

are you talking about 3-4 years ago?

If so, it was a huge mess. Basically some of us got mad over several things, including the fake band postings and left. River pretty much got banned right away, even though he didn't do anything to get banned. Me on the other hand, I got mad, pretty much acted like a troll on here out of spite....and got myself banned. Frogbat got banned for speaking his mind about things on the forum if I recall....others got banned for being friends with us lol.

--------

yeah the good ol' days I hadn't went in here in years but do recall lots of peeps were banned for various reasons. River had issues prior to interf... frogbat was being frogbat, some ppl finds him well, offensive... god was banned for his nick and offensiveness... not sure about brettig though, I thought it was a prank because rafs were disatisfied with his loosing the connection or something. Brettig was very harmless so to speak a nice lad if you ask me In those days ppl can be banned for expressing their opinion, if it was unpopular or offended someone for whatever reasons.

though I'd say we have quite high threshold of offense to be troubled

I miss those days!

Angel

 

[LoveTown]

yeah the good ol' days I hadn't went in here in years but do recall lots of peeps were banned for various reasons. River had issues prior to interf... frogbat was being frogbat, some ppl finds him well, offensive... god was banned for his nick and offensiveness... not sure about brettig though, I thought it was a prank because rafs were disatisfied with his loosing the connection or something. Brettig was very harmless so to speak a nice lad if you ask me In those days ppl can be banned for expressing their opinion, if it was unpopular or offended someone for whatever reasons.

though I'd say we have quite high threshold of offense to be troubled

I miss those days!

Ange

I'm not dragging this out to make Elvis look bad, I have to say that first of all. I just want people to know what happened to the people you mentioned because at one time they were very good friends of mine. I miss those days too

Well River sometimes took the heat at interference just for doing what he was told to do. He was outraged at the fake band postings because like it or not, he is a VERY honest person. Keep in mind that River never said anything on the forum or in the chat about Elvis or the site when it all happened. He kept his battles with Elvis private and was banned for them. I didn't even find out about much of it until after the fact. River never posted any grand "Im leaving" or "I quit" posts or said so in the chat. He just quietly left one day. I was the one that had the big mouth and made a grand announcement. Which he wasn't too happy with. He's a good guy at heart and wouldn't intentionally piss anybody innocent off, not without feeling bad about it and making up for it in some way at a later time.

Frogbat, Bat got pissed and basically said so in no uncertain terms and was banned for it. Bat is extremely intelligent and a VERY funny person. I think he is one of the people I miss talking to most of all.

Brettig, I think poor Betty was banned just for being buds with me, River and Bat at the time lol. Although he supposedly did something or other to make Elvis mad....I forget now but Betty has always been a super sweet person.

I was banned because I got mad about the fake band posting and a few other things and acted like an idiot. I pretty much did whatever I could to piss Elvis off at that point. So really, he had no choice but to ban me. In my head my own ban was the only legit one at that time heh.

Others were banned too, but now I forget the circumstances and the names. I just recall those specific people because we all became pretty close for a while after the bans.

I have to say that I am happy to see that Elvis isn't banning people for just speaking out this time around. If this were the "Old Days" I would have been banned days ago.

People need to have a right to bitch and moan, get it out of their systems and move on. So I definately think Elvis is handling that situation better than before. Interference can be a WONDERFUL place as long as people don't have to worry about being banned just for speaking out.


****I wanted to add that I think at some point Frogbat may have said some nasty things to or about Sicy out of anger and I think that may have been part of the reason behind his ban too. I too took a lot of my frustration out and gave Sicy a bit of a hard time. Time has shown me that Sicy is a really great person and I think she is a huge asset to this site.

 

[FallenAngel]

Anna got a lot of points in there Joel, if you know IPs are not reliable source of info, and you were indeed speculating whether that person was Don or not, then why suggesting that it was? if the same IP was tracked as the infamous The Edge, why didn't the clarification made earlier before this whole thing blew off?

You can deny the whole thing, and all feel free to disagree, but in my opinion Anna had made her case, and I found her side of the story is more consistent and trustworthy.

Don't take me wrong I appreciate greatly what you have done for making this wonderful site running and I can understand if profit was never been your motive in doing so (the truth, you know better than I do). Am not a paying member because I find international money order bothersome, but that doesn't rest my case.

I am just wondering how all these defense and arguments will do this case any justice?

