(07-10-2009, 01:02 AM)cathb Wrote:

(07-10-2009, 12:54 AM)VAMPS + American Street Team + Wrote:

(07-09-2009, 09:57 PM)cathb Wrote:

(07-09-2009, 09:41 PM)Noctilca Wrote: Ah, I wish I was a Hydeist member!

Well, maybe if they would OPEN UP THEIR FANCLUBS we would all be members!!!!

-----------------------

*lol* Seriously! Ha ha ha...all we can do is stare at the little light and be like, "Damn." *sighs*

Someone needs to get it through these guys heads.... J are you listening???....that we don't care if the information is in Japanese (ok, some of us don't care) and yes we will pay extra for shipping to get goodies to America or Timbucktu or Tasmania. Just give us an equal opportunity here.

-----------------

Damn straight! I mean, why do we have to practically jump through hoops to be treated fairly? It's sad. Not only to we have to practically pay twice as much as other fans in Japan for goods, we don't even have access to half of the things fans in Japan are offered. This sucks you-know-what. What the hell was the effing petition for!?

(07-10-2009, 01:08 AM)VAMPS + American Street Team + Wrote:

(07-10-2009, 01:02 AM)cathb Wrote:

(07-10-2009, 12:54 AM)VAMPS + American Street Team + Wrote:

(07-09-2009, 09:57 PM)cathb Wrote:

(07-09-2009, 09:41 PM)Noctilca Wrote: Ah, I wish I was a Hydeist member!

Well, maybe if they would OPEN UP THEIR FANCLUBS we would all be members!!!!

-----------------------

*lol* Seriously! Ha ha ha...all we can do is stare at the little light and be like, "Damn." *sighs*

Someone needs to get it through these guys heads.... J are you listening???....that we don't care if the information is in Japanese (ok, some of us don't care) and yes we will pay extra for shipping to get goodies to America or Timbucktu or Tasmania. Just give us an equal opportunity here.

-----------------

Damn straight! I mean, why do we have to practically jump through hoops to be treated fairly? It's sad. Not only to we have to practically pay twice as much as other fans in Japan for goods, we don't even have access to half of the things fans in Japan are offered. This sucks you-know-what. What the hell was the effing petition for!?

So maybe at the autograph/meet & greet we can say....hello, glad to meet you, thank you for coming to America, you guys kick ass, please open your fanclub.

I think the fanclub may be opened one day, but you have to remember that it won't be easy for them. They'll have to change around their whole site to allow overseas registrations.

Also, even if the website content is in Japanese they'll still need to provide support to members in English/Spanish/Whatever. What if they bill you twice? What if the goods you bought are damaged? What if you never received registration stuff? Someone will have to offer support for overseas fans.

And of course, there needs to be a huge enough demand. I'm sure they don't want to change around their website and hire English support and only have 100 people join.

Also, it all takes time. Once they agree to open the fanclub they'll need time to rework things and hire support, while still writing/recording albums, planning tours, working with their other bands, doing promotion, managing the fanclubs and websites, so on. I'm sure opening the fanclub would be a lower priority.

I don't think pay-to-join fanclubs are as popular these days here in America. I think pretty much every band website I visit has a free open community. You don't get all the perks of a paid-club but a lot fans these days don't want to pay for anything. So it might be hard to convince many overseas fans to shell out $50+ for a website.

(Especially when some perks - like fanclub only concerts - don't apply to us because we're not in Japan)

Only really hardcore fans will pay, but there might not be enough to warrant spending the time (and money) to open the fanclub. I'm sure if enough people are willing to pay, then they'll consider it.

(07-10-2009, 01:38 AM)Tokio Wrote: I think the fanclub may be opened one day, but you have to remember that it won't be easy for them. They'll have to change around their whole site to allow overseas registrations.

Also, even if the website content is in Japanese they'll still need to provide support to members in English/Spanish/Whatever. What if they bill you twice? What if the goods you bought are damaged? What if you never received registration stuff? Someone will have to offer support for overseas fans.

