Mewsings from Lowecat (aka Indianacat)

My rants, ravings, and overall 'mewsings' on life, the universe, and everything.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Enough with the BULLSHIT in SOA fandom



I intially intended to blog about the ghastly tornado hit in OK, due to stayin' awake earlier this AM when a nasty storm swept through Indiana.  Should also be workin' on my badly overdue fanfic chapter. 

Instead, I feel the need to hiss off about some bullshit goin' on in my beloved Sons of Anarchy fanverse. 

It seems that people go completely nertz about the upcomin' new season every year, scourin' the interwebz for pics and tidbits of news and then postin' them all over the place as gospel.  They get other easily led people all upset for no reason other than to cause attention for themselves.

This year it seems worse than ever.  People are finding the sets where shooting is going on and takin' unauthorized pictures with telephoto lenses, then postin' the pics on the social nets just because they can.  Additionally, they are spoutin' off about crap they know absolutely zero about.

Facebook itself is gettin' really outta hand with this shit, and I've had ENOUGH! 

Look, people, this situation has really gotten out of hand.  I don't know who is postin' the illegal pics and spoilers, and don't wanna know.  If you're toutin' yourself as a fan and doin' this BS, then you're not a fan at all.  You're a fuckin' opportunistic leech that needs to be squished.

Promos are just that.  They are items designed to interest people in the upcoming season.  They do NOT necessarily relate to what will take place in the story!  We saw this in Season 2 when one of the promos ended with Clay and Jax seemingly ridin' their bikes in anger towards each other, intend on havin' an explosive head on collision.  The world wide webs went ape shit over that.  IT NEVER HAPPENED!  It was a damn metaphor for what really happened in that dynamic. 

Same thing with the promos for last Season, where people were in an uproar over Jax swerving to avoid hittin' Gemma on a bridge, and crashes over the side.  IT NEVER HAPPENED, yet it was a metaphor for what happened story wise in the family dynamic.  I found it very well done, and certainly set the stage for the season.  Yet, people were so sure it meant that the Jax character was going to be killed. 

Now it's happenin' again.  Dom Pagone, The VP of Media Relations at FX, has been gracious enough to share legitimate promotional pictures of the cast during filming and prior to filming of S6's first episode.   People are repostin' those pics on Facebook WITHOUT adding his commentary that accompanied the picture.  People are lettin' their imaginations run wild and goin' absolutely nuts about the significance of this one picture.   Mr. Pagone has even tweeted to people that promos are not to be taken literally, but the word isn't gettin' out.

Well, now it's gettin' out, and a link to this little blog is goin' out on Twitters, and every damn SOA related FB page I belong to.  Maybe it'll make a difference, then again, maybe it won't.  But if it makes even ONE fan pay attention and pull a Susan Powter (bing or google her name if you don't know to whom I am referrin' to) and scream STOP THE INSANITY, then it'll be worth takin' the time away from other matters.

C'mon people, think a moment.  We love the show.  That's a given.  The cast, crew, writers, producers, directors, and the creator, Mr. Sutter, appreciate our love.  There is a limit to the amount of bullshit they are willing to put up with.  SOA fans have enjoyed throughout the last five seasons an unprecedented amount of inside access about the show through Mr. Sutter's YouTube updates, his Q/A nites, his tweets.  What other show has ever come close to givin' the fanbase the intel we have been given?  It would be very easy for Mr. Sutter and the other powers that be to shut us completely out, just as fans of shows like Classic Star Trek and the like were relegated. 

Maybe a lot of you are too young to remember those days when there were no interactions with the fans by the cast and crew.  You wrote a fan letter and if you were lucky, you received a response and/or an autographed 'thank you' letter.  You had to rely on the media magazines (in my day it was Tiger Beat, 16, and the Hollywood gossip mags) for any kind of publicity, and then it was fluff. 

