A Message to Our Readers

[starsgoblue]

How did the supposed teenage girl know things at the time about U2's new stuff that wasn't confirmed as public knowledge at the time? That sounds hinky too...

 

[Elvis]

How did the supposed teenage girl know things at the time about U2's new stuff that wasn't confirmed as public knowledge at the time? That sounds hinky too...

That's one of MANY questions we, the staff, still has..... and the reason we still feel there is a chance of being mislead about being mislead.

 

[starsgoblue]

Just to be sure...the D Smith w/ the teenager on the @U2 forum is not our DSmith2904 here, right? I'm not saying anything....I'm just making sure...

 

[Elvis]

Just to be sure...the D Smith w/ the teenager on the @U2 forum is not our DSmith2904 here, right? I'm not saying anything....I'm just making sure...

Correct.. NOT the same person.

 

[theedge111]

Hey Elvis...i did just sign up for a premium account do to the fact that the edge was posting here. It sucks that it wasnt him, and i do feel ripped off. On the positive side i appriciate the fact that you are owning up to your mistakes...we've all made them. I know that you and your staff have learned from this and it will only make the site better. Thanx for your time and the great site, i along with many friends really do enjoy it!

 

[Ottofilm]

whoa.. not the edge? this guy must have had the band down left right and centre if it wasn't the edge... for some reason i have a feeling maybe edge regretted joining the forums or the publicity company thought it was a bad idea and thats why they are doing this, i find it really hard it wasn't edge given the nature of the posts.. he didn't really get into any flames or anything (even with the "terrorist" remark it was a just thing), always tried to be polite, and posting frequency was consistent with what the band was doing in real life

I agree with this. I've noticed things were said in some of the posts and the interview are almost the same wording as interviews that are just hitting the stands NOW in magazines, a full month later. A little ESP? Don't think so.

 

[Elvis]

Hey Elvis...i did just sign up for a premium account do to the fact that the edge was posting here. It sucks that it wasnt him, and i do feel ripped off. On the positive side i appriciate the fact that you are owning up to your mistakes...we've all made them. I know that you and your staff have learned from this and it will only make the site better. Thanx for your time and the great site, i along with many friends really do enjoy it!

Thanks

 

[Tip Top Prince]

Excuse me... but why would you think that everyone here is entitled to every discussion that goes on amongst the staff, in this matter or any other? That's insane. First, because frankly it's private... secondly, because it's not public information and if it was, it was have been discussed in public in the first place. And let's not forget this is about 1.5+ months of MANY private emails, mailing list emails, personal conversations, telephone calls, private messages, etc etc.

I'm not saying we arent going to put together some sort of list, but to ask for what you have is not going to happen. We also do not have a timeline on when this will be done, but we do have interest in doing it not only for people to see here, but for ourslves.

Translation: Fuck off we'll do it when we feel like it.

Response: It should have already been done. This thread is a chance for you to redeem yourself and the reputation of the staff, but instead you choose to make a mockery of the whole situation.

Personally, I don't care if you think the conversations were private. This community deserves to know what they were. Anything less and you have no defense against accusations of prior knowledge, despite your feeble protests of "I was fooled too."

Who are you trying to protect?

 

[AliEnvy]

The more you talk in circles, Joel, the more it sounds like my speculation is right on the money.

No pun intended.

Not to mention that only 2 days ago, Katey told me by email you guys got "raked over the coals so we have to remove it all" by PM, pulicists and U2.com

 

[Elvis]

Translation: Fuck off we'll do it when we feel like it.

Response: It should have already been done. This thread is a chance for you to redeem yourself and the reputation of the staff, but instead you choose to make a mockery of the whole situation.

Who are you trying to protect?

a) dont make my words into something they arent.

b) you realize that the staff, and myself, do this in our 'spare time', and that lately we've been doing it far more than that in order to deal with this? We still have other things to do, accomplish, work on, and real lives to tend to. This has been overwhelming, and we will get to the 'list' as we have time - its not something that is easily put together, nor short in duration for a task.

 

[sixtoe]

note from Elvis: this is not legit... obviously.

Hey, everybody. This is Bono. I'm sure you're all going to love the new album. Thanks for supporting all my causes, too. (There's nothing more depressing than a pop star with a cause.) But right now, I have something very important to ask of you. I want you all to open your minds, and more importantly, your wallets, to support interference.com. Just $20 is all they need. Can Elvis have a lend of $20? Thanks, and keep that money coming in!

