271 replies to this topic

[bri1039]

Thoughts? What do you like? Dislike? How could it be better?

[Ingrid]

It needs a better design. Please. It looks so amateurish it's ridiculous!

Spoiler

Yes, I'm shallow and only care about the looks of things.

I do like how there's been more activity on there lately, though.

[spark in the night]

Idiot Club is poop

Literally first thing that came to my mind

I regret nothing

[Harry Potter.]

Mike Dirnt should finally answer his questions. Apart from that I wish the users on the forums were more active. And apart from that I guess I kind of like it.

[Ritz]

Its expensive for me, about thousand bucks Indian currency and as far as I have seen and heard, its not worth it. The interface and stuff is bad.

[kelly42fox]

Well, I think it's hilarious that they changed the Green Day logo on the news page to match the new album font, but they didn't change the link graphics. So there are bits of the old logo in the link graphics. I agree with Ingrid. It needs a design update.

They have been doing better with activity lately. For a while the whole thing was so terrible, I never went there.
That being said, I do wish we'd get more exclusives. Everything seems to get posted on GD.com a couple hours after it's posted on IC. And it would be nice if the IC presales were ACTUALLY presales. I'm referring to AI tickets. The 'presales' went up sometimes MONTHS after the tickets actually went on sale.

[Marius Pontmercy]

I can't even see it anymore because I need to renew. I like presales though. AI presales were crap, but the tour presales were pretty good.

[Sarcasm]

dislike: the fact that someone can pay and get news faster and listen to shit "poor" fans can't. I can't ever afford to just spend 20$ on a subscription, yet I'm here and on GDA daily. I think that many members of the club view themselves as bigger fans.

[elisa]

this reminds me my account expired months ago.
this is how fundamental the idiot club has been in my life.

[Milla]

Can't really complain because I won 'early entrance' in 2010. I need to renew before they start touring again...

[Lindsay]

Needs moar nudies.

I just signed up recently, not a fan of how the design looks, seems really outdated. Maybe that's because I'm comparing it to GDA/GDC, but yeah.

[Holly]

I hate it. I originally subscribed for the early entry competitions in 2010, then I resubscribed last week with all the news that's coming out about the new albums. I'm hoping there will be presales and actual decent competitions with the next tour else it's gonna be $30 poorly spent. The gift for renewing was some postcards? Yet I don't think you're given the option to pay $10 less and not have them.
I've tried going onto the forum but it just frustrates me, the design seems really amature and unprofessional, as it does on the whole of the idiot club for that matter. Right now they have four users online, here we've got one hundred and forty seven. The people and topics on there annoy me, I don't know whether that's heightened by the horrid Courier New(?) font, but I just can't stand to be on there.

This place just makes all of the online official Green Day stuff seem a bit of a joke. GDA/GDC has an amazing design, amazing people, virtually always gets the news first with well written, interesting articles and would never spell Billie's name 'Billy'..

[Starred Thoughts]

I've never been a member, because the only benefit I can think of is presales. Other than that if they post breaking news I know that GDA will post the info not too long afterwards anyway

[Milla]

The gift for renewing was some postcards?

Really? I think we got a t-shirt last year (or was it in '10?). I guess I won't renew until they announce a European tour, I don't have much use for postcards.

[gmcloughlin]

I think its a bit expensive, especially for non US members And I hate the fact that most of the competitions are US only
But I think its worth it for the exclusives. I can't wait for Mike's answers

[Advertising]

[Holly]

Really? I think we got a t-shirt last year (or was it in '10?). I guess I won't renew until they announce a European tour, I don't have much use for postcards.

Yeah, I thought I'd be getting a Tshirt but apparently not

[Maria Gloria]

To be honest my last renewal was a waste of money. I paid $20 to sit and watch contests I couldn't enter. That was excused by a Q&A I didn't care about and a Q&A that never happened. I don't even bother with the forum. Seeing the trailers and stuff early was very cool, but not worth $20.

