The Noory Virus

[GuerrillaUnReal]

I think this deserves it's own thread as it's really the only internet phenomenon of it's kind I can think of.

I've mentioned this theory of mine a couple of times. But I'd like to bring your attention to what I call The Noory Virus.

Essentially what happened is around 2002-2003 there was about a dozen thriving C2C forums/online communities. This was right around the time I found the show and becoming an instant junkie of the show, I was constantly on online C2C communities to get more info about the show. However this is right around the time Art was running out of steam and it was apparent that Noory was going to become the full-time host.

It was utterly fascinating watching Noory murder online communities with his complete talentless incompetence and shilling. For the first six months or so there was diminishing optimism that George just needed some time to get his legs under him and that he was Art's choice for the heir apparent. And as the optimism diminshed so did activity until virtually every online C2C community simply stopped functioning.

The most telling of these was the old Pirates site which was arguably the most active Art Bell site with several posts and threads a day. Reading the archives and watching the activity cease was like watching a pandemic rage through an ancient civilization until it completely wiped them out. The Pirates' board activity dropped to maybe a few posts a day and then disappeared all together.

Noory has made a few attempts to cultivate online support of him, even going so far as to pander and mention shitty little communities that had barely any activity. But without fail virtually every pro-Noory site either turn on him or disappeared completely.

Never in my life have I seen such a dramatic destruction of a fan base in history.

Meanwhile this plucky little pro-Bell site that started as a protest against Noory suddenly turned into something of a revolution and the biggest and most active C2C in perhaps the long history of the show. And the entire focus of this website is largely just how bad George Noory is.

Can you think of anything that parallels this? The sociology of just what a fuck-up this was is amazing.

[onan]

I think this deserves it's own thread as it's really the only internet phenomenon of it's kind I can think of.

I've mentioned this theory of mine a couple of times. But I'd like to bring your attention to what I call The Noory Virus.

Essentially what happened is around 2002-2003 there was about a dozen thriving C2C forums/online communities. This was right around the time I found the show and becoming an instant junkie of the show, I was constantly on online C2C communities to get more info about the show. However this is right around the time Art was running out of steam and it was apparent that Noory was going to become the full-time host.

It was utterly fascinating watching Noory murder online communities with his complete talentless incompetence and shilling. For the first six months or so there was diminishing optimism that George just needed some time to get his legs under him and that he was Art's choice for the heir apparent. And as the optimism diminshed so did activity until virtually every online C2C community simply stopped functioning.

The most telling of these was the old Pirates site which was arguably the most active Art Bell site with several posts and threads a day. Reading the archives and watching the activity cease was like watching a pandemic rage through an ancient civilization until it completely wiped them out. The Pirates' board activity dropped to maybe a few posts a day and then disappeared all together.

Noory has made a few attempts to cultivate online support of him, even going so far as to pander and mention shitty little communities that had barely any activity. But without fail virtually every pro-Noory site either turn on him or disappeared completely.

Never in my life have I seen such a dramatic destruction of a fan base in history.

Meanwhile this plucky little pro-Bell site that started as a protest against Noory suddenly turned into something of a revolution and the biggest and most active C2C in perhaps the long history of the show. And the entire focus of this website is largely just how bad George Noory is.

Can you think of anything that parallels this? The sociology of just what a fuck-up this was is amazing.

Excellent post. I can't come up with any example that matches the ineffectual noory.

[laserjock]

Noory is a con-man, a wanna-be, and an under-performer.  Can't even find a wife, he must jerk off a lot, because he jerks off a lot on the air...

[bigchucka]

...the old pirates site.  I'm assuming you mean Fantastic Forum?  As a side note, to the best of my knowledge FF and here have been the only ones Art had actually joined and posted on...