Frankly, I don't want to go back to that.  It's great that the cast members of other shows besides SOA and producers, writers, directors are willing to interact on line with the fans.  THEY DON'T HAVE TO.  They do becuase they want us to care.  They want to share, but they also want to be respected.

Takin' tales about fans misrepresentin' SOA and/or their association to the show to Mr. Sutter is likely to piss him off and make him react harshly to the accused.  He is protective of his creation, and I don't blame him. The people who try to leech onto his success by sellin' bootleg videos, clothing, and other rip offs deserve his ire and justifibly so.  It hurts to have somethin' you've put your blood, sweat, and soul profitin' someone else who doesn't deserve it.  

But good, innocent people are gettin' hurt for no good reason, and that's the thing that really has me hissed off.  Whatever the reason, it needs to stop.  If you're jealous because some fans seem to have more access to SOA than you, maybe it's because they've done all they can to be supportive instead of destructive.  These people deserve your respect, not your condemnation.  They don't deserve to be lied about.  And Mr. Sutter doesn't deserve the additional stress of havin' to deal with this kind of bullshit while he's tryin' to put out a quality product.  

So the bottom line, and the whole point of this epistle is this.  If all y'all wanna have the access we've enjoyed shut down, keep on doin' the shit you're doin' and you can rest assured that Mr. Sutter will shut down all access to protect his 'baby'.  There won't be any more WTF videos, there won't be Q/A nights.  There won't be tweets and there won't be any more fan appreciation.  There'll be nothin' but a big ass void of nothin' until the show comes out in September. 

It's up to all y'all. 


  

16 Comments:

Anonymous Ally P. said...

Thanks for posting this Myra. The craziness gets to be extremely off-putting and in the months before SOA airs and even during the season, it makes a person want to step back from it a bit. The insanity is why Tignation goes on such a long break. I've gotten to where I don't care that much about it while it's not on. I like to joke with my friends online about it, because none of my people in the real world watch the earth but I really don't care about spoilers and what not anymore. I don't get worked up anymore. The show has changed for me, and my interest is dropping off. The people who go and do crap like they do in all the Facebook groups are a huge part of why I'm not as big of a fan of the show as I once was.

May 21, 2013 at 5:10 PM  
Anonymous SOA fan said...

What pic are we talking about here exactly?

I'm not one to feed the gossip mongers but I'd like to know what exactly is being said (and where) because then I could understand/get behind this a argument little better but so far I haven't seen anything much relating to your blog...I'd be mighty grateful if you could point me in the direction of seeing what on earth is going on...

May 21, 2013 at 9:22 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

May 21, 2013 at 9:30 PM  
Anonymous SOA fan said...

Thanks for the reply, but it doesn't really answer my question. I've looked around for said arguments about the pics but I can't find anything on facebook. Can you give me a summary of what's actually been said? I've very curious and concerned...

My email is jtmurph84 at gmail dot com if you'd prefer not to go into details in your blog.

May 21, 2013 at 11:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The whole thing is ridiculous including all the SOA related pages, groups , websites , blogs etc. how many sites/ pages does one person need to create? Then creating even more regarding characters or cast members on top of the ones already made! I see pics posted and watermarked as if they own and created them when they obviously took them off twitter or the web that others have taken. The pompous attitudes are a whole other story. It's not a contest. Who is the bigger fan, who is the SOA authority, who can post info and pics first. I am a huge fan but I am not an employee of FX / SOA / Kurt and neither are those people. Get off your high horses and let us enjoy the show for what it's meant to be.

May 21, 2013 at 11:35 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

FOr me the groups have nothing to do with whether I am a fan or not- either you are or you AREN'T, BUT, I did get group burnout awhile back, and I have just been layin' low.

Seems like the older I get, the less tolerance I have for stupidity and bullshit.

You rawk, Myra. Keep up the good work.

May 21, 2013 at 11:57 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Dear Anonymous,

Let me try to respond to a few of your points. Not to mock you, but to shed enlightenment.

