The official site and opportunists
I think I can now safely say that - in my own humble opinion - the so-called "Gate Authority Initiative" was a really bad idea. Or rather, a really good idea gone bad because of the glory-mongering and name-seeking of a handful of the individuals who decided to use it as their own personal path to fandom "fame".
I said it on GW, and I'll repeat it here. In my personal opinion, the entire KTGO phenomenon is nothing more than an exercise in opportunism that was conceived, hatched and executed by the site's owner, a person by the name of Kenn.
Those of you who were members of the savestargatesg1 Yahoo group might remember ol' Kenn - he's the guy who showed up at the end of the campaign, promising that he'd save the show himself after the campaign folded and claiming all sorts of inside tracks and brilliant ideas that he guaranteed would work.
The inside tracks never did materialize, though, and his "guaranteed" plan did nothing - obviously. Though he does claim that KTGO's efforts are responsible for the "We'll make more movies if the first two do well thing"... claims that lose all of their credibility when one reads the GW article from December in which it was stated - in bold, no less - that they hope to do at least one movie every year (after the first two).
Whatever.
So now, he's gone and gotten himself on the "Gate Authority Initiative" on the official video site, and not only *on* it... he's apparently named himself the head of it. Exactly what official or enforceable position the so-called GAI holds remains a mystery (and will until trueFD starts answering his PMs again which I'm thinking will be exactly NEVER, but that's another story...). So now he and his "We Team" (and whoever thought up that lovely little term should be flogged unconscious with a pissed off porcupine) are running around the official site telling everyone what they're supposed to do (take down however many of their videos and/or pictures the GAI declares unfit), what they're allowed to say (apparently we're not allowed to say shit there), and just generally making annoying pains in the ass of themselves.
The funniest part about all of it is the reason they're giving for the push to remove SciFi logos from the site. They go around talking about illegal content and piracy concerns and they make themselves sound so "official" and so concerned about the legality and morality of it all... and it's all bullshit.
MGM isn't doing this to stamp out piracy - they want the SciFi logos gone but they don't give a fuck about the SkyOne logo. Now, footage with the SciFi logo on it I could have DVR'd and ripped myself, but SkyOne? There's really only one way for a vidder in the US to get their hands on footage with the SkyOne logo on it... and that is, of course, to have a friend in the UK who DVR'd and ripped it for them and then mailed it to them. :)
It's all about the money, folks. Everything's about the money. Even the "Great Purge" of YouBoob was about the money.
MGM doesn't want to pay SciFi channel royalty fees every time their logo appears on the site.
Period. End of story.
And to top it all off, the all mighty GAI is keeping a "detailed database" of their "results". Which means that my response to my assigned keeper (and don't fool yourself, we all have one - they've gone through and split up the entire community by page number) is in some database on ol' Kenn's computer somewhere. And so are yours, if someone contacted you and told you to take your vids down.
And what was my initial response? Well, I was more polite about it, of course, but the crux of my response was, "Fuck off." I had no intention of taking my vids down until I heard it from trueFD directly - and since that was back in a week when he *was* answering his PMs, I did. But what really bothers me about it is that I'm listed in some super-super-secret-database as being "non-compliant", complete with (apparently) a record of exactly what I said, who I said it to and exactly when I said it.
Here's some non-compliance for ya, Kenn ol' buddy.
FUCK OFF!
Now don't get me wrong - a lot of the people doing this are decent people. I just think they're being led around by the nose by a person who I honestly believe has no other motivation than making a name for himself and appearing to be officially sanctioned by MGM in any capacity (which is a mindset that I have never, and will never, understand. I mean, come on! Who really gives a flying fuck if MGM - or, in actuality, Dave.tv, since trueFD and TheGooley work for *them* - likes you?). We have a few names for people like that where I come from. And seeing as how I'm not on the official site and I can say whatever I damn well please without worrying about the all mighty GAI telling me to watch my mouth, I'll say them.
Teacher's pet. Brown-noser. Kiss ass. Annoying as shit piss-ant motherfucker. (We cuss a lot in Illinois, what can I say...)
So ol' Kenn got wind of my post on GW about him. Basically, I said I don't trust him or his high-and-mighty KTGO (and no, I'm not putting the copyright symbol after it, because putting copyright symbols in every post you make everywhere on the entire internet is not only assinine, it's stupid) and a few posts later, I explain why. And as a side note, scroll through and read the posts after that first one. The one that compares not liking KTGO to people dying everyday (I'm guessing it's a veiled anti-war stance) is good for a giggle.
Well, anyway, ol' Kenn found out about what I said - not really a miraculous feat seeing as how I said it in front of almost 30,000 people - and my guess is that he takes exception to it.
And now - ol' Kenn wants to talk to me about what's bugging me. Well, let me tell ya, Kenn - what's bugging me is you (obviously) and your self-serving, holier-than-thou, opportunistic pursuit of "officialdom". And me taking those videos down had nothing - I repeat, nothing - to do with you or your oh-so-wonderful Gate Authority.
