Fametracker

[spinsterliz]

I was really annoyed when they shut down the forums a good four days before they said they were going to. That wasn't fair to the posters-especially the ones who had been posting there for years! (I don't include myself in that, as I spent a lot of time lurking at first).

I agree that it used to be special to be snarky, and now everyone's doing it, so FT just wasn't that special. People magazine has gotten somewhat snarky-in their latest issue, they referred to Chloe Sevigny's sunglasses as "scary" and they took a couple of other potshots at different celebs. Snarking isn't a novelty anymore. Even crap like YM magazine has gotten snarky.

[Deleted]

I just saw this thread... I didn't even realize FT was still up! When they shut the forums down, I never went back.

I'm still sorry it closed down. There were some posters I really enjoyed reading and wonder where they went to...

I saw Wing (Tara) at a grocery store here in Toronto, a few weeks ago. I didn't say anything to her... partly because I wanted to be cool (just as I would never say anything to a celebrity in town for filming), partly because I'm a bit afraid of her (even though I'm MUCH older than her) and partly because... what would be the point.

I still miss the place.

[Mugsy]

I was a member at FT since 2001, after finding a reference to it in Chatelaine magazine. As a Canadian, I always appreciated the strong Canadian influence.

The snark impressed me so much initially. I had always had a sarcastic witty personality, but in my small town, it just came across as mean-spirited and misunderstood, so I often suprressed it.

However, I found that over time, certain posters were allowed to get away with comments that others would get smacked down for. One poster in particular, was a friend of Wing's in Toronto, and he could make the most sexually-explicit non-sequiturs. He also blasted other posters who had a more consevative outlook than he did (which was probably almost everyone). If anyone else said some of the things he did, they would have been banned.

I am finding it a little surreal to see all the FT and TWOP bashing here. Until now, they seemed like sacred cows that one dared not criticize. I think, like bagatelle, I was a little intimidated by the mods.

[Brookie]

I was intimidated by the mods too after I was put on a 20% warning for something really small (I stated, STUPIDLY, in a post that I didn't "feel like looking through a million posts" to find somebody in the Death Pool - and I did check back but not thru the required MILLION) and after that I was really careful, hoping the warning would disappear (it didn't). And, I kinda figured that if you're going to restrict my posts, why should I buy your products? Just didn't make sense. Then it all went away anyway, and who ends up being a moderator here? - me (hey Wing! Bite me!)! Heh heh heh! I haven't been back on the site since then; the only reason it attracted my attention was because of the Forums in the first place. The other stuff was just window dressing and mildly entertaining at times.

I love this place. This feels more like home.

[Deleted]

Within my first 3 weeks posting on Fametracker, I'd racked up 5 warnings and then got banned for a week after I topped it all off by starting a thread that already existed (and was currently on the first page of the forum)

Do you remember what you did to get those first 5 warnings?

[topher]

I got one warning in the five or so years it was up. It was post crash. I screwed up a link and then fixed it. But in the two seconds of the original post and the fix, Wing must have sensed the link was wrong and gave me a 20% warning. It disappeared after two months.

[Brookie]

Golly gee, Moldy, that's *really* offensive.

[Deleted]

Topher said:

I just found the first OODT in my garage. Should I put it up on Ebay?

What is an OODT?

Didn't they ever discuss pay to post, like the Straight Dope boards do? But then, if they had PAYING CUSTOMERS, they couldn't be so snarky, ban when they wanted to, etc. They'd have to be a hell of a lot more accountable, and we can't have that, can we?

[thirtythree]

They weren't savvy enough to realize the fortune they had in the Forums. They could have made a bundle off of it. Not only with charging fees, but with the web traffic it brought to their site. In the end they shot themselves in the foot.

Hee, totally. It's like, they have to be fools to think that the majority of people went to Fametracker for the drivel they put out. They went for the forums.

I never got warned at FT. I don't quite know why, though; I probably just played by their freakish rules. In retrospect, though, I wish I could've experienced what being warned was like. Did Wing make catty, bitchy remarks? When she took off your warning, did she say something along the lines of, "You should make note of my mercy and graciousness that I'm letting you survive here"?

[glassceiling]

First time poster, long timer lurker. I stayed quiet so long on the Fametracker boards because I always felt like a giant hand from the sky was going to squash me. I think what did it were the comments Wing would post after she had "dealt" with someone, and I would get there late and wonder what the hell had happened. I was so afraid that I would commit the same infraction that I just decided to keep my mouth shut. So, happy to be here. The atmosphere here is so much nicer.