Asandir's interview with Newgrounds forum users

Interview No. 66

Interview By: @Asandir

[ PART 1 | PART 2 ]

Q: The-Great-One - The first thing that interests me is your username. A name, that sounds good, but that also brings the duty with it, to live up to the expectations, that are connected with it. How did you get the idea for this username?

A: Wade announced the username lock down. Which meant that you could no longer change your name at will, this was before the 2007 redesign. My original username was Wilber7, and I wanted to change it something that sounded a bit better and didn't have a number in it. So I came up with The-Great-One out of nowhere just for fun. It has stuck ever since.

Q: The-Great-One - Judging from your banner and current userpage header, you seem to be a fan of My Little Pony - Friendship is magic. Can you tell our readers, what you like about the show and you became a fan of it?

A: I have made a news post about this already and that can be read here. I will give you and others the short version though. When I was browsing the Internet, I came across some My Little Pony fan art and I knew one of my friends Ragnarokia was a fan of the show so I sent it to him. He asked me if I ever watched the show, I said no, and he told me that I really should.

One night I was a bit bored and I thought, what the hell, went on YouTube and watched the first five episodes. What I love about this show is given the subject of My Little Pony all people would have to do is just create something half-assed and pass it off to sell toys, but the creators put effort into it and breathed new life into it, that made it fun not only for kids, but there are some jokes in there for the adults to that the kids may not get.

Q: The-Great-One - Do you think that you changed over the time you were here, as user, or also in real life?

A: Definitely. When I first came here I was a noob. I thought I knew everything and I found out very quickly that I was wrong. I got helping hands from MaestroRage and others, but I also got my ass kicked and put into place by ZekeySpaceyLizard, if it wasn't for him I would not have been the person I am now. This site truly has matured me both here and in real life, but that doesn't mean I can't have some stupid fun now and again.

Q: The-Great-One - You surely have an opinion about the moderators of Newgrounds. Do you think that they do a great job or not?

A: I do believe that the moderators do a great job. the Forum Moderators take control, the Review Moderators are always helpful, and the Icon Moderators don't get nearly enough love. Overall all the moderators do a great job.

Q: The-Great-One - Would you like to become a moderator some day? If so, what kind of moderator?

A: I once wanted to be a Forum Moderator, but I don't think I could handle that responsibility, the only reason I would want that power is to be more helpful. I wouldn't mind being a Review Moderator, but you really got to look at the rules and question which reviews are abusive and which ones are not. What helps an author and what doesn't? So I'm a bit wishy-washy on being a moderator.

Q: The-Great-One - You took your time to write the Flash Review Terms 2.0, which are pretty helpful for every passionate reviewer. With over 500 reviews, for both flash and audion submissions, you qualify as very active reviewer. Do you enjoy writing review, and what is your motivation?

A: I do enjoy writing reviews, the reason I made the Flash Review Terms were to make my reviews better. I revised them to make it more fair on both sides. I am motivated as a critic here to review, I enjoy giving feedback and constructive criticism to others. I have only found over 10 flash movies that can truly receive the honor of the perfect score in my system though.

Q: Ryanson - You are a member of Newgrounds since 2005, which makes you the oldest member of The Interviewer, together with SCTE3, who joined on the very same day. With that being said, how did Newgrounds change in your opinion in that time? How did you experience the redesign 2007?

A: It definitely changed a lot -- more streamlined, more user-friendly. I don't actually remember the redesign. In fact, to be honest I can barely remember the Newgrounds before the redesign -- I think it was a bit blockier, a tad clunky looking, maybe a darker background, but that's it.

Q: Ryanson - Do you think that you changed over the time you were here, as user, or also in real life?

A: I've definitely changed online. Looking back at several of my early reviews, oh my God I cringed. I was such a little bitch back then, as were most of us at the ripe age of 14 or so. I think there was a gap of time when I left Newgrounds, as there always is, but I kept coming back though. And every time I came back, I kept learning harsh lessons and kept observing. I'd like to think I adapted pretty well over time.

I know I changed in real life. Here's hoping it's for the better.

Q: Ryanson - You surely have an opinion about the moderators of Newgrounds. Do you think that they do a great job or not?

A: Whether they do a great job or not is not for me to say. They at least do their job. That's all that we can ever ask for.

Q: Ryanson - I heard that you and Jedi-Master are very good friends. Could you tell our readers, how this friendship developed? What did you think when Jedi-Master recently left, and what was your reaction when he came back?

A: Well me and him ran into each other at the supermarker one day and I was like "Nice ass," and he was like "Nice dick," and I was like, "Wanna feel it in your ass?" and he was like "Wanna get it cut off by my lightsaber?"

And then we went to his mobile home and Mr. Ham will never feel the same again. Oh, btw Mr. Ham is the gerbil in his ass. Funny enough, his lightsaber was really a vibrator. And it felt good against my uterus.

