Joseph Mallozzi's Blog! (SPOILERS For All SG Shows and Dark Matter)

[MediaSavant]

I think, overall, fans in an internet fandom develop a bit of a skewed view of themselves and their place in the fandom.

WE DON'T COUNT

Seriously, we don't count. All of us here, all 40,000 of us, and let's pretend that all of those 40K memberships are individuals that are real and live in the us and have ratings boxes, Dude, we can't even influence the ratings one tenth of one point.

40,000 households = .04 HH rating. That's if all 40,000 agree with each other. Let's say 10% of that 40,000 is so unhappy they turn off the show. That's .004 HH rating.

[siles]

I think, overall, fans in an internet fandom develop a bit of a skewed view of themselves and their place in the fandom.

WE DON'T COUNT

Seriously, we don't count. All of us here, all 40,000 of us, and let's pretend that all of those 40K memberships are individuals that are real and live in the us and have ratings boxes, Dude, we can't even influence the ratings one tenth of one point.

we're nothing.

and the fans that the writers/creators 'cater' to....it's those general anonymous folks that tune in that have never heard of Gateworld or any other site. They have no idea that Joe has a blog, or even that SGU is done in Vancouver.

They're just folks that watch a show every Friday night.

They're the fans that really count.

And they're the fans that the writers/producers/creators think about.

and even they play second fiddle to a network that is telling the writers what to do and a studio that is telling them what to do.

the writers write their show, following the directives of MGM, then Skiffy, then the actors, and then they think about the general fans.

then, when it's all said and done, the writers sit back, likely in the edit room once the show is edited and finished and go 'dude, the fans on XYZ forum are gonna have kittens about that'

We, fans on a forum, are nothing but an afterthought.

Let's consider DVD sells as well - 40,000*25=1,000,000 $? Still thinking we don't count at all?

[thekillman]

they can not even make 1 episode with that.

[Briangate78]

As per the comparison of SG-1/SGA/ and SGU.

All 3 shows are great. Yes, I've enjoyed one more than the other at times, but I still am happy with the direction of the franchise. I just want those movies to happen. So I can have the best of three worlds.

[MediaSavant]

Let's consider DVD sells as well - 40,000*25=1,000,000 $? Still thinking we don't count at all?

Good point. But, I'm one of those 40,000 and I've never purchased a DVD of either the SG-1 or Atlantis series. Take me out of the total.

The argument only matters if every single person in the 40,000 (a) used to by the DVD's, and (b) won't buy them now.

(I did buy the SG-1 movies).

[Skydiver]

and, as far as this forum is concerned, of the 40,000 members, maybe 400 are what we'd consider active. and many of those are from the Uk or other countries, so they dont' count ratings wise.

and i'd be willing to bet that just a fraction of them actually buy new dvd's. for me? hey, i have a local resale shop where i get mine from.

we may have 40,000 members, but only a fraction are active and 'real' people.

in the grand numbers game, that .04 is more realistically a .004

we may be the fans that they talk to, but really, we're not teh fans that they care about. not in a 'keep my job' kind of way.

And shall we even go into the fantastic nearly year long delay between what they make and when we see it? and even if Joe were to say 'wow, your ideas are great, i'm gonna put them to use', he's gotta get MGM's and Skiffy and the approval of the other writers, the actors and producers. any and all of which could kibash it.

they may interact with us, but they don't 'cater' to us. We just like to think that they do.

[The_Asgard_live]

and, as far as this forum is concerned, of the 40,000 members, maybe 400 are what we'd consider active. and many of those are from the Uk or other countries, so they dont' count ratings wise.

and i'd be willing to bet that just a fraction of them actually buy new dvd's. for me? hey, i have a local resale shop where i get mine from.

we may have 40,000 members, but only a fraction are active and 'real' people.

in the grand numbers game, that .04 is more realistically a .004

we may be the fans that they talk to, but really, we're not teh fans that they care about. not in a 'keep my job' kind of way.

And shall we even go into the fantastic nearly year long delay between what they make and when we see it? and even if Joe were to say 'wow, your ideas are great, i'm gonna put them to use', he's gotta get MGM's and Skiffy and the approval of the other writers, the actors and producers. any and all of which could kibash it.

they may interact with us, but they don't 'cater' to us. We just like to think that they do.

I don't think its a question of what our literal numbers are, but rather how representative our opinion is to the whole. Pollsters never poll everyone, just a representative sample. The question then is, how representative are internet fans and their opinions.

With regards to Mallozzi blog, I found his entry to be silly. Referring to some fans as idiots, real people. In contrast, Scott/Chloe are fictional characters, describing their characters as "whorish", or "sluttish", is a commentary on a non-existent figment of someone's imagination. Kind of lost credibility for the point he was trying to make.

I can not believe someone who could say something as childish as

"Trust me when I say that there’s no better way to guarantee a character’s long and fruitful stay on a show than to insist we get rid of them."

