Interviews

For this issue, we have two great interviews. Mrcsupertrain interviewed Stupidnoob92 and they discuss his popular skill log, his recent accomplishment of 99 Slayer, RuneScape and his real life. September 23, 2007 was also the newspaper's one year anniversary, so Mrcsupertrain and Richman99 interviewed the newspaper's past editors: Lerenzie, Master Neverdead, Prashanna, Steve, Gillis and Goliath Gob about experiences of being an editor of Sal's Newspaper. Enjoy.

-Prashanna

Interview With Stupidnoob92 - By: Mrcsupertrain

Hi Stupidnoob. It is a pleasure to be interviewing. How are things going for you?

Things are going good. I am pretty happy that I've achieved 99-Slayer.

Awesome! Speaking of 99-Slayer, it's one of the hardest skills to level to 99, right? How does it feel that your goal is complete and you never have to train Slayer again?

It feels good that it's finally finished, but I will train Slayer again.

Did you ever consider giving up?

Nope.

How impressive! Did anyone support you a lot or kept you motivated, as in one person?

Not really one person, but just the skill. Slayer is an awesome skill to train with other skills; you can train about 7 skills at once. The things that kept me motivated were friends, Sal's Realm, and my clan, TSG (The Slayer's Guild).

You currently have other 99 Skills. Which number is Slayer in your list of 99s achieved?

Number 9!

In what order did you achieve all your 99s?

Fletching, Cooking, Attack, Firemaking, Strength, Hitpoints, Prayer, Defence, and Slayer.

That's quite a unique order. Would you mind writing about your experiences with 99 Skills? Start with the first and end with slayer, explaining the experience with leveling them all.

Well, first off, I started with Fletching. I did it when there was no fancy "String-All". It was rather easy, but sometimes my hand would hurt after going on those "stringing-sprees" where I made 3K bows an hour. I achieved 99-Fletching on December 2nd, 2006: my first 99. I know it's not an achievement now, but it's one of my many now.

Next was Cooking, the NOOB 99! I didn't really care at the time; I just wanted to trim my cape. This goal wasn't really a challenge at all with "Cook-All". I achieved it in a couple weeks and there's not much to say on it. The date was February 6, 2007.

After that, I somewhat started on my Slayer goal. I started training Attack with it, using the Whip of course while training Slayer. It wasn't too hard to accomplish. I achieved 99-Attack on March 4, 2007.

After that, I guess I went into "Skiller-Mode" again and started training 99-Firemaking, another buyable 99 (I love them ). I chose the expensive way with Yew Logs, meaning it only took a matter of a couple weeks. 99-Firemaking was achieved on April 3, 2007.

Next, I started back on Slayer, but was training Strength with a Dragon Long and Dragon Scimitar. It took longer because of the weapon I had to use, but still trained with Slayer. I achieved 99-Strengh on June 19, 2007.

Then, the next skill I achieved was Hitpoints. I had to train it no matter what combat I used, so it was coming anyway. I maxed out Hitpoints on July 7, 2007.

I then took another break and decided to buy another 99. This one was Prayer and would help boost me to 126-Combat. I achieved it about 3 weeks because of the Gilded Altar, which increased my training speed drastically. 99-Prayer was achieved on July 23, 2007.

After that, I continued my final stretch to 99-Slayer, but this time I was training Defence. I was able to use my beloved Whip again so it made things quick. With 99-Defense, I also achieved 126-Combat. 99-Defense and 126-Combat took place on August 10, 2007.

Finally, my most proud skill of all: Slayer. I started training this skill early when I got members. This is an image of one of my first slayer levels of which I took a picture: [Click Here] . This is another image with my slayer level and combat level: [Click Here] . I personally found it quite good for my combat level. I decided 99-Slayer would be one of the tough 99s I would try to get. I achieved 99-Slayer on September 21, 2007.

Interesting, thanks for sharing all that. Moving on, if you had to restart your account for some reason, how would you go about getting your stats back to 99? Would you follow the same order or do different things?

I don't think I would ever restart, but if I had to, I would probably work on skills that weren't 99 on Stupidnoob92.

What is your opinion on homosexuality between stuffed animals?

