Problems with the "official" Liz Phair forum

[harkrider]

Ongoing problems at the official LPF have resulted in the loss of all data from 2006.  I wish that others would take this more seriously.  There's no excuse for it.  I don't think that people realize the implications.  You've got hundreds of personal opinions out there, forming what ought to be a permanent historical record.  Some say that it's no big deal.  Such ambivalence is fine for an individual.  But it's death for a community.  Our culture is by and large a steaming pile of shit.  Liz Phair did us a favor by writing some worthwhile music.  The fact that she didn't enjoy greater success is a function of culture, and is, therefore, at least half our fault.  Great artists generate a feedback loop with their fans.  The LPF, half-assed as it's been since its inception in 2004, plays an essential role in that strange loop.  The forum before that one (which I never even knew about) should also play a role, but doesn't, its data also having been mindlessly deleted. 

I think of it as unread fanmail.  This begs the question: what IS the value of fanmail?  The answer is incalculable.  Even if it remains unread, it maintains value, being literally unique responses from audience to artist.  In that sense, it's irreplacable.  Deleting large swaths of the forum is like burning bags of unread fanmail, which is, rightly, a criminal act.  It doesn't matter what the letters say, but only that they continue to exist. 

Re-reading this post, I am tempted to delete the thing and substitute some hilarious spoof on the pathetic state of affairs.  Liz Phair fans have a reputation for being wildly intelligent, witty, and perhaps a teeny bit sarcastic.  The fact that 13 year old kids run their fan forums more effectively shouldn't really bother us, right?  Wrong.  It's a disgrace, being so easily avoided.  Out here at the girlysound forum, for instance, I've spent the ten minutes necessary to ensure the ongoing persistence of stuff posted here.  Nothing short of an extinction-class meteor would take it out for more than a few days.  So that's good news.  Yeah, it IS pretty funny, I guess, assigning such high value to something so meaningless to so many.   

Self deprecation is a key component to the Gen-X psychology.  I don't know what this next generation is calling itself, but they seem to have adopted much the same strategy as my own shitball cadre -- virtue via irreverance.  Revere nothing, least of all ourselves, our collected opinions.  Keep your talk small, and your big ideas hidden from view, lest they be ridiculed.  It's a societal disease of the self.  I sometimes refer to it as Splendor in the Closet, the diametric opposite to Secret Timidity.

[avj]

Have you checked archive.org or the Google cache?

I'm on my Treo here at work -- not exactly the ideal configuration to go trudging around the Web -- but those might be good places to start.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

I've learned about the google stuff, because I've been google-ing my own handle.  I've seen references to threads which have been nuked.   just don't know if google is actually just indexing the stuff or replicating it.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

Congratulations to Mesmerizing_Too (Ken Lee) for being designated as an additional moderator on LP Forum.  I am hopeful.

[harkrider]

Congratulations to Mesmerizing_Too (Ken Lee) for being designated as an additional moderator on LP Forum.  I am hopeful.

YES, this is great news.  Now if we can just get our hands on the database dumps -- we could easily cobble together a comprehensive restore script.  Regardless, this is a HUGE step forward.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

It seems to me that a lot of the SPAM would be easier to manage with just some easy to implement restrictions on new users, but I don't have any clues as to what the software that LP Forum is using is capable of.

I kinda get the impression that they need someone to figure all of that out.

I wonder if there are online manuals.  Most of this stuff comes with something written by people who don't have a clue on how you describe the tweaks of the program to the normal non-tech person generally running the damn thing.

[wooden and alone]

ahh has it been fixed.. finally? i wonder why there were spammers in the first place. it was probably just the latest marketing trend. i also wonder how JOG can paste what jeremyengle said about dance in the seven veils. but i guess, he just copies "good stuff".

anyway, it's okay now. a bit. breathe.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

Yes, things are much better now.  A little bit of a learning curve in figuring out how to fight it.

I'm having problems getting other members to become involved.  I was hoping that they would view posting reports as being empowering--like they weren't just being victimized, but they had some control.

Unfortunately, that possible thought seems to be lost on them.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

There is an interesting development over at LP Forum.  There is a new stealth admin account, created Feb 12, 2007.

You cannot pull up its profile information, because there is no hyperlink to it.  If you pull up the moderating team, there is a "blank" entry.

There appears to be an offhand way to PM the new account, but not email.

I'm guessing that they used a blank character or some other magic to set this up.

Anyways, it is new and its admin, so this, I consider, a hopeful sign that other changes are in the offing.

Anyone else notice this??

[Denneval]

If you're referring to TraciEMI, she isn't new.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

Prior to 2/12, there were 4 admins.  Now there are 5 admins.  The 5th admin is "blank".

lizphair (member #1, 27-Aug 04), lizphairadmin (member #2, 16 Nov 04), rlew (member #3, 17 Nov 04), traciEMI(missing #, 15 Mar 06), and now "blank"(member #4131, 12 Feb 07).

Now, do you believe me?

[Denneval]

I never said I didn't believe you.

Anyway, don't get too excited; a "blank" administrator has been added all the way across the forumsunlimited/EMI artist forums. The measure doesn't seem to be likely in favor of Liz or the changes being made behind the seams.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

Anyway, don't get too excited; a "blank" administrator has been added all the way across the forumsunlimited/EMI artist forums.

Useful information.  Thank you.

Also, your initial response seem to suggest that I was confused.  I just wanted to convey that I was paying attention.

I'm interested in what changes are underway with all of the shakeups at EMI with their poor performance as reported by Wall Street.

[TrampolineFrSpace]

I started having problems logging in this evening.  I can't get it right now.  Not sure what the problem is.

However, if you're having problems entering the official Liz Phair forum today 3/3/2007 around 10PM US CT, then you're not alone.

[harkrider]

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