@SkProductions - @Aalasteir (Q)

Q: How do you feel about the Internet and why did you join NewGrounds?

A:The Internet can be very creative and unique sometimes other times it's always a game of trend chasing and clout chasing you'd never believe what people do for clout it's really insane.

The reason I joined Newgrounds is because I remember finding some wonderful stuff on here like Madness Combat,Pico's school and etc.

Q: How did you get interested in creating art and animations?

A:Let's just say it started out as something I really like to do and seeing many art and animations all across the internet and on Newgrounds it really got me intrested and rest is history and most of it is really dark and depressing but let's not worry about that this is about fun and jokes.

Q: What do you like and dislike about the NG community

A:I like that the NG community is supportive and helpful to other users, also people doing collabs is really cool since there's so many different art styles, plus it's neat to see em together in a one large project, if the collab gets any attention at all that is.> :3

There's not much to hate about the NG community even though there's some bad apples here or there but most times the NG community is really chill compaired to other websites out there however when starting out fresh and not well known there's somethings to hate about NG community but most reasons is just because of skill issues or just not taken seriously but overall NG community is really supportive and helpful once the creator get used to Newgrounds and start getting good at their craft or have a intresting personality,or even both, if they ever get gud mwah ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Q: Top 10 ways to make the website worse

A:I'd don't really want to make the website worse and have the users suffer but if you want the list then alright here it is

1:be extremely corporate(Every mainstream website ever currently)

2:have subscriptions up the wazoo(Youtube I'd bet)

3:put your hands up and say no moderation(that one website that starts with V and everyone knows it at this point)

4:make changes that doesn't benefit the user at all(My bets on Mainstream websites again since I'm pity)

5:removing stuff that makes the website better in the past(Youtube again)

6:have changes made just because money*insert mr krabs here*(Twitter Mostly)

7:have old features locked away by a paywall(Most websites excluding Newgrounds)

I'ma do 7 cuz 7 is a lucky number mwah ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Q: Your advice for artists

A:Learn from others and look up tutorials whenever you can cuz the videos are informative even though some if em are confusing but there's always learning from others.

@tox - @Aalasteir (Q)

Q: How did you randomly stumbled across NG? What are your experiences with the Internet and have they all been negative?

I came across Newgrounds thanks to old friends of mine back in grade 4/5, some 24 years ago, I did not have an account back then and later made one in 2007, we went to a science school and were all a part of an animation class, both friends were showing me their high scores in games that were featured on sites like Candystand, Kongregate and Addictinggames and then we would re-creating types of games/features/buttons/animations found in those games and uploading the projects to Newgrounds because Newgrounds was the cool underground website at the time

We all wanted to be the hack-zor "I'm in" edge kids back then

We succeeded a lot :p

My experience with the internet has been generally positive, It is a wide wide world out there and there are so many things that you can learn from the internet

I am in the process of getting into cyber security programs/analysis because I follow a few people and am learning how to do emissions deletes on transport trucks. These are a few of the people that I like to put forward as educators

https://www.youtube.com/@EdisonMotors

https://www.youtube.com/@rossmanngroup

https://www.youtube.com/@PirateSoftware

Q: What is the origin of your name: tox

tox is a shortened name of an old name of mine that was toxiclife, which was changed from quagmire690 (long long ago)

Q: How did you decide on being a part of the The Elite Guard Barracks?

Being a part of the EGB is a way for me to give back to the community that I found so long ago, a community that got me through many of my teen years, and shaped me into the person that I am today, my post count in the 14k range is a log from the old General board and so...so...many spam posts. The people that I met on General, the number of times that I butted my head against someone or something molded me into a centered individual. My roll in the EGB allows me to be around other individuals that share similar goals of giving back and protecting Newgrounds for the future people that are learning the same things and traits that I learned.

Q: What do you think about the moderators are they nice and awesome?

Buncha beer swirling hosers and toonie toons if ya ask me!

In reality, many of them are friends of mine, many of them hold qualities that I like, many of them are my life educators for being a father even if they don't know it.

Much the same way that I learned from the older users when I was younger, I am learning from older Mods (people) now that I am older myself

@Big-Boss @Brokendeck @Pingu @TurkeyOnAStick @Exedor @gamejunkie @Asandir

@ADR3-N @guthrie @SourCherryJack @TomFulp

Thanks to all of you, I am growing

Thank you

Q: What makes you angry?

