Fans of The Spot have boycotted their beloved soap and, last week, launched a protest bulletin board: The Spot Bored. Their agenda? Convince American Cybercast that its sex-and-intrigue soap opera, one of the Web's oldest and most successful, needs plot consistency, reasonable character motivation, and better interaction with its fans.
Readers began to object a month ago when American Cybercast re-launched as a TV-style "interactive network." During the restructuring, ACMY's four serials received a makeover, altering the content to be what spokeswoman Debbie Myers describes as being "more soap-like," and appealing to a larger, more mainstream audience.
According to fans, however, it was plain old dumbed-down. "I don't like soap operas, but while The Spot dealt with seven bimbos living on the beach, the cover belied the content: They had mature discussions and community," says boycott organizer Harry Zink. "Now it's an insult to the intelligence of the fans."
It was when AMCY decided to fire Jeff Gouda - the writer behind three Spot characters and the SpotBoard's liaison between fans and management - that fans put up The Spot Bored. The exit of Gouda, one of 12 employees laid off on 17 November, made fans feel that their objections were no longer being heard. AMCY also scaled back its new daily serial, * The Pyramid*.
The Spot is a Web institution which at one point drew 100,000 hits a day from fans lusting after the latest bikini-shots of the beach-bimbo cast, and it created a cult-like community within the SpotBoard chat rooms. "I've met a good 50 people, and flown to California twice to meet people from the SpotBoard," says Maria Gigliotti, a boycott participant. "We're a close-knit group."
Zink claims that the boycott is hurting American Cybercast's hits - and judging by the hundreds of posts on the Spot Bored BBS, the protest has definitely drawn the interest of a large portion of the SpotBoard community. Myers writes it off as simply a "handful" of protesters - though she says she's personally talked with 28 upset fans.
Many Spot fans are simply moving on. "I'm reading LightSpeed Media's GrapeJam now, and I think a lot of people are just sort of migrating there instead," Gigliotti says. Others like the battle. "What's going on here is more gripping than The Pyramid could ever be," Zink notes.
