A TEAM FANS (NOT)

I guess you could say I'm a bit of an A Team fan. I loved that show from the first time it was aired on Jordan TV's English channel, and made my kids watch it with me every week. Cable started running it a couple of years ago, and I unplugged the phone so no one could bother me during it, I was also known to hang up on people just as it was starting. One day, after hanging up on Striar The Liar (STL) he told me that the actor who played Murdock was dead. I ran to my new computer to find out if it was true, and not only found out that it wasn't, but that there were a fair number of fan sites out there. I promptly joined the one that looked the most friendly, and immersed myself in TAT. Through these lists I meat some wonderful people, one of whom was trying to organize a 20th anniversary party in England with the remaining cast and crew. This looked to be a most brilliant idea, so, I signed up. I not only signed up, I started a campaign to get another of the fans to be able to go too. In the end, we managed to get her sorted for the trip.(A mission in true A team fashion) At the last minute, the con was cancelled, but that didn't stop us. We just changed plans and went to London for a week, and on the Saturday had a noncon at a hotel in Bournemouth. After the noncon, where we meat some of the people behind the names, I realized that that was even better in some ways than having a convention with *stars* because the real stars of The A Team are the fans. Jipster, the gal who put her whole self into the 'con that wasn't,' came to the noncon even though she was financially and emotionally devastated by having to cancel the convention. She was one of many bright spots of that day. Just about a year later, Dwight Schultz was scheduled to be at another convention in the same town Jips had planned to have her con. I decided to go, but there was a bit of a problem. I desperately wanted to go with Jips, but she just couldn't afford it. I came up with a plan in the best A Team fashion. As I couldn't pay for her ticket and a hotel for both us, I asked if maybe I'd pay for her ticket and she'd be the hotel and we could maybe commute? Yes! She agreed, and I got to know the most fantastic person you can imagine. Jips was the Boss Of Me for 5 days and what a 5 days they were. That gal is magical. Not many could put up with this aging gimp and treat her like a contemporary in spite of the age difference. I have a daughter Jips' age, but, for those few days I was just another nutter in a wheelchair. My daughter could learn a thing or two from Jips.
Leia Fee,who was at the first noncon, and I thought it might be nice to have another noncon in October, and asked Jips' permission to use her mailing lists to see who might be interested in coming. Jips' agreed, but little did we know that some people she hasn't refunded ticket money to jumped in an asked for refunds on the list. The whole thing has escalated into a nightmare for Jips that is making me sick. Ok, so, most of them aren't privileged to know her, and don't know how totally devastated she was by having to cancel her con. It wiped her out financially, to put it mildly, not to mention emotionally. I've decided not to jump into the conflagration on list and have been talking to Jips off list. What infuriates me so is that these A Team fans seem to have missed the entire point of the show. Ok, so they paid for something they didn't get, but most got their money back. What I want to know is: WHAT WOULD THE A TEAM HAVE DONE? I think the answer is clear to anyone who saw so much as one episode. They would have come up with a plan to destroy the jerk who caused the con to be cancelled and found a way to help Jips either pull it off, or pay EVERYONE back. I KNOW what it's like to owe money and thankfully I don't have any outstanding debts at the moment. I can't imagine that any of the people who are still owed will find lasting financial recovery from their situations if she repays them now even with interest. I mean, really, is £ 100 going to make that much of a difference one way or another? I don't want to hear it's the principle of the thing because it isn't. While I was in England for the first noncon, STL was merrily depleting my bank account and in the end I took a 20000 shekel loss from him, then, I took another hit from a local 'business' man. I somehow managed to claw my way back to some semblance of financial health while continuing to pay for yet another mistake. I can't count the monies owed me that I've written off simply because they won't make that much difference in the scheme of things. Unfortunately to Jips every £ counts and she's already paid off thousands resulting from the cancellation. If only these so called A Team fans had put their heads together to find a way to help her out with the debt, things would be so much better. Jips is the gal who has Been running some of the best A Team sites on the web out of her own pocket for years. I think we owe her much more than we are giving her now, at the very least, we owe her a write off of what we think we think she owes us. 1 repayment of £ 100 isn't much, but multiply by even 20 and we are talking money, people, money she just doesn't have because she was wiped out by not being able to have the con. I saw WE OWE her big time for all the hours, days, and years she gave us of herself by providing some of the best A Team lists and sites on the web, and because we call ourselves A Team fans.