People who ask too many questions, or too few

There is a rebuff that I heard recently

Person 1: Can I ask a dumb question?

Person 2: Like only you can.

I like people who are inquisitive about the world around them, they are the people who have that spark of discovery in their head and usually with only a little push they take a small idea and flush out the area around it before asking further questions

Alternatively, there are people who ask for step 1, then step 2, and you have to guide them along the path of discovery sometimes endlessly until the point that they seem satisfied with the shell of an idea or they allow their own self-doubts to stop following a path

Q: How do you decide on favoriteing a submission?

There are people out there who look at the cards that life has dealt them and then start throwing those cards in ways I would have never expected,

https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/snuffles/weird-dog @snuffles who in their day to day turns up to their computer and says to themselves "I want to make a fluffy looking creature who uses abstract imagery/letters/symbols to create a piece of art

https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/danitheprofaner/aerials @DaniTheProfaner, who wakes up and says to themselves that I want to paint with more black than color and see where it leads me

https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/922718 @CrownePrince who sets out on a month-long journey with the idea "I like foxes, people who also like foxes would have them interact in this sort of way"

These are the people that look at the cards in their hands and say to themselves "I ain't got much, but I have enough to make someone else OR MYSELF happy" and then just roll with it

Q: What is your advice for new users?

Grow

Grow randomly

The adults above you are specialized into a given field and making the best of that situation that they find themselves in

There is no set path for you, there is no right path for anyone

Follow dreams

I have 3 friends,

1 lives on roughly $10k a year and comes up with some of the most out of this world ideas for day to day life that challenge anything that I thought was right about what normal life is, he is a talented cook, he is a welder, he is a stock trader, he runs small form factor e-coin farms and is entirely capable of making well over 150k a year but he said that a life of making $10k a year is enough to sustain himself and have an acceptable existence, he is richer then I am and I make closer to 90k a year

2 an old boyfriend of mine, he traveled the world and performed inside of Cirque Du Soul types of performances, theatres and other performing arts gigs, he decided that people were more important to himself and learned 5 languages, he is moving into a security job with the UN soon as an interpreter so that he can interpret for our world leaders

3 an old boss of mine he learned the ways of law enforcement by pulling people over in small towns and then got into wearhousing and safety courses, he recently started with the Government of BC Canada as a safety inspector finding companies that hire foreign or underage workers and put them into jobs where why get abused or used as generally expendable labour and puts a stop to that, he has stopped hundreds of people being put into positions where they could be unfairly treated and gives them the ability to live their own lives. The kinds of lives that they envisioned when they left the life they had behind and came to Canada

grow randomly, you can't predict where you end will up

@Lt-Abdelhak - @Aalasteir (Q)

Q: Your experiences with the Internet and how did you find Newgrounds?

My experience with the internet was very mixed, I have been exposed to many things in my late childhood, Things that I am sure I was not meant to stumble upon so easily, especially at that early age haha. So the internet sure did have an impact on my life, now whether it was a positive one or not, I don't really know.

And as for Newgrounds. Well, I guess I discovered it in the same way as the people of our age did, by playing flash games and waiting for that big black and yellow Newgrounds loading screen to finish ',:]

Although I never really bothered to look into it, I was too young and my English was very poor, so I only saw the site one time and never bothered again until around the late 2019 when I remembered its existence and gave it a go.

Q: How do you feel about the Newgrounds community?

Well, I think the people here are angels compared to the users of other platforms/websites. And not the fruity egg shell walking fake smiling hypocrites type of "angels" like on tumblr for example lol. No, I mean decent people with the best of intentions, most of them at least, which is more than good enough for me!

Q: When did you get interested in reading news posts on Newgrounds? What do you look for in a News Post?

I think it was a gradual process, the more time I spent here, the more I became interested in what people had written as their news posts, from both artists and just regular users.

And honestly, I have no idea what I am looking for, I just look at any post that has an interesting or appealing title, and then see if I can or should reply to what has been written, pretty easy.

Q: How did you get interested in creating art?

From cartoons, of course! like The Flintstones, Ghostbusters, Inspector Gadget, Loony Tunes... etc. It was my dream to do the same thing when I was an adult, but as you can see, that dream never came true. But I never gave up, I think that's what's important!

