http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry Just another bbPress community en-US Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:30:22 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/search.php http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/12#post-281503 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:12:08 +0000 auntyjoan 281503@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>Hi Stephen, I must be you oldest (70 tomorrow) and most faithful fan. I have followed you and listened to you - as you read all the &#39;Harry Potter&#39; Books, your &#39;The Knowledge&#39;, and my favourite yet &#39;Moab&#39; audio books.</p> <p>I wish you well in all that you do,</p> <p>Joan &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;:-)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/12#post-281501 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:06:45 +0000 auntyjoan 281501@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <blockquote><p><cite>Stephen Fry <a href="//www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry#post-194073&quot;">said</a>:</cite><br /> Hello dear forum people. I wanted to write a word about things to you as it has been brought to my attention that not all is as happy as it might be in the world of the Fry Forum. You can imagine how much this distresses me. I am one who (to a fault, to a glaring fault, I am well aware of it) hates confrontation or unhappiness of any kind and so I tend either to pretend it isn’t going on or I run away from it. Well no good doing either in this case, so I shall take the bull by the horns, grasp the nettle and grapple the metaphor to the ground.</p> <p>I understand from Andrew Sampson that we cocked up royally in upgrading the forum to WordPress. In fact many of you would regard ‘upgrading’ as quite the wrong word. Firstly, we never told you it was happening and secondly it altered the experience for you in ways that many of you found objectionable. Andrew works inexpressibly hard for and with me and is as committed as I am to making the site a good place for anyone to spend time, but he would also be the first to admit that his direct Australian manner can seem abrasive to more sensitive souls (myself often included!). It’s bred in the bone, part of the culture (and the reason for Australia’s unparalleled sporting success?) but is never meant to offend or to express contempt or impatience. He sees the shortest distance between two points and can straight-line his way there without passing the square marked tactful… a gift, but sometimes a tricky one….</p> <p>You may wonder why I haven’t involved myself in forum governance. I will tell you. A lot is to do with sheer cowardice and indolence. It’s all I can do to keep my head above water with my diary as it is without involving myself in the political and housekeeping issues of the forum. I want people to be happy, but there seem to be countervailing opinions as to how that is best achieved and it would be crashingly inappropriate of me to “take sides” – it’s not my business to do that and would be so unfair on you. So I keep away from forum business and hope that you manage it well without me. After all, if I was there the whole thing would be a weird controlling vanity project, not a free arena at all.</p> <p>I will certainly get out my chequebook and pay for the forum upgrade (without too much self-pity you should know that we’ve already spent six days on forum coding, at the cost of delays on other Samfry projects and there is still much more work to be done) but I would beg you to be patient. I know how large problems seem to you when you are inside the forum every day, and the solutions probably seem simple and easily achieved from your side. Oh, how I wish they were. The very success of the stephenfry.com site causes it to be very expensive to run and while work on the CMS and structure has enabled maintenance to be much more rationally undertaken it is still a formidable ask for a personal site that has only just started taking ads and which is still very far from paying its own way.</p> <p>But above all I want you to be happy, and I hope you can be happy in the way one used to be happy in grotty student accommodation. We never complained in those days about stained sofas, stuck doors, creaking floorboards and drippy walls. As we age we tend to get a bit fussy about things – I’m just asking that for the moment you put up with a bit of inconvenience and hope you can regard it as a lark. It is certainly not a sign that we don’t care.</p> <p>You are the most loyal of all the website visitors and this gives you the right to feel a certain kind of ownership. But I want the site and the forum to be welcoming to all. When new neighbours move in on the street nothing is more dreaded than the Resident’s Committee which lays down the law on “how things are done here”. A feeling that there is an elite is far from what any of us would want, I’m sure.</p> <p>• Kindly welcomes<br /> • Genuine friendliness<br /> • Consideration and appreciation of others<br /> • Acceptance and friendship<br /> • Intolerance only of rudeness and unkindness</p> <p>If you like my works and my deeds, what I say and what I do in the world, if you are admirers, fans or followers of my life and career, then I would hope you might feel that I try and stand for friendliness and openness, and that I can only be distressed by in-fighting, turf wars, possessiveness and resentments. I am not trying to overstate the problem, I am happy to note that the forum has not disintegrated – I am saying all this as a pre-emptive measure. To stop things going in that direction as I fear they will if we don’t all pause and consider.</p> <p>It is all a result of your frustration at the unwelcome and mishandled changes and we accept full responsibility for that. Without Clare and the moderators things would have really been difficult and I owe them all a huge debt, as do all users of the forum. A hundred thousand unnoticed actions from them have kept things going. But let’s concentrate on making sure that the forum welcomes newbies, alienates no one and acquires – like Chesterton’s angels – the ability to take itself lightly.</p> <p>If I were a corporation who made money from this website I would be duty bound (if I was an honourable corporation) to hire the five or six full time staff necessary for the running of the forum and the recoding and maintenance of its tools and environment. Sadly I am not a corporation and (at the renewed risk of self-pity) I just don’t have the time or the resources. The more Andrew can concentrate on new revenue streams for the site, the more we can pour into improving it. Which is all we want to do.</p> <p>So I hope, for my sake (he squeaked forlornly) you might do your best to enjoy the forum as it is for the moment, being as forbearing and friendly and patient and good-natured as you can be. If you have what builders call “snagging lists” (this tap drips, that banister is loose etc) then by all means present them, but I hope you understand that we can’t leap in and fix every problem – big as it may seem – at a moment’s notice. It’s a huge site, and as you probably know, the amount of traffic it deals with involves complexities of hosting and server clustering of a kind that make one’s poor head spin.</p> <p>Well, that’s it. I should have dropped in earlier I expect. Apologies for not doing so. My love and thanks to you all.