Priorities at SBFII

I am totally fed up by what is going on at the main fan forum, SBFII. For days they are arguing over what to give Susan as a birthday gift. They are also discussing a gift to commemorate the 2 year BGT audition. All of this when there are outstanding loans from several members. One, in particular, has graciously and lovingly donated 4400 dollars to help purchase the site at auction. That loan should be in the forefront of everybody's minds as far as the MOST important thing to take care of by the site. Instead, we get a post from PickledTink that a donation button is being set up to give towards the running of the site and paying off loans! All of this with no financial accounting. I know many people who choose not to donate unless the donation goes strictly toward repayments of loans. They do not trust where the money might go to. What we see happening is selfishness on a GRAND SCALE. It is all about access to Susan, plain and simple! Fighting over gifts for a multi-millionaire who does NOT NEED gifts! Wasting money on flowers which will wilt inside of a week! DISGUSTING!!! Discussing jewelry as if they are her sweetheart or close personal friends! Asking for donations to HAND-DELIVER gifts!! Having a gathering where it is OBVIOUS that there will be pressure to have an audience with Susan IF she is home! To sum up, adults are behaving like 5 year-olds!!!!

It is reported to me that PickledTink has posted that 250 pounds (approx. 375 dollars) has been collected beyond the flowers and Drina Violet for the birthday gift. While this is VERY nice, does she NOT believe that charity begins at home? The point is that the members who were gracious enough to lend money to the fan site ALMOST ONE YEAR AGO, should be paid back as fast as possible! PT would not even have her position of authority if it were not due to those loans. Also, I understand that there are now rumblings from members who are on fixed incomes and are not able to give towards the gifts and charity. They are upset that there is now a division on the forum between the haves and the have-nots due to the announcement that the gifts and the charity donation would be from the individuals and NOT from the forum! Hey, PickledTink, are these the actions that Jesus would take???

There has always been a division on that site between those with wealth and those without. As I've often said, life is easy when you marry money. As I've also said before, the 'ladies who lunch' wouldn't be of any interest to me. After 10 minutes of 'oh, we usually take our 12th vacation of the year in The Bahamas', or 'Oh, we've just bought a lovely $5 million house on the beach. It's our 6th house!', or 'Well, we found a maid who'll work for $2 an hour' or blah blah frickin' blah, I'd be wanting to hack my own head off, much to the delight of the loonies I would guess! I also believe these hypocrites wouldn't have given Susan the time of day before she became famous, what with being 'poor' and all.

Admin wrote:

As I've often said, life is easy when you marry money.

Well, I was going to suggest we work on finding you a rich wife, but if it's going to make you want to rip your head off, you're better off living in your genteel poverty.

Quote :

'Well, we found a maid who'll work for $2 an hour'

No doubt one of those "exemptions" to the proposed law in Texas.

Quote :

I also believe these hypocrites wouldn't have given Susan the time of day before she became famous, what with being poor' and all.

THIS. Right on the money!

I am dreading the day when someone "over there" posts that she chipped in for a gift or made a donation even though she doesn't know how she's going to afford the necessities. The urge to keep up with the Joneses can become overwhelming when people want to fit in with a clique. There are some well-to-do folks but many are retirees on fixed incomes or those who need to watch their budgets. It would be a shame if they felt pushed to give more than they should so that a select few can feed their egos by giving Susan gifts and basking in her gratitude.

xeno wrote:

I am dreading the day when someone "over there" posts that she chipped in for a gift or made a donation even though she doesn't know how she's going to afford the necessities. The urge to keep up with the Joneses can become overwhelming when people want to fit in with a clique. There are some well-to-do folks but many are retirees on fixed incomes or those who need to watch their budgets. It would be a shame if they felt pushed to give more than they should so that a select few can feed their egos by giving Susan gifts and basking in her gratitude.

Maybe they should donate $0.50 each, so they would get a total of $ 100.00- if they get 200 people to donate, which converted on pounds it would be about £60.00, no much they can do about it and still get to "sign" the card

xeno wrote:

I am dreading the day when someone "over there" posts that she chipped in for a gift or made a donation even though she doesn't know how she's going to afford the necessities. The urge to keep up with the Joneses can become overwhelming when people want to fit in with a clique. There are some well-to-do folks but many are retirees on fixed incomes or those who need to watch their budgets. It would be a shame if they felt pushed to give more than they should so that a select few can feed their egos by giving Susan gifts and basking in her gratitude.