Q: How did you decide on choosing military motifs in your art?

I mean, my Newgrounds gallery is pretty varied. But to answer your question, I think it is because I like the "aesthetics" of it, like guns, fatigues and vehicles, and also because I appreciate the lives of the conscripts and the freedom fighters who selflessly sacrifice themselves for their both nation's right of self determination and governance and their family. You really can't help but respect that.

Q: How do you feel about the Internet?

Haven't I already answered that question? Alright, alright. Well, think of it like this, the internet is like a gun in the hands of a civilian, either the civilian chooses to be a hero and do good, or be criminal and do bad (or store it away in the attic to collect dust lol). 

The point is that I feel it is a tool, and whoever uses it, determines its purpose.

Q: Your advice for artists

OK, what I am about to say is the best thing you will ever get out from me, so please pay attention and don't just take it for granted, I would like you to put it in your heads, especially you stubborn artists. You are a much better artist than you think! but many of you have sadly convinced yourself with this stupid pessimism that you are not. And I know why, you look up to your favourite artists, be it illustrators or animators or any artist, and you get intimidated thinking that you can't do what they did, which is not true at all. Who do you think they are? Cyborgs or perhaps genetically enhanced beings? No, they are flawed human beings, just like you and me. If they can do it, so can we! So go ahead and dare! Try what you think is cool and see for yourself! you will most likely succeed, and if you don't, so what? you saw your strong points and weakness, next time you'll know what to do! That is what I and others have done ;)

And it does not matter to just improve fast and draw every day or something, in fact I think you'll grow to dislike your hobby because it became a chore. It's about progressing and enjoying it, period.



@53xy83457 - @Aalasteir (Q)

Q: How did you start using the Internet, and when did you discover Newgrounds? And why did you join?

Got a computer for Christmas. When Alien Hominid came out on PS2. Help ignore the voices.

Q: How do you feel the community on here has changed?

Obviously I preferred the good old days fifteen or so years ago when everybody was a cunt. And even ten years ago when nobody was here but somehow everybody was still a cunt. People are more friendly and inclusive now. Guess I'll just have to learn to deal with that.

Q: How did you get interested in creating art?

Not an artist. This is embarrassing, did you send these to the wrong person?

Q: The story behind your name: 53xy83457

Christmas play.

Q: What is it like to run your Combat League?

It's alright. Think I'd like to move on to something new soon though. Probably a combat league.

Q: What do you like about Mega Man?

Never even played Mega Man, what are you on about?

Q: Where does your passion for the NG community come from?

Calm down, I only like the NG community as a friend. In all seriousness, where else is there? Twitter sucks, Reddit sucks, Facebook... haven't been on it in a decade but my racist aunt says it sucks.

Q: Your experiences with game development. What is it like making games using Flash?

Really good for the aforementioned fight simulations, etc. For game development, I'd maybe recommend an alternative whose own creators (and apparently the whole universe in general) aren't repeatedly trying to destroy it. Game Maker seems alright from what I've seen. Unity can fuck off, I know that much.

Q: Your advice for artists

When I was growing up, there was this small bit of the carpet in the living room that had worn away. It was basically a black stain on the concrete underneath it. Don't know why it took so long for anybody to replace it in hindsight. Anyway, obviously I fell in the perfect position to crack the back of my skull off it... TWICE!! My point is, therefore or otherwise, maybe my brain works different but when I get an idea, NOTHING CAN STOP ME! So, I don't know, Shia LaBeouf meme, I suppose.

@OnceHere - QA

Q: Why are you on the Internet, and how do you feel it has impacted your perception of the world?

I'm on the internet because I wanted to share my art. Being here also keeps me entertained. It is also the best way to learn new things since I will have no immediate way of finding out how many possibly habitable exoplanets exist in the Milky Way galaxy while having breakfast otherwise.

The internet, especially with the recent advancements in A.I., made me more appreciative of the real world's apparent authenticity.

Q: How did you get interested in creating art?

I'm interested in creating art ever since I was a kid. A mix of cartoons and colouring books did the trick.

Q: What does it mean to be an artist?

To be an artist, one must have a desire to express something in a creative way. The process and outcome doesn't really matter in a sense that almost every process and outcome are valid as long as the artist is actively trying to make something new to them.

