Asandir's interviews with Newgrounds forum users

This week's interview features the user Lemonardo.

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When did you find Newgrounds and why did you join? Why did you choose the username Lemonardo?

Lemonardo:

"If my memory serves me well, I discovered Newgrounds from a flash game on a website similar to this one - Miniclip - all the way back in around 2002. I would have been around eleven at the time. The game was Squigly Fish Racer, and I remember, as a result of mashing buttons for so long, almost destroying the keyboard of the old iMac computer we had at the time. A link in the game brought me to Newgrounds. Of course, me being an eleven-year-old from the UK at the time, didn't understand the majority of the content on there - I think I first visited the site when a bunch 9/11-related flashes were on the front page - but I played a few of the games that were on there at the time, such as Rooftop Skater and Create-A-Ride.

I had never noticed the forums until I was 16 in 2007, after I started to visit the site more in my spare time, but I waited until late 2008 before I joined, simply because I was terrified of the place at first because, at the time, I was about as sociable as a brick, and that might even be a stretch. I didn't have a good time at high school, and it made me quite an awkward person to be around, so it was very hard for me to talk to people for a while. I joined initially because it was a way for me to chat without the need to talk face-to-face.

I've been through a fair few of usernames since I joined: at first I was TheBloxMaster, because I had a collection of the many beloved Lego and Mega Blocks sets that I had built as a kid which I never got rid of. As time went on, I went from TheBloxMaster to BobaDobo, to w33zl, and then finally Lemonardo. I went through so many names because I really wanted a name that was original but simple, and would also convey that I was someone who should not always be taken too seriously, but is still genuine and sensible, and at the end I thought Lemonardo fit that description of myself well enough that I made it my username."

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

Lemonardo:

"Looking back, I actually adapted and fit in fairly quickly since I first joined the site, much like how I gained confidence around that time in 2008-9. I could go as far as to say that the Newgrounds community helped me do that by always giving me the opportunity to talk to someone about something. I am a lot different now than I was when I joined back in 2008. I can admit that I am a lot more stubborn in what I view is right and wrong, and I can come across as a bit arrogant and a bit of an asshole, but I believe it is a sign of real strength if you are able to live by your own judgement, and I can safely say that it really helps your case in arguments."

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

Lemonardo:

"I think everybody loves Gagsy anyway, and I'm no exception. She's a really pleasant person to talk to about nearly anything, and if you don't have anything to say, she isn't afraid to talk about herself either. Overall, she's honest . I don't often speak to users personally, but most of those I have spoken to were those asking for favours or had been at the receiving end of some comment or a ban and that I just wanted to speak to in case they were upset.

They help me with some my own troubles too, and I'm certain that these exchanges of support have aided me through some dark times."

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

Lemonardo:

"I could give the cliché answer and say somebody who has a reputation for being annoying, such as a certain supergandhi64, but to be honest, I don't dislike him He has never caused me any grief, and in fact, I think he may have made me laugh a few times. There were a handful of users a fair amount of time ago that I'm sure I was not alone in disliking, but they are not nearly as active or as bad as they were before, so there's no point in naming names, and I'm not one to cause grief to somebody else anymore."

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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?

Lemonardo:

"They are not looking good, I'll say; the culture of the internet has changed enough that forums in general are not nearly as popular as they used to be. People would now rather speak spontaneously in a tweet or a chat message than carefully construct a message, making sure you don't say anything regrettable and keep up your online reputation, and I think this has rubbed off onto the forums as some old users started to leave and new users started to join from around 2010-11. Then they left after the older users that remain drew them away, so at the moment the forums are a wasteland, but I'm sure if we welcome any new users we do get the place will be on the mend.

I keep to the General forums; most users on other boards tend to post exclusively in topics which go over dozens of pages, so it feels like a chore, reading through everything everyone has ever said so you don't make a redundant post. Talking about random topics brings out more of a user's more personal views and ideas, so it's easier to get to know someone on the General forum than, say, the Audio forum.

It would be really good if you would get an interview of one of the higher-up members in the food chain. I'm sure you could get Rucklo to say a few interesting things."

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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?

Lemonardo:

"I think there are many in that position that take the job a little too seriously - there are some that punish users for simply disagreeing with what a moderator has done or said, even if it was downright wrong. I think that tends to occur in users who use their position to intimidate the regular, which is no better than a hall monitor making threats of telling the teacher to passing students. On the other hand, there are a number of users that don't do anything at all, or even use their powers to get away with posting spam or tormenting other users. The few moderators that actually do it right are becoming less and less active, to the point where there are days where there are none at all."

