[ETA 12/10][구름 8기 (8th Cloud)] A disclaimer from Cloud USA. READ it.
Dear Clouds:
1. Terri and I joined the Korean Cloud as paid members (blue 8th Clouds) for this term (2010—TBD), but Cloud USA is NOT a part of, employed by, nor affiliated with the Korean Cloud (a.k.a. Rain’s official Cloud Fan Club).
2. Cloud USA is NOT affiliated in any way with RAINY Entertainment or J.Tune. We have disclaimers to that effect all over this fan site.
3. WE did not open membership to join the 8th Cloud, as only an employee or appointed representative of The Korean Cloud would have the power to do such a thing. The Korean Cloud opened its own membership drive. Terri, myself, and Cloud USA helped English-speaking Rain fans who expressed interest in the membership drive to understand what the Korean Cloud was doing, by providing their rules and as many of the particulars as we could in English. English-speaking Rain fans needed English-speaking advocates to try to bridge the language gap that was preventing them from sharing Rain’s news, following Rain’s career, and joining his sanctioned fan club. Terri and I took it upon ourselves to be one of those bridges, voluntarily and on our own, because we cared and despite the fact that we don’t speak Korean and we are not Korean. We are Americans living in Atlanta.
4. We have no control over the Korean Cloud and we have never claimed to. Officially joining the Korean Cloud is a personal choice (and a risk) that each fan took upon her- or himself, which is what we said repeatedly throughout the March and May recruitments—If you have any doubts, don’t join.
5. We are not responsible for what the Korean Cloud does or does not do. We do not make promises for the Korean Cloud. Please refer back to points #1, 2, and 3.
6. If emails to any of our Cloud USA email addresses keep bouncing back to you, it’s because you have the address wrong and we’re not getting them, OR there’s something going wrong on your end. Our email addresses work just fine.
7. The long delay in members getting their Korean Cloud Fan Club’s membership goods is the Korean Cloud Fan Club’s doing, NOT ours. We’re in the same boat as everyone else—sitting here waiting for our stuff that we paid for to finally be mailed.
8. Rain’s ridiculously killer concert schedule this whole year, and the fan site server being down and taking so long to fix, are two of the things that delayed our goods. You can’t mail goods to fans if you can’t pull up membership lists or your server messes them up. We may not like it, but it is what it is.
9. For the past two weeks, the Korean Cloud has been finally seeing to the production of our membership goods and actively regathering and confirming every blue 8th Cloud mailing address for the delivery of those goods. They even took the time to run a survey on what goods members would prefer to receive. There has been notice after notice after notice of that in the member sections and on the English Talk board on Rain’s official Korean Cloud Fan Site, for the past two weeks. (All important notices of that nature are translated in Japanese, Chinese, and English, so that members can just scroll down the notice and find their language.) I also took it upon myself to repeatedly spread the word about it here on Cloud USA (the media blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to help out.
10. Today, 12/9/11, is the final address confirmation deadline, Korean time (they are ahead of us by 14 hours, so in just a few hours, it will be the 10th there). If there is still a blue 8th Cloud out there who somehow has not resubmitted their address, please see this Cloud USA notice HERE and USE THIS FORM; updating your address on your Account Page on the Cloud Fan Site is not what they asked you to do.
Rain goods undelivered due to member negligence is not Cloud USA‘s responsibility. In fact, Rain goods undelivered for any reason is not Cloud USA‘s responsibility.
11. Terri and I are here to help you, advise you, and advocate for you if the situation calls for it and if we are able. However, it is an 8th Cloud member’s responsibility to keep up with what is going on and to read Cloud Fan Site posts and Cloud USA posts completely and thoroughly. We should not be blamed for things that are not our fault, and we certainly don’t deserve to have our integrity smeared and called into question.
Thanks to all of you who got your addresses in on time, and thanks to those of you who have worked with me (Stephe) to get your addresses in to The Korean Cloud these past few days. We really appreciate it.
Links to address confirmation lists #1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 have been provided for us over on the English Talk board on The Cloud. As we understand it, there is still one final list to go.
— Stephe ^@@^ and Terri :-}, Co-founders
***EDITED TO ADD 12/10: The final confirmation list for Korean Cloud membership goods (for now) is HERE, in the private Cloud-Filled Room (구름 가득한 방), Item No. 3646. You must be signed in to view it.