Sounds erotic.

Well, that's enough with RuneScape. Let's talk about some stuff in real life. How is school going for you and what grade are you in?

School is going good. I am a sophomore (10th Grade). The first couple of weeks are always easy so I've got A's going on.

What level of math are you in?

Geometry.

Are you taking a foreign language?

Yes, French. *Stupidnoob92 waves to Patou.

What clubs are you involved with?

None at the moment.

What hobbies do you have?

Hanging out with friends, attending sporting events, dances, playing Runescape and chatting, playing other video games (basically Guitar Hero), and I might get into Bass. (I thank Sneezingtree. )

The song by Kelly Clarkson, A Moment Like This, contains the lyric; "Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this." What exactly do you think this moment is?

Hmm, it would be different for everyone. For me, I'm not really sure at the moment in my life. I will discover it in my later years.

Finally, let's finish this interview with some Sal's Realm questions: how does it feel owning the most viewed and replied log?

I'd have to say it feels good. I have worked very hard on the log for people who enjoy looking at logs to view. I made it easy for them until the glitch erased my log. Luckily, I started to save it in notepad earlier that week.

In July 2007, you were promoted from Forum Member to Distinguished Member. How did it feel then and what is it like now? Are you treated differently or annoyed more?

I was at a friends house and I just woke up around 2:00PM ( ) and I went on his PC to check some stuff and check my inbox and see a message and I go, ":O". I'm not really annoyed on Sal's or Runescape. I get the occasional PM by someone on Sal's but I don't mind it. On Runescape, I usually have my chat on friends so I don't get annoyed.

Let's say Skill Logs and Achievements were deleted. Where would we most likely find you browsing around or hanging out? In other words, what forum would you become more active in?

I'd probably view the ones that interest me such as General Chat, Other Games, Tech Board, and General RS Discussion.

Which forum are you least active in and why?

Clan Boards. I never go in it because I don't PK.

Finally, if you were held at gunpoint to change the colors of the forum ranks (Forum Member, Moderator, etc.), which colors would you choose?

To be honest, I like the way they are. If that doesn't count as an answer, then I would change the shade of them. (Loophole for the win).

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Interview With The Editors - By: Mrcsupertrain and Richman99

The interview you're about to read contains six interviewees: Lerenzie, Master Neverdead, Prashanna, Steve, Gillis, and Goliath Gob. All six people mentioned have been editors or still are editors for Sal's Realm newspaper. In this interview, you'll learn about their experiences with running and handling a newspaper. It's an appealing read and we hope you like it.

Hello everyone. I'm glad you were available for this interview. How are you all doing?

Lerenzie : I'm pretty good, just finished school exams.
Master Neverdead : I've been busy with many things, including but not limited to: planning a wedding, preparing for entrance into the Ranger Indoctrination Program, working as a janitor on the night shift at area banks and call centers, and getting in a little writing time of course! Other then being slightly overwhelmed, I am doing quite well.
Prashanna : o
Steve : I'm doing fine.
Gillis : Great.
Goliath Gob : I'm doing okay.

What was it like when you become editor? How did you feel when you heard you were promoted?

Lerenzie : Being editor was good; I liked making the forums and seeing everyone show off their initial work for the paper. I was never really promoted, since I 'founded' the new newspaper.
Master Neverdead : For me, it was slightly different then just getting promoted. When I hopped into the scene, 'Zie was running the show and the staff of the paper was very unhappy. I decided that this project needed to up the ante a little, so I got involved in a very active way. Before long, we were moved to a new forum and we started the paper that is here today.
Prashanna : First, I became Vice-Editor, and when I was nominated and then voted in, I was really flattered since people were saying that I would be the best candidate when there were many other deserving staff members. It was pretty unexpected.
Steve : I don't remember the feeling, though I'm sure I was happy about it.
Gillis : I felt pretty good, yet I had the job of filling Master Neverdead's, Prashanna's, and Steve's shoes. That seemed like a challenge to me.
Goliath Gob : Well, Gillis was the Editor before me, and while he was Editor I was Vice-Editor. Usually when an Editor steps down, the Vice takes his place, so it really didn't come as a surprise to me.

