Asandir's interviews with Newgrounds forum users
This week's interview features the user SpiffyMasta. He is a long time member of both Newgrounds and the Elite Guard Barracks and will tell us about his time on this site.
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When did you find Newgrounds and why did you join? Why did you choose the username SpiffyMasta?
"I found Newgrounds in 1999 or 2000. I'm an old fart. I was about 13-14 at the time. Someone basically told me to check out the website because of the Teletubby Fun Land and the Assassin games. Back then the standard for quality in flash was low, so these games were awesome and hilarious, especially for a kid my age. I was hooked to playing dress-up britney games, and killing various celebrities of the time. As far as joining, I can't remember exactly why I created an account, but I'm pretty sure it was because I wanted to be able to deposit experience points (gold points at the time or something like that lol). I forgot about that for a while as you can tell by my huge amount of exp vs my account date lol. I never really cared too much about it, I usually manage to deposit 5 days a week. But I'm going off on a tangent here. The name Spiffymasta was a nickname that I used back then. It essentially just came from the word spiffy/spliff cause i thought it was cool and I was the master of being spiffy. The things 12-13 year old kids think of... hahaha"
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Do you think that you changed over the time you were here, as user, or also in real life?
"Oh of course! I mean in ten years a person matures and grows up. I started as a young socially awkward high school nerd, finished high school as an active jock, went through my college hippie days (you should see the hair I used to have), moved to the US, finished college and spent time in the Marine Corps Reserve (4 years), and now I'm what you would call a responsible and mature adult of 25 with a mid-level management job. Still single though and no kids. I also went from a complete socialist liberal to a hardcore libertarian. If you read my first posts in the forum you'll see that I loved to talk politics and bash Bush cause it was the cool thing to do in Quebec (that's where I'm originally from). Now I think Bush was actually a great president and I believe in personal responsibility above all else. I learned that you should always check your facts and everyone else's facts before you jump into any kind of bandwagon. What someone tells you is almost never the complete story. There's always two sides to a coin. As a user I started just checking out movies and playing games, then started using the BBS in politics and joined the defunct Quebec Club, which was deleted a long time ago, but I had probably about 500 posts in there. After a few years of hiatus I came back and joined the NGPD. I helped TailsPrower run that club for a couple years. Then I leveled out and joined the EGB. These last few months I've been more active in the EGB and on the portal helping Wade keep an eye on any flashes that are rule breaking and need deleting, as you know the whistle system disappeared after the redesign, so I think I contribute handily. I have a knack for finding stolen flashes and other things."
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Are there any other users that you like, and how do they affect you?
"I like to think that I like everyone from the EGB and NGPD current and former.gamejunkie and his daughter Shannon and I message back and forth quite often. We like to keep up with each other. I formed a relationship with TailsPrower during my time with the NGPD, we would chat once in a while outside of NG. I chat with silentcobra once in a while outside of NG, he's a former member of NGPD and inactive member of the EGB. I became good friends with a user from Quebec "Dez" back in the 05 days. Although she doesn't come to the site anymore, we still chat semi regularly. michelinman is also a user of mention. Fro is also a user I struck a relationship with, I even helped pay for his recent wedding by buying some baseball cards from him. All the regulars from the Wi/Ht forum, although sadly the regulars' and members' thread are long dead. You can always find our member number in our signature though. It is a semi exclusive club of helpful, regular users of the Wi/Ht forum. I think that covers everyone."
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Are there any users that you would consider enemies or that you just don't like?
"Pretty much any user that tries to put kiddie porn on the portal, or hack accounts, or put malicious things in their flashes. I can take spam, but if you're gonna do illegal stuff, it's stupid."
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What is your opinion about the forums? Is there one forum that you prefer? And is there another forum user that you want to see getting interviewed by me?
"I love the forums. It's a big part of why I hang out on Newgrounds, so to speak. I mainly stick to the C&C and Wi/Ht forums. Most of the time General is a waste of time. I like the politics forum when I'm in the mood, and also the VG forum every once in a while. Main reason is the Wi/Ht, I like to help people. I have a lot of knowledge about NG, and it's fun to help out the noobs. I became a member of the Wi/Ht a couple years ago. You can find us with our Wi/Ht member # in our signatures. C&C I mainly frequent the EGB and NGPD threads. I also pop in once in a while to the old people's home for laughs. I'd like Twilight to get interviewed.But I don't remember what he changed his username to. I just wanna know what is wrong with that guy that he has to be such an attention whore on the forums lol. Like what pushes his buttons."
