A Message From RiffTrax

[peephalk]

Oh my god, you're not making as much money due to the pandemic as you used to! I never heard of this happening, the pandemic actually causing someone hardship. No way! You must be the only one affected by something planet wide, and I have just shed a tear for you, just as I've shed a tear for myself for spending so much of my disability check on your VOD's this past year, literally EVERY SINGLE VOD you've released since last march. Too bad I didn't know that when you sometimes portray yourselves as dicks in your riffs for a laugh that you actually are dicks! Your small independent company probably wouldn't even exist without the effort of pirates merging your riffs with the blockbuster films you avoid paying rights to by slyly just releasing your "commentary" to, and uploading to pirate sites where people discover them. You probably don't believe it, but folks STOP buying riffs when they discover they have to use your antiquated "app" which doesn't always line up with the version of the movie they own. We introduce your small, less than 20 people business to more than 20 plus buyers. We are your ad campaign. Looks like I'll have to spend my bottomless amount of cash on the new project Joel just cooked up, and just support one dick instead of 3. And, in reference to your post,

1- Please take down all the links to our pirated content on third-party platforms.
2- If you can manage it, head on over to RiffTrax.com/donate

My original response to 1 was no, and to 2 was yes always have, but now is changed to NO and NO

[Meat Trademark]

No one speaks for anyone but themselves here. Do not take any reaction/post as "so say we all."

---

On any forum.

[knowMATTER]

1] Legal Purchase
2] "Unauthorized" Duplication
3] Free Distribution

does not equal piracy or theft.

[blurg]

A lot of people here salty about what was a fairly polite request

[jimmy_breeze]

A lot of people here salty about what was a fairly polite request

Agreed. Anyone who thought Rifftrax would be ok with this site is living in denial.

[Tickle Patrol]

Rifftrax,

I appreciate your willingness to discuss the topic with an air of civility and respect, and you are completely justified in how you feel towards this site and the community here.

Mystery Science Theater 3000, Cinematic Titanic, Rifftrax, and the many others who emulate the style (I started to list them, but felt I might leave out too many) is a very special style of entertainment with a culture of its own. I first watched MST3K 6 years ago and absolutely fell in love. I'd always have it running while I worked on homework in college and also at my job which had lots of downtime. I branched out to Rifftrax and anything else I could find, and I've made a large collection. Not all of it is pirated, I have a few VoDs I bought legit from the site. Why not then pay for the 5.99 a month? Well... I didn't know it existed! Did you just come out with that? I literally just signed up because that's really a very small price for the amount of value I actually get from your content (Mortimer W. Clankitybritches? Nice touch), but I won't use it because I absolutely need a hard copy on my hard drive. I hate streaming, I hate using youtube. I need a hard copy of what I'm watching, and although I've watched nearly all your content, life hasn't gone exactly to plan, so I can't buy all your VoD's. I'm working on things though, and it was always my intention to donate money when I became debt-free. Which will happen... someday. To be clear, I only just signed up for your streaming service because I realize I'm doing better than I was a few years ago, and I can afford 5.99 a month. If you posted this a few years ago, I would not have been willing to sign up. I speak only for myself however, others here may not feel the same way about their money, and there may be people here who legitimately cannot afford 5.99 a month. Internet is increasingly becoming a necessity in modern life, so just because somebody can download from the internet doesn't automatically mean they have money to spend.

The work and effort the members of this community put into each riff is amazing, with ducking and subtitles and everything. However, I do also acknowledge the incredible hard work and effort the rifftrax crew put into making each riff, and of course there is nothing wrong with supporting the ones who provide me with value - they deserve it. It's different when you've actually created something instead of just consumed all your life - I can relate to how you feel. However, this community is great and they provide a specific service that you do not (whether or not its ethical is kind of moot here - you will not find many people care much about the ethics of pirating on a pirating forum). I will support you financially when I have the opportunity in the future (and every month now! hooray!).

When I pirate a movie, I justify the decision based on the bulletproof* logic that I would never have spent money on the movie anyway, so the only way I was going to watch the movie was if it was free anyway. I feel differently about riffs though, I get value from them over and over again. I can only speak for myself, however. How many people who visit this forum would be watching this stuff only if they could get it for free in the first place? It's not really a justification or even a comfort in any way, just something to think about it.

[RealPaigeWWE]

I'm assuming the cast and crew who worked so hard on movies like Wonder Woman 1984 don't get a little piece of whatever Rifftrax makes off of their hard work. Not that I'm judging anyone. Not even the people who judge me.

[mst3k4ever]

If we're all being completely honest here -- I think RiffTrax quality has dropped since years gone by. Often, eps I watch feel phoned in.

So, how I use this forum -- I D/L a new RiffTrax. If I make it all the way through, I go buy it at RiffTrax.com (often when on sale, but not always). If it's not very good and I turn it off (sometimes like 10 minutes in), then I don't.

As others have mentioned though, the best feature of this forum is the stuff like the post-proc mixes, the 13th Cinematic Titanic ep, and stuff like that.

[Miss Martian]

I wonder if they've even been bothering to read this thread? Can we get some responses to this "officialrifftrax"?? Are you even still there? Will you have the courage to stand by your identity and ACTUALLY identify yourselves to us? Conor?? Sean??? Jason????? Zach???? Is that you?? Or is this someone else entirely????? Who are you really, and what are your thoughts and opinions on what we've said???

[ClockworkApocalypse]

End of the day, whether they check this thread or not, it doesn't matter. If they are "official" or not, that doesn't matter either.

Things will carry on here, just the way they always have, regardless.