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Freiends, countrymen, forumers…. please direct your attention to our lovely forum mod Verbose! The teal deer, this fellow is quite the champion. He is one of the coolest cats---i mean deer…s?-- around and currently enjoys some j-pop. He has also given more than 10.6k positive karma which is a feat in and of itself.

Please, ask him your questions.

How did you attain such magnificent perspicacity?

How long does it take you to type out your TL;DR Posts?

What are you majoring in?

Obligatory, sorry.

Can I lock your thread?

Any future goals you have on KYM or in life you'd like to share?

Have you reconsidered being my bestie?
pls

Seriously, do you?

What do you think your role here is?

Also, would you rather fight 100 duck-sized teal deers or 1 teal moose-sized duck?

@opspe

How did you attain such magnificent (penetrating discernment/clarity of vision or intellect which provides a deep understanding and insight)?

 
I'm not sure if I have that, actually. I always doubt myself, and I always assume that people have a reason for everything. That plays into how I talk with people. I want to know where they're coming from and why they say what they're saying/do what they're doing/believe what they believe.

I've talked with a lot of people because of that, and I approach conversations with that mindset. It allows me to hear people out and change my mind based on what I hear and learn. I'm not too different from what I was in middle school, but my beliefs and opinions have changed (and will continue to change) as I hear and learn from other people.
 
It might explain why I'm the way I am.

But thanks, I guess. ^_^'

@Megalolzors

How long does it take you to type out your TL;DR Posts?

 
Depends, but if I'm approaching the character limit, then it can be up to an hour. If it makes sense, then assume it took at least 30 minutes. If it doesn't make sense, then I probably didn't edit it properly and it's more a rant than a post. In these cases, it would probably take about 15 minutes.

I think communication is a spice of life. It connects our thoughts and ideals, so I try to always post in a way that I share what I want to share.

Sometimes it's concise, and sometimes it's…long.

@Muffins

What are you majoring in?

 
Nothing. Just graduated.

But pending paranoid checks to ensure that I have completed my requirements, I have an MPH (Master's of Public Health) from Washington University in St. Louis. I finished a BA in Sociology and a BS in Psychology from the University of Georgia in 2010.

Public health is a multidisciplinary (transdisciplinary for Wash U) field that addresses health for populations. On the whole, it hopes to be preventative where traditional medicine tends to be reactionary. So adding fluoride to public drinking water or restaurant inspections would be matters of public health (in order to prevent dental problems and food-borne outbreaks, respectively.)

The psych and sociology degrees came from an interest in understanding people. Originally, I was a journalism major, but due to a tall redhead and being pre-emptively rejected due to my height (I kid you not: I'm quite short), I became very interested in social psychology and the social forces that could influence romantic attraction. In order to add to my knowledge, I added the psychology major in order understand more proximal/personal factors of romantic attraction.

I may pursue a doctorate in public health a few years from now, but it's just as likely that I'll just stick with my MPH or try to get an education in broadcast journalism again. I love talking (go figure), and the time I worked in radio in high school was so much fun. It was probably one of the few hectic jobs I've had that I really enjoyed. I miss it a lot.

@Bob

Obligatory, sorry.
Can I lock your thread?

@RandomMan

Any future goals you have on KYM or in life you’d like to share?

• Life:
  • Pony survey, packing and moving back home, finding a job (after a break from any obligations,) getting back in touch with my IRL friends and family.
• KYM:
  • There are actually a lot of entries I want to work on. I like deadpooled articles. They may not always be notable, but I think they should be well-written. If someone comes to look at a phenomenon that we can certainly say isn't notable enough (but does have some notability,) then I'd like for people to still come to KYM and be able to get information on it.
  • I also have entries where I'm an editor that I'd like to do actual research on. Since I don't focus on entries, I don't have a problem with reaching out to people online and asking them about what they know. I need to do that with the Bio Force Ape entry to see what I can find out.
  • And there are lots and lots of images to tag. I'd like for there to be a set list of tags that we can use. Do we say "image macro," image macros," "macro," or "macros?" Do we use "4-pane" or "4-panel?" Hyphen or no hyphen? If we were able to alias tags or at least have a tag cloud, then browsers could pick through the same tag instead of hoping "MLP" gets you to all of the My Little Pony images. That requires a lot of work to be ideal, but I'd hope that the image search structure on the ground level will be put into place to a certain extent before asking James to make a page for tags that are commonly used or to make similar tags "redirect" to the actual tags we use.

@Odysseus

Have you reconsidered being my bestie?
pls

 
Give me Twilight Sparkle images that I haven't seen, and we'll talk.

@Dac

Do I lift? Simply, no. But before graduate school, I was certainly physically active.

I love sports and I love working out. In high school, I was able to bench 200 lbs. and squat 285 lbs. (only 185 lbs. on power cleans, because I could never get the technique down.) I played three years of football and a year of wrestling.

In college, I lifted in the school athletic complex, and I played a lot of intramural sports.

Whenever I find a place to work out when I get back home, I'll probably start lifting again. I don't think I'll need to lift for a max anymore, but I do want to have the same level of tone I had in high school and college. I'm naturally lean and somewhat muscular, but I could look better (and feel better. Just knowing you can bench most people you see does wonders for your self-esteem.)

@Fridge Logic

What do you think your role here is?

Also, would you rather fight 100 duck-sized teal deers or 1 teal moose-sized duck?

 
Whatever olivia asks me to do Officially, I am to moderate the forum and ensure it's conducive to the activities and discussion we have here. In the images, I basically browse them as I normally do, but I tag as I go, mark them as NSFW if I should, and delete known duplicates or explicit media.

Unofficially…I do whatever administration, moderators, and users ask me to do within varying levels of reason.

