A Message to Our Readers

[spinninghead77]

We've had barely any new Premium Memberships in the past month, compared to the month prior or that before it. Premium Memberships had nothing to do with 'the edge', and posting or replying with the edge, nor do the 'zine' or 'news' part of this site.

My premium membership had everything to do with the Edge. I have been posting on Interference for almost 3 years, however, I never wanted to do a 'search' until 'the Edge' was posting.

That is exactly why I paid my $12 a few weeks back.

 

[Elvis]

That would be from me,
You can send it back to me, its not a cheque, but an international money order, my address is on the back of the envelope or if you dont have it anymore, you can e-mail me for it

vanessabh77@bigpond.com

I've got the address, I'll send it.

 

[anitram]

About Katey and the phone thing...

Katey was gracious enough to agree to do me a favour which had nothing to do with interference or this topic but DID have to do with communication directly with Edge for other purposes.

As a matter of my own due diligence, I wanted to confirm that she had DIRECT contact with Edge and asked if she herself had spoken to him on the phone. The clear as day answer was yes. Otherwise, I would not have asked for this particular favour.

That question and answer was in no way related to cell phones which came up later in the convo. Perhaps she misunderstood me, but I understand EXACTLY what is going on here.

I honestly don't really care if it's the Edge one way or another - I never believed it was him, didn't ask "him" any questions and don't care to correspond with any member of U2 in any context. They're a band I listen to, not penpals of mine.

However, this post above and a number of others who have spoken out publicly about correspondence with Katey in particular and also her responses on various threads do bother me.

Whether the board is profitable or not is not relevant. It is a business that should have some accountability as soon as a transfer of funds is set up.

In any business, heads would roll for this. And rightfully so. But it seems that here, instead of really getting down to the bottom of it and openly admitting which senior staff was responsible for what communication and which staff was responsible for what verification, we're being given vague answers. Frankly, I am uneasy with specific people and it looks like I'm not the only one.

 

[BAW]

Frankly, I am uneasy with specific people and it looks like I'm not the only one.

I hear you on that.

 

[alia612]

alright, yeah. i never really thought it was edge in the first place but i didn't come here to gloat about instinct. i just want to say that i agree with salome's post quoted below and i'd love to know the answers to these questions as well.

hardly any question has been answered yet

mainly:
what on earth made you so certain this was indeed Edge (and yes that can be done without revealing any personal info) that
a. you kept stating that this was indeed the real thing
b. people who had reasons to doubt all of this were just ignored (at best)

i feel really bad that so many people are leaving. honestly, i hardly even go into EYKIW anymore, and i didn't even know the whole edge fiasco was going on until a good friend posted about it at the livejournal community. this is pretty disappointing though. if i were a paying member of this site who came here for nothing but u2 discussion, i most likely would leave. the fact is that i come here for people, not service, and that's the reason i'm staying.

thank you.

 

[oliveu2cm]

Obviously you have not read my 'Zoo confessional' Elvis, I have stated, clear as day that seeing the Edge post was the very thing that made me finally, after two years, decide to become a premium member.

Mate, when are you ever going to grow up........you just dont treat people like this, you really have toyed with peoples emotions and love for an immense and wonderful band, and you still just dont get it or appear to take any genuine responsibility.....sorry to get personal here, but is your heart black? I could never in a million years treat people like this and yet you seem to think that the steps that you have done to rectify this are OK, well they are not...............me now thinks, that @U2 may become the biggest un-official forum for now. How could anyone stay here, when all of this has settled down, how could anyone take anything that you or your team says seriously, how could people trust you again and then pay for it????

sorry but I cant, and I am still yet to have ANY e-mail from you in regards to the return of my $20 bucks.....I definately dont want to be donating any money towards the Joel Tanner slush fund

Me too. I finally renewed my subscription after not being a PM for a year due to this. This bullshit.

Oz I have to quote you again here, because I believe so strongly about this: you just dont treat people like this, you really have toyed with peoples emotions and love for an immense and wonderful band, and you still just dont get it or appear to take any genuine responsibility..... It makes me so upset to know all this has happened.. and to know there is more that we don't even know about.

