Moderator interviews/Reki
From RelicWiki
- This interview is transcribed from the original thread.
Hello Forum Issues, and anyone else who might have wandered past, and welcome to the fifth in the series of The Moderator Interviews. These interviews, the remainder of which can be found in my forum signature at the bottom of the post, are designed to help the members of this fine forum known as Relic News get to know their moderators (or in this case their former moderators) just that little bit better.
Today we're interviewing Reki, who looks after Forum Issues (explaining why this is here) and whose yearbook entry can be found at the following location:
http://relicnews.com/yearbook/2006/254/
And so, to the interview...
Obtuse: Well, the first thing is to get the obligitary bio, name, age, location and anything else you want to add.
Reki: Sure, well my real name is Dan or Daniel - I'm one of the oldies of the forum at 34, i live in inner city Melbourne, Australia (same city as Dyntheos, Pleides and Handarazuur) and I work as a television and film editor...and my coffee has boiled. (runs off)
Obtuse: Woop! (drinks some more water)
[when Reki gets back]
Contents |
Reki's day-job
Obtuse: Awesome, I had no idea you did something like that. Have you worked on any projects that I might have heard of?
Reki: I don't know, what country do you live in?
Obtuse: Merry Olde England. There might be people from other countries that read this, though.
Reki: Nothing you probably would have heard of. My main field is in documentary, and the stuff I work on is mostly for the ABC & SBS channels in Australia. I did work on a show last year which has done well internationally, but I have a bit of trouble with the content of that show, so I'd prefer it to remain nameless. Interestingly enough, a topic did get posted about this film in GD. It was kind of fun to read all the comments anonymously
Obtuse: So what was your input on that project? How much influence did you have over it? i.e. was it your fault? :O
Reki: lol. An editors job is to essentially take all the raw footage and piece together a completed film. The amount of influence you have is dependent upon the project.
Obtuse: Was that reception something that was a possibility forseen or did it catch everyone off-guard?
Reki: The film you're talking about has kind of polarised opinion. Some people think its the greatest thing ever, and some people think its a load of rubbish - but that's all related to the content & not the production values. As an editor, you tend not to take content related opinion to heart, I just hope it makes sense and looks great.
Obtuse: Ah, fair enough. How long have you been working in this field?
Reki: About ten years now I guess
Obtuse: So you could consider yourself a veteran in the field, I suppose. How did you start out?
Reki: Well, I actually did a performing arts (ie. acting) degree, my second major was in film, and that became more of a passion once I got the prancing about like a tit on a stage thing out of my system. My first real job was working for a post production company. I was a trainee, and they eventually told me that if I left my acting agent, I would get a promotion. so I did, and that was how I started being an editor instead.
Obtuse: So as an editor, what kind of duties do you perform? Is it literal editing of the footage together or is there more to it?
Reki: well, its all done on computers these days. Essentially, the footage is all digitised (or transferred to a hard disk) and then us editors usually sit with a director and work out how it all gets strung together. There's a bit more to it than that, but its kind of hard to get into specifics without being technical.
Obtuse: Is this something that you want to be doing in the future, or do you have different plans?
Reki: The interest for me is held less in the actual process and more in the actual project. So yes, it is something that I would like to continue doing, but I would like to continue working towards doing other interesting work in the same field. Major feature films is I guess the main place editors would like to be, but considering there is usually only one or two editors for a film, its about as difficult as a lead actor landing a role in a major feature film.
Obtuse: Do you anticipate any movement towards that kind of work in the near future? Is it something you're actively pursuing?
Reki: Not actively pursuing, but gradually moving towards I think. For my age and experience, I'm quite happy with where I'm at right now - I'm paid very well to do an interesting job, which changes all the time. If it gets even more interesting some day, then I of course I won't be resisting. But life isn't all about work, anyway
Reki and the forums generally
Obtuse: On that note, let's hop towards more forum-related matters. One of the notable events on your yearbook entry was your resignation from the RelicNews staff. What prompted that?
Reki: I had been moderating the relic forums for five years, and I was getting a little tired of it. Most of the senior staff feel this way after a while - you need some extra stimulant. Some have moved into administration, and others (like squid) go and spend a week or two over on the Blizzard forums to refresh themselves. Me, I moved over to forum issues and set up a tent and a fishing pole.
Obtuse: Forum issues is one of the main things I wanted to talk to you about, but before I do that, could you tell me about how you started on the RelicNews forums and the path you took to become a moderator originally?
