October 2003: JaG interviews Bobosama

JaG: Bobosama. How did you discover abandonware? And how did you first get involved with it?

BoboSama: Back in 98 or 99 I had discovered a site known as OldNet which featured a mixture of Abandonware and OldWarez such as Discworld, Doom, etc. I had visited the site for about a year thinking it was godly when one day an announcement was posted that the site had closed. One of their affiliates was a site known as 3k Industries so I clicked on the link and was redirected to Diskworld

BoboSama: Diskworld was a pure Abandonware site, it was currently at version 2.0. I found the design and content to be of the highest quality. From there I spanned off to find sites such as Classic Trash and the Home of the Underdogs. However, I was still an OldWarez fella and began a site known as Anime-Crib Abandonware. I ran an Abandonware site in early 99 and had a year left on the domain so I used it

BoboSama: The site lasted for about two weeks and I had contacted Diskboy to affiliate with him. He told me that my site had OldWarez and from there I found out all about clean Abandonware. At first, I wanted to create a site with thousands of games, I also wanted something that nobody had done so I spent a few weeks downloading thousands of Apple IIe ROMS testing them, zipping them and started a site known as Anime-Crib Apple IIe Abandonware it was purely HTML based with a layout consisiting of some frames and a single background image I had over 2000 titles with nothing but file sizes, publisher names and download links. It was this site that joined 4Ham and Diskworld initially (I hadn't joined any rings yet) Then I had come to realize the importance of screenshots and reviews for creating a quality site. Diskworld had just unleashed V3 and I payed Diskboy to create me a php coded site, we came up with the name wizardware and I bought the domain wizardware.org so, the site known as WizardWare AbandonWare came to be. The reviews were short, the screenshots few, it received poor ratings and I was infuriated. I wanted to create a 4 to 5 star site, not a 2 star site I realized that I must do it myself if I will ever become trully dedicated to the site

BoboSama: Diskboy had unleashed Diskworld V4 when I had closed WizardWare. He let me keep the name "EmuGateway" which he thought up for a site that never took off. Through some Streamload message boards I was sent 89 Neo-Geo roms. I was stunned by their quality and the fact that the system was abandoned and so little known. I had contacted NeoPickaze being a big fan of EchoRing and asked him if he could help me out with a layout for EmuGateway, he had previously made a layout for WizardWare V2.0 (back in 01) but I decided not to go through with it. I had learned ASP, modified Neo's template, bought the domain emugateway.com and unleashed the website. By its final days, the site had an impressive 79 games with full reviews and 5 screenshots each along with cheat codes and manuals. It was well approved and beloved by all, receiving 500+ uniques a day I prefered to call it my one success up until that day. But an average Neo-Geo game is about 10mb and with that many visitors I soon couldnt afford the bill, so I was forced to close down the site. I attempted to reopen with only small games but the site lost its popularity because of that and eventually closed again with only 21 titles

BoboSama: I had reviewed 5 or so Neo-Geo games for Diskworld as I was given ownership of version 5.0. I had optimized a few things and updated a bit when I realized the same thing I realized with WizardWare, I did not create this, it doesnt belong to me, I have no connection to it and thus no motivation. For a while I simply sat around doing nothing. I had various people submit WizardWare 2.0 layouts but I wanted to create one myself. Before EmuGateway Gianni and I founded Creative-Eye, we had ripped off the layout from another site and got busted and combined with server troubles we split our different ways. However, Gianni had recommended me Fireworks MX as a program for image editing since that day, I have been using it for all my graphics works. I fired up Fireworks MX on my Mac and in 4 hours of work came up with my own WizardWare 2.0 layout/ I spent several weeks doing the code and bullet proofing it. Finally it was unleashed, but I no longer had the inertia to update after a database failure, so I added all the Neo-Geo games to it from an old database and sold it off to Gianni, thats it if I dont mention EchoRing. 

JaG: Wow, quite a story indeed.  But, now, I would like to know how you got the idea to resurrect EchoRing. Or why you were interested in running an abandonware ring, in general.

BoboSama: Back in the glory days of EmuGateway, Gianni was starting up the Emulation Ring, so I had decided to expand the EmuGateway into an EmuNetwork of sites, so I decided to create a ring known as EmuWare. I intended for it to be original but all of the things I incorporated had been done before. I was bashed by other ring owners as happens often when starting a new ring, we were just starting to pickup with about 7 or 8 members when I had to take down EmuGateway and without the Network, I saw no reason for EmuWare I had only recently opened WizardWare 2.0 to find EchoRing hasn't been updated for once by its new owners - I was simply outraged. I was also thinking about reopening ACRing a few weeks back but I didnt think I could live up to the expectations. The Saint and I got a talking about buying back the ring but we had no reply from the owners, so he had said he has the .co.uk domain and he could lend it to me if I were to create a new EchoRing, jumping at the opportunity, in just under a week I designed and coded the ring. After some initial server trouble we were up and running with more members in the first few days than a lot of other rings which had recently opened. Some people disapproved of the ring, others though there was no point to it while the true echo fans were delighted to see it ressurected, in the end, everyone came around in one way or another and EchoRing has prospered

JaG: Again, it's really quite interesting, all these happenings of yours.  And there isn't really any other specific thing I'd like to ask. So, if there's anything else you want to say, go ahead.

BoboSama: Haha, what a great interviewer you are. Basically, like all people who enter the scene, I wanted to open the next HOTU, to get big and famous, but I didnt know the inner workings and who to trust. Now that I am more mature and better adapted I hope to open up a big site in the future, with a big crew and high quality - so stay tuned.

BoboSama: anymore questions?

JaG: Oh, yeah. That's the other thing I was gonna ask. Any plans for the future?  Well, now that we know that there very well may be, we'll all be waiting to see what happens. Thanks for your time, Bobosama. Hope EchoRing lives on!

October 2003: Bobosama interviews The Saint

Bobosama: The Saint, aka Vinny, how long have you known NeoPickaze and when did you first come up with the idea of starting a ring?

The Saint: I first met NeoPickaze back in early 2001. I was running my site Assassin’s Abandonware (quite a low quality site) and he was running his site Relay Abandonware. We met through someone we both knew an Italian webmaster of a small Abandonware site called Wasp27. He had asked this guy if he knew anyone that would be willing to help him with his sitecand the Wasp27 guy gave him my ICQ number. Then we started talking, and hit it off from there.

In relation to running a ring - there had been two times, initially we were both running our little Abandonware sites, before Anti-TUOL, we had the name of the ring set up, and the design and a few features, to be perfectly honest, looking back it wasn't great and luckily enough, it never hit the ground. Later on we decided to start a ring for real, at the demise of Anti-TUOL. Basically we wanted to give TUOL a run for their money by making a proper ring, and not a propaganda site. The hardest part was thinking up the name for the ring really - we was just throwing random names at each other, then one of us came up with "echo" and we both automatically agreed it had a ring to it.

Bobosama: How successful was the first release and how actively did you participate in the later releases? Which was your favorite?

