To whom it may concern,

I want to let you know that my intent in writing this email is not to assign blame to the support team. I know that you probably have little control over the content of Lotusflow3r. Nevertheless, I just wanted to convey that nobody (and I do not think this is an exaggeration). Nobody is happy with Prince's website.

I love the design and the concept. As a vessel, for all that is Prince; it has so much potential. However, there was so much promised(infered) in interviews with the creators. No retraction was ever made from Prince to say that these reports were false. Therefore, fans believed they were true.

Basically the Fans of Prince, paid money to get something that I am unsure we’ll ever get. I personally have just finished my degree, I have very little money and I actually went short for a week so I could sign up to this site.

I really want to know if the site is still intended to be something along the lines of that which was conveyed in interviews. Will it be updated regularly? And for a membership site, regularly is every month. I mean my monthly subscription to new scientist gives me five magazines and costs the same a year. It was fortunate that I got said subscription for a present - a luxury that was not afforded with Lotusflow3r.

Recently you uploaded Undertaker, it was good to see that again. But I already own it as it is legally available (see here http://www.amazon.co.uk/U...00004R6P5, as do most of Prince's core fan-base. And ultimately these are the types of fans that signed up to this site.

I am also wondering how much of a direct contact the people that deal with Lotusflow3r have with Prince. Does he actually understand how annoyed and cheated some of his fans feel? If this was a simple disgruntled fan thing I would not bother you.

The fact is I - as have many others - paid for a service; a service which I (we) feel is not being delivered. A service that fans were lead to believe (with media hype) was going to be far more than what was actually delivered, (refer to this article, it is one of many examples http://www.newsweek.com/id/189242.

I mean this site was for the Lotusflow3r albums, and the cd’s are amazing - but the site isn't. The thing is; it could be! It just seems there was so much hype and it has been forgotten about. And that you will trickle updates out when enough people moan. Updates that are frankly not worth $77. Updates like Prince’s live footage (which you can’t buy) is what fans were expecting. A subscription site that has things that people can buy already just does not seem fair. For examples, Prince video’s are already available on DVDs. It just gives the impression that media was hyped to con people out of their money. And that isn’t fair.

If the delays have anything to do with Prince being ill at the moment - that is totally understandable. And my thoughts and love go out to him if that’s the case. But I would be grateful if you would let fans know what is happening.


Thank you in advance,

JM
[Edited 6/21/09 18:25pm]

The links are broken or indirect, though.

squirrelgrease said:

they're really long so they get cut off when i paste it into the org. they work in the email tho.

Well said.

jethrouk

said:squirrelgrease said:

Equanimity said:

thanks, it had to be said. i was just annoyed that everyone was being so offensive in their emails. it is most likely not the support teams fault or even Clay et al.,
[Edited 6/17/09 18:42pm]

http://therelapse.com/#/?room=entrance
I posted this on another thread, but shit is RAD.Why didnt we get something like this...

check out the new front page poll, y'all.

Anxiety said:

Just voted on it.

You crafted an excellent email which are my sentiments exactly! I too was excited to purchase a membership for new, never before seen footage, of which there has been only a handful. I own nearly every book, CD, DVD etc that have ever been made available for purchase. Furthermore, I would love to see your response. One thing I am pleased about is that they do acknowledge and attempt to address our concerns.

i'd love to see this email retooled as an open letter that many people could sign. i don't know what good it would do, but it would be better than a bunch of unhappy people NOT putting names to their dissatisfaction.

shellyann said:

Thank you, yea your right. At least they are responding. SO fingers crossed I get a reply. And i'll def post it on here. It would be funny if it was prince alone replying to these emails on his blackberry. He does check his emails, to see where the party's at - afterall.

Anxiety said:

Thanks, Well if there is a poll, or an org. thread I can post the link in a reply to them. So they can really appreciate the gravity of our discontent.
[Edited 6/17/09 19:35pm]

jethrouk said:

Not too many can argue with this very objective, mature, and constructive attempt to get answers. I must say, as someone who does like the site (yet wishes for more), that it is refreshing to see this type of approach.

To be quite frank, (and IMO) most of the disgruntled posts here on the org have been juvenile and downright ridiculous. However, this one actually makes sense and would make the receiver of the above letter/note almost have to respond for fear of looking as bad as some of some who have chosen the immature route here on the org...

In short... Bravo.

Anxiety said:

I concur, but how could we do that when jethrouk has already sent this amazing email?

BTW,thanks for the poll! I hope everyone participates!

Prince is basically a liar. Im glad I got my album from target and just played with my friends flower.

shellyann said:

thanks, i hope everyone does too.

and, i don't know, he could just retool it as an open letter not only to the administrators of LF.com but also to the fan community in general? isn't there some web site for creating online petitions and whatnot?

www.thepetitionsite.com/

www.petitiononline.com/

www.petitionspot.com/

www.gopetition.com/
[Edited 6/17/09 21:21pm]

Anxiety said:

It sounds great to me! Jethrouk’s idea of incorporating the poll would be advantageous as well. I do have two concerns with this, however:

1.) Will we end up with retribution, by calling him (them) out?

