FOT Forum

The Best Show on WFMU => Dear Tom => Topic started by: AllSussedOut on December 26, 2011, 05:22:50 PM

Title: The Other Board...
Post by: AllSussedOut on December 26, 2011, 05:22:50 PM
I'd never even bothered to look for it until today due to Tom's tweets.  And if anything, he undersold how sad it is, and how sad those are who post there.

I remedied the situation by immediately going to the content-rich Low Times (Podcast) site immediately afterwards.  Lots of good things to be had there, not the least of which is an overarching positive vibe.

Anyway, stay strong, Tom.  Continued happiness and success in 2012.
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: Tom Scharpling on December 26, 2011, 06:55:29 PM
Don't worry about me staying strong. I'm fine -  I'm just addressing something that has bothered me for awhile. I'm just calling them on their general shittiness. They can say whatever they want about me or this board but they can't be chiming in here as if they're not one of the shit stirrers.

I can't hack the two-faced routine of being nice to my face and then reveling in their anonymous shitty thing where the gloves come off behind my back.

I don't feel like I have to indulge this behavior anymore. I allowed it on this board with the stipulation that as soon as it went south I would pull the plug on it. It did go down the tank - how could it not? - and there has been an underlying resentment that I didn't want this board to be as horrible as the rest of the internet.

I'm making a break from that brand of thinking, and if it means that some otherwise 'nice' people get the door slammed on them by the show or by this board, that is how it has to be.

But I'm not stressing about this at all so there's no need to pump me up, even though it's a nice gesture. Thanks!

Tom.
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: mike a on December 27, 2011, 01:02:09 PM
With a domain name almost identical to America's worst supermarket chain, you can't expect quality:
http://www.ctownsupermarkets.com/ (http://www.ctownsupermarkets.com/)
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: sonicdork on December 27, 2011, 01:30:38 PM
Trust me, I'm an ass... But that is the most negative board I have been on in ages. Just checked it out based on Tom's tweet. The Internet was built for a board like that.... Although I am shocked to see some names on there. Depressing. Thought some of them were the good guys.
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: Jake S on December 27, 2011, 03:43:20 PM
Someone has got to save Julie from there. It'll be a rescue mission for the New Years that will be depicted in my new screenplay New Year's Day.
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: Greggulator on December 27, 2011, 03:48:28 PM
1) C-Town was my main source of nutrition at times when I lived in poverty in New Brunswick, NJ. And right by the one C-Town I went to was a 40-spot located in between two of the worst public housing towers I've ever been around that I used to get underaged booze at. And one glorious summer they had label less 40s for $1 a pop.

2) I'm correct in assuming that message board is a message board in talking about this message board? If so, that's absolutely hysterical!
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: sonicdork on December 27, 2011, 04:02:54 PM
They posted my post up there and said that "Best Show Fans are really salt of the Earth." Brilliant. Nothing wrong with that. I'll crank the Best Show at my factory job tonight.

Can we start a separate message board to talk about Chinatown talking about the FOT board?
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: Tom Scharpling on December 27, 2011, 04:37:36 PM
It's alright. Leave them be. They're desperate to prove to me that they are doing their own thing over there. But one of them spilled the beans on the whole endeavor in an attempt to be in with me and I know who they are. They're not allowed on the air anymore and they're not allowed into the studio when they come to town. And I might kick them off this board. Not sure about that yet. You'll know if you see a Space Champion or two suddenly erased from the board.

Tom.

Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: Sarah on December 27, 2011, 04:56:57 PM
So much of Chinatown is so innocent, and so many of its denizens are free of malice.  Still, if the entire place must be damned for the offenses of a few, them's the breaks, I guess.  Hell, I'm perfectly willing to resign from this board if you like.  But I think it's truly unfair to punish Julie.  She is never anything but your staunch supporter.

Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: Tom Scharpling on December 27, 2011, 05:36:46 PM
Yeah, so much of the board is innocent. Except for the part that shits on people anonymously. Everything but that part is SO 'free of malice'.

It's a shitty idea designed to hurt people's feelings. Own that this is what you created and make your peace with it. Because it is what you made. I don't see too many posts on there about what a horrible person you are, Sarah. Maybe you'd feel differently if there were.