The Saint: I like to think EchoRing v1 was quite successful, because we had introduced new ideas that hadn't really been done before and putting more effort in. Webmasters saw this and they liked it, so they decided to join. Of course, if me and NeoPickaze just started EchoRing without having any former reputation, it would of been easier, we would of got more joins probably - but because we was known from AT, it had an effect on people. That didn't really bother us, we enjoyed it too much, to care. I'd be lying if I was to say all the flame-wars we had on DFL didn't help us, because they did. And I'd be lying if I said our previous reputations with AT didn't help us, because it did.

I was dedicated to version 1 & 2 a lot more then I was three really. Which was quite a shame because version three I wasn't really all there, because my interest for Abandonware was tiring down - but I was still on the drawing board with Neo, talking about features, trying to push mine through as much as possible, etc. 

My favourite version? It would have to be between Version 1 and 3 - oh and 4. Version 2 I disliked, because everything was through HTML and that was a pain to update everyday. 

Bobosama: What is your opinion on Echo 4.0 and what Bobo is trying to accomplish?

The Saint: Let me tell you something about that con artist, he has ripped EchoRing from us, without asking permission! The bastard! Haha. Seriously - I think it's great what he is doing, and ER v4 is smashing! He is dedicated and vibrant, and it's just what ER needs. I'd much rather have him run it, even if there is another Echo up. He's running it from the original ER domain name and he is doing a fantastic job so far!

Bobosama: There seem to be no screenshots of Echo 1.0 anywhere. Do you have some images of the ring that started it all or would you care to describe its layout for us?

The Saint: Yeah I got a few screenshots laying about somewhere. I'll try and find them for you. But in the meanwhile while I try and find them - EchoRing 1, was nothing special nowadays, but at the time, the design was original - it stood-out because we had a Moon/Golf Ball in the topleft corner and it looked pretty funky. Everything was blue and white just about.

Bobosama: Have you ever considered rejoining the scene? Perhaps starting a major Abandonware site or rejoining EchoRing?

The Saint: To tell you the truth: Not really. I pretty much find the scene a bit of a bore nowadays. I am currently working full-time, so when I get back from there all I wanna do is relax, after the usual back breaking day. So you could pretty much say me and Abandonware are divorced for good now.

October 2003: Bobosama interviews Diskboy

BoboSama: Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Lets start with the basics, when did you enter the scene and who were some of your first contacts?

Diskboy: Hmm... year 2000 I think it was, although it seems longer, so I'm not sure. First people? Hmm... Zbrains, Goth13, Lane, Marrsy people like that

BoboSama: What was your first site? How did you come up with the name?

Diskboy: Urrrrm... my first site, hmm, was 3k Industries *I think*. Name was generated from when I first joined the net - I used to use my surname plus 3000, 3000 = 3k, so I took that from there. I always thought that if I built a gaming site it would be like an industry, with many sections pumping through, so I went with 3k Industries - it was better than being one of the tons of people with the word Abandonware or Games in your site name.

BoboSama: How successful was your entry into the scene?

Diskboy: Depends what you mean by scene. When I first opened my site is was back when there wasn't a difference between Abandonware and Oldwarez, and there where two types of oldgames scenes - the public places and the underground movement. I wad first a part of the underground oldgames scene, member of AWTOP219, etc etc, which wasn't too bad of an entry, the site was getting about 100 uniques a day, was hosted on free servers and didn't even have a proper URL.

Now if we're talking about the public side of things, then it didn't start off very good, I got quite a bad reputation at first, but things slowly started getting better, I made a few wrong moves, which made things tough, but I pulled out and since then everything keeps getting better.

BoboSama: Can you briefly describe some of the more memorable points of your career including the infamous anti-TUOL?

Diskboy: Heh, Anti-TUOL wasn't exactly a memorable point but yeah, I supported that movement because a lot of people was blaming TUOL for not treating members with equal respect, giving bigger sites favouritsm, etc, etc. At first I didn't want anything to do with it, but eventualy I caved in. When I first properly entered the public scene it was via a "problem" at HOTU, so I guess that is a major point, urm, apart from that theres not any other major things to remember.

BoboSama: When did you open Diskworld?

Diskboy: Em... late 2001. Work started in november and the site was released properly in december.

BoboSama: What is your relation to The Saint? When did you first meet NeoPickaze?

Diskboy: The Saint is my cousin, which is why we are always affiliated with things in one way or another. NeoPickaze, hmm I met through The Saint during the Anti-TUOL situation.

BoboSama: What projects did you work on with The Saint? When did you first hear of EchoRing?

Diskboy: Urm, a few which are better forgotten about, as well as his first Abandonware site Assasins-Abandonware I helped him with some stuff there, he's written reviews for Diskworld when I owned it, we've both ran DFL, we've both updated at AR, I've hosted Echoring, his site GodfatherGames etc etc, the list goes on. I first heard about Echo when Anti-TUOL was dying. I remember a lot of arguments between The Saint and Warmonger due to the fact The Saint wanted to start his own ring - one based around quality, where as Warmonger was angry because he had opened a ring not so long before that.

BoboSama: What motivated you throughout the years to keep updating and working?

Diskboy: There was no motivation, only boredom and depression with my real life. Yeah, at first my goal was to have the biggest and best download site - which is a dream I think everyone shares, obviously HOTU are the royal family when it comes to that and you slowly realise you will never have the financial backing to get better than them. I guess after that it was mainly the fact I became obsessed with the internet, started getting more and more hooked into it, and thats what kept me going - what I wouldn't give to go back in time and never buy a first PC.

BoboSama: When did you first meet Bobosama? Any first impressions?

Diskboy: I first remember thinking how much money he had, heh.... He's a good guy, you can rely (spelling?) on him. I first met him I think it was when I was starting Creative-Eye (my hosting site). Originally it was a project between me and TZ, but it didn't work out as TZ was moving away, no internet etc etc, so I went to do it alone. Can't remember how we got in touch now but I remember speaking with Bobosama and we bought a virtual dead server off a guy which turned out to be shit, we went our own ways and just stayed in contact ever since.

BoboSama: What are your thoughts and opinons on EchoRing 4B?

Diskboy: Heh, sorry I was talking to marrsy and mongy started to flood me, at first I didn't like it. The reason was because I'd originally sold the proper echo to a client, and I thought it was wrong to have sold a site then have someone else open up another one, same name etc. So at first I was against it, but now it's slowly getting better in my mind. At least they are caring more about the site than the .com owners are, so it's all good in my books, no beef at this end, even that I still think The Saint was wrong and that it would have been better if you made a new ring completely.

BoboSama: What are your plans for the future?

Diskboy: In life, or Abandonware?

BoboSama: both

Diskboy: To get out. To try and find a way to slowly loose all responsibilities I have with various sites and drift away back into the real world - something which is so much harder to do that it is to say. Every day Creative-Eye gets more involved with the scene, and it should be doing the opposite. I've already let Diskworld go, which was a big step for me as it was my pride and job for 2 years or so. I don't want to take over the world, its better when theres fresh blood coming in and new sites opening, rather than the same guy running them all.

BoboSama: Thank you for agreeing to this interview.

BoboSama: Just one more question

BoboSama: What does "Your cherry on the ice -> Diskboy" mean?

Diskboy: It means I am your god.... nah, heh, it's just Jason playing around with the 4Ham's coding system, so when people type my name that shows up instead

BoboSama: That explains a lot. Any final words?