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

Lemonardo:

"I believe I'm more than capable of moderating the General forum. My strong sense of justice and what's right and wrong may allow me to make decisions when dealing with an incident, and my new-found confidence will certainly help me deal with the scrutiny that will most likely come from being given the job instead of somebody else. It's not enough to systematically ban every single user that breaks or has broken a rule; sometimes you have to judge them based on their intentions as well as their actions.

It's convenient that I live in the UK, because that means during the time I am home from work, it is peak time in America, so I can fill in for the American moderators that would typically be at work at that time."

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The redesign happened last year. Tell me what you think about it. What do you like and what is not so good?

Lemonardo:

"What I said just after the launch describes my opinion quite well: "I absolutely love it. You can tell a lot of care was put into this and it really pays off. It'll just take me a while to get used to." The only difference now is that I've since gotten used to it. You know when a website's design is good when you don't even have to consciously think about what you have to click to get to a certain page. The only gripe that I would've had would have been that the restructuring of the Flash Portal didn't make much sense to me - the old one worked perfectly fine - but that has since been solved with the addition of the Classic Portal. If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

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Since 2010 you have been sumbitting music to Newgrounds. When did you start making music? Which artists inspire you and which genre do you like the most? What changes would you like seeing implented for the audio portal?

Lemonardo:

"I actually started my projects in music back in 2009, when I was using the Punk-O-Matic 2 Flash game to record rock songs to put them onto CDs. After a couple albums, I started to play with PoM songs in Audacity, creating 13-minute-long noisefests of guitars with layers of effects and bizarre rhythms. It was incredibly fun, so I downloaded the Fruity Loops demo and played with the various sounds it had (you can hear a lot of my early stuff on the Punk-O-Matic website), and pretty much all that has happened since is that I have learnt the basics of music production and now I'm trying to get cracking on with producing music professionally. It is my main goal in life to get a job in the music industry as a producer.

My music portfolio since the beginning of 2012 can be found on my Bandcamp page."

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You mentioned that you like the TV series Oz. Tell me what that show is about and why you like it.

Lemonardo:

"It's set in a maximum-security prison where each ethnic group of inmates are encouraged to socialise with each other, in an attempt by the officers to get rid of the hateful thoughts that got them into there in the first place. I have loved the show ever since I first watched it because of how it deals with the issues humanity faces in real life, such as how the wrong circumstances can often cause the most decent man to do a horrible thing, and how society often doesn't acknowledge that criminals are still human, to the point where a free man could wish another dead; when you watch it, it makes you stop and think about the more regrettable things you might have felt for someone else and what you can do to make yourself a better person as a result of that."

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I think you might like the series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Do you have a favourite episode, if so which one is it? Who is your favourite villain? If you would be a Ninja Turtle, what would be the weapon(s) of your choice and which colour would you choose for your mask?

Lemonardo:

"I think I was a bit too young to have really appreciated the show, not to mention it wasn't nearly as popular in the UK as I suppose it was in the US. I did watch a bit though, and I'd have to say that my favourite villian is Krang, just because he was such fun to watch have his plans foiled all the time, and I think it helps that he is a pink wrinkly blob with eyes and a mouth that wants to take over the world."

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You are the creator of the widely know parody comic series "tennage mutent ninjer tertels". Tell our readers how you got the idea to start this comic and if you plan to continue this promising project in the future.

Lemonardo:

"It actually started out as part of 'Dolan', a meme that was circulating around the Internet at the time, and I just thought which children's TV series I could 'Dolanise' so I picked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Unfortunately, it was well-received, and gained minor popularity on image sharing websites and especially on this website since I uploaded it to the Art Portal.

I'm not making any more of these, because they just won't be funny anymore - that is, if it is actually funny to anyone and they're not just pretending to laugh because they feel pity for my awful sense of humour."

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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?

Lemonardo:

"I am also the creator of another internet meme: a comic strip parodying the TV show 'The Big Bang Theory.' The video I released on my YouTube channel to accompany the strip has reached over 26,000 views and is rising fairly steadily. Several videos that have referenced my comic, such as this video parody animated by KawaiiPiranha."

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

Lemonardo:

"You can expect my music to improve in quality and hopefully become a part of the Newgrounds community as well as a part of my own career.

I'll still be on the BBS too. Maybe the chat. But more the BBS.

Bye!"

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Now you are filled with more knowledge about Lemonardo, 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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