PLEASE NOTE: The Korean Cloud will be working with any 8th Clouds who missed it and getting their goods to them tentatively in January 2012 .
Thank you.
Cloud USA 
I received my good on the 26th and my face lit up like crazy. My kids are jealous….LOL : P
LikeLike
I went to the post office today to discover my 8th Cloud Fan Club items had arrived by Express Mail from Korea by way of an individual’s personal name and apt. address! Everything is AWESOME!!!!!!! Thanks for all of your assistance in ultimately making this happen…I could never have figured out how to sign up without you! Love You Lots…Happy New Year ! Take Care Always, Your Devoted Fan, DD
LikeLike
I received my 8th Cloud items today, too! Thank you so much Terri and Stephe for helping to make sure my address was confirmed and that I was on the list!
You two are fantastic!
Dianne
LikeLike
Dianne,
Our pleasure.
Terri :-} (& Stephe ^@@^)
LikeLike
I haven’t been here for a few weeks (Bad Diva! Bad!) and I see this bad news. I can’t even imagine anyone having any sorts of problems or any sorts of issues with this site. Like Stephe and Terri said, there’s all kinddsss of info all over the site saying this is a fan site. A damned good fan site, but a fan site nonetheless. You guys made it perfectly clear that you guys have no say in Rain’s life and times and business so I can’t imagine who would be able to misconstrue that? I’ve been in, around, up and through this site and seen the disclaimers so I’m just speechless.
Why is it that someone is always trying to cause problems either in Rain’s business or his fandom? Why can’t we all just get along and enjoy him each in our own way?
Sigh…
Anyway… I’ve missed all of you! And to all of the newbies that I haven’t met: Annyeong haseyo!
LikeLike
Annyeonghaseyo! Cheoeum boepgesseumnida!
You are right! Thanks to become friends!
Wait for Rain together!
😀
LikeLike
OMG I didn’t check out this site yesterday cuz I was busy painting my house and now I found that ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE HERE!! WTF???? First of all, THANKS SOOO MUCH for being the way you are ladies and gentlemen at CLOUD USA!!! Just seeing your note about my stuff from the Cloud being taken cared by you and Geri from Cloud Hawaii brings tears to my eyes cuz NOBODY DOES WHAT YOU DO!! This got NOTHING to do with you ladies and gens cuz this is THE CLOUD business with ME but you took over anyways cuz you CARE about me. HUGE THANKS TO YOU ALL!!! The person who’s bringing bad vibes to my HOUSE (Cloud USA) better go away cuz BAD KARMA is going her/his way. I don’t know who this person is but my guess is that she/he’s jelous of your work cuz is FANTASTIC, AWESOME and is getting RECOGNIZE soo they are mortified by it. Keep the good work ladies and gens at CLOUD USA with your head held high cuz you are MAGNIFICENT!!!! Don’t let this incident get you down or make a dent in your OUTSTANDING work. When Rain gets back, he will be shocked by all the LOVE you show thru this site and I’m SURE he will be grateful. This site is DONE with LOVE but there are some people in this world that can’t understand the meaning of it. It’s SAD. LOVE YOU ALL!! Fighting!!
LikeLike
LOL all hell indeed, Mari LOL! 🙂
I don’t know if you have Geri’s email already, but in case you don’t, it’s BiHawaiianCloud@yahoo.com.
Stephe ^@@^
LikeLike
Thanks soooo much!! 🙂 Really, I was sooo furious with all this that I forgot to ask if there are any additional costs for mailing from Hawaii to Puerto Rico! Anyway, I will send an email to Geri tomorrow to make sure!! Thanks again for all your help!!
LikeLike
You’re welcome, dear. 🙂
^@@^
LikeLike
Hm so I score the BIG ONE by finding this place and you mean to tell me some doof is about to ruin it for me????????? Well damn it.
Cloudusa ladies please, don’t let it get you down and don’t go anywhere, I’m begging. You’re tops and a lot of us’re behind you. You want I should put my boot to an ass, I will. OMG. I’m not official cloud or anything but this burns me up.