Salut for AH and Salome for spare us some lights to otherwise crowd in blinded tunnel. Perspective is the key. What matters most is the truth will eventually comes up. There's only one undeniable evidence: the truth. Hope all is well with you guys...

you might remember me from years back, but when not don't bother

Angel

 

[LoveTown]

you might remember me from years back, but when not don't bother

Angel

I'm sure I do remember you, way back in the far corners of my mind

 

[FallenAngel]

I'm not dragging this out to make Elvis look bad, I have to say that first of all. I just want people to know what happened to the people you mentioned because at one time they were very good friends of mine. I miss those days too

Well River sometimes took the heat at interference just for doing what he was told to do. He was outraged at the fake band postings because like it or not, he is a VERY honest person. Keep in mind that River never said anything on the forum or in the chat about Elvis or the site when it all happened. He kept his battles with Elvis private and was banned for them. I didn't even find out about much of it until after the fact. River never posted any grand "Im leaving" or "I quit" posts or said so in the chat. He just quietly left one day. I was the one that had the big mouth and made a grand announcement. Which he wasn't too happy with. He's a good guy at heart and wouldn't intentionally piss anybody innocent off, not without feeling bad about it and making up for it in some way at a later time.

Frogbat, Bat got pissed and basically said so in no uncertain terms and was banned for it. Bat is extremely intelligent and a VERY funny person. I think he is one of the people I miss talking to most of all.

Brettig, I think poor Betty was banned just for being buds with me, River and Bat at the time lol. Although he supposedly did something or other to make Elvis mad....I forget now but Betty has always been a super sweet person.

I was banned because I got mad about the fake band posting and a few other things and acted like an idiot. I pretty much did whatever I could to piss Elvis off at that point. So really, he had no choice but to ban me. In my head my own ban was the only legit one at that time heh.

Others were banned too, but now I forget the circumstances and the names. I just recall those specific people because we all became pretty close for a while after the bans.

I have to say that I am happy to see that Elvis isn't banning people for just speaking out this time around. If this were the "Old Days" I would have been banned days ago.

People need to have a right to bitch and moan, get it out of their systems and move on. So I definately think Elvis is handling that situation better than before. Interference can be a WONDERFUL place as long as people don't have to worry about being banned just for speaking out.


****I wanted to add that I think at some point Frogbat may have said some nasty things to or about Sicy out of anger and I think that may have been part of the reason behind his ban too. I too took a lot of my frustration out and gave Sicy a bit of a hard time. Time has shown me that Sicy is a really great person and I think she is a huge asset to this site.

completely agree with you that you didn't and we shouldn't make Elvis looks bad or anything. Don't have the intention to, and I also think that Elvis does handle that situation better than before. I used to be one of those bitches (though not banned)! But this fraudulent fake interviews and posting could immensely affect what would've been a very succesful forum ever. I believe that it could be unintentional, but yet the impact as it is evident now is very dire. Elvis I bet is frustrated enough to find another reason to give up this forum (which I hope will not happen) and I can fully understand if he's pissed off to the highest degree this time. But I also know that Anna, as it was River, also taking the heat and I can imagine pain, just for being terribly honest ...

I hope this thing will clears up soon, because this forum mean a lot more than just a fan site to many of us. I hope I did not say anything or ignore anything that would not do Elvis and others justice, as it was not my intention to do so.

Angel

 

[Salome]

I NEVER said I KNOW it to be someone named Don.

I have said that at this point we KNOW nothing more than IP.

Please, don't put words in my mouth.

Angela Harlem can tell you with no more certainty than I who this person(s) is or is not. All we can do at this point is speculate.

the point is that while all of us could indeed only speculate who it was because no one - including you - had any clue about his/her real identity you gave this person an official band status and repeatedly stated this was indeed The Edge
it still interests many people what led you to these actions
and since it is something that you did yourself a couple of weeks back it shouldn't involve any research, speculation or mysterious investigations from anyone


btw, you did at one point state that Dalkey was Don Smith the sound engineer
and you did also state Dalkey was actually The Edge a couple days later

 

[Dreadsox]

btw, you did at one point state that Dalkey was Don Smith the sound engineer
and you did also state Dalkey was actually The Edge a couple days later

That was my understanding based on what I have read in here too.....

WHIch is why I did not put words into anyones mouth.....

"Hence let me understand this..."

at the beginning of my post.


If I have read everything correctly, it was ok for the "EDGE" to not really be the "Edge" because it was possible that it was DOn the Engineer.

That is what I was trying to clear up.....never said you knew Don the Engineer.,

 

[Tip Top Prince]

I have said that at this point we KNOW nothing more than IP.

That's a fucking lie. You know way more than that.