Or someone or a bunch of people agree that whatever some other people are doing is art.

It's all dependent on both your and other people's understanding of what an art and artist is.

Q: What do you think about the Newgrounds community?

It's alright I guess. A community is a community.

Q: What could destroy Newgrounds?

An asteroid the size of Texas. A gamma ray burst from a nearby star system. Some unexplained cosmic phenomena. Girlfriend spilling too much liquor. Etc.

Q: Are reviews helpful?

Only if they offer help. A simple "good job" can still be helpful for someone who doubts their skills.

Q: What does it mean to be a Newgrounder?

If a person uses the site then they already are one I guess.

@KingCrowned - @Aalasteir (Q)

Q: How did you discover Newgrounds? Have you always been interested in the Internet?

Well Newgrounds has been on my mind ever since I was a kid. I’ve played games that were made by people on the site like Henry stickmin, riddle school, the impossible quiz, and even watched some animations here. I fully didn’t really engage much on social medias till like 2021 which is the start of my online shtick. I only really watched some YouTube and been on discord till then.

Q: How did you get interested in drawing and animating?

Y’know I’ve actually been more on the creative side ever since I was a kid. My mom would remind me that I recreated a scene from a Paper Mario Sticker Star commercial on the TV. Other than that I really didn’t know I wanted to be an artist; I had no desires to be one, so I just played games. Then at the start of 2021, I got grounded for a good few months and lost all my game consoles and my phone. Being that bored, I found an old art book that I got gifted by a wonderful speech teacher before Covid and just started drawing. By being bored, I quickly learned how to draw and now here I am today being me. As for animation, I never really thought of the bigger picture of animation when watching cartoon shows or animations on the internet, I just thought it was cool. Then during 2021, I made a few very still animations for just a little series I had in my brain. They’re gone and will never be open to the public ever again. However, during late 2022, I wanted to get back into animation through sheer boredom yet again and tried to make an animation for the big boy rumble tumble thing going on, but couldn’t do it in time. So I then joined the sketch collab 2022, and it was all history. I quickly learned how to animate, and even started my own new series “Using the______” featuring my character, Gameen and people really seem to like them and my other animations and that makes me really happy :). I have many plans on doing more in the future and thanks y’all for supporting my work <3

Q: What do you think about collabs?

Well during 2021, I thought they were neat. I’ve joined a few and playing them were a blast, but slowly I started seeing a more “over saturation” of collabs now and I’m also guilty of this now as I started an animation collab all about brainrot lol, but I’m more so talking about like “art gallery” type of collabs that you just click an arrow and see all of the submissions. Now I did join collabs like that, but I wanna see like more animation collabs, more newgrounds game jams, and animation jams. It’s all collabs n stuff and that just starts getting overwhelming. I mean sure it brings the community together to do a collab, but some collabs are more boring than others. I’m just glad now that you don’t have to do an art gallery collab with the art portal update and can put it in the art portal instead. This is just my opinion though. If you disagree with me, that’s fine. If you agree with what I say, that’s also fine and I respect you no matter what as long as you give me the same treatment as well

Q: What do you think when somebody doesn't vote 5 on your movies?

ok. I mean the last few were very much rushed like im doing some sort of animation jam, so it’s understandable… errr I mean grrr I hate those who don’t give me a 5 star

Q: Weed

oh yeah baby. I love that shit

Q: ???

Luigi?

Q: Weed

I NEED MORE!!!!!

Q: Who made you King?

Me. Im the king and I’ve been crowned one

Q: Who is the gayest Newgrounds?

ughhh this one guy name Aalasteir. He’s such a faggot that i can’t believe there isn’t someone else that’s more of a faggot than him

Q: How did you come up with the Nemgrounds Brainrot Scam Ad Collab?

So a few days ago, a bunch of people in the newgrounds discord server vc and I were just doing plain o’ goofs till we were talking about brainrot and that spiraled into me creating the collab. So I didn’t really come up with it, It was a community effort and I brought it to light. Parodying brainrot sounds like something newgrounds would love to do and I think it could be successful, but who knows.

Q: What would be your advice for people using the Internet?

