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I've seen more fan organizations pull stunts like that than I could shake a stick at. Thanks Brian for the warning, and thanks to all of the admin here at Hazzardnet for keeping things fair. I came into this thread out of slight interest, but now I'm leaving it again, a smarter person and a few dollars richer.

When it comes to DOH sites, Ive been with Hnet since it was knee high to a grasshopper. In my opinion its the best DOH website out there and always will be. No one can touch Hnet and MeadowMufn, Brian and MaryAnne have invested years in this place to make it what it is today and for that, I know I speak for all of us when I say THANK YOU!! As for the Official DOH fan club, its never struck my interest really, why go there when Hnet has more to offer? Never have been impressed with the official club before and I doubt it can strike my fancy now. After reading Brian's post, Im really not impressed with the official club. In fact, it sounds like a huge ripe off! I think I'll take your advice Brian and save my fifteens bucks for the real place thats for DOH fans, Dukesfest! Jax

This is very true. I administrate a different (non DoH) forum with close to 2,000 people on it, and without V-Bullitin format, I found it to be very hard to weed out the junk and get rid of troublemakers who come in trying to sell all kinds of non-family-friendly junk to the forum. V-Bullitin has a great means in which new members can be checked automatically to keep the spammers and computer bots out of the system. I can't say much for the old system here, because I wasn't around here long enough to get used to it. But, I can say that I am really overjoyed with this upgrade. At the very least, it is a format that I can easily navigate. I don't really want to pick nits with anyone about this, we all have our preferences, but we regular forum members don't always see the nonsense that administrators go through in working a forum. Based entirely on my experiences, sometimes it can be downright unsettling. The issue of huge sigs are not as easy to moderate as one may think. This involves a massive amount of PMs and haggling with members to keep their graphics at a reasonable size. I have seen countless forums go over the top with graphic issues, and the ones with obnoxious signature sizes I left because I got tired of scrolling screen after screen trying to see what these people were posting. I know this from experience, and a lot of people have gotten downright angry with me when I've said their sig is too large on the forum where I work, some people have gone as far as to ignore my messages. The problem is there are a lot of people who use dialup connections who have a really hard time trying to read a forum because of the obscene amount of graphics on some people's signature files. Not everyone uses high speed internet connections, so forums have to take these folks into consideration. A lot of forums out there simply won't do it, and they miss out on a lot of members as a result.

HazzardNet is independent of all other Dukes clubs and websites, and always has been, and unless MeadowMufn gets her brain reprogrammed by aliens I doubt that will ever change. Tho' over the years, we've been good neighbors with the Confederate General Lee Fan Club. We recognize that several people on HNet hail from there, and that's cool. You're always welcome. As are members of whatever other sites and clubs. I'm going to break from HazzardNet's officially neutral stance on all the fandom politics and tell you exactly what I think of the "official" DOH fan club as run by Aneesh. I used to be a dues-paying member of it. The opinions expressed from here on out are my own, and not necessarily those of HNet, or Mufn, or MaryAnne. Aneesh, by his own admission, is a kid who never wanted to work for a living. So he came up with a fan club and suckered people into paying $15 to join. I was one of the morons who fell for his ad in a trade publication back in the mid-90's. What I got for fifteen dollars was diddly-squat. Aneesh would send out a poorly photocopied "newsletter" about three times a year, that was barely legible. His partner in slime, Michael Streit, helped him a lot. Michael had an impressive Dukes collection. The purpose of the first Dukesfest that he and Aneesh put on in Covington, GA, was more or less an opportunity to pimp Michael's Dukes collection. Aneesh also sold bootleg copies of photographs along with items that had been donated to the "club." Michael had told me back then that he was getting ready to get out and that's why he was letting go of all the stuff he could. In short he was cashing in now that he had an opportunity. One of the things Michael cashed in on, was an autographed photo he'd received free from Jimmy. Michael turned around and sold it to a fan for $35.00. The fan took it to Jimmy at a later appearance, and asked if he could personalize it. Jimmy recognized it, found out what the fan paid for it, and was very upset. This was just one example of many. This happened with many materials that the "official" club got for free from cast members and WB. I'd like to say that the proceeds went to the club to "cover expenses" but that'd be baloney. Isn't that why they charged a membership fee - and still do? These are the same guys who can barely send a newsletter or keep a website running. I do give them credit for organizing a fan event of any kind, and in getting Ben and Sonny and Jerry Rushing and Don Pedro to hang out for awhile. Tho' Aneesh charged $25 to fan club members for advance tickets. Yet if you walked in off the streets of Covington, as whoever, you got in for $10. ( It was a tiny set up in an empty retail store in a strip mall. ) There were a handful of Chargers there, but they couldn't stay put long enough for fans to see them. They were busy running around town and showing off. There was supposedly a "guided tour" of filming sites, and cars were supposed to follow a GL. The GL went so fast that many people got lost. There was no schedule of events. There was a party at the original Boar's Nest, a half-assed affair that required more money to attend. I think I paid $20 more to get into that. Other people later showed up at the door and got in free. I realized fast that there was no altruism in this "fan club" and members were not treated equally. I could tell ya'll a lot of dirt. But what speaks louder than anything I could say, is the fact that Ben himself banned the "official" DOH club from representation at DukesFest. Wanna know why? Aneesh/Marky B. had bought a bunch of photos from Cooter's Place, back when this was at Sperryville, and then marked them up to sell at their "club" table. There were other issues, but out of respect to the parties concerned and our usual neutrality, I won't detail them. I realize that there's very few saints in the fandom, and the cast members themselves are very dollar-driven. This is a fandom, this is a family, but it's also a business and means of income to many people and I'm keenly aware of that. When it comes to the "official" fan club, my advice is, save your money. Brian