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Interview OGLEMI

What were you doing during your first year or so on Smogon, and what back then do you think played a major role in getting to where you are today? — DragonWhale

I was trying to get all of the DPP UU analyses to a state that wasn't utter crap by the time DPP was done, which I ended up accomplishing with the help of other major contributors like SOMALIA, SilentVerse, Honko, Komodo, and the QC team. My work ethic and ability to do an enormous amount of what people would consider "menial" work (i.e. list making, GP checking, making thousands of edits on the SCMS of just changing curly apostrophes to ASCII ones) I think gave me a lot of value as a contributor, and my leadership qualities definitely shone through with my ability to complete the goal I set of getting all of the analyses updated before the end of the gen (save for Mesprit cuz SV is a GIANT butt).

If you were to retire today, do you think anyone currently would be fit to replace you? Not just as an admin, but also considering your other responsibilities (social media, C&C leader, programming, w/e) - P Squared

Oh ya definitely, Smogon is currently not hurting for quality contributors and leaders that would be able to replace me in a heartbeat should I step down. I have a few people in mind that I would like to see take my place in the various parts of the site that I contribute, and I tend to choose contributors or leaders for mod positions or section leader positions that I feel could do well being a "Big Leader" some day, or immediately, depending on the circumstances.

You've all been here for a while; in what ways is "today's" Smogon different from how it was before? — P Squared

Smogon is currently much more calm, lol. InsideScoop (IS, the badgeholder forum), used to just be a complete shitshow, to put it mildly. I mean, any drama that currently happens is NOTHING compared to what it used to be four to five years ago, which is a great thing.

It's also much more efficient and structured than it used to be, C&C in particular, but also for many aspects of the site. The creation of Senior Staff made it far easier to come to Big Decisions that needed to happen. Section leaders and staff forums have made it easier to make decisions that affect solely that portion of the site. The current revival of PR has made it easier to include the broader badgeholder/competitive poster public than IS ever did or ever will, just due to the culture and moderatorship of the forum, and that's just a recent change. Badges, badge definitions, and how we give out badges are far more streamlined than they were.

The tournament forum is no longer the lawless west, though it's now more like a really bad ghetto neighborhood in a big city. The tournament forum and community have definitely improved and are more respectable than before, but there's still a long way to go.

And the site is just way bigger. I joined when Smogon was riding a peak of popularity in the broader Internet community, due largely in part to the suspect tests of DPP and the eventual banning of Garchomp. Now, the number of battles we get on the sim is just astronomical compared to before. It's really hard to comprehend just how much bigger our simulator is compared to what Shoddy and PO were.

Contribution or achievement you're most proud of? — P Squared

I've discovered and have been able to reward a lot of different users that ended up becoming bigger names in the community, and that means more to me now than any physical contribution I've given the site.

Decisions you've made here that you regret? — P Squared

There's very few that I actually regret; there's definitely some that haven't gone as well as I had hoped, but I tend to not act too brashly and am pretty certain what I post or what I decide is what needs to happen. Of the few, a major one that I regret is putting forth the manager vote for the SPL that I hosted to determine if we'd include LC or not. That really should have been a decision made solely by the TDs, but I thought at the time that if they (the managers) were able to hash it out amongst themselves, it'd make our (the TDs) final decision easier. I was wrong. Though, that debacle did make it clear to everybody that decisions like that one are best left to the TDs, and it has now made it easier for us to make those kinds of decisions alone rather than feeling like we need to include everyone in the discussion and decision.

Any users you looked up to when you were a new user? — P Squared

whistle, Fatecrashers, and (Aroma)Flora were users I looked up to when I started, whistle because he was the DPP UU C&C moderator that I interacted with the most and helped me with any questions I had, Fate because he was funny and was a GP contributor before I started myself, and Flora because she was just really bright and helped me become a better writer really, really quickly with her checks and critiques.

Interview JOIM

how does being an admin affect your irl? — anto

Well, it used to sometimes take a lot of my actual work time, where I would concentrate on admin stuff instead of doing what I had to do, but I've become more disciplined. Other than that, nothing. I really wish all the girls would fawn over me just by telling them I'm a Smogon admin, though :(

any particular hobbies? — anto

Video games (even though I've become a casual over the years), reading mostly anything but romantic novels, playing padel (small tennis played in couples), and programming (yes, I work as a programmer, I volunteer here as a programmer, and I also program on my own after all of that). I guess I could say drinking beer with the lads is also a hobby, heh.

