Be Part of Something

From the time the page loads at www.lg15.com, it is clear that something is different on this site. It isn’t the dozens of thumbnails lining the sides of the page. It isn’t even that a comment board exists. It is what occurs on that comment board that makes the site special.

Community. Family. “Cheers.” It’s a place where the names are recognizable, and new ‘faces’ are welcomed with heartfelt greetings. Every day is like a family reunion – catching up on the lives of others, sharing random bits of nonsense like orange slurpee stories and the mysteries of 436, heatedly discussing the merits or pitfalls of the latest video, even airing dirty laundry for everyone to see. Like a family reunion, the topics change as quickly and randomly as thoughts sometimes do. The family enjoys everyone’s company – except for that creepy uncle in the corner, or the bratty cousin setting fire to the tablecloth – mercilessly teases one another, and steadfastly defends its own.

Which brings us to right now. In recent days, those who pay attention to the Comments community may have noticed a significant decline in the amount of participation in that portion of the site. Maybe even the total number of site hits is down. Many familiar faces have been suspiciously absent. Why?

For some time, the Comments community has been made to feel as if it is a second-class community in the Breeniverse. Forget the fact that the only time that the Creators interact with Comments is when there is a problem. Set aside the notion that shoutouts to fans as a tribute for solving puzzles only occurs for necro fans (regardless of where the puzzles were first solved). Instead let us focus on the perception that Comments does not, in fact, contribute anything of merit – and certainly not anything of intellectual value – to the Breeniverse.

The first official LG15-induced romance (and subsequent video). A virtual Valentine’s Day card to the cast and Creators. The evils of orange slurpees, FFFFIIIIIRRRRSSSSSSSTTTT-saying, 436, and *meep*. Once upon a time, some direct character interaction. The first official fan interview of a cast member. The first video by fans for a fan. Regular video shout-outs by fans to fans. The Deacons (bless Marcus’ 436-ed heart). Puzzles solved (at times more quickly than in the necro). Rosie and modelmotion have gone virtually unrecognized for nearly a year, and they have turned out a tremendous amount of research and answers. Several others who have not been on-board as long have also made their mark. And recently, some stellar research was provided into the scientific intricacies of the latest videos. Comments manages to blend the best of all worlds – humor and good spirits, camaraderie, random nonsense and highly intellectual discourse. Yet, as we saw yet again last week, kudos goes to the forum. Canon video shoutouts were to forum regulars. The Creators posted some love – “we’re so glad everyone is friends and plays nicely here” – to the forum (NOTE: Of course they play nicely, if anyone gets cranky they just lock the thread or delete or reroute posts so all that are left are the happy ones). Even the rules of a t-shirt contest were announced, but it was too much to announce the link to the Comments participants who might wish to make a submission. Fortunately Comments has LG15Today to keep track of these things for them.

To be fair, when attempting to explain why there is no character participation on Comments two weeks ago, the Creators explained that they love all communities of the site. However, actions speak louder than words. Leaving an entire population of fans to amuse itself has recently led to little more than boredom resulting in virtual nit-picking. The Creators do not regularly share official info with Comments. Commenters have received little to no incentive to actually participate in the show – even when they do research and puzzles, the necro gets full credit. Although the Creators have determined Comments to be out of character, Commenters disagree that official Character interaction there would be confusing. The laws of character interaction have not yet been written. They defy logic. The laws should consider what feels natural and flows with the lives of the fans that so adore the show. What some say is nonsense is in fact an intricate and sophisticated virtual culture that has grown around the LG15 story line. If you participate in that culture, you find a new frontier in online entertainment; a frontier that's reaching out to virtual characters like they would their best friend. And what do they get back? A great video yes, but zero character interaction within their cultural domain. Even on Youtube v-bloggers can comment back to their fans; why is LG any different?

Staunch Comments regulars are asked, if everything goes on in the necro, why don’t Comments regulars just get a log-in name and participate there? And if Commenters want to chat about random frivolity, why not do it in chat? Why should we have to? It does not suit the needs of this particular group of fans.