Diskboy: Yes, I never spam, but it's about time I had a turn - so check out Da Fast Lane - The number 1 community hangout which recently changed urls to www.dafastlane.net

BoboSama: Thanks again, may you be remembered as the Godfather of Abandonware.

October 2003: Bobosama interviews NeoPickaze

Bobosama: What was the first website you ever worked with in the Abandonware scene? Who were some of your earlier contacts in the business?

NeoPickaze: In my lifelong search to reclaim one particular game, my search lead me to a site named 21st Century Oldies with a guy named NetDanzR, I'd been playing around with shockwave and must have impressed my way into a review job, being only 13 years old the reviews I produced were of *cough* sub-standard quality and I'm lucky I got a position there.

The main people I got on with at the start were...

...NetDanzr, Mr. Creosote (who learned me a lot) and someone known as Wasp27 a really cool italian guy - who introduced me to Vinny and bang, we just clicked (not in a gay kind of way - but we just thought alike and had similar ideas).

Bobosama: Who came up with the name Echo?

NeoPickaze: Me and vinny had been throwing names at each other, I decided it would be the best way to throw cool words back and forth, we were hitting names like AcidRing, ViewRing, GravityRing and other real wierd names like that, we decided on one called NightVision Ring for a long time, I made a design (which really did suck) but we never released it (mainly due to lack of decent server space).

NeoPickaze: We were going through a barrage of nouns and Echo simply stuck. …or is Echo a verb?

Bobosama: its both: an echo, to echo 

Bobosama: Which is your favorite version? Why?

NeoPickaze: Hmm, I don't have any particular favorite, from the work I spent on them all the best period was the creation, I was working hard and Vinny was giving me real positive feedback - it all felt awesome - the apprehension before launches. If I had to choose though I was really proud of EchoRing 3 and I'm certain a Christmas day launch date reflected that (or maybe I'm just sad). It's just a shame....

NeoPickaze: ...in my oppinion that we were avoided, I believe we were under-appreciated, all the webmasters had to do was submit their site - simple.

Bobosama: So what did happen in the later months of Echo 3.0?

NeoPickaze: Hmm, My memory is really bad - but as I remember we started missing updates and me and Vinny were losing communications, on top of that nothing was changing, no new sites etc and I'm a dynamic person, I don't like staying in the same place too long I like fresh challenges but after a while we lost our motivation.

It would be very very accurate to say the best part of running a ring is getting...

...feedback from a wonderfully positive co-webmaster who knows how to motivate you, once the ring opened we seemed to lose that again and eventually we both decided it should close - for good.

Bobosama: What are your feelings towards what Bobosama is trying to accomplish?

NeoPickaze: If I'm honest at first I was a little unsure about EchoRing being involved, I couldn't understand why someone would want to re-open a dead ring than open a new one - especially one with such a bad reputation as ours did (or was me and Vinny had) But I'm quite pleased with the direction he's taken the ring, it's not too different, but it's just different enough and it takes it a step closer to...our most popular v1 / v2 styles - but i'll warn him it's tough to feel appreciated in a scene   without a figurehead anymore, or a huge resource site to handle everything and make sure people doing good get praise and people doing bad get scolded... I'm sure if LuN had still been around EchoRing 3 would have continued as long as he dished out the Kudos

Bobosama: Aside from the ring, have you run any Abandonware sites and what are your plans for your future in the scene?

NeoPickaze: !AirWare, Relay, RelaySound, Relay3000 and 3000*Linkpage were my other abandonware sites, I left the scene a while back though, and I do occasionally look back - I might return in the future with something else, but I'll probably not come back using this nick - it's a bad representation for me now, I've changed a lot - keep your eyes out.

Bobosama: Are you still close with Vinny The Saint? Any chance you may work with him on something in the future?

NeoPickaze: We don't talk as much as we used to, I'm sure we're good friends but we've grown into different people and our interests are beggining to spread. I'm always a little busy when I'm on my computer now, especially with the weight of my education hanging over me. There is every chance I may work with him, but I may work with someone else - or I might never do anything again...

NeoPickaze: ... Realistically though, I'd love to work with him again, but not in abandonware, we've enjoyed our Punch & Judy days and perhaps it would be interesting to try to tackle somewhere else

Bobosama: Do you have any tips for the new generation of EchoRing webmasters?

NeoPickaze: Know what you are doing is helping people, we never had anything to gain from EchoRing when we were doing it - but we really did go over the top looking for praise, all we wanted to see was EchoRing is awsome everywhere -but we didn't and it disheartened us, stick with it even if the praise doesn't come straight away, I'm sure if someone can stick it out through the rough times they'll get their...rewards at the end.

Bobosama: Thank you for the words of wisdom.

Bobosama: May your name live in infamy and may you join the Abandonware GODS.

Bobosama: Echo won't be the same without you, but I will do my best.

October 2003: Bobosama interviews Muad'dib

BoboSama: How did you first discover Abandonware?

Muad'dib: Somewhere in 1999, I found an article about Abandonware in a gaming magazine. There were some links in it to sites such as Home of the Underdogs and The Official Abandonware Ring. I didn't have internet back then, but my girlfriend had : ). I still remember that I used to take dosens of floppy disks when I went to her, so I could download all kinds of cool classic games.

BoboSama: When did you first become active in the "scene"? (Started posting on the forums, talking to other people, participating in sites?)

Muad'dib: I think it started somewhere in May, I can't really remember. When I first started with AbandonStuff (in March), I didn't realise how big the scene actually was, and I was really shy, since my site really sucked. But the first contact must have been the Diskworld forum. After a while I had Shenmoo in my list, then 3k (I played aoe with them) and then I met more and more people

BoboSama: Ah, I remember playing AOE with you

BoboSama: that brought many of us together back in the day

Muad'dib: yeah

BoboSama: that was actually a sort of reincarnation, because we used to play in 2001 all the time and then stopped totally and then resumed 2 years later

Muad'dib: oh, didn't know that

BoboSama: On to the next question, What motivated you to start your own site and how did you come about it?

Muad'dib: I loved abandonware sites. I just loved the old games, the reviews, the box-covers...everything. I really wanted my own abandonware site, I was already making simple sites before I had internet, hoping I could put them online some day. Abandonware just reminded me to the great times when I played Dune 2, Quest for Glory 3, King's Quest 5, and I wanted to give other people the same feeling with my own site

BoboSama: Now many versions of AbandonStuff have there been? Has anyone helped you thus far?

Muad'dib: I'm now working on the 6th version, and Grades is helping me with the php and mysql stuff. The previous versions have all been made by myself, using and changing some cool scripts I found at hotscripts.com. But the designs were all by me

BoboSama: How did you come about to become an updater at EchoRing?

Muad'dib: I thought rings were really cool, I was even thinking to make my own ring in the beginning but luckily I was smart enough not to do that. But still, updating a ring was something I really wanted to do, and I was always hoping that someday I would have the chance to do that, and you gave me that chance.

Muad'dib: And I'm still gratefull for that : )

BoboSama: So what are your plans for the future?

Muad'dib: AbadonStuff 6 of course! After much hard work it's almost ready, and I'm hoping to be in the scene with AbandonStuff for much more years.

Muad'dib: I'm even hoping that some day I'll have the money to buy my own server

Muad'dib: Learning PHP and MySQL also is something I want to do in the future, I already know a little of it, but not enough.

