This is about the old official site and its community, which became "theRollingStonesfanclub" when the new official site appeared earlier this year.

In case some people still have stuff they want to save over there, it's more than time:

[therollingstonesfanclub.com]

Members of The Rolling Stones Fan Club,

On November 15, The Rolling Stones Fan Club will close its doors. Until this time, you will have complete use of your remaining membership period. Beginning on November 15, TheRollingStonesFanClub.com, along with any associated email accounts you may have, will no longer be available.

We thank you for your online patronage and enthusiasm over the years and hope you will continue to visit us at the new RollingStones.com.

Those of you with paid membership terms which extend beyond November 15th will receive communication from us shortly with further information.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE TO THE WEBSITE

Cheers,
The Rolling Stones Fan Club



PS: I have to apologize to you SwayStones, since I completely forgot about your last e-mail. I made many changes on my computer and can't find it anymore. If it's still time, you can send it to me again (and doing so, I'll be able to save your e-mail address). Cheers.

Good riddance.....

JumpingKentFlash

been a blast, but all good things must pass....

The internet just won't be the same....

Closing a website when recording and touring ought to happen soon?

You mean I can't make my annual donation to whoever runs that site anymore?

does that mean they're finally sending out the dvd they promised in 2006?

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JJHMick
Closing a website when recording and touring ought to happen soon?

There's a new site.

Doesn't shutting down official fan sites sometimes tie in with some major new launch...or news of a world tour?

ummmmm...my wallet's getting nervous, sounds like those villains behind the .com, are scheming and planning.....

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Silver Dagger
Doesn't shutting down official fan sites sometimes tie in with some major new launch...or news of a world tour?

Well, they already have a new site as of a few months ago, not operated by Ultrastar, which was launched around the time of the Exile reissue.

Its not unprecedented for the 'old' site to stumble on for a few months (or longer) before being put out of its (and everyone else's) misery. I would imagine that its something to do with letting the employees there work for a period of notice after theyve received the confirmation that the Ultrastar contract has been terminated. Its significant that the ultrastar site has changed in recent months from rollingstones.com to rollingstonesfanclub.com whereas the rollingstones.com domain has now been taken over by Universal.

Keith, Charlie and Ronnie have all said in recent weeks that they'll be meeting around December to discuss what they're going to do in 2011 (and Keith, in his recent interview in The Times actually said they'd be touring again 'soon') so there'll be nothing to announce for several months yet, as they havent been together or havent recorded anything.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-10-17 21:11 by Gazza.

Thank you very much for your replies Gazza, you're very helpful.

Yes, the old site shut down a first time, with no warning, when the new one, run by Universal, appeared. Then they reopened it for those who had an e-mail address over there being able to save or delete their stuff, I guess.
At least, people has been warned now.

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Edith Grove
You mean I can't make my annual donation to whoever runs that site anymore?

What if I buy the domain name? Would you continue to pay?

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with sssoul
does that mean they're finally sending out the dvd they promised in 2006?

Let's hope so!

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FolkyFireKitten1

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with sssoul
does that mean they're finally sending out the dvd they promised in 2006?

Let's hope so!

Don't hold your breath!

"Those of you with paid membership terms which extend beyond November 15th will receive communication from us shortly with further information."

Could this "further information" be that they deeply regret being "unable" to return any money to the people they owe it to?

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FolkyFireKitten1

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Edith Grove
You mean I can't make my annual donation to whoever runs that site anymore?

What if I buy the domain name? Would you continue to pay?

If I were the only donor, you probably wouldn't live long enough to turn a profit!

Before the Ultrastar website, we had www.the-rolling-stones.com. I remember it being open for a long time. I think the last update was a new No Security skin and some of the piss poor remixes of some of the song (Like that dreadful In Hand With Fluke mix). It was actually open until a few months before the Ultrastar website appeared in 2002, I think it was. The one before that early B2B/NS website went on even longer. I remember being on it just a few years ago. Still with the lion that transforms into the B2B lion, transcripts from chats with the Stones and so on.

JumpingKentFlash

the-rolling-stones.com opened around the time BTB came out (summer '97), ran reasonably competently for a few months until the tour left the US in early '98, after which they stopped posting updates and allowed their fan forum to be drowned in spam. (the lack of official updates was the reason we founded Rocks Off around that time). The site then got a brief makeover for the No Security album and tour as you described above, but it was basically a ghost site and I dont think there was a message board by that point.

the rollingstones.com site was then launched in May 2002 to coincide with the Licks tour announcement.

