MC Community: Where is it going?

[frogboy4]

I do know for a fact that Muppet Central's staff is made up of people from all walks of life. I've always been out and open. I mention my partner quite often and have even shared the handmade Valentine I made for him last year.

I will say that some of the religious threads have put me off a bit, but they have their own section so I don't have a problem with them. However some overzealous members posted unsolicited religious viewpoints against gay people in the thread about the Henson Company’s Tinseltown program on Logo. That I do have a problem with and actually stated that clearly.

We don't have political threads (wow, this would be a different place if we did) so I can see how some members would wonder why there are religious ones here. Still, as long as members aren't clobbering me with their spiritual views on non-religious threads I have no problem. The Muppets have always found a spiritual balance so I think Muppet Central can have that too.

Back to the topic of contribution:

I understand why Muppet Central cannot sell logo-bearing items at Café Press, but how about a big muppety "M" with eyeballs on it and "Central" underneath it? How about Muppet and Muppet Central - "inspired" items that do not break copyright infringement? This could be an area to explore, maybe not. Is this why we have no MC e-cards anymore? I still like the idea of having our own members creating some cards that we can put up on that page. Maybe we can have a contest and chose the best ones? I really like that idea. We could hold a small contest every season and build up each area every year! I really think we need to bring this area back and what better way to do it?

 

[Teheheman]

I'm sure 2 or 3 people have heard me say this and are probably tired of me saying it but I have to repeat it til people start to get along on here and peace is finally not just an idea but a reality. LOVE EVERYBODY! I can NOT stress that enough, we need to love our fellow man, woman, child, or otherwise, and remember that we are here for a reason. Our love of the Muppets. I say that we contact Disney and try to make this the official forum of the Muppets or the official forum of the Jim Henson Company. I think that would be kinda cool. That would bring more people in, and it would also give us access to use the copyrights of the Muppets among other things. The possibilities are endless. But I do like frogboy's idea of having contest to design stuff for the website like cards or something, maybe the best fan fiction as decided by us here. The winner would get something cool like a DVD of the Muppet Show or Fraggle Rock or something. The Muppets are magical, they bring people on here from all walks of life. They didn't discriminate. It didn't matter if you were a frog, or a pig, or a whatever, they were friends and so are we. We're all friends here. Whether you're black, white, mixed, asian. Whether you're catholic, christian, non-believer. Whether you're a Republican, Democrat, independent. Whether you're straight, gay, bi, tri, quad, whatever you are, we'll accept you as you are just like the Muppets accepted each other. Jim had a dream that the Muppets will bring people together, and I say that the dream has come true. Now what do you say we all just get along, can I get an AMEN? LOVE EVERYBODY

Daniel

 

[MuppetsRule]

All right...jumping into this thread (but hoping I don't gain enemies with it.) I don't think the religious threads belong here.Yes there are people here that believe in God. But there are others who don't. We need to respect those people.So if the religious threads could be cut down,I for one,would appreciate it.
Also,there are some people who post for the sake of posting. As Drew Carey on Whose Line Is It Anyway says,"The points don't matter." If you post a couple sentences just to get to Senior status or whatever,I don't call that fair!
stepping off my soapbox

I don't want to get into a discussion about religion here but I disagree. It is always somebody's right not to read the thread. If people don't believe in God there is nothing to make them read the thread. Simply ignore it. There are threads here all the time about subjects I have no interest in. I simply skip them. Would you say that people are disrespecting me because they start a thread on a subject I don't have an interest in? No. So why should the subject of religion be any different?

 

[TogetherAgain]

I'll admit, I have been involved muffining threads, (usally when other people have already started) but I see it as joking around, as long as someone gets back on topic, you know.

That is the sort of thing that's part of what makes Muppet Central, Muppet Central. If a thread is dead or close to it, there's never been much of an issue before about taking that as an opportunity to start throwing penguins and muffins and bagels and confetti and water balloons and hijacking buses, kidnapping various people, tying some people up and throwing them in closets, waving banners, marching around with random pitchforks and broomsticks for no apparent reason, firing cannons, singing, shouting, dancing, playing games, spinning around, pinning tails on donkies, and eating tires to the tune of Flight of the Bumblebee with boatloads of ziffels for all! ...What was I saying? Oh right! Muffining!