BoboSama: Sounds like a plan then. Thank you for your time, I look forward to seeing AbandonStuff 6.0.

August 2003: Bobosama interviews Lodiak

BoboSama: First of, everyone wants to know, where have you been for the past 6 months?

Lodiak: I have been playing with my band, been with my mates and spent time with my girlfriend and so on...nothing special actually.

BoboSama: How did you manage to stay offline for such a long period of time? Many have attempted this great feat and failed after a few days?

Lodiak: The answer is simple, if you don't have a working computer, you can't connect Internet neither

BoboSama: Theres always those damned cyber cafes though .

Lodiak: Yup, I had to use one to check my e-mail and such.

BoboSama: What was the first Abandonware site that you participated in?

Lodiak: It was my very first site, Adventurer's Guild.

BoboSama: How did that work out?

Lodiak: It was a sucky little site which I had to close because of personal reasons after two months or so.

BoboSama: How did LoG come about?

Lodiak: Umm...After some months when  I closed Adventurer's Guild, I opened L.O.G. It was quite a poor site first but it grew up after some time and in the end it was pretty good quality site which I had to close because lack of time.

BoboSama: How did you first find out about Abandonware? Who are some of your closer contacts?

Lodiak: The usual reason, I was looking for old games. I think the first site was The Abandon Keep. I don't think I have any closer contacts at all.

BoboSama: How did you get involved at EchoRing?

Lodiak: NeoPickaze was looking for help in updating Echo Ring and I agreed to join the crew.

BoboSama: Can you describe your stay there?

Lodiak: Well, first it was an update now and then...two times a week or something. Then I soon found myself updating the whole site alone because the other crewies didn't have time or they didn't have a working net connection or something...then I left the crew just before Echoring version 3, because lack of time.

BoboSama: Are you aware that there is an EchoRing 4?

Lodiak: Yup, I know the current version is 4.

BoboSama: So what do you think of Bobosama's efforts and how the crew is holding up?

Lodiak: I haven't taken a deep look into the site and the actions of crew. I can't really say anything at this point.

BoboSama: Ok, just a few more questions. How did you first meet Bobosama? What are your impressions?

Lodiak: Umm...I think it was then when Bobosama was running the site called Wizard Ware for the first time. I don't exactly remember how we met but anyway...the impressions are something about a tech-expert who has plenty of time and skill to do abandonware stuff (still).

BoboSama: Thank you for agreeing to this interview.

July 2003: Bobosama interviews Iceman

Bobosama: When did you first enter the scene? What was your first site?

Iceman: Well, I found Abandonware in late 1999 when I was searching for Aces over the Europe. I tried to find it through AltaVista, but I only found lots of useless crap sites through that. Then there was one site which had a word "OldWarez" in its title. 

Iceman: The site was down but then I searched for "oldwarez" and found lots of old games that I had lost. Finally I ended up to an abandonware site where I found Aces over the Europe. 

Bobosama: When did you first meet Miles? How did you come up with the idea of starting a ring?  

Iceman: A year after my friend asked me at school that he was interested in opening a site and ask me to join crew. However, he didn't know what content he would put up and I told him about Abandonware. So then we started The Thing, it was late 2000. And The Thing joined first Abandonware rings on January 2001. I met Miles at #pcoldies However, I started at #pcoldies with idling. When I finally started talking there I met Miles We were planning an emulation site with Anti those days and I ended up to a channel called #syntaxerror and Miles was also there 

Bobosama: When did you decide you wanted to start a ring? 

Iceman: DOO was originally Miles' idea, he was planning to start a ring, I think it was on May 2002 Anyway, he asked me to join the crew 

Bobosama: DOO excluded, what would you say is your favorite ring and why? 

Iceman: I have two favorite rings at the moment: TUOL and Abandoned Places. TUOL because it's stable and has regular updates. AP because of the quality sites it provides, good news posts and daily updates 

Bobosama: How did you end up getting a job at DFL? 

Iceman: Diskboy was tired of abandonware and was looking for people who wanted to run DFL (and Diskworld as well). I replied to him that I could keep up TGARL and Elite Links (I was too busy to write news at that time). However, I have now written news on the DFL as well. 

Bobosama: What are your plans for the future? 

Iceman: I'll keep updating DOO, TT and DFL until I'm off to army on January 2004. So for DOO I need more crew members to update when I'm off 

Bobosama: So we won't be seeing any more Iceman in 6 months? 

Iceman: Nope, I'm not going to disappear. The army lasts a year but there are "holidays" when you get home and I can update DOO and TT, and post to DFL then

Bobosama: Thank you for your time. The scene will miss you. 

Iceman: Thanks for interviewer

July 2003: Bobosama interviews Hanging

Bobosama: Hi, thank you for agreeing to this interview. First off, how did you come up with the nick hanGing?

hanGing: Right, get comfortable. when I first came into the scene I was known as jaznatas (jaz for short) - but I wasn’t really "known" - so I decided to search for a new nickname... The full nickname is hangingfromashotglass - a reference to alcoholism. I just shorten it for ease of use. Where I got it from - a song I wrote when I was 15 and drinking (im now sXe)

Bobosama: Interesting... what was the first website you ever participated in at the "scene"?

hanGing: first website I participated on was the reservatory for endangered games as a reviewer - before that I just lurked at the abandonware pub (when TUOL was nearly good)

Bobosama: What are your current projects and plans for the future?

hanGing: current projects - Well I now solely run AbandonRom Paradise and for the moment the emulation ring. I also act as an admin/owner at DaFastLane, and Admin at Tagalaxy. Outside Abandonware/Emulation... I contribute at www.evilpixie.co.uk and will soon be running a site for my band. Any other projects - well I'm always looking for things to do. (few things in works) - but as a web designer im a retard.

Bobosama: What year did you enter the scene and what are some of your favorite sites, rings and webmasters?

hanGing: ooh i think I entered the scene in 99... not quite sure. My fave site has always been HOTU; I loved the reservatory, as well as Turnips vegigarden (my entry to the scene in some ways) Ring - wise, I have to say The Emulation Ring don’t I And Echo ring and Aplaces as well As for webbies, erm I seem to get on best with Asher (aka Lunatic), Diskboy and Voh - but I have met a load of cool people in the scene... oh Iceman deserves a mention as well

Bobosama: Ah, yes, Asher, I remember helping him with LOG before he went off to Israel.

hanGing: we host it... well tagalaxy did i think... not sure... no thinking of Legendaarista

Bobosama: How would you describe the current state of Abandonware?

hanGing: Im not sure, I could describe it as "quiet" - nothing new happens. To be honest at the moment I concentrate more on the emulation side of things. The good thing about Abandonware is that new people are coming forward with a passion that’s needed to keep the scene going. I look forward to the day that I can be treated as a veteran (which in a way i am already)

Bobosama: What are your opinions on Echo 4.0 and Bobosama?

hanGing: I like echo 4.0 - very nice ring (as you can tell by the speed i joined it), as for Bobosama, I think that you're fishing for compliments.

Bobosama: Well thank you for your time. Big things are on the horizon from Bobosama in the future, keep your eyes peeled.

hanGing: I always keep an eye - especially to people that could be as good as me!

