NoHomers.net
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| NoHomers.net | |
|---|---|
 NoHomers.net front portal page. |
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| URL | http://www.nohomers.net and http://www.nohomers.com |
| Type of site | Internet forum |
| Registration | Free, Public |
| Owner | Eric Wirtanen, Jacob Burch |
| Created by | Eric Wirtanen, Jonah Flynn, Tino Persico |
NoHomers.net is a large community fan site for the television show The Simpsons. It was launched 27 August 2001. Although the site contains many features typical to Simpsons fan sites, including an episode guide and images, its primary draw is the No Homers Club message board, which has over 21,000 members, 62,000 threads, and 1.8 million posts.
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[edit] History
The No Homers Club (aka NHC) was created by Eric Wirtanen (aka thecapecoddah) in 2001 with assistance from Jonah Flynn (aka Tomacco) and Tino Persico (aka Datoupee). It was originally a part of the "Evergreen Terrace" Simpsons fan site (February 1998 - August 2002), which first held the domain. Although at that time the Internet had dozens of Simpsons discussion websites, the NHC quickly gained the support of other fan sites and their webmasters.
After Wirtanen shut down his "Evergreen Terrace" website in 2002 (largely due to a cease and desist order from 20th Century Fox), the NHC became largely independent and developed a large community. The forum's address was originally club.nohomers.net but the board moved to simpsonsforum.com within days after its creation. In October of 2002 it took its current domain. Since 2002, Jacob Burch (aka Roarke) has also had a large part in the maintenance of NoHomers.net and as of June 2006 is the co-owner of the webpage [1].
The website took its title from an episode of The Simpsons, "Homer the Great", written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Jim Reardon. In the episode, Homer laments that years ago his peers started a "No Homers Club" and excluded him from the group, even though they let in a boy by the name of Homer Glumplich. (This is explained by the fact that it's the No Homers (plural) Club, and they're "allowed to have one.") See here for further reference.
[edit] Forum software
When the forums were first created in August 2001, the NHC ran on the YaBB forum software. However, in October 2001 (after just a few months), the NHC started using vBulletin forum software. As of May 2008 the message board runs on the vBulletin 3.7 platform.
[edit] Episode reviews
The site lets users critique individual episodes of The Simpsons. Users can rate, review, and discuss each episode. Criticism ranges from the harsh to the approving. One constant debate concerns the difference in quality between old and new episodes.
[edit] Show involvement
The staff of The Simpsons, including creator Matt Groening and current show runner Al Jean, has acknowledged the community several times on some of the DVD audio commentaries. They go into detail in the episode commentary for "Homer the Great". The producers of The Simpsons do read the website often. On the aforementioned commentary, David Mirkin, a former show runner, joked that it should be renamed "the worst show ever weekly" forum.[2] In response, the tagline appeared in the forum's default banner until April 2006.
In addition, in the DVD commentary for The Simpsons Movie during a conversation regarding how die-hard fans of the series would be upset about Moe's Tavern being located adjacent to the First Church of Springfield in the film, Jean remarked "This is for you, No Homers!"[3]
Groening also mentioned the website in the June 2007 issue of Playboy Magazine, stating that NoHomers.net "has the most vocal fans [of The Simpsons]. They often act like spurned lovers if they don't like something."[4] Wirtanen later responded to Groening by saying "Of course we often act like spurned lovers — The Simpsons hasn't satisfied some of us in years. Nevertheless, the show is still more satisfying than our imaginary girlfriends."[5]
The staff of the show has also been in direct contact with some site administrators. Al Jean once posted a message to fans about some comments voice actor Harry Shearer had made about the show [6]
The website has hosted question-and-answer sessions with three former executive producers. In early 2002, Al Jean (who had just become the show runner) answered questions for fans, and in late 2005, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein answered questions in the first of two moderated sessions, coinciding with the release of the seventh season on DVD. They also took questions in January 2006 for the commentaries for the eighth season on DVD, which they would be soon recording. Both have also occasionally contributed to other threads on the forum.
In addition, other staff such as show animators Jen Kamerman and Sarge Morton; Bongo Comics writers/artists Bill Morrison, Ian Boothby, Chris Ungar, Gail Simone and Jesse McCann have dropped by the site to interact with users and answer any questions about some of the less-frequently addressed aspects of the show. Jesse McCann also took part in a Q&A session in late 2006 and early 2007.
In the episode, "Sleeping with the Enemy", from the show's sixteenth season, director Lauren MacMullan confirmed that they added a sign in the bowling alley to pay homage to the website [7] The sign said "N.H.C. Champs! 15 Seasons" and can be seen for about a second.
[edit] Origin of No Homers Club
Boy: Hey Billy! Hey Joey! Come on in. There's plenty of room. Sorry, not you, Homer.
Homer: Why not!?
- [boy points to sign, "No Homers Club"]
Homer: But you let in Homer Glumplich!
Homer Glumplich: [pops head out window] Hyuck hyuck!
Boy: It says no Homers. We're allowed to have one.
Homer: Oh.
— The Simpsons episode 2F09, "Homer the Great"[8].
[edit] References
- ^ Roarke named co-owner of NoHomers.net; Channel Surfer now an admin - No Homers Club
- ^ Groening, Matt; Mirkin, David; Castellaneta, Dan; Smith, Yeardley. (2005). The Simpsons Season 6 DVD commentary for the episode "Homer the Great" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Brooks, James L.; Groening, Matt; Jean, Al; Scully, Mike; Silverman, David; Castellaneta, Dan; Smith, Yeardley. (2007). The Simpsons Movie DVD commentary [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Sheff, David (2007, June). The Playboy Interview - Matt Groening. Playboy (p. 60).
- ^ "NoHomers Rises for Battle - The Playboy Blog" (page), Playboy.com, webpage: [1]
- ^ No Homers Club
- ^ [2].
- ^ "Homer the Great". The Simpsons.