LikeLike
Dear Stephe and Terri,
I’ve been visiting this site every day since last year. I’ve found here a friendship, a clever talk, humor and a big love for our Ji Hoon.
I can’t imagine how many work you do . Thank you very much for that, I’m so grateful.
My English is very bad, I’m learning it alone and I’m 64 years old …
I’m Russian and I live in France.
Love.
Valentina.
LikeLike
Hi, Valentina. 🙂
Thanks for your comment and encouraging words! Please don’t worry about your English; we understand you perfectly and we’re happy that you are here. I am 51 years old (Terri and I are both in our 50s)… or perhaps I should say 51 years young because I’m not going to be “old” until I’m 90, haha. 😉 JiHoon has Clouds from 17 to 80. When it comes to loving the man, age is only a number! 😀
Hugs to you in France.
Stephe ^@@^
LikeLike
Hi Valentina.
Thanks for your comments.
Terri :-}
LikeLike
**EDITED TO ADD: Marisara,
Everything has been straightened out. The Cloud will be sending your and Umeboshi’s membership goods in the batch for the Hawaiian Clouds that is already going to Geri. So you will be receiving your goods from her. ^@@^
*****
Marisara,
A situation has cropped up on The Cloud concerning the final delivery list for membership goods and Puerto Rico’s shipping rules. Your name entry is in red on the list (yours and an Italian Cloud named Umeboshi) because, apparently, South Korea uses Express Mail (EMS, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Express_mail ) and your country and Italy won’t take delivery from South Korea by that method.
The Cloud wasn’t sure how the heck they were going to get your goods to you, but Geri (who heads the Hawaiian Cloud) stepped up and has volunteered to take delivery for any Cloud who has that problem. So, if The Cloud agrees, you and Umeboshi could be getting your goods delivered by Geri in Hawai’i. I’ve already contacted Geri and let her know that if she runs into any trouble, to let Cloud USA know and we’ll help if we can.
I think everything will work out just fine, so don’t worry. Folks are working together to make sure of that (including the overseas fan coordinator Heidi). Wanted to make sure you knew what was going on.
Everyone,
I’ve added a link to the final December delivery list at the bottom of this post. The Cloud has said that anyone who missed December delivery will have another chance in January to give their address and get delivery then.
Stephe ^@@^
LikeLike
Terri, Stephe and CloudUSA staff,
You have done more to promote Rain’s career here in the US than anyone else I can think of. I can’t imagine what anyone would want to criticize. I’m sorry you have had to put up with that.
Thank you for all you do! I appreciate you!
isilvalie
LikeLike
Thanks, isil. That means a lot!
Stephe ^@@^
LikeLike
I will join next time.
LikeLike
While I haven’t really had a chance to read every single post posted here lately….if it wasn’t for Cloud USA I would be totally out of the loop. I am not sure who would even question your honesty and integrity. I know there are numerous fan sites out there however this is the one with the most reliable information about everything Rain related etc.. So with that being said I wanted to thank y’all not only for helping me on that issue I was having recently but also on everything else that you do. This is a fan site…true but the fact that we have so many people not only from all over the US but all over the world is amazing. Keeping this website going and always up to date with all different types of info, translations etc.. takes a lot of work and dedication. Also the fact that this site has never required any kind of compensation speaks volumes. I mean hell if it wasn’t for Cloud USA, I for one know that I probably wouldn’t have been able to become an official cloud. You mentioned that you are English-speaking advocates in your post and yes you are and doing a wonderful job might I add. Stephe and Terri you guys make everything so painless, because there’s a lot of things that would just have made me go…..what!?! I have never questioned anything that you Stephe or Terri do because I trust y’all 100%.
LikeLike
You’ve done your best in trying to keep up though, Ceci, and that’s all we can ask of any of you. Thanks much. 🙂
Stephe ^@@^
LikeLike
Terri and Steph, I truly appreciate all that you do for we Cloud USA sisters. All of you provide me with smiles and laughter to help me forget my pain. I speak of this because many of you do not know that I live with a debilitating disease. I have been a fan of Rain since his beginning in the entertainment industry. To be able to share that with my you all helps me along with my journey towards healing. So again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
LikeLike
MommiLynn,
Hugs and thank you for your comments.