Well just don’t take obvious jokes too seriously like cmon the Megaman thing on Twitter? The sonic Mickey Mouse thing? Those are obvious jokes and that’s why I don’t use Twitter

if you want fame, don’t force it. Just do stuff that is fun and don’t even care about fame in the first place. Like these people wanna be influencers or something and like why? There’s no gain to being something bigger than yourself, but a last, you can’t really control when something becomes popular and you’ll have to deal with the after affect. Sad, but true. Just don’t let the fame get to your head Yknow. Nothing is handed freely

Smoke and do drugs and buy hookers

I’d like to thank you for giving me the time to be interviewed! Hopefully Everyone and I could grow as artists and let our creativity shine through and as always have a great day!

@Doggonnys - @Aalasteir (Q)

Q: How did you get interested in the Internet?



A: I think it started with itch.io, pretty cool site. Lots of shit games which is fun

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

A: I originally discovered it through a YouTuberr named draw with jazza and that’s why I made my first account. But I came back because of fnf 😔😔😔

Q: How do you feel creating art has influenced your life?

A: I get bitchess. Plus it influenced what I plan to do in my future career

Q: What is a content creator?

A: the people I watch when I eat

Q: How do you feel about art?

A: I love it

Q: Top 10 ways to make the website worse for everybody!

A:

1. be annoying
2. spam
3. be as cringey as you can
4. be annoying
5. fuck you
6. ummm
7. zero stars for no reason
8. feet pics
9. idk man this is stupid ur stupid
10. im too swag for thiss

Q: Who is awesome?

A: meeeee

Q: How do you decide on favouriting?

A: I just fav like a dumbass lol

Q: Your advice for Internet users



A join NG and listen to DCtheDon. He doesn’t have anything to do with the internwebz I just think u should check him out

@SevenChakras - @Aalasteir (Q)

Q: What is Newgrounds about from your perspective, and why did you join it? How did you discover it?

A: Newgrounds, to me, has always been about keeping the freedom of art and expression in a world that expects us to cater to the whims of advertisers. I like that I can draw blood and guts and not worry about age restriction, demonetization or risk having the post removed.

Q: Why do you like horror?

A: Horror is ostensibly a genre written by outsiders for outsiders. It revels in taboo and weirdness in areas where you would expect safety, and because of that I've met some of the coolest people that way.

Q: How are you influenced by music?

A: Music is two things primarily to me: a way to express my emotions and a way to catalogue things I like. My music is often punctuated by stylistic choices and samples that come from things I personally enjoy, and I often hope that I can spread that to others. Plus, music is fucking cool.

Q: Why are you still using Twitter?

A: I'm trying very hard not to! I've actually completely stopped posting my art there as of last September due to the AI scraping, so what little time I still spend there is to catch up with people who are too afraid to move to BlueSky.

Q: What is Newgrounds about from your perspective, and why did you join it? How did you discover it?

A: This was the first question you tricky bitch, I'm not repeating myself.

Q: Who made Madness?

A: Krinkels, but it was probably JohnnyUtah.

Q: Top 10 traits that makes a Newgrounds user awesome

A: Polite, interactive, creative, inspiring, bombastic, rambunctious, many teeth (I will take them), good flavor, bad breath, old yogurt.

Q: How did you get interested in drawing?

A: I have brain worms so from a young age I would draw instead of, say, pay attention in class or take tests. I can't get enough of that drawing stuff! Then I stopped drawing for a while until one day I was in the hospital for a week and had to find a way to pass the time. I thought, "Hey, I like doing this. Why did I ever stop?" And so I started drawing every day since then, and that's how both Nanami Batheris and my comic were born.

Q: How would Newgrounds get more registered users?

A: It would be a terrible idea, but removing the restrictions to post to the Portals (like scouting) would surely see an increase in users (but please don't do that.) That, or adding more baby sensory videos.

@BroSkullEmoji - @Aalasteir (Q)

Q: how did you discover Newgrounds and why did you join?

A1: I had nowhere else to be mentally ill online

(I knew about Newgrounds ever since I was a kid cuz I used to play a ton of megaman fangames and watch a bunch of cartoons, but I re-gained interest in the site thanks to the FNF boom, which made me remember this site, want to visit it again for nostalgia, and then I noticed that I could post my art there, it's all a snowball effect from there)

Q: How do you feel creating art has influenced you? Why do you post art?