I can't support this kind of disrespect and irresponsibility and/or fraud. I'm so fed up. And I'm angry that a place I enjoyed for all the U2 fans is a place that I don't want to come anymore due to some people's actions.

 

[meegannie]

Me too. I finally renewed my subscription after not being a PM for a year due to this. This bullshit.


I can't support this kind of disrespect and irresponsibility and/or fraud. I'm so fed up. And I'm angry that a place I enjoyed for all the U2 fans is a place that I don't want to come anymore due to some people's actions.

This just makes me sad more than anything else.

 

[Tip Top Prince]

Elvis - you can't brush people off by saying you don't have all the information in "one document"

people are desperate to know how the fuck this could happen?

Be a man. Tell us what you know. Piecemeal if you have to. But stand tall and say "this is how *I* fucked up" and take your medicine. Anything less makes it look like you don't give a shit.

Don't give us GWB style wishy-washy shit. Just say WTF happened. Who said what to whom and when?

People have invested time, money and emotion into this site - the least they deserve is full disclosure ASAP.

 

[popacrobat]

my two cents

this has been blown out of proportion completely. I doubt anyone came to interference SOLELY on the fact edge was here. if they did, then oh well. mistakes happen. it's really not anything to get bent out of shape about, really. at least to me. i rather worry about more important things in life.

am i going to leave this site over this? no.

there are a million great things about this site... and one mistake doesn't really detract from the overall quality of the site.

just let it go.

 

[Elvis]

Me too. I finally renewed my subscription after not being a PM for a year due to this. This bullshit.

Oz I have to quote you again here, because I believe so strongly about this: you just dont treat people like this, you really have toyed with peoples emotions and love for an immense and wonderful band, and you still just dont get it or appear to take any genuine responsibility..... It makes me so upset to know all this has happened.. and to know there is more that we don't even know about.

I can't support this kind of disrespect and irresponsibility and/or fraud. I'm so fed up. And I'm angry that a place I enjoyed for all the U2 fans is a place that I don't want to come anymore due to some people's actions.

There was no intentional misleading on our part, and we have been misled ourselves. We stated our opening message, and I've responded to many questions here which explain even more. We, the staff, are fans too... heck thats why we run this site, for the love of it. We've not only been incredibly let down by all of this, but fooled, and had our crediblity on the line. None of this was/is intentional. Seeing people unhappy here really makes me personally sad. This is not something I take lightly.

 

[Elvis]

my two cents

this has been blown out of proportion completely. I doubt anyone came to interference SOLELY on the fact edge was here. if they did, then oh well. mistakes happen. it's really not anything to get bent out of shape about, really. at least to me. i rather worry about more important things in life.

am i going to leave this site over this? no.

there are a million great things about this site... and one mistake doesn't really detract from the overall quality of the site.

just let it go.

Thanks, I know we (staff/mods) all appreciate that!

 

[ramblin rose]

Maybe we should take a time out and join the party at:

http://forum.interference.com/t99307.html

go to the last few pages of the thread (maybe page 30).

download some new clips and enjoy them for a while, its much better than this shit.

Maybe tomorrow Joel's document will be ready and all of our questions will be answered.

 

[ultraviolet_j]

How in the hell do I cancel my premium membership to this site? The thought of giving this place one more nickel makes me ILL.

 

[Elvis]

How in the hell do I cancel my premium membership to this site? The thought of giving this place one more nickel makes me ILL.

If its a paypal subscription, you must cancel it via paypal. Otherwise it will simply expire on its own.

 

[AliEnvy]

People have invested time, money and emotion into this site - the least they deserve is full disclosure ASAP.

Deserve, yes, but that will never happen.

If Elvis were to disclose any real specifics about this, he would be personally liable for financial fraud.

Would anyone actually sue? Surely not anyone who shelled out a mere $20, but perhaps the folks over at PM might be inclined to take action when a U2 hoax is perpetrated for profit. Particulalry on a website with 22,000+ members (do some math there).

Seems they have reached a deal.

 

[Elvis]

Deserve, yes, but that will never happen.

If Elvis were to disclose any real specifics about this, he would be personally liable for financial fraud.

Would anyone actually sue? Surely not anyone who shelled out a mere $20, but perhaps the folks over at PM might be inclined to take action when a U2 hoax is perpetrated for profit. Particulalry on a website with 22,000+ members (do some math there).

