Multiple sources tell HU that the owner of “the largest Smashing Pumpkins community forums that Billy Corgan loves to hate” recently offered to sell those forums…to Billy Corgan. More than one overture has been made to the band by Netphoria.org principals within the last two months, but fear not — Corgan turned them down flat. Maybe he just loves to hate the site too much.

From: Hipsters United

This is a public gift.
Others will see the gift, the message, and who sent it.

“Congratulations on your competent social networking!”

About the gift:
Their First 100K is a ripoff of Facebook’s First 100M.

We had quite a few audio problems with this week’s podcast, notably Jill’s Skype connection had extremely poor quality.  I tried to edit out as much of the noise as I could, but I wanted to make sure that I left it alone where I thought you could make out what she was saying.  As a result, she sometimes sounds slightly digital, but I think you can get the gist of the points that she tries to make.

I am looking into alternatives for the future, but if you have any suggestions let me know.

Listen to the whole show (58:36)

(download)(iTunes)

This week’s topics:

Panelists
-Chris, Jason, Jill, and Andrew

News
-Billy suggests the possibility of an internet video series chronicling the studio efforts of the Smashing Pumpkins.  Would we want to watch LonelyBilly15?  Would it attract media attention?  Would it divide fans or be a distraction to the band?  Jill suggests the Pumpkins may use it to review their own work, and Jason convinces me that the whole thing might not be a bad idea. (17:06)

Tour Roundup
-As quickly as it started, the August tour comes to a close.  We give our final thoughts on the great shows we got to experience both firsthand and via the magic of the internet.  Plus, Jason sings Tom Sawyer and Jill gives us the Stone Temple Pilots tour roundup. (4:16)

In-Depth Discussion
-Earlier this month, sp.com did a series of articles on the band’s relationship with the fan community.  Was the community accurately represented?  Did the articles achieve their goals of promoting a discourse on reasonable expectations?  We discuss the Pumpkins as artists, and Jason draws parallels between sp.com and HU.  (29:43)

Next Week in Pumpkins History
-Nothing happened this week, but next week in Pumpkins history Machina II was released. (2:28)

Song of the Week
-Transformer, August 17th, 2008

No podcast next week due to Labor Day, check back in a few weeks for episode 20.

A redesign of SmashingPumpkins.com is in the works, and a posting on that site suggests the changes will not be entirely aesthetic (link is mine):

Serious consideration is being given to the return of fan-directed moderation of the goings-on of such a messageboard.

So what should [a] newly envisioned “O-board” look like or how should it function?

Sounds to me that the decision has already been made; could even a resounding chorus of “no, no, no” stop them now? Will the elitist newsgroup known as AMSP rise from its ashes in “[a] direct response” to the inevitable popularity of O-board2? Many questions…

Last June, there was a thread on the Netphoria.org messageboard entitled “Your top 10 SP songs”, asking users to list their ten favorites. On Netphoria that sort of proposal often elicits yawns, but this particular thread drew over 100 seemingly honest responses. (I’m sure there have been other similar threads, but for whatever reason I never took note of them.)

Recently, the social networking site Facebook introduced an application called “Pages”, which enables users to declare themselves as “fans” of this or that. The “page” for the Smashing Pumpkins (which is actually operated by the band) has attracted over 90,000 fans. On the page, fans are able to start discussions; one of the recent discussions, “FAVOURITE SONGS”, has received upwards of 100 posts.

Perhaps you see where this is going… (more…)

In Part 3 of SP.com’s ongoing analysisof the Pumpkins fanbase, we hear directly from Billy and Jimmy, answering questions posed by the Media Militia writers.

Part 4 will be posted today with more answers from the dynamic duo, but in the meantime, one quote in particular jumped out as particularly thought-provoking.
Responding from a question from Andy regarding fans who have not embraced the current direction of the band, Billy had this to say:

All of us fall in love with a time, a smell, a particular romance. We are all guilty of attaching bigger symbolism to a moment in our lives past that continues to speak to us today. The fans who can’t move on, or dismiss our current work, have every reason to not like where we are headed. And they can continue to hold onto the songs or moments that mean something to them. But that has little to do with me as a writer, or us as the group moving forward with integrity.

(more…)

In Sunky’s article, we also find out why the comments have bizarrely and mysteriously disappeared from SmashingPumpkins.com:

Sometimes one side may be more vocal than the other, and this was the case on SP.com a few weeks ago and what lead to the removal of comments from this site. Not for the negativity alone, as all sides of a discussion need to be heard, but it was more for the blatant off-topic posting and public arguments about private matters. Within a few days everything was spiraling out of control. This activity turned away fans wanting to discuss the topics posted and the band were forced to either censor topics (which they didn’t want to do) or the only other alternative: remove all comments and commenting privileges and face the backlash. It won’t stay like this forever and I can’t say when it will be back to normal, just that it will be someday. But this has affected the interaction on this site and for this part of the Smashing Pumpkins community.

Ohhhhhh… so it’s for the greater good, then.

…