Terri :-}
LikeLike
Lynn, you’ve been on my prayer list ever since the first time we talked here in the comments, when you subscribed to the blog last year. My prayers will never stop, so you hang in there!
Stephe ^@@^
LikeLike
Ladies, Im shocked by all this. Im so sorry you are having to put up with such unscrupulous people. You guys are tireless in running this website and keeping up with all the latest news. I appreciate everything you guys do and support you all the way. I always feel CloudUSA exemplifies integrity. Keep doing what you have been doing since the beginning and giving us a great place to hang out together. Those people are the ones without integrity.
LikeLike
Thank you, Gigi.
Terri :-}
LikeLike
Hugs, Gigi…
Stephe ^@@^
LikeLike
Dear Stephe and Terri and CLOUDUSA members!
I’m hungarian fan of Bi! And I’m verry happy to find you. I’m not 8th Cloud member because I have just read about it few weeks ago.
But I love this site! Your informations about Rain are excellent and brilliant for me!!!!
Your work is the best!!!! Thank you!!!
Waiting for Rain together!!!!
Ágota from Hungary
LikeLike
Hi, Ágota. 🙂
We’re glad you’re happy here at Cloud USA. We are very happy to see you, too. It’s so much fun to love Rain together, isn’t it?
Do you think there are any other Rain fans in Hungary? It would be nice is there were other Hungarian clouds for you to go out and have fun with… Have a nice Friday.
Stephe ^@@^
LikeLike
Dear Stephe.
Yes it is!!!
I don’t know how many hungarian clouds are here, but I decided to look for them! I know some girls in my school who loves Rain and I have got some friends on facebook.
I will try to find them and I will invite them to CloudUSA!
Have a nice weekend all of you!
Ágota 🙂
LikeLike
some people are just so thankless!!!…you guys are doing a superb job…keep up the good work and know that the voices of dissent will just have to stfu!!!…love you guys…aja aja BI and cloud USA!!
LikeLike
Thank you, kindly, Bo Ra.
Terri :-]
LikeLike
Oh noooooo No way. Someone messing with My Cloud Usa Sisters. That’s terrible. Especially if using the Language miscommunication and creating misunderstanding and confusion. That’s low!!!!!!!!
I’m not happy now. Is not fair since everything you have been doing is just trying to help us to get contact with Korean Fan club and increase Rain’s popularity on this side of globe.
Millions of thanks to you ladies for what you do. Keep in mind that the majority of us we really appreciate your efforts. And we love you dearly.
LikeLike
Thank you very much, Lluvi.
Terri :-}
LikeLike
One more thing and then I’m done. It always seems that when something is Going good, About good, Doing good….then here comes “evil” trying to mess up a good thing…..just DAMN…you know! STOP IT!
LikeLike
Thanks to everyone for the feedback.
Just so everyone will know, the most recent incident isn’t the only incident like this that Stephe and I have experienced. This is just the latest incident of many. We have simply refrained from saying anything about them until now.
We have always made it clear that Cloud USA is a fan-owned site and that we are not affiliated with Rain or J.Tune or The Korean Cloud in any way. We have lots of information on the blog and on the fansite itself explaining who we are, what we are trying to do and why. We have not hidden our real identities behind anonymous usernames. We have not disguised our location. Cloud USA even has a mission statement that explains quite clearly what Cloud USA is all about. And yet, in spite of our “what you see is what you get” approach, some people continue to be confused about our place in the Rainiverse and continue to question our integrity.
The fact of the matter is–we have no official place in Rain’s world. We do what we do here at Cloud USA simply because we really love Rain, we really respect his talent, and we think more of the English-speaking world should know about him. Cloud USA is the best way Stephe and I know how to share him with everyone.
Again, we have no hidden agenda. We have no secret purpose. We have no real authority to act on Rain’s behalf. Nor would we ever want to. So, whenever we learn of someone complaining to the powers that be in Rain’s world about us, accusing us of having no integrity, well, that just plain hurts our feelings. And it happens a lot more than you can imagine and all without any justification at ALL.
We have tried very hard to create a positive place where Rain fans could come together and celebrate his work together. Although the fansite costs us lots of our precious time and quite a bit of money to maintain, we have never regretted our decision to create Cloud USA. And we don’t intend to now.