The whole thing is ridiculous including all the SOA related pages, groups , websites , blogs etc. how many sites/ pages does one person need to create? Then creating even more regarding characters or cast members on top of the ones already made!


Though SOA has the greatest majority of pages and pages related to it out on the world wide webs, it is not the only one. Fans have been rabid about their likes for ages. Had the worldwideweb, FB, twitters, and the like existed back in my formative years, the followers of such shows as Star Trek, Dark Sahdows, the Monkees, etc., would've been just as busy with their pages.
That bein' said, I agree that the pages with 'pretenders' mislead people a great deal and have the potential to cause harm to the character and/or actor portrayin' said chracter. Unfortunately, there are people out there who believe the pretenders ARE the character and react to them in that manner. Sad, but true.


Now, if you are referrin' to one particular SOA fan who has created and moderates a large number of SOA related sites, that just might explain more fully your need to 'hide' behind the 'anonymous' headin'. The blog was not just intended as a defense of that particular person, though that person HAS endured a great deal of fan hatred lately that has been uncalled for.

I see pics posted and watermarked as if they own and created them when they obviously took them off twitter or the web that others have taken.

The watermarks may say a certain site used or first posted those pics, and I moderate/admin on two such message boards. The watermarkin' is NOT intended to give credit to the site or person, but to prevent other people/pages from copyin' the photos and takin' the credit.
The watermarks for the msg boards/fanpages may have been misleadin', but IMO were done out of an effort of love, not to grab glory.
I agree that poachers who take pics from twtiter and other sites and DO NOT CREDIT the person who first posted them, be it FX, the actor who posted them, or wherver they originated are leeches of the worse kind.



The pompous attitudes are a whole other story. It's not a contest. Who is the bigger fan, who is the SOA authority, who can post info and pics first. I am a huge fan but I am not an employee of FX / SOA / Kurt and neither are those people.


I don't work for Kurt Sutter or FX either, nor do I give a rat's ass who posted what news or pic first, so long as they're postin' accurate information. Nor am I the be all/end all authority on SOA. I'm just a fan, and maybe a little over protective of the cast/crew because of my experiences with them.

Yss, I was privledged to be picked by Mr. Sutter to go out and meet and get to know him a little better. Was probably a super geek outed fangirl. It's because of that unique experience that I will and do speak out when people overstep their bounds, such as the posting of where the filming is going on, or of pics taken from said filmin', or of attributes made to the cast/crew that hold as much water as a leaky sieve. It's not an ego trip, it's giving back the only way I know how for all the enjoyment they have given me.

Get off your high horses and let us enjoy the show for what it's meant to be.


Wow, tell us how you REALLY feel, darlin'. I can't tell for sure if that last comment is directed at me personally, or at the pompous attitudes in fandom. If it's related to me, well, that's your opinion and y'all are entitled to it. Everyone has opinions, and like assholes, some of 'em stink. Not that I'm directin' that at y'all, just in general.

I hope that y'all ARE enjoyin' the show. That's the main objective that Kurt Sutter is out to achieve, to tell a story.

And by damn, he does a damn good job of it.

May 22, 2013 at 1:06 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

SOA fangirl, there was a recent kerfluffle (I love that word, thanks Judge Judg!) on FB about some bare butt pics of Charlie Hunnam posted on closed fan group pages. The ones where y'all have to be a member in order to post/see what's there in the first place. The creator of the page was reported to FB idiots in charge for postin' obscenity and was sent to FB jail. She couldn't post for 24 hours.
Since then, several other 'members' made nasty comments about the group in general, the creator in particular, and then left the group after being accepted. Some of these same people have apparently gone running off to Mr. Sutter and/or his production people and/or FX legal about these pages, and Kurt has reacted as he tends to do. Explosively. The person is crushed, and I feel for both of them.

Meantime, Mr. Pagone has posted promo pics on twitter that have been copied onto various FB pages without his companion comments that explained the pics. This has caused some upset, as a stand in has been used for Mr. Hunnam, and this led to undue speculation that Mr. Hunnam wasn't returnin'.