Is also one of the people that has been able to provide me with the entertainment he has.

But, if that is logic they employ, then for the love of god, please keep Chloe and Scott. And, the more time dedicated to sex and whining, the better.

[Jeff O'Connor]

He doesn't have such a problem with that as he does with people attacking the actors themselves. That's what he was initially responding to.

[prion]

He doesn't have such a problem with that as he does with people attacking the actors themselves. That's what he was initially responding to.

I don't believe fans 'attacked' the actors, as in personal slurs, etc. Yes, some fans made not-nice comments about the *characters*, but not the actors.

if there's an actual actor slur, I have yet to find it (although there was one fan who sent a not-nice tweet to Brian J Smith in regards to RC Cooper, and yes, that was a personal slur on RCC).

[MediaSavant]

I don't think its a question of what our literal numbers are, but rather how representative our opinion is to the whole. Pollsters never poll everyone, just a representative sample. The question then is, how representative are internet fans and their opinions.

It's also a question of how representative some very vocal people are even of the Gateworld fanbase. If you judged by number of posts and number of negative threads created, you would think they were the majority. But, week in and week out I look at the episode polls and out of thousands of votes, maybe 15% rated the episode 5 or below. Less than 10% rate a 1, the lowest grade.

I'm old enough to remember the '60's where the term "Silent Majority" was created to describe this phenomenon.

I think the producers have to be very careful of who they are paying attention to. If you judged the show just by the noisiest people, you would think the ratings would be 50% lower by now. They aren't. The same goes for last year's criticisms of SGA and criticisms of SG-1 when it was still on.

[Skydiver]

there is no way ANY forum is representative.

there is no way they get and keep a good mix of ages, genders, personality types, preferences, life experiences, etc.

[MediaSavant]

there is no way ANY forum is representative.

there is no way they get and keep a good mix of ages, genders, personality types, preferences, life experiences, etc.

I agree. I believe 20% of the U.S. doesn't even access the internet regularly. Within the ones who do, there are varying degrees of activity.

[bluealien]

I don't think its a question of what our literal numbers are, but rather how representative our opinion is to the whole. Pollsters never poll everyone, just a representative sample. The question then is, how representative are internet fans and their opinions.

With regards to Mallozzi blog, I found his entry to be silly. Referring to some fans as idiots, real people. In contrast, Scott/Chloe are fictional characters, describing their characters as "whorish", or "sluttish", is a commentary on a non-existent figment of someone's imagination. Kind of lost credibility for the point he was trying to make.

I can not believe someone who could say something as childish as

"Trust me when I say that there’s no better way to guarantee a character’s long and fruitful stay on a show than to insist we get rid of them."

Is also one of the people that has been able to provide me with the entertainment he has.

But, if that is logic they employ, then for the love of god, please keep Chloe and Scott. And, the more time dedicated to sex and whining, the better.

Well said...

there is no way ANY forum is representative.

there is no way they get and keep a good mix of ages, genders, personality types, preferences, life experiences, etc.

I disagree... this forum has a huge range of ages, nationalities and varying opinions.. how can that not be representative of the wider audience... polls are generally done using small groups which include a wide variety of ages and personalites.. so when you get a reaction from a mixed range of personalites and age groups its pretty likely you will get a similiar reaction from a larger group... its unlikely to get such negativity from a test audience that doesnt usually manifest in the wider audience as well... all the negative aspects that have been raised in SGU will also effect the wider audience that has similiar views and personalities to the smaller test groups...

All fans are important IMO and none of them should be dimissed as being unimportant...

[KatG]

It still comes down to ratings though. If the show's ratings are good (meaning people who are watching are being counted) then regardless of what a few people on a fan forum say, it's not going to make much difference.

So if you really hate the show, and what's being done with it, the best way to make a difference is with your remote. Don't watch it. Don't contribute to the ratings. Because when measuring ratings, they don't measure who's watching it and hates it and who's watching it and loves it or even who's watching it and just likes it. All ratings do is measure how many people are watching it and what demographic do they fit into. If they get the numbers they want, then they'll keep making it, if they don't they'll either change something or stop making it.

[Briangate78]

It still comes down to ratings though. If the show's ratings are good (meaning people who are watching are being counted) then regardless of what a few people on a fan forum say, it's not going to make much difference.

So if you really hate the show, and what's being done with it, the best way to make a difference is with your remote. Don't watch it. Don't contribute to the ratings. Because when measuring ratings, they don't measure who's watching it and hates it and who's watching it and loves it or even who's watching it and just likes it. All ratings do is measure how many people are watching it and what demographic do they fit into. If they get the numbers they want, then they'll keep making it, if they don't they'll either change something or stop making it.

Couldn't of said it better myself. Same thing happened during Atlantis the last 2 seasons, although the negativity was far less. The ratings rebounded even if a group of folks were not loving the show anymore.