So I had this idea, that I thought was nice and sweet.
Turns out it was a really bad idea, and I’ve really turned some people off.
I’m super sorry.
To those of you who also thought it was a good idea, and contributed, thank you. We’ll be having a nice dinner. To those of you who felt the need to attack me about it, I appreciate your honesty, even if your words stung a bit.
I’m totally at a loss for words.
I just…well…I’m sorry, everyone.
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Well, I think it’s a great idea. Not many wives can put up with such things. Trust me, my mother doesn’t put up with my dad’s online addiction. It’s something wonderful and considering how patient Mrs Wheaton has been, she deserves something. Not only from Wil, but from all of us. Because Wil wanted to entertain us, she goes to bed alone.
Those who don’t like it should bloody well shut up.
Hey Wil,
Forget about all the nay sayers. If they weren’t complaining about this, it would be something else. So shake this off and take Anne out to dinner and have a great time no matter what you guys decide to do.
I thought it was a sweet idea. I wish my husband would think about taking me out for Val.Day, but then we would have to find someone watch the kid.
Ahhh. I was wondering where that piece went. Saw it this morning, then came back and it was gone. Ooooof.
It’s funny: when I saw it, I was thinking of this company I used to work for. The company gave Christmas bonuses not just to the staff, but to spouses (!) whose generosity allowed the staff to work all those horrible long hours. I thought it was a really nice idea.
I guess it could have looked like you were just going for cash. Remember, to some people you’re a guy with a website they enjoy reading: a fellow Netizen. To others, you’re Wil F****** Wheaton, to coin a phrase, and not really a “real” person at all, and sometimes things just are interpreted differently when your pal says ’em vs. when a “celebrity” says ’em. Maybe you got hit with that. 🙂
Well, ain’t that the way it goes though? Sometimes you’ll have what you thought was a good idea, or say something you think is funny, only to find out that you really upset someone. At that time, there is, of course, nothing left to do but cringe and hope you get over it. Lol!
Don’t worry about it, Wil. These things happen. heheh
Well, frankly, anyone who’s caught up in the star-watching thing is a complete idiot. I think suggesting we take Ann(e) to dinner is more pleasant than the idea of movie studios paying certain actors millions of dollars for what turns out to be REALLY bad performances and thus making them get all caught up in themselves and ignoring their fans as best as possible. Not to name names. Although, I’m sure we could call come up with unique lists of 100’s. I’ll take Wil and his wife’s dinner over that ANY time.
Wil, I wish you lived in Wisconsin…
Then you could *really* be the Cheese.
Mr. Wheaton (SIR!),
Please extend to Your beautiful, kind, and caring wife our thanks for Her appreciation of Your strengths and abilities, in addition to Her tolerance of Your weaknesses and foibles. It takes an exceptional woman to do so, even more rare in the modern-day “Me” world than ever before.
Were I able, I’d gladly shower Her in flowers and chocolates and cheese simply for being a good human being.
Which She must be, of course, else You wouldn’t be with Her.
As to the naysayers…. I think that if one of us, rather than You, had suggested that we show Your wife our appreciation by sending flowers or the like, it would have been better received. In fact, I had considered suggesting it before You made the post. Now, though, it would undoubtedly be taken as asskissing rather than an honest thought.
And who wants ass-scented flowers, anyway?
Wil,
YOU are the reason why we come to your site! I donated $5 because I’ve had the web site v.s. lover conflict before in my life. It was a good idea, and i think you should have a permanent link to donate money to: (1) Wil’s computer education fund or (2) The wife gift fund.
I’ll donate!!
I’m probably way late on giving my $0.02, but for what it’s worth:
When I gave $5, I didn’t see it as anyone begging for money. I saw it as a way for me to say: “Hey Mrs. W, thanks for being so darn gracious about the lot of us hogging your husband’s attention so much!”
And I also have to agree with some of the folks above: Don’t sweat it, Wil. One of the things that makes you and your site so cool is the fact that you actually give a crap about your kraaasy fans. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t put all this time into the site! I think/hope that Anne knows that the reason why you’re on the computer so much is because you’re just trying to be a nice guy. 🙂
Dude.
