I was talking about the "supermod", who gave carte blanche to that kid who posted constantly, annoying pretty much the entire board.

Lets see.. I think it was around 1998. Summer-ish? It was before I left Connecticut and that was June 1998, So before that.

Anyhow, the way I remember it was that there were two "Factions" The Stevie Poopin', Pro-PeterGreen crowd, and the Stevie lovers. It was not that the ANti Stevie were all that Anti or the Pro were all that Pro. It was like it is now. One would and could say mean things like Discuss her alleged Abortions and how Street Angel sucked and the other would have none of it. Same story as now. Same musical, different cast.

The Anti-Stevies got to the point they were being nasty to some of the Stevie people. There were Clicks for sure. This was at the same time we were mailing Dubbed cassettes (remember those!?) between members for access to Bootlegs before MP3. Im not sure who started it, but the meanness and nastiness resulted in some Bans and some people getting upset. So one of the the members created another BBS (Ebullition Board System) identical to the Ledge at the time. Their Mascot was a Troll doll, and the name was Black Ledge. (Back in those days each Ledge had its own color scheme)


Someone who was a "spy" in the Black Ledge group gave the secret link to someone on the regular Ledge and posted it on the Main Ledge So everyone could read all the mean things being said. The Black Ledge was less an "alternate" ledge for discussion about Fleetwood Mac and was more a place to dig and poo on people on the Regular Ledge. I took screen shots of some of it before it was suddenly taken down when the Black Ledge owner realized people had found it. The things being said were making fun of people Body, Weight, Face, Spelling, there were "impersonations" with names similar to the Ledge user names and lots of meanness. It was BAD. I was 18 at the time, the Internet was "New" to a lot of us, and this was before CyberBullying was a "Thing" in the news. But it was cyberbullying. What was said really hurt a few people.

Back on the Main Ledge the owner Shut it down a while, I think a couple weeks, and the Black Ledge was taken down, moved or whatever when they realized they had a Spy playing both sides.

It was a different time for me for sure. I was a loner in High School and moved a lot, The Ledge and the Talk to Me Chat Room was a hangout and past time for me. It was really ALL I had for a while. That incident changed me and my outlook on life. I took it WAY too seriously, and learned that the Internet is NOT real life, and that the Anonymous nature of it all is dangerous. People say things they would not say in real life. Same holds true today, and perhaps even more so. Thing is there was NO excuse for what went down and the way the Black Ledge people behaved. ZERO excuse.

Happily, I the person who I think was more "hurt" found happiness and love and got a real life, meeting someone from the Ledge, sharing their common love for Stevie and Fleetwood Mac, and got married. Last I heard they had kids and farm and dont come here much, if at all. The other girl, who I had a crush on, left around 1998-99 and I lost track of completely.

A few years later, around 2002? I think. There was another big Blow up, some of the same people were involved. I think that after that I just stopped posting for many years, unless it was a big year. But I also went to College, found Sports, and friends, and didn't need to use The Internet as a crutch for not having a life.

Anyhow. This place does go in Cycles. It has for 20 years. Keeping it up and running is important though. There is a community here, and the historical aspect of searching for threads and Info help new fans discover things. We didnt have MP3s back then, and now if you want to know about the 2001 "My Heart", for example", you can find it here on the Ledge and learn about it, or "Call on me For Magic". If not for the Ledge we wouldnt know about those songs existence at all.

I miss the old chat room on here. It was packed on a nightly basis in 2001 and 2002.

That was the second interation of the chat. The original was very archaic by internet standards. It crashed ALL the time. It was slow. And the odd thing about it was you could create any name you wanted when you connected. This meant that people would sometimes spoof names. Someone, I forget her name, would log in as Stevie and someone would log in as Stevie’s old assistant. And they would have conversations as those “characters”. Someone also pretended to be Barbara Nicks (Stevie’s Mom). I totally bought it. I was so dumb. As most 17 year olds are... I mean... kids that age are eating Tide Pods now.

I think that part of the reason that the exodus of 2007 happened is that people were getting permanently banned for having one strike even if they had gotten the strike years before then. The strikes were put in place after the Arizona Ranger wars of 2001/2002 then you needed 3 to be permanently banned .When that rule was suddenly changed and people were retroactively banned others also left in sympathy with them.

Wow, I had forgotten about a lot of that history. I didn't start posting here until around 2003-ish, so I missed the "Black Ledge" and the Arizona Ranger saga. I did briefly post on Seven Wonders, but I found the atmosphere childish and not worth my time (people trying to get karma points or some sh*t). As far as the other mass exodus from the Ledge, I was only vaguely aware of what was going on. A bunch of people left, I was busy doing other things, etc. I will never post as much as I did around 2004-2006, but I can't bring myself to leave totally. Old habits and all that.

