Asandir's interviews with Newgrounds forum users

This week's interview features the user KatMaestro.

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

KatMaestro:

"I first heard of Newgrounds back during late 2007, while I was searching for flash animation and indie music. It was Madness Combat that brought me attentively to NG. Although the lively life in the General also forum gave me strong attentions, I never had an intention to sign up, because I felt like there wouldn't have much need to do so. However this thought ended last year when my close friend, a regular in Audio forum, convinced me to sign up. Another factor that urged to sign up was the huge redesign. Surely I shouldn't miss all the changes and features of this wonderful community.

Elitistinen is Finnish, literally means 'elitist' in English. I used to be an academic elitist, and I still keep little attitudes on this matter. It's also my nickname in for me during my time in a metal band. It's not provocative enough to be unique but it is still a hard-to-find username.

The decision which led me to decide that I should change the name, was caused by a small meet last Friday. So I was walking down the street to look for a lunch place after the Pride parade. Because I bought a cheap headsets from dollar store, therefore people could hear anything I play when close by. And there I was, playing a remastered version of Beyond Machine loudly because it was noisy on the street. A teenager who approached me and asked if I knew the composer... I was like an idiot, first I stood there with questions... then I blushed. So he told me that 'the composer' had a long name which he was trying to pronounce it! I was shamefully standing there and finally I told him 'the composer'... the jerk who put that long name was right in front of his face. We had some conversation and so on.

It was very awkward and I really need to change the name to something more familiar.

'Maestro Cat' is too common. So I changed it to KatMaestro, a rare name which also very familiar to people. Everyone loves cat, right? :3"

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

KatMaestro:

"I changed a lot since I started to join conversations in NG forums. I started to become more aggressive, cynical, sarcastic and joke-magnetic than I usually shouldn't be. On the positive side, I also have become more open, comfortable and ready for any conversation. And this had helped to fuel my confidence in real life. NG community is so unique for me that I rather spend my time on here than to sharpen my Perl skill."

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

KatMaestro:

"There are some very interesting users that I keep close connections with. Such as abbiegale, FairSquare, Cyberdevil, SourJovis, Zanthas, eatmeatleet, wandschrank, KevinHR & dem0lecule. Some of them are my close friends on NG. Seeing Cyberdevil posts & comments always give me joys. He's just one of a few people on NG that I pay vast amounts of respect to."

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

KatMaestro:

"I only don't like those who blocked me because of my trollish comments. Ha! Far too many sensitive people considered me as worthless based on my first comment. Sigh!... The only user who was so close to be my real enemy was ma1achi, a Mac boy who bashed anyone who goes against his ideology. I had some unsetled feuds with ma1achi. So glad the moderators got rid of him."

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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?

KatMaestro:

"I have nothing against the General, Politics and Video Game; they are just as chaotic as perfect, just like what I have always wished for. The only forum that bothers me the most is Audio forum. The place is full of jerks. Either someone makes a thread on suggestions that's only good for themselves, or someone else creates troubles in a perfectly good thread which resulting moderators lock it. Moderators at Audio forum practice favoritism. Too much authoritarian is going on.

I prefer an totally democratic forum, which General, fits perfectly. Users can speak almost whatever they want to. Most mods openly allow even the most sensitive topics flow freely. Users are a mix of all classes and types of people. It is so diversity and indirectly represents for the openness of Newgrounds.

I would like you to interview CloseThyDoor. This guy is quite an interesting character. Most of his topics are quite deep and thoughtful (there's a myth that his stuff are all copypasta, I hope they aren't true). Also, BrokenDeck, he's the new BBS mod, quite strict, and I believe he has a lot of secrets. And, 372, a new star in the General with great posts."

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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?

KatMaestro:

"Some moderators on the forum should behave less childish, especially those are new to BBS modding. These moderators could go more bombastic than any troll they have banned. I feel the gasp for powers when younger mods first get on the crown. And the Audio mods. From what I see so far, the Audio mods are worse than Art and Flash mods add together. Favoritism pollutes the air of NG community, created by these Audio jerky mods. Despise the small negativity, I personally think the majority of mods are doing the great job."

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

KatMaestro:

"I wouldn't like to become a moderator. I enjoy my time being a good lamb so far."

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You are an audio artist. Tell our readers how you started making music and what kind of work we can expect in the future from you.

KatMaestro:

"I first started to write music in the late 90s, when I follow my older brother to demoparties. A few years later, I began to write music for demoscene. Some of my tunes, which were chiptune, rang anonymously throughout cracktros & chipdisks. I was pretty unknown in the music scene and remain the same. I became more active during school times. I joined a heavy metal band and gained quite a lot of fames. However I remained in the dark afterwards.

My music has styles which mix between demoscene music, contemporary, trailer-ish and metal music. I want to release little of both chiptune and experimental cinematic music. As for chiptune, my fans would enjoy the music of 90s demoscene style. As for experimental cinematic, there are quite some thoughtful and provocative pieces mix with trailer orchestra I would like to show."

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You were once a member of a music band. Could you imagine being in a band again and making music for a living?

KatMaestro:

"I would like to return to full time music work and either join or found a band. This time I would be more open than just heavy metal. It could be a band of Swedish folk music, a folk rock band or a full blast death metal band. I could play Irish low whistle, concert flute, violin, guitar and on my way to master nyckelharpa, a Swedish bow instrument. Unfortunately, I'm just a sad system administrator with little time to complete my musical dream."

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Laws like ACTA and CISPA are dangering the freedom of the internet. How do you think will the internet change in the next 10 years and what effect will it have on society?

KatMaestro:

"The Internet is going to become more restrictive, and this is unavoidable. No matter how hard we fight for, things are settled in place. ACTA fails, they now have CISPA. If in the near future someone will remove CISPA, they will have something else. The more people fight the surveillance, the more it becomes powerful. It is an inevitable fate of digital communication. The only way to win this fight is to become anonymous. Go anonymous and communicate in the dark. Go out of the foreground and become ghosts in the background. Use proxies or vpns to hide your communication, use encryptions to secure your data, gain more knowledge on computer security. Governments already snoop on us decades ago, and these bills they pass is just to legalize their dirty jobs.

Protect yourselves, folks, because if you don't no one will do so for you. The Internet is not going to be free. It never is."

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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?

KatMaestro:

"I am much more friendly than what spills out of my mouth/mind. I love Swedish culture, which is quite opposite on my latest opinions on Swedes. I have a good marksmanship that I spend on rabbit, deer and moose; if necessary, thieves. I love lingonberry vodka, a drink which accurately and humorously symbolizes Finnish."

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

KatMaestro:

"More sarcastic jokes! Kidding! I shall try to behave better later on. Perhaps some edgy comments and great music. I also shall help out those who's in need for privacy & technology, such as proxy/vpn/programming/misc. If you need any help, please PM me or post on my news post anytime, I'll try my best to reply as detailed as possible."

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Now you are filled with more knowledge about KatMaestro, 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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