That's... how I've always known MC to be. Yes, if the thread is not dead, the muffining should have its limits... Maybe just take the EM bus once around the block (or the parking lot) instead of taking a cross-country road trip. And I'm all for making people feel welcome here-- why wouldn't I be?-- but we cannot forget that nearly boundless silliness is part of who we are as Muppet Central. When I posted here more often (and in more areas of the forum) I was in a habit of saying "in all seriousness Muppetly possible," because being entirely serious on this forum was practically a foreign concept. There is a reason that Prawnie mentioned the tuna fish in the first post of this thread, and that I followed with a fourna fish.

Anyway, I like the idea of Muppet Central inspired merchandise, if we can't use the word "Muppet." I would totally wear, for example, a t-shirt that said "MC" with a muffin on it. (See? See? It's part of who we are!) Or a penguin, or... I suppose pictures of actual Muppets wouldn't work, for the same copyright issues as the word "Muppet"... But we have enough jokes with muffins and bagels and punch and-- heck, we could probably get away with some keys labeled "EM bus," for all the times we've hijacked it...

 

[Colbynfriends]

Dan: Like wwfpooh said, that was inspiring. I'll third that, since pooh alredy pretty much seconded it.

Lisa (TogetherAgian, that's your name right, sorry if I got it wrong.): I'm glad you agree. I'm still new, and figuring out what this site is all about.

Also on a related note, I also support MC merchendice. I would by that (or try to atleast) and I could show off my "Muppitude" with pride.

 

[TogetherAgain]

We have had an animated muffin before. Muffin Man. His sidekick was a giant Z called The Ziffler. It seems to be lost now... But don't worry. I have a feeling we'll be seeing him again soon...

 

[theprawncracker]

Look! It's a bird! It's a plane!

...No, it's just some stupid muffin.

 

[anythingmuppet]

His sidekick was a giant Z called The Ziffler. It seems to be lost now... But don't worry. I have a feeling we'll be seeing him again soon...

I remember that Ziffler guy! I think I drew him!


Yep. I did.

Good ol' days, lol...

But yeah, may the spirit of MC live on forever!

 

[Vic Romano]

I'm gonna' play a bit of a devil's advocate here and try and keep my post short.

MC is different every year, there's no real "the way it used to be" because it's always changing, always getting new members. Honestly I'd say it's a better place today. We have great new additions that aren't exactly MC but definitely co-exist with MC like The Muppet News Flash and The Muppet Cast.

There always has been and always will be drama and post-padders and people who annoy the crap out of us, but it's the internet; they'll never go away and honestly, if they bother you that much, ignore them.

Finally, I personally am thrilled there's disagreement amongst fans. I've always supported healthy debate and it's refreshing to see people defend or offend current projects. Arguments here are generally soft, we just tend to get over passionate as fans, but once again, I'm happy about that. All of you know how special you are to me, some of you even know very personal secrets about me, but I have to be honest, and please don't get upset here, but I think threads like this may contribute to the "downer feeling" you may be feeling. "Rallying the troops" and sharing the love is one thing and greatly admired and appreciated, but I think we can all grow together a bit better in other ways then telling us and the mods what's wrong instead of what's great and fun.

 

[redBoobergurl]

I just wanted to chime in that I agree with Kathy on the posting for the sake of posting - I just didn't know how to say it. I have noticed alot of posts with four words or fewer in them and honestly, there's no reason for that.

Daniel is right too - love everyone, I agree.

And Dave is also right in that you can't recreate something so "the way it used to be" may not ever be the same, but I still believe things can only get better.

Ok, I really can think for myself, honest, I just felt those were valid points brought up by folks I respect a great deal so I really wanted to second the opinions!

Oh and Muppet Central Inspired merchandise would be awesome. Kind of the inside joke that only the cool kids would understand!