• So if an administrator asks me to do something, then I do it with little complaint.
• I'll discuss things with other moderators, if not outright debate some issues, because I'm not sure why we're doing something or not doing something. And even though I'm probably not the easiest moderator to work with as a moderator because of that, I do have a level of trust in moderators in that they all want what's best for the site, and I try to keep that in mind.
• For users, I'll pretty much do whatever you ask unless there's a reason not to. I've investigated activity on potential troll users, I've asked questions to other moderators about issues I've been asked about, I've edited posts past the 30 minute time limit, I'll go and answer (or hunt down answers) for random questions.

Honestly, I probably enjoy the interaction with other users the most. I just like to help and make things nice, neat, and friendly. Usually, the PMs I get from users alert me to opportunities to do that the most.

Oh! The second question:

Ric Tesla asked me a similar question a while ago, and I'd still say 100 duck-sized horses deer. The threat from any deer lies in its size and its antlers. If you take away the size of the deer, then they become fairly easy to kick. If a giant scores a direct hit on you with a full force of a soccer-style kick, then you're probably going to take a lot of damage. Meanwhile, the size makes a deer that can't climb on you a weak threat. The main thing it could do is attack your shins, so if you line up your kicks and your incoming mob well-enough, then I'd think you'd be able to wear down their numbers before your legs get gored to a point where you're at a risk of bleeding to death.

A horse-sized anything will trample you with its weight.

How often do you game?

You mean like video gaming? In a way, all of the time. In a way, rarely.

I usually want to do something while I play, so I passively play turn-based RPGs on a DS or a Game Boy. So I rack up a lot of hours, even though I don't pay much attention to it.

Other than J-Pop, what music do you listen to?

Can you suggest a good lawyer?

Can you finally admit that I am the true king of tl;dr and you are but an usurper?

Could you provide an ordered list of worst to best Mane 6 for you right now? Please be exhaustive and back it up with reasons and sources.

@Muffins

Other than J-Pop, what music do you listen to?

 
I don't really listen to much J-Pop or J-Rock, but I do go back to some anime themes from time to time.

If I had to put them in genres, then I'd say video game music/chiptunes, pop rock, and jazz of varying kinds.

My favorite bands/artists would be Blues Traveler, Barenaked Ladies, Norah Jones, and Vanessa Carlton.

I'll listen to many things complicated in composition, that has an interesting rhythm, that has a catchy melody, or an odd time signature.
 
Oddly enough, I love some repetitive music especially from video games, but I find many other forms of electronica to be hard to listen to. If I can't hum it or beatbox to it, then it's less music and more a collection of organized sounds.

Take this for example. The initial "melody" was alright, but the drums aren't doing anything for me. The build up isn't going to an interesting melody, new section, or modulation.

And yet this is likely similar in how repetitive the percussion is, and yet I love this song. It may be the melody that I like, and the drums are obviously meant to be unimportant to the song. Perhaps it's the chord progression. I sorta lost that in the high bpm of the previous song.

And then there's this that doesn't really make much sense. I'm willing to bet that it's the multiple melodies, the bass, and the drums. All of which are "interesting" by themselves, and yet they don't seem to get in the way of each other.

So who knows. I don't.

@angstyHoodie

Can you suggest a good lawyer?

@burning_phoneix

Can you finally admit that I am the true king of tl;dr and you are but an usurper?

>Brucker

@Twilitlord

Could you provide an ordered list of worst to best Mane 6 for you right now? Please be exhaustive and back it up with reasons and sources.

 
COULD I.

• Rainbow Dash

I've never been too fond of her character, but I've actually come to dislike her since the beginning of Season 3 in terms of canon. I've been in on another conversation where people said that she wasn't at any fault for not seeing that Scootaloo wasn't benefitting from the same sisterly support as Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.

There's also the fact that she's pretty arrogant, as seen in Sonic Rainboom. That's probably to hide her own insecurities as opposed to owning up to them. And there's also the scene where she isn't as concerned with her team's well-being as she could be, Her tenacity (gesundheit) is admirable, but endangering others to achieve her own needs ("I gotta know we gave it our all!") and her attitude towards Fluttershy in the premiere (reputation among ponies you'll never meet again?) wasn't very cool (also the case for Dragon Quest's opening. There's a difference between being bored and being scared witless. Don't make your friends face phobias for leisure. Also note how Twilight didn't, you know, resort to brute force to make Fluttershy go like Dash did.)

There's also less cute fanart of Rainbow Dash, so that doesn't help me either. There's art of her being cool and stuff, but I don't watch FiM because of the action. I'm not saying that she isn't without merit, but I don't care for those who don't show respect for others. Being loyal, being athletic, and being cunning doesn't make up for being mean. And I think Rainbow Dash (outside of Fluttershy's ragey moments) is the only one of Mane Six who acts so…mean. It's not even funny or burn worthy like when Fluttershy does it.

• Fluttershy
• Rarity
• Applejack
• Pinkie Pie
• Twilight Sparkle

I'll have to come back and fill in the reasons for the rest. It took about half an hour to find moments for Dash.

Any tips on how to be a good forum mod?

Yep.

Take all of the best attributes of all of the forum mods and mods with forum powers.
 
 
I can't say what's good about my approach to moderation. I think I'm seen as being too strict, but in other ways, I think I'm very lenient. I hate banning, I don't care if users insult me and I don't think it's grounds for any punishment. As much as I lurk, I rarely actually do anything.
 
RandomMan doesn't hesitate to flex authority, which sets the tone for a thread in which he needs to intervene (and for the forum on the whole.)

Bob is a lurker by nature, and he often leaves everything alone. That makes his moderation feel (to me) very "hands off." I think that helps users feel like there isn't The Fuzz around every corner ready to lock the thread at the slightest hint of being derailed.

madcat is very moderate from what I've seen. He doesn't intervene too much (maybe he just hasn't been as active recently.)

