Asandir's interviews with Newgrounds forum users

This week's interview features the user ZJ.

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When did you find Newgrounds and why did you join? Why did you choose the username Puddin64 and why did you change it to ZJ?

ZJ:

"I discovered NG in 2005 or so. I was a big fan of Randy-Solem's work over at VGDC and loved his "Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom" flashes. When the fourth one came out, I saw that Randy hadn't uploaded it to his website, but rather, some foreign flash website that I wasn't too familiar with. That website, obviously, was Newgrounds and after spending a lot of time watching silly Mario parodies and playing dirty dress up games, I decided to join the website in the summer of 2006 and fully enjoy the perks of membership. As a young kid with a love for video games and a growing appreciation for dirty humor and girls, this website was a Godsend for me. I chose the username PuddinN64 because that's the username that I've used on almost every website that I've ever joined. It's really just a combination of two things. The "Puddin" part was a childhood nickname that was given to me by some of my friends and the "N64" part was a reference to the Nintendo 64 video game system. You have to keep in mind that I was (and still arguably am) a huge Nintendo fanboy. I came up with that name when I was about 12 and have stuck with it ever since out of habit. As for changing the name to ZJ? No huge reason, I suppose. I just wanted a change of pace around here in 2011 and thought a username change would be cool. I asked Tom to change it for me and about two days later, he did. For those who are curious, the ZJ is supposed to stand for "Zachary John", which is my first and middle name."

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

ZJ:

"Of course. I was 13 years old when I originally signed up for this website and was a lot stupider and more immature than I was right now (if that seems possible). I've gone through puberty and grown up a little bit, so I'm obviously not the same person that I was in 2006. I've kinda gotten over the novelty of seeing Mario kill people and swear and seeing naked anime girls, but have grown to appreciate the beautiful art and music that this website generates and am still finding new reasons to stick around. I think that as I've grown, so has my relationship with this website."

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You have over 10.000 posts. What do you think about Newgrounds forums? Do you consider yourself as a forum regular?

ZJ:

"I like the forums and I definitely consider myself a regular. There's a lot of shit in there, but there's a lot of cool stuff going on, too. The trick is to just go in with an open mind and take things as they come."

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Are there users that you like, and how do they affect you?

ZJ:

"Gosh, I have so many good friends on here that I talk to regularly that it's hard to list them all, but I'll try: Zachary, Jay, EJR, GoryBlizzard, BPremo, Timmy, The-Great-One, CosmicDeath, Grub-Xer0, Luis, ReNaeNae, Wade, EyeLovePoozy, SymbolCymbal, Tarah, Ryanson, and so many others (I'm sorry if I missed you, doesn't mean I don't love you). As for how they affect me? I'd say that they all just make this website a little bit better. I love having a personal level of contact with a lot of NG users."

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Are there any users that you would consider enemies or that you just don't like?

ZJ:

"Travis and I have had our fair share of spats and I'll never forget my early squabbles with Blaze-Heatnix in the video games forum when I posted in there more frequently, but I really don't think I have any "enemies" on here. I find it silly to hate someone over the internet. At worst, they can only insult me via text or images. I just don't have enough time to hate someone who is probably sitting miles upon miles away from me."

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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?

ZJ:

"I wouldn't say "great", but I wouldn't say bad either. I don't think it's possible to have a perfect level of happiness with the moderation of this website, as people will always find a way to bitch about something, but I do find a lot of the mods to be missing as of lately. It's not really my business, but if I ran the show, I'd probably get some more mods on board and try to make them have an active presence again. I don't think it should be a revolving door for idiots to come in and fuck with things on the bbs or whatever, but I do think that having about 10 or so new mods in each area wouldn't hurt things. I mean, at worst, you could easily de-mod the losers, right?"

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Would you like to become a moderator on Newgrounds? If so, what kind of moderator?

ZJ:

"I'd like to be a mod, but I'd never ask for it. I wouldn't mind modding the bbs, portal, or chat. Those places are pretty cool and I've always thought that if I was going to spend so much time on this website, I might as well do something constructive with said time. Here's hoping that someday in the future, I'll have a chance to help out."

Note: ZJ became a portal mod shortly after sending me the answers and is doing an excellent job.

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You witnessed the time before the first redesign as active user. Did you like the chances that the redesign brought to the site?

ZJ:

"I loved the 2007 Redesign. The new user icons were so much better than the old ones and so many little changes made this website so much easier to use. I'm sad that the chat took so long to come out and that we never got to see what it would like on the 2007-2012 design, but for the most part, I'm glad they changed it up. It was a good change for everybody, I feel."

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The redesign 2012 finally took place. What do you think about it?

ZJ:

"The Redesign was awesome! Can't wait for the next one in 2017!"

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Christmas will be there in a few weeks, a special time on Newgrounds. Are you looking forward to experience Christmas on Newgrounds?

ZJ:

"Sure. I love spreading holiday cheer with other NG users and what not. I've always had a lot of time to be on NG with Christmas vacations and what not happening. Not much to say other than that."

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You have 11 flash submissions, and most of them are associated with Clock Day. What do you think about this special Newgrounds day?

ZJ:

"I like Clock Day. It gives users like me a chance to submit shit to the portal and have a good laugh about it while 5ing a bunch of crap and getting a ton of save points. I do think that the popularity of the holiday has gone down over the last few years, though. I guess the Clock Crew just doesn't have that much of a presence anymore as new users are probably ignorant to "B" and StrawberryClock. I hope the holiday doesn't go away anytime soon, but I can't say that I'm optimistic about its future."

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You bought quite some stuff in the Newgrounds Store. Do you appreciate the possibility to buy merchandise from Newgrounds? Is there anything that you would like to be added to the store?

ZJ:

"I love supporting the website by buying stuff from it. I just wished that they would allow me to use PayPal to make some of my purchases because it's a real pain in the ass to use my credit/debit card to get the stuff. I guess it's still a work in progress. As for things that I would like to see in the store? I'd probably love to see a wider selection of T-shirts and the inclusion of hats. I think that it would be awesome if I could get an official NG logo hat like Wade has."

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You won the Biggest Attention Whore award for the NGBBS awards 2011. Do you think that you deserve this award and how did you feel winning it?

ZJ:

"I found it to be hilarious. I've never seen myself as much of an attention whore, but I guess that's how others did. I took it all in good humor and basically tried to take it all in stride. I wouldn't say I'm proud about the award, but it's not like I'm embarrassed by it either. I just took it as a "Haha, oh you guys" moment and moved on."

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What can we expect from you in the future, ZJ?

ZJ:

"Lots of football threads and a possible art contest. Stay tuned."

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Now you are filled with more knowledge about ZJ, 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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