Yes I had that feeling too that some are on fixed income and cannot give. I am very curious what Susan would say or how her family feels about that. In Europe there is a perception that all Americans are rich. The reality is just that there are many Americans that are struggling. Now with gas prices going up it will get worse. Where does it say that Susan only feels loved by her fans if she gets gifts and that buying her CD is not enough????
I feel so very sorry for many women on the forum that feel they have too give to be a good Susan fan.

whisper wrote:

xeno wrote:

I am dreading the day when someone "over there" posts that she chipped in for a gift or made a donation even though she doesn't know how she's going to afford the necessities. The urge to keep up with the Joneses can become overwhelming when people want to fit in with a clique. There are some well-to-do folks but many are retirees on fixed incomes or those who need to watch their budgets. It would be a shame if they felt pushed to give more than they should so that a select few can feed their egos by giving Susan gifts and basking in her gratitude.

Yes I had that feeling too that some are on fixed income and cannot give. I am very curious what Susan would say or how her family feels about that. In Europe there is a perception that all Americans are rich. The perception is just that there are many Americans that are struggling. Now with gas prices going up it will get worse. Where does it say that Susan only feels loved by her fans if she gets gifts and that buying her CD is not enough????
I feel so very sorry for many women on the forum that feel they have too give to be a good Susan fan.

The urgent need to give Susan material things flies in the face of one of the most basic assumptions many fans make about her, namely that she doesn't care about money and owning lots of stuff. If I had a dollar for every time someone posted that Susan isn't concerned with making money or scolded another fan because Susan doesn't give a fig about her album sales, I would be as rich as she is.

Yet when some of us have pointed out that fans don't need to give Susan gifts for every occasion, we're told that she loves getting them and wouldn't know she was loved if the gifts stopped coming. PT came closer to the truth of the matter when she posted that the urge to give gifts stems more from the giver's need for validation than from the desire to please the recipient. That is my paraphrase of her tangled verbiage, and it's all too true. Fans give gifts to stars because it makes them feel good. The people in charge at SBFII play on that motivation to goad fans into giving more and more. The ultimate goal for the leadership is to have excuses to invade Susan's home and hometown, under the guise of delivering gifts from the fans. Which in turn allows the ones doing the delivering to collect all the praise and hugs from the star herself.

Speaking of which, that trinket they bought for Susan's birthday, with fans' money, is not going to deliver itself. Nor will it be entrusted to any random fan or local. I don't have to whip out the Magic 8 Ball to predict that PT and stevieboy will be at Susan's house in the next week to present her with more fan loot. Watch that space!

Very good post xeno and I cannot get away from the feeling that Susan has a need to get stuff to feel loved by strangers her fans. Time will tell and history books will not be very kind if that is the truth. If it is only greed of some people to have access to Susan shame on them for exploitation. Somehow the truth is somewhere in the middle I think I hope. Maybe just Maybe Susan Boyle will have one day a auction and sell of the stuff for her charity. The problem is non of us know what is in the heart of people.

I do hope that with all the disasters the hearts of fans to give is with Japan and other countries that have suffer to much.
Susan does not need all the things she also has family people forget that.

xeno wrote:

whisper wrote:

xeno wrote:

I am dreading the day when someone "over there" posts that she chipped in for a gift or made a donation even though she doesn't know how she's going to afford the necessities. The urge to keep up with the Joneses can become overwhelming when people want to fit in with a clique. There are some well-to-do folks but many are retirees on fixed incomes or those who need to watch their budgets. It would be a shame if they felt pushed to give more than they should so that a select few can feed their egos by giving Susan gifts and basking in her gratitude.

Yes I had that feeling too that some are on fixed income and cannot give. I am very curious what Susan would say or how her family feels about that. In Europe there is a perception that all Americans are rich. The perception is just that there are many Americans that are struggling. Now with gas prices going up it will get worse. Where does it say that Susan only feels loved by her fans if she gets gifts and that buying her CD is not enough????
I feel so very sorry for many women on the forum that feel they have too give to be a good Susan fan.