If y'all have ever played the 'telephone' game, you'll understand what I mean about the story gettin' outta hand. Recnetly, Mr. Pagone posted a greenscreen background pic of Clay in his old cut and Jax with his Prez cut. It was titled old regime/new regime. It created a wee bit of a fuss/furor.

Also, the leaking of the location shoots has been gettin' more out of hand, so that more and more peopel are showin' up at the shoots and takin' pics that don't need to be taken. Thos pics are also causin' a lot of misleadin' information to come out. It is creatin' a lot of additional stres for Mr. Sutter in havin' to deal with it.

Many people don't know what it takes to create somethin' like SOA. It takes a lot of time, energy, attention. You love it, but you grow to loathe it because it becomes a livin', breathin' entity that continues to take from you. You are embattled from all sides - the finance department, promo department, writers, actors, producers, directors, cast, crew, reporters and the like are all clamoring for something from you. All you want to do is tell your story, but the additional morass that comes with the story telling can be exhausting.
Then when you're faced with outside problems draggin' you down, it's another to make a person freak out.

As fans, we can control this, at lest that's what I believe. We can support our show in so many other positive ways than infightin' with each other and runnin' off at the mouth/keyboard.

I dunno if this answers you any better, as there are some things I'm privy to that are sacrosant to me. I will refer to 'em in general, but not in detail.

May 22, 2013 at 1:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Myra the last comment was not directed at you. I just feel some, including those you have mentioned, feel they are the be all and end all of SOA fandom and IMO seem to put down other's. And if someon doesn't agree, praise, worship or kiss butt then they and their lemmings unleash their wrath. Akin to cyber bullying at times. We should all respect each other as fans and human beings and especially respect Kurt and his team. And as the cast has said...it's only a television show people!

May 22, 2013 at 8:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

With all due respect......get over yourself - you and that idiot Sutter who does nothing but insult fans who ask him civil questions on Twitter only to get snarky, insulty, crude replies. You wanna go to bat for someone like that, knock yourself out.

Spoilers get leaked. Fans get pics. Things get posted. Stuff happens It's not the end of the world. This is a fictional television show, not military intel so stop treating this situation like it's this uber-secretive hush hush stuff. Let fans wonder about pics. Let them kerfuffle. So what? Why does it bother YOU so much? Stop being the internet/SOA police and let Sutter and his crew deal with it themselves. If they can't guard sets, ensure privacy of leaks, etc. then it's THEIR problem. If a fan takes a pic it's THEIR property to do what THEY want to do with it and if Sutter's only response to that is to begin blocking people from his Twitter then I'll do him a favor by unfollowing first. Really - everyone get a life. You were better off blogging about the tornado. THATS a tragedy - pics and spoilers getting leaked is not!

May 22, 2013 at 9:03 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

May 23, 2013 at 1:24 AM  
Anonymous A True SOA Fan said...

((This post has been edited by the blog owner at the request of the poster. Only the name of the post author was changed to protect the innocent)).

Jesus christ more bashing, don't you people EVER get bored?

The photos that we watermark are either purchased by us or have been sent to us from fans. The watermarking gives them the credit and also protects their special day & treasured memories of that day. Watermarking is what fan sites do worldwide & not just SoA fan sites. As for creating fan groups I hear no members complaining. Apart from the odd whiner that appear to be EVERYWHERE at the moment.

As for respecting others you earn respect you don't deserve it. By what I've received they clearly think i respect them & are very appreciative of my efforts. I certainly don't think I am the be all & end all of anything. I started this as a hobby & yes it's snowballed, I can't help that fact. Seems to me people are jealous that my fan site & groups are successful and the recognition i have received over the years and still receiving. There you have the problem not I. You deal with it by spouting venom & lies. As for bulling, really ? If someone attacks me I WILL attack back. If defending myself makes me a bad person in your eyes i couldn't care less. You clearly have a problem with me so why no grow a pair & confront me instead of anonymously bashing. That's what I call bulling, I hide behind no one but then I'm not a liar who hides behind "anonymous". Anything I say has my name attached.