2.) I am concerned that Prince’s health (major weight loss) is a sign of something significantly wrong! For an example, look at Patrick Swayze 6 months before diagnosis. He lost a tremendous amount of weight in short order, and Prince has too! Perhaps there is more going on here than we know about, and I am Leery of the possibility of adding insult to injury, although I feel, in this situation, we are the injured party. I still don’t want to hurt Prince if something terrible is going on! I just wish we would have information if that is the case.

Does that make sense?

Well said. Let us know the response, when you get one.

Understandable if u are not happy with the site..but please dont speak for me. Just beacause you are not getting the content you want or at the rate you think you should get it does not mean that everyone feels that way. Its too early to be writing the :support team: demanding content. There are 8 months left in this year. And what gives you the right to bring up Prince's health to them?? It's certainly not your business.
If you are truly concerned about Prince's health, pray for him.
What is this world coming to? How many letters have you written to your congressman or government officials about all the "cons" they are involved in?
Maybe you should start there. Leave the Lotusflow3r support team alone.

When the 1 year membership is done then write them a letter expressing that youre not satisfied.

^ There’s always one…

I doubt that LF will be around by the end of the year, as has been stated previously, it’s name is linked to the new album, so when the new album is dropped, so will the site… So complaining in 8 months time will be a little late for any re-imbursement.

This is a very respectful and well written email, and one which is not unreasonable in its claims. I understand that there are some out there who are more than happy with the site so far. However, he states that he is speaking for ‘most’ members, not ‘all’ – and from the replies so far, this seems statistically significant, as you are the only one who disagrees with his comments.

Personally, unless something major drops onto the site, I certainly won’t consider joining – for a fee you expect content, plus regular updates, not a trickle-feed of already available videos and images…

BRILIANT. Relly well put and respectful to Lotus. Personally-i was so angry about a week ago-I started to mail a well known reporter who hates Prince.....I stopped myself. Just.....But if they keep ignoring/fobbing us off-not sue how long my resistance will last.

just imagine if CJ did come here.....Theres a career worth of stories-EVERYDAY lol
[Edited 6/18/09 2:30am]

Anxiety said:

We can copy it, and send it to Lotusflow3r support, saying "I understand you received this email and I want you to know I feel exactly the same way", which is what I am about to do!

Great letter, jethrouk!

Anxiety said:

I think you need to remove the "I didn't join" option. The question is, "Are you satisfied with your Lotusflow3r.com membership?" and if one didn't join, the question does not apply to them. You aren't asking "DID you join?", you're asking "For those who DID join, how do you feel?"

And when you take out the irrelevant replies, the results are going to be more accurate, 'cause way more than 60% of the members are dissatisfied with it.

metallicjigolo said:

what is that exactly going to achieve? i thought by saying my thoughts are with prince was a very nice thing to do. thats not a bad thing. i was not asking for juicy gossip. i would hope you are well also. you cannot call me up on that.
[Edited 6/18/09 6:12am]

thanks for the praise guys. I'll see if I can re-tool it into a petition. and if they reply, i can draw their attention to it.

thanks,

jm
[Edited 6/18/09 6:11am]

metallicjigolo said:

nobody is speaking for you unless you choose to speak for yourself or add your name to someone else's comments to say that you support their concerns.

and i don't think anyone has any desire to add to prince's woes if indeed he's going through a health crisis right now. this isn't torches and pitchforks, it's just a bunch of fans who paid good money for an experience they're not getting, asking "what's up?" to the people who are running the site.

i don't think the concerns and requests made in the letter posted on this thread are unreasonable or disrespectful. if prince and his web site staff weren't prepared to offer a site that matched their boasts leading up to the site launch, then they should have taken more time with it before letting it go live.

Anxiety said:

Crikey Anx, we all would have spontaneously combusted if they had left it any longer

Seriously though I hope they did not just cave and launch it when they did due to fan impatience (having said that didn't it coincide with the Target CD release in the end). To have done that and then ignore the fan impatience now is just backward.

KeithyT said:

if they didn't think they'd have enough content to add throughout the year, then they should have distributed the pics and videos gradually throughout the year, so as to have at least given some kind of illusion of having some kind of continuous archive (read: SIGN OF LIFE) for the site.

i hear what you're saying about fan impatience, though i'm sure that was only part of it. it would have looked silly not to have lotusflow3r.com up and going by the time the album came out...

RodeoSchro said:

I think that the "I didn't join" is appropriate. I didn't join, but I would be tempted to choose "dissatisfied" (if there was no "I didn't join" option) because the cost of the site was prohibitive based on Prince's record of not following through, and my vicarious knowledge of what lotusflow3r.com has to offer thus far. This would really skew the poll in an unfair manner.