The urgent need to give Susan material things flies in the face of one of the most basic assumptions many fans make about her, namely that she doesn't care about money and owning lots of stuff. If I had a dollar for every time someone posted that Susan isn't concerned with making money or scolded another fan because Susan doesn't give a fig about her album sales, I would be as rich as she is.

Yet when some of us have pointed out that fans don't need to give Susan gifts for every occasion, we're told that she loves getting them and wouldn't know she was loved if the gifts stopped coming. PT came closer to the truth of the matter when she posted that the urge to give gifts stems more from the giver's need for validation than from the desire to please the recipient. That is my paraphrase of her tangled verbiage, and it's all too true. Fans give gifts to stars because it makes them feel good. The people in charge at SBFII play on that motivation to goad fans into giving more and more. The ultimate goal for the leadership is to have excuses to invade Susan's home and hometown, under the guise of delivering gifts from the fans. Which in turn allows the ones doing the delivering to collect all the praise and hugs from the star herself.

Yup, yup, yup, and, ummmmmm . . . . . yup.

xeno wrote:

Speaking of which, that trinket they bought for Susan's birthday, with fans' money, is not going to deliver itself. Nor will it be entrusted to any random fan or local. I don't have to whip out the Magic 8 Ball to predict that PT and stevieboy will be at Susan's house in the next week to present her with more fan loot. Watch that space!

whisper wrote:

Very good post xeno and I cannot get away from the feeling that Susan has a need to get stuff to feel loved by strangers her fans. Time will tell and history books will not be very kind if that is the truth. If it is only greed of some people to have access to Susan shame on them for exploitation. Somehow the truth is somewhere in the middle I think I hope. Maybe just Maybe Susan Boyle will have one day a auction and sell of the stuff for her charity. The problem is non of us know what is in the heart of people.

I do hope that with all the disasters the hearts of fans to give is with Japan and other countries that have suffer to much.
Susan does not need all the things she also has family people forget that.

I don't think that any of this nonsense reflects Susan's needs, whisper, and in fact her needs seem to be a secondary or even tertiary consideration in all the various gifting schemes. Rather, I have long felt that the needs of the admins at SBFII are the ones being served by the never-ending round of gift-giving and visits to Susan's home and hometown. They benefit because their stature is enhanced each time they and their representatives can find an excuse to go to Susan's house. The visits serve to feed the hunger of the rank-and-file fans and tide over the times when there is not much going on. Naturally, these visits also serve to draw fans to SBFII's site, or to appease those who are already there. Marx said religion is the opiate of the masses; well, at SBFII trips to Susan's house and meet & greets with her are the opiate of the membership. The Tink person knows that and uses it to her advantage.


The needs of some fans to feel validated by Susan and connected to her also factor into the equation. In general it is considered tacky to put one's own name on a gift given to another. However, this is now a tradition among a subset of Susan Boyle's fans. Why? Because those whose names are on various quilts, books and knickknacks can feel that every time she lays eyes on the items in question she is seeing them, recognizing them. They are in her home, in her bed and in her life by virtue of their names being there. So fans benefit in intangible ways from giving Susan things that she might keep near her.


Reverse the premise in this article and you will see what I'm getting at: Urge to Own That Clapton Guitar Is Contagious, Scientists Find. I would title it: Urge to Give Susan Boyle Gifts Is Contagious.


I truly do not think that Susan needs to receive gifts from strangers or even encourages it. In fact, I recall that she asked that fans forgo giving her things and donate to charity instead. Last year she rejected a presumptuous plan to plant a cherry tree in the yard of her new house, complete with a plaque stating that it was a gift from fans at SBFII. I may be wrong, but I think that Susan accepted the mirror because the Tink person and her sidekick pressed her, with the line that fans were insisting on a housewarming gift and would be crushed if rejected. At that, Susan chose the least expensive item in the catalog and directed the excess money to her favorite charity. It is telling that the admins at SBFII long promised to make known several charities Susan favored, but to date have named only one. Also, they have failed to auction autographed items that Susan donated to the site, with the proceeds to be used for charity.


From all that it seems to me that Susan has not been the one seeking to have her emotional and material needs fulfilled by fans, but quite the reverse. We must remember that dealing with fans and keeping them happy is part of the price of doing business for a star of her stature. Anyone who has seen the videos of Susan being manhandled and humiliated at the last large meet and greet knows that the price can be steep indeed.

