Karol Oliveira Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 First, there is the price: here in Brazil I have to pay the original $20 to subscribe + $20 of taxes. That makes about $80 in Brazilian currency. (But I'd gladly pay if there were nice vantages). I subscribed back in 2010. At that time, there were nice things going on for American and European fans, like access to soundcheck and cheaper tickets, for example. But nothing of this happened in the South American tour (I wanted access to soundcheck so bad!!). I felt neglected! The only thing that we had was a pre-sale for the gigs, but the password was to easy to discover for it and non-IC members discovered easily the password and bought tickets early too. Not worth $20. Besides, I couldn't enter contests because they were (and still are) for US residents only! And I didn't even get my T-shirt at the time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harinezumi Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Plus I don't like the early entry contests and stuff like that, if you want to be in the front you need to get in line early and earn it. Well, it's just a contest, and it's better than selling $200-300 fan club tickets that guarantee early entry. I don't think it matters as long as the same 20 people aren't in the front at every gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Potter. Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Wait... So we're not even getting the t-shirt for renewing now? Well... That sucks. Because back when I joined, we we're supposed to be getting t-shirts if we renew... I feel disappointed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveGreenDay Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 ~The forum needs a complete restart tbh. Maybe get some more mods who like Andres said will engage with people and change up the forum, get rid of some sections, change the titles to something more clear, etc and simplify it in general. I do understand though that it's kind of up to us to start using it though. Maybe if each time there is a news post on the IC, straight away a forum thread is created too, asking for people's opinions? This is the one thing I'm going to take exception to. Netty and I try very hard to "engage" users on the message boards, but there's only so much we can do. We were a lot more in control of how the message board was presented when Slender Fungus ran the site, but lost the ability to do certain things when the current company took over. I give you guys the benefit of the doubt because you're not aware of the constant efforts we make to improve the site, but it comes down to the band's participation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris. Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 I subscribed back in 2010. At that time, there were nice things going on for American and European fans, like access to soundcheck and cheaper tickets, for example. But nothing of this happened in the South American tour (I wanted access to soundcheck so bad!!). I felt neglected! So true! Part of the reason why I didn't fuss to much about finding a credit card I could borrow to renew my membership back then. There were early entry/soundceck passes contests for the US and Europe so when the tour finally hit South America I expected something similar to happen here, but no, nothing. I know the Idiot Club doesn't have many South American members, but if news had gone out that the IC was doing a contest for early entry or soundcheck passes I'm sure there would of been more people joining just for those contests. And it would seem only fair since South American people can benefit from any other contests of give aways because they're only for US members. ~The forum needs a complete restart tbh. Maybe get some more mods who like Andres said will engage with people and change up the forum, get rid of some sections, change the titles to something more clear, etc and simplify it in general. I do understand though that it's kind of up to us to start using it though. Maybe if each time there is a news post on the IC, straight away a forum thread is created too, asking for people's opinions? When I was a member the mods were great. They did participate in the forums and engaged with people, because they were Idiot Club members like everyone else. And they were quite helpfull and cooperative. I remember having to contact one of the admins for some reason, can't remember which anymore, and I never got any reply for them until I asked one of the mods to help me out. So the problem is the admins who run the site who are probably just paid employees who care/know very little about Green Day, which is fine, but not very convinient when you're supposed to be running their fan site. Edit: because he beat me to it: This is the one thing I'm going to take exception to. Netty and I try very hard to "engage" users on the message boards, but there's only so much we can do. We were a lot more in control of how the message board was presented when Slender Fungus ran the site, but lost the ability to do certain things when the current company took over. I give you guys the benefit of the doubt because you're not aware of the constant efforts we make to improve the site, but it comes down to the band's participation. Yep. I can vouch that LiveGreenDay and netty were both great mods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapdad Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 I have to defend the IC here. I have renewed 3 times. Yes, it's $20 each year. But the first two years I got a shirt. A shirt you can't get anywhere else. That is worth $20. How much are shirts at shows? So yeah, I was a disappointed this year that they gave us postcards. That was kind of a cop out. But, (and Netty could tell me if I'm wrong) I'm pretty sure when I renewed there was a "no thanks" button for the cards that would have saved me the shipping. Also, PRE-SALES people. Pre-sales! That's worth the $20 right there. If you buy 4 tickets, that's $5 extra per