This is thought and speech policing at its worst

I want to get one of those e-mails to! so I can print it out, frame it and later show it to my grandkids

Markland said:

It was in Dutch, and will be available on the net tomorrow. No doubt someone at HQ will provide a transcript in English.
Aaron shows a big pile of paper, and when asked to mention some of the finer points he says they're threathening him with 3 years of jail and a 300.000 euro fine *minimum*. It is unclear if this is the Sheriff doing the talking, as the Sheriff coordinated "attacks" on HQ from different geographical regions through different lawfirms.

unkemptpueblo said:

November 5th will go down as possibly the worst day in Prince's musical career.

Anxiety said:

He aint gonna let it ruin his day..... Screw Prince for real man. Am I making threats or just expressing my disgust?

Prince is simply disgusting. He honestly couldn't issue a press release and talk to us? He has to put out a cryptic song instead? I'm so through with him.

The three sites in question have falsely positioned themselves as representatives of millions of Prince fans. In fact, many have come out in support of Prince at his official site and even on the message boards of the unofficial sites in question.

"Mediation between the parties is currently resolving the matter."

For those of you who havent seen it, I strongly recommend you read this article

http://www.nme.com/news/prince/32426

It was allegedly released "by mistake" by Princes PR company

Part of the article reads:

"Prince is not suing his fans, is not looking to penalise fans and nor is he looking to or inhibiting freedom of speech in any way. In fact, he is simply looking to provide Prince fans with exclusive music and images entirely free of charge, and bypassing unofficial and unauthorised phoney fan sites that exploit both consumers and artists."

Even given the fact that someone might have hit the "send" button by mistake, this was obviously a finished item and someone was told what to put in it

I think it gives the clearest indication yet of the mindset of some of the people involved in this sorry saga and the contempt with which someone clearly views the fan sites

Allegedly a spokeperson for prince has contacted PFU and said the article was released by mistake and certain media picked up on it

Funny how the media who picked up on it havent removed it yet

I hope the same media are asked to publish, with equal prominence, an apology to the people this article insults

sosgemini said:

Okay, Stella, were you trying to comment and got caught up in the Org burp?

Let me try:

I think there is some accuracy to this statement. I know that txladykat the other day said as much as she could about what the claim really involved and I'm sure it's even worse than it looks here, but I think NPG has a case that the PFU site falsely represented thee original claim (wacky as it no doubt will turn out to be).

This has nothing to do with "supporting" Prince. I think both sides are acting badly, but these sites are DIRECTLY trying to rope us all in to their legal problems before the issues have been clarified.

I think it's a mistake to feel like every one of us is involved personally.

NPG (or whoever the hell this is) is correct. These sites do NOT represent us. That is not their function, their purpose etc. But that's how they've slanted this.

when did the three sites claim to represent millions of fans? (not being smarmy or anything...just trying to weed through all the bs).

sosgemini said:

Okay, Stella, were you trying to comment and got caught up in the Org burp?

Let me try:

I think there is some accuracy to this statement. I know that txladykat the other day said as much as she could about what the claim really involved and I'm sure it's even worse than it looks here, but I think NPG has a case that the PFU site falsely represented thee original claim (wacky as it no doubt will turn out to be).

This has nothing to do with "supporting" Prince. I think both sides are acting badly, but these sites are DIRECTLY trying to rope us all in to their legal problems before the issues have been clarified.

I think it's a mistake to feel like every one of us is involved personally.

NPG (or whoever the hell this is) is correct. These sites do NOT represent us. That is not their function, their purpose etc. But that's how they've slanted this.

NPG (or whoever the hell this is) is correct. These sites do NOT represent us. That is not their function, their purpose etc. But that's how they've slanted this.

sosgemini said:

They never did. I'm trying to parse WebSherrif's claim. I don't think they need to have said that anywhere in order for lawyer's to make the claim that that is the effect of putting that site up to begin with (look at the title for one).

This is like Ben saying that they didn't actively distribute (not a direct quote, check the latest blog entry) their statement to the media, and yet it got out there through fans who were riled up because they thought this was about them-- like that's a meaningful distinction to make.

