Interview No. 138

Interview By: @The-Great-One

A couple of years ago I interviewed some The Forum Regulars of Newgrounds. Two who went on to be moderators and one who still is to this day. Today we bring you some new regulars who have graced the forums. They are @Xenomit, @Bit, @KillerSkull, and @Outlaw88. They are The Forum Regulars of Newgrounds.

ANSWERS WILL BE POSTED BENEATH THE  A:  DUE TO TWO PEOPLE BEING INTERVIEWED PERSON ANSWERING WILL BE NOTED AS SO.

Q: How did you find Newgrounds and why did you join?

A:

Xenomit: I found newgrounds around 2008 when I was visiting with a friend. He was showing me a bunch of animations and shit and I thought they were hilarious. I occasionally visited newgrounds on and off for the next couple of years, and made my account in 2010. At the time I had no idea that I'd ever really do anything with my account, hence the uncreative and straight up plagiarized username. Xenomit is a rare mineral from a game called dark orbit that I played a lot at the time, and it was the first thing I thought of, so I went with it. I became forum active around fall of 2011, and from there newgrounds became my "home" on the internet. For the last 4 or so years, newgrounds has always been my default tab, and I always have the NG home in my leftmost tab regardless of whether or not I'm using it that day. My connection with newgrounds is more or less a compulsive habit that I don't feel like dropping.

KillerSkull: I found Newgrounds when I was real young, I can't remember how young but I remember it was shortly after I stated using the internet unsupervised. It was flash games that drew me here at first. I know I started visiting the forums in 2006 and finally made an account in 2008.

Bit: I was watching a flash parody on another site. At the end of the animation, there was a link that said "Watch the original on Newgrounds" and I thought that it would be cool to see where the original is from. I wasn't disappointed. I made an account months later. I'm not really sure why I made an account. I probably looked around the Newgrounds BBS and was pleased with what I saw.

Outlaw88: I was looking for funny things to watch and came upon the site at random. I remember the first cartoon from Newgrounds I saw was Headache. After that I found myself returning more and more. It hit me at the right time as I was still fairly new to the Internet due to not being able to afford a computer or an Internet subscription as early as my peers, so when I found something that I connected with I stuck with it. After a while I felt it was common sense for me to sign up for an account as I was visiting the site daily. A habit that I still maintain.

Q: What is it about Newgrounds that you like the most and why?

A:

Xenomit: I honestly don't know. "Xenomit" is just a character that I created in my early days on the BBS, and playing him is really, really fun. Yeah, most of the things I say are true about myself, but a lot of it is a vast exaggeration. Some of the older users know me for retardedly arguing with well received people, and some of those people know that I did that for my own pleasure. I mean yeah I know it made a lot of people think I was legitimately stupid but I had fun. I still get into them from time to time but most people know better than to bite my bait.

I guess that's what I enjoyed about newgrounds, I developed a character and had fun playing him. Now I just visit the forums every few days to make a couple posts. I think I might delete my account when I get to 20k posts.

KillerSkull: When I first signed up I really liked all the flash content on the site and I thought the community was great, even in the general BBS. Ultimately I'd say it was the BBS that pushed me to make an account and I'm glad because I started discovering other content such as the audio portal. To this day, the forums are still amusing though I don't post as much anymore, so I'd have to say the general forum is my favorite.

Bit: The open nature of Newgrounds is its best feature. Giving creators the ability to submit basically anything to The Portal has given them the creative flexibility to share some of the most ridiculous, high quality, and culture-influencing games and animations on the Internet. Even in an age where Youtube is a thing, nearly all of the best stuff is released here, which is usually the author's way of giving back to the community after getting their start here.

Outlaw88: I love that fact that there is new content every day. I'm a big fan of animation in general and being able to see some of the awesomely creative things people have made really does it for me. I also like that there are several creative outlets like the audio and art portals which really give the site a more welcoming feel for artists and viewers alike.

Q: What is it about Newgrounds that you dislike the most and why?

A:

Xenomit: It has a hard time living up to its reputation. The very first flash portal ever made, despite the title it hasn't held up over time. The fact that the BBS has been such a tight, small community for the last several years has been both a good and bad thing.

Honestly I tried to think of more to say but I couldn't think of anything else. There's not really anything that I truly dislike about newgrounds.

KillerSkull: I honestly can't say. There are various updates that I haven't liked, such as the new voting system. I'm upset that the forums aren't as active as they were when I signed up but that topic has been beaten to death so I won't go into it......