You exchanged some form of electronic communication with certain individuals. You are fully aware of the content of these communications and yet do not disclose them. The fact that you may (or may not) have known who the 'other person' was/is/maybe/whatever is beside the point. You had conversations and they led you to make certain decisions and we are all asking how you could come to these decisions (which at BEST were highly dubious) and you won't tell us.

When are you going to come clean?

 

[u2live2001]

You know this should be posted to the front page - as a news story - since that was where the Ask the Edge and the Edge Interview was posted. Other media outlets picked up on those stories and may not pick up on the correction if only seen in the forums. A lot of people just read the news posts and don't necessarily see the forums. It looks like it's being hidden away here in the forums instead.

 

[Angela Harlem]

Elvis lets brainstorm. Tell us about the member sitting in the unused usergroup. I checked that IP. Proves nothing, but sheesh it sure was an interesting set of digits. Is this what you were referring to on msn when you told me you saw all my 'snooping around' in the admin cp? May I refresh your memory and remind you you made me an admin? Did you want me to just sit around and look pretty? Why did someone put that person there? They're never posted. Not from that IP and not since 2002.

Your theory is based on God knows what. Jealousy you call it. Mine is based on too many suspicious circumstances to count.

Lets see who wants to declare this an empty threat. You're going to have to give answers if you want this to 'go away'.

 

[ThatGuy]

The mind plays tricks on you. You play tricks back! It's like you're unraveling a big cable-knit sweater that someone keeps knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting...

Jesus, Calluna, you made me snort hot coffee up my nose. And yet I'm still laughing.

Maybe the answer to this mess lies in the basement of the Alamo.

 

[Ody]

I was actually just looking at the new registration stats this morning, for other reasons, but again.. noticed that 'the edge' stuff didnt even affect our normal pattern, and infact in the week of the 'interview', registrations were down a bit. Just thought I'd share.

Silly Elvis. The week of the interview would be unimportant, because everyone, regardless of user status, could read it. The point where I expect a spike is after the Edge had multiple posts out there, which required a search function to be able to view all of them without spending hours going through obscure PLEBA threads.

Now, on to finances. I read somewhere in the thread that you get 1-3 new memberships per week. For the sake of fairness, we can say 2 per week, on average. If all of these are year-long memberships, that would be 104x$12=$1,248 in memberships. This would of course, not count anything made from the ads on this site.

Now, I don't expect them all to be year-long memberships, but I would expect the majority of them to be, because renewing it every month is just plain annoying.

So, we'll say that several of them are not year-long, but we can guess that $1,000 or so comes from memberships every year. I think that is being very conservative. Add to that whatever the ads make (Salome seemed to think at least $500/year) and you have at least $1,500/year that Interference generates.

Now, I don't know enough about web space to know how much it costs to maintain a page of this magnitude, but is it over $100/month? I really have no idea, but I know that someone will have the answer.

Respectfully,

Ody

 

[ThatGuy]

Ody you forgot to include the number of existing or renewing members in your calculations. I've read somewhere that there are 300-400 existing members, so that would raise the monthly/yearly figures you posted.

 

[Diemen]

Waaaait a minute. So Elvis, what you're saying is that you really didn't know who this poster was, and you still don't know?

If this is truly the case, why in the hell would you give a poster the Official status of The Edge and then proclaim that he really is the Edge when you in fact weren't even sure who the hell this person is? It completely defies logic.


Unless it involved money...

 

[LuminousTimes]

Waaaait a minute. So Elvis, what you're saying is that you really didn't know who this poster was, and you still don't know?

If this is truly the case, why in the hell would you give a poster the Official status of The Edge and then proclaim that he really is the Edge when you in fact weren't even sure who the hell this person is? It completely defies logic.

I am sorry, Diemen, but what you posted makes TOO much sense, therefore it will NEVER be addressed by Elvis.

If you want Elvis to answer, ask him if Kate is his girlfriend, that issue he will quickly address.

 

[Diemen]

Sad but true.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Well it’s taken me a few days, but I’ve finally read this entire thread from front to back. This entire situation is, at best, shady. I’m always very suspect of people who claim to have inside knowledge, who claim to know someone close to the band, know a family member of the band, or hell, even be IN the band. The entire Office of U2 Security “idea” in a way birthed it’s self out of this idiocy in the first place. When the whole Dalkey question started popping up, I even made a thread mocking the whole thing where I presented a list of potential suspects as to who this Dalkey character just might be… Bono, The Edge, The Edge’s Cousin, Tom Ridge, Henry Rollins, or Some random schmuck who just decided to F with us all…

http://forum.interference.com/showt...ight=dalkey beach where art thou&pagenumber=2

Then, before the whole “official” The Edge name was posted, I heard a few whispers from this person or that person about how they got the exclusive interview with the band because it was discovered that “The Edge” indeed had been floating around the boards and that is how they got the interview in the first place. So when the “official” Edge started posting I believed it. I even posted news stories and quotes on The Office of U2 Security that were attributed to this person posting as The Edge.