I’m not going to pretend I know all the intimate details of what happened here earlier. But whatever you did, hey, it’s no big deal. The sky shall not come crashing down, and Britney Spears will not have talented children.
Your wife is wonderful. I’ve never met her, but from what we all hear, she roooooolz. Rules, even.
So go, have sex, be merry. That’s really all I can suggest.
Well, if anyone’s interested.
Don’t sweat it – it was a cool idea and f ’em if they can’t deal with it.
Trust me.
Anne resents the evil box as much as Mrs. Roughy…but, then again, I’ll bet you’ve never been left-hooked by Mrs. Roughy because someone was secretly IMing her…
I think some people get their knickers in a twist too easily. Wil…it’s your site…do what you want. It seems that breathing will piss people off at times. Don’t let it get you down.
Ok…back to lurking…
~C
Bwahahaha.
Nice one, Russ.
OK..First Wil you DID not do something “uncool”
maybe a bit different but so what? Like I said in the post that got deleted it was kind of sweet
like a Hallmark card in a alternate universe
..Stop worrying about what the naysayers say
when they say nay…We DO come here day after day
(or in some instances hour after hour)because we
CARE about you and your extended family..we feel
like we know a small and private part of you..
(or so we would like to think!)its YOUR site
you MAY DO WHAT YOU WANT with it (sir)..please
honestly..feel the love.
Now..for all you regulars..I finally get a reply
from Spudnuts..OK just a reference..and THAT part
of the thread is the one that gets deleted!!
WHINE WHINE WHINE..
Is the weather “nice” in WA?
wil,
Im sure its what alot of poeple like about your site is that Your/you’re a farkin goofball.
Hell, when I was in college, there was only one tv station. After Letterman, Jim & Tammy Faye came on, they always asked for money and I kept watching them.
When I read your idea this morning I was really touched, and thought it was a really sweet.
I think it is really great that you are thinking of thoughtful things to do for the woman you love.
Don’t let anyone make you feel bad about it. You sound like an awesome husband! I think that is what matters not what a bunch of grumpy people think!
Wil,
Man, I missed the post on the main page this morning—guess you can’t miss a minute on this site!
Dude, it was a _great_ idea. Do not _at all_ feel anything other than good wishes from us when you take Anne out. You can’t please everyone all of the time, and you can’t feel responsible for other people’s reactions. Don’t let the vocal minority drag you down. If you’re still taking donations when my next paycheck arrives (next Thurs.) I’d like to donate some $$–make it your St. Patrick’s Day outing! Peace, love, and joy, Master Wil….
For the love of heaven! Give us PO BOX already wil ya Mr Wheaton?! (SIR!)
Some of us here understood the gesture and appreciated same. Sheesh! Can some of these people grow at least one humourous bone in their bodies?
I gotta admit, I haven’t been around for long, but I “got” it and appreciated the thought. The rest of the negativity brigade can go home.
Anyway, a BIG happy Valentine’s day to everyone. Share the love! 🙂
I hate those haters. I never once saw anything wrong with your idea and those haters have nothing better to do with their lives other than hating you, flaming you and destroying your day.
These haters don’t look at pornos to get off on it, they get off on hating people and that’s what turns them on. Trolling website forums and newsgroups and get off on the responses and wipe themselves afterwards.
If I had my way, I’d round up every single haters out there, tie them up on a flagpole and get out my blowtorch. I’d mark “F@ck You!” on their backs while they f@ckin’ scream! Then tattoo “I’m an a$$h@le” on their foreheads and let them go.
Problem is with this world that there is too many haters out here in this world.
F@ck’em all!
Hey Wil,
I think someone in there had a good idea with the “Send Flowers to Mrs. Wheaton Fund” That would be a great way to let your wife know that we appreciate her understanding.
On a more personal note, I wasn’t going to donate and I did kind of think it was a little crass BUT I didn’t freak out and start name calling. It seemed like a good idea that just came off wrong.