Bit: Unfortunately, the open nature of Newgrounds is falling by the wayside as Tom attempts to make the site more marketable (read: actually profitable). The consequence of making this site actually turn a profit is that controversial (and often very culturally-important) submissions are removed like the Anita Sarkeesian Game and the Sandyhook Game. I can't really fault Tom for wanting to make his site bigger, but that doesn't change the fact that it's my least favorite thing about Newgrounds.

Outlaw88: The fact that there is still an awful lot of garbage that gets passed though the voting process.

Q: What first drew you to the General Forum and why? What made you want to stay?

A:

Xenomit: It was the first non-game related forum that I joined. The first two were exclusively for two browser games, support and discussion and that sort of thing. I liked that it wasn't associated with any particular thing, the conversation freedom was great.

As for why I stayed, it made a lasting impression. I had a lot of fun, so I kept coming back, and after the fun levels started going down I stayed anyways because newgrounds had kinda become apart of me, and newgrounds actually led to a lot of really good changes in my personality.

KillerSkull: The general forum was the first forum that I actually started posting in. I don't know why but I could just have the most fun lurking and posting in the threads. I find the community to be fun to interact with and posting in a thread and then being able to come back to it an hour later and get back into the conversations going on in it is always a great luxury to enjoy.

Bit: I have always used Internet forums. My illustrious posting history is spread across many sites and thousands of posts. I am known by many names, but one thing that doesn't change is that, when I begin visiting a website, I become a regular poster in that site's forum. It was only natural that I should eventually begin using the Newgrounds BBS when I started visiting Newgrounds regularly. The reason I've stayed for so long is that, as someone who has used many, many different Internet forums, I know that the Newgrounds General Forum is actually full of relatively Intelligent users. And that's a scary thought.

Outlaw88: I liked being able to see what was going on with the NG community. I tend to lurk more these days though as I now only comment on things that I have an interest in. Its tough being an older member in that regard as its harder to relate to some of the topics that come up. Any least for me anyway.

Q: KillerSkull - When did you first become interested in Dungeons & Dragons? Do you still play today? Whatever your answer could you tell us why?

A: I got into D&D in high school, it was literally all my friends and I would do during lunch during my freshman and sophomore years. But I haven't played much since then. I play some JRPGs and Western RPG videogames though if that counts for something....

Q: Outlaw88 - You and I have something in common. We both love wrestling. At what age did you become interested in wrestling? Who is your favorite wrestler and what is your favorite match?

A: Sadly due to several factors (which would make this interview too long) I lost interest in the current product. I still have a love for it though and I do hope something comes along to spark that desire to watch it again.

I was in middle school when I first started to watch wrestling in the late 90's so I was maybe 13. In terms of overall character and heart: Mick Foley will always be a top pick. In terms of skill I'd say Chris Jericho. Favorite match.. Man there are so many good ones to pick.. The second TLC match from WM 2001 as it was the first PPV that I watched with a group of friends. That match captured the room in such a way that everyone reacted to what was going on made for a real experience.

Q: Bit - How did you come to join The Icon Mod Crew? What exactly was the purpose of this crew?

A: I was an icon mod for a while (no, it doesn't count as being a real mod) and my job was to create icons for submission in the new, larger, icon format. If I recall correctly, there was a thread where you could ask to be an icon mod (which is unusual in that asking to be a mod is pretty taboo) and I thought it would be interesting so I asked in the thread and Tom sent me a PM some time later telling me that I had been accepted. I made something like 100 or 200 icons during my time as an icon mod. This sounds like a lot, but some of the other mods made 1000+ icons so I probably just looked like a slacker.

Q: Xenomit - You would ask to join the Newgrounds Gay/bisexual Users Club on July 20th, 2011. You stated you weren't gay or bi unless you watched furry porn. One month later you would ask to join again this time as bisexual. Why the change -- were you merely in the closet? If so then why?

A: That's part of my character. One of the funniest tropes I can think of is a "straight guy" who looks and acts straight, but is attracted to feminine guys but swears to god that he's not gay. I'm attracted to feminine guys, but I'm well aware of and very comfortable with my sexuality. So, part of "xenomit" is that he has a lot of extremely homosexual thoughts, but he's adamant that he's not gay or even bi, and he justifies his homosexual thoughts with the fact that he's only attracted to really feminine looking guys.

In reality, I'm a bisexual top who likes nerdy girls, tomboyish looking girls, and girly guys.

Q: Would you like to be a Newgrounds Forum Moderator? Whatever your answer could you explain?

A:

Xenomit: I would, but I know I'd make a bad moderator. I don't take anything on the internet seriously, and I'd just straight up never ban anyone. Basically, if I did become a moderator for whatever reason, I wouldn't see it as any power, I'd see it as nothing more than an honorary title.