Seems they have reached a deal.

You accusation is unfounded and untrue. As I've stated, we were hoaxed right along with everyone else. Sheesh. Is this fucking embarassing for us? YES. Did we screw up? YES. Did we intended or purposely mislead anyone? NO.


Please stop making things up like "Seems they have reached a deal." that you do not know of personally. Speculation and assumption will really not help this matter at all.

 

[bcrt2000]

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

 

[nbcrusader]

Regardless, don't you feel some sort of sense of decency to at least offer them their money back if they signed up and paid 12 bucks for a hoax?

Cut the crap Dave


You have been enjoying this board for quite a while. So have many many others.


If you think you can "demand" that Elvis provide documents to you here, I think you will find the real world a harsher reality.


I wish everyone would stop and consider the fellowship that exists here outside of the "Edge" posts. It is quite substantial. I would hope my fellow Interferencers would take a deep breath and realize how much they gain by being part of this community, and will continue to do so.

 

[AliEnvy]

Speculation and assumption will really not help this matter at all.

People have been telling you that for weeks. You're the only one who can stop it.

 

[Tip Top Prince]

Did we intended or purposely mislead anyone? NO.

Prove it.

 

[U2democrat]

Hmmm this reminds me of the lack of WMDs in Iraq.......

In no way will i be leaving interference. I love it too much here and feel a sense of community. Am I disappointed? Sure. But life goes on.

 

[Elvis]

Prove it.

How the hell can you prove something you didnt do? geez.

 

[hiphop]

to the ones that feel personally hurt, to the ones that feel sad:

take a moment,
staring at the sun

 

[ramblin rose]

Better yet, listen to 4 minutes of CBOL.

 

[BAW]

I wish everyone would stop and consider the fellowship that exists here outside of the "Edge" posts. It is quite substantial. I would hope my fellow Interferencers would take a deep breath and realize how much they gain by being part of this community, and will continue to do so.

This is the main reason I AM staying Doug...I know several other people are too. But that doesn't mean we have to like or accept at face value what has happened in the past month.

 

[ThatGuy]

How the hell can you prove something you didnt do? geez.

A timleine of events would help. What happened when, how you guys dropped the ball and what you're going to do to make sure it never happens again. If that's part of the document you have in the works, then that's great.

 

[Elvis]

A timleine of events would help. What happened when, how you guys dropped the ball and what you're going to do to make sure it never happens again. If that's part of the document you have in the works, then that's great.

I believe in an earlier post in this thread I addressed how the ball was dropped and what we will be doing in the future to make sure this NEVER happens again.

 

[ThatGuy]

I believe in an earlier post in this thread I addressed how the ball was dropped and what we will be doing in the future to make sure this NEVER happens again.

Well it's obvious you didn't do enough to check the validity of the fake poster. I don't need a special post to tell me that. But a lot more questions have come up, questions that you seem to be content to let slip by unanswered. For example, if Angela Harlem and Salome weren't fired as mods because they didn't believe in "The Edge," then why do they seem to think that's the reason? If you have another reason for their firings I don't think it would be breaching any confidential trust to tell us. They certainly haven't been shy about posting about it. Also, what proof did the faux Edge have to provide so that you believed it was actually him? These are just two of the many, many unanswered questions we have if you'll take a look back at the pages of this thread.

 

[Tip Top Prince]

How the hell can you prove something you didnt do? geez.

By proving what you did do.

Are you really that stupid? You expect people to hear "oops - we messed up sorry. We'll do better next time"

That's the sum total of your explanation so far - and it's pathetic.

Here's a start - who first contacted "Dalkey" and what did they say. The actual email would be good. Then you can follow up with the reply and go from there with all that correspondence. Then you can show us the correspondence between yourself and the staff member(s) and what discussion there was regarding how you could check the validity of the claim(s).

... etc etc.

 

[Elvis]

Here's a start - who first contacted "Dalkey" and what did they say. The actual email would be good. Then you can follow up with the reply and go from there with all that correspondence. Then you can show us the correspondence between yourself and the staff member(s) and what discussion there was regarding how you could check the validity of the claim(s).

... etc etc.

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.