Julie is a good person. I like her a lot. But she's one of the people behind this thing so maybe it's better off with you guys doing your own thing over there if you're gonna continue to have a system that talks nice to my face but shit talks me once my back is turned.

Tom.

Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: Sarah on December 27, 2011, 06:51:18 PM
True, I have not had to deal with much hostility in any of Chinatown's incarnations (though there was some in the original FOTchan), but Julie had a baptism of fire, during which people were far more horrible to her than anyone has ever been to you. 

I dislike that some people use anonymity to spew bile, but I love that so many more use it to try to be weird and funny without recognition. 

But you don't want to argue with me about this, and I don't want to argue with you.  It's been a good run. 
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: Julie on December 27, 2011, 07:35:40 PM
Someone has got to save Julie from there. It'll be a rescue mission for the New Years that will be depicted in my new screenplay New Year's Day.

The idea that I would need to be rescued or saved is  really insulting. Saved from what?  Rotating poop emoticons? The evil influence of goat pictures?

I post on that board because I don't want people to judge me for looking at pictures of goats all day. When I'm not thinking about Yetta, I'm dreaming about goats and alpacas. I'm really that dull/insane and I didn't want it to be so obvious. That's why I like posting anonymously.

I love The Best Show. Tom has been really wonderful to me and I do not have an unkind word to say about him or TBS, even anonymously. I know how much it sucks to have a bunch of anonymous posts ripping you to shreds. It makes you paranoid and everyone becomes an enemy. I understand why Tom is upset and he has every right to be. Look, someone sent me a link to an old Best Show wiki thing about me a few months ago and it made me cry. Things like that are meant to hurt and they do. I don't participate in it, I don't even read most of it, but I am really sorry for the stuff on that board that hurt Tom's feelings.
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: sonicdork on December 27, 2011, 09:48:34 PM
I will say that while I don't agree with the other board and the negative things said towards FOT's and Tom, I still think that Julie is pretty great and I hate that she's in the middle of this. Last thing I'll say on this.
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: bibi from vegas on December 27, 2011, 10:54:38 PM
Ice T has an Old Lady posse...and Bat on a Hot Flash Roof.

I'm gonna guess her fudge tasstes like moth balls.

[AND I DO MEAN ACTUAL FUDGE!]
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: cavorting with nudists on December 27, 2011, 11:01:31 PM
It's not like I have any clout at all, but based on what I know I would have said Julie and Sarah are cases where mercy should prevail over "justice."
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: bibi from vegas on December 27, 2011, 11:37:52 PM
jULIE k is kinda dull and on here a lot'
[and she doesn't savvy Boardwalk Empire.....sez more about her than she's willing2admit].
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: Tom Scharpling on December 28, 2011, 10:32:02 AM
Julie -

Thanks for writing. You're a good person and I sincerely appreciate your honesty - you are the only person associated with Chinatown not to equivocate about how the place can be hurtful to some people. I would love it if you would continue to be a part of the show.

Tom.
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: Julie on December 29, 2011, 09:34:02 AM
Thank you, Tom.

I appreciate what you said a lot. I'm glad you will take care of yourself and I understand why you acted the way you did. It's not my place to speak for anyone else, but other people are very sorry and they are definitely hurt by this, too. Obviously, there are a lot of things I don't know and don't understand, but I hope it makes some difference to you that a group of vipers isn't waiting to attack you. People genuinely care about you. It's not because you are funny, but you really are a good person and people know that.

Sincerely,

Julie
Title: Re: The Other Board...
Post by: RonJon on January 03, 2012, 10:24:44 AM
I never post here.  I often don't even come here.  But, I was quite intrigued by Tom's twitter postings last week.  I've been listening to the show since I was in college, in the early aughts, and I'm really glad I've simply kept to the show.  Tom has created a body of work that is rivaled by few: all the while on a listener supported radio station with a non-existent hype machine.  The fact that he's still doing it is fantastic; the fact that it's getting BETTER is amazing.  So, who cares what a couple of pathetic skirt-tuggers have to say.  Their insatiable hunger for gossip is pathetic.  Tom's the King of The Slobs and these goons should be bowing before him.  p.s. Trolling's bad for the soul.