Reki: Well, my entry into the Relic community was by way of Homeworld multiplayer. I started playing Homeworld online at the beginning of 2000, then met and became good friends with a fellow called frstkor13. We started up a Homeworld team called Freelance around mid 2000 and set up some forums. Every week or so, frstkor would post some link to the Relic forums on our forums and try to get us all to go post. We kind of resisted a bit, but one day I saw a post by a fellow called Omnislash in a thread on Mac vs PC. Omnislash was doing his thing where he would quote people line by line to argue with them, so I made this big omnislash post attack on another guy called Junkyard Dawg as a bit of a joke to poke fun at Omnislash. Needless to say, Junkyard Dawg flamed me back using quotes and much fun was had by all. JD owned me in the flaming department, so I bowed down before him and conceded. Everyone thought this was a noble gesture, and so Athexx (who was the admin at the time), made me a moderator.
Whilst it was only temporary, I started posting more and become very involved in the Homeworld strat forums. When Dyn became admin, he made me and Molle moderators for the strat section, and we took care of it for a couple of years, before frstkor took over Molle's spot.
Ahh, the memories..
Obtuse: Excuse me if I'm being ignorant, but, excusing Dyn, you appear to be the only one from that tale still around the place. What happened to the other folks?
Reki: A big group of us from the forums & IRC formed a team for Eve Online sometime in 2001. Molle got very involved in that and still runs a big corporation over in that game, and frstkor was the same, but still occasionally joins #homeworld. Athexx still posts occasionally on the forums, too. Omnislash and JD I wasn't really friends with, so I don't know what happened to them. I believe Omni popped back on the forums at some stage last year to say hi, but he did actually get banned originally - most people found him a little annoying.
Obtuse: I remember when he made the reappearance, once I had read up what 'omnislashing' was I found it tremendously amusing, but living with it over a long period would probably grate after a while, I imagine. So what's kept you posting when others moved on?
Reki: I enjoy the community. To be honest, I haven't been particularly taken with any of Relic's games post-Homeworld - I just prefer shooters, I guess. I do enjoy the little soap operas that go on behind the scenes of the Relic Forums that most of the population aren't aware of, and that is what continues to hold interest for me. I don't mind the odd chat in GD, but the behind the scenes stuff has become a bit of a hobby for me over the years.
Obtuse: Could you give a suitably censored example?
Reki: Ok, here is an example of the regular kinds of messages that the staff receive: "you have no right to take my post down so fuck off buddy. i am just speaking the truth so kiss my ass if you dont like it. once i see improvement from relic i will than put better post on here. THIS IS AMERICA BUDDY GET USE TO IT WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEAK." that kind of stuff filters through every day, and its funny. I find it immensely entertaining to deal with the little challenges that pop up behind the scenes. I guess also that my role on the staff has moved more toward helping with forum policy and as a staff advisor. So its also kinda nice being able to help out some of the younger guys, as they find all the general moderating stuff lots of fun still.
Obtuse: How have the new moderators been shaping up, by the way? Up to scratch?
Reki: Some staff are absolute naturals - usually the guys we put into GD are like that.. they've been around for a while and know how to talk to people. Moderating GD is very different to the CoH/DoW forums however, and requires a different style. I think the CoH/DoW staff have to continually explain forum policy to people, which the GD staff don't really have to do, so that can sometimes be a little frustrating. I don't envy them, anyway. Yeah, they're all great - some might not be quite right to stay on, but thats what the whole jr. moderator program is about. Finding people of the correct temperament.
Obtuse: Do you have any advice for any moderators reading this on things that you've had to learn the hard way and would like to impart despite knowing they will have to do it the hard way anyway? :P
Reki: As they will tell you, I'm constantly giving them advice anyway (whether they seek it or not :P) Overall, usually they join the senior staff once they have relaxed a bit into the role, when they don't respond to infringements with absolute HORROR!!! and realise that the people who are posting are normal people and not neccessarily out to get them.
(although I'm not sure soul ever got past this stage)
<3 soulie
Reki and Forum Issues
Obtuse: Alright, speaking of 'people out to get them' that leads us nicely back to Forum Issues. Now, being the professional that I am I've done no research into this, but I'm pretty sure that it's a new feature of the forums. How did it come about?
Reki: Not so new - forum issues has been around ever since I can remember, anyway. It has gone through different incarnations, however. I remember a time when it was used more as a place where people like danger could go and post a detailed thesis on the sexual preferences of the 9th Strategic Battlegroup, and other times when all posts to it had to be screened by a moderator before they were made. At the moment, it's serving it's purpose well. Normal staff are restricted from posting in there, so that it doesn't become too weighted towards staff responses (ie. too defensive), and all valid issues that are raised are looked at objectively.
Obtuse: Oh, I didn't realise that normal staff couldn't post in there, interesting. You say it's serving it's purpose - what do you see it's purpose as being?