When did you receive editor responsibilities? In other words, when were you promoted to editor?

Lerenzie : As before, I was the original editor.
Master Neverdead : I suppose it was when we moved to the new forum.
Prashanna : When Master Neverdead created the second newspaper forum, we didn't have a Vice-Editor so we had a nomination topic; I was nominated and then voted in.
Steve : Late January 2007. Prash had just stepped down from being editor for two issues, and Meen retired from vice editor, so when Neverdead and I were voted in as vice editor and editor it was two new people.
Gillis : The voting for editor was on March 27, 2007 and it was between Goliath and me. Goliath dropped out of the race later that day and became vice editor.
Goliath Gob : I think it was around the 12th of June, right after Gillis stepped down.

What was it like running your first newspaper as editor for Sal's Realm?

Lerenzie : Tough. I needed to start the ball rolling for the paper and figure out lots of things that are still used in the paper today.
Master Neverdead : It was quite an adventure, really. At the time, I was attending university as a journalism major and was eager for the practice the paper would give me. It was time consuming, but working with the staff was definitely fun for a while. I enjoy writing and this also gave me an outlet to experience a little creativity. It did have its troubles and downsides, but ultimately I'm satisfied with what we were able to accomplish as a team during that time.
Prashanna : It was pretty fun, I felt like I could be more helpful as editor in the total newspaper-making process. Though, at times the position was a bit stressful and called for patience.
Steve : It was interesting, I guess. It was a completely new experience to me, as I've never really been in charge of anything. It was nice to have Prash, though. He was helpful.
Gillis : Things seemed to move a bit slower than when I was section head (I hope that it was just an illusion), but at the end, the feeling was wonderful.
Goliath Gob : It was stressful at times, and quitting had crossed my mind numerous times. I felt I didn't deserve the position, and that I wasn't doing enough for the paper. Though in the end, we did get the paper out, and I'm back as Editor for another issue.

What was the hardest part about being an editor?

Lerenzie : Probably the fact that no one is happy about what you do or how hard you try. They focus on the negative and not really the positive parts of your actions.
Master Neverdead : Finding the time between my Admin duties, college responsibilities, Runescape, and the Hatebreeds to actually sit down and work hard with the staff.
Prashanna : Probably the whole process of putting the articles into the template on Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is a really easy and helpful program, but the process is really time-consuming and frustrating and I do a lot of PM sending for last minute details and section introductions.
Steve : I'm not sure what the hardest part was. In the end I did most of the work myself since Neverdead left. I can only tell my side of the story, but as I understood it he felt like he wasn't really needed, which I can understand since at the beginning I did kind of do everything. In the end it would have been nice to have another guy around to help, but I think the section heads did their jobs well so it wasn't too bad. The most annoying part was putting the paper together. It takes a few hours and it isn't fun. Its just a chore.
Gillis : The fact that everyone judged whatever I did and that being the final decision on pressing matters had bad consequences at times.
Goliath Gob : I'm a very lazy person. Getting the paper together, as well as keeping everything organized took a lot of work, and at times I just wasn't up to it. It's a good thing I have Prashanna telling me to get to work over MSN

What did you enjoy the most during your editor period?

Lerenzie : Seeing more people want to join the paper team every day.
Master Neverdead : I guess it would be that I was excited that we accomplished something that has lasted. The feeling of success is not something that can willingly be taken away.
Prashanna : Being able to help out more with things and being able to actually do something if I feel that something really needs to be done.
Steve : The whole experience. As I said before, I hadn't ever led something of this sort before, so it was really fun to try something new. I don't think I'd do it again, but it was something I'm happy to have done.
Gillis : Seeing everyone's work come together to form the final product.
Goliath Gob : Not much, to be honest Summer vacation had just started, and here I was working through most of it. When I went away for a couple days, it took a while to catch up with everything. Hopefully this issue won't be as troublesome.

Did you ever get frustrated while making the paper? I'm sure it wasn't a very easy job!

