YOU GO GIRL
Adam couldn’t have put it better. This is my first year in the LPU. I have followed Linkin Park since 2001 (When I was 4 years old) and own every album and EP! Linkin Park are my idols and I know that whenever I’m feeling down or stressed, LP’s music is always there to cheer me up. I would’ve liked to have joined the LPU earlier but for one, I didn’t know it existed until 2011 and two, because I couldn’t afford it. I joined because I wanted to feel that little bit closer to Linkin Park and because I wanted to meet new people who shared my love for this band. The merch and perks were just another thing to make me feel closer to them and all you guys. Despite all the love I have for this band I have never met them or seen them live (although if I did I think I might faint). The reason for this is the last time they came to my hometown of Sheffield, England I was too young to attend. If I had the money to fly to the States or Japan or wherever, I would go and see LP without hesitation. My only hope is they do a UK tour and hold a summit here soon! (Please LP???) Haha
Here to give my two-cents, or three…
Of us LPU-ers, 1% voice out loud that they are better then the rest, 10% are closet superior fans who are humble in every way but they acknowledge that they are better then the rest… silently, 89% of us do not care, as long as you like Linkin Park, you’re a fan whether you are LPU or not.
I believe that word “Elite” has re-ignited the “I am a better fan then all you little shits.” feeling.
Let’s face reality here, shall we? Most of us, will, in some way, have this silent voice that says “Well… I’m in the LPU, I paid for it, I am entitled to stuff… But you’re not. SO… I guess I am better…?” It is hidden, it is subconscious, but it is getting louder and louder because of the splash page.
Now, most of us will not say it. But that 1%, will. Because, you know, they already feel that way.
BUT, the poor choice of words has made a pretty big impact here.
It’s safe to say that I do not think that I am a super fan or a better fan then anyone else. I actually sell my stuff to non-LPUers (because c’mon, lets face it, every fan wants to own those things) at a cheaper price (sue me). I also try to make sure my buyers are not in the LPU, or at least not in LPU’12. If I were an egoistic superior fan, I would hold a bloody auction. But I’m not an asshole.
I would also like to draw people’s attention that Misha Collins (in a TV Guide interview) said that fans who attend Supernatural conventions are like the cream of the crop, top of the most enthusiastic of fans. Which, interestingly, is sort of like what is portrayed here. I AGREE with him 100%.
Not because those fans spend alot of money or anything. But, I’ll tell you why I agree. There’s a girl from Team Badwolf who won the GISHWHES event (go google it) and stayed in a Scottish castle with her team and Misha. In a podcast, she or the interviewer mentioned that her house had alot of costumes which she hand-made and bought materials for. Now, I could NEVER be that enthusiastic. And, I actually am not interested in GISHWHES.
So yeah, PEACE~
Zoe
With all honestly.I did not consider myself as an elite fan when I chose to join here.
Because I know, most of you have more LP experience than me. And for God Sake, how could a USD 25 make you elite. (I got 65USD because of the water bottle. hahaha). As Mike Said, there is a constant give and take relationship, so that membership fee is totally fair with all the benefits here.
Would you imagine that a simple Tweet from Mike is very important to me? And I really treasured it a lot!
I joined here, not to be considered as an elite fan, BUT for the main reason of having a chance to Meet and Greet the band!!! and also to be part of a group of fans that are really into Linkin Park, To find people, who will understand my cravings for linkin park. To create a circle of friends who will not misjudge me for spending too much for linkin park. To be inspired by your great stories, that someday i can look forward to.
Well, that’s for me.
So if LPU is marketed as an elite group of fans, the “elite” here is used in a different context, not to make the non-LPU members inferior to us. But to elevate the level of moral we have. Yes, not everybody can buy this $25 membership, but they should not stop there. They should view this as an inspiration or goal. That one day, they will be considered as elite, By definition, elite is a group of people considered to be the best in a particular category. So who wouldn’t want to be part of the best group? But some may take a lot of effort to just to be here and I highly adore them for doing everything. For a working class, I think $25 is fairly priced.
if we don’t want to be called an “elite” or “inner circle” what terms would best describe us which will distinguish us from the rest?