MDF isn't moderate, and he's certainly opinionated. But he's fair. He always presents reasoning for acting.

There are other moderators with forum powers, but I can't tell who's active in the forum anymore or not. So I can't speak to Tomberry, Chris, DPF, or others.
 
 
I guess you take your natural traits as a helpful poster that got you modship in the first place, and then you learn as you go. I think garnering feedback and making changes based on feedback that you think is fair will get you to being a good moderator of any sort.

But if I could give one bit of advice, I'd say that the less you use your powers, the better.

I can lock threads, move them, change the title, change or delete any post at any time, change the date that it locks, feature them and sticky the threads.

For most of the "moderator-based actions" I make, however, it's usually a post asking users to remember the rules, making an on-topic post to get things back on track, or just keeping an eye on it. I ask other moderators what they think (entry, forum, image, admins…doesn't matter.) Heck, I've asked other users what they thought about a thread.

Thank you Verbose.

How does being a mod of KYM impact other facets of your life?

I'm going to assume you studied at a place of the highest order with that manner of speaking Verbose.

Tell me about your education, please.

>Dear Verbose

I was just wondering about the historical terms of your reputation. You know which one…

Have you always been know throughout all of your online forum history as a tl;dr poster? Or did your status as that guy who writes more words than most people begin at, and remain contained within KYM only?

How do you feel about being the one responsible for making "the greatest plague this forum has known" actively participate?
(Yes I'm talking about Yours Sincerely, and while Randomman is your accomplice he has simply ran out of fucks to give, perhaps you have a few to spare.)

No but seriously, a lot of new forum members (including me) started participating because of you, and even to this day you continue the tradition of introducing people to the forums, if you go to the wall of new members there's a very good chance you'd see a long well-informed kind-hearted response written by Verbose.

• Is that intentional, or are you just being helpful? And how do you do it? Do mods see all recently registered members? (I remember you weren't a mod back when you talked to me)

• What's your opinion regarding Karma/Krama?

• Why did you use Green up there for your Meme Arrows? is it out of tradition ( GREEN texting) or is it because you are alergic to Olivedrab ?

• What's the thread you are most proud of OPing on KYM or otherwise?

• Can I call you Captain Verbossa, scourge of the Teal Deers??

@Teh Brawler

How does being a mod of KYM impact other facets of your life?

 
Hm.

Being a mod, as of now, doesn't affect me much in other parts of my life. I told my two closest friends about being a mod, and they were fairly impressed, because they know the site. Most other people wouldn't care.

In a sense, I went to New York City mostly on a whim, because of KYM, but that didn't eally have to do with me being a moderator. And I've made friends online in a context where we don't even talk about memes or the Internet specifically. But other than that, KYM is almost entirely removed from IRL things.

That isn't to say that it will continue to be. I tried to keep things very manageable while going to school, so I wasn't as connected as I had been in college or high school. As I meet more people and as more opportunities arise, I might speak about what I do on KYM and how I haven't gotten my powers revoked yet.

@Quantum Meme

Tell me about your education, please.

 
I talked about it a bit earlier in this thread, but to be brief. I went to a large, public university in the Southeastern US for undergraduate study in psychology and sociology. I went to a fairly prestigious, private institution in the Midwestern US for public health graduate studies.
 
As for any perceived eloquence or skills in articulation, I've just always liked talking and getting what I'm saying across. I always thought that news anchors, game show hosts, and sports commentators were so cool in how they explain what's going on to you. (Bob Costas is super cool.) Of course, in practice, it's often redundant, but that kind of approach is part of my speech patterns.

Minus the occasional psychobabble and social commentary, I've been this way since I was 3 or 4. I'm not really talkative, and I'm certainly not loud. But I do enjoy talking (and listening.)

@Blue Screen (of death)

Have you always been know throughout all of your online forum history as a tl;dr poster? Or did your status as that guy who writes more words than most people begin at, and remain contained within KYM only?

 
Actually, I never posted much online before I became active on KYM. I lurked forums and sites with the rare account if I couldn't see certain things without a registration. It was enough to read what other people said.

My first forum was in high school, but it was generally invitation only among high school students. I mostly participated in forum games, so there was no need to get really wordy.

I chose my username based upon MySpace and Facebook posts in notes and journal entries. Whenever I had an open forum and it was suitable (or at least wouldn't be frowned upon,) I simply said everything I wanted and spared no expense on word count. I was known within my IRL circles for making posts that you'd really have to be a friend to read all of.

My username here was…my first name for a while, but that was before I was active. No one knew to go to the account, and there was no activity to see it anyway. I changed it to my name spelled backwards (because it's unique, still can be pronounced easily, and makes for a decent username.) But once I realized "Oh! People I know go to KYM and they'll recognize that," I had to think of another username. I forget how "Verbose" came to me, but it was suitable considering my first comments on KYM and my sorta philosophical Myspace/Facebook posts as a teenager.
 
In terms of interacting with people I didn't know personally, KYM is my first forum. I don't post in any other forum anywhere near as regularly.

@X

I didn't know that I was that influential in you frequenting the forum at first, X (in case you're wanting to be a bit incognito, I won't use your full username.) But that makes me happy to know.

Is (posting on new members' walls) intentional, or are you just being helpful? And how do you do it? Do mods see all recently registered members? (I remember you weren’t a mod back when you talked to me)

 
I'm a lurker by nature. Even if I don't say anything, I generally notice when a new user begins to post in the forum. I may not notice one or two posts, but if someone makes five posts or so, then I'll probably notice them at some point.

This thread helps too. It doesn't get bumped all that often, but since I know most of the posts will be by new users, I look at it when it is bumped and see what the new user has to say and how he/she introduces him/herself. The more information they give, the more likely I am to go and speak. So no, I can't see new users on a moderator-specific list or anything. (We'd probably stop a lot of "Daniel" spammers that way if we could.)