July 2003: Bobosama Interviews Bunnzy

Bobosama says: Thank you for agreeing to this interview. When did you first become involved with Abandonware? What was your first site?

Bunnzy says: I first became involved around.. 97 or 98... I was a lurker, looking for old games. I was too scared to talk to people online :-) My first site was BA [Bunnzy Abandonware], which started in 2000.

Bobosama says: When did you release version 2.0 of BA? Could you describe the original for us?

Bunnzy says: Version 2 was… mid 2001. It was first black and orange :-)

Bobosama says: Who were some of your first contacts in "the scene"? Which sites, webmasters and rings are you most fond of?

Bunnzy says: Fond of... aww. My first contact was sheppy. The people I am most of fond of are the people from #abandongames infinity-irc. But im pretty good friends with nearly everyone :-)

Bobosama says: BA aside, are there any sites or rings which have a special meaning to you?

Bunnzy says: Well, being over on AP is cool! And there are a few places that I have fond memories of that I wish were like they used to be. I guess I don’t have as much to do with abandonware forums or anything like I used to. Things in the http abandonware scene aren't like they used to be. In some ways they are better, in other ways they are not.

Bobosama says: I know what you mean :-)
What are your plans for the future?

Bunnzy says: For me or for my site?

Bobosama says: Both

Bunnzy says: BA will continue to live on. I don’t add many games, because im restricted, I would love to expand, but we just don’t have the facilities. I also like to keep it controllable, and gord and the small group of people that help me out are my angels. We'll keep it going. It’s what i know and love - abandonware. Myself, well... My mum has had her cancer cleared, so I can once again plan ahead for what I wanna do. I'm moving overseas in 6 months

Bobosama says: To where?

Bunnzy says: I have an on year around the world ticket, I can go wherever i want

Bobosama says: Stop by New York :-)

Bunnzy says: for sure. you can buy me a coffee :-)

Bobosama says: Haha, will do Bobosama says: Is there any title which means something to you? Such as your first game, etc.

Bunnzy says: I can’t remember my first game, but when I think of old games I think of Race! A game by Carl Erikson.. the game that i used to play with my cousins. Collecting spanners n stuff, crashing and burning. Those were the awesomest times of my life

Bobosama says: :-)
Bobosama says: On a closing note, what are your thoughts on EchoRing 4 and Bobosama's quest to revive it?

Bunnzy says: Stick with it. The abandonware scene needs growth. Things are never easy, but we all get there. and good for you :-)

Bobosama says: Thank you for the kind words. Good luck with Bunnzy Abandonware 3.0. See you in 6 months :-)

Bobosama

I first learned about Bobosama through his websites EmuGateway and WizardWare, which revolved around Abandonware Emulation games and Anime. Very nicely designed and user friendly websites. He then immersed himself into the abandonware community and was a likeable character. With ambitious momentum he also started EmuWare, which had been an Abandonware/Emulation ring. My interest with abandonware had been phasing out and I had less and less to do with it at this point (2003/2004) and NeoPickaze and myself called it a day with our abandonware ring 'EchoRing' and the .com had been sold off (more on this scandal in the future) against my wishes, however I had retained the .co.uk for keep sake.

Starting an abandonware ring (or any website) from scratch was not (and is not) easy if you are not used to endless days of websites not updating, no new sites joining - it can all seem a bit pointless after a while, if you are doing it for external interaction. I believe he felt like that with EmuWare and had eventually closed that project. He then reached out to me and told me he had been a fan of EchoRing when he was a member of it and wanted to revive it. I appreciated that there had been someone that was a fan of the ring and didn't want it's legacy to end the way it had done (dormant and sold off - more on this scandal in the future) so I threw my support fully behind him and offered any behind the scene help I could do. He breathed new life into Echoring, had a decent sized crew, added features that NeoPickaze and I had not thought of and was able to attract members to the ring we had been unable to do so ourselves. After 18 months or so, the natural evolution happended and EchoRing closed with his farewell message. I understand he had stayed in the scene for a while, concentrating on his website EmuGateway.

Quite a few years afterwards I learned from Diskboy that he had sadly passed away. This left me quite shocked. For me, Bobosama epitomised - new blood, change, progress and ambition. I feel very fortunate that I had became friends with him and felt honoured that he had been a fan of a website I had something to do with and helped revive it.

At the time he was in charge of Echoring, he published a series of interviews with people in the Abandonware community of that era - which I retained and feel it would be fitting to publish them here, once again.

Rest in Peace Boris - thank you for your everything.

January 2002 - Gravedigger

Gravedigger owned DOS Graveyard (download website) and Backlane (webring) Once the abandonware community decided to cleanse itself of Oldwarez and follow a 'pure' path this had ignited a rift with the 'for vs against' camps. He was famed for his various disputes in the scene and speaking his mind. He held resentment towards the three biggest rings (AR, ROA and & TUOL) and started Backlane which would become the biggest ring in the abandonware/oldwarez scene. Gravedigger was a generation before me, so I didn't have any dealings with him - however became interested in how had reveled in controversary and whereas myself and others would seek redemption for our misgivings from the scene, he would take a "So? deal with it!" approach to his critics.

The Saint: Hi Gravedigger, you have been gone for practically ages from the Abandonware scene! DOS Graveyard and Backlane departed at the same time you left too, what have you been doing since you've left?

Gravedigger: Actually, I was fedup of few labotomized kids lurking in this scene including Underdogs, Elwood. Plus, This scene is completly infringing the copyright law of digital media or whatever they call this. HOTU is the biggest site to indulge in these illegal activities.

The Saint: Now as some might think, your grudge with TUOL and co - finished when you left the scene, is this true? Do you still have some bad feelings towards anyone from yesteryear?

Gravedigger: Yes, all water under the bridge. But it was no war. I only tried to show them the reality and they were never ready to except the reality or maybe the reality was too cruel for them to even stand it so they reacted as kids and cursed me for showing them the reality Well, I sometme feel pity of them. :))

The Saint: Do you plan on returning? I read on TGARL that you said "Backlane was the best ring and will be when it returns" when can we expect a return?

Gravedigger: I am returning very soon but only with DOS Graveyard. backlane will also return but not as a ring, more as a search engine for all kind of sites.

The Saint: I understand you have been watching from the sidelines - what is your opinion on the current state of the Abandonware scene?

Gravedigger: ABANDONWARE SUX. Let me rephrase - Its actually the people like J-Who, Marssy etc that SUX and due to them the scene sux.

The Saint: When you was fully active within the scene, was there anything/anyone that really got on your nerves, if so - who and why?

Gravedigger: Haha, intersting question. I wish you could browse the ring created by Lithium. hahaha
http://www.drizzlers.f2s.com/pissed.htm

The Saint: If you could sum up in one word to describe Backlane when it was alive, what would it be?

Gravedigger: RULED, that is the right ONE word

The Saint: What are your views on TUOL and AR at the momment?

Gravedigger: The whole damn war started due to backlane, they were completely jealous of my ring LOL. Tuol and AR almost the same as they were before, cruel, unjust, selfish, cunning, stupid, can you add some more words here please. LOL

The Saint: At the momment, how active are you and do you talk to many people from the Abandonware scene still?

Gravedigger: Yes, I do sometime visit the Pub, irc channels related to the scene and chat for fun with old dudes like Haba, Nemisis etc.