Plus, I've used the BBS a lot. I've has a lot of interactions with the mods, and I know what the average person thinks of mods; they're lame squares who ruin fun. I could see myself being a lot like the cops from superbad; not really corrupt, they just don't take their own authority seriously whatsoever, and end up breaking a lot of the laws that they're supposed to uphold just to be cool and show how they're not boring joykills.

KillerSkull: In the past I did want to be a forum moderator but now I'm not so sure. I lurk a lot these days and I'm not as involved with the forums as I once was so I think there are other users more suited to the task than me.

Bit: Sure. I would be OK with that. I was a moderator on a few other sites and I was pretty good at keeping them free of spam. On the BBS, I like to joke that I'm running for 'Mod 2016' as if it were an election, but I know that being a moderator is actually a pretty serious commitment. It's not something that you would want to do if you don't already spend a lot of time here.

Outlaw88: I think the golden rule is that if you want to be a Mod you shouldn't ask and lead by example. That being said if you had asked me this a few years ago I would have said yes in a heartbeat. Now that I'm not as active on the forum as I used to be it would be a wasted position. I feel I wouldn't do the job justice right now.

Q: Which forums do you mainly visit and which forums do you seldom visit?

A:

Xenomit: I'd estimate about 95% of my posts have been in general, 4% have been in video games, and the remaining 1% has been in clubs and crews. I've never posted on any of the other forums. I always intend to spend more time in video games, being I spend most of my free time playing them and enjoy talking about them, but I just never get around to doing it.

KillerSkull: I'm almost always in the General forum. I'll stop by the help forums and the video games forum from time to time as well but those are basically the only forums that I visit.

Bit: There are forums other than General?

Outlaw88: I used to just hang out in the clubs and crews section quite a bit but I mostly check out the general forum now. I never ever go to the politics area.

Q: If you could change anything on Newgrounds, what would it be and why?

A:

Xenomit: I'd bring back chat, I'd get rid of all the pornographic content so that major corporations might start advertising to us, I'd find a way to bring back some of the more well known content creators, I'd allow webms to be posted on the BBS, I'd get rid of "word rules" that prevent you from saying certain words.

That's about all I can think of. Chat is obvious, real time conversations with people, getting rid of pornographic content could hopefully open the doors to larger advertisers which would mean more revenue, bringing back more well known content creators would obviously start returning popularity, allowing webms in the BBS would just be convenient for me personally and could enrich conversation, and getting rid of verbal censorship would just be for liberty.

KillerSkull: Bring back the chat. I just want traffic in the forums to increase again.

Bit: Newgrounds chat, user page headers, and a mobile app so that people will shut up about wanting a mobile app. I would also try to bring Newgrounds' 'edge' back by allowing offensive submissions again. Also a Literature Portal because it would be nice to have a portal which I can actually contribute to.

Outlaw88: That's a tough one.... I used to say "add an edit button" all the time and we now have one. I would bring back the NG chat. That was fun. I would also want to see NG try to compete with YouTube more but I'm not sure how to do that. I'm not an artist or an animator so the content I do create tends to be with video which really doesn't have a place here. I also am glad for that as I think having NG as the hub for animation is its strength.

Q: What can we expect from the forum regulars in the future?

A:

Xenomit: Not much, a lot of us are way less active than we used to be, and I can't see anything keeping us here other than habit. Like I said, I still post every few days, but I ALWAYS have newgrounds open. I'm actually at an all time low point in my NG BBS career. I used to know everyone who came through the BBS, now I have a hard time recognizing any names. My inbox used to fill up every several weeks from talking to people every day, now I get exited when I see an unread message, they rarely present themselves to me.

I used to get on every day to see that I've been quoted dozens of times since the last day, now I only get quoted if I directly quote someone and say just the right thing. I'm just not a popular topic like I used to be.

I'd like to say that I'd do a xenomit revival and make a total comeback, but I just don't really care to, I don't have the energy.

KillerSkull: Hopefully the regulars keep on posting and the forums get busy aain, that's what I would like to see. I'll still be lurking and occasionally posting for sure.

Bit: Dank memes, shitposting, and phallic jokes.

Outlaw88: For me I hope to be around and post more. As I said I tend to lurk and not interact as much. That's something i know i need to change.

It's always great to speak with the regular members of Newgrounds. The people who this grand site entertains day in and day out. Because like it or not. This site helps so many grow and contribute to it. We were all regular members. Even Tom Fulp himself when he made the site 20 years ago. Every person interviewed here was once a regular member of Newgrounds.