A2: My father finally came back after I became good at art.

(It started as a side-hobby when I was a tween and had a ton of free time, it was a fun activity and my friends and family always complimented and encouraged me, they did when I was starting out and they still do to this day, so I'd say I'm a happier person altogether thanks to art)

I post it because I need the instant gratification that I get whenever that bar turns yellow for a split second and I see a number next to the bell.

(Okay that one is partially not satire lol, but I guess as an artist I just developed the need and urge to showcase my work, whether I get attention or not, plus feedback is very useful)

Q: What is Analog horror and why do you like it?

A3: It's when you get scared when you look for the dictionary definition of analog like I did, I like it cuz it makes the hairs of my neck feel funny.

(It's a relatively recent internet horror subgenre which mainly uses old analog-esque aesthetics such as VHS tapes, a lo-fi approach to video and audio production and stuff like that, it's very common for a lot of analog horror series to seem harmless at first but quickly transition into a creepy video, I guess I just find it cool and edgy, plus when I was young I was birefly introduced into the whole analog technologies world thanks to my parents and my brother, so yeah, it connected with me, sorry for yapping)

Q: Why do you draw disturbing art?

A4: I want to SCARE people

(Okay I kinda do, but I mainly draw disturbing art because I find it fun, it gives a lot of room to play with and do "wrong" things with your art, plus I'm already a big horror and metal head, from where I drive a ton of inspo for my disturbing or edgy art)

Q: Do you think Newgrounds is considered a "gay" website?

A5: Remove "website" and "considered a" and replace "Newgrounds" with "Aalasteir" and my answer is yes.

(Some parts of Newgrounds are lol)

Q: How did you decide on doing your El Dorado Collab - Scene 166

A6: I broke into the collab host's home and convinced him to have me in by doing the puppy eyes.

(The collab host reached out to me after he saw my previous animations and asked me if I was interested in joining the El Dorado Re-animated collab, to which I accepted.

The collab was around midway-through in production so he gave me a few scenes to choose from, I picked my scene and finished it. Speaking of which, shoutout to Wes Makowski for organizing the collab, pretty excited to see the finished collab)

Q: Is the community on the site good?

A7: NO, they call me dumb and stupid.

(It's a good community, flawed of course, like the great majority of communities, but overall, the people are kind, helpful, and pretty funny too)

Q: How do you decide on trying out commissions?

A8: I'm fucking starving

(I thought my skill level was good enough and my art style appealing enough to start commissions, tbh I've never done commissions before so this is rather a big learning process rather than something I'm already experienced in, so I'm not complaining, also, yes, I can afford food, not by commissions but I can, thankfully lol)

Q: Your advice for artists

A9: Abandon everything and become a NFT bro, I'm already better than you.

(First of all, don't become an NFT bro lol, second, as general advice for all kind of artists, I'd say the following:

-Take your time and enjoy the process of learning and improving, art takes time and so does getting better at it, so take it easy.

-Learn to balance skill productivity and doing it for fun, depending on your goals and how seriously you want to take it, you can lean more into one side than the other, but always remember to find a balance that works for you.

-Learn and practice fundamentals, with the topic of skill productivity, this part helps a lot, whether that be shape and form, gesture, anatomy, perspective, composition, rendering, etc, these will greately speed up the skill section.

-Expand your fields, don't get stuck with just one niche, medium, or art style, unless you want to, these are just advice; try more things, backgrounds, props, scenes, comics, animation, storyboarding, stuff like that, if you don't like them, at least you tried.

-Feedback and references are underrated, and I can't stress this one enough, these are two really big sources that will help you open your eyes a lot more and pin-point areas or mistakes that you want to improve.)

Thank you again for having me.

-William (broskullemoji)

@SourCherryJack - @Aalasteir (Q)

Q: How did you find if Newgrounds? Or is it the other way around?

I found Newgrounds through the pre-loaders that were on other flash sites in the early 2000's. The first Madness Combat was on FunnyJunk, my friend showed me that, I can't remember if it had a preloader though. Later on then sites like AlbinoBlacksheep hosted games with the NG preloader so eventually I ended up on Newgrounds. Then a few years later I was looking for a place to post drawings and saw the "Forums" tab on the top bar, so that's when I made an account.