</p> <p>To the future</p> <p>x Stephen</p></blockquote> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/12#post-280591 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:44:35 +0000 LandRoverPETER 280591@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>Dear Mr Fry,<br /> as a new member i would like to offer my heart felt thank you for offering me a lowly resident of the far flung land of Bambun of no neighbours hardly on my street if you can it as such.Please google Sullivan drive and i live at the end on the right on the northerly road at the southern end.<br /> I read your description about school or uni dorms and have my bucket handy if my screen on the macbook starts leaking and a rag to clean off the mould spores that may protrude from the keys.<br /> If your in the area and can offer some advance warning i can build a HIDE next to a local extinct Gilberts Potaroo hole in the loam and you could film a Potaroo, which is a small (tabby cat fur)Quokka like animal feeds at dawn and dusk.I have seen 2 in 5 years&#39;s in my back garden but generally dont hang around their habitat at dawn and dusk.I have watched a couple of your films and see you go through a lot of punishment and extreme pain sometimes in your achievements which to me is highly spirited and commendable.Thank you Peter. </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/12#post-279963 Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:07:49 +0000 cprobert38 279963@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>Who knew there was a problem? I only come on here intermittently to post random non-sequiters and ( sic) comments .The only reason I popped in today was to wish all Fry-dudes and Fryettes a wonderful new year. But if we take &quot; me collegues&quot; middle paragraph concerning freindship, openess , god my spelling is horrid, as a mantra for 2012 then we will have a delicious new year.Peace, love hamsters and meerkats to you all. </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/12#post-278655 Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:03:30 +0000 jordan_israel 278655@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>well, stephen, i would never do something that coulde ruin your website (and i&#39;m here from yesterday... :o). u give me so much inspire, that sometimes only u keep me happy. and... u changed my life that much, that the only reall present i want to my 13th birthday is a call from u to me,lil&#39; me in israel &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;:-)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; think about it, &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_wink.gif&quot; title=&quot;:wink:&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/12#post-272887 Thu, 30 Jun 2011 06:37:42 +0000 jeanymeets 272887@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>Everytime I visit this community and reading posts I was really impress.<br /> Thank you... </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/12#post-267535 Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:23:42 +0000 IsabellaO 267535@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>Seems like a great group of people on the forum, I&#39;m a newbie.</p> <p>Loved Moab, sending to my son to read, also named Stephen (no connection or implication meant--named after my da). My husband Peter and I adore Stephen Fry and have been huge fans for 25+ years. Why does Stephen get so much better looking with age??? Not fair.<br /> Just finished a fantastic book called Paper Trail by Simon Fry...is he any relation???<br /> It&#39;s one of the best thrillers I&#39;ve read in many years, with the added twist of answering who was most likely the real Shakespeare. This book/story set in Venice and Stratford/Oxford would make an incrediblly good film. Great writing and story, could not put it down, lost several nights&#39; sleep on this one. </p> <p>Seems the Fry clan are quite talented. </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/11#post-266745 Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:53:44 +0000 Boizeau 266745@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>Dear Stephen:</p> <p>With that most English of accents you happen to have, why not consider doing a Movie bit about one of the British Royalty that had &#39;favorites&#39;. If you have read Charles Dickens&#39; history of England, he made some sort of Victorian hints at a few of the Kings of yore, and it could make for either a serious drama or a bit of light comedy. I think Mel Gibson&#39;s negative portrayal of Edward&#39;s Son in Braveheart deserves a rebuttal of sorts. </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/11#post-265785 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:03:21 +0000 NewForestCat 265785@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p> &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_rolleyes.gif&quot; title=&quot;:roll:&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; I am so web illiterate its embarrassing, I have not long had internet services, there seems to be an infinitude of information and sites to explore. Though this one is tres grande! Voila! I don&#39;t speak french so don&#39;t baffle me with any french replies. </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/11#post-265717 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:11:56 +0000 Boizeau 265717@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>Rather new to all this online stuff, but hope that nobody fouls up the forum. Gather that Stephen has some new sort of dialogue in mind? If one thing does come through in Stephen&#39;s comments is the nature of a perfect gentleman and it is appreciated in our crass and short tempered era.</p> <p>There goes a car coming. </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/11#post-264541 Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:01:56 +0000 fenric71 264541@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>Oh I forgot to say... Love you Stephen, keep making us laugh and cry!! </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/11#post-264539 Tue, 08 Feb 2011 12:58:17 +0000 fenric71 264539@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>I am new to this site... I can feel the love through the screen!!! It&#39;s what I need in my life, you guys are the best and I am so glad that this forum is here!<br /> Life is good... &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_biggrin.gif&quot; title=&quot;:D&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/11#post-264105 Fri, 04 Feb 2011 01:12:14 +0000 lizwoedl 264105@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>We find ourselves in a place where kindness, civility and acceptance reign. Perhaps I am in heaven! </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/11#post-264085 Thu, 03 Feb 2011 21:33:28 +0000 Remedy45 264085@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>The Great Joseph Storrs Fry AND HIS THREE SONS took six years to develop the simple chocolate bar. </p> <p>But, to be fair, it was very nice chocolate. </p> http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/special-message-from-stephen-fry/page/11#post-263913 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:21:04 +0000 Roxy641 263913@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <p>I was posting to say this is the first time I&#39;ve been able to post on here in MONTHS! (and this is one of my favourite forums). Thanks to the changes, I can now post again. The problem was the page before was unreadable. Anyway, well done to all those that are working hard to make the site accessable to all.</p> <p>And I agree with the poster(s?) who mentioned having a &quot;Like&quot; button on these forums. That is an excellent idea.</p> <p>Roxy641 </p>