However, I would donate to the “Send Flowers to Mrs. Wheaton Fund.” Just because that seems to get the point across a little better.
Ditto what Jsc said. In fact, ditto what a lot of the monkey have said. Though I missed all the hub-bub, I know what’s going on. I thought it was a sweet idea. Shake off them haters. Have a wonderful dinner w/Mrs. Wheaton.
This was bound to piss people off reguardless of what purpose it served, good or bad intentions. Its hard to ask a fanbase for money unless you serve an invisible man in the sky otherwise u might hear words like betrayed or soldout. I found it a little odd myself(have actually been expecting a bandwidth fund which makes sense) but I didnt think wil deserved to be flamed. I think those people will see startrek10 anyway.
“Shake off them haters” – at least that’s what the kids are saying these days. I’m hip to the lingo, rizz-ite?
I suppose if I shouldn’t say this it’ll get deleted… but if you really wanted to contribute to the fund despite its removal I suspect one might choose to simply use paypal and send it to [email protected] his normal e-mail address (which is also the one that the fund was linked to). I believe there’s a nice little space to write “hey, this is for..” on the page when you send it so he’d know what it was for. As if he couldn’t figure it out.
1) seems to me that part of the nice thing about the net is that anyone who has a site can put anything they want on it.
2) if you didn’t want to donate don’t, but as with everything you have free to choice to make that decision (okay so I can’t spell) so don’t get mad at wil for giving you a choice you didn’t like.
3) since wil puts so much work and money into this site it’s his call what he puts here and no one should make him feel bad for his choices.
okay I think I’m off my soapbox now *grin*
amellia
its funny how you keep removing the thread and putting it back.
come on, put it back on again, & quit freakin out
Alright, I have no clue what’s going on here, but from the general posts I get the feeling that you had asked for donations to get flowers for your wife or donations so that you could take her out.
*blinks*
She DOES deserve to them, considering how much time you spend on here with us, making your website for us, and entertaining us.
She must be one HELL of a patient woman, and one HELL of an understanding one too.
Hell, if I had money to send, I sure would, but I’m barely above broke man. I barely have enough cash for a litre of milk.
Anyways, you don’t need to hear about my financial troubles, point is I would gladly send whatever spare cash I have so that you could do something special for your wife.
But it’s like I always say to my husband…
“I don’t need a special day to let you know how much I love you.”
Please tell her I said thank you.
~Kaylin
Lets everyone just listen to John Lennon “Imagine” and be happy. 🙂
oop’s my bad..found the thread in the previous
days post..and now I’m more confused than ever..
cause maybe today was really yesterday? “LETS
DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN”
Wil, I’m glad you’ll still use the bucks on your wife; that is what some of us coughed it up for. ake her out, buy her some flowers, or some really wicked candy (don’t get her anything from Victoria’s Secret, cause we all know, that’d really be for YOU). If and when you get a PO Box we can send our own cards to thank her… my Spouse Thingy knows what it’s like to be on her end, going to bed alone whilst listening to the tap tap tap of computer keys. But hey, he’s a guy, he’s EASY to apologize to 😉
I don’t see what the big F…ing problem is people. If you had a problem with donating,then don’t donate. Who are you to judge Wil for doing this. He said for those that wanted to give back. If you didn’t feel like it then so be it. But for those of us who didn’t want to give something back, now we can’t. Thanks all you whiners. Don’t you have something better to complain about, I mean come on people. Get Real!
I guess this is the moment all the haters have been waiting for…so they can say “See! We were right about him all along! Yay! We hate him!”
It is so not about being a “hater” or being anything else. It’s about why someone makes a website or a blog — at least for us “purists” who have been doing this sort of thing for going on 7 years or so. Many of us have websites, work on which has caused our loved ones to be pissed, to be neglected, or to just want to toss our machines out the window. But we do this web thing and this blog thing because we love it, and we all eventually find the appropriate balance for ourselves.
If you are blogging for yourself, then you find that balance and you don’t begrudge your visitors your time. If you are blogging for some other purpose, then you may expect something else from your visitors and ignore other priorities.