Mass exodus aside, none of them were are detrimental as the MONTH along inability to even access the pages themselves. This has gone on months. The casual browser of the site won’t wait around the minutes it takes just to check out a daily blurb or news story. Ain’t gonna happen. Look at how there are 100+ “guests” on the site NOW. That means people use this site and don’t post. They are likely downloading MP3s or learning about concerts or looking at the pictures fans share. That’s not gonna happen if The Ledge is inaccessible. I too missed the drama in 2007 because I had become a lurker after I “grew up” and stopping giving a Poop about what people say about me. I post my opinions and the. Do t reply to attacks on that opinion. If people don’t like what I think then Who cares. What annoys me is when people automatically HATE everything Stevie does after 1983 because she’s not young and fit and sounds like she did in 1983. That’s just dumb. If you don’t like her why call yourself a fan! LOL.

I remember back in 2005 you threatened me with a strike. It was the only time that had ever happened here, and I got so upset! I was sure I was on the road to being banned! LOL! I now realize how I overreacted at the time. Overall, you were a good mod.

I lurked during the time of The Black Ledge. I was scared to join a forum/message board back then. Everyone seemed to know so much more than I did. All the drama made me even more frightened of joining. I only joined the Ledge to ask a question about Stevie's TISL tour... but then I kept posting.

I had a forum for a few years myself at my site. It was mostly for people who liked both Stevie and Lindsey, liked talking about their interactions as as couple, and got excoriated for that on the Ledge. We did branch out, though, talking about their solo careers and the Mac. It was pretty active for a couple years, from about 2002-2004. However, after the SYW tour ended, things died down. I closed it about ten years ago after I stopped updating regularly.

Seven Wonders.... yeah. I remember that.... the whole debacle with hiring Stevie really hurt that site, too, if I recall correctly.

I don't post regularly on here anymore simply because I'm older now and I have less time. Back in 1998, I was still in college, and I had just discovered the Mac. Now, I'm a full-time college professor teaching an overload. Things change. ****Holy crap, typing that made me feel old.****

I was still so mad Christine left that I didn't know any of this! :laugh:

That Arizona Ranger guy, while I've heard tons of crazy things about him, he used to be on Bob Welch's message board, and seemed relatively sane...there, at least. (unless maybe he was a huge Bob fan, OR possibly somebody else calling themselves AR).

Dear Ledgie(TAG) who sent me a PM, I just threw one away(of 40 allowed - what is this, 1995?)(all that I have are cherished? memories here, and I hate to delete them).

Please send it again.

Well thank you Nancy. :xoxo: I have forgotten about so much of this stuff. It's funny to revisit. I was okay unless I was talking about politics, playing devil's advocate or straight up trolling. :laugh: And then there were times where I was just stupid so there's that. :shrug: :laugh:

I think Arizona Ranger did show back up here when you were a regular under another name. I think he might have been the same guy that was trying to sell "Stevie's underwear" on ebay for a while. :shocked::shocked:

The Ledge is actually a perfect reflection of Fleetwood Mac itself. We fight, we complain, members leave and start their own thing, but it's ultimately the music (The Chain, if you will) that keeps us all together and coming back for more. :D

Arizona put in another appearance after having been banned under the old 3 strike rule using the silly name "eaglesmac". until he was discovered and booted again. He has to be one of the top 3 worst Fleetwood Mac trolls in the history of the internet .

Something that I came to understand a long time ago is that in her prime Stevie Nicks was the most charismatic American rock star since Jim Morrison ..IMO there is no way that she could have sustained that level of performance into middle age and beyond and neither could Morrison had he survived. Once I accepted that I was able to still get a lot of enjoyment out of her later work ad performances.

Excellent analogy of us!!

I've only ever posted here under this name. I did have another handle on Nancy's board.

The one major troll I remember was Gypsy Rose or something like that. That was wild. :laugh: Oh, and the one who went by 1/2 insane.

That's very insightful, I had never really considered this but I agree with you!
Ricoh V

Dear lort... When we left in 2007, someone said(about someone else), "why does she have to be such a sandy c**t?" And I thought that was about the funniest name I'd ever heard(paints quite the visual in your mind, too). Soooo, my name on one of those replacement boards was Sandy C**t(with actual letters, not *s, because ANYTHING went on those boards).:wavey:

I love this group and this board.

I don't mind when people disagree with me. I love everyone's passion for Fleetwood Mac. Even the posters that get bent about certain subjects. It's what makes the board so great.