ticket! (Assuming you only go to one show) Guaranteed General Admission? Come on! When I first joined, it was right before 21CB came out and they were playing all these secret shows. I got to go see them at a little club in Oakland because of the IC. That's where the word hit first. I bet if they would have kept news about that LA show they were planning exclusive to the IC then they wouldn't have freaked out the Burbank city managers and had to pull the plug. Another cool thing they did on the 21CB tour was GIVE TICKETS AWAY! They would post something like (Actually, I think they Emailed me) "Hey we have extra tickets, Email us, and we'll get you in" (Paraphrasing). I'm sure it wasn't for every date, and yes, they were lousy seats, but they basically said "We want to fill this place" and just gave 'em out. Very cool. Yes, the site is late on the news sometimes, and having to log in again for the forum is a major design flaw. The value is there. It's worth the $20. Last year was pretty inactive, but I dug the shirt. This year we got post cards (Whooopie!) but they're going to tour which means pre-sales, and hopefully exclusive or faster info on secret shows which I assume are forthcoming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveGreenDay Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Yep. I can vouch that LiveGreenDay and netty were both great mods. Hey, Cris! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatsername Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 I subscribed back in 2010. At that time, there were nice things going on for American and European fans, like access to soundcheck and cheaper tickets, for example. But nothing of this happened in the South American tour (I wanted access to soundcheck so bad!!). I felt neglected! I was hoping (not expecting) a soundcheck for the NZ/AUS tour for the same reason. It would be great if IC could offer more soundchecks and not just to one or two countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris. Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Hey, Cris! Hi Marc! =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyeyes Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 I signed up for IC originally for pre-sale tickets. The people there were pretty nice and it was cool to talk to people, but like it's been said, it was two or three other people online at a time. I haven't renewed after two years of being subscribed, and after hearing how it used to be membership for life, it makes me wonder who's running the website. The Green Day guys don't seem to really care about IC. It's cool that they shout out GDA/GDC on twitter, but then it's like, I paid money for your "official" fan club, and you act like it doesn't exist. It's just kind of a bummer. I'm debating whether or not to resubscribe when tours start up again for pre-sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trina Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 I do sometimes feel a bit unsure about early entry though. It's just that, some fans que for so long to get a good spot and then there's these lucky fuckers who get to go ahead of them. Being a previous lucky fucker, it was fucking great! But I did feel a bit guilty/bad. I guess that's just the nature of competitions like this though and it's not like anyone's entitled to a better space or whatever. So I think I'd still be in favor of them, I just sometimes feel a bit uneasy.. This is the one thing I'm going to take exception to. Netty and I try very hard to "engage" users on the message boards, but there's only so much we can do. We were a lot more in control of how the message board was presented when Slender Fungus ran the site, but lost the ability to do certain things when the current company took over. I give you guys the benefit of the doubt because you're not aware of the constant efforts we make to improve the site, but it comes down to the band's participation. Maybe get some more mods who like Andres said will engage with people I think you misunderstood. I wasn't implying you guys are doing something wrong; I was saying if the forum is going to be relaunched, etc (therefore hopefully more activity and members) then it would be good to get more mods. Also with the band being more in the spotlight, thus more things to discuss, etc.. I also said that I knew it was partially up to the members to start using it more if they wanted it to be less quiet. Maybe if Artist Arena (right?) is a source of some issues then the IC should move on to a different company. No-one's saying there isn't efforts to improve the site, I've seen this with the recent exclusives, the comps, presales, partial re-design, efforts to get people more active on it, etc. The thing is, a lot more could be done and they're asking for our thoughts. I know since you're involved it might seem like an attack but it's really not. We just want it to do better and are trying to help. Besides, it's not really your problem. Most of what people are saying relates to the site and content, not the forum. I disagree thought that it comes down to the band's participation. Actually, barely anyone has listed out suggestions in which the band would have to be involved. I think any participation from Green Day is lovely but I don't expect it/feel entitled to it because I paid 20 bucks. The site is kinda crap and needs a lot of work. That has nothing to do with GD really. When I was a member the mods were great. They did participate in the forums and engaged with people, because they were Idiot Club members like everyone else. And they were quite helpfull and cooperative. I remember having to contact one of the admins for some reason, can't remember which anymore, and I never got any reply for them until I asked one of the mods to help me out. So the problem is the admins who run the site who are probably just paid employees who care/know very little about Green Day, which is fine, but not very convinient when you're supposed to be running their fan site. Edit: because he beat me to it: Yep. I can vouch that LiveGreenDay and netty were both great mods. Again, what I said wasn't a critique of the current mods. Just a badly written thought that if the forum is going to be improved, maybe more mods should be brought on to help engage everyone. I've seen the current mods engaging, participating and helping. I had a similar situation too! I agree with what you're saying! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 They don't often do stuff that's worth paying $20 for but sometimes they do and then it's time to do it! Just wait until you hear that they're doing something you consider to be worth the money and then sign up/renew, that's what I do. That way I know I'll get something for my money. Different people will have different opinions on what's worth signing up for of course, could just be the forum, could be the t-shirt, could be presales, could be a specific contest that you'd like to enter or some other cool thing they're doing. But imo whatever it is you might as well wait until it's happening rather than wasting some of your year long membership waiting for it. The only thing that annoys me is the lying on the sign up page. They shouldn't say "A one year membership is $20 and gets you everything below:" ..."- Periodic contests with prizing and random giveaways" unless they can guarantee that EVERY person who signs up can enter contests/giveaways EVERY year no matter where they live. Most of the contests are only open to those in the US and until they can make them available to everyone they should make that clear on the sign up page. At the moment there are many people who sign up for a year and are not able to enter any contests during that time so until that changes it needs rewording. To my dismay I see they HAVE recently reworded some of it but have chosen to keep that part. I know what the IC does and doesn't offer so it doesn't really affect me but it does irritate me that they won't be honest about what they're offering on there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveGreenDay Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 I understand your point, and I wasn't offended or felt like you were taking shots. No worries there. If anything, I've been more critical of the site than anyone else. I just try not to air it publicly. And the moderators do get involved with the site beyond the message boards. As for whether or not the Idiot Club should move away from Artist Arena, I don't know that I'd say that, if only because they haven't been given a full deck of cards to play with. Yes, the site design leaves A LOT to be desired and that should be handled, but there's also been talk of fixing that for some time. I don't know what exactly will take place, but I know that the folks at Artist Arena reach out to people like netty and myself, looking to improve things. What I will disagree with is the roll of the band itself. I'm not necessarily speaking about Q&A's and things like that (though they should), but in general. Artist Arena can only provide the members what the band and their people send them. I've read a few complaints about the handling of pre-sales and information; largely that's because Artist Arena wasn't made aware of information until shortly before they posted it. The prizes, tickets, you name it, it all has to come from the band. I remember when the monthly videos and Q&A's stopped around 2006; that was because the band simply stopped making the videos. And they've promised other things to us that never materialized. Content originating from the band is what is going to drive the site and keep people engaged. Anyone that joined the Idiot Club in 2005-2006 will recognize the correlation between exclusive content and the life of the message board. People stopped paying for membership because all that was left was a message board, and why pay $20 for that when there are sites like this one that will serve the same function for free? The overlap between this site and the Idiot Club is profound, so the topics of discussion are going to dry up. There has to be other attractions, and that's where the Idiot Club has not lived up to its promise. The only thing that annoys me is the lying on the sign up page. They shouldn't say "A one year membership is $20 and gets you everything below:" ..."- Periodic contests with prizing and random giveaways" unless they can guarantee that EVERY person who signs up can enter contests/giveaways EVERY year no matter where they live. Most of the contests are only open to those in the US and until they can make them available to everyone they should make that clear on the sign up page. At the moment there are many people who sign up for a year and are not able to enter any contests during that time so until that changes it needs rewording. To my dismay I see they HAVE recently reworded some of it but have chosen to keep that part. I know what the IC does and doesn't offer so it doesn't really affect me but it does irritate me that they won't be honest about what they're offering on there. This is fair, and we've brought it up before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 This is fair, and we've brought it up before. Glad it's been brought up. I emailed them about it a while ago and they told me they won't be changing the wording because they sometimes have early entry contests for shows in other countries. Hmm well they don't have them everywhere and they know full well that when people read that they don't think it just means early entry contests anyway, so although I'm glad they took the time to email me back I wasn't very impressed with the answer . I guess there's not much chance of them changing it, but I like to moan about it every so often so that maybe few more people know not to be disappointed when they join and can't enter the contests lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveGreenDay Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 I don't blame non-US residents for being upset, and it's not a coincidence that the foreign membership