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I guess that you have an opinion about the moderators of Newgrounds. Do you think that they do a great job or not?
"Moderators are a double edged sword. On one part, I can understand where they're coming from, on another, I think a lot of them let the power get to their heads. It is a voluntary position, but some people just take themselves waayyyyy too seriously. It's funny what status people think they have just cause they're mods. At the same time, I can see their use in keeping the real crap off the forums. Sometimes they just really stretch their use of force. I've had a few encounters in particular with Malachy. We've butted heads more than a few times, but I think he's got a pretty good head on his shoulders and he just tries to do his best. It's a tough job really, because whatever you do, I think someone somewhere is just gonna get pissy at you, and if you don't know how to not take things personally, that can take a toll for sure."
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Would you like to become a moderator on Newgrounds? If so, what kind of moderator?
"Not sure yet. I'd have to think about it if the opportunity presented itself. That's all I can say about that."
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You joined before the Redesign 2007 took place. Can you tell me how different the site was at this time?
"It was a whole different ball game. HAHA not really... I mean besides the level system being changed, nothing really affected me that much after the redesign. I still had a portal, and the forums. I think the level system was a great change though. It had become really pointless to deposit, because you didn't level up. It was all dependent on whoever had the most exp, which is and was always Pimp. Rumors are floating around that the Pimp account isn't even run by the same original guy either, that it gets passed on to different users that deposit for it. It's kind of like cheating if you ask me, but whatever. Anyways, after the redesign I was very happy that the levels were at a set amount of exp, and I could move past level 9 or 10 or whatever I was at that time. The icons looked a lot better too."
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The redesign happened this year. Tell me what you think about it. What do you like and what is not so good?
"I like the new layout for sure. I was a little disappointed with the new level icons to be honest, I thought the old ones were a lot better. The secrets are gone sadly! Also I'm definitely missing the whistle system for flashes. Now I spend a lot of time checking up on the portal and messaging Wade if anything needs to get deleted. Which honestly is probably just as effective as the flagging system, if not more, cause I know what breaks the rules and what doesn't hahaha. I'm pretty sure there's a few other users that do this as well, so it's all safe and sound anyway. I think a lot of the changes were done on the back end, so not a lot to comment on on my part about those things."
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You are a member of the Elite Guard Barracks. What are you doing for the group and how did you become a member?
"Well I started out in the NGPD. "If I remember correctly I came back from a hiatus on NG and started noticing that nothing was getting blammed anymore. I was frustrated with the amount of crap going through just because some people became generous with their votes and started essentially saving everything (because a vote of 2, 3, 4, or 5 is much more likely to get you a point than 0 or 1 if you know how anything about statistics). I made a thread about it here which summed up my feelings about the voting situation in the portal. Anyway, after that I randomly found the NGPD, I usually posted in the metal thread and had created a military club. I joined shortly in the hope of joining like minded people who put importance on voting fairly in the portal. Which was mostly the case. I had a good time there, at some point became the Unit-Ops (which was second in command) and was helping mold new recruits into upstanding citizens lol. I eventually ranked out and naturally joined the EGB. I think the dynamic is slightly different. Slightly more mature I guess. But the goal is the same. I am mainly a foot soldier, I spend my days catching stolen flashes and rule breaking items. I have a knack for these things I guess."
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Every person has secrets. Can you tell one of yours or something else that we didn't know about you yet?
"I have a third testicle. HAHA no I'm kidding. Something secret? Hmmm. I don't really have any cool secrets, sorry!"
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What can we expect from you in the future, SpiffyMasta?
"Just same old me, enjoying way too many flash games while I'm at work, getting irritated at the youngins' and blabbing about the good old days."
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Now you are filled with more knowledge about SpiffyMasta, dear reader.Feel free to leave a comment here, saying what you think about the interview, requesting users to get interviews is also appreciated. Tune in next week :3
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MaartenC
Whoah, I'm first.
Good interview.
Asandir
Congrats and thanks :)