Lerenzie : Yes, eventually some people decided they didn't like me very much and weren't very polite. Now those people are the editors and as much as it annoys me, they aren't doing such a bad job.
Master Neverdead : Of course, especially with Prashie as my vice-editor! Just playin' man. Seriously though, it frustrated me when some of the staff wouldn't try to improve in their skills regardless of what we said. Thankfully, I did have an outstanding crew backing me up. Prash was, of course, one of those.
Prashanna : The Graphics section is extremely frustrating because of all the images and having to link them.
Steve : Yeah, putting the content in the paper I sometimes would mess up and I'd have to look through the code. Other editors have used DreamWeaver to put the paper together, but I've found that using NotePad is much easier, until I come to a problem with the coding. Then its frustrating to have to go through the code to try and fix it, only to realize your problem was really just a simple one.
Gillis : Yes. We had an incident involving banned members contributing to the paper which ended in me being demoted to a normal staff member after I stepped down from editor.
Goliath Gob : I kind of answered this in question 6

Before you became editor, how long were you on the paper?

Lerenzie : Read above. If you don't know this answer by now you haven't been reading!
Master Neverdead : It was my first go at it actually.
Prashanna : When Lerenzie/i am mcj posted the topic suggesting a newspaper a year ago, I think around April 2006, I immediately joined when I first viewed it, because I knew that writing for a newspaper would be a lot of fun.
Steve : A while. I was on for the first issue, which came out the previous September, so I had been on the staff for somewhere around 5 months at the time.
Gillis : I joined the old paper forums on September 24th 2006 but I can't tell you when I got accepted as staff because most of the topics from then have been erased.
Goliath Gob : I joined the paper sometime during issue 3, so I've been on staff for almost 10 months now.

Why did you step down from being an editor? If you are still an editor, how are things going for you at the moment?

Lerenzie : The staff kicked me out, they decided I was running a dictatorship and held their own voting for a new editor and made a new forum. Their sole basis for this seemed to be that I promoted this member called iPod to a Mod position. It's funny, because they didn't realize that iPod was actually I and I was using it to test for bugs in the forum that Admin's couldn't see, but normal members could. By the time I explained this though, they had already accused me of not letting them take part in the decision process, which was completely untrue. Oh well, it's best not to argue with people intellectually inferior to you.
Master Neverdead : I was far too busy, and I had finished what I had set out to do. I got a firm staff of people together willing to work as a team and created some entertaining material for others to read. It was time for me to back off and let the snowball roll.
Prashanna : I stepped down because being an editor was very time consuming, especially near the release. Also, to briefly reply to Lerenzie's answer to question nine, the promotion of iPod was one of the smallest reasons why the staff were unhappy, there were many other reasons, for example, the newspaper forum being closed because someone was demoted on Sal's, an immature and extremely undeserving staff member being promoted to moderator just because he knew you from somewhere else on the internet, etc.
Steve : I stepped down because it was a lot of work that took a lot of time. I realized that I can help just as much as staff by submitting content and helping resolve newspaper-related issues, and that takes a lot less time.
Gillis : I enjoyed being section head much, much, more than being editor. I had responsibilities as section head but not nearly as much as an editor. I would still be able to contribute to the paper yet I wouldn't be running the paper.
Goliath Gob : Right now things are going great. I actually let go of Stories and Poems, so that's going to take a lot of pressure off of me. Being editor is a big enough job for me

In summary, how is/was your editor experience?

Lerenzie : Well I thought it was fun when I started this interview, but now I realized it sucked. Thanks for interviewing me!
Master Neverdead : It was a learning experience for me, above and over my expectations for it. I never thought I'd be able to learn so much on a project that at first seemed small. I made some friends that I still keep to this day, and I got a chance to work some bright young minds and learn from them. Hopefully, some of them learned from me in return.
Prashanna : Though at times it was stressful, it was mostly a fun experience and all the people in the newspaper team are the ones who made the experience so fun.
Steve : It was interesting. I went into it thinking the job would be pretty fun and not too much work, but I was very mistaken.
Gillis : Enjoyable and memorable, yet I would never do it again.
Goliath Gob : I'm loving it. I've gotten to know a lot of the newspaper staff, and become friends with them. If I'd never joined the paper, I wouldn't be on Sal's Realm today.

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