[quote=Marcial]
So if LPU is marketed as an elite group of fans, the “elite” here is used in a different context, not to make the non-LPU members inferior to us. But to elevate the level of moral we have. Yes, not everybody can buy this $25 membership, but they should not stop there. They should view this as an inspiration or goal. That one day, they will be considered as elite, By definition, elite is a group of people considered to be the best in a particular category. So who wouldn’t want to be part of the best group? But some may take a lot of effort to just to be here and I highly adore them for doing everything. For a working class, I think $25 is fairly priced.
if we don’t want to be called an “elite” or “inner circle” what terms would best describe us which will distinguish us from the rest?
That’s also my point, we cannot be all equal. Life is unfair.
And I have already accepted that, as living in a third world country made me inferior to those who are in a more industrialized one. I have seen how foreigners treat our race, How they see us, being inferior to them. Did I choose to be born here? No! But, will I let them continue doing that to me? of course not! So I work hard, to earn money, to gain the respect I need. That pushes me to be succeed, to achieve my goals.
“Better than any other fan who cannot afford an LPU” → Yes, because that 25/30/60/65USD, made us more privileged than the rest of the fanbase having the accessibility to the M&G and Summit and the exclusive merch, chat etc. But that ends there. The other notion of “better” to mean we are “more fan” or “Super Fan”, is subjective in nature. I know some non-LPU members who are really Linkin Park Fans but don’t have the funds to spend a 25USD to be an LPU. I believe those fans are better than me, I mean they are more “fan” than I am. But I am better in terms of tangible access to the band.
“we are already called The LPU so THAT divides us from the rest of the fanbase”
So where is the catch there? I mean if the LPU don’t have those tangible privileges, Surely I am not here.
And why do we need to divide ourselves to the rest if we are only equal to them,
The inequality created by this membership, should not make others feel inferior to us. But for them, to strive more, work harder, and have a goal. We should inspire them that we are enjoying the privileges we have here and invite them to be part of us, instead of discriminating them,
[quote=Marcial][quote=EvoOba]
This is exactly why I don’t like the term “elite”. You apparently already consider yourself better than any other fan who cannot afford an LPU membership (even the $25 tier one). To me, the LPU, is not about being “better” than the rest of the fans. It sure is special to be a part of tiny group - compared to the entire fanbase - but definitely not to be considered better. My point here is that we’re all equal; LPU or not, tons of merch or not, concert attendees or not, summits or not. In the end we’re all the same.
And to answer your question, we are already called The LPU so THAT divides us from the rest of the fanbase.
[/quote]
That’s also my point, we cannot be all equal. Life is unfair.
And I have already accepted that, as living in a third world country made me inferior to those who are in a more industrialized one. I have seen how foreigners treat our race, How they see us, being inferior to them. Did I choose to be born here? No! But, will I let them continue doing that to me? of course not! So I work hard, to earn money, to gain the respect I need. That pushes me to be succeed, to achieve my goals.
“Better than any other fan who cannot afford an LPU” → Yes, because that 25/30/60/65USD, made us more privileged than the rest of the fanbase having the accessibility to the M&G and Summit and the exclusive merch, chat etc. But that ends there. The other notion of “better” to mean we are “more fan” or “Super Fan”, is subjective in nature. I know some non-LPU members who are really Linkin Park Fans but don’t have the funds to spend a 25USD to be an LPU. I believe those fans are better than me, I mean they are more “fan” than I am. But I am better in terms of tangible access to the band.
“we are already called The LPU so THAT divides us from the rest of the fanbase”
So where is the catch there? I mean if the LPU don’t have those tangible privileges, Surely I am not here.
And why do we need to divide ourselves to the rest if we are only equal to them,
The inequality created by this membership, should not make others feel inferior to us. But for them, to strive more, work harder, and have a goal. We should inspire them that we are enjoying the privileges we have here and invite them to be part of us, instead of discriminating them,
I think we can only agree to disagree.
Because of the M&G and Summit. Some fans really wanted to meet them, and LPU is the way. So If their goal is to meet them, then the easiest is to be a member here.
I am not a youngster, hahaha… and meeting them is important to me as I have to even travel to HK summit, just to be assured of meeting them.