In your case, I just so happen to read Sinfest, so I recognized your old avatar from some of your first posts. So that was more about having something in common with another user. In others, I'm generally being friendly.

I also pulled from olivia's cues. I don't know if she still does it, but she was one of the first people to Follow me when I began to post, and she often was for many other newly active users. I don't always follow people, but I figured she just lurked and noticed when a user became active. I saw it as a friendly gesture, and so I do it when I think it's appropriate.
 
However, I don't always introduce myself. It's usually when I see a post that interests me, see an avatar that's interesting, see a new poster in my favorite threads…Some people are naturally welcoming. But I sorta see going to any and all new users and individually welcoming them to the forum as being a little disingenuous.

On the whole, I only say hi if I have something other than "Hi" to say. Depending on my mood and the situation, it might be "Thank you for not being an idiot" or "Oh, you like The Big O too? Do you like other mecha anime?" Otherwise, I feel like it becomes less special. I'm not really a welcome committee nor am I really a welcoming person. But I try to be friendly and sincere.
 
So I guess that's how that comes about. I think Kris (Celestia avatar) was the most recent user I did that to. He posted in the New Members thread and had a few well-constructed and thought out posts, and I thought to send him a wall post (or two) about them.
 
I also go to walls and comment when I see a user ask a recent question on an entry or image. If I have an answer, then I go and answer. Sometimes, I send a PM instead.

What’s your opinion regarding Karma/Krama?

 
Whoo, I've been typing this for over an hour now, so this won't be indicative of my full opinion, but I think it can serve purpose. I think it is best used to encourage well-thought out posts, particularly witty comments, unique insight, a very well-placed image, or a helpful post. On the other hand, negakarma would be used to discourage and subsequently hide off-topic posts, posts that are carelessly or intentionally antagonistic, or posts that are otherwise against the rules.

I'm fairly sure that karma isn't used that way, so it doesn't have the desired effect. It encourages certain posts, and eventually, it encourages a certain kind of culture of garnering karma. It feels great to have a post with 10+ karma, even if you can't do anything with karma. So many users post the things that get them karma. Basic conditioning response.

However, since users give out karma for antagonistic (but witty) comments, any funny image, simply agreeing with their opinion, on reputation, and other reasons/give out downvotes for disagreeing with them on a controversial issue, to troll, or on reputation, it makes for a bad set-up.
 
People say you shouldn't care about karma, but the system was put into place (I believe) because it does have a value (or more accurately, it is given value.) So if the system is put into place, it can't be done carelessly or without a lot of thought.

However, I don't think the karmawhoring/avoiding culture here is so bad that it requires a drastic change. But it isn't what I'd like for it to be either.

Going back to sleep. I'll respond to the other questions when I wake up.

My god, someone make Verbose the next president, please.

But seriously, that's cool, I hope you retain your abilities throughout your life to help with work and other things (even though you're kinda doing that now).

Someone actually thinks I'm lenient in moderating. That's unexpected. Anyway, is there a reason why Girafarig is your favorite ever?

1. VERBOSE WHY DO YOU HATE ME
EVERYTHING I DO IS NEVER GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU
LOVE ME DAMN IT

2. I understand that you've had an account for three years now, but actually started posting only about a year ago. I'm a little bit curious as to why you were inactive for so long, if you don't mind explaining…

3. I would probably be a complete Nazi if I were a moderator, but I really like your moderation style. So…what is it like being a moderator? I only know that you have a fancy bar at the top of your page with buttons like "Ban" or "Remove Image" and things like that, but aside from that…I assume that you talk a lot with the other moderators and administrators, and send out a lot of messages each day to the users. Would you consider moderating the site fun?

(I remember back when I joined almost half a year ago, and you were still just a regular Forum Moderator. You had this nice piece of teal-deer artwork for your avatar that I really liked. By the way, your avatar is so cute that it warms my heart.)

4. Do you admire or "look up to" any KYM users, mods or otherwise?

5. Are there any posters that don't regularly come around here anymore that you miss? If you could have one single user return to KYM and resume being active, who would it be?

6. When posting, do you think things out before typing, or are you like me, where you sort of just let your thoughts flow out onto the page as you think of them?

7. How did you get into ponies and chiptunes and stuff like that? I ask because I'm interested in a lot of the same things as you are.

8. Why are you so great?

(My apologies for asking all of these questions, but I'm just really glad that I finally have a chance to ask you all of these things.)

I think Kris (Celestia avatar) was the most recent user I did that to. He posted in the New Members thread and had a few well-constructed and thought out posts, and I thought to send him a wall post (or two) about them.

Well, gee…thank you!

OK, I've got one.

Are there any users here who you think would be decent moderators?

I'd be a fucking horrible moderator.

Whats your favorite Pokemon game?

@X

Why did you use Green up there for your Meme Arrows? is it out of tradition (GREEN texting) or is it because you are alergic to Olivedrab?

 
Honestly, I didn't know it was olive drab.

What’s the thread you are most proud of OPing on KYM or otherwise?

 
I haven't actually begun many threads. There was the locked Pony Discussion from way back when, one of the Pony Generals, the Christmas thread I started after being here for several months. And a few others.

Until I get my…"other" idea off the ground, I'd have to say it's Pokémon General. Pokemon is so big on the Internet, and it's a part of all of our consciousness regardless of whether you had ever been a Pokemon Master or not. Having a thread to post Pokemon news, jokes, experiences, random questions, and related material is something I was proud to put my name on.

Can I call you Captain Verbossa, scourge of the Teal Deers??

Call 'em as you see 'em…

@madcat

Anyway, is there a reason why Girafarig is your favorite ever?

