"Throwing out his own fans – has Morrissey finally lost it?" - The Guardian Music Blog

Found this in The Guardian website...

Throwing out his own fans – has Morrissey finally lost it? by Stephen Kelly - The Guardian Music Blog
After a 5,000-mile trip from LA to Copenhagen, a Morrissey fansite owner was looking forward to seeing his favourite artist in concert. Instead he was refused entry and given a lifetime ban

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Article: "Throwing out his own fans – has Morrissey finally lost it?" - The Guard

No I am not the editor or producer or publisher of people's comments. That is where we disagree on the definition. I do not see the comment before it is posted or 'produced'.

I may see it afterwards and take action if any rules are violated. Users are banned if they violate the rules of conduct that actually do exist. Sure, it's not an exact science, some may disagree on bans but in general they are about disclosing personal info or other types of harassment. I don't suppress ideas, criticisms, jokes (that may be sick in your opinion, but maybe not another's) or whatever the case may be.

So, you do have standards of conduct that you enforce. If my name is plastered all over the site, and it's on google directing people to this site, and a lot of the jokes are about me, does it make me crazy or overly sensitive to object to the fact that you allow the above to stay in public view in my name? In a one-human-being-to-another kind of way, does it not make sense that a person has the right to ask that the standards of coduct are raised enough that a thread on a site with my name on it talking about eating my poo be removed, at the very least? This is where the responsibility lies with the admin, not the poster who made the thread.

Morrissey may not be the nicest person in the world or the easiest person to get along with, but it's not unreasonable for him to object to the content on this site posted in his name when it crosses that kind of line (not to mention when it offers free downloads of commercially available music). And to eventually get fed up enough to say you know what, f**k you.

This is just common sense.

 

[davidt]

Re: Article: "Throwing out his own fans – has Morrissey finally lost it?" - The Guard

So, you do have standards of conduct that you enforce. If my name is plastered all over the site, and it's on google directing people to this site, and a lot of the jokes are about me, does it make me crazy or overly sensitive to object to the fact that you allow the above to stay in public view in my name? In a one-human-being-to-another kind of way, does it not make sense that a person has the right to ask that the standards of coduct are raised enough that a thread on a site with my name on it talking about eating my poo be removed, at the very least? This is where the responsibility lies with the admin, not the poster who made the thread.

Morrissey may not be the nicest person in the world or the easiest person to get along with, but it's not unreasonable for him to object to the content on this site posted in his name when it crosses that kind of line (not to mention when it offers free downloads of commercially available music). And to eventually get fed up enough to say you know what, f**k you.

This is just common sense.

No, you can certainly ask for standards to be raised. Perhaps you could post on that thread and ask the person yourself why this thread was posted and how disgusted you are by it? Or you could ignore it and let it die like most people did. It's in the 'pigsty' section of the forums and wasn't deleted. It is very rare any threads/posts are deleted, apart from spam and posted personal information.

I don't think anyone took it as seriously as you did. It's best you avoid things posted there if it offends you.

 

[Anonymous]

How I see it , is that the point of this discontent has been clouded in abuse and attacks on Morrissey.

In one corner you have a clear dislike of the "band" and I agree with a lot of the comments on here.

The three latest compositions are shocking and that is a fact of the matter. I thunk as fans , the majority have said enough is enough.

In the other corner you have Morrissey stating that the musicians are exceptional. That's his opinion.

In the middle you have davidt and this website. I am glad that comments aren't policed and that genuine fans can vent their frustration at the quite apparent damage those musicians are having.

I for one can't stand them , never liked them. The bass player really gets under my skin.

The way he poses etc , it's like he's part of nickleback or iron maiden.

Tobias. I don't need to add anything that already hasn't been said.

Booted , I think he needs to get back to Adam ant.

The quite apparent lack of interest in the sleeves.

The quite apparent lack of a decent producer.

I have come to the conclusion that this has been on the cards for a long time now. I think Morrissey has taken his fans for granted which is now coming back to bite him.

