This is my last post on this (unless discussion is followed). This will come off hateful but it isn’t. I’m just annoyed by people’s attitudes.
Question: Are fans of any other band this juvenile? Have people read the latest posts on pissedarmy? I mean like the one for OBJ at 4.19pm and others. I mean seriously - I don’t see jesu, nin, etc, fans doing this. Why is it subjected to just Ministry fans? I’ve always wondered this. I’m not talking about the criticisms - that happens anywhere, rightfully so if it’s done in a proper manner, but I’m talking of the constant immaturity. The CAPS, the constant slagging off, etc, etc. Just talking in general - not of this board or any other - just in general.
When I ran Piss Army years ago, I didn’t think I would ever encounter such disgusting and juvenile acts from attention grabbers. The post counts, the constant posting of stupid images, etc. In fact, there was absolutely nothing about Ministry on the PA for years. There was little discussion on politics, music, etc, etc. It was so bad, the parent marketing company for Ministry at the time gave up on it. They had enough. Who stepped in, took over, rebuild it with my own time and paid for it all? Me.
I have also never seen as much hypocrisy as I did then (note: someone over there is infamous for this - the person and her friend spent over half a year posting lots of anti-afra/pa threads and demolished PA into a troll fest, only to now say stuff like “But I am criticizing the over the top bitching and the excessive bile here [PA]. …There’s no need to get personal and shitty.” (in regards to people bitching about Ministry’s set list). This thought process is amazing to me - it’s sickening. The last step in me administering that board was when someone posted a thread calling me a “sand nigger” (this was funny - I’m not even from that area but ignorance is just that). On top of that, people defended those actions and blasted me when I cut those posts. These very people are the ones blasting this forum for criticizing new Ministry! Not all on PA are like that - I am good friends with a bunch of them in person.
And I’m not saying it’s just PA - there are the people here who can cause problems every now and again, though to me and the vast majority, was never that bad. Jizzwad, for example, while his posts are meaningful and insightful (I do think he is smart), when he jabs at people, it throws that credit out of the window. But then he gets it again, but then it disappears, and so on - ha! So far so good though. I don’t consider him a troll - if/when he bashes Ministry, or any other artist for that matter, it has a point and is done constructively. But, in the defense of this board, we never had the issue of banning trolls, pointless images, etc. Only times which were close were when PA was down and people would come from over there. I won’t lie: I have been personally asked by members of the Ministry camp to cut posts on this forum but I simply refused. I did find it odd.
And I did talk to others who run or ran forums - the Tool forum, NIN forum, Litany, etc (we all started our respective site around the same time back when mp3s weren’t even around and know each other), and they never had these issues. I’ve just been wondering why is it isolated to just Ministry? I have no answer to this.
I like the idea of pissedarmy - it took a lot of threads on the ministry set list out of this forum - sigh of relief. And you can tell it’s everyone posting (PA and prongers) - not just one or the other.
If people truly believe a vast majority of artists (not all) actually personally care about what fans want, they are living in a delusional world. Money is the bottom line to a lot of artists that I have dealt with. I can truly say artists such as Jesu, Connelly and Barker, with whom I have had more of a 5 minute conversation with, do not fall under this category whatsoever. While it is important and a job to them, it isn’t their main focus. I don’t get it when people say “some other artist don’t owe you anything”. I disagree. Especially when they charge $30-50 for a ticket and promise things but fall through. Without us, they wouldn’t be where they are/were. Artists should listen to the fans for suggestive input. I think that was the point of pissedarmy.com.
Yes, some are disappointed by Ministry’s latest outputs - so be it. They still are here as they still relate to Ministry. It’s no secret that the majority here prefer the older Ministry (as I do), but is this a bad thing considering that was the era we grew up with? Is it a bad thing that people, after being into Ministry for 10-15 years with true spirit, would like to hear some older tunes on the very last tour, as promised? I don’t think so at all. Is that really hard for some to see why people across both boards are disappointed? In a way, many will take it personally especially after dishing out $50 for a ticket. There are even people on PA who have posted similar posts about the set list, as on here.
And to all that say we, here at prongs are not Ministry fans or you are more dedicated: dedication isn’t buying the odd Work for Love vinyl on ebay, or the odd kiss-ass posting on PA, or dressing to look like Al. This site has been up and running for more than 13 years. Yes, 13. I started it when I was 16-17 and it wasn’t me that just did it. The lyrics, discography, bootleg pages, faq, details on almost every tour date, rare mp3s - there are not many other band sites that offer as much detail on a single band as you will find here. The new discography coming out soon has taken JW a couple of years to do. The endless number of redesigns and coding changes. It took a countless amount of time over all these years to build this with the contribution of many throughout the globe, and this is taking place currently too (a tablature section coming thanks to Krowe). This site gets way more hits than the official (it was 4 times more) because of all the information. We get more emails than the official. VH1 even interviewed me about what I thought of Filth Pig when that album came out in '96 - that’s how well known this site is. People on here have spent months tracking down members from Ministry from the early 80s for interviews. I mention all this to make people realize how much effort was truly poured into this site.
We have organized events with Paul and Al and have thrown a couple of Ministry release parties voluntarily. It takes time, effort and money to organize these events, and I don’t do the events for the money (I give all profits to the artists) but for my pure dedication and interest. So if you say we aren’t dedicated and don’t care, please, show me exactly what dedication is instead of pointing your fucking accusatory fingers. I’d really like to see it.
I like this board and I’m sick of defending it to people who make their minds up damned quickly about the prongs community. Unless you start up something like this and spend time out of genuine interest, then you have absolutely no room to speak. None whatsoever. In fact, I challenge you to step up the plate if you think you can outdo this community.
Anyhow, I like Zahit’s take on it (a close friend of mine here in Chicago):
http://pissarmy.com/viewtopic.php?t=19855&start=20#264767
Peace.