Knowing that The Edge himself has to have known about the webpage that I’ve dedicated so much of my personal time trying to build up made me as giddy as a school girl at an N’Sync concert. Finding out that it was all a fraud was like learning that Santa Claus isn’t real all over again.

So where does it leave us now? Who the hell knows? There are still plenty of questions that have been left unanswered. Questions that I would like to know the answers to. Maybe we’ll find out, maybe we won’t. I’m not really going to get into all that because there are plenty of people here who know plenty more than I do who have already raised those questions, and raise them they should.

My plea is to those who are leaving. You’re pissed off, and you have every right to be. I am too. And most if not all of your anger is directed at Joel & various other members of the “hierarchy,” and deservedly so. Like I already stated, his dealings with this episode, and apparently with an episode around the time of ATYCLB which I can’t recall (I wasn’t as active a member then as I am now) were shady at best. He’s also done a hell of a lot of good for the U2 fan community, be it setting up Interference in the first place, the Discotheque “leak,” or giving some dumb schmuck who he’s never met unlimited web space to set up a dinky ass Office of U2 Security webpage.

I’m not going to sit here and try to tell you that you shouldn’t be pissed off at him. You have every right to be. And by all means, any “exclusive” interview from now on is going to be hurt by the “boy who cried wolf” syndrome. That’s the way it goes sometimes, I guess. But don’t leave because you’re pissed at Joel. He may have invented Interference, but Interference is now a living, breathing thing that’s grown well beyond Joel himself. If you’ve enjoyed the time you’ve spent snorting the blue crack in the past, then there’s no reason why you can’t continue to enjoy it now, despite all this. Just think about it before you leave. This place isn’t such a great place because of the news or content section. It’s great because of the various personalities that float around this virtual cluster-F we like to call Interference. Be it Cujo and Mofo’s mentertaining banter, Diamond’s stories of playing midget toss at the Elevation tour, Bonochick’s endless obsession with Ryan Adams, Sicy’s satanic cats… whatever. That is why we’re all here as opposed to any other U2 message board, and that should be the reason to stay. Think about it…

 

[Judah]

Well put, Headache. Thanks.

Wait...Santa Claus isn't real?

 

[bonosloveslave]

Well said in that last paragraph Headache

But you mispelled 'angelic' when referring to Sicy's cats

 

[Salome]

I'm going to post my thoughts soon if Elvis doesn't cough up.

That would be fun wouldn't it Elvis. So far I'm 100% on everything. Lets see how far I can take this before I have got something wrong.

it has some elements of a good western movie
in which from start to finish good vs less good are heading for the final showdown

it's good to know that we might end up actually understanding why answers seem to be mysteriously unavailable

 

[Salome]

and I even missed this one

Elvis lets brainstorm. Tell us about the member sitting in the unused usergroup. I checked that IP. Proves nothing, but sheesh it sure was an interesting set of digits. Is this what you were referring to on msn when you told me you saw all my 'snooping around' in the admin cp? May I refresh your memory and remind you you made me an admin? Did you want me to just sit around and look pretty? Why did someone put that person there? They're never posted. Not from that IP and not since 2002.

Your theory is based on God knows what. Jealousy you call it. Mine is based on too many suspicious circumstances to count.

Lets see who wants to declare this an empty threat. You're going to have to give answers if you want this to 'go away'.

 

[martha]

Other media outlets picked up on those stories

Who? Which ones?

 

[ThatGuy]

Looking back at "Ask The Edge" I'm amazed that anyone (including me) fell for it in the first place. Evasive one sentence answers, a very American voice ... I can only imagine how the private "conclusive" e-mails this person sent to the staff must have sounded.

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:forum.interference.com/a97771.html

I do wonder how much contact this person had with the staff. If some of the posters in this thread were able to figure our this wasn't the Edge in a few short posts, why couldn't the staff have done it within a few e-mails? What was their standard of proof?

Of course these questions fall on deaf ears to those who are able to answer them.



At least the faker tried harder on the "interview"

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:forum.interference.com/a96422.html

 

[Dreadsox]

Stories

repost...Go SOX

 

[Dreadsox]

Who? Which ones?

Our FYM threads were appearing in google news front page.

How is school?

Matt