The first Stones site was stonesworld.com which was around before my time on the 'net and which I think was in existence for (at least) part of the Voodoo Lounge tour before being superseded by the BTB site. It still existed for several months (maybe even a year) after the BTB site was launched however, and still had a fan forum, although it stopped doing updates when the new site took over.

Well I used to order pre-sale tickets thru RS.com so I guess we wont be having that advantage anymore for the next tour (assuming there is one). The tickets werent that great, but at least you were sure that you would be at the show(s) of choice. RS should open another website offering the members first crack at the ticket sales!

BTW I did get the DVD that was promised, it came in a silver-tin CD case.

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BitchKeepsBitchin
BTW I did get the DVD that was promised, it came in a silver-tin CD case.

Yeah, I got the DVD too, in the silver can. But just after the ABB tour they promised another DVD. They sent out a baseball cap with ABB logo on it, a membership card & a letter saying that our new DVD would arrive "shortly"... so here we are, nearly into 2011 and never saw that DVD. In fact!! Technically they were supposed to send out goodies every time you renewed your membership or at least that is what they stated when I signed up in March 2007.

It's ridiculous, Clapton's offical fanclub costs under half what RS.com costs and you get goodies every year as promised! The same goes for DMBs Warehouse, way cheaper and, "tour, or NO tour", you get what's promised to you!

So, of recent... €100 a year, no tour and besides a DVD of random footage thrown together after the 40 Licks tour and a baseball cap.. what did members get?... access to an online forum that isn't even one/tenth as good a IORR.org..

Wow (warning: heavy sarcasm) thats €400 of my money well spend since 2007. Thanks boys.

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BitchKeepsBitchin
Well I used to order pre-sale tickets thru RS.com so I guess we wont be having that advantage anymore for the next tour (assuming there is one). The tickets werent that great, but at least you were sure that you would be at the show(s) of choice. RS should open another website offering the members first crack at the ticket sales!

BTW I did get the DVD that was promised, it came in a silver-tin CD case.

Yeah, but as said above, that was the DVD that was promised in 2004, but not sent out (to those who got them) until at least 2005 and which mostly comprised of a few clips from the Licks tour. There were supposed to be subsequent DVD's - all they did was send out the same old shit again.

getting tickets for the 'show of choice' isnt worth paying extra money for, when they were offering similar tickets for the same shows in FREE presales to the venue and to sponsors...as well as the fact that what shows were officially sold out mysteriously had 'ticket drops' a day or two before they took place, usually offering better tickets than what rs.com members had paid an extra $100 for. Whatever spin anyone puts on it, fan club members got the shit end of the stick when it came to ticketing - not priority.

I would imagine that its a dead cert that the new site will have a 'premium' service when the time comes for a tour along the same lines as before... .

..and that, regardless of the fact that its a different company, thousands of people will sign up once again like lemmings to pay a lot of money for very little based on the hope that the Stones might play theatre shows.

At least this time no one can say they weren't warned.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-10-18 17:26 by Gazza.

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Gazza

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Silver Dagger
Doesn't shutting down official fan sites sometimes tie in with some major new launch...or news of a world tour?

Well, they already have a new site as of a few months ago, not operated by Ultrastar, which was launched around the time of the Exile reissue.

Its not unprecedented for the 'old' site to stumble on for a few months (or longer) before being put out of its (and everyone else's) misery. I would imagine that its something to do with letting the employees there work for a period of notice after theyve received the confirmation that the Ultrastar contract has been terminated. Its significant that the ultrastar site has changed in recent months from rollingstones.com to rollingstonesfanclub.com whereas the rollingstones.com domain has now been taken over by Universal.

Keith, Charlie and Ronnie have all said in recent weeks that they'll be meeting around December to discuss what they're going to do in 2011 (and Keith, in his recent interview in The Times actually said they'd be touring again 'soon') so there'll be nothing to announce for several months yet, as they havent been together or havent recorded anything.

I think that Stonesworld.com from the VL Tour was the early beginnings of Shidoobee.

JumpingKentFlash

Shidoobee, as far as I recall, spawned directly from an AOL Stones chatroom that Doug ran. Shidoobee started in late '98 I think, a few months after Goin' Home (the forerunner of Rocks Off - we changed the name and ownership in March '99)

A lot of the people who were pre-emininent on Stonesworld ended up on a short-lived site called Exile from Stonesworld which ran for part of 1998, and then Gasland (Keno's site).

I got the internet in Dec' 97 and I'm pretty sure I knew Doug from the BTB official site in early '98. A lot of the people who migrated to both GH/RO and Shidoobee did so from that site after it became a spam wasteland