The Chateau Diaries #8 Nous sommes tous VALERIE

[BuggaBuggaBugga]

Patreon cannibalism...

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Wow. What a tone to take with a Patron. I assume this reply is from Brenda Gibbons.

This is a perfect example of ham-handed and amateurish social media management which will, if allowed to continue, cause permanent damage to SJ's ability to monetize through Patreon. There's really no excuse for a four month delay in sending one card and if I were a Patron who got a response like this, I would immediately cancel. I think it is certainly more important for SJ to sort her social media representation right now than her closets.

 

[Cassieandrah]

Did anyone notice in SJ's live chat today that MP was commenting? I remember way back in the spring when he first started his channel, he used to join the live chats all the time. Then he posted a video today surprisingly. I wonder if he and SJ are getting along better again? It definitely seemed like they had something happen to cause a sort of rift between them.

I was hoping that the chateau cleaning and house meeting video was going to result in them announcing the end of the cadeaux channel. What is the point of removing all the clutter, the superfans will just see this as more space available to send their junk. SJ is a hoarder. I would love to see things properly cleaned out and restored but how can you properly restore anything with all the junk piled up everywhere. Also, with all the criticism she has received as of late about violating COVID restrictions, I'm surprised she even mentioned to us that she was planning on going to Italy, it just fuels the fire of the people who were upset about her holiday parties.

As much as MP bothers me, I enjoyed his video today. He seems to see the humor in the fact that everyone and their dog has a YouTube channel now. I feel bad for him, did someone mention before that he's struggled with depression? It seems like he is really talented at many different things but just gets depressed when things don't go right and then gives up or struggles. It must also complicate things that he is forced to rely on his family and friends to drive him everywhere, assist with the renovations, and film for him. They all have their own lives to worry about and I'm sure that's why Billy started the other channel, he got sick of helping MP all the time without getting anything for it. I do worry what will happen to him and his hard work if Billy and Gwen ever split.

 

[witchgrass]

I just finished both SJ & MP videos and I'm so relieved that Christmas is over. I couldn't believe how happy I was to hear the regular ol' "I'm Stephanie" theme song. I did a little comfort wiggle down into my chair. (I know, I know. My dog lies next to me with an audible groan when he hears it too.) I need to do all the things she's about to do and the piles won't be much smaller, so I can't really clutch pearls about it. I've been in the same house with a full basement for 26 years, so there's a lot of things to go through. I do a good job of hiding it, but don't open a closet. I'm just happy my daughter gets less sentimental about the things she left behind as the years go by, so now I can send her photos and the answer is usually "toss it out". I really appreciate the way Stephanie communicates with Selmar and helps him finish sentences he doesn't always have a translation for. She's really lucky to have him because he looks at things like a puzzle to be solved and that house is kind of a puzzle. I also love how SJ addresses Ruby loudly like a non-cat person and Ruby startles, then Selmar does a low sweet voice and Ruby answers "brrrt" I love that smart ginger tom.

MPs video was also a nice change, not too slow moving and still a little boring. Michael was funny. He looks good and the pasty sheen of his 2020 hangover is gone. The puppy is getting real cute, and Tina is a whole goddamn mood, "growling, snoring.." me too, girl. Me too. Keep up that cute animal content Pethericks.

 

[ChocLili]

Wow. What a tone to take with a Patron. I assume this reply is from Brenda Gibbons.

This is a perfect example of ham-handed and amateurish social media management which will, if allowed to continue, cause permanent damage to SJ's ability to monetize through Patreon. There's really no excuse for a four month delay in sending one card and if I were a Patron who got a response like this, I would immediately cancel. I think it is certainly more important for SJ to sort her social media representation right now than her closets.

The comment lamenting the empty frame at the patron’s home (no signed card) and the terse reply are gone, sanitised, deleted. Concerted effort to moderate opinion continues...

 

[witchgrass]

Wow. What a tone to take with a Patron. I assume this reply is from Brenda Gibbons.

This is a perfect example of ham-handed and amateurish social media management which will, if allowed to continue, cause permanent damage to SJ's ability to monetize through Patreon. There's really no excuse for a four month delay in sending one card and if I were a Patron who got a response like this, I would immediately cancel. I think it is certainly more important for SJ to sort her social media representation right now than her closets.

The people who freak out about their postcards in facebook comments are the worst though. It's just been a solid year of one after the other, old women complaining about their postcard. All that complaining is just going to result in preprinted cards, so they might as well start doing that now and hire a printer remotely to send them out. Anyone expecting to be successful will hire someone to keep facebook scrubbed of petty complaints and engage as little as possible. Facebook is a cesspool of instability and old women asking to speak to the manager in front of a whole crowd. I honestly want to put her in touch with the My Favorite Murder hosts so they can tell her what not to do with facebook, how to approach gifts and fan art, etc.

