I'm a recent subscriber but very long time lurker. I have noticed that mods seem to be very quick to lock threads, even if they seem (IMHO) valid and warranted. A recent example is that this thread - http://prince.org/msg/7/318186 - asking whether the PRN Trio played at Bria's homecoming was locked, and that users were sent to this one instead - http://prince.org/msg/5/317438?&pg=12 Now I've just tried to read it, and all it is is 12 pages of the same old sh*t - Bria looks like a man, her music sucks, LotusFlower sucks, Prince is disrespecting his fans..... Yawn. The list goes on. I found nothing about the homecoming itself, but not having hours to read through 12 pages, maybe I missed it.

Now here's my suggestion - mods, can't you do something to keep people on track in threads? If I see a thread about a gig, I want to read about that gig, not a load of off-topic bitching and whining. Equally if a new video is released, lets talk about that instead of it devolving into a rantfest about how it's not worth $77.

This is becomng a very negative place to be, and I for one am seriously considering not coming back. I feel the mods have a part to play in stemming the flow, at least to allocated threads, and not letting it pervade the whole damn board.

Sorry to perpetuate said negativity, but hopefully it will make you think about what can be done to turn this into a happier place.

Maybe the Mod didn't realize that the other thread was already locked. I'm curious as to what the deal is with the "homecoming party", and if the trio performed. I'm guessing that no one knows.

phin said:

You were redirected at the time because that was the featured thread on the discussion and the thread http://prince.org/msg/5/317438?&pg=1 had not locked itself at the time. Some people do not look before creating a thread to see if there is a discussion on the topic already (i.e. front page, forums). Looking at that featured thread now I see it has since locked itself, mods did not lock that one.

Since I don't mod the Associated Artists forum I suggest you orgnote one of the Associated Artists forum mods to create a new thread to replace that one so discussion can continue. Mods cannot open a thread that locks itself.

If a thread was to go way off topic a mod can remind people to keep the discussion on track. Depending what is posted you never know which way it will go.

And as for the negativity well it's opinions of different people. You cannot keep every post/thread 100% positive with no negative opinions. I'm sorry you feel that way in regards to negativity. In reality, it does not matter what fan sites one visits, there is negativity all over the net.

I hope you will stay. There are a lot of very nice people around here

phin said:

I do not think the mods can control who comes in here on a daily basis so if things seem quite odd, it is because this place has become odd.

I believe there is a thread related to negativity somewhere. Search for it.

As far as things go here - yeah, recently there is not much to be happy about if you are a Prince fan. Seems like he is done touring and all we are left to do is talk about the same old shit we always talk about.

Been here over ten years and in my opinion, Housequake was the place to be and the org was just a place you came in case they got news first, which did not happen a lot.

The org seems like it has become a small club where outsiders are not really welcome. Threads turn into arguments between two people and then go on forever.

Also, I used to come here for info. about new music other than Prince but now it has turned into some sort of home for fans of MJ and the entire Jackson family and almost any other old skool R&B band you can think of. Not that there is anything wrong with that but you kinda gotta go elsewhere nowadays for info. about current music. You would think it could be more diverse though.

If you notice, there are tons of people lurking and few people posting. Check the number of views compared to the number of actual replies.

Prince newbies also kinda flood the forums with questions that older fans have talked about a thousand times already, which is ok because it is nice to see new Prince fans.

The new website and 3-disc mess brought a lot of people down too.

Also, Prince is getting older and slowing down. Perhaps getting weirder by the minute with his talks about Chemtrails and what not. Jehovah, youtube, etc.

Also, the way we get news nowadays is from a Hollywood style blog that someone reads and then posts the news here. Welcome to the wonderful world of being a Prince fan. It gets no weirder than this. Enjoy the lurking. That is about all I do at this point.
[Edited 9/6/09 0:52am]

japanrocks said:

I believe japanrocks is talking about this one http://prince.org/msg/3/308522?&pg=1

luv4u said:

That thread is dead, Jim...

Nikademus said:

yes....but the negativity still lives on Mr. Spock

and now.....back to our regularly scheduled MJ related thread

japanrocks said:

Yeah, but I don't see the point in directing people to a thread that can no longer be participated in. It's one thing if it's a thread that's there purely for reference, like the old org FAQ, but telling people who want to post something to go to a thread they can no longer post on sort of defies logic.

Nikademus said:

Yeah I know. I think Anxiety let it run its course

phin said:

here here,phin You make some very good observations. the org does seem to be very unfriendly to newbies, such as myself. there appears to be a group on the org ...that makes a point of making it very unfriendly to newcomeers....put it that way. But I am still fairly new and not real sure whats going on. but something is up,

while I've been around on and off since the Park on aol .. back in 94... I haven't been on the org very long. I'd heard many years ago that it was a nice place to be. that the people were much nicer on the org than other sites.

not sure that's the case anymore. I myself am slipping off deeper and deeper into just lurk mode.

I had hoped to find some old friends here, but I don't see them anywhere.

I made a one or two new ones and that's nice. But for the most part, I'm probably safer and less likely to be flamed into oblivion by posting on hot topic political sites ...elsewhere. LOL.



kudo's to you .... your observations are valid points for consideration.

lastly, I can understand why there is no chat area on LotusFlow3r.com.