Stern Fan Network

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Stern Fan Network

SFN main page
URL	http://sternfannetwork.com
Commercial?	No
Type of site	Fan Forum
Registration	required
Owner	Mutt
Created by	Mutt
Launched	2000
Revenue	unknown
Current status	active

Stern Fan Network (SFN) is a popular Howard Stern fan Internet forum. It has become popular mainly due to frequent mentions of the site by Howard Stern. The founder of the site, Mutt, hosts the Sirius Howard 101 program Superfan Roundtable.

Stern was quoted in January 2006 as saying he was, "off the Stern Fan Network", citing the provocative and often inflammatory material on the forum section of the website.

[edit] History

Stern Fan Network was created in 2000 by "Mutt," a "super fan" of Howard Stern, who started the website with no prior web design experience.

Initially, SFN consisted of a relatively small community of Howard Stern fans. This first phase of SFN encompassed the years 2000 and 2001, a period referred to as "SFN 1." Its growth during that time can be attributed in part to current moderator Joey Boots, one of the earliest SFN members, winning the "Pornoween" contest, and the appearances of Crazy Cabbie, which generated a now-defunct "ihatecabbie.com" website that was linked to SFN. Unlike today's SFN, during the SFN 1 phase, virtually all SFN members were familiar with one another. There were no "SFN Supporters" who donated money to the site in order to obtain full posting privileges and custom avatars. Mutt allowed regular users to customize their own avatars simply by emailing them to him. [1] In August 2001, Mutt was forced to shut down SFN because of the computer hacking activities of three members. In September 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Mutt reopened SFN. However in December of 2001, the site shut down again, and did not re-open until March 2002.[2]

In May 2002, the "SFN 2" phase began. This period, which ran until approximately mid-2004, saw an ever-increasing number of members. SFN 2 ushered in what was then called "SFN VIP" status, which allowed users to "support" the site by giving a small donation via PayPal, in return for which the user was allowed to upload attachments to their posts, upload a custom avatar, use private areas of the board, and send private messages.[3]

In mid-2004, around the time that Stern announced that a message board would be created on his website, howardstern.com[4], SFN experienced another period of growth due to the interest generated by Stern in using message boards to talk about his show. Thus began the "SFN 3" phase. It was during this phase that the process of temporarily banning users to the "Time Out" forum began.[5] Site rules against criticizing the increasing number of show regulars who used SFN or harassing female members, which had been unevenly enforced before at best, were now regularly enforced. Users sent to "time out" who continued their misbehavior were given "dead accounts."

SFN's fourth phase began simultaneously with Stern's move to SIRIUS Satellite Radio in January 2006. Stern's promoting the site on his show led to a doubling of the number of users, many of whom had been former posters on the by-then defunct Howard Stern Bulletin Board on howardstern.com. This influx of membership led to a number of criticisms that SFN had become much what the Howard Stern Bulletin Board was, in that posts on the front page of the site's main forum, General Chatter, slipped to the back pages within minutes of the time they were posted. Another criticism was of the new users running up post counts to previously unheard of numbers, often by just posting smiley faces, random pictures, pointless and/or content-less messages, or posting just for the sake of posting or to grab attention. To keep matters under control and to avoid the fate that befell the Howard Stern Bulletin Board, Mutt and his staff had to rigorously enforce the site rules. According to Joey Boots, the forum moderator who is Mutt's top "enforcer" mod, "a site has to have an asshole like me keeping order . . . this place runs as smooth as a baby's bottom covered in KY Jelly."[6]

[edit] Stern on SFN

Remarking on SFN during his show, Stern mentioned that many of the posters criticized the fact that he is rerecording his old bits. Stern went on to claim that he will never visit the web site again, adding that, although reading about himself is usually his greatest pleasure, he cannot deal with negative comments. Fred Norris mentioned that he cannot believe some of the people on the site refer to themselves as “fans” of the show when all they do is complain. Norris added that “the idiots” on the Stern Fan Network are dictating what Stern thinks, and that he should not let their remarks get to him. When Stern warned Norris that he was going to get nailed on SFN because of his remarks, Norris responded that he did not care what the posters wrote about him.

[edit] Regulars on the Stern Fan Network

Regular posters include cast of the Howard Stern Show, frequent guests, Wack Packers, Superfans, and casual listeners.

Notable regulars include:

• Mutt, Creator of SFN and hosts Superfan Roundtable.
• Joey Boots, Reclusive member of The Wack Pack
• Reverend Bob Levy, Stern Show Semi-Regular
• Eric the Midget, Wack Packer, Occasional caller
• Johnny Fratto, Occasional guest, business owner
• High Pitch Eric, Wack Packer
• Crazy Cabbie, Former K-Rock DJ
• Jessica Hahn, Stern Show Occasional Call-In Guest
• Yucko the Clown, Stern Show Occasional Guest