I think Wil’s site is admirable, I have since I started visiting when it began. But the question for me is, is WIl blogging because he wants to, or because he has to in order to fulfill some other agenda? I think it’s the second, and I think that’s the source of people’s outrage at this recent silliness.
Sorry for my flaming. I just get so sick of those bastards.
Wil, it was a awesome idea and please do take her out and spend the donation on something nice to her. Dinner, roses, a trip to the movie, etc.
You should also tell your wife every single day that you love her and thank her for enduring all the time you’ve done on your website. Don’t ever forget to tell her you love her when you wake up and before you go to bed.
Cut down a bit too, spend more time with her or at least give equal time with her as well as equal time with the computer.
I know my best friend’s wife hates computers too and she even hates all his friends too. She wants him all to herself and have all the time she can with him at every single second of the time they’re together. She gets extremely pissed when he’s on the computer surfing or playing EverCrack! (i.e. EverQuest).
Unfortunately, I live in a house full of flamers, but they don’t know how to use the internet so at least that way they couldn’t fill up the comments with more useless flames.
Their argument is something along the lines of “He already has enough money, so why is he asking for more?” And talking about getting royalties off of the TNG episodes that play on TNN and all that junk.
Obviously they’ve completely missed the point and don’t know how much it takes (both in physical moolah and time) to run a website.
Whether Wil’s blogging with ulterior motives or because he likes it doesn’t much matter to me. Because I like it, and *I* have ulterior motives. Or course, sharing them would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?
Oh, ye unwashed, ye unbathed, ye uneducated! How little of the cheese thou doth know!
Knowest not that the cheese doth createth it’s own web siteth from scratcheth?
Knowest not that the cheese doth enjoy thine learned experienceseth?
Knowest not that the cheese does not proveth anything to anyone but to the cheese itselfeth?
Knowest not that the cheese hateseth to asketh for helpeth, even in thine hour of needeth?
Shakespeare knows the undisturbed cheese, baby.
Here’s my $.02, as another net widow (married to a software engineering consultant):
1. Just shake it off. Misunderstandings happen, that’s what makes us human.
2. Remember, you don’t need to post something to WWDN _every day_, you know…why not give Anne a “computer-free day” of her choice? Turn the machine completely off for a change (oh, the horror!), and leave it that way for 24 hours. Hell, that’s what I’d like for Valentine’s day –>hint to my husband if you are reading this!)
In any case, have a great V-day!
Personally, I think it was a really nice idea. I’ve been reading the site for awhile, but this is the first time I’ve actually commented. I just couldn’t refrain this time though. I think that people who perhaps have a habit of overreacting have completely done so in this case. You had an idea that was nice and also romantic (in my humble opinion) and you absolutely do not deserve to get dumped on for it. Don’t take it too seriously.
A (still) loyal reader,
Jazz
P.S. I read the post before you took it down, and would have donated but I’m a ridiculously poor university student. I’ll send you good vibes on the 14th though. Hope dinner’s great.
There was nothing wrong with your idea. It’s great that you take the time to share yourself with fans that find you amusing, but completely asinine when a subset of those said ‘fans’ wastes an hour of your day reading malice into your good intentions.
Aleph
[SEND FLOWERS] button gets my vote.
How about a “technical about” section which details what some of your infrastructure costs are, on average, such as bandwidth fees, etc. Then a discreet PayPal donate-for-bandwidth near it.
Hey, first of all, I recognized where Wil was coming from and I agreed. Second, this whole mess started with a post to the soapbox where he asked our opinion on the idea before going ahead with it.. He did not just make some post saying give me money now or I will hate you. Third, the great majority of us are intelligent beings with minds of our own. We are fully capable of making the decision as to what we do with our own money. There is no need for reminders of all the charities out there.
Having said that, I also recognize the right for everyone to express their opinion, which is what Wil asked for in the first place. What I have a problem with is the people who insisted on ripping into Wil over and over again. Perhaps, in their insistance to remind us all that Wil is a “celebrity”, they forgot that he is also human.
