(I am not serious about the little one yet. It’s still early in the day.)
Yesterday though – at least, I think it was yesterday (time flies when one is having fun you know) – someone asked John on Twitter if he would ever consider adding Duranies to his list of followers (on twitter). He answered back that it would cause competition and it would basically undermine what he was trying to do.
After I finally stopped laughing, I put in my own .02 cents. I do that a lot with his comments – mostly on facebook because I never seem to be on Twitter at the right time – but if I’m on Twitter I’ll comment back if I have something to say. He never answers, which is fine, I’m not necessarily hoping that he will – I’m actually more interested in what the fans have to say. (that’s not to say I’m not interested in what the band has to say, but the fact is – my interaction with the fan base isn’t to gain their attention, if that makes sense.) I digress. Anyway, my response was that he shouldn’t do it! Competition is merely a polite term for what would happen. Those of us who are fairly involved with the fan community, at least enough to be participating on message boards and so forth, know that I’m really not exaggerating when I say that there are times when Duranies will seriously eat their young if it means being able to get closer (or say that they’re closer) to the band. I can’t even imagine the chaos that would take place.
Amanda and I have spoken at great length about whether it is, or would be (in our case) a good or bad thing to be acknowledged by the band – specifically the issue is when the rest of the community sees/hears/reads that you’ve been acknowledged. I think we’ve come to the conclusion that it is very much a double edged sword. Of course it would be…well…I suppose a bit of a dream come true to see that the band (in our case here) not only acknowledges our work, but thinks it’s worth reading. As authors, and of course as fans, we’d love that. On the same token, while yes, we write about issues that take place within the bands fan base, a very large portion of what we’re doing isn’t really about the band at all. It’s not that we don’t want them to read the blog, but that’s not why we write, and I hope that all of our readers know that. We also don’t write for free concert tickets, backstage passes, or for the new album to be sent to us early, either. (however, if anybody out there wants to hook us up – you know where to find us. HA!) As I’ve said before, it is one thing to write and get enjoyment from the writing, which on most days, I really do. It’s quite another to not only be acknowledged for what we do, but to be told that something we’ve written has affected someone. I’ve never had a job that’s really done that before. My kids don’t really come up to me and say “Hey Mom, great job grounding me yesterday – I totally learned from that.” (I’d fall over dead from shock, I’m sure). So, when someone writes us here, or on Facebook and Twitter and says they enjoy what we’ve done – that’s really the best, and I mean that, regardless of who you are out there – so thank you.
Which brings me back to being followed. (no pun there…really…) I appreciate the fact that John doesn’t follow fans…or many (?)…because truthfully I’ve never really checked! Not only that, but I very much appreciate that John is completely aware of what it might do to the community, not to mention those he would follow, if he chose to do so. I wonder though if the community at large understands the consequences from those types of actions. So many people want Simon and John to answer them or retweet them, and of course – it’s about having that moment of acknowledgement and interaction – I get that. The problem is, every time someone is acknowledged, there are probably 50 others out there that are openly envious…at the least…and have something snarky to say about it. Jealousy isn’t a pretty thing, even on a pretty woman.
-R
I have to say two things. First, I have heard rumors that Simon has begun to follow fans and suspect that it has and will cause quite a few waves within the fan community. Second, I couldn't agree more with your statement about how much we appreciate hearing that people are enjoying our work.
-A