In Generation 2, Girafarig was one of the new Pokémon that I didn't know anything about that. I was walking up near the Lake of Rage when I heard that flourish of a Pokémon call. Of course, I thought to catch it and see what it was like.

It took some doing, but I did catch it. Very balanced stats, slightly mixed offensively, typing that completely negates one weakness (Normal/Psychic and Ghost-type moves), and the fact that it had two independently functioning heads was a bit weird and cool.

Anyway, as I went through the first playthrough of the game, Girafarig was a good Pokémon to plow through the game with. Crunch, Strength, and Psychic game me three moderately powerful moves that gave it a lot of advantages, and unless the opponent was a trained or natural sweeper, Girafarig generally had enough Defense/Sp. Def to withstand two or three neutral attacks (and it only has a couple of weaknesses in Bug and Dark).

Perhaps the ones I've had just had great IVs, but Girafarig was one of my favorites to fight with, and it's never changed. It's pretty cool.

@TrollKeeper

VERBOSE WHY DO YOU HATE ME
EVERYTHING I DO IS NEVER GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU
LOVE ME DAMN IT

I understand that you’ve had an account for three years now, but actually started posting only about a year ago. I’m a little bit curious as to why you were inactive for so long, if you don’t mind explaining…

I was interested in internet memes, but I never had any real interest (or time) to participate in Web Culture. So when I created an account, it was only to participate if I really wanted to comment. However, I never took any action that could have been traced to my Activity.

I began posting because of ponies:

@That-guy
For me, it was the animation, the characters, the humor, and the innocent fun of it all. I think most people could appreciate all of those aspects of the show, but the ponies won’t sink its hooves into everybody. Some shows appeal to certain people. MLP:FiM happened to appeal to a decent portion of the Internet as a show directed at kids.

After some site events, I began posting in the forum. I saw other threads that caught my interest, and the rest is in my Activity and Forum Posts history.

I'm going to get food and get some survey work done. Sorry for having to chop up my responses like this.

What is your most treasured gif/image?

What is your preferred mode of transportation for going from one state to another, from one country to another and just in general, out of the following: By boat. By car. By train. By plane. By foot. By jet pack. By invisible boat mobile. By chariot. Thank you.

@Kris

Are there any users here who you think would be decent moderators?

 
Actually, I'm on assignment for the admins, and I'd rather not say my thoughts right now.

>yfw I'm not actually kidding.

@Wsxdas

Whats your favorite Pokemon game?

 
I've only played the main series of Pokémon games to completion (the other two being Pinball and Conquest, neither of which I finished.) So I'll just pick from those 5 generations.

Even now, the original Generation 2 games (i.e., Silver and Gold) are my favorites. The music was interesting. I still find little things about the game that I didn't notice before (like how the grass of the National Park is in the shape of a Pokeball or that the music for a wild pokemon battle changes slightly from day to night.)

And then there was the full game after you beat the Elite Four and Lance. You didn't go to the Sevii Islands where there weren't tougher gym leaders to fight. There wasn't three or four towns to visit. After you were done with your 8 gyms and the Elite Four, you got another 8 gyms with really tough Pokemon and then a very high level champion (who is, more or less, the player/you from three years ago.)

The 5th generation was a lot of fun (and certainly was a game with more complex themes, and Pokemon Pinball was a lot of fun for such a basic game. But Silver was the only game where I played with parties until they got to level 100 before I'd even consider restarting the game.

@Megalolzors

What is your most treasured gif/image?

 
Whoo, that's quite a few to consider. But I haven't gone through my 2010 and 2011 currency in a while, so it'll be fun to look at it really quickly.

I guess I'll settle on this.

Wreath of Orichalcos@

What is your preferred mode of transportation for going from one state to another, from one country to another and just in general, out of the following: By boat. By car. By train. By plane. By foot. By jet pack. By invisible boat mobile. By chariot. Thank you.

 
I've never flown, and I get seasick somewhat easily. I've also never flown by jet pack or invisible boat, so I can't speak for either of those (never had a desire to ride those.) Same with the chariot.

In general, I prefer walking at a leisurely pace. I like being in control of my movements, and I can really "feel" the area I'm in that way.

I've also never left the US, so I'd have to say by car for any other travel. I love driving (I've yet to participate in the driving thread, but I do have thoughts and opinions for it.) And I hope to do more than a couple of cross-country roadtrips.

@Trollkeeper

I would probably be a complete Nazi if I were a moderator, but I really like your moderation style. So…what is it like being a moderator? I only know that you have a fancy bar at the top of your page with buttons like “Ban” or “Remove Image” and things like that, but aside from that…I assume that you talk a lot with the other moderators and administrators, and send out a lot of messages each day to the users. Would you consider moderating the site fun?

 
Thanks, first off. If users think I help the site, then that's probably the most gratifying thing. Again, I follow staff's orders (I don't really get many,) and I do talk to other moderators a lot on certain issues, but I do it for the users that don't have powers.

In that sense, it's not "fun," but it's really fulfilling. I really do love the site here for my own reasons. During graduate school, I didn't have time to make a lot of meaningful connections with people. And many of the students weren't really interesting (and they were often annoying.) So being a part of the community here was really important for me.

The atmosphere will change as the users do, and many users who were here when I became active are no longer here. But I want the forum, at least, to be a place that isn't repulsive, because it was such a nice place to spend free time for me.
 
Anyway, fulfilling.

A lot of times, it gets annoying to talk to some users who do the same thing over and over again. That's usually the case with trolls, but I want to make sure that they've seen the forum rules, know the consequences of breaking them, and know that I can ban if I really have to before I actually click that ban button.

And even when I want to take a break, I still end up lurking, because I don't want a spam thread to stay up for very long or because someone might have a question. But on the whole, I get a lot out of helping people in real life or online. So in that sense, it's a bit selfish, but it does help users.