Sure maybe it'll be worth it when the tour comes around, but it should be worth it all the time. If the contests are going to continue that way then it should be made much clearer when you sign up. "But we're working on it" isn't a good enough excuse, until people get what they pay for then it shouldn't be advertised otherwise.

And yeah, the design is a bit hard on the eyes.

[Karen.]

The design needs to come into the 21st century.

The postcards were ridiculous - you should have had the option not to order them.

It really annoys me the way it logs you out after a short period, and the fact that you have to log into the forum separately. It needs a "remember me" button.

It is very difficult to use on your phone - mobile version?

More competitions or something else worthwhile for non US people. The European Union is a large area with common legislation under which you must be able to run competitions.

My favourite thing was the front row AI tickets.

[CristhyneS]

I was member then since 2005, my last renewal expired a bit more than a year ago (I haven't rened because of sienseless Venezuelan currency exchage policies, but I intend to renew on December).

What I disliked: there were a whole bunch of contests but practically all of them were just for US members (seriously, if everyone's paying $20 to be a member, it can't afford to ship something overseas every once in a little while?), this is what upset me the most. But also, lack of activity, and on the matter of the presales, I remember the presale for the concert in Venezuela was announced barely a few hours before it started and would last only for 24 hours or something, giving me (and any other Venezulan member that might have been there at the time) basically no time to prepare for it (aka get the money). Oh, and also, there were some Q&A that were supposed to happen, member submitted their questions, but the answers never came up. And right now, it's been a while since the Q&A with Mike was announced, and as far as I know no answers have been posted yet, so I fear the same thing might happen again. Also, the Q&A were better at the beginning, back in 2005 or 2006? when they were monthly (more or less) and in video format.

What I liked: The people there, I made really awesome friends that I still keep in touch with, and the presales for concerts (the presales for the US dates worked amazingly well, as far as I can remember).

[bri1039]

Love the input thank you

[trufan1]

dislike: the fact that someone can pay and get news faster and listen to shit "poor" fans can't. I can't ever afford to just spend 20$ on a subscription, yet I'm here and on GDA daily. I think that many members of the club view themselves as bigger fans.

True that. They got news about Uno and Dos first and when they tried to post about it here the topics got deleted because "we" had to wait. So paying 20 dollars every year makes them "bigger" fans than me? LMAO

[Ballad]

I have never bothered with Idiot Club and I am glad after reading through this thread. I'm not American and I can't really see GD live so there seems to be no point in IC unless I feel like paying money to be frustrated.

[Lúthien Tinúviel]

I have never bothered with Idiot Club and I am glad after reading through this thread. I'm not American and I can't really see GD live so there seems to be no point in IC unless I feel like paying money to be frustrated.

Why can't you go see 'em live?

[Ballad]

Why can't you go see 'em live? http://www.greendaycommunity.org/public/...

They would never play around where I live and I do not have the funds and means to travel and see them, at least not for a few years.

[momoluvGD]

I like the Idiot Club...I do think they need a new update but I still like it!

[netty]

True that. They got news about Uno and Dos first and when they tried to post about it here the topics got deleted because "we" had to wait. So paying 20 dollars every year makes them "bigger" fans than me? LMAO

that doesn`t make members "bigger" fans. its just that members pay for exclusives and having news early (which hasn`t happened that often) is part of the deal. I can understand the urge to share news but one of the most often stated comments about exclusives is that they aren`t exclusive for long. and that`s down to members who want to be the first to share the news. we can`t stop people doing that.

I like the Idiot Club...I do think they need a new update but I still like it!

thanks for that! it is nice to see the occasional comment in support for the IC...for all its problems

[momoluvGD]

I have a feeling that the IC will get better soon.

[JorickF]

I just don't understand why a band like Green Day would charge $20/year so that people can be part of their official fan club. That just feels wrong in so many ways.

