The Groups

The months that followed meeting and hugging Ted where filled with the gals on the yahoo groups. I met so many people there but two who became good friends of mine. We discussed Ted, the show, the website, and anything related to Ted. I learned of the many projects and films he had done since the original movie that I never knew. We did a special project for his birthday using ideas from among us. The idea chosen was mine, a scrapbook of pictures we had all taken with him at the show. There are hundreds of pictures out there of us with him, but we were pretty sure he didn’t have many of him with us.

It was a good idea and everyone was having a good time working on their pages. They would show us previews as they progressed and it was certain Ted would be thrilled with it. As it turned out, someone else on the group took over my project behind my back.
In the middle of the project, however, something else happened. A relative of mine was in the business of making things with fragrance. We had learned very early on in our ‘Ted’ information, that he uses one fragrance and is identified by that scent.

She found an oil of that scent and made some air fresheners with several images of Ted from the movie. I got to see them and was so excited to share them with everyone in the group that I bought all she had and sent them, at my own expense, to anyone who asked for one. They were fabulous! And when the reviews came in, all were thrilled as I was to have them. There was a website link given to the recipients who may have wanted more, and they only had to pay for materials and postage. We thought that was more than fair; no money being made – just making Ted fans happy.

Unfortunately, one of my two good friends from the group alerted me to a post on Ted’s website by the webmaster. This guy was bad news from the start and his post basically accused us of using Ted’s image for profit and threatened legal action.

A storm ensued—for both points of view—that it was and was not true. I hurried to the site and read an unbelievable accusation! And the posts to follow were angry, vicious, and out of line. Ted’s website was closed down and by the next morning, it was out of commission. It remained down for many months.

Of course, being a reactionary, I posted a scathing message to the groups which was intended for the webmaster and the guilty party who told him the lie to begin with. My friend and I have always believed these two are wolves in sheep’s clothing, but Ted can’t see it. I don’t use names out of courtesy, but these two know who they are.

It was the end of my time on the yahoo groups, mostly due to the lack of trust displayed in this incident. I was not able to get a message to Ted because everything online goes through these two people. So I waited.

In March of the next year, when the show was close by, I made arrangements ahead of time to see Ted after the show. He wasn’t doing a meet and greet there, but the marketing gal, bless her heart, messaged ahead of the show to tell Ted that I wanted a chance to see him. He knew it was me and agreed to the meeting. I was so happy to see him; we hugged, I apologized and he said he knew I didn’t do what was said. It was all good.

Then, I handed him a mini scrapbook, with wonderful pictures of people he met during my times in line and meeting him. It was so much better than the one the group ended up with that I felt vindicated. And he LOVED it! His face lit up and he couldn’t believe I would go to all that work for him. It was a good end to a nasty incident. Ted and I will continue to be friends. He will coming to Omaha February 1&2, so I may just message ahead and find out if he will see me again. That would be the perfect ending.