Just as an example, this is some quality fan art. Just clips of stories from their podcast but animated. They had to get a handle on their brand before this could happen though.

 

[Lizg123]

Me thinks the staff meeting was perhaps an intervention of sorts? Not a body language expert but Marie was only looking at Nati, Nati seemed nervous, Stephanie seemed desperate to keep spirits up ... Hopefully things move in a more positive direction for everyone going forward, and every feels supported and appreciated.

ALSO two instances of recognition that coronavirus indeed does exist!

Davy's off the cuff remark at 1:06 "We can't all keep living here unfortunately, I'm going back into quarantine"
Phillip's response to Stephanie wondering why Cat didn't bring her historical gown to London with her at 21:09 "Maybe, the pandemic?"

 

[Phoenix Richards-Bingham]

My user name on here is also my username on Facebook...damn....

 

[Sandton]

Certainly looks like Ms Sadie has either removed her FB profile or has hidden behind privacy settings. The sanitation of CD-related social media continues. This is a direct affront to us here on Tattle. We will be reduced to commenting only on the released videos. I think somebody is taking overall control of the social media space . . . something we identified that needed doing a while ago. They will be ‘locked down’ and controlled in the media space, just like the Strawbridges, before we know it!

Word on the street got to her I imagine. Good enough reason to remove after her awful posts. Good thing it’s screenshot on here.

 

[ChocLili]

Word on the street got to her I imagine. Good enough reason to remove after her awful posts. Good thing it’s screenshot on here.

It was the right and sensible thing for her to do, as is the recent ongoing ‘scrubbing’ of Chateau Diaries / Doing it Ourselves social media. I’m sure we here will still be able to find enough to take a critical look at.

I agree @witchgrass . The latest CD vlog was much better, away from the out of control daily advent undertaking (I’m a Ruby the feline fan too).

 

[Ace of Spades]

Oh Brenda, Brenda, Brenda, your FB post about ferreting out the Tattlers with your Internet SWAT team....

The sweet, sweet delicious irony is that we know far more about you and your Donegal Dumpster home with fake bedroom vistas stolen from the Tourist Board website, fake Toile stolen from SJ and fake wee craic stolen from every Irish cliche ever, than you can ever hope to know about us.....


The cherry on the cake is that by highlighting this site to all the FB rabid fans as you have done, you have created the worst PR disaster ever for your beloved lesbian girl crush Stephanie..... I've got a ringside seat and my popcorn

 

[Clara Burnett]

Here’s a little flashback story of when SJ‘’s beloved chateau was on fire (true story) but she could not bother to come back from her Venice trip because she needed to show off her new Venetian crown where she spend her last 300 pounds on.

 

[1043590]

I think Selmar might be a time traveler...

View attachment 377533

And her uncle (?) reminds me of someone else...

The woman on the far left looks like Sophie Wessex, wife of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.

 

[BuggaBuggaBugga]

The people who freak out about their postcards in facebook comments are the worst though. It's just been a solid year of one after the other, old women complaining about their postcard. All that complaining is just going to result in preprinted cards, so they might as well start doing that now and hire a printer remotely to send them out. Anyone expecting to be successful will hire someone to keep facebook scrubbed of petty complaints and engage as little as possible. Facebook is a cesspool of instability and old women asking to speak to the manager in front of a whole crowd. I honestly want to put her in touch with the My Favorite Murder hosts so they can tell her what not to do with facebook, how to approach gifts and fan art, etc.

Just as an example, this is some quality fan art. Just clips of stories from their podcast but animated. They had to get a handle on their brand before this could happen though.

Thanks for the perspective @witchgrass. I have no idea what goes on in the Facebook groups. I will also check out My Favorite Murder.

That said, if I were a Patron donating money every month and never got a thank you or welcome note, I would be pretty unhappy. Especially in light of the OTT thanks given in CATC to people who send cheap tat. Not thanking people is rude, and if SJ and crew had one less cocktail per night, they could get their Patron notes taken care of in a timely fashion. More cheap tat won't pay for chateau renovations; money will. Let them eat nettle soup, gardening gloves and hedgehog poo then.

Sorry if that last sentence sounds a little harsh. Perhaps I am being unduly influenced by my newly-uploaded (and quite imperious) avatar.

 

[1043590]

My user name on here is also my username on Facebook...damn....

And what a user name!

I think all the Petherick offspring that we know about are good-looking. They do seem to have a tendency to put on weight quite early in life, though, Michael being a case in point.

 

[BuggaBuggaBugga]

My user name on here is also my username on Facebook...damn....

If you change your user name quickly, we won't be able to tell if it's you or Valerie returning to us.

And what a user name!

I think all the Petherick offspring that we know about are good-looking. They do seem to have a tendency to put on weight quite early in life, though, Michael being a case in point.