No, no. I butchered that sentence. What I meant to say was Arizona Ranger was posting under another name while you were a regular here. :sorry: And as BombaySapphire3 said above he was discovered and booted once again. And yes I remember RoseGypsy who I think was actually dissention and 1/2 insane. Oh my that was some heady stuff. :lol::lol::lol:

That's funny. :lol:

I have the sense of humor of a 12 year old boy.:o

Ahhh, yes . . . I think I do remember the Black Ledge.

Ahhhh, yes . . . I think it's coming back to me.

The statute of limitations is up. It was Carrie, right?

She was a pistol — I liked her.

Until I found out that she and her cohorts were making fun of me in private. :mad::lol:

I would imagine that we're seriously off topic by now.

I liked her too. A pistol she was.
Wish she was still here. She got
the jokes.

She.... might..... have been behind most of the Ledge implosions. Directing. Producing. Puppeteering.

I have one good friend that is still good friends with her, so I'm trying to not outright call her what she is... Okay, I will. An evil genius. A complete instigator. A master manipulator.

And it was all fun and games until it felt like we were Nazis terrorizing the world. And then it was overload. It was a HUGE relief when she was finally banned from the Ledge.

I must have missed something. From what I
remember, we joked back and forth. And more
than once she had my back - so to speak.

I must have been taking a break when she was
banned. As I don't remember it happening.

What was she banned for?

She was funny, and very witty, BUT, she was also the one PMing us, getting us to put horse's asses as our signature pics, etc... She loved to stir the pot, and stir the pot from a hidden place. She also started the "other boards".

To John, I don't really remember WHY she was banned, other than it was pretty common knowledge that she was an instigator, and always toed the line of not getting banned. I think things got really stressful here one too many times, and Michele got her banned??? I'm not certain on that, but I THINK that's how it went down. Don't quote me. I don't think she ever got all three strikes, but I think her cover as master manipulator was blown, and it was time to just show her the door.

All that said, I LOVED what the Ledge used to be. circa 2006/7. It was kind of like FB, in that we were here all the time. But to me, the death of THAT Ledge all lies on the "supermod" of the time, Johnny Stew. That kid that posted here all day long, starting thread after thread on the same topic....everyone bitching about it.....no one could stand him.....and Johnny Stew told us all, "he can do whatever he wants. Complain about him, and you'll be given strikes". The situation would have taken care of itself eventually, but giving that kid carte blanche to annoy the F out of us for months on end, caused the other boards to start, and ended was what was(to me) the glory days of The Ledge.

I remember Carrie.. she was nice from what I remember.

Don't remember much about the fights and such.

I'm not known for my fantastic memory, so I'm sure somebody knows the deets of what actually happened(not saying my story is inaccurate, it's just how ~I~ remember it).

One of the second lessons I learned about The Internet was that people could be false and crafty and say one thing to you in a Chat,say something completely different to someone else and watch and get satisfaction from seeing drama and chaos unfold. They also can create multiple screen names and log in from two machines at once in their home and carry on conversations posing as two different people. No learned all this the hard way. That’s why I only come here for news, links, discussion and NEVER for friends or to get to know anyone beyond a casual reply to a thread about FM. I’ve been coming here LITERALLY half my life. Actually... MORE!? Holy crap.

It's good to see you back for a bit. And I appreciate your effort in improving the board. You did good!!

Im only one person. (one personality from me is enough!!).

I get yelled at mostly for having strong opinions about Stevie's opinions. But, at least I get to voice them here. I've been angry w/ Lindsey, too. But, he really seems to have grown a lot over the last decade.

That's complete BS - I certainly could "stand" him. I think Johnny Stew is a great guy. It's impossible to be a moderator without pissing people off (I know that from experience), but he did his best, and he wasn't the completely unfair egomaniac you're portraying him to be. I miss him around here.

Please, let's not turn this thread into a bash fest.

I forgot about Johnny Stew. That's a blast from the past.

I miss ChiliD, SteveMac... I think Shakin'up is coming back... let's hope..

i don't miss Johnny Stew. from what i've heard i was lucky he was not super-powerful by the time i joined TL, but he was still a mod and definitely not a a very nice guy towards me.

and yeah, hope ChiliD, SteveMac and Shakin'up come back!

It's shackin'up, guys - like the line from GYOW. Man, he has been away too long if you can't remember that!

ETA: Unless you're talking about some other guy I'm not familiar with. If so, my apologies to Shakin'up, whoever you may be.

you're right - and we are a bit dyslexic! :laugh: ;)