Let's be honest , if Morrissey can't be bothered with decent songs , decent band , decent sleeves etc etc and then why should we?

Simplysmiths.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Article: "Throwing out his own fans – has Morrissey finally lost it?" - The Guard

No, you can certainly ask for standards to be raised. Perhaps you could post on that thread and ask the person yourself why this thread was posted and how disgusted you are by it? Or you could ignore it and let it die like most people did. It's in the 'pigsty' section of the forums and wasn't deleted. It is very rare any threads/posts are deleted, apart from spam and posted personal information.

I don't think anyone took it as seriously as you did. It's best you avoid things posted there if it offends you.

I imagine it's probably a lot easier for a random person passing through the site to ignore anything that offends them than it would be for the person who is the subject of the offensive material to ignore it, year after year, whether it's in the pigsty or not, whether it died a quiet death or not.

 

[Anonymous]

David, no one would label you as weak if you would reflect upon why Morrissey is disturbed when people make lists discussing how Morrissey will die for instance. Renings me of when the parents to à dead child herr in Sweden begged à site to take away pics from their web showing the girls bloody body or what was left of her. The pics were leaked from the hospital. The website reffered to freestyle speech and refused to take away the pics. No humanity and no mercy shower in the name of free speech. where is yout humanity behind the words of à robot or politician you gladly share with us repeatedly David?

 

[Anonymous]

I have always loved Morrissey, but now he's a bit of a hypocrite. I mean, he has fans searched for meat. But then he approves of, and speaks kindly of, Lady Gaga who wore a Flank Steak dress for fashion's sake??

So hypocritical... The old Morrissey would have DENOUNCED her for that dress, and he would have hated her for being talentless. "oh, Alejandro"... Kiss my ass. But choosing, "I'll hate this person, and ignore the actions of this other person..." Stupid.

 

[davidt]

Re: Article: "Throwing out his own fans – has Morrissey finally lost it?" - The Guard

David, no one would label you as weak if you would reflect upon why Morrissey is disturbed when people make lists discussing how Morrissey will die for instance. Renings me of when the parents to à dead child herr in Sweden begged à site to take away pics from their web showing the girls bloody body or what was left of her. The pics were leaked from the hospital. The website reffered to freestyle speech and refused to take away the pics. No humanity and no mercy shower in the name of free speech. where is yout humanity behind the words of à robot or politician you gladly share with us repeatedly David?

Are you claiming to speak for Morrissey? How do you know he cares or has even seen those posts?

If he genuinely was disturbed by something specific on the site and let me know I will certainly take a look and remove it and his request or leave it and give an explanation why. He has done this a couple times through lawyers but otherwise has not mentioned any specific posts including the above listed.

 

[Anonymous]

David - for all the talk about the virtues of free speech, I think a very obvious point needs to be made. Whether Morrissey should or shouldn't be thicker-skinned is irrelevant, in his own words (presuming of course that the words issued by the 'spokesman' to the news come direct from Morrissey himself) this site - as it stands - is causing distress to both Morrissey and his band.

Just stop and think about that for a second.

At one point you must have been a big fan of Morrissey - and on some twisted level you must STILL consider yourself some kind of fan (unless you planned travelling to the Scandanavian shows just to throw eggs at him). In which case - how on earth can you be happy knowing that you are responsible for something which is causing the object of your fandom distress? How can you live with that? Even if you no longer care for Morrissey as a human being, hasn't he given you enough pleasure over the years with all of his music that you can actually respect his wishes and either close down or clean-up this site? Is that REALLY too much to ask? Can't you even do that one tiny thing for him? The fact that you seemingly wish to continue with things exactly as they are - and by extention continue to casue Morrissey distress for the forseeable future - does not speak well of your character. To all intents and purposes it appears that you are quite happy to further yourself and your cronies at the expense of the artist you purport to support. At this stage it doesn't even matter if you think Morrissey is right or wrong to hate this site - if you had any decency as a human being - any remaining shreds of wanting to do something that would make Morrissey happy - you would put your own over-inflated ego to one side and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