Excellent post Xeno

Oh-my-dawg. I actually said "excellent post"!!!!! Am I morphing into an UKann???

Xeno, you certainly speak a lot, lot of sense!!!

xeno wrote:

Reverse the premise in this article and you will see what I'm getting at: Urge to Own That Clapton Guitar Is Contagious, Scientists Find. I would title it: Urge to Give Susan Boyle Gifts Is Contagious.

-snip-

From all that it seems to me that Susan has not been the one seeking to have her emotional and material needs fulfilled by fans, but quite the reverse. We must remember that dealing with fans and keeping them happy is part of the price of doing business for a star of her stature. Anyone who has seen the videos of Susan being manhandled and humiliated at the last large meet and greet knows that the price can be steep indeed.

Another article in the same vein: Why gentlemen still prefer Marilyn Monroe - dresses selling for more than a million!

I agree with you that Susan (her team?) is just trying to keep fans happy. But focusing it on just a handful may backfire in the long run.

xeno wrote:

Marx said religion is the opiate of the masses; well, at SBFII trips to Susan's house and meet & greets with her are the opiate of the membership.

I've often wondered what they are smoking over there... Nicely put.

Xeno is spot-on once again. The observation about the general tackiness of putting one's name on a gift given to another, and the function that serves in this instance (a substitute for the fan(s) actually being in Susan's house, bed, life) is particularly spot-on. It's rather creepy, really.

It is VERY creepy, really. Xeno has nailed things perfectly there, and what a shame, because I am afraid that Susan gets the impression that all of her fans are like the red-scarfed gang at EW. Thankfully we are not and WE know that, but does she?

BohemianSpirit wrote:

xeno wrote:

Marx said religion is the opiate of the masses; well, at SBFII trips to Susan's house and meet & greets with her are the opiate of the membership.

I've often wondered what they are smoking over there... Nicely put.

Boh, TRUST ME, that lot IS NOT smoking marijuana!! I wish they were!! They might be more tolerant then!

BohemianSpirit wrote:

fudgemeister wrote:

BohemianSpirit wrote:

xeno wrote:

Marx said religion is the opiate of the masses; well, at SBFII trips to Susan's house and meet & greets with her are the opiate of the membership.

I've often wondered what they are smoking over there... Nicely put.

Boh, TRUST ME, that lot IS NOT smoking marijuana!! I wish they were!! They might be more tolerant then!

I was speculating more along the lines of crack....

I think prune juice is more like it.

New warning road sign just introduced for Blackburn. They'll be going up soon!

... and just in the nick of time, too.

janakimack wrote:

Xeno, you certainly speak a lot, lot of sense!!!

Give me one reason why they would not want a member like Xeno who always makes alot of sense. Are they scared she will rub off on others?

TxTammy wrote:

janakimack wrote:

Xeno, you certainly speak a lot, lot of sense!!!

Give me one reason why they would not want a member like Xeno who always makes alot of sense. Are they scared she will rub off on others?

Tammy, I can't give you a single reason why...!?!?!

TxTammy wrote:

janakimack wrote:

Xeno, you certainly speak a lot, lot of sense!!!

Give me one reason why they would not want a member like Xeno who always makes alot of sense. Are they scared she will rub off on others?

YES!! It is not just xeno. Others have either voluntarily left or have been banned or timed-out. A lot of those were the creative, the humorous, the liberal, and the free thinkers. What is left are uninteresting threads because all are now in agreement with each other; not a good foundation for lively discussion.

fudgemeister wrote:

TxTammy wrote:

janakimack wrote:

Xeno, you certainly speak a lot, lot of sense!!!

Give me one reason why they would not want a member like Xeno who always makes alot of sense. Are they scared she will rub off on others?

YES!! It is not just xeno. Others have either voluntarily left or have been banned or timed-out. A lot of those were the creative, the humorous, the liberal, and the free thinkers. What is left are uninteresting threads because all are now in agreement with each other; not a good foundation for lively discussion.

Speaking of lively discussions, when I have brought up a subject at ew that should have led to opinions and discussion, there was just dead silence. For instance, when the news broke about the tsnami(sp?) in Japan I voiced my concerns about nuclear power. No one responded. Another day on the daydream thread they were talking about Piers interviewing Charlie Sheen and I posted that he was mentally ill and the news people need to lay off. No one responded. When you have no pro and con discussions and have the same old "we appreciate you so much" and "excellent post" then you have a very boring forum.