Like I said before, I try not to use powers unless I have to. And even when I do, it's been questioned whether or not I should. With that in mind, being a moderator in the forum is a lot like being a regular user. People just see "Sr. Forum Moderator" instead of "Conversationalist."
 
 
As for the image powers, that's probably the fun part. I get a chance to help make the images a bit cleaner and a bit better tagged. So whenever I browse, I actually do something constructive too. And the better tagged the images are, the more likely KYM will help visitors find what they're looking for.

Just imagine being able to type "Princess Peach" and being able to see all of the Peach images on the site from all of the entries here…

(I remember back when I joined almost half a year ago, and you were still just a regular Forum Moderator. You had this nice piece of teal-deer artwork for your avatar that I really liked. By the way, your avatar is so cute that it warms my heart.)

 
Now I'm not sure which teal deer image you're talking about, but I can easily find all of the deer avatar's I've had. I always link to the source for my avatars on my profile, and I usually have them saved or favorited on DeviantArt or something. So if you can describe it, I'm pretty sure I can find it and link to it.

The current one is a doctored version of this from fillyjonk.

The only other one that could be considered "nice" is this one by arabidopsis.

Do you admire or “look up to” any KYM users, mods or otherwise?

 
Kalmo (not really active now) and olivia are the first ones that come to mind. I knew olivia (or saw her on KYM) long before I began to post here, so she's sort of a celebrity to me. Kalmo unintentionally got me to post in other areas outside of Pony General.

And yeah, there are a lot of users I respect, but I'd hate to name them. I'll forget someone, and I'll certainly make someone feel bad in the process. I think they know who they are, because if I hold a user in high enough regard, then I'll probably tell them at some point.

Are there any posters that don’t regularly come around here anymore that you miss? If you could have one single user return to KYM and resume being active, who would it be?

 
I made a list of a few on my wall not to long ago. Again, I don't want to call out names in a thread, but they should still be on that page with links to their respective profiles. As for any one user, I can't think of just one. I'm generally happy to see any older user stop by a couple of times a year to participate in a forum game.

I know people get busy and can no longer be a part of the community due to time constraints or due to just being bored. I wouldn't want to bring someone back unless they really wanted to be back.

I promise I'll get to the rest of the Mane Six, Twilit! I can only type so much at a time.

Oh, good. I was going to come in here and just type an impatient hem, but then I saw that last part.

Well, I suppose I did still type it.

I have another question: would it be considered impersonation of a moderator if I changed my profile picture to a teal deer?

Verbose, what do you think is the most egregious omission from our humble database here?

On a semi-related note, what fandom, group, or media do you feel does not get enough attention on the whole; "underrated," or "sleeper hits" being two alternate definitions?

Where is the Internet heading to?

and

Who is your favourite CMC?

How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

I predict that Verbose is writing a wresponse wright now… am I write, Verbose?

@Trollkeeper

When posting, do you think things out before typing, or are you like me, where you sort of just let your thoughts flow out onto the page as you think of them?

 
I probably thought my posts through more when I was first posting, because I feared upsetting Kalmo and never being able to gain his favor being misunderstood or being thought of as being an idiot. On the Web, I figure that I'd really have to show that I wasn't an idiot, because no one really cares about favoritism.

Now, I sorta just say what I immediately think, and I don't think it's to my advantage. I often have to backpedal on what I've said. That's better than not owning up to a mistake or a poor argument, but I'd rather get it as close to being a decent response the first time I post.

How did you get into ponies and chiptunes and stuff like that? I ask because I’m interested in a lot of the same things as you are.

 
Again, ponies came about out of boredom. I happened to see a Pinkie Pie gif on the FiM entry while lurking KYM. That led me to read the article, watch a few clips, and watch a few episodes. From there, I guess my liking of cute and funny things took over.
 
Chiptunes came about because I'm a slight music geek. I don't really like anything by genre, but they tend to fall into certain ones.

I think I first came to learn about video game music (as a first step into chiptunes) when I was trying to get my broken Sega Genesis to work. Some of the connections were loose and broken, but by using jerry-rigging it, I got it to work. The first thing I heard after the Sonic Sega fanfare and the opening jingle was the track for Aquatic Ruin Zone.

The instrumentation and composition was already known to me, because I played the game in-and-out for years in elementary school. But after being in chorus for several years after that, I had a new appreciation for how it was put together and how the different parts played off of each other. The iconic Genesis bass, the melody, the progression…it was all really cool. I just say and let the music play for a while.

After that, I went online to see if I could find track to burn on to CD's (I didn't have a portable media player at that time,) and I found songs from games I knew and games I hadn't played yet. So much music and so many different kinds.

When I got to college, I was slightly interested in internet memes and still interested in video game music (during this time I was trying to identify all 62 robot masters' themes from the original 8 Mega Man games,) I saw an 8-bit Rickroll and an 8-bit Chocolate Rain tune. The Chocolate Rain cover was done by a guy named Coda, and it led me to his 8bitcollective (God rest its soul…) account. The rest is history as I found people like ast0r/beek, smh, sylcmyk, Blitz Lunar, and various other artists.
 
And Maxo.

Oh.

Good.

Lord.

Dat.

Maxo.

I could link so many songs from the guy.
 
I think the appealing thing about chippy music is that all of the instruments don't blend and get as lost as in more traditionally created music. I like being able to pick out certain parts of music, like the drums in this tune (favorite percussion part in any song ever. I've been beatboxing it probably once a week if not more often for over a decade.)

It also seems like people in that scene draw from various different genres and influences, and many times it's jazz-related if not out-and-out jazz classics.

All that being said, I don't really keep up with current chiptune/fakebit artists, and I haven't found many new songs or artists. But I fully expect to get more acquainted as I take advantage of this break between school and work.
 