Reki: Several purposes. I guess it's main purpose is to give regular members input into forum policy. It also gives people a place to complain if they disagree with a moderator's decision - usually they just need to have the decision explained to them in more detail, but sometimes the staff make mistakes as well. That's kind of my job, I suppose. If I see something valid that a staff member needs to respond to, I'll take up the issue with them and find out the reasons for their response. I guess I'm a little bit like the internal investigations person, except that the staff are generally receptive to my inquisitions The other purpose, of course, is to discuss technical forum issues (like bugs, mods, etc), but thats all a little dull.
Obtuse: Have you ever made any mistakes in the past that would have ended up in Forum Issues in it's current incarnation?
Reki: No, I don't make mistakes...OK, maybe one....Alright so there were a few....this year One was: after I quit, ceejay made me a mod again for the specific purpose of locking a thread in GD. I wrote something like "I didn't even read this thread but due to the number of complaints about it, I'm locking it anyway". Ceejay didn't want to lock it because he was arguing in it. Anyway, needless to say, our little bit of fun was not very well received. There are probably other crimes against the forum's humanity which I'm guilty of, but nothing that has got me killed yet. If you don't take it all too seriously, and remind yourself and eachother that its only a bloody computer game message board, then you can retain some perspective. When you're dealing with 20 something thousand young men aged mostly between the age of 13 and 30, you do get the odd serious event, or threat, or drama, as you can imagine. We all are a part of this community as a hobby, so it should be treated as such. If it ever starts getting too serious, then that's when its time to take a break.
Obtuse: Do you see any changes for how Forum Issues operates on the horizon? Are there any aspects to be improved/parts that aren't working out?
Reki: Not really - over this year, it seems to have settled down somewhat. Its kind of difficult to discuss an area of the forum in such intensive detail, which it probably doesn't warrant. I mean, its not really the busiest section of the boards.. Some would argue (particularly all the IRC people) that it can be one of the more entertaining and unpredictable and feisty sections of the boards, but its certainly not difficult to moderate or anything. In fact, I can usually go away for a few days and nobody really would notice.
Obtuse: I personally check in there a lot, since there's a fair chance there'll be something exciting and/or racy every once in a while to read, and it keeps me up with any unusual happenings I might have missed.
Reki: Yeah, me too.
Reki and the BERF
Obtuse: Okay. the last thing I wanted to ask you about was the BERF. Seriously, the heck? o.O
Reki: OK, let me start by saying that all the people who I have met from the forums have been great fun. I've caught up with Metho a few times, had dinner with Ceejay and Dyn, I've stood up Handarazuur and I've been out drinking with Gazbeans. Gaz is a member of BERF, which is just a bit of an IRC joke - of which there are many. Basically, its a bunch of fat English bad teeth computer game playing dolts who can't play cricket to save their lives, who think that they can teach us colonists how to be English again. Gaz and Madz have just been to Australia (in fact, Madzie is here for a year I think) I'm more than happy to meet up with these hard drinking poms and drill into them just how poor they are at things like sport. In fact, I'm more than willing to demonstrate this fact through less physically demanding means such as pool or poker challenge. If anyone would like more specific details on BERF, they can look it up themselves at http://wiki.reliccommunity.com/Brit...clamation_Force
Obtuse: Hm, maybe one day I'll come over and continue the cause, as long as I don't get eaten by the multitude of scorpions and such. Okay, I think that's pretty much everything, is there anything you'd like to add before we go find some audience questions?
Reki: Yes. We don't have scorpions in Australia.
Obtuse: No scorpions? Then what's stopping the kangaroos from invading?
Reki: Rabbits?
Obtuse: o.O Time for audience questions!
Chrysophylax: Capture one or Lightroom?
Obtuse: ?
Reki: Aperture.
Chrysophylax: :[
Reki: Buy a Mac, free yourself.
Chrysophylax: I want to, but they're so expensive.
Reki: Get a real job, buy a Mac.
Mirehn_Bielann: Mac? F*cking Mac.
Reki: Hey obtuse, can kicking mirehn be a part of my interview?
Mirehn_Bielann: lol, I'm joking reki
Inq: Reki, watch the ashes?
Reki: Yeah, doing it now
Inq: Burn.
IcecreamLtDan: Will the Guidestone rise up and take its rightful place as the greatest website in the world?
Reki: Dan, the Guidestone will live on forever - in our hearts.
Chrysophylax: reki: Assault frigate or Scouts? :[
Reki: Scouts, definitely. F2kzzzzz forever, baby.
Inq: In ten words or less describe why you love Inq
Reki: I love how inq has a name that includes a q, but no u.
Mirehn_Bielann: So, reki, how do you like banning people?
* reki sets mode: +b *!*@hwc-5C839F45.socal.res.rr.com <IcecreamLtDan> noob * Mirehn_Bielann was kicked by reki (mirehn, I love it)
Reki: Make me look good or I'll permaban you, Obtuse.
Obtuse: Okay, anyone got anything else to say before I close up this travesty?
SquidDNA: I once killed a man in #homeworld2 just to watch him die.