I suspect that after so many years of this place being a festering hate-site it's too late too actually repair the damage - but you could at least try. Morrissey-solo was - and could still be - a great site - if it weren't overrun by hate-mongering trolls.It's not even about stiffling all criticism of Morrissey's music, or getting rid of anonymous posters - all you have to do is set up a filter where moderators read these comments before they are posted, and filter out the genuinely malicious personal insults and lies before they are published. Nobody gains by reading comments calling Boz a fat bastard, or wishing Morrissey gets cancer or eats shit, or calling for Jesse to have his arms broken so he can't play guitar, etc. The fact that you seem to think this site in some way gains by having this trash out there quite frankly beggars belief.

Pleaase something David - or if you're determined to let this place stay as it is, at least change the name to www.we-hate-morrissey.com. Because I truly believe this site as it stands is doing more harm than good.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Article: "Throwing out his own fans – has Morrissey finally lost it?" - The Guard

Are you claiming to speak for Morrissey? How do you know he cares or has even seen those posts?

If he genuinely was disturbed by something specific on the site and let me know I will certainly take a look and remove it and his request or leave it and give an explanation why. He has done this a couple times through lawyers but otherwise has not mentioned any specific posts including the above listed.

Perhaps David , as a "fan" , you're not worthy of being directly contacted by Morrissey. God forbid he has any kind of direct conversation with a fan and so leaves it to lawyers to do his work.

If he did contact you via email or fax or whatever , does Morrissey think that you will haunt him afterwards. His audience are a lot older now not star struck children.

Also , I've seen on TTY that his last round of answers to fan questions was in 2007.....nice to see you have vocab with your fans moz.

 

[goinghome]

If he genuinely was disturbed by something specific on the site and let me know I will certainly take a look and remove it and his request or leave it and give an explanation why. He has done this a couple times through lawyers but otherwise has not mentioned any specific posts including the above listed.

You can't surely still be in any doubt that most of the content and the very existence of the site disturbs him and has for a long time?

So you are requesting censorship similar to allyouneedismorrissey.com with rules such as 'no rude behavior towards Morrissey'?
If this site is so terrible, stop using it and stay on allyouneedismorrissey.com. No one is forcing you to read the site or comments if they upset you so much.

I must admit that I don't like needless rudeness, towards Morrissey, myself or anyone, and it is de-spiriting to observe it, a sentiment that raises its head every few comments in most threads now. Some may indeed consider it a weakness to prefer pleasant intercourse, even if it's hardly a guaranteed commodity in general. Since I registered here late 2004, you have been polite in my contacts with you, the first of which was a word of admiration for the design of the site tempered by the comment, 'shame about the guest-book'. That was scrapped as beyond rescue sometime later, but now nearly the whole site has become like that. Uncle Skinny also has been helpful to me and others and now by force of habit may be overlooking something. I have been a top contributor of news items and might soon, as you dictate, stop using the site, where the supposedly non-existent censorship is selective, isn't it?! If I said something rude about Morrissey, would I get to stay?!

It has variably been a good source of news and entertainment, and some lovely folk have passed through. Before I joined, and, I understand, for about a decade now, a parade of members has pleaded to clean the place up and introduce changes that would keep discussions on topic and civil; instill care with rumours and artistic output, and prevent the place going to the dogs. This would have partly involved different moderation practices. It would at a minimum though have involved trying to do something different. Even though you must know the drill backwards, here's an article on how to moderate discussions to inform the point - http://ezinearticles.com/?Moderating-Online-Forums---How-to-Moderate-Discussion-Sites&id=4156474 I think that very similar suggestions are probably listed on morrissey-solo or used to be on the slashdot version. Most people could guess the regular guidelines in any case.