I think we are all aware its only a TV show. Maybe you should remember that before spouting your BS & Lies. Thank god the good people of the Fandom world out weigh the bad!!

May 23, 2013 at 1:42 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...


This is the same comment that I posted at 124AM, it has been edited only slightly.

VWS. The main point of my blog was to tell people to stop takin' photos they have no right (despite Anonymous #2's statements to the contrary!) to take in the first place on site, and further besmirchin' the fan world with carryin' lies about fansites and fans to KS and/or FX Legal. However, when you give someone the opportunity to hide behind an Anonymous mask, they will go for the jugular for no other reason than because they can hurt someone and not be held accountable. Completely opposite fictional Anonymous figures like V for Vendetta, the Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, who were using their masks to do the right thing. The main point remains the same, whether you like it or not. Some fans, through their dedication and hard work to SUPPORT a show (whether SOA or otherwise, or a band, or a movie, or a play, or tiddlywinks), and be respectful of the creative forces involved, are rewarded for that effort by recoginition from them. The creative forces don't OWE it to anyone to recoginize them. It is, to paraphrase Anonymous #2, THEIR right to do so as THEY see fit.

The recipients of that recognition, while it's only human nature for other to be envious of that recoginition, it's not our right to put them down, bully them, lie about them, or bash them.

Anonymous #2, if you are who I think you are, don't bother respondin', as your future comments will go into the spam bucket.

Unless, of course, you come out of hiding.

Which I have as much anticipation will happen as a snowball has a chance to stay frozen in Hell.

May 23, 2013 at 1:56 AM  
Anonymous Answer to SOA FANGIRL edited said...

Sorry folks, another edit, to change a name and protect the innocent)...


It's the posting of pictures that were not sanctioned by FX (Dom Pagone or the actors), and all the kerfluffle havin' to do with the support some lucky fans have received from Kurt Sutter and crew.

Too many people tend to take lies and half truths to Kurt about this or that, and he gets upset. That's why he tweeted the warning about postin' pics of his actors on set.

The infighting amongst the fans, espcially on Facebook, has gotten entirely out of hand, hence the reason for my post.

May 21, 2013 at 9:30 PM

May 23, 2013 at 2:32 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I completely agree with what this person says regarding the self appointed Internet Police.Leave people alone instead of acting like a pack of snitches.
As for the unnamed person with all of the SOA sites.Noone is jealous sweetheart ok?
"THEY DON'T LIKE YOU."
Get that through your thick head.You are nothing more than a vicious self serving twat who has put the Sons Of Anarchy Fans at odds with each other due to your deluded accusations and bullshit.




"Spoilers get leaked. Fans get pics. Things get posted. Stuff happens It's not the end of the world. This is a fictional television show, not military intel so stop treating this situation like it's this uber-secretive hush hush stuff. Let fans wonder about pics. Let them kerfuffle. So what? Why does it bother YOU so much? Stop being the internet/SOA police and let Sutter and his crew deal with it themselves."

July 12, 2013 at 1:21 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Dear July Anonymous.

Y'all are a wee bit late to the party, seein' as this was written nearly TWO MONTHS ago! What are you doin', trollin' for a fight?

Sorry, you're not gettin' it here.

Guess y'all must be either (A) a bootlegger of S5 video, (B) someone who is claimin' to be affiliated with the show who is not just to get people to listen to their creation, (C)someone who has misplaced loyalties for A and/or B.

Whichever the case, there's more people out there who like me than who don't. Standing behinid the Fawksian mask of Anonymous to call me a twat doesn't make y'all a brave person.

It just makes you a sad little cunt.

I'm just woman enough to publish both the positive and the negative.

Are you brave enough to come out behind your mask? I didn't think so.

July 12, 2013 at 1:31 PM  

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