And of course, there needs to be a huge enough demand. I'm sure they don't want to change around their website and hire English support and only have 100 people join.

Also, it all takes time. Once they agree to open the fanclub they'll need time to rework things and hire support, while still writing/recording albums, planning tours, working with their other bands, doing promotion, managing the fanclubs and websites, so on. I'm sure opening the fanclub would be a lower priority.

I don't think pay-to-join fanclubs are as popular these days here in America. I think pretty much every band website I visit has a free open community. You don't get all the perks of a paid-club but a lot fans these days don't want to pay for anything. So it might be hard to convince many overseas fans to shell out $50+ for a website.

(Especially when some perks - like fanclub only concerts - don't apply to us because we're not in Japan)

Only really hardcore fans will pay, but there might not be enough to warrant spending the time (and money) to open the fanclub. I'm sure if enough people are willing to pay, then they'll consider it.

Points well taken. But what if they don't change a thing? Just open them up to the hard-cores. EMS shipping covers damage, they don't need to have the site in English -keep it just like it is.
$50 is nothing. It's the middle-man's fees that kill you. I need to join L'arc next year because, if God willing, I make it to the 20th anniversary, I need tickets. The cost of doing this is staggering...but I have no other option.
VAMPS would not have to change a thing. Do they think that I can read Monthly VAMPS? Yet I own all 12 issues and plan to get number 13. Can I read all of the tour programs that I own? Or the magazines? I would rather put the money directly into their pockets than pay the fees that I have to pay to get what I want. They would have more money from me because I would not have to pay the fees and could buy more. (Say....that could be deadly....) I personally don't want them to change a thing about the way they operate. I just want them to open the door and say please come in. Yeah, I know....the Rolling Stones said it best....you can't always get what you want.

^ Well, yes they don't have to change too much but they would have to change the registration form to accept foreign members. If they don't change ANYTHING they're going to have a lot of problems. (for one, no one overseas will be able to register since that would require the form to be changed)

And they will need to have at least one person to provide support. Because if I pay $50 and my account is broken I won't be happy. Websites aren't flawless so there will always be technical issues. And I don't think someone would be happy if they got billed multiple times on accident or they payed and never received their registration information.
They'll have to pay someone do deal with all these issues, because they probably will happen. No site is flawless.

Also, don't they have a message board? If so there has to be someone on webstaff that speaks English to make sure rules are followed. If the web admin doesn't speak English then there is no way for him to know I'm spreading nasty rumors about HYDE. Or that I'm harassing another member. [Of course, I'm sure someone would report me, but they'd still have to get someone to translate my posts to confirm I was breaking rules].

It would be nice if they would open it up though so we could join directly rather than through a third party like Celga. I think they will in the future, it will just take time.

They are becoming more open to overseas fans (myspace, tour) so at least we're on their radar. If we can prove that there are enough of us that are willing and able to pay then they may open the doors for us.

(07-10-2009, 02:17 AM)Tokio Wrote: ^ Well, yes they don't have to change too much but they would have to change the registration form to accept foreign members. If they don't change ANYTHING they're going to have a lot of problems. (for one, no one overseas will be able to register since that would require the form to be changed)

And they will need to have at least one person to provide support. Because if I pay $50 and my account is broken I won't be happy. Websites aren't flawless so there will always be technical issues. And I don't think someone would be happy if they got billed multiple times on accident or they payed and never received their registration information.
They'll have to pay someone do deal with all these issues, because they probably will happen. No site is flawless.

Also, don't they have a message board? If so there has to be someone on webstaff that speaks English to make sure rules are followed. If the web admin doesn't speak English then there is no way for him to know I'm spreading nasty rumors about HYDE. Or that I'm harassing another member. [Of course, I'm sure someone would report me, but they'd still have to get someone to translate my posts to confirm I was breaking rules].

It would be nice if they would open it up though so we could join directly rather than through a third party like Celga. I think they will in the future, it will just take time.

