Open Letter to Michael Rosenbaum

The purpose of this letter is to inform you (if you are not aware yet) of the state of your site and your fan relationships with your friends, handlers and yourself. Let me begin by saying that we are all aware that a friend of yours conceived and manages the site. We are aware that she is doing so on a volunteer basis. We are not attacking her personally or demeaning her in any way, shape or form. We are not putting in doubt her good intentions in making sure that you have an able site and that your privacy is protected. We are aware of all of these things and with due respect we feel that it is within our rights as your fans and supporters of your career to make suggestions, to have opinions and to expect more from your site (including the board) and even yourself. We also don't mean to hurt you or attack you personally. We don't mean to disparage you or to endanger your livelihood. We believe that as your fans (and ex-fans) we have the right to express ourselves in the strongest way possible so hopefully serious and long lasting changes can be made that is both palatable and peaceful for you and us.

We heard sir that recently your friend and administrator of the site took our concerns, questions, opinions and suggestions to heart. That is to say, that she took them as a personal attack on her person and her abilities. It seems that her feelings were severely hurt. If she feels this way then we suggest that she is not adequate to perform administrative duties for an official site. Webmasters and web-mistresses of official sites cannot afford to take suggestions and opinions personally, especially since most of us conveyed our opinions with respect. Her reactions were completely unprofessional and unnecessary. Her ways sir are a bad reflection on you. Yours is the name attached to the site, you are the primordial reason people go there and her behavior as well as the behavior of some of the moderators of your board are making you look callous and arrogant. Perhaps her connection to you is causing her to see things in very unprofessional ways. More than anything else your site is a business and as any business, it must be run with true professionalism and decorum. It must run with the idea that the client needs to be served and that in the end it is not to be taken personally if the client voices displeasure at something. If the client is displeased sir the client will take his or her business elsewhere. Considering that this site is about you, fans have options to go elsewhere for information on you or just forget about you entirely. We are suggesting sir that she will be removed from her duties if they are too daunting for her to handle in a professional manner. There are ways to deal with us without making us look like radical dissenters and blasphemers. We believe that this whole situation is about power and the desire to control us which we find quite distasteful. We understand that she is not paid and that she is donating time and perhaps money in making this work, however we believe that your site can look better, be better in every way without much (considerable) effort, with good time management and with fewer expenses. Hers and the treatments of some moderators of the board of us, we believe, are unacceptable for an official site. Her friendship I am sure is important to you, but your fans should also have great importance to you.

Sir, we hope that you will agree that you need your fans. Fans are important for your career. You cannot afford to turn your back on your fans. You have fans in many states of the US and countries around the world. Many of these fans will never have the pleasure of meeting you or to go to an event where they can see you in person. The ways to connect to you is via television, magazines, published interviews, random fan sightings and the internet. It is through the internet, sir that fans SHOULD have the most "direct" connection to you and your career. It is through the internet that a collection of all these interviews, photos, events and sightings should be gathered together for the viewing and reading pleasure of your many fans. We are confident when we say to you that you are loosing fans at an alarming rate. Many people are loosing interest in you personally and also in the characters of your show and movies. The reasons for this is the apathetic attitude that is displayed by the administrators of your site, the lack of true participation on your part in your site and the lack of appreciation of your fans whenever you talk about us in your interviews. We believe that you are taking us for granted and that your friends and handlers are not advising you properly on how to deal with fan matters with more grace and appreciation.

When a fan wants to know about an actor that he or she admires they tend to go to the official site of said actor. Official sites are the portals that the fans use to find out information about the object of their fan hood (both professional and personal). Official sites are places for fans to gather and talk freely (but always with respect to the innermost private aspects) about their favorite celebrity. Most official sites offer much more than just information, they offer products/goods, services and special "treats" for fans. We, who support this letter, believe that your official site and message board are considerably lacking in every possible way. Your site (and board) pales in comparison to better detailed and managed fan sites and boards out there (that are about you). We are told sir that you yourself about five or seven years ago requested to have an official site. That this was your idea and this site www.michaelrosenbaum.com and its board were giving an official stamp of approval by you. It is because of this that we do not understand your apathy towards us who visit your site and board. If you wanted a site, why aren't you then more vocal and visible to us? Why are you hiding behind your administrators? What is the purpose of having an official site if you do not care to update us on your professional advancements/troubles/milestones on a current basis? We want to hear from you periodically, for an official site it is not that hard or unreasonable of a request.