Sincerely,

Bono

 

[arw]

b) you realize that the staff, and myself, do this in our 'spare time', and that lately we've been doing it far more than that in order to deal with this? We still have other things to do, accomplish, work on, and real lives to tend to. This has been overwhelming, and we will get to the 'list' as we have time - its not something that is easily put together, nor short in duration for a task.

Well pardon us for bothering you in your spare time. You make it sound like everyone here has no life now but you and the "senior staff." In MY real life I'd demand a refund if I wasn't happy with the product or service I've received......I'm unhappy that this happened and all the posts I read from you while "Edge" was here made it sound like you were more than 100% sure this was really him.

Did you honestly expect to not be overwhelmed by this situation the minute you started promoting that a band member was posting on you site?

You take money from you members so this is a business and not something that should just be considered something you do in your spare time when you're not doing other things. If this place was free then you'd have a point. My brother works full time and owns his own business. So that's basically two full time jobs. I can't imagine him telling his customers that he'll take care of something after he tends to his real life first. He'd probably lose a ton of customers. I suspect that's going to happen to you as well.

 

[Elvis]

Well pardon us for bothering you in your spare time. You make it sound like everyone here has no life now but you and the "senior staff." In MY real life I'd demand a refund if I wasn't happy with the product or service I've received......I'm unhappy that this happened and all the posts I read from you while "Edge" was here made it sound like you were more than 100% sure this was really him.

Did you honestly expect to not be overwhelmed by this situation the minute you started promoting that a band member was posting on you site?

You take money from you members so this is a business and not something that should just be considered something you do in your spare time when you're not doing other things. If this place was free then you'd have a point. My brother works full time and owns his own business. So that's basically two full time jobs. I can't imagine him telling his customers that he'll take care of something after he tends to his real life first. He'd probably lose a ton of customers. I suspect that's going to happen to you as well.

First, I never said anyone here didnt have a life. I simply said that we'll get to it. We hadnt planned on having it, and we cant simply and instantly make it appear upon someone demanding it.... and that is what I've gotten frustrated with. As for your brother, I'm sure with his business he is also trying to make a profit, as any business would.... however, no profit is made here, I do this for fun and a hobby - it does not bring me an income. I spend MANY hours doing consulting work for clients in order to make my income, and at all hours of the day and night. I hope you can respect that not all of us can simply drop everything to create a document on demand with so much detail. I'm sorry for coming off as hostile... but I was really taken back when such demands were made of us. If interference was a real business as you infer, I would have closed the doors LONG ago.

 

[Blue Room]

What I find hilarious is that some of you on this thread actually STILL appear to believe this was Edge!! WOW! I fell for this crap a 2nd time myself. Never again.

If you guys dont think there were copies of Vertigo (and a few other tracks) out prior to the official release of the single on the radio by parties that are not even close to the band you are very naive. So the info given by this source was nothing earth shattering when you look back at it. Most of it is extremely vague actually. Seems obvious now (at least to most of us! ) that its the case, but like I said, I fell for it when it happened.

Oh, here is new one some of you defenders can apply. Maybe it was one of Edge's daughters and the Dsmith Dad is Edge!!!! LOL

 

[riker2k1]

Elvis,


I am a new member, but have lerked here for MANY years. No one here is going to take your word for it that this place doesn't make any money.

Why don't you tell everyone how many premium members there are and the costs associated with running the website.

Also, I think what happened was completely YOUR fault and totally irresponsible. If I were U2's publicist, I would have a law suite rammed up your a** quicker than you can blink (especially since you charge for this).

I only come for the people and topics, but you and your staff disgust me.

Edited: punctuation and spelling.

Peace.

 

[moon_is_playing_tricks]

The more you talk in circles, Joel, the more it sounds like my speculation is right on the money.

I agree. When this happened, it was very reminiscent of what happened a couple of years ago. I knew, and *expected* this to be yet another ruse to get more people to this site... one of those, "hey we didn't know it was him, either" kinds of things.

The only way you could have possibly known it was The Edge is if you talked to him yourself. Obviously, you didn't, but yet you were so adamant that it was him. You do really owe this community (and especially those who paid for premium memberships in order to talk to fake Edge) and explanation. And the "I didn't know it was him" is bullshit.