Yes, I agree with you. Same here, I have also lots of more important goals. But one of those goals is to meet the band, because meeting them makes me happy and fulfilled. And not just to be a member here.
In conclusion, I will reiterate that Life is unfair, and we can’t be all equal.
And for me, that inequality should be used in a positive motivation to be on the other side of the coin.
Thanks for reading and nice meeting your here.
I hope this is a healthy discussion between us. To know our own insights on things such as this. Again, thank you.
[quote=Marcial][quote=EvoOba]
I’m sorry but I will have to disagree on everything you said. I never said to stop dreaming and achieving your goals but I don’t see what that has to do with a band and a fan club.
[/quote]
I think we can only agree to disagree.
[/quote]
Haha seems so! Good convo though, probably one of the very few I’ve had with people that didn’t include calling names and stuff, thanks 
First of all I just want to say hello, for all the LPUers out there,
Im Guy Garcia from Philippines, I a big LP fan since 2000-2001 Ive joined LPU5 LPU6 LPU7 and now LPU12, Here in the Philippines we are living in a third world country I belong to a working class earning US$216 a month, take note a MONTH, I know some of you out there in the US can earn this amount of money in a week or maybe in a day, my concern about is about the recent Living things world tour here in asia, LPU don’t give a shit about it’s a asian members, they lack consideration when it comes to these moments just imagine, LP finally visit us after 9 years of waiting their last tour was on 2004 we were all disappointed when LPU staffs picked all the MnG participants 1 week before the contest ends leaving us hanging waiting and hoping… we are just 109 for crying out loud, I kept emailing Lorenzo to let us all in because for us, this happens only once in a while and I think they should consider it. Lorenzo replied, because of space, time, space limitation blah blah blah, Bullshit!!! Fall out boy held a concert here before LP but they still manage to meet a ton of fans plus a mall tour, I think LPU or Lorenzo himself they lack of strategy or they just think that they are Gods and we are just a mere human lol, all of the guys that accepted in the MnG were foreigners and rich kids that can watch LP again and again zillion times, that sucks! Lorenzo keep on saying that all of the meet n greeters where randomly picked, at first, I believed him, all of us not chosen just accepted the painful truth that we were just unlucky not to be included, until as time goes by I noticed a pattern, one day I checked LPassociation I know some of you guys are familiar with the site and Derek (LPA admin). Derek wrote a review about STP concert, and he did mention that he has a “connection” with Lorenzo and he helped him and his dad to meet stp backstage, some sort of meet and greet, the moment I read the review, I realized LPU sucked not just in marketing, they also have a favoritism among its members, is it just because Derek has a fancy and more updated site than the official LP site or LPU? I mean cmon answer me,. Where is the equality here like adam mentioned above? I have nothing against Derek but I think hes just a fan like us, does it mean that we have to suck all of your balls just to give us some extra privilege, I am very sorry for my words I know it is unprofessional but try to understand me, I am furious right now LPUstaffs and specially Lorenzo I demand that you clear these things out… all I want is Just a lousy Poster with an autographs from the band members….
[quote=King Guy Lee Garcia]First of all I just want to say hello, for all the LPUers out there,
Im Guy Garcia from Philippines, I a big LP fan since 2000-2001 Ive joined LPU5 LPU6 LPU7 and now LPU12, Here in the Philippines we are living in a third world country I belong to a working class earning US$216 a month, take note a MONTH, I know some of you out there in the US can earn this …[/quote]
Here’s my opinion :3
First, you need a chill pill 
Second, There are many considerations for them to hold a concert in a country, imagine our friends in India or in other parts of the world, until now they have never had an LP concert in their town. Let’s be thankful that finally they could hold a concert in your city. I understand how you feel, but let us think clearly, did not win the meet and greet is not the end of the world. Maybe on another time you will get that experience. And also comparing LP with another band in this case is not fair, each band has a different management/marketing policy.
For those from abroad who won the M & G, not necessarily they are rich or maybe they’ll watch the LP again in the future. It could be that they are using their savings to be able to come to the concert (my personal experience), did you ever think that they use their guarantee M & G? Therefore, they won the M & G. For more details on the M & G, see Adam’s blog Here. May sound unfair, but the rule was already like this.
