#fan forums

This member of the Tumblr geriatric ward is having a senior moment and needs your help. There used to be a massive fan forum on the internet for TV shows and I also think film, that had literally thousands of members. This was all pre-Twitter, I’m thinking early 2000s. It might have been run by Bravo?? (not sure). But it’s name was an acronym, and I am utterly blanking on it’s name. I used to be on it all the time when the original 24 aired. It was taken down several years ago.

Today I don't want to write so much about the music of our favorite band, but for a change just about the people who probably know this music best and certainly listen to it most often.

What else could I mean but the loyal hardcore fanbase, of which I of course also count myself among? So what better occasion to take a long look at one of these Kiss-specialized fan forums and hopefully let the experiences I've had there speak a little for themselves.

If you are interested in a certain band, especially if it has accompanied you for a large part of your life, then this circumstance can lead to you coming across a forum like this not just by chance. Once you've thought about registering with a profile, you're almost automatically drawn into it. And then you're right in the middle of everything.

This works in a similar way to what one could imagine as downsizing. You find yourself in a microcosm, so to speak, or rather in a virtual suburb where you also live, depending on how much time you intend to spend there, and where you more or less settle in. You then have your little house and lots and lots of neighbors, from all across the world. The ones you see every day and the ones you only bump into now and then from more remote corners. Not running into each other is virtually impossible. And of course there are quite a few nice, warm, humorous and intellectually gifted people there. It goes without saying that communication with these people works accordingly and is usually a pleasure.

Unfortunately, however, there are also those who regularly hang around for whom this description is far less accurate. You can think of it more or less like the constantly drunk, loud neighbor who specializes in faecal language and is constantly peeing compulsively in other people's front gardens. And there are quite a few of these fellows, and they all tend to have the same preference. Of course, this multiplies with each other and you end up with a whole lot of gardens. Among their peers, however, they don't practice this as a kind of matter of decency. So much for the social framework conditions.

The mayor of this place then makes sure that everything stays as it is. Because it works well that way, as he probably thinks, but I can only interpret that from his approach, because anyone who steps out of line within this natural order is therefore deprived of the right to live there as a consequence of this misbehavior. Many of the members who have suffered this fate often feel the urge to be downsized again as quickly as possible and return disguised with a false beard and glasses. Why is that? I'd like to say I don't know, but I happen to know the answer. So that we they can continue the never ending discussion, what else?

Speaking of discussion. The discussions are about everything, literally everything that revolves around Kiss, Kiss itself and the Kiss family of course, and about the music, because Kiss are a band after all. People share what they like about the music, but above all what they don't like about it. This is often combined with criticism of 12-50 year old albums and suggestions as to what the band should have done differently. The words "should have" are probably the most frequently used words in general on this forum. But the criticism I'm talking about is not just limited to the music, but everything the band has ever done, including their personal lives of course.

And top ten lists are important, incredibly important in fact. Whenever and wherever someone lists even just three favorite songs or albums, many, many submissions of the personal, usually very different favorites of all readers inevitably and unsolicitedly follow, triggering a sudden chain reaction. Top 5 or 10 list threads are always a guarantee for a large number of comments.

I probably don't need to mention that very different opinions, often hardened over decades, are predestined to clash, which is not exactly a rarity, but routine. Many of the members there have known each other for many years and are fully aware of their differing views. However, this factor has no influence on the ongoing conflicts, on the contrary.

I really like to think of the content and opinions brought into these "discussions" as a broken pinball machine with only one ball in it. By this I mean that no new ball can get into the pinball machine, and the ball that is in there cannot get out again. This circumstance can have a certain appeal for a certain period of time, but I'm sure you understand what I'm trying to say. I myself danced this tango there for six months, sometimes more, sometimes less, but at some point you just leave the dance floor and you've had enough of dancing around forever.

But I tell you something, dear people, Once you've left this place and when you're no longer a member, everything is suddenly very quiet, and all those voices around you suddenly fall silent, peace reigns again, and everything is just fine the way it is.

I have to confess, I still like to take a quick look at this particular fan forum more than just occasionally. You know how it is with bad habits:

They're hard to get rid of.

And because my blog is not least about the music of our favorite band, I don't want to neglect this fact any longer. At this point I can't think of a more suitable song than Rock and Roll Nite in the original version. Happy Groundhog Day!

Rock and Roll All Nite (1975)