...But no, if I remember correctly it was just as Jedi-Master was really starting to become known on the forums last year. I think someone made a thread about me trolling someone on tarahlovehentai's Facebook status, and Ptero said "That's Ryanson," and Jedi was like "No it's not," and Ptero and I were like, "Fuck yeah it is," and I PM'd him and he was like "Oh :("

And then we started PMing for real and idk man over time something happened. Friendship is weird man.

Q: Ryanson - You are currently working on a game project, called "The BBS Brawl". Can you tell me more about this project?

A: It's more an idea, a long extended joke. I say that because I've had this idea for more than a year now, and the more I get done, the closer it is to becoming a reality... it's still a long ways away from being completed.

It's just an idea I had, "What if the BBS was a fighting game," same as any other forum I frequent. But then, this one really took off and evolved. I was obsessed. As of now I have pretty much the entire mythology set up. It'd be great to see it come to light.

I think it'd be a nice collab thing to do, but I'm so afraid of asking someone. This is (one of) my baby(/ies), and I'd hate to ask someone else to do it... or give up even partial creative control. I think that's one of my problems. I should probably just ask. Idk.

Q: Ryanson - You said in one of your newspost, that you got hacked this year. Did you every expect that this would happen to you?

A: Truth is, I never got hacked. It was something I said because I let something spill that someone didn't want me to. I even made a seperate account to seem legit. Lol

QUICK SOMEONE HACK ME.

Q: Ryanson - Judging from your userpage header, you were once named Ryanson209. When did your namechange happen, and are you happy with your current username?

A: I changed because I was tired of my numbers holding me back.

ryanson209 is a name I've used for a long time, and I still use to this day. The story of the name's creation is not important -- what's important is, I'd finally thought, "Hmm, people with numbers in their usernames don't usually take off. I'll ask for my numbers' removal." I PM'd Wade who took off the numbers, and then I PM'd Mike who capitalized the R.

I'm glad I got the change. It'd just so more natural to say than to say a name with numbers. Not that numbers are bad, but numbers don't feel so unique ya know?

I should probably change my banner now, though.

Q: NekoMika - You are a member of Newgrounds since 2005, which makes you the oldest member of The Interviewer, together with Ryanson, who joined on the very same day. With that being said, how did Newgrounds change in your opinion in that time? How did you experience the redesign 2007?

A: Well at the time the portal was getting spam submissions such as Adolf Hitler Around the World in 80 days and some Kity Krew spam was appearing then and after two months of just voting and watching things in the portal I began to roam over to the forums where at first I was mostly just goofing off and slowly changing how I posted over time although I was 13 then, I was just goofing off and having fun like everyone else on the forum but I have changed since those days though.

The redesign in 2007 took a couple of days for me to get used to really. Although the admins had to fix a quick forum glitch where EVERYONE could post in the NG News and strangely make topics which seemed to flood every other forum with half the page being just NG News topics.

Then there were several other glitches across the site that are less minor and still a bit noticeable today, just small things like the top 10 reviewers on the portal statistics page all having 0 reviews among things. The redesign went over rather well though as I am still enjoying the site to this day.

Q: NekoMika - With over 1000 flash reviews and over 2000 audio reviews, you qualify as one of the major contributors of Newgrounds, in terms of reviews. You are also a part of the Review Request Club. Can you tell our readers a bit about the club, and how it works?

A: The Review Request Club had humble origins mostly being a hub for some reviewers and a place that those wanting reviews could go to. Usually it was a mix of good and bad submissions but there tended to be gems amongst them too that were great. It eventually fell to pieces as no one was maintaining it anymore and thus sonofkirk made a new one and after awhile left and eventually SuperSteph54 helped take over making both lists. When I came back after going on a 6 month hiatus I began reviewing again there with a large change in how I did so.

I even offered to help as well so SuperSteph54 would not be bogged down with as much work as he is an audio mod and also tends to help a lot in the audio forum too. So he simply maintains the point list while I do the requests list. A couple of years back it was a decent balance of flash and audio and these days it is mostly audio, some art, and if the week goes well we may get 7-10 flash requests.

The goal of the club itself is not to simply boost your review count or write one liners. No, the main goal is to review the author's submission and let them know how they can improve should you feel they have room for improvement that they can make. Not all the requests get a large amount of reviews since some people feel it is hard to review something that they do not review often or they simply do not have the time to get the reviews done.

Q: NekoMika - You do not only have a lot of high-quality reviews, you also have a Deity Whistle. Would you wish to be a review moderator at some point? Or maybe some other kind of moderator?

A: Possibly, but that decision rests with the mods and admins and not me. I guess it would be cool to see how it feels sometime. As for moderating other parts of the site..? Maybe the forums I guess.