[Ritz]

There is a pakistani band I used to follow. They had a big fanbase and used forums to connect with their fans. It was free. Compared to GD they are small time. If they can afford a free forum then why can't GD? Its all commercialisation.

[Andres]

Alright Brian, since you asked!

Signup / Price
$20 a year isn't a lot of money for a service, but the Idiot Club falls short as that service. Most people pay that right now "just in case" something comes out. That means at this point you guys are only reaching the fans who have $20 to throwaway in the off chance they get something. You guys should be doing more and making more of a community, you can do that and make it worth $20. Then you guys will get more members. I think two major changes need to happen to the price:
1) If contests will remain US only (which I understand they may because of legal issues), then international fans should be offered a lower price. It's not really fair to them that they can't participate in these contests (which have so far been a big part of joining) yet pay the same price.
2) Make it optional to receive the yearly product. Some people would rather just spend the $20 for membership and have a choice about whether or not they get the shirt or postcards. Some fans will want it, others won't.

Forum
Logging in: I understand the technical issues of this, but this needs to be sorted. You shouldn't have to login twice to get to the forum. Also, you should consider showing the most recently posted in topics on the IC homepage, or even better, GD.com. Give people a reason to be there.

You guys need to build up the community. Interact, give people a reason to communicate and share and post on the IC forum. The reason GDC is so active is not just because we're free, but because we have a team that constantly works on engaging people, and in the early days, we were a major part of all the conversations. There's no reason the IC couldn't have more conversation with the current amount of users, but I don't feel that IC users are as dedicated to the IC as GDC members are here, which is not a good thing considering they're paying for the privilege. That alone should make people MORE committed to something, but that's not happening.

Simplify the forum. I think for the amount of activity you have, you guys have way too many forums, all of which have non-sensical names. They're all Green Day references, but have absolutely nothing to do with whatever the forum is about. Every time I go I have to read the forum description to remember where I'm supposed to go for certain types of threads. Remove some forums, make it more simple to navigate, and as suggested, a redesign should be looked into. Even a simple design update to make the forum more readable.

Value
I think you guys need to give more value to the Idiot Club. Make it worth the $20 people spend there. I think if we charged $20 a year to access GDC we could have a lot of users because people appreciate what this forum is. They make it their online home, invest time in the community and build friendships. You can't put a price on that, and many people would find that worth the cost alone. However, you guys have a lot to offer, just don't do it consistently.

Give value in exclusive interactions, not news. A lot of fans are turned off by the Idiot Club when you guys get news first, and as a result we have to hold posting anything here or on GDA. People post stuff, then we delete it. It's annoying. But I do think that's only fair to the people who pay. They pay to get something extra, and that's the extra, so we have to enforce it. You guys can offer two HUGE things that would make that $20 so worthwhile while not annoying other Green Day fans because they can't see news: (though of course, some fans will always be annoyed): exclusive presales, and Green Day.

You guys already do a decent job with presales, with only a couple gripes. During the outdoor tour a couple years ago, a lot of people complained that the presale tickets were lawn seats, or cheap tickets. Idiot Club members should get first shot at floor tickets. These are the fans who most want to be on the floor, very close to Green Day, they should get the best seats possible.

Do interviews with Green Day and those who work with them (Chris Dugan, Jason Freese, Bill Schneider, Chris Billheimer, etc.) . It's their fan club, I don't expect them to post on the forums and interact everywhere, I totally understand how they could be turned off by that stuff and don't blame them at all. But that doesn't mean they couldn't start doing video Q&A's again, every few months or whatever. Give fans a chance to ask a question, give other fans who pay the chance to see the video. That's something that can be exclusive. Ideally, that's something that would be exclusive for a month, then post the video on YouTube or GD.com. Not only will that give other Green Day fans a closer relationship with Green Day, but it encourages them to join the idiot club to participate the next time around. Everyone wins!

Short summary: Make it worth $20 by giving better exclusives that isn't news, make it easier to use, build up the community.

Or, hire me.