The woman in the middle is not a Petherick, I think that's Gwendoline Mouchel. I have never seen a picture of her looking so heavy. She is not yet Billy's wife yet (according Billy in a recent Chateau Life video) though Sheree has apparently claimed they are legally married.

Billy was good looking too before he gained so much weight. Can you repost the picture of Billy before he got fat and Gwendoline from the last thread? I wanted to repost it to this thread but couldn't figure out how.

 

[HarpyCamper]

I snoozed and there’s a new thread!

I just saw the latest from M Patherick. And @66carola totally agree about the broken Spode dish. Gah! All the details. All the hints. It’s rare. It’s this and that. Way to not be subtle.

 

[Clara Burnett]

I think running a chambre d'hote is hard work enough without dealing with all the drama of putting on weddings or the administrative hassle of running a shop. I would not want to do it.

Vlogging on YT was really a stroke of genius for SJ. If she is smart, she has set her sights on something that generates YT-like income without all the hard graft: cookbooks, wallpaper, wrapping paper, cards, towels, carpets, Christmas music. These are all things that people can buy on a repeat basis. If she plays her cards right--and her brand does not become too damaged by permitting amateurs like Brenda Gibbons or Cbomb run her other social media--SJ could be set up for life.

I wouldn’t worry about SJ too much, she’s a master in playing her cards anyway and always ends up with the right peeps taking care of all her silly needs.

 

[Espe]

I just finished both SJ & MP videos and I'm so relieved that Christmas is over. I couldn't believe how happy I was to hear the regular ol' "I'm Stephanie" theme song. I did a little comfort wiggle down into my chair. (I know, I know. My dog lies next to me with an audible groan when he hears it too.) I need to do all the things she's about to do and the piles won't be much smaller, so I can't really clutch pearls about it. I've been in the same house with a full basement for 26 years, so there's a lot of things to go through. I do a good job of hiding it, but don't open a closet. I'm just happy my daughter gets less sentimental about the things she left behind as the years go by, so now I can send her photos and the answer is usually "toss it out". I really appreciate the way Stephanie communicates with Selmar and helps him finish sentences he doesn't always have a translation for. She's really lucky to have him because he looks at things like a puzzle to be solved and that house is kind of a puzzle. I also love how SJ addresses Ruby loudly like a non-cat person and Ruby startles, then Selmar does a low sweet voice and Ruby answers "brrrt" I love that smart ginger tom.

MPs video was also a nice change, not too slow moving and still a little boring. Michael was funny. He looks good and the pasty sheen of his 2020 hangover is gone. The puppy is getting real cute, and Tina is a whole goddamn mood, "growling, snoring.." me too, girl. Me too. Keep up that cute animal content Pethericks.

Stephanie has no interest in any of the animals. She never strokes Diesel or Ruby, just mentions their names for the sake of the viewers. Selmar is the only one who really looks after them. To SJ, they are just more cast members to add to her surrounding subjects.

 

[sandro37]

I am yet to see her organizing/cleaning anything else than what serves immediately to her
Steffi's thought process: I will clean my own wardrobe, so I can go and shop till I drop dead once the restrictions are lifted, I will do it on camera so it looks like I am working super hard and hold my word and I can attach Marie condo's name so I can get more followers in the process
the rest of the shajt I will not touch - maybe only my china to see what I am still missing so I can cry about in the next episode
for the rest we have live-in slaves ehm volunteers, I will just film them, people won't notice that I am not doing a thing, they will be happy to send me off on vacation for the achievement of the year [clearing up my wardrobe]

Certainly looks like Ms Sadie has either removed her FB profile or has hidden behind privacy settings. The sanitation of CD-related social media continues. This is a direct affront to us here on Tattle. We will be reduced to commenting only on the released videos. I think somebody is taking overall control of the social media space . . . something we identified that needed doing a while ago. They will be ‘locked down’ and controlled in the media space, just like the Strawbridges, before we know it!

i am jet to learn about Strawbridges, anyone who can fill me in in 3 sentences?

 

[LouieLamour]

I was watching some older vlogs from early last year and Michael was in them visiting and hanging out with Stephanie.
Just for entertainment I much prefer Michael than Philip. Michael and Stephanie get so giddy with laughter and just have lots of fun together. Would love to see Michael again at the chateau.

Feeling overwhelmed at the thought of the job she has clearing the chateau. At the house meeting sounds like they want to get more organised maybe having tours and that.
I was thinking if the place was properly ran with a manager and it was open to tours and weddings and had its own little cafe where u can buy homemade bread and jams with fruit from their own gardens. There are other castles, manors, chateaus and very fancy hotels that do this.
They should be having lots wedding's booked and a cafe with tables and chairs outside and tours. For a historical home it would have to be very cleared out no junk just beautiful historic furnished rooms. That's what it should be like. Lots of work to get there.

I can't help but wonder if Michael is staying away because of Philip. I certainly would.