The Saint: Did you ever hear of someone called 'Warmonger'? he ran a Oldwarez ring called 'TOAR', a lot of people said there are similarities between yourselves and he is a regeneration of you?

Gravedigger: Yes I know this asshole. He is not even shit of me, he is too stupid to fight Tuol members because he was not arguing on solid ground.

The Saint: When you return to the scene, will it be with a 'bang' or will it be peaceful?

Gravedigger: No I will try to sneak in the scene without even joining any ring or advertiseing in the scene. DOS Graveyard is not coming back as an abandonware site or totally archive.

The Saint: What website/person would you like to see return to the scene?

Gravedigger: I love to see Nemisis Abadonware again. that was the site I leeched many games. LOL

The Saint: If you had a messeage for someone in the Abandonware scene, who would it be and what would you say?

Gravedigger: Yes, I wanna curse PsOmA in public, Do NOT trust that person.

The Saint: Apart from AR & TUOL, have you noticed any of the other rings? If so which ones and what are you opinions on them?

Gravedigger: Hmm.. Well all other rings are better than these two, I would say. Atleast they care for the members

January 2002 - Tee

Tee owned a website called Da Fast Lane (DFL for short) which was co-owned with his real life friend Shaka. It originally started as a download website that had been themed on his favourite game; Jones in the Fast Lane. I personally had not been aware of Tee until he converted DFL into a community website, which incorporated news articles ('Da News') which allowed the community to write and publish articles (prior approval by a DFL team member required - however, a majority of articles would be published) that gave the user the ability to comment too. The Giant Abanadonware Ring List (TGARL) which would showcase and archive all the Abandonware Rings of past and present. There had also been plans to open up 'Da Games' which would be a download section and 'Da Ring' which would be an abandonware ring. It had became apparent quite fast, that as the 'community' would be split into 'cliques' that 'Da News' would serve as the centre stage for discussions (also spats) to take place and have a wide array of input. In my opinion, this had been and would become the most succesful of any community websites that the Abandonware scene had encountered.

The Saint: Hi Tee, since relaunching DFL into a resource site instead of the download site it used to be, how have things been going? Have you had any issues so far? In your opinion has it been harder running, opposed to just as a download site?

Tee: I always wanted to create a resource site, and Da News is working great as a news service... our problems has always revolved around servers... The old university server was good, but denied me in getting ftp-access - so I had to send stuff to shaka, then he had to upload. Real time-consuming and not to mention boring method. That's why TGARL had long runs without updates. After we moved to Diskboy's server, I got ftp-access (wee) but some IE6 users had problems with the site because of the servers incompatability, and the server was also quite slow. Now Diskboy is deleting his hosting account, so we have to move servers again :( We moved all the stuff back to the uni-server, but it's not working properly... don't be suprised if DFL is down for a while in the time to come... Our code and design has worked great, so we actually managed quite fine. It's just as easy running the news site as the download site, as long as the system is created. But the creation process is a long and hard one, shaka worked several weeks to create the download system, and a long time on the news site too... but as I said, after it's created it's a walk in the park. The problem with the game site is that it takes a long time to write reviews and find screenshots for all the games, so I guess it's easier now when we dropped it. We plan to launch the game site again, but then we're going to hire crew that can run that section. After Jason, Diskboy and NeoPickaze joined the crew as newswriters, I've gotten more time for TGARL... thank god..

The Saint: Do you have any further plans for TGARL? When will we see 'Da Games' section and 'Da Ring' added?

Tee: Hmm.. I'm not actually sure about TGARL... I think I'll add some more features to it later, but ATM I don't have any certain plans of sudden changes. Da Games and Da Ring, the question already asked 1000 times unfortunately still can't be answered yet :( What I can tell you though is that Da Ring isn't even under construction, so Da Games will definately be released first! The problem is lack of time from shaka's side, he has to focus on his University education - something I have total respect for and don't want to rush him too much! Afterall, real life comes first!

The Saint: What would you say your goals for Da Fast Lane are?

Tee: Our goals...
- To release Da Ring and Da Games
- To help visitors in an informative matter
- To serve kickass godlike aw-news
- To get lots of awards :P
- To get a visitor or two ;)
- To keep ruling Da Lane & live 4ever...


The Saint: If there's something about DFL you could change what would it be and why?

Tee: I would change our server into a permanent stabil compatible working one... I would also get rid of namezero and buy a real domain... A moron detector could also be installed, keeping all the weirdo posters out of the site... I guess some people are just born stupid ;)

The Saint: What are your views on the current state of the scene? Is there anything/anyone that's really getting on your nerves?

Tee: The state of the scene is the same as always. I'm not saying that it's negative, becuase that's the scene I love. Sure there are bad elements, as it is in every scene, but the good elements are truly good - and makes up for it all. About people getting on my nerves, sure.... but I'm not going to go deeper into that subject now, next question please ;)

The Saint: If you could sum up in just only one word to describe DFL, what would it be?

Tee: l337 ;)

The Saint: If you could sum up in just one word to describe the state of the Abandonware scene, what would it be?

Tee: wicked ;)

The Saint: What are your views on other community websites, such as TAG and ToT? And what is your relationship like with those webmasters?

Tee: ToT is a nice site, but I still feel that they need to post some descent articles. Since their reopening, I haven't seen a truly good article yet... the "Welcome to the circus" had some interesting points, but was way to bias, and wasn't objective at all. But if that's the way they want to run their site be my guest, just don't ask me to have any part of it. I used to comment there, but in the latest time their subject has been so damn dull, that I didn't even care. I don't really have a relationship with the ToT webmasters at all. I'm sure they're all nice people, when not throwing dirt around ;)
TAG is a really really really good idea, carried out in a terrible way. Don't get me wrong, I like TAG - but they've started on a task that they can never complete. Their reviews is usually very well written, and of great detail - but unfortunately due to the great amount of reviews horribly outdated. Just read the review they did on DFL. Truly amusing I tell you, though sad for TAG. I've had some nice chats with LuNaTiC, a nice guy... but I do sometimes feel that he opens his mouth too much. He has a way of thinking that he's God's gift to the scene, something that has been proven wrong time after time after time... I don't know the other webmasters, though I've chatted with Bunny which is very nice!

The Saint: Your time spent in the scene as up to yet, if there is something/someone you would like to see return to the scene, that has departed?

Tee: Hmm... I truly miss PsOmA - the first guy to ever really support TGARL when in it's early stages - and his kickass ring Ring of Ages. I also miss The Keep, which I thought was as high quality as HOTU. Another thing I miss is the time when I was an aw-downloader, I don't download much abandonware anymore... I eventually got bored, but I miss the old search for those golden oldies.

The Saint: Now you have more staff, how often can we expect TGARL and Da News to be updated?

Tee: TGARL is going to be updated whenever something new happens to the rings.... Da News should at least have a few articles a week....

January 2002 - LuNaTiC

LuNaTiC/LuN then afterwards known by his own name of Asher had started out with his download website AbandonRom Paradise. The likes of Dafastlane (DFL) started to gain popularity (and notoriety for the disputes in 'Da News' section) in the scene; LuNaTiC started his own community website called The Abandoned Galaxy (TAG) the aim had been to deliver a one-stop shop for the community and it had produced the initial Abandonware Awards and editorials which where opinions on the community and also had guest editors. This would serve as a rival to DFL, however from memory it had not been as interactive (the ability to leave comments) LuNaTiC had immersed himself into the community and had become a beacon of information as he knew all walks from the scene, which helped to serve him well for the popularity of TAG.