Think of Comments as the right brain, and the Forum as the left brain. Or if you don’t like that metaphor, think of Comments as a place for Mac people, and the Forum as a place for PC people. One is not better or worse (although that depends on who you ask), just different. The forum provides structure to the nth degree for the people who thrive with structure. It makes sense to them. Those people complain about the perceived chaos of Comments because they are comfortable having (to them) clear pathways of thought. Comments people, on the other hand, prefer the free-flowing format and multitude of topics of the Comments community and cannot understand the chaos of forums. Call it ADD, call it a resistance to or inability to thrive with structure, call it what you like. The point is our thought processes reject the structure of the necro in the same way that those of necro regulars reject the ‘lack’ of structure of Comments. We are still capable of creative, intelligent thought; however, we also need the diversion of the welcoming feeling and occasional nonsense that arises when mixing together people of a creative nature. More than that, we are able to switch from In Character to Out of Character very fluidly, and cannot understand why Comments as a source of participation is not exploited.

For those who think that Comments is just random chat and belongs in a chat session, think again! Most Commenters have tried live chat and agree it’s just not the same. Think of Comments as a slow motion chat. Why is that so different? The key is that the Comments community is global. There has been much debate over how to eliminate time zones but until we can defy the laws of physics, Comments provides a chat log that allows all participants to keep track of the day’s goings on. As a result the community is alive 24/7 and feels a global bond that perhaps the world at large should take note of.

In an attempt to gain some recognition as a significant and valid population in the Breeniverse from the Creators, a group of Comments regulars has joined together this week and resisted the Lonelycrack – site and all – in the hopes that, by proving (through our absence) that we contribute to the site as well, we can encourage the Creators to open up a dialogue with us concerning more than obvious problems that harm the site. At a ‘place’ where people come to unwind, enjoy the virtual company of others, challenge their minds and be entertained by a series they enjoy, discontent has reached high levels, quite unnecessarily, and the feelings of loyal fans are hurt. Comments is the “Cheers” of the Breeniverse, and the time has come to recognize the landmark situation found at Comments and the people who made it that way.

Excerpts from notes received by this author in recent weeks:

-I think I could force myself w/o the videos at all for 4 days, but w/o the people, I would fold. I hate to admit it, but w/o the people here (who for the most part are actually nicer then almost everyone I know, w/ a few rare exceptions), I wouldn't be able to bear it. [AUTHOR’S NOTE: To cope with Lonelycrack withdrawal, the fans may be found (temporarily?) on “The Meep” (LG15Today) and IRC HymnofOne chat]

-Many of us have been around since the beginning, or pretty damn near, and we are treated like we don’t matter.

-Sorry, but I think the Creators would actually like the comments to perish. The Forum is more controllable(re:delete) and generally easier to manage for them. I have been seeing the comments become far less effective over the past several months. The ones who actually had fun but took part in the puzzles and clues etc. have either migrated to the forums or got bored and left. [AUTHOR’S RESPONSE: The amount of attention paid to the Comments portion of the site during that time has dwindled at the same rate, and the Deacons ARG and other fanfic ended. Coincidence that people lost interest?]

-I started my project to get everyone involved from both the forums and Comments. I was hoping to kind of show everyone that we are all in the same Breeniverse, but you know what, I got 2 people to even talk to me from the forum. However, I got 20 responses for my video out of the Comments crowd. I tried to post in all the right forums. I got moved here and there, and in the end 2 people talked to me. I really wanted to get everyone together and Comments was all for it, but I just hear crickets in the forum.

-Everyone gets a chance in Comments. Off topic is ok because there is no topic.

-This is by far the most welcoming site I’ve been on.

-If the creators give the credit for our research to the forums I will leave forever.

The Creators have an opportunity here to embrace a community unlike that found on any other site. The popularity of LG15 is only in part due to the quality of the story – the fans have made it a place where new people are welcome, making friends is encouraged, personalities and intelligence levels are different and that’s okay… essentially, Comments has become the neighborhood townie bar of the Breeniverse. It should be exploited for its merits rather than ignored with the hopes that it will go away.

We realize that our actions may hurt the feelings of the cast, crew and Creators of the show we love and that is certainly not our intention; however, to continue to remain silent on the issue is not fair to anyone involved and only prolongs the hurt feelings. Nor do we wish to begin a new forum war. We respect their contribution as we hope to have our contribution respected. To those of you who have helped this week in attempting to illustrate the point that we, too, have a contribution to make, my sincerest thanks. I hope it wasn’t for nothing. I invite the Creators to participate in real-time chat with Comments fans – in a controlled environment – to address these issues and any I may have overlooked. Vive la *MEEP*!