Well, they did express concern for the people in Japan. I'm just saying I couldn't get them into a discussion about nuclear energy. When things are slow with no Susan information or performances, you'd think there could be interesting discussions on what's going on in the world...or LOL maybe I'm a bore.

Based on previous observations EW, I don't think it's because of a lack of interest in such topics; far from it. As far as I can tell, for some people on SBFII it's more a case of: "This is a forum about Susan, so why are other unrelated topics being mentioned? I come here to talk about Susan, not about current affairs." In short, if a subject isn't related to Susan in some way, it's deemed to be inappropriate or not of interest.

Well, that's my take on it, anyway, for what it's worth.

donaha wrote:

fudgemeister wrote:

TxTammy wrote:

janakimack wrote:

Xeno, you certainly speak a lot, lot of sense!!!

Give me one reason why they would not want a member like Xeno who always makes alot of sense. Are they scared she will rub off on others?

YES!! It is not just xeno. Others have either voluntarily left or have been banned or timed-out. A lot of those were the creative, the humorous, the liberal, and the free thinkers. What is left are uninteresting threads because all are now in agreement with each other; not a good foundation for lively discussion.

Speaking of lively discussions, when I have brought up a subject at ew that should have led to opinions and discussion, there was just dead silence. For instance, when the news broke about the tsnami(sp?) in Japan I voiced my concerns about nuclear power. No one responded. Another day on the daydream thread they were talking about Piers interviewing Charlie Sheen and I posted that he was mentally ill and the news people need to lay off. No one responded. When you have no pro and con discussions and have the same old "we appreciate you so much" and "excellent post" then you have a very boring forum.

mdillow31 wrote:

donaha wrote:

fudgemeister wrote:

TxTammy wrote:

janakimack wrote:

Xeno, you certainly speak a lot, lot of sense!!!

Give me one reason why they would not want a member like Xeno who always makes alot of sense. Are they scared she will rub off on others?

YES!! It is not just xeno. Others have either voluntarily left or have been banned or timed-out. A lot of those were the creative, the humorous, the liberal, and the free thinkers. What is left are uninteresting threads because all are now in agreement with each other; not a good foundation for lively discussion.

Speaking of lively discussions, when I have brought up a subject at ew that should have led to opinions and discussion, there was just dead silence. For instance, when the news broke about the tsnami(sp?) in Japan I voiced my concerns about nuclear power. No one responded. Another day on the daydream thread they were talking about Piers interviewing Charlie Sheen and I posted that he was mentally ill and the news people need to lay off. No one responded. When you have no pro and con discussions and have the same old "we appreciate you so much" and "excellent post" then you have a very boring forum.

Shame on them that they express no concens about the horrible devastation in Japan and can only think of making quilts. Where is their humanity. ??? Maybe if they can't talk about Japan they could donate some money to the Red Cross or a reputable agency to help those poor people with no homes or clean water or food to eat instead of worrying about making Susan another quilt. After all Susan is for giving to charities for the oppressed and poor. I would think they would want to be like the woman they adore.

donaha wrote:

Well, they did express concern for the people in Japan. I'm just saying I couldn't get them into a discussion about nuclear energy. When things are slow with no Susan information or performances, you'd think there could be interesting discussions on what's going on in the world...or LOL maybe I'm a bore.

xjsarah wrote:

Based on previous observations EW, I don't think it's because of a lack of interest in such topics; far from it. As far as I can tell, for some people on SBFII it's more a case of: "This is a forum about Susan, so why are other unrelated topics being mentioned? I come here to talk about Susan, not about current affairs." In short, if a subject isn't related to Susan in some way, it's deemed to be inappropriate or not of interest.

Well, that's my take on it, anyway, for what it's worth.

My guess - that most of them aren't well-enough informed on the issues of the day to participate in an intelligent discussion of them. So it's easier simply to stick to Susan & quilts.

mdillow31 wrote:

Maybe their interest is about whose name gets on a quilt and making sure it gets to Susan without any damage to it. ??

''Gee, I hope the nuclear meltdown doesn't delay presentation of the quilt...''