The Saint Hi LuNaTiC since the opening of The Abandoned Galaxy, quite a few things have happended over there - such as the awards and the whole Anon editorial situation a while back, can we see anything else that might be as talked about as those two things in the near future of TAG?

LuNaTiC Well, i guess we'll just have to wait and see ;) Basically, i dont go looking for controversy (which some have claimed) but i wont hide away from something if needs be. So if something in the future annoys me enough, sure, ill write up an editorial on it, but if not, things could just stay peaceful :)

The Saint What are your goals for The Abandoned Galaxy?

LuNaTiC When i first started, i wanted to use things like The Abandonware Awards to help unify the scene a little. Since then, my goals have changed slightly. Now im more interested in providing the best possible resource to webmasters & abandonware enthusiasts that i possibly can. With the site reviews, game reviews, everything else and several upcoming features, i hope to provide all that any abandonware person could ever need, except the downloads of course.

The Saint If there's something about TAG you could change, what would it be and why?

LuNaTiC Hmm...thats not an easy one. I'm quite happy with the site right now, and the way its heading. If i could change anything it would be the download site reviews, which have taken longer than expected to do, but we are getting on to those now, so its not such a big issue. Other than that, i cant really think of anything i would change.

The Saint The Abandoned Galaxy awards, a few people are saying these awards where 'Fixed' what is your view on this?

LuNaTiC Well, i know they werent, so it doesnt really bother me a whole lot, to be honest. Anyone who wants to accuse me of fixing the awards is free to, but they will be doing it without any basis whatsoever for their accusations. Besides which, The Awards are just a bit of fun, and fixing them wouldnt really serve a purpose anyway. On another note, many of the sites i wanted to win didnt. Surely if id fixed them i would have changed this?

The Saint What are your views on the current state of the scene? Is there anything/anyone that's really getting on your nerves?

LuNaTiC The community (i dont like the word scene) as a whole is going quite well. Abandonware is just as large and more well known than ever before. However, many people know my views on certain sites and people, and i dont feel that they have the community's best interests at heart. But then again, they probably feel that they do, so i cant forsee that going anywhere. Overall, i feel the community is growing, and will continue to grow, however certain influences are slowing down that growth.

The Saint If you could sum up in just one word to describe TAG, what would it be?

LuNaTiC Alive

The Saint If you could sum up in just one word to describe the state of the Abandonware scene, what would it be?

LuNaTiC Expanding

The Saint What are your views on other the community sites, such as DFL and ToT?

LuNaTiC As an idea, they are great. In practice, they seem to flow up and down like the tide. In general, ToT has improved a lot since its relaunch, although it still seems to be seeking controversy from time to time. Overall though, i think its quite a valuable resource to the community. DFL is an interesting case. It showed a lot of promise when it first launched, but since then has failed to deliver. TGARL has always had problems with out of date and/or just plain incorrect information, although that has improved of late. Da News has not impressed me at all in its short life. Its news stories seem to really lack anything interesting or out of the ordinary generally, although they do have the occassional good topic.

The Saint Your time spent in the scene as up to yet, if there is something/someone you would like to see return to the scene, that has been long gone, what/who would it be, and why?

LuNaTiC I would love to see a return from blargy & his site TACT, as ive always had huge respect for him, and TACT in its day helped me a lot with the download site i was running at the time. But there are plenty of others that would be valuable if they returned to the scene, like Turnip, HaZZeL or Hawk (who still idles on IRC, but has more or less abandoned the web scene)

The Saint What are your predications for the Abandonware scene of 2002, is it going to be a quite boring one or do you think this year will somehow be better than 2001?

LuNaTiC Well, in 2002 i can see some significant changes, but overall i think the community will remain fairly static. I think a few big names are likely to leave, and we will probably see the return of one or two people. Other than that though, i think it'll be business as usual.

The Saint Just as a question that I've been wanting to ask about TAG, how often do you publish editorials? And when will the next Abandonware awards be out?

LuNaTiC We publish editorials as often as they are written essentially. Usually it works out at about 1 a fortnight, but there isnt anything concrete. Note that the editorials space is open to the public, so if anyone feels like writing one, we'll be happy to put it up unedited as long as its not mindless bullshit. The next abandonware awards will be around the same time next year, although i am thinking of putting them on in december only, not running into january, as ill be away again same time next year.

January 2002 - TZ

TZ ran a webring called ACRing which he inherited after offering his services as Updater to the original owner Nick. Once TZ took to the helm of ACRing (after Nick decided to call it a day) he revamped the ring and gave it a new lease of life - by way of professional designs (there had been a design cold-war between TZ and NeoPickaze at the time) and reviews for member sites. TZ kept out of the 'community' forums and chats, which seemed to be the only reason it didn't reach the heights that it had the potential to reach - marketing and PR played a big part in boosting the popularity of Rings / Community websites and TZ did not feel the need to get involved. His only critque could be that he changed the designs far too often and you felt like you were visiting a different website each time (however, with his design skills - who could blame him?) a thoroughly nice chap who liked just getting on with his own project. We had discussed merging ACRing and EchoRing together at one point, but for some reason or another it never went ahead.

The Saint: Hi there TZ, since you have taken over ACRing - you have been steering the website into a great direction. How has it been running ACRing? Did you actually expect this kind of experience from running a webring? Would you say it's been very diffrent from running your old website?

(TZ) Well, running ACRing for the past 4 months has been difficult at times when there are no joins and little updates for large periods of time, but thats what comes with running a small web ring like ACRing. Yeah, i expected it, when Nick handed the site over, he told me it wasn't going too well, only 13 sites at the time with 10 of them dead, so i was expecting alot of trouble at first. It's quite different, mainly because i have to update every single day unlike with my abandonware site where i only had to update whenever i felt like it. I am running ACRing very differently to Abandoned Classics, things like the design have to be much more professional.

The Saint: The scene consists of a lot of webrings, currently there are 10 - including the 3 oldwarez rings. If I were a webmaster and I was seeking to join a ring and I asked you 'Why should I join Acring, whats so unique about this ring compared to all the others?' what would be your reply?

(TZ) Well unlike the 2 biggest rings, ACRing reviews all sites in depth and alot of detail without giving preferential treatment to large popular sites. We also offer the games list for all members which list all games on your site and would easily increase a members hit count. We also sometimes offer services like helping out webmasters with site problems which we have done quite a few times in the past.

The Saint: Is there anything you are unhappy about, with it?

(TZ) Yeah, quite alot of things, i would have really liked to do a Flash version of the site, flash is alot of fun but is very time consuming sometimes and noone but me thought it was a good idea. I would also like to do the site in PHP, it would make things faster, easier to update, the games list would be alot better being searchable and everything. I am unable to do it in PHP just yet because i dont have a reliable host to host it on for a few months.

The Saint: What are your goals for ACRing, what do you hope to accomplish with this webring?

