Off Topic Interview.

Interviewer: Greeting ladies and gentleman. Today, on “Interviews: By OT, for OT”, we have a very special guest with us; he is one of the oldest OTers still on Kong, most well known for his works such as the Homework Hotline Thread and the Off Topic Weapons Trade, please help me in welcoming a terribly attractive fellow, myself, Mr. TerribleToaster. applause
Responder: You’re not too bad looking yourself there, Mr. TerribleToaster.
Interviewer: Oh you sly devil, you. Sliver tongued, as well as golden looks, eh?
Responder: I try my best. ;D
Interviewer: Now then, shuffles cue cards shall we start from the beginning? When did you first join Kongregate and why did you join?
Responder: Not a terribly interesting story, I first started playing on Kongregate around my senior year of high school as a way to kill time. Kongregate, as it happens, was new enough that it wasn’t blocked by the schools firewall. It wasn’t until about my freshman year of college that I made an account here and about another year later when I started posting on OT. At the time OT was a different place, a much smaller and closer knit group, and it made it easy for me to find a place to fit in. When the “BADGE NAME” came around I created Off Topic Weapons Trade Thread and that cemented my position as a regular in OT.
Interviewer: Fascinating. Now, you say that OT is different than it used to be; would you care to explain that?
Responder: Of course. Back when I joined, OT was still young. No one had more than 5k posts, let alone 10k and above. Back then there were many new Kongregate members trying out the Off Topic community and there was a bigger focus on how to rope in new members and setting up guidelines for everyone to follow; which is why we had things like the, now defunct, Off Topic Council. There was a larger mod presence of some of the best moderators I have ever seen. But everything was not sunshine and rainbows, there was a reason there were so many mods. There was a large troll presence on the forums, everything from spammers to pseudo-intellectuals. My occasional verbal duels in SD with he who must not be named comes to mind.
Interviewer: You mean Vanguarde?
Responder: SPEAK NOT HIS NAME LEAST WE INCUR THE WRATH OF GEVOCK!
Interviewer: Right, so how did things change?
Responder: Well, kinda like seeing the Hindenburg go down in slow motion. People got tired of the trolls and complained to mods, mods got tired of the people complaining all the time, trolls saw they were having some effect and increased efforts. Around that time I had left for my COOP with my university and wasn’t back for 6 months. When I came back, OT felt like a shadow of its former self. Many people had either left or become inactive or lurkers, the mod presence was less pronounced, though most of the bad trolls had left, at that point, but OT was looking like it may collapse. What was worse was that, just as I was getting back into OT, personal tragedy struck and my attention was turned away from OT for a few months. I came back around spring time to that the seeds of a miracle had been planting and the previously dying OT had taken on a new life. With those thoughts I left for another COOP and came back at the beginning of this year to see a brand new OT. Larger in size than any previous OT, but with far less trolling. New faces, new topics, new ideas all around. We even had admins regularly visiting in the form of Zshadow and Tricky; as compared to aC’s, Alison’s, and Ducky’s sporadic visits to the forum. Sadly though, we are now seeing far less of Fuzzybacon and both Froggy and Gevock are retired.
Interviewer: Geovk4eva.
Responder: Froggy, represent.
[BROMANCE INTERLUDE]
Responder: Overall OT has gone through a grand transformation, but I don’t feel that it is any better or worse than when I first started. Only different.
Interviewer: A wondrous tale. But enough about OT, let’s take some time to talk about you.
Responder: Ask away, you handsome rouge.
Interviewer: TerribleToaster. Where does the user name come from?
Responder: Two things, really. First was a random alliteration generator which gave me the actual name. Then the reason I choose it was that it reminded me of quotes from the great Friedrich Nietzsche and beautiful Dorothy Parker. Both of which, you can find on my profile.
Interviewer: I am now going to say a word and I want you to say the first thing that comes to mind.
Responder: Shoot.
Interviewer: Bang… But really, Elmo.
Responder: Consumer Whore.
Interviewer: What do you do outside of Kongregate?
Responder: Gamewise, I play TF2, LoL, and Terraria atm; otherwise, I’m at my university right now studying civil/architectural engineering and preparing for another COOP and my senior design project. I’ve played soccer/football for about 12 years, practiced the cello for about the same amount of time, done track, a bit of floor hockey, and a lot of Ultimate Frisbee/Disk.
Interviewer: Speaking of games, any favorites? Types?
Responder: Plenty. Besides the above mentioned, I’ve always been a fan of the Nintendo classics (like every other person) as well as the Elder Scrolls Series, Escape Velocity Override and Escape Velocity Nova, Super Smash Bros., Gears of War, and plenty of others. To put it in categories I’ve liked your solo or small team type where things are open ended but you are still/can be still the center of attention and not just another member of the horde. Your team oriented mmo’s with emphasis on quick gameplay. And sandbox games, because I like sand. And boxes.
Interviewer: We are running out of time here, so time to squeeze in the last questions.
Do you believe in God or a godlike figure?
Responder: Yes.
Interviewer: If you could talk to any person in the history, whom would it be and why?
Responder: Ben Franklin, to talk about his badassery.
Interviewer: What is your favorite curse word?
Responder: F**k. Because it is versatile.
Interviewer: Any favorite Oters you’d care to mention?
Responder: Besides you? Ritzfitz, fishstick, vegard, dminor, fuzzy. Far too many for me to really list.
Interviewer: Chocolate or Vanilla?
Responder: Peanut butter.
Interviewer: Do you like snow?
Responder: Yes.
Interviewer: How about rain?
Responder: Yes.
Interviewer: How about snobbery?
Responder: No.
Interviewer: Is that really your network speed?
Responder: Yes.
Interviewer: Will you kiss me?
Responder: Yes.
Interviewer: Back stage, in 15 minutes?
Responder: Yes.
Interviewer: It has been a pleasure Mr. Toaster.
Responder: The pleasure is all mine. Literally.