Cloud USA has brought more joy into our lives than we ever anticipated, and I’m sure it will bring us even more delight in the days to come. Still, it would be nice if everyone would remember that Stephe and Terri are people too–with our own feelings and our own lives and reputations to uphold. So WE would appreciate being treated with the respect and dignity that I absolutely KNOW we both deserve.
Thank you,
Terri :-}
LikeLike
Terri, one thing sticks out to me like a neon sign in your comment and that’s (*…accusing us of having no integrity….*). WHAT THE “F”!!!
You and Stephe have been the EPITOME of integrity, at least from my eyes. I’m am beside myself right now!!
But, don’t worry I’ll chillax, however, there is NOTHING worse than someone accusing you of doing something you didn’t do or being something you’re not. The part that hurts is the unanswerable question of WHY? Because there will never be a satisfactory answer as to why the sh__t is happening. Language barriers my “A.”
The “world” can be Stone COLD…can’t it?
LikeLike
I’ve been hurt before, but that right there… An American trying to tell higher-ups in JiHoon’s life that we have no integrity when it comes to him, and because of someone else’s shortcomings at that, well…
You know, I still can’t even talk about this yet without seeing red. So I’ll refrain.
Stephe ^@@^
LikeLike
WTF! NOW I’M PISSED….Sounds to me some are just nervous and trying like hell to keep him down because of jealously with his newer life he’ll be starting. To HE!! WITH THAT!!!!
LikeLike
MANY, MANY, MANY KUDOS to the Cloud USA founders and staff for All that you do for us. Your tireless and SELFLESS efforts are BEYOND appreciated!!
Now let me go and get a SWITCH off one my trees…Right Now, cause it sounds like Somebody’s britches need to “feel the fire.” We’d be happy to oblige.
LikeLike
Hehehehe tap that @s……HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
LikeLike
Thanks to all at CloudUSA for their diligence and patience!
LikeLike
THIS NOTICE WAS NOT PROMPTED BY ANY 8th CLOUDS WHO HAVE WORKED WITH ME THIS PAST WEEK IN GETTING THEIR ADDRESSES SITUATED.
This was prompted by an entirely different situation with a U.S. Cloud that happened outside of the blog comments and outside of Facebook, and hit us completely out of left field.
Thanks.
Stephe ^@@^
LikeLike
No? Gurl that’s just wrong, I for one extremely appreciate all that CloudUSA does you guys having always went above expectations to help us out and whatever happened I’m sure you didn’t deserve it.
With that said I know at times conversations at times can be construe wrongly because were not eye to eye and can’t either see the humor or admiration in a comment or statement.
So I always try to take things with a crane of salt so to speak but if I’ve ever said or made any statement to any I have no problems in clearing up what I’ve said. Also I’m not thinking these are about me I’m just hoping whomever your referring to was just misunderstood.
I’m a peace maker its my nature but I also try not to take myself to seriously.
Anyway I love you all and I’m hoping whatever happened that person or persons….clear it up respectfully.
Again thank you Stehpe and Terri you ladies ROCK!
LikeLike
Lotus says:
“With that said I know at times conversations at times can be construe wrongly because were not eye to eye and can’t either see the humor or admiration in a comment or statement.”
You are absolutely right, this is why I hold back a lot of times and don’t go full blast on the comments like I used to (which is hard sometimes….Smiles). Simply because Cloud USA membership has grown a lot and while most people who visit here speak English, it occurred to me that some who visit here speak English but as a second language and may not get my Southern American humor. Some people also may not get when you/me/anyone is angry at a certain situation because where they reside “it” might not be “a thing”, whereas your/my head might be about to pop off. So as Cloud USA’s membership grows with people around the world visiting/reading comments I try to keep that in my mind now. So “the old BiA” might not show up as much but I’m “gone still” (bad English I know) be ME regardless.
Stephe/Terri I echo Lotus’ sentiment that I hope whoever said/started/misunderstood/misconstrued Cloud USA’s efforts…Make It Right and we can ALL get back to doing what we’ve been doing for the last couple years and that’s LOVE on Bi……period!
LikeLike
Exactly my beautiful sister! But don’t stop your style I would miss that, I know over more time we will all be able to understand each others personalities better. I love ya BiA
LikeLike