Post from Savedbythebellnow.com

Check out this message that was posted at savedbythebellnow.com:

I've had enough.
« Thread Started on 4/7/06 at 15:47 »
I've been a long time fan of Saved by the Bell, from the very beginning of the show, and continue to be an avid fan of the program today. It's a very safe assumption to make that it has been my absolute favorite television show of all time.

That said, it would also be pretty safe to say that, after the internet's rise to prominence, I had begun to use it as a means to get my Saved by the Bell fix, to read more about the behind the scenes aspects of the show and so forth. Especially in the periods of time before the DVD collections began coming out in 2003, the internet was pretty much the only source for all things SBtB related, unless one had old VHS tapes, or somehow managed to come across old reruns on television. As such, I've done more than my fair share of wandering along the net, occasionally browsing through random websites related to the show.

For the most part, what one tends to find on your average site or subsite devoted to the show is relatively normal fare... nothing too apart from the norm, the basic information, the occasional (and asinine) stigma that goes along with "child stars", and that's about it. Nothing extensively elaborate, but it's nice to know that people still care about the show enough to talk about it, right?

Anyway, as many of you know, there exists a disturbing contingent of "fans" who have taken, shall we say, extensive liberties with the content of this show which the rest of us hold so dear. In particular, they seem to be hellbent on utterly destroying the good name of Mario Lopez, Dennis Haskins, and most of all Dustin Diamond.

I found the original guestbook of "Dustin Diamond" a few years ago. I expected to see a benign display of old school Saved by the Bell fans giving their kudos to the actor. What I encountered instead was a nonstop barrage of the most horrible degradation of a human being that I have ever had the misfortune to observe. The terrible things that were said on this guestbook were enough to make my blood boil.

I've observed the monstrous lengths that the people within this sick community have gone to in order to absolutely dismember the name of Dustin Diamond and many others. And it utterly disgusts me.

-Do you realize that they were responsible for the closure of the forums on Dustin's band's website? What kind of evil freaks would have the nerve to seek out and attack not only Dustin himself, but everyone around him as well? What kind of people take delight in succeeding to tear apart a significant part of something that Dustin has dreamed of doing for so long, and unlike most of us, is a dream that he is actually getting to live out? Salty the Pocketknife was in my opinion a fantastic band with limitless talent, and ought to have once and for all evolved Dustin well past the perception of him as only being Screech. However, it seems that the monsters from that guestbook couldn't allow him to have that, and tore his website apart. Eventually, the entire website was hacked and ruined by someone as well... I wouldn't be surprised if they had something to do with that also. These people have helped to murder Dustin Diamond's dream.

-Do you realize that the Wikipedia article for Dustin Diamond (and probably many other SBtB articles as well) has been so thoroughly vandalized by these people that it's near impossible for the casual browser to distinguish between facts and these people's ridiculous lies?

-Do you realize that these people have so infected the internet with their disgusting propaganda that all the major search engines now have their forum site near the top of their lists for searches for "Dustin Diamond"? That real fans who are genuinely curious about the man himself will potentially be bombarded with this crap?

-Do you realize that these people are now attempting to wreak havoc here as well? Although I'm sure it was obvious, but that Dner guy who made such a big stink about homophobia is one of the main culprits of their dumb group. There are posts on their forums, ruthlessly mocking this site, when I don't think it's any of their business what goes on here in the first place. I find it to be both excessive and idiotic.

And the worst part is, that they have been doing this for years, and they aren't stopping.

Surely, being a public figure will naturally force a person to be exposed to a reasonable amount of backlash or good natured teasing. That's just the nature of showbusiness. But this is so far past reasonable.

I don't want to dignify their ridiculous antics or give them any sort of endorsement or publicity by posting their web addresses here, but I'm sure the people here who have been around long enough have been tricked into going into these horrible places already, and know where they can be found.

However, I do think it's time that the true fans of Saved by the Bell gave these degenerate monsters a piece of their minds. This little subculture of theirs has moved so beyond mere internet trolling and has damaged the very foundation of how the show and its contributors are being perceived.

It's about time that the people who genuinely care about this show to stand up to these people and take back OUR show.