They are becoming more open to overseas fans (myspace, tour) so at least we're on their radar. If we can prove that there are enough of us that are willing and able to pay then they may open the doors for us.

--------------------------

^In other words, we need to get this tour to sell out. ;) I believe New York has sold out, but I'm not quite sure. However, these west coast shows aren't selling well, so yeah... I suppose this tour is very important in more ways than I would've imagined.

(07-10-2009, 02:17 AM)Tokio Wrote: ^ Well, yes they don't have to change too much but they would have to change the registration form to accept foreign members. If they don't change ANYTHING they're going to have a lot of problems. (for one, no one overseas will be able to register since that would require the form to be changed)

And they will need to have at least one person to provide support. Because if I pay $50 and my account is broken I won't be happy. Websites aren't flawless so there will always be technical issues. And I don't think someone would be happy if they got billed multiple times on accident or they payed and never received their registration information.
They'll have to pay someone do deal with all these issues, because they probably will happen. No site is flawless.

Also, don't they have a message board? If so there has to be someone on webstaff that speaks English to make sure rules are followed. If the web admin doesn't speak English then there is no way for him to know I'm spreading nasty rumors about HYDE. Or that I'm harassing another member. [Of course, I'm sure someone would report me, but they'd still have to get someone to translate my posts to confirm I was breaking rules].

It would be nice if they would open it up though so we could join directly rather than through a third party like Celga. I think they will in the future, it will just take time.

They are becoming more open to overseas fans (myspace, tour) so at least we're on their radar. If we can prove that there are enough of us that are willing and able to pay then they may open the doors for us.

Yes, thank God for this tour...and the MySpace site.
Ok, so they would have to do minor modifications...they have to have someone on staff who is bilingual. I would not think that this would be so difficult to do. But I do agree, the change will not come overnight.

I am grateful for how far they have come already. We just need them to come a little farther....inch by inch. Which is why I really want this tour to go well. So they can see how much they are loved and supported outside of Japan.

I pay almost $100 a year to be a member and i know tons of overseas fans that are also members. I do think eventually it will be opened actually if they were to open vampaddict we would all be hydeist since you get access to both websites with your hydeist/vampaddict account i really dont think that was a coincidence there. We are getting more and more overseas members in hydeist everyday we speak english in there and the Japanese fans seem to somewhat accept us and will even talk in English to us if they can.

Look at all the wonderful thing thats happened lately 1) The Myspace page 2) we get an english store to buy goods even if shipping is ridiculously expensive 3) THE TOUR!

They are really trying to reach out to us and i think the fanclub will eventually be opened and I do think they are already trying to get it open but we just have to be patient and see how it goes.

(07-10-2009, 09:30 AM)tracycoder Wrote: I pay almost $100 a year to be a member and i know tons of overseas fans that are also members. I do think eventually it will be opened actually if they were to open vampaddict we would all be hydeist since you get access to both websites with your hydeist/vampaddict account i really dont think that was a coincidence there. We are getting more and more overseas members in hydeist everyday we speak english in there and the Japanese fans seem to somewhat accept us and will even talk in English to us if they can.

Look at all the wonderful thing thats happened lately 1) The Myspace page 2) we get an english store to buy goods even if shipping is ridiculously expensive 3) THE TOUR!

They are really trying to reach out to us and i think the fanclub will eventually be opened and I do think they are already trying to get it open but we just have to be patient and see how it goes.

Yeah, it's that $100 a year fee that is the killer.....not the cost of the fanclub. So if you want to join Hydeist and L'arc, it is up to $200. That is a lot of merchandising that you could own instead.
Maybe I just need to learn more patience.....lol
Anyway, I'll quit whining about it now.

BTW....I love where that airplane is sitting....I've really enjoyed that visual. Thanks for putting it up with your posts.

Well the $100 a year includes everything the membership fee the extra middle man fees etc so really its just about $50 extra dollars / year actually I think I just paid like $80 I have to renew this month so i could give you an exact price soon..