Also, this for no good reason. I've been playing through Final Fantasy VII, and this song echos in my head. Just so happened to see a link for it.

The above part took forever, because I had to listen to all of the songs, and because I found so many others.

Why are you so great?

 
trick question I'm not
 
But I'm glad you think highly of me. I'm honored.

Up to this point in life, I've always said that anything really good about me mostly comes from other people. It could have been that time when I thought I was amazing at everything and I didn't get first place in a piano recital. It could have been that time where I was complaining about small stuff and the most popular girl in school (Later Ms. (Verbose's) High School) told me in a chain of passing notes to not complain as much. It could have been various conversations I've had with people entirely unlike me. It could have been the various sports I've played.

But I think I've just been blessed to be around so many cool people. A lot of people on KYM are now included. I've learned a lot of things from being here and hearing from you. I hope that a lot of it sticks to me. I think that it will.

@Quantum Meme

I have another question: would it be considered impersonation of a moderator if I changed my profile picture to a teal deer?

 
I highly doubt it. I guess people have come to associate the teal deer with me, but I don't own it. I wouldn't change your name to "Verbose" or anything, but I think the main problem with impersonating anyone is that you have a chance to mess with their reputation or you're trying to influence other users to do something they don't have to or shouldn't do.

Also, the teal deer isn't really in favor of wordy posts. It's actually the opposite. Basically, with every post I make, I preface it with a "tl;dr."

@Santa Mack

Verbose, what do you think is the most egregious omission from our humble database here?

 
Hm. These are sorta Entry-related questions, and I am one of the least knowledgeable moderators on Internet phenomena.

But I did have some potential entries I wanted to investigate further, but I couldn't commit to doing enough research to actually put up an entry. I haven't found an entry for these at first glance, but they might have a section under another entry that I just haven't found yet.

• #I can't/I can't

I haven't found a whole lot of images about this, but I think it has some spread.

"They are mostly gifs that I post in reply to certain comments whether they're controversial and start arguments or if they're smart, well-worded, and I agree with it."

Usually, I find them used when you're confronted with a situation that is so insurmountable that you begin with "I can't" and cannot finish the thought at the risk of breaking down at the further consideration of the situation.

Again, even if the entry gets deadpooled, I am of the opinion anything with noticeable (if not notable) Internet spread should have an entry here.

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5

• Disrespect Your Surroundings

This comes from the A Day To Remember (lolwut) song, "Mr. Highway's Thinking About The End". Sorta ragey and flippant. These are the gifs and images you use when you want to start something. The song seems to fit.

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4 (Hey opspe you shuld confirm this nao ok thx)
Example 5

Related video
Another related video

Original music:Mr. Highway's Thinking About The End (I sorta dig the song.) 2:33 is where the magic happens.

I'm pretty sure it's just an excuse to destroy property and punch things.

• ^This

I talked about this with amanda and perhaps some other people, I think. Basically, it's a very simple way to agree with a person. Just like with Dubs Guy, you find/make a gif with a person pointing in a certain direction with the macro "This" or "^This."

You may understand why this (pun not intended) is impossible to find an origin for, but I have 28 images and gifs set aside. Only giving you 5 here.

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5

One more for Avatar/LoK
Ok, two more.

No, I haven't watched any of Legend of Korra or much of Avatar. But I do want to at some point. What I've seen was pretty good.

• Let me love you

Find a gif of someone running after someone or trying to hug someone who doesn't want it, and there you have it.

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5

Warning: Bromantic bromance is behind links.
 
If you want to take on these entries, then by all means, go ahead. You can have editorship and everything if you want to do the research for it. I should have a few to several images to start you off, so if you want them, just let me know, and I'll upload them for you.

 
 
In terms of the site overall, I think there needs to be a hard list of tags that we all abide by when tagging. I should probably take the initiative on that, but the last time I did, no one responded to the post. However, that requires users to tag, and that's just not happening. We are likely to get some help with that soon, so if we do, it'll make finding media easier for users and visitors.

At the moment, I just go through a few images here and there and tag them. I'd ask that if anyone has the time to go back and tag the images they've already uploaded. Some users have uploaded over 10,000 images (guess which gallery they tend to belong to?), but many of those aren't tagged and contribute to a gallery of images that no one can sort through.
 
What good is uploading an image if no one can find it in a few days?

That's why I'm pretty passionate about proper tagging

On a semi-related note, what fandom, group, or media do you feel does not get enough attention on the whole; “underrated,” or “sleeper hits” being two alternate definitions?

 
Again, I'm not really savvy on Internet Culture like other moderators (which will be evident in what I propose,) so I'd have to say the One Direction fandom.

Many mods did NOT want this to be out of deadpool. They weren't even considering confirming it. Like, there was some serious anger behind it. It was hard to believe just how adamant some of the arguments were about it.

And I do understand it to a certain extent: I don't think One Direction got its initial popularity through "Web Culture," but…

@Whitishcollar

Where is the Internet heading to?

…I think that "Web Culture" is changing.

Once upon a time, Web Culture was all about 4chan, /b/, various geeky forums, and MMORPGs. Now it includes tumblr, reddit, YouTube, and even Facebook and Twitter. As the Internet becomes something that all teens and young adults use, they begin to develop their own culture among strangers online.

Whether or not it began online, I think the fandom exists as an online fandom now. It's beyond fans of *NSYNC or P!nk who might have a few stray phpBB forums.

Tons of online fanfictions and a couple of massive sites for them. This one has over 33,000 stories (with over 200,000 chapters.)

Despite what I've heard, there is a lot of fanart and crossovers

There are plenty of parodies out there, and there's certainly a base of hatred. I think that if Nickelback can have hatred online and its own entry, then I don't see why a band with massive spread online and it's own hatred that's probably bigger than Nickelback's can't.