Wil, please don’t apologize. And hug that great wife of yours. 🙂
(PS: I do like the flowers idea …)
Flann
Damn, Wil, I liked the idea. After all, you do this site on YOUR time. And you do it not because you’re paid to, not because we’ve chained you to a keyboard, but because YOU want to. We get your time, effort, and a piece of your mind for FREE. And every minute you spend on us is one minute you spend away from your wife and kids.
And people complain when you create a way for us to say thanks? To pay back a small fraction of what we take away from your family? It’s not compulsory, it’s not begging, it’s not an annoying X10 ad, and still they complain. Well, Wil – to HELL with those people.
I, for one, hope you two have a lovely Valentine’s Day dinner. Think no more about this. You have nothing to apologize for.
Shit, man. I’d pony up a fin to keep WWDN up.
Maybe I’ll just buy a shirt and officially become one of the posse.
Goddamn, that Jolene chick on Enterprise has tig-ol-bitties.
Wil’s idea wasn’t about his lack of or abundance of money. It was a thoughtful way of letting us, his fans, thank his understanding wife for all the time and effort he’s put into his site, which has taken away from time w/her and the kids. Unfortunately, if Wil had been some Joe-schmo w/a site and asked for donations to take the Mrs. out for V-day, he wouldn’t have been judged so harshly. But since he’s a celebrity, asking his Joe-schmo fans for money for a “Gee Mrs. Wheaton, thanks for being such a cool lady” was unheard of by some people.
I’m glad Wil gave people the choice to donate or not. At least he doesn’t make us pay a monthly subscription to visit the site.
There’s some of us who come here everyday. Others once in a while. But everytime we expect there to be something new from Wil.
Your wife puts up with your mistress of a website that we all enjoy. The least we can do is thank her for allowing you to do this. Come on, lets face it. If she wasn’t understanding of this project, it wouldn’t have gotten off the ground. And this community built up around it wouldn’t exist.
Some people think that it doesn’t cost anything for you to do this, and you have gold oozing out of your pores. With them, you just have to chalk it up to ignorance of who you are and what this site is about. It’s your site, if you want to do something, then do it.
Don’t change what you want to do just to placate the nay-sayers. The people who “know” the Wil of WWDN will understand where you’re coming from. And :-p to anyone who can’t understand that. Tell your wife thank you! from me for putting up with a time consuming project that brings a little joy and wisdom to people’s lives. (I like the flowers idea.)
Wil,
I noticed in your soapbox posting that you said:
“I thought about just selling some advertising, and using the advertising money to do it, but I hate ads, and I think most of you do, too, so that got nixed pretty damn quick.”
What about selling text ads? They’re really not intrusive at all, customizable, etc…and fast loading, too.
Would people here be interested in pitching in a couple bucks to be able to have their message (even if it’s just “Thanks Anne! You rock!”) displayed a couple thousand times? Any takers?
This way, people would be getting something back for their money…it wouldn’t be so much of a plea for donations as just more merchandise to sell.
And, for the record, I think the donations were a great idea anyway. Aside from taking you away from Anne, the hosting costs alone have got to be building up, and that’s worthy of support.
So this is the part of the show where Ricky kisses Lucy, all is forgiven, and then we turn to the Weather Channel to watch tornado footage.
Again, I feel the need to comment…
Some people just don’t think before they open their mouthes Wil.
It usually operates like this:
1. Open mouth,
2. Insert foot here,
3. Close mouth.
Shake it off tiger. When you have a BBS forum like the soapbox, you’re BOUND to get a few morons.
For the record, I -still- think it was a sweet idea and so does my hubby actually.
~Kaylin
Not sure if my original post made it, so if this is redundant, I’m all sorry and stuff.
Wil, I’d pony up a paper-lincoln or two to keep the site up. You’re my favorite blogging celebrity!
Until Jimmy Kimmel’s cousin starts a blog.
I’d be so out of here…
Merely inform folks that you need no “hater-ation” a la Mary Blige, and tell them to suck a lemon.
I thought it was cute, but I think pug dogs are cute, too, and really, they’re a little creepy, so…
Regards!