I received a Feedback Form last night from a Steve O'Riley who questioned why there is no reference to thewho.com (refered to as the official site from here) in the list of recommended sites as "with all the copyright involved" it can't be a good idea (presumably not to reference it).
Steve didn't leave an email address so I'm not sure whether I'm being baited or not, but, sit back and I'll tell you a story.........
When Pete's original site died and Trinifold decided that they were going to create an official site, I was thrilled. The offer to subscribe was snapped up with the availability of "A View From A Backstage Pass" as a subscriber-only offer.
As the weeks passed in the early stages and news of what they were going to host as content became slightly clearer, I decided that I would be a great idea for fans to become involved in terms of the site becoming a virtual Who Museum. As a collector, I then offered to Richard Evans and Rob Lee free access to my expansive collection of press cuttings, clippings, articles, tour programs, tickets and memorabilia as well as my database of live recordings for use in the diary section to reference set lists played on a particular night and currently incorporated in Baba O'Riley's Bootleg Page.
I offered to do all of the scanning necessary and to organise the scans by publication date and into folders easily accessible to their web team for ease of uploading on to the site along with a spreadsheet inventory of what was in their hands. I even offered to hand-deliver all of my folders, files and scrapbooks to them for their team to do all of this themselves if they so wished.
I had no response from Mr. Lee but did receive a call from Richard who was very encouraging to the extent that I was told to expect a call from him with regards to dates in terms of how we moved on and made all of this happen.
I never got the call.
I had also been reasonably active inside their Forums and was soon after this episode, banned from their for simply disagreeing with something Mr. Lee had said. Soon after the ban and some encouraging words of support from other forumites and a lobby to have me re-instated, I received an email from Mr. Lee saying that I would be allowed back in if I was to promise not to criticise either him or Trinifold. I responded by further constructively criticising his response, his management of the Forums and their content as well as the content of the site which had not been delivered in the way the community had been promised.
Subsequent to that, at the unveiling of the English Heritage Blue Plaque commemorating Keith outside The Marquee on Wardour Street, London, I was involved in a great conversation with my wife and Kit Moon when, from the starboard side, Mr. Lee appeared, stood right in front of me facing Mrs. Moon and told her that she ought to be careful of talking to strange fans.
As far as the official site goes with regard to www.thewhointhestudio.com, the site simply doesn't exist - it offers and has offered nothing more than a t-shirt selling service at exorbitant prices. The content of the site is minimal in terms of what they have access to from fans and the band's own archives. What is there is poorly presented (note specific reference to the liner notes which are a simple cut and paste job). As far as Rob Lee goes, he was an individual who appeared to feel threatened by anyone that came to him with an offer of help and assistance at no cost; perhaps he was wary of his position at the top and being replaced; I don't know. But he seemed happy building his little empire of people who always said yes in the hope that they would get something out of it..........
The 50th anniversary of the band only starts with the anniversary of the release of "I Can't Explain" eh? So Keith joining in April 1964 and the band reverting back to The Who as it's monicker meant nothing then........ Hmm.....distortion of events - a Coalition Government kind of thing to do that, isn't it?
The site should be / could be so much more given the offers of assistance they have had from other fans all around the world.
As for their treatment of Matt Kent and his Naked Eye site concept, that ought to kind of give you an idea of how they treat people who have only EVER had the interest of the band and its history at heart.
As for this site, it's simply an information service. Unless Trinifold approaches me and gives me the go-ahead to make material available for download - and I have approached them to do this but, again, have been met with complete silence - the site exists as it is.
Steve didn't leave an email address so I'm not sure whether I'm being baited or not, but, sit back and I'll tell you a story.........
When Pete's original site died and Trinifold decided that they were going to create an official site, I was thrilled. The offer to subscribe was snapped up with the availability of "A View From A Backstage Pass" as a subscriber-only offer.
As the weeks passed in the early stages and news of what they were going to host as content became slightly clearer, I decided that I would be a great idea for fans to become involved in terms of the site becoming a virtual Who Museum. As a collector, I then offered to Richard Evans and Rob Lee free access to my expansive collection of press cuttings, clippings, articles, tour programs, tickets and memorabilia as well as my database of live recordings for use in the diary section to reference set lists played on a particular night and currently incorporated in Baba O'Riley's Bootleg Page.
I offered to do all of the scanning necessary and to organise the scans by publication date and into folders easily accessible to their web team for ease of uploading on to the site along with a spreadsheet inventory of what was in their hands. I even offered to hand-deliver all of my folders, files and scrapbooks to them for their team to do all of this themselves if they so wished.
I had no response from Mr. Lee but did receive a call from Richard who was very encouraging to the extent that I was told to expect a call from him with regards to dates in terms of how we moved on and made all of this happen.
I never got the call.
I had also been reasonably active inside their Forums and was soon after this episode, banned from their for simply disagreeing with something Mr. Lee had said. Soon after the ban and some encouraging words of support from other forumites and a lobby to have me re-instated, I received an email from Mr. Lee saying that I would be allowed back in if I was to promise not to criticise either him or Trinifold. I responded by further constructively criticising his response, his management of the Forums and their content as well as the content of the site which had not been delivered in the way the community had been promised.
Subsequent to that, at the unveiling of the English Heritage Blue Plaque commemorating Keith outside The Marquee on Wardour Street, London, I was involved in a great conversation with my wife and Kit Moon when, from the starboard side, Mr. Lee appeared, stood right in front of me facing Mrs. Moon and told her that she ought to be careful of talking to strange fans.
As far as the official site goes with regard to www.thewhointhestudio.com, the site simply doesn't exist - it offers and has offered nothing more than a t-shirt selling service at exorbitant prices. The content of the site is minimal in terms of what they have access to from fans and the band's own archives. What is there is poorly presented (note specific reference to the liner notes which are a simple cut and paste job). As far as Rob Lee goes, he was an individual who appeared to feel threatened by anyone that came to him with an offer of help and assistance at no cost; perhaps he was wary of his position at the top and being replaced; I don't know. But he seemed happy building his little empire of people who always said yes in the hope that they would get something out of it..........
The 50th anniversary of the band only starts with the anniversary of the release of "I Can't Explain" eh? So Keith joining in April 1964 and the band reverting back to The Who as it's monicker meant nothing then........ Hmm.....distortion of events - a Coalition Government kind of thing to do that, isn't it?
The site should be / could be so much more given the offers of assistance they have had from other fans all around the world.
As for their treatment of Matt Kent and his Naked Eye site concept, that ought to kind of give you an idea of how they treat people who have only EVER had the interest of the band and its history at heart.
As for this site, it's simply an information service. Unless Trinifold approaches me and gives me the go-ahead to make material available for download - and I have approached them to do this but, again, have been met with complete silence - the site exists as it is.