[albrecht]

Phil Hendrie also did same. I'm not sure if he was also PRN/CC guy or why but he had (not as many but many dedicated) fans and fan sites, tape sharers, and archive sites but went full-bore into lawsuits, commenting about them negatively, etc. A different show type than C2C but he really pissed off a lot of dedicated fans. On the opposite side (and diff market than C2C or Phil) The Greaseman encouraged fans to share tapes of his awesome ol bits and even though, I think, now not working still comments to people who put up sites with his old shows. Again dedicated fans who taped shows and even now (20+yrs later) put them up on the web etc. He even emailed me once when I found his site (years ago) and said how much I liked him back in the day in DC and was so happy to find shows on the internet.

[starrmtn001]

...the old pirates site.  I'm assuming you mean Fantastic Forum?  As a side note, to the best of my knowledge FF and here have been the only ones Art had actually joined and posted on...

You were correct at the time of your post.  Back then, The Fantastic Forum was the one and only Art Bell Forum.  Since the birth of BellGab, Art is now a member of both Forums.  The majority of his posts are made here.

[starrmtn001]

There is an anti-Noory Virus now.  It's called "Midnight In The Desert" and it's proving to be a 100% cure!  

[GuerrillaUnReal]

There is an anti-Noory Virus now.  It's called "Midnight In The Desert" and it's proving to be a 100% cure!

It's very amusing that in the space of a month, there's now over a dozen online communities talking about MITD nightly. Noory couldn't get one in over a decade. 

[Gassy Man]

I cut George Noory quite a bit of slack early on, and truthfully, he wasn't as absymal as he is now.  But his head has not been in the game, so to speak, for a long, long time.

And this is how foolish he is:  People here and elsewhere who criticized him were essentially giving him free advice on how (as well as why) he should improve.  Instead, he dug in his heels and went the opposite way, even as the ratings declined.  There is something to be said for pride.  But the density with which he approached the situation speaks to his lack of intelligence alone.  Even in the face of running the show into the ground, the guy didn't have the brains to think about what people were saying rather than, like a child, ignore it.

The only other experience I can think of that is somewhat similar is criticism for that last Star Trek show -- Enterprise.  I recall reading fan sites online where people routinely criticized the show for all it did wrong, and the producers were very much aware.  They dismissed the criticism as the ratings kept declining until a new producer was brought in who tried to revamp the show (or at least figured he didn't have anything to lose).  The show was the only one of the contemporary spinoffs that did not have a seven-year run.

Oddly enough, a lot of the criticisms were aesthetic -- the show looked "too advanced" for the time period, and many fans hoped for something that resembled the original show.  But the producers new better.  Then, after the show gets cancelled, J.J. Abrams comes along -- and he's no David Lean -- and creates something that blends the look and feel of the old show with a more contemporary movie.  The result is a blockbuster.  In many ways, this is what people wanted with Enterprise.  But, of course, those two -- who have largely disappeared from making television -- knew better.

So, there's something to be said for listening to the hardcore fans, or at least considering what they say.  The idea of "we know better" might work for some people, but the people who are the base are likely to wander away.  That's not exactly what's gone on with Coast to Coast, but a lot fewer people are listening today than when George Noory took over.  And people didn't mind Noory taking over -- what they minded was him being a buffoon and taking something that worked and turning it into a parody.

[PB the Deplorable]

... And this is how foolish he is:  People here and elsewhere who criticized him were essentially giving him free advice on how (as well as why) he should improve.  Instead, he dug in his heels and went the opposite way...

The only other experience I can think of that is somewhat similar is criticism for that last Star Trek show -- Enterprise...

The free advice George gets here is invaluable, but George just plain does not want to put in the effort.  He realizes he can get by by doing little to nothing, other than going on the air at 10pm and reading the news copy and cue cards cold.

Continuing with the Star Trek analogy, George is the Wesley Crusher of overnight radio

[starrmtn001]

The free advice George gets here is invaluable, but George just plain does not want to put in the effort.  He realizes he can get by by doing little to nothing, other than going on the air at 10pm and reading the news copy and cue cards cold.

Continuing with the Star Trek analogy, George is the Wesley Crusher of overnight radio

You are being far too kind to Dave Paper*Boy.  I see Dave more as a Ferengi, and a mediocre one at that.