2the9s said:

That is a meaningful distinction to make. Ben is indicating they didn't hire some PR agency, or bought a subscription to some wire service to push the PFU story through media channels. The fans did that, which indicates that in fact PFU does represent a great many people.

The three sites in question have falsely positioned themselves as representatives of millions of Prince fans. In fact, many have come out in support of Prince at his official site and even on the message boards of the unofficial sites in question.

m3taverse said:

But Websherrif's claim (no?) is that the site misrepresetned the original claim in order to arouse this fan support. That's a use of PR (however contrived) to obscure a legitimate legal caim (legitimate in the sense of being through proper channels, not in what it is asking, which would have been and probably will be thrown out of any court in the land).

And lets face it, what does it say about a persons judgement when they use a pr firm that cant tell the difference between "send" and "delete"

Markland said:

Therefore one has to question how accidental this really was.
First we get a song telling us to go fuck ourselves, the next day there's an actual release telling us we're posting on hoaxsites who are only in it for the money ... the song lyrics and the press release are in total accordance with each other.

Markland said:

Therefore one has to question how accidental this really was.
First we get a song telling us to go fuck ourselves, the next day there's an actual release telling us we're posting on hoaxsites who are only in it for the money ... the song lyrics and the press release are in total accordance with each other.

I think that after a couple of days and a few kajillion posts, this discussion is devolving and losing focus.

I would invite (or challenge) folks still posting regularly to this thread to go back to the main page and click on the PFU site, and read the press release again.

THAT is what we're discussing. Not whether it's okay to drop the "F" bomb or how provocative we're allowed to be or which internet taunts are going to make sweet little baby Jesus cry purple tears.

Look, I don't think it's cool when people post rage-y, vulgar things about Prince...and chances are, I'm on the same "side" as most of those rage-y people in this situation. I think the legal thuggery is wrong. But I also think we need to express ourselves with some intelligence, respect and dignity...if not because Prince deserves it, then BECAUSE WE DESERVE TO HAVE OURSELVES VIEWED THAT WAY.

I've done a lot of cleaning up of the forums since all this started. I think all the mods have been busy. And after all the work we've done, there's still tons of "questionable" comments out there. Ya know what? I don't have the time to sift through EVERY thread and proofread EVERY rant for instances of "fuck you Prince" or "Prince is a twunt" or whatEVER. I don't get paid for this. None of the mods do.

To sufficiently police every comment posted on this site, we'd need at least one person sitting at a desk dedicated to censoring comments, all day long. I think we all understand that the Org does not have those kinds of resources....SO you'll have to make do with what we Mods are capable of doing, and you'll all have to post with some kind of accountability and mutual respect. That's all ya get. Be happy with it or leave.

Speaking of which, if you're uncomfortable with the profanity and rage you've seen in these forums over the past few days, I gotta just say this: HELLO! WELCOME TO THE INTERNET!

Other sites have responded FAR WORSE than anything I've seen on the Org. Look at the talkback comments on Perez Hilton's site. There's some TRULY RANK stuff being written on there. Go check out the Prince photoshop competition at b3ta.com - not only is much of it absolutely crass, but they're flaunting the controversy in Prince's face by encouraging folks to create image parodies of Prince!

Go ahead - go out there - see how OTHER people are behaving. Makes us look like a bunch of lil' angel foofoo bunnycakes.

Not that this excsues some of the more extreme comments posted on the Org in the past few days (or ever, I guess), but THIS IS THE INTERNET. It's DAMN HARD to control or police people's behavior on here. And the more you try to police people's expression, the more creatively they'll come back to make sure they have their say, their way.

I find that you can only "police" irrational behavior online with reason and respect. Otherwise, you're just fanning the flames. Escalating the situation. Adding gasoline to the bonfire.

And if that reality of this World Wide Interbutts is something that offends your sensibilities or hurts your feelings, then I don't know what to say. Either *BE* the change you want to see in others, or else walk away from the car crash and walk toward the beautiful green hills and play with the butterflies.

I mean, really - what can ya do???

All that said, I'd really like to get back to talking about the issue at hand, if indeed we have anything more to discuss on the topic. And like I suggested at the beginning of all this mess:

KEEP IT CIVIL.