Please allow us time to put to you why we are so keen on this issue. The first point that we want to put across to you is the issue of your administrator(s) and moderator(s) yearly request for "donations" for the maintenance of the board and main site. Now I must add that we have heard differing points on this. Sometimes we hear that the main site AND board are included in this yearly request for donations and other times we hear that the donations are for the board alone. With such conflicting stories we don't know what the truth is anymore. In any case, we have been lead to believe that the board is part of the official site so regardless we are asked to donate money to the official site (and thereafter here we mean to include the message board). These yearly requests for money for the operational fees of the site come with a caveat each and every year: that we are to pay or else the board will be taking away just to leave the main page which has photos, interviews, etc. but that are old and the look of the site is severely bleak. Those fans that know the importance of the board in maintaining updates on you, your projects and life acquiesce to these requests each year. This year we have found to have had enough. We believe that these donation requests are rude, unprofessional and uncaring to fans. Let us tell you why.

First of all sir it is extremely rare for truly official sites to asks members (posters, viewers) to donate money for the yearly operational fees. Official sites offer so much for fans and occasional visitors. The parts were moderate to most ardent fans are asked to pay are exclusive and deservingly so. The reason is because when fans pay in they get much more access to the object of their fan-hood, they get treats and goodies that are truly appreciated and they are able to learn news and stories first. They get first hand opportunities to meet the celebrity (through contests, etc.) and they are provided with the ability to go to their events and be treated with special care. Access and great things are available to those who pay. The money that they pay can be used for operational fees, but they get so much in return that for any fan that can afford it, it is worth it. The free and accessible parts of an official site tend to be very giving and accessible. Updates, news, videos, recordings, free newsletters, games and other things are not rare and even small notes from the artist/actor/celebrity are available (even if written by someone else). All of these things are to be expected from official sites. We don't mean to offend you sir but bigger and busier celebrities (because of professional and/or personal duties) than you are able to do this either themselves or through others. I have seen this happen also in celebrities that have less hefty professional and/or personal duties than you. Don't mean to sound mean but the lack of your participation makes you look lazy and uncaring. If we are asked to "donate" our money to the operational fees of your official site then it is not without reason that we believe that we should be given much more than it is offered. We believe that either you or your handlers should run with the financial responsibilities of the site if it is to remain the way it is. If we are asked to pay then the site is either no longer official or else it is official but does not offer anything to make our donations worthwhile. There are so many ways to gather funds if you or your handlers refuse to pay for the site. You can provide us with some DVDs signed by you that we can purchase, photos, t-shirts, etc. You can create events where fans that can afford it can come to meet you and/or go to events where you will be (like premieres and parties). You are a celebrity and with it come perks and luxuries but also responsibilities. We believe that either these responsibilities are not being explained to you correctly or else you are not taking the time and energy to take them upon yourself.

I think that even if we are not asked to donate money, your site can offer a lot more to fans just to please us and keep us happy. The site can make contests, it can provide a free newsletter, it can provide truly new updates and news, it should provide some type of monthly, quarterly (and some fans will be happy with yearly) communication from you where you express some degree of acknowledgement and gratitude at our supporting you and your career. As an example of what we are trying to say, when you directed your first episode in Smallville that was a grand opportunity for you to truly connect with us. You could have made and publish a diary of your week where you had to direct and what was going through your mind, etc. Letters and notes from fans congratulating you and commiserating with you on your efforts would have been forthcoming. I can assure you that you would have made new fans and indeed keep the ones that are no longer your fans. If you have the time to go out with your friends and play games with them (as you should) and family (as you should) and to go to events, bars, restaurants, parties and meet some people (as you should) and have the time to vacation and to do other things with your life, we believe that taking a few minutes out of your schedule to remember the rest of your fans is not unreasonable. In comparison to you who have a very social lifestyle, other celebrities with less/more social lifestyles take great care in updating fans and remembering them. This point takes me directly to the yearly birthday congratulations that we are asked to write in your board. I hope sir that you noticed (if you have been giving these congratulations to begin with) that less and less fans are sending their best wishes to you each year. The reason for this is because we do not hear from you at all. We don't hear if you got them and we don't hear if you liked them or appreciated them. You do not thank us or tell us anything that makes us believe that you care. However whenever you feel that your privacy is being invaded (even if that is not the case) we hear from you loud and clear. An example of this was last year when you had your waffle event with your friends. You continue to talk about this in your interviews as a very special time in your life. When some fans voiced a desire to see this, a frenetic and red warning to stay away was plastered all over the main site and board. This was around the same time that your birthday wishes went out to you. If you were able to be told that some fans wanted to know about this private event and you were quick to announce that you didn't want any fans there, how come you couldn't take that same time to thank the fans that wrote to you for your birthday?