Q: What is the story behind you becoming an art moderator, and why did you choose to accept the invitation? Also, what do you enjoy most and least about being a moderator, and what would be your advice for users to become better users?

I had been a regular in the Art Forum for about 6 years when in 2015 another Art Moderator stepped down; I got a PM from Tom asking if I'd like to be an Art Mod, and I accepted. As far as why I was chosen, it was around the time I was leaving pretty extensive critiques on Art Submissions, and generally when I made huge leaps of progress in my own Art. So that probably made me stand out.

The best part about being an Art Mod is being able to Frontpage cool art that I like, especially the type that might get overlooked. The worst part is a fairly recent development; but investigating AI art submissions is time consuming and just interacting with/ learning more about the type of people who try to hide that it's AI is kind of soul-crushing in its own way.

Advice on how to be better users: Comment on other people's Art Threads and submissions- even if it's just to say good job. Don't just comment in/make discussion threads, or what's your (least) favorite X threads. Involving yourself in the community is more than asking that the community get involved with you.

Q: Do you look down on me because I'm only level 25 and you're level 28?

I do not. But if you want to dig into that question: do you look down on me because I'm only level 28 and have been on the site for 15 years, while you're level 25 and have only been here for 2 years

Q: Why do you choose to post in the BBS and not use the Something Awful forums? Are they not cool enough for you?

I've only been on Something Awful a handful of times, it's not really for me. I'm sure they're plenty cool, but they don't really have an art section, and that's really what I get up to as far as posting in online communities go.

Q: How does it feel dealing with abhorrent scum like me on a daily basis?

I don't know that I really deal with you enough to know if I'm dealing with abhorrent scum like you on a daily basis. But if I do, feels fine I guess.

Q: Are you proud of the fact you live in Los Angeles? Or is it the other way around?

I don't know that proud is the right word; but I am glad I'm from LA and live in LA. Talking shit about transplants is a pretty good pass-time for us. Also as far as regions go: hard to beat the weather (when the hills aren't on fire), beach, nightlife, and people (as long as they're not transplants).

Q: What would happen if you banned me from posting art? I'm also scouted which proves that the system has fallen and is fundamentally corrupt.

I don't think Art Mods can fully ban users from posting Art; we can De-Scout from the Art Portal for sure, but a full posting ban probably has to come from an Admin (I'm not going to look that up for this sorry).

I mean, if your Art isn't up to the quality threshold of the Art Portal you'll probably end up De-Scouted sooner or later. Sometimes things slip through the cracks. The Art Mod team is pretty small and made up of volunteers, we can't catch everything all of the time.

Part 2:

Q: Why would you go to Something Awful?

Mostly just to see what it was, in the early 2000's it was often brought up along with Newgrounds, AlbinoBlackSheep, YTMAD, Ebaum's World etc etc.

Q: How big is the AI problem? And is it going to get worse in the future?

It's not a super huge problem right now overall; there are still a lot of tells for people who know what to look like, and detection software -- despite some wonkiness -- can be used to cross-reference hunches and build cases.

But it is only going to get worse as generators get more powerful, which is a constant and will continue to happen.

Q: What's going on in the secret Mod Forum? None shall pass.

Art Mod Forum is mostly just discussing ways to expand and clarify rules to better reflect moderation practices, as well as documenting potential AI art accounts and other consistent problem areas of the Art Portal - like potential art thieves.

The other Mod forums I'd assume is mostly the same, just with whatever part of the site they handle.

Q: If you could steal all of my Exp Points would you do it?

Probably not

Q: It's awesome you can Front Page art! You are very powerful!

Yes, very.

Q: "What's your (least) favorite X threads" Are there other threads people should stop making, and things which personally annoy you in the BBS?

It's not so much that I dislike the "What's Favorite X" threads on their own. It's more that it's kind of lazy -- a bit like a top ten video or something. Most of the time they tend to be users throwing in their favorite X with no discussion or attempt at discussion, it kinda just becomes show and tell. Talking about things in a general manner is cool and all, but I think it's a stronger Art Community when people are talking about each others' art directly to each other.

The main thing that annoys me in the Art Forum are the people who endlessly ask for help or advice without ever taking or utilizing the mountains of help and advice they've been given.

Note: I almost exclusively post in the Art Forum so all BBS questions are filtered through that lens.