What were you doing during your first year or so on Smogon, and what back then do you think played a major role in getting to where you are today? — DragonWhale

First months, I was a driver and then a mod in Showdown mainly, then I also got involved in Other Metas and C&C, and then I got some requirements for suspect votings. In like eight months I got the double adminship, though, so can't say I did much, other than programming and a tiny systems administration knowledge, which is the sole reason I am where I am today. That and a lot of enthusiasm for collaborating.

favourite type of music? — anto

Californian Punk Rock.

If you were to retire today, do you think anyone currently would be fit to replace you? Not just as an admin, but also considering your other responsibilities (social media, C&C leader, programming, w/e) - P Squared

Yes. Everyone is replaceable in life. We've seen it often.

You've all been here for a while; in what ways is "today's" Smogon different from how it was before? — P Squared

I'm actually a newbie, but I can say the forum is much better organised nowadays. Behavior seems better as well.

Contribution or achievement you're most proud of? — P Squared

Forum Presence thing on XenForo and my work on Gen 1 and Stadium engines in PS. Also that Unown joke analysis I made once, I still find it hilarious.

Decisions you've made here that you regret? — P Squared

I have a bit of a nerve and I've let a bad personal situation cloud my judgment a couple of times. But you can't change the past, so I can just try to make sure that never happens again.

Any users you looked up to when you were a new user? — P Squared

chaos lol.

Interview TENNISACE

idk much about you except krau was complaining about you johning him regarding the uberscast, counter this blatant lie — SparksBlade

well, you see,

I've heard you are a civil engineering student, have you ever been a part of a project and/or on the field? — The Pokemon Engineer

nope, i haven't been in a "real" project yet. however, i'm in the middle of my senior capstone design project, and it's eating all of my time. we have to design: a dorm, a restaurant / quick mart type thing, parking lots associated with them, and a solar panel array on top of a superfund site, and then turn an unrelated two-way intersection down the road into a rotary. right now i'm focusing on the environmental part of the project, which basically means i look through DEM regulations and try to figure out where i can legally put shit (literally). if you or anyone reading this is interested in civil engineering, feel free to ask me more about it; i'd be happy to answer questions.

do you guys care about OM at all? — Brawl MK

this is a really loaded question because yes, i do "care" about OM. it's hands down the best vehicle on the forums for theoretical pokemon imo, and the leadership is quite solid (s/o EG u da man). do i play any OMs? not really anymore, no. besides not having enough time, not many of them interest me personally, though i respect the playerbases of the larger ones.

Does anyone get paid around here or is all this volunteer work? — DaSpoofy

i get paid in Smogon Gold™. it's like reddit gold except more exclusive.

what is the funniest thread you've had to delete? — Brawl MK

see, the problem with this question is that if a thread is really funny but doesn't belong in the forum i'll either move it to firebot or trou depending on whether it's legit funny or "hahahaha this thing is terrible".

What happened to Great Sage? — LilOu

well when a mommy admin and a daddy admin love each other verrrrrrrrry much,

Whose idea was it to implement the konami code? — Esidisi

wait, we have the konami code doing something? (checks) ohhhhh right, this is the smogon redesign. enjoy!

How do you describe your work style? — The Pokemon Engineer

messy. dual monitors are a lifesaver, because when i'm researching things, i spread out like five tabs, skype, irc, and whatever document i'm working on and i keep clicking back and forth between them.

If you were picking a person for a staff position, what qualities would you look for? — The Pokemon Engineer

the big three (which oglemi already said) are maturity / activity / ability to work with others. i'd also add quality of work to that list; if work isn't done right, then in my mind it isn't done at all, since someone else has to go fix mistakes.

Favorite meme/joke? — The Pokemon Engineer

always have a soft spot for the "i have no idea what i'm doing" dog, because that's literally me; i don't actually know what i'm doing ever, but it generally works out. for a smogon specific one i'm a fan of metang@ because