Now opspe explained why they shouldn't even be in submissions, but I forgot the reasons. He (or another entry moderator) might be able to explain better than me.) I think the online influence is far greater than artists like Nicki Minaj or Maroon 5/Adam Levine. (I don't see sites outside of tumblr for fanfics for the two). I don't think you have the same evidence to claim that other popular musicians have similar or greater online notability, and I don't think it has to be present on 4chan or have furry R34 for it to be a phenomenon.

That's where I think it's going, and the meme elitism pushback I've seen almost confirms it in my mind.
 
 
So yeah. I think Web Culture will come to include other teens who aren't as stereotypically geeky. I think any young teen or young adult who had a lot of time on their hands will come into the Internet. And again, even though they might be turned off by some of the things on /b/ or Paheal, I do think that other subcultures within Web Culture will arise and begin their own memes.

I think it would be to our detriment as a site to not document the rise of it when its potential is enormous.

@Whitishcollar

Who is your favourite CMC?

I would have said Scootaloo up until the last few episodes that have aired of FiM, but it's probably Sweetie Belle now.

Oh, the irony.
Oh, come on!
Hear ALL the voice cracks!

And Jan of the Ask Cutie Mark Crusaders tumblr certainly seems to like Sweetie Belle a lot. That certainly helps, along with Sisterhooves Social.

@Lone K.

How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

 
I would need a check on how the woodchuck chucks wood. Since this is a hypothetical question where the means by which the woodchuck chucks the wood, the woodchucking check would be crucial in seeing how much the woodchuck could chuck.

@Quantum Meme

I already answered that and deleted the last response for the current ones, but no. I'm going to make Twilitlord wait a little while longer.

It's mostly that I've been typing since 10ish, and it's 2am now. It took over an hour to type out the response for Rainbow Dash, and I expect each of the Mane Six to take just as long.

Those entry suggestions you suggested sound pretty legit Verbose. Problem is, like you said, that the origin is as good as impossible to find for some. They're just too basic even in normal language.

But you can always leave the origin at a [Researching]. Might not look too professional, but at least you have the entry going on the other sections and you offered users a place to upload more media related to it.

And don't worry, I currently have around 8 entries I'd like to launch, yet didn't find the time or effort for. Reasons vary, but I can mainly blame my own laziness.

C'mon, Verbose. The world's ending in 24 hours, at least tell me why you don't like Yellowquiet.

Actually, I'm now about neutral on her.

I'm baking a pie, because I won't want to wake up tomorrow to have it done by noonish. Geez, I can't make tl;dr posts with that sort of pressure, man. They just flow from me. Or something.

• Fluttershutter

At the beginning, I didn't have too many things to like about her. First off, her color scheme was yellow (my least favorite color) and pink (my second least favorite color.) Second, she barely said anything, so I didn't really have much to like (and being shy isn't really something I "like." It's not something I dislike, but it doesn't tell me much about preferences and tendencies. Just means you don't talk much and social situations can be uncomfortable for you.

As the show went along, there was Dragonshy: the episode where we get to see Fluttershutter in all of her glorious ineptitude.

Her

Glorious

Inepitude.

Some people see it as cute. Some people relate to it. I see it as being inept. Sure, the rest of the Mane Six are probably more brave than most ponies, so comparing Fluttershy to them may be unfair, but she is the embodiment of Kindness just like everyone else embodies an Element of Harmony. (And I doubt other ponies would be afraid of their own shadow.)

It took the dragon being mean to her friends to actually step up and do something. The fate of Equestria wasn't enough. I never liked that.

Also, she tends to be quiet in episodes. That's in her character, to be sure, but it never game me an opportunity to like her more or any less.

As the series went along though, I came to dislike her less. The Stare Master helped with that, because she didn't seem inept. She seemed afraid, but she was brave when she had to be. without going berserk. Firm, but not berserk.

Same was the case for A Bird in the Hoof, where she was rarely afraid for her life. Instead of focusing on how weak and helpless she can be, the episode focused on her kindness and how much she wanted Philomena to get better.

For those that are following the links but don't follow the show, that ash is a bird. Of course, it's a phoenix, so it comes back to life.

I can get behind a kind character, and I applaud characters being more than their deemed characteristic (e.g., soft-spoken, shy, bit of a temper when triggered, knows an odd amount about design which is actually another pony's schtick, etc.) But a lot of that didn't seem to come across to me in earlier episodes. She was just a sort of liability.
 
When Season 1 ended, her berserk button was simply hilarious.

When Season 2 began, her Discord'd self was the best. Simply dabes. Completely out of character, but that'sthejoke.avi that's what made it hilarious. Not to mention the moments were very well-written. Sometimes you smile at FiM's jokes. Usually, they only draw a smile from me. This had me laughing out loud.
 
And then Hurricane Fluttershy made me feel.

You have no idea how much I feeled right then. I feeled it all, man. I felt all of the feels.
 
At that point, I began to like her more than Rainbow Dash.

And the resulting fanart reminded me of that episode…

…And it made other fanart more interesting, too.

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4

But I like the other characters a pretty good bit, so her 5th rank is no insult (anymore.) It just speaks to how much I've enjoyed watching the other 4 of the Mane Six.

Again, I'll get to the others later. It's getting close to midnight here, and this bottle of (Coca-Cola) isn't going to drink itself (until I drink enough of it and I start seeing things.)
 
No, but seriously, I don't drink at all.

Verbose, are you secretly Kobe Bryant and this is what you do in your spare time?

Typing TL;DRs and baking… pies…

1. What do you think of Sonic
2. What do you think of Doctor Who
3. What is your opinion on Gangnam Style being the first Youtube video to reach 1 billion views? (Because that IS definitely happening.)