Summing up the nuts and bolts of it is a short piece that claims moderation to be essentially about preserving focus - http://www.managingcommunities.com/2011/06/27/why-we-moderate-online-forums-and-communities/ As you appear to be saying that you welcome free-for-all rude behavior towards Morrissey, well, enough said.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Article: "Throwing out his own fans – has Morrissey finally lost it?" - The Guard

When I bring up the word 'censorship' usually suddenly those who are asking for it go quiet.

When you bring up the word "censorship" in a pejorative context, people fall silent because they can't believe the administrator of a site best known for its bannings and deletions considers himself anti-censorship. They're picking their jaws up off the floor.

The more audacious a lie, the more effective, in modern life. That's your strategy.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Article: "Throwing out his own fans – has Morrissey finally lost it?" - The Guard

As you appear to be saying that you welcome free-for-all rude behavior towards Morrissey, well, enough said.

Well quite. Rendering the rest of your post completely f***ing redudant.

 

[CrystalGeezer]

Re: Article: "Throwing out his own fans – has Morrissey finally lost it?" - The Guard

Exactly how does being anonymous factor into this? You're pretty anonymous too, sweetcake, unless your firstname is Crystal and your surname is "Geezer." Can I find you in the phone book under that name?

My name is not even remotely close to Crystal in real life.

 

[Madman]

Mozza, if you are reading this please take your head out of your arse and have a look at the real world. It is totally pathetic what you have done and you must know it because your are intelligent.

And, because you are intelligent, once you have pulled your head out of your arse, you should apologize to the owner of this site and reimburse him all of his expenses for travelling to see you. You should be totally and utterly ashamed of yourself for your childish and idiotic behaviour.

I have been a Morrissey fan from the start - and a Smiths fan from their start too - and I lived with (and through) all of your eccentric moves, thoughts and words without ever uttering a word against you - until today. Grow up for God's sake, be a true human being and do the right thing - you will then have my respect once again.

 

[Morrissey Hater]

Never thought I would use a Morrissey website as I can't bear the man. But when I read the articvle I had to just say - WHAT A WANKER MORRISSEY IS.

 

[Anonymous]

How sad the most important Morrissey web has become his enemy. In my opinion, time to call it a day, David.

 

[Anonymous]

There's a country
You don't live there
But you went there anyway
And you were flung out of the venue
Ah, you stupid fool

Brilliant! And some people claim Morrissey doesn't write great lyrics anymore?

 

[Anonymous]

a history of writing good songs in the past does not justify pathetic whining and general assholeness is the present. i'm quite surprised he still had such a fan base. liking his past musick, liking him as person today: i don't get it.

 

[Anonymous]

David, I have no idea why you continue this site that honors such a petty, little man. I once thought Morrissey was incredible- an amazing artist and inspiration who understood the life struggles of real people and could relate it beautifully in his music. Now, I realize that he's nothing more than a prima-donna who has turned into a behavioral monster. Failure over the last few years seems to have gone to his head. His last-second cancellation of concerts, boorish interviews, ridiculous statements to the press, petty requests of people who work behind the stage, poor treatment of fans- and there's no shortage of information to back all of these statements- prove that the Morrissey we all believed we knew, no longer exists.

I'm always surprised by the number of people that defend him here when there is so much evidence to support his heinous behavior. The only thing I can compare it to is the blind loyalty people have in political discussions.

Personally, I've had it with him. Where once I would have done about anything to see him live, I now could care less. I simply can't stomach that I'm supporting such boorish behavior as demonstrated by what he did to David, who has done more to keep Morrissey in the public eye than anyone else in the past 15 years. He's become an ass, and he deserves to fall from our graces. You need to shut down this site and do Morrissey a favor- force him to become a functional human being again.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Article: "Throwing out his own fans – has Morrissey finally lost it?" - The Guard

Morrissey hasn't finally lost it. He lost it a long time ago. He is an egomaiac of the most obscene kind. He despises anything and everybody who doesn't pander to him. He sees himself as a God.

He's a f***ing nutter and he needs help.

I agree. Completely. Let's stop being enablers of this type of behavior and egomania.