Q. How Long you been in the scene?
About 5 years, give or take
Q. What got you started in the scene?
I started as a bbs courier in the 360. I eventually worked my
way up to the coveted co-sysop position, and like any good co-sysop
I did absolutely nothing. Eventually, I ended up on irc, got into
the whole #warez950 trading thing, got tired of that, and then formed
a courier group. That sort of ended when I went to college but I
spent a lot of time idling on irc anyway. I don't remember exactly
what I did, just sort of hung out in scene channels and kept up
on what was happening. I got tired of idling, so I decided to do
something. I think it took me about 6 months finally settle on scenelink,
which started out as an offer channel, then a magazine, then a few
other things, and finally the cooperative project that it is today.
Q. What would you say that most poeple would remember you by.
I don't think they do. I was never a big person in the scene,
I just got this idea and started doing it. If anyone does remember
me it's because I've sent them letters asking them to become coop
groups...
Q. Who has been your greatest influences?
RCN probably. They really opened my eyes to what you could do
with a large audience. RCN was a scene emag that used to publish
bi weekly, they had at least 10,000 avid readers but who knows what
the real number was.
RCN's content was usually poor. Most of the articles were either
just log files or biased reports. It would have been fine in a smaller
magazine, but as a scene institution I think they should have shown
a lot more journalistic integrity. The issues were large, but who
wants to read articles that 13 year olds wrote so they could get
ops in the channel? They were a great magazine, but only because
they pushed the boundaries of audience sizes. They got to the point
where they could really connect people with the scene and build
a community. Then they squandered it with ego trips.
Q. Why Did you Start Scenelink?
Because I'm really into magazines first off. I'm a designer/writer
on two other publications, and I like the cooperative spirit that
a magazine has.
I saw the potential in RCN and the way it was wasted, so I thought
it was worth starting something that didn't end up the way RCN did.
I also just wanted to experiment with a cooperative project, to
see how far we could go with something that required input from
a lot of people to produce.
Q. What do you think scenelinks role will be in the next few
months or even years?
I think we'll hit saturation in a few months, where just about
everyone in the scenes who is still into the scenes will know about
the project. Once we get the audience, we'll be able to serve as
a clearinghouse for scene information, which is the biggest goal
we have. Making it possible for people to communicate is going to
go a long way towards creating a community in and between scenes.
We'll also be able to make it easier for groups to communicate
with one another, which should change a lot of the way things are
done now. Hopefully it'll be less about power and more about reasoned
discourse... that's usually the way freer communication works.
Q. Your site Covers alot of areas, everything from Warez to
Art, Do you have any predictions on the scene in months to come?
Warez is going to change a lot because of the NET act. Now that
the US can prosecute copyright infringement even when no profit
is made, everyone's going to have to be a lot more careful. I don't
really know what's going to happen, it's all going to depend on
how aggressively they go after people and how lenient the courts
are. The bottom feeders (I think) are going to have a much more
difficult time getting files, and the bottom feeder websites and
irc channels may end up disappearing completely. I think it would
be terrible if the warez scene disappeared, but I really doubt that
could or would happen. 13 year olds are going to have to buy quake
2, but the warez scene should survive.
Art is crazy, at times it looks like nothing is going on. I think
ansi could die pretty easily if people don't start making an effort
to keep it alive, and I'm not even sure people really care that
much about it anyway. People like talking about how ansi is dying,
but I don't know if people really wish things were different.
I think the art scene needs more "things to do." People just don't
have the incentive to put out packs, or even draw anymore as a part
of the art scene. People will keep producing art, like they have
for millennia, but I don't know if the art group / art scene is
going to last if things continue as they have been. The art scene
is just one big question mark.