Joel, you have told lots and lots of people lots and lots of stories. There are many of us in this forum who really don't believe anything you say - your credibility is shattered based on the words that have come out of your mouth and into our ears. You expect us to believe you after that?

And, not to bring up an obviously sore subject with you, but there have been many occasions on this board where people have asked for exact specifications of what things cost around here. In the past, you have completely avoided the issue. I think you need to just be open and honest (for once) to the community. Yoy really need to show some principle and integrity here. You haven't shown much of it at all.

Moonie

 

[cujo]

the problem here is that the people who doubted were treated like shit.

 

[LuminousTimes]

The more you talk in circles, Joel, the more it sounds like my speculation is right on the money.

No pun intended.

Not to mention that only 2 days ago, Katey told me by email you guys got "raked over the coals so we have to remove it all" by PM, pulicists and U2.com

All that needs to be done is an anonymous recounting of how the U2 interview was done/obtained and how/why the Edge's postings were determined to be authentic.

For example: Person A said they got an interview with u2. They showed us a copy. We believed them. We didn't check. We posted it.

Person A is obviously not anyone involved with Interference because you have stated no one on the interference team mislead us.

OR: We were contacted by someone we thought was the edge....they had lots of details and facts. We didn't check it out... Just accepted it as the truth.

Whatever the explanation is...it can't be more than a few sentences of how this all occured.

I look forward to the general description of events but doubt I will see them.

 

[Techie2000]

Personally I felt that the way this whole situation was handled was very unprofessional, and it was not treated with the importance and expediency that such a serious matter deserved, in both the closing of the threads of the doubters, and in confirming the identity of the poster. While I understand message boards and e-mail bring a certain level of intimacy that can make people feel comfortable and trusting with each other, it still often lacks 100% proof on such serious matters.

However, I do feel that Elvis and Interference.com staff were decieved, and genuinly wish to find out the truth and want to remedy this situation. For coming out with the truth, and doing their best to remedy the situation, I commend them. I feel that this is probably a learning experience for the Interference.com staff, and nothing like this will happen in the future.

 

[mellyinsf]

What an angry thread, and for good reasons, but I can't believe the attacks on Elvis. I mean really, this time elvis was fooled and it sounds like he was fooled by a staff member and now he is trying to protect her. Can you blame the guy... this has to be embarrassing and I doubt all the work and time he has spent on this site he would do something like this intentionally, I just really don't. Stunts may have been pulled in the past, but not on this level and I don't remember Elvis actually saying, "this is for sure" in the past. I think elvis is a U2 fan that wanted to believe just like all of us

 

[Nate Dogg]

I have been a member here from the get-go. I have lost absolutely no sleep over this matter. This seems to be an honest mistake on the part of the interference team, and they seem to be extremely apologetic over this fact. Everybody should just walk away from all this. There are far too many words and far too many discussions over the matter, in my opinion. Take a deep breath, and forget it. In the past four+ years, I have gained way too much knowledge, have corresponded with far too many great people, and spent far too much time entertaining myself here on this forum to let this bother me the slightest bit. It's the internet!

I have nothing but respect for the mods on this board, and of course, Joel. We need to focus on the fact that our boys have a new album out in a matter of weeks, not that some goofball with a computer and too much time on their hands basically pulled a fast one on us! I'm not leaving, I'm not mad, and I still love this place the same as always.

TOO MUCH DRAMA.

 

[mellyinsf]

I have been a member here from the get-go. I have lost absolutely no sleep over this matter. This seems to be an honest mistake on the part of the interference team, and they seem to be extremely apologetic over this fact. Everybody should just walk away from all this. There are far too many words and far too many discussions over the matter, in my opinion. Take a deep breath, and forget it. In the past four+ years, I have gained way too much knowledge, have corresponded with far too many great people, and spent far too much time entertaining myself here on this forum to let this bother me the slightest bit. It's the internet!

I have nothing but respect for the mods on this board, and of course, Joel. We need to focus on the fact that our boys have a new album out in a matter of weeks, not that some goofball with a computer and too much time on their hands basically pulled a fast one on us! I'm not leaving, I'm not mad, and I still love this place the same as always.