We are led to theorize two things Mr. Rosenbaum. If you are aware of everything and do not care about fans in any way positive that is really bad form. You are arrogant and petty and not worth our loyalty and patronization. You just want us to patronize your work and to pay for the privilege of being your fans, but you want to keep us at arms length at all times? That is indeed very arrogant and selfish of you. However if you are not aware of everything and people that should be reaching out to you with the complete information are not doing so, then sir we are here to tell you that you need to revise your entourage and make sure that in the future more responsible and caring people are at the helm in taking care of your fans. Punishing us and blackmailing us into giving the site money is not a proper way for caring for us. Intruding into our first amendment rights, editing our posts and ideas, and curtailing our rights to having opinions and giving suggestions openly are neither proper nor professional. Having us do all the work in finding information on you so it can be posted on the board and then later (maybe) posted on the main site is both laughable and sad. Dealing with disrespectful, short-tempered and difficult administrators and moderators is intolerable. Not having a true official site (with all that entails) is deplorable and not having you participate in it is unacceptable.

We believe sir that we as fans can respect your privacy and we can still be able to be more active participants in your career and life. Your fans are starting to have a really bad reputation among people. You yourself are starting to have a really bad reputation among people not your fans (anymore) and those that are still fans of yours. We are seriously dissatisfied with you at the moment and we want changes that will be positive for most parties involved. I myself could write more but I am not going to. In short sir this is what we want: We want to know by your own words and out of your own mouth what is your purpose in wanting a site. What do you want from us as fans? What type of fans do you want? Do you care about us sir? If you do then are you willing to hear us out and find ways to find a common ground where your innermost privacy can be respected but where you are able to give us a little more than we are getting right now? Are you willing sir to participate more in the site? We want changes in management and administration of your site. We want updated news and information on your site and board. We want fewer restrictions when it comes to our rights of expression and opinions. If you need for us to finance the operational fees offer us goods and other things that we can spend money on or else pay for the fees yourself (or your agency); it is a tax deductible. We would like regular communications from you (even if you have to pay someone or have someone volunteer to write it and post it for you).

We, supporters of this letter, realize of course that we do not talk for all fans, however more fans are on our side than not. Those of us that are still your fans care for you, your career and your future. We do not want to hurt you or put in a position where you have to choose between your friends and us. It is important that your friends and loved ones should be separated from dealing with fans as it gets sticky and complicated. It also gets unfair because at it seems you will side with your friends at the expense of angering and alienating fans. If you sir do not care for what we think and you do not care to give us any consideration please tells us so. You might find a serious decline in fans, but if it means that your precious privacy and your precious friends' feelings are spared then only you can determine if it is worth it. If you do care we rightfully expect some real and long lasting changes and we hope that they are fast forthcoming.

Thank you for reading this letter as well as all the others that have read this letter. We don't want to hurt your career or your hurt your livelihood. We don't want to injure your feelings nor your friends. You are a human being just like everyone else, however the position that you yourself chose to live in and to work in comes with certain responsibilities that to our estimation you are not fulfilling to the best of your abilities. We see great potential in you, do not let us down. If you have any questions or answers to us feel free to post them in any place you deem necessary. We wish you great success, but I hope you recognize that with success you need to pay your dues and need to acknowledge those that make your success possible.

Have a great day Mr. Rosenbaum

Sincerely,

Fans and Ex-fans everywhere