About Derek and he gets special privileges, I dunno it might be an advantage for him because he was running the LPA
Thats all from me…
Cheers
Hi Guy Lee Garcia, first of all I am replying here not to say that your reaction/feeling about the LPU staffs, organizers, and all the crews is bad or wrong. This forum, I think is created to express our feelings whether it is good or bad, positive or negative. So I think, you perfectly express your feelings here on your last comment. I felt your bitterness of being not chosen in the M&G. And I feel for you for that.
Actually, upon knowing that the M&G is only by chance here in LPU, it made me angrier than ever. I really wanted to meet the band. And I couldn’t accept to place my fate in the hands of that f*ckin random selection process. I’ve done everything just to be chosen, I am also in the notion that having more points will increase my chances of being chosen so I blog a lot to get points. I also consider the registration, I registered 4th in the M&G. But, it was proven that the selection was indeed “RANDOM”, as a LPU member with less than a hundred points was chosen and 2 pinoys who registered 1st and 3rd respectively in the M&G were not chosen.
In all other countries, same process of random selection was applied. So I think, it will only be unfair if the process in Manila was inconsistent with the other countries. So having known that RANDOM selection process, I just kept on praying to be selected.
Comes 01 June 2013, the registration for the LPU Summit with ensured M&G located in Hong Kong that does not require VISA from us. The start of registration is 10am HK time. So, I really waited for the opening of the registration and at last I completed my registration by 10:04am. I think, the enlistment lasted only for less than 2 hours.
The challenge now for me back then was to raise funds for my flight and accommodation in HK. I really work hard and spend majority of my savings just to be there. And it’s all worth it.
I must say, next time, in the next Asian Summit. We should be there and that’s something to look forward to.
That’s for me.
PS: My Manila Concert Ticket (Php10400) is just almost equal to my LPU Summits Expenses: Promo Airfare (Php4000) + Hong Kong Concert (Php4500) Ticket + Hotel Accommodation (Php2000)
[quote=King Guy Lee Garcia]First of all I just want to say hello, for all the LPUers out there,
Im Guy Garcia from Philippines, I a big LP fan since 2000-2001 Ive joined LPU5 LPU6 LPU7 and now LPU12, Here in the Philippines we are living in a third world country I belong to a working class earning US$216 a month, take note a MONTH, I know some of you out there in the US can earn this amount of money in a week or maybe in a day, my concern about is about the recent Living things world tour here in asia, LPU don’t give a shit about it’s a asian members, they lack consideration when it comes to these moments just imagine, LP finally visit us after 9 years of waiting their last tour was on 2004 we were all disappointed when LPU staffs picked all the MnG participants 1 week before the contest ends leaving us hanging waiting and hoping… we are just 109 for crying out loud, I kept emailing Lorenzo to let us all in because for us, this happens only once in a while and I think they should consider it. Lorenzo replied, because of space, time, space limitation blah blah blah, Bullshit!!! Fall out boy held a concert here before LP but they still manage to meet a ton of fans plus a mall tour, I think LPU or Lorenzo himself they lack of strategy or they just think that they are Gods and we are just a mere human lol, all of the guys that accepted in the MnG were foreigners and rich kids that can watch LP again and again zillion times, that sucks! Lorenzo keep on saying that all of the meet n greeters where randomly picked, at first, I believed him, all of us not chosen just accepted the painful truth that we were just unlucky not to be included, until as time goes by I noticed a pattern, one day I checked LPassociation I know some of you guys are familiar with the site and Derek (LPA admin). Derek wrote a review about STP concert, and he did mention that he has a “connection” with Lorenzo and he helped him and his dad to meet stp backstage, some sort of meet and greet, the moment I read the review, I realized LPU sucked not just in marketing, they also have a favoritism among its members, is it just because Derek has a fancy and more updated site than the official LP site or LPU? I mean cmon answer me,. Where is the equality here like adam mentioned above? I have nothing against Derek but I think hes just a fan like us, does it mean that we have to suck all of your balls just to give us some extra privilege, I am very sorry for my words I know it is unprofessional but try to understand me, I am furious right now LPUstaffs and specially Lorenzo I demand that you clear these things out… all I want is Just a lousy Poster with an autographs from the band members…. [/quote]
Has it ever crossed your mind that LP or Lorenzo or anyone working for HQ have to follow some rules? It is not up to them nor the band to decide the cost or where, for a example, they’re going to play. The label, management and many more are in the way. Just keep in mind that the cost of the tickets is that high depending on how much the sponsors, the venue and the management will ask for. What do you think LP make out of one concert? Barely the salary of their crew and equipment. So, debating on that is a no no if you don’t know how things work.