And there is absolutely nothing you could ever say that I might ever want to hear, so please, just go away.
Far away.
And take your trained SuperGate monkeys with you.
I said it on GW, and I'll repeat it here. In my personal opinion, the entire KTGO phenomenon is nothing more than an exercise in opportunism that was conceived, hatched and executed by the site's owner, a person by the name of Kenn.
Those of you who were members of the savestargatesg1 Yahoo group might remember ol' Kenn - he's the guy who showed up at the end of the campaign, promising that he'd save the show himself after the campaign folded and claiming all sorts of inside tracks and brilliant ideas that he guaranteed would work.
The inside tracks never did materialize, though, and his "guaranteed" plan did nothing - obviously. Though he does claim that KTGO's efforts are responsible for the "We'll make more movies if the first two do well thing"... claims that lose all of their credibility when one reads the GW article from December in which it was stated - in bold, no less - that they hope to do at least one movie every year (after the first two).
Whatever.
So now, he's gone and gotten himself on the "Gate Authority Initiative" on the official video site, and not only *on* it... he's apparently named himself the head of it. Exactly what official or enforceable position the so-called GAI holds remains a mystery (and will until trueFD starts answering his PMs again which I'm thinking will be exactly NEVER, but that's another story...). So now he and his "We Team" (and whoever thought up that lovely little term should be flogged unconscious with a pissed off porcupine) are running around the official site telling everyone what they're supposed to do (take down however many of their videos and/or pictures the GAI declares unfit), what they're allowed to say (apparently we're not allowed to say shit there), and just generally making annoying pains in the ass of themselves.
The funniest part about all of it is the reason they're giving for the push to remove SciFi logos from the site. They go around talking about illegal content and piracy concerns and they make themselves sound so "official" and so concerned about the legality and morality of it all... and it's all bullshit.
MGM isn't doing this to stamp out piracy - they want the SciFi logos gone but they don't give a fuck about the SkyOne logo. Now, footage with the SciFi logo on it I could have DVR'd and ripped myself, but SkyOne? There's really only one way for a vidder in the US to get their hands on footage with the SkyOne logo on it... and that is, of course, to have a friend in the UK who DVR'd and ripped it for them and then mailed it to them. :)
It's all about the money, folks. Everything's about the money. Even the "Great Purge" of YouBoob was about the money.
MGM doesn't want to pay SciFi channel royalty fees every time their logo appears on the site.
Period. End of story.
And to top it all off, the all mighty GAI is keeping a "detailed database" of their "results". Which means that my response to my assigned keeper (and don't fool yourself, we all have one - they've gone through and split up the entire community by page number) is in some database on ol' Kenn's computer somewhere. And so are yours, if someone contacted you and told you to take your vids down.
And what was my initial response? Well, I was more polite about it, of course, but the crux of my response was, "Fuck off." I had no intention of taking my vids down until I heard it from trueFD directly - and since that was back in a week when he *was* answering his PMs, I did. But what really bothers me about it is that I'm listed in some super-super-secret-database as being "non-compliant", complete with (apparently) a record of exactly what I said, who I said it to and exactly when I said it.
Here's some non-compliance for ya, Kenn ol' buddy.
FUCK OFF!
Now don't get me wrong - a lot of the people doing this are decent people. I just think they're being led around by the nose by a person who I honestly believe has no other motivation than making a name for himself and appearing to be officially sanctioned by MGM in any capacity (which is a mindset that I have never, and will never, understand. I mean, come on! Who really gives a flying fuck if MGM - or, in actuality, Dave.tv, since trueFD and TheGooley work for *them* - likes you?). We have a few names for people like that where I come from. And seeing as how I'm not on the official site and I can say whatever I damn well please without worrying about the all mighty GAI telling me to watch my mouth, I'll say them.
Teacher's pet. Brown-noser. Kiss ass. Annoying as shit piss-ant motherfucker. (We cuss a lot in Illinois, what can I say...)
So ol' Kenn got wind of my post on GW about him. Basically, I said I don't trust him or his high-and-mighty KTGO (and no, I'm not putting the copyright symbol after it, because putting copyright symbols in every post you make everywhere on the entire internet is not only assinine, it's stupid) and a few posts later, I explain why. And as a side note, scroll through and read the posts after that first one. The one that compares not liking KTGO to people dying everyday (I'm guessing it's a veiled anti-war stance) is good for a giggle.
Well, anyway, ol' Kenn found out about what I said - not really a miraculous feat seeing as how I said it in front of almost 30,000 people - and my guess is that he takes exception to it.
And now - ol' Kenn wants to talk to me about what's bugging me. Well, let me tell ya, Kenn - what's bugging me is you (obviously) and your self-serving, holier-than-thou, opportunistic pursuit of "officialdom". And me taking those videos down had nothing - I repeat, nothing - to do with you or your oh-so-wonderful Gate Authority.
And there is absolutely nothing you could ever say that I might ever want to hear, so please, just go away.
Far away.
And take your trained SuperGate monkeys with you.