was decreased considerably. Being a legal matter, we're not exactly briefed on the progress, but there are certain snags in the legalities of sending prizes to other countries. Why it's taken so long to get worked out is beyond my best guess, sadly. I wish I had more for you there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuzz Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Marc and netty, I appreciate you guys taking the time to respond to ideas and criticisms here. Though no one expects just you guys to be able to fix it, it's good to know that people on the team are paying attention and understand frustrations by some fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 I don't blame non-US residents for being upset, and it's not a coincidence that the foreign membership was decreased considerably. Being a legal matter, we're not exactly briefed on the progress, but there are certain snags in the legalities of sending prizes to other countries. Why it's taken so long to get worked out is beyond my best guess, sadly. I wish I had more for you there. Oh yeah I totally get that the reason for not being able to send prizes for other countries is a legal thing (not them being mean), and I appreciate that they're trying to work it out. My only quibble is that they should really change the wording until it's worked out. And I second what Andres said, the IC team does such a good job listening to feeback and answering and sorting out people's questions/problems/concerns, not just on the IC but even coming here to help as well! Really appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netty Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Marc and netty, I appreciate you guys taking the time to respond to ideas and criticisms here. Though no one expects just you guys to be able to fix it, it's good to know that people on the team are paying attention and understand frustrations by some fans. that`s the thing about our position. we are fans first and foremost so understand and in fact share the frustrations! which is also why we are quite happy to help and advise any fan, no matter which forum or where ever else the issues arise. we are all fans and as such should help each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiercecircus Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 I think the problem is that (like someone said) Green Day are not actively involved in their official website or their fanclub. And that's fine- I don't think they've ever cared much for the internet. Them having twitter accounts is huge news. I think the problem is that they've gotten so big that other entities are running their shit for them, and not necessarily doing a good job. I personally don't really care about what their website looks like- as far as i'm concerned, GDA is "THE" website. But i think their record company or whoever's doing their publicity needs to do better with the official stuff. And it still pisses me off that somewhere, i have an Idiot Club membership card (it was a business card, i laminated it) and i can't find it. I just remembered, you got one of those too... I don't really care, i know it's not Green Day's decision to axe the old club members, it just kind of feels like i've been cheated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peyton Sawyer Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Hey! Im' French and want to get a membership at the Idiot club. However, I don't know if it's worth it for a non US resident like me...The main reason why I want to subscribe (besides being a huge fan od GD ) is to be able to access to Presale Tickets to shows. They say 'where applicable' on the website and so I'm a bit confused and not sure about the real chances I have... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Hey! Im' French and want to get a membership at the Idiot club. However, I don't know if it's worth it for a non US resident like me...The main reason why I want to subscribe (besides being a huge fan od GD ) is to be able to access to Presale Tickets to shows. They say 'where applicable' on the website and so I'm a bit confused and not sure about the real chances I have... If you wait until shows are announced (probably late September they'll announce the proper Europe tour) it will tell you if there's presale on the idiot club. Then you can sign up if there is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniewoo Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 i joined many years ago for presales mainly, i now think it fucking sucks because some people got tickets at half 8 this morning when some people who paid the same money couldn't get on til 9. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jet Taman Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 "half 8 this morning" I'm gonna start saying that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netty Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 you quoted one person on the IC who said they had got tickets early. I haven`t seen another person say they got theirs early and as one of th people hitting refresh I would say that its total twaddle! either that or it was a freak event when somebody maybe hit the button to make the sale live early by mistake or that person has their computer clock set wrong. also I feel I must point this out (something most complaining about ticket sales etc ignore)....the Idiot Club don`t control the actual sale of tickets...gigs and tours do. the IC managed to get tickets (then pushed for extra) and posted the link to the sale page. if you have issues with how it was run, take it up with the company who actually ran it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermione Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I was refreshing at half 8 and there was no sign of being able to buy tickets then. They came on sale at exactly 9am for me, and I don't know anyone who got them earlier than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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