As for the m&g, I won’t deny the fact that there have been some, let’s say, get in for free or cause you know X guy from crew/HQ/band, incidents in the past but 90% of it is a random pick. Also, don’t forget that LPU11 members have a guaranteed m&g to use whenever they want to. It’s simply luck.
I find it amazing that they can handle 75 to 80 people at m&gs actually. I mean, other bands only take 20 people or so. Think about it, the number is big so being selected randomly is the fairest thing to do. Besides they always look out for the m&g people, like when they need to rush it, they simply take another 15min to actually DO the m&g than bail it. That shows something, don’t you think?
Old article, old derek comment:
" dereklp on June 28, 2011 at 8:44 am
Where are all these big ego LPU’ers at? I’ve been in LPU since it’s first hour and never met anyone who thought themselves as better than anyone else. Maybe I am just one lucky SOB. "
@marcial, thanks for understanding bro, I know its been 1 month o higit pa, nkamove on nman n ako, at naacept ko n partially, hehehehe ngdilim lang ang paningin ko when derek said on LPA that he has a “connection” wich is Lorenzo, contradicting kc yung statement ni adam s thread n to about equality, kc when I talked to lorenzo during manila tour thru email puro fair lumalabas s bibig nya, tpos recently s stp ngawan nya ng paraan si derek, kala ko s pinas lang may palakasan dto rin pala tsk tsk!
While I won’t comment on some of the other stuff being discussed here, I will touch on something related to the M&G’s that kind of irritates me.
This is a quote from Adam’s M&G FAQ linked above
[quote]
Is it possible to be selected for M&G on 2 different shows?
We do our very best to include as many new people as possible. So if you have already been selected for a meet & greet on the current tour, you will likely not be selected again during the tour so more fans have the opportunity to meet the band.[/quote]
I find this to be completely false. They use a random number generator and select the winners completely at random.
Reason? They don’t want to keep track of who went to what show on what tour, or who won or didn’t win a M&G. It’s a shame because the statement above is completely misleading. I have seen more people than I can count on my fingers win simultaneous M&G’s over and over because they’re lucky, and then there are the people who went to 5+ shows over the duration of years and just cannot seem to win.
It sucks that those people will probably never get to meet LP, while there are the “superfans” who’ve easily met them 5+ times already. This could easily be solved if someone at the LPU HQ would take some effort to keep track of this stuff and at least slightly favour the people who’ve never got a chance to meet them before.
[quote=Catalyst619]While I won’t comment on some of the other stuff being discussed here, I will touch on something related to the M&G’s that kind of irritates me.
This is a quote from Adam’s M&G FAQ linked above
I see your point. I am actually one of those people that never won a m&g and was the ONLY one left out when they first came in my country (we were 29 LPUers back then in total, 28 made it to the m&g. The 29th was me) and I was damn disappointed but that’s how it works. It’s a computerized system so I don’t think it makes it easy to keep track of who went to X m&g so they wouldn’t be selected again for Y m&g. I wouldn’t call them “superfans” either, they’re just lucky.
The forums are English only so do us all a favor and translate this so everyone understands what you’re saying.
im sorry for that,i just said that i was just disapointed about how adam talks about equality among fans above and lorenzo just keep on telling about fairness uhhh forget it. catalyst619 has a point,
and btw about ur mng im sorry for that man…
From day 1 when that splash page came up, I didn’t like the use of the word elite. I just felt it was wrongly used. I can see both sides of opinions. But elite really doesn’t reflect LPU at all, and I didn’t really want people to think that was our opinions of ourselves. Its funny how one work can bring up so much controversy