Q: NekoMika - I know that you are additionally a member of the Elite Guard Barracks. When and how did you become a member, and what kind of work is done by you there?

A: Actually I am simply an ex-member of the place for the time being but I still drop in from time to time to report flash content that needs to flagged or try to help someone figure out how to get better at flagging reviews sometimes as well if they need the help. The place is pretty lax but they try to watch for users who may try to cause problems as well.

Q: NekoMika - Your profile image and some of your posts revealed to me that you are, similar as The-Great-One, a fan of My Little Pony- Frienship is magic. How did you become a fan of the show? And how do you think about the recently created Official Mlp:fim Crew?

A: Well let's just say it was a couple of days after I had turned 18 and saw some other users and a couple of friends posting pony pics so I decided to see what the show was like and after a few episodes I was pretty much just enjoying it. Then I found Eurobeat Brony and I have to say that a majority of the fan songs and fan song remixes all sound rather good to me.

As for the recent MLP club creation? I am rather happy to see it there as it keeps the hateful posts down (usually from users who have yet to watch the show and just hating on the fans and show for no real reason, no idea why, if they don't like the show or such then they don't really need to post off topic derogatory stuff). I do enjoy the club though as the original thread had no structure or even rules to simply be followed and was a free for all mostly. Glad that Bryan made the club though so users who enjoy the show have a place to discuss it without worrying too awful much.

Q: NekoMika - The flash submission "Snow Wars", where you took part in, got a Daily 5th Place. Are you proud about this trophy?

A: I would guess so. Mostly it goes for the guy who made it. I advertised it in my BBS signature for him for a few months and then removed it later too. If I tried to help with doing something for a flash in the future, I would be quite happy to see it earn a trophy too.

Q: Atlas - You are the youngest member of the Interviewer, both in terms of join date and age. I am pretty sure that you heard like older members said time and time again, that Newgrounds was better in the past. How does that make you feel? Do you believe them, and does it influence your experience on Newgrounds?

A: Well I'm a member of NGArchive and just love the way the site looked before this and wish I could've been here for it. But I'm glad i signed up when I did since I get to experience this site design and the redesign.

Q: Atlas - Do you think that you changed over the time you were here, as user, or also in real life?

A: Well as a user I posted a bit better and have been watching what kinda of threads I make but in real life the only thing that has changed is that I'm starting to get back into filming and making videos.

Q: Atlas - You surely have an opinion about the moderators of Newgrounds. Do you think that they do a great job or not?

A: Well some do a great job and others have been active for months or years. The art mods have been doing a great job I think. The audio mods are doing a awesome job and the only problem is Canas. Isn't this the second time he's been hacked?

Q: Atlas - Would you like to become a moderator some day? If so, what kind of moderator?

A: I think everyone wants to be a moderator of some sort but really forum mod would be number one followed by art and audio mod. Any of those would be awesome but I've been lacking in reviewing art (I've been voting instead) and audio, I haven't listened and reviewed enough, I think.

Q: Atlas - So far, you have submitted 12 flash submissions to Newgrounds. Is there one flash, that you are most proud of, and can you tell us more about your flash work?

A: I'm most proud of "Hex and Pent Short" I made that and the other one to test out motion tweening and some new software. The other hex and pent was made to try out voice acting. I am hoping to learn stop motion and maybe work with that but you never know.

Q: Atlas - The Audio Portal is granted with 29 audio submissions by you. Which one is your favourite work? Are there any audio artists, that you especially like?

A: My favorite of my has to be Happy- Casio Arpeggio. I especially like BERSERKYD, merlin, Ben Spurgin, FDA, and Audio-Star.

Q: What can we expect in the future from The Interviewer?

A:

The-Great-One: So much is in plan. I have a huge list of people to go through as I'm sure my other Interviewers have as well. We can only hope to see big things in the future. I can promise this though, with the redesign coming up, there will certainly be future changes.

Ryanson: MAYBE I'LL DO SOME ACTUAL INTERVIEWS, HMMMM. Rina-chan, what do you guys think? Shall I finally do it?

NekoMika: More interviews of course!! Really hope people still enjoy reading them in the future too.

Atlas: Well more interviews and a change of scenery.

Now the interview with the Interviewer is over. I surely learned more about this group, and can say that all 4 members are not only experts in interviewing others, but also in getting interviewed. It was a huge honour for me to be allowed to make this interview. My thanks goes to The-Great-One, Ryanson, NekoMika and Atlas, together they are The Interviewer.

And with those last words, we now got to know a more personal part of every member of The Interviewer, that showed to me that all 4 of them participate in even more ways positively to Newgrounds. I can only feel the highest respect for The-Great-One, Ryanson, NekoMika and Atlas, thank you for being a part of Newgrounds!

[ PART 1 | PART 2 ]