TOO MUCH DRAMA.

exactly my thoughts

 

[ultraviolet_j]

What an angry thread, and for good reasons, but I can't believe the attacks on Elvis. I mean really, this time elvis was fooled and it sounds like he was fooled by a staff member and now he is trying to protect her. Can you blame the guy... this has to be embarrassing and I doubt all the work and time he has spent on this site he would do something like this intentionally, I just really don't. Stunts may have been pulled in the past, but not on this level and I don't remember Elvis actually saying, "this is for sure" in the past. I think elvis is a U2 fan that wanted to believe just like all of us

Elvis wasn't fooled for ONE second on any of this. He OWNS this site, directs the entire staff, and anyone who thinks he didn't know about this little stunt from day 1 is living in fantasyland.

 

[mellyinsf]

Elvis wasn't fooled for ONE second on any of this. He OWNS this site, directs the entire staff, and anyone who thinks he didn't know about this little stunt from day 1 is living in fantasyland.

So it is not possible that elvis can be fooled?
just like that guy on law and order, the Detective that can not be fooled...

 

[Blue Room]

I have been a member here from the get-go. I have lost absolutely no sleep over this matter. This seems to be an honest mistake on the part of the interference team, and they seem to be extremely apologetic over this fact. Everybody should just walk away from all this. There are far too many words and far too many discussions over the matter, in my opinion. Take a deep breath, and forget it. In the past four+ years, I have gained way too much knowledge, have corresponded with far too many great people, and spent far too much time entertaining myself here on this forum to let this bother me the slightest bit. It's the internet!

I have nothing but respect for the mods on this board, and of course, Joel. We need to focus on the fact that our boys have a new album out in a matter of weeks, not that some goofball with a computer and too much time on their hands basically pulled a fast one on us! I'm not leaving, I'm not mad, and I still love this place the same as always.

TOO MUCH DRAMA.

I agree, it is too much drama. Thing is the drama was created because A. Interference perpretrated a deliberate fraud OR B. did not triple and quadruple the validity of this poster. Either way, THEY are responsible. Its amazing that some of you are giving them a free pass on this? So its the internet and the new album is coming??? Does that mean no one is accountable for anything that is done? BS

 

[mellyinsf]

Its amazing that some of you are giving them a free pass on this? So its the internet and the new album is coming??? Does that mean no one is accountable for anything that is done? BS

I think at this time elvis has taken accountability, but you did not answer my question...
can elvis not be fooled?

 

[Sunny]

It seems to me that this is very simple, and that there are only two possibilities here.

1. The Interference staff, using some mysterious standard of identification (which cannot be revealed to us because it is so OMG SEKRIT), came to believe that the interview and the poster were, in fact, legit. Unless this was a VERY smooth-talking teenager from Chicago, that means that the senior staff here is guilty of the kind of gross incompetence rarely seen outside of the federal government.

2. The Interference staff intentionally misled everyone.

Does the phrase "Occam's razor" mean anything to anyone here?

The fact remains, we have been told nothing, and I refuse to believe that the account of the initial contact with the alleged band member is SO COMPLEX AND HUGE that it can't be told in a few sentences. We don't want a Warren Report, not now; a simple "here's who we talked to at first and how, and here's what they said" would suffice. Will we get that? Who the hell knows.

And as many, many people have pointed out, once money changes hands in an organized way, something is a business. Just because a business happens to be losing money, or the people are doing it for fun, doesn't make it less of a business.

Also, am I the only one amused by the request for funds for a new server IMMEDIATELY after the non-apology apology message in the EYKIW announcement?

 

[Blue Room]

I think at this time elvis has taken accountability, but you did not answer my question...
can elvis not be fooled?

I didnt know I was responding to you or asking YOU a question??? LOL

Yes, he could be fooled. But I dont think he checked on this enough. Beli had information to prove it was false and according to her Elvis and Katey ignored her. What does that tell you??

 

[Nate Dogg]

The world wide web is tangled enough as it is.


Most of the people on this forum appear to be something they are probably not in REAL LIFE.


They post every day and get away with it scot-free.


I'm fine with that. Even if they claimed to be a multi-million dollar rock star.


We'll all be fine.

 

[isabelle_guns]

Truthfully I was a little suspecious with the Edge's post which is why I never made it such a big deal. What gave it away that he may be fake was the response to NO CONTROL's thread a while back (thread has been deleted by staff). I am shocked about the news part though but not about the Edge not being the Edge.