(TZ) To become the biggest and most respected ring, i am almost on my way there, currently there is only 1 critic against ACRing. I'd like to have the most members, the most hits etc...

The Saint: How long are you hoping to be running Acring? Has it ever crossed your mind, that you should recruit a crew to help you out with your projects?

(TZ) I'm hoping to be running it as long as i have the time and as long as i am interested. It has crossed my mind, but the problem is that i'm too bossy, too controlling, and i like things to be done my way, i didn;t like the way nick was running ACRing, thats one of the reasons i took over!

The Saint:​ What are your views on the current state of the scene? Is there anything that's really getting on your nerves?

(TZ) Well there is quite alot of bitchiness in the scene, and quite alot of favouritism given to bigger more popular sites from the big rings which i dont like very much. One thing thats getting on my nerves is webmasters from larger sites and big rings pushing the little lesser known webbies like me around.

The Saint: If you could sum up in just one word to describe ACRing, what would it be?

(TZ) Spanktacular

The Saint: If you could sum up in just one word to describe the state of the Abandonware scene, what would it be?

(TZ) Screwy

The Saint: Would you say that are any webrings which have gave Acring inspiration?

(TZ) TUOL gave me some inspiration, not alot though, very little actually, No others because before acring, no rings had reviews + screenshots at all. I did get some ideas for parts of ACRing from other sites though

The Saint: And finally, will you be sticking with the design you have currently, for a while?

(TZ) hehe yeah, i dont think i'll be changing it, its fine the way it is, it could do with a bit of improving, a bit more customisation for each section. Noone really has complained about this design, and ppl always complain that i change it too much so i'm not changing it.

January 2002 - J-Who

J-Who owned the biggest Abandonware search-engine at the time: AbandonGames (AG) one of, if not the biggest forums (AbandonGames Forum) and the biggest Abandonware toplist: Best of Old Games (BOGS) it felt like he owned and formed his own corner of the Abandonware Scene. There has been an incident where moderators in the forum rebelled against J-Who (cannot recall exactly what) and it's briefly touched upon.

The Saint: Hi J-who, since the redesign of AbandonGames and the proposed redesign of BOGS, how have things been keeping up?
J-who: It hasn't been keeping up as much as I wanted it to be. Since I started going back to school, and I'm working full time, I have little to no motivation to get anything done.

The Saint: AbandonGames is a great search engine, is there anything you would change about it?
J-who: The lack of Content. Sure it may have tones of games, but hardly any of them have reviews or screenshots.

The Saint:Have you ever contemplated the fact you should recruit a team to help out at AG, surely with just two of you working at AG, things can seem a little hard with all the links that need to be added?
J-who:I have asked a few people to help, but most are too busy with their own projects, and real life. I don't trust a whole lot of people online either. I would rather be the only staff member, if something does go wrong, I know why/how it went wrong. Look at the forum, with so many admins, things are getting changed all the time, but I won't notice for awhile

The Saint:What are your current feelings towards the whole AG forum situation that went happended just a few days ago?
J-who:Mostly disapponinted in Jante. I don't understand why he would do something like this. A couple of days ago he was asking me to help out with AR by creating a script for them. This is another reason why I don't trust people online, they'll pretend to be your friend till they have what they want, then who cares about you.

The Saint: What are your goals for AG, what do you hope to accomplish with this search engine?
J-who:At first, I wanted to create the MobyGames of abandonware. I would still like to have that happen, but I have lost a fair amount of interest in doing anything online related. It seems to be more of a programming experence for me, if it wasn't for AG, I would never have learned PHP/MYsql

The Saint:What are your views on the current state of the scene? Is there anything that's really getting on your nerves?
J-who:Not too much, but then again I haven't really been paying much attention to the scene. The only thing that really gets to me is that IDSA, but I won't go there

The Saint: If you could sum up in just one word to describe AG, what would it be?
J-who:AG is to big to be described with one word :)

The Saint:If you could sum up in just one word to describe the state of the Abandonware scene, what would it be?
J-who:Boring

The Saint:What are your views on other search engines, such as Freeoldies and Abandon search and Warped rubber, if any?
J-who: Free Oldies is probably the best one out of those that you listed. I really liked Abandoned Gamez, it was only around for a week or so, till Elwood scared off the webmaster from the abandonware scene. Gangsters will always be my favorite though

The Saint: Your time in the scene has been about 2-3 years up to yet, if there is something/someone you would like to see return to the scene, that has been long gone, what would it be and why?
J-who:I've been in the scene Almost exactly 2 years, I joined last week of Dec 99, I cannot remember exactly what day though. I would really like to see Cascade Games come back, it was my favorite download site. Also AbandonwareHouse, it was a ring with the ability to go far, but the webmaster seemed to disaperar. Some people I would love to see again are Marrsy, Lavaphonix, SkinnyManbomb, G-master, GraveDigger, and last but not least St4n^6

January 2002 - Jante Interview

When NeoPickaze and myself set out to create EchoRing - the idea had initially been instead of a protest ring such as Anti-TUOL, to create an Abandonware ring that we can take TUOL on with. Other members of Anti-TUOL then went to start their own projects within Abandonware or their own rings. We didn't just want an Abandonware ring, we wanted to create a 'Network' to rival TUOL's Network of sites. Being young and naive, we were full of ambition and ideas - but typical of that age, lacked the motivation to put that into practice and maintain it. One of the ideas had been 'Abandon City' thinking back, this would of been more of a rival to DFL/TAG at the time. I had 'interviewed' a number of people in the Abandonware Community and never had chance to post them, until now.

Jante was an active and likeable member of the community who owned Wasted Oldies had been part of the Abandonware Ring crew; alongside Plix, Jason and Swizzle at the time. He had been the only person to update the ring (originally it had been the biggest and 'the establishment' but at this time, it had been the second biggest behind TUOL - apparently got more hits than TUOL did, partly down to its senority and you could argue it had a better design, which had been designed by Jason) in the same year after this interview, Jante made the switch from Abandonware Ring to Abandon Places; which better suited him.

The Saint: Hi Jante, since the re-launch of AR, quite a few things have happended over there - such as staff members have come and gone and so on. Will the AR forum be back up?
Jante: We are currently trying to find a better hosting plan, but when we move, we will probably re-open a forum. Other sections.. we will add a FAQ soon.

The Saint: So, who are the current AR crew members? And what happended to Janiaspig?
Jante: Me, Keplini, Jason, Plix, Swizzle is the ones that are crew there now. Janinaspig is kinda like a last resort, if some of us can't update. I havent talked to PsOmA in a long time, so I don't know if he still wants to help us out.

The Saint:What are your current feelings towards Abandongames.com, after what has happended on the forum?
Jante: I have no bad feelings towards AG, but the forum stinks. I made some great friends at the forum, but most of them have left it now.

The Saint:What would you say Abandonware Ring's goals are?
Jante: To help people not to forget the old classics.. It's all about keeping them alive. Other than that.. i dunno.

The Saint: What are your views on the current state of the scene? Is there anything/anyone that's really getting on your nerves?
Jante: The scene hasn't been moving in any direction lately.. It's been quiet for quite some time.. Well.. If there is one, his name is Warmonger.

The Saint: If you could sum up in just one word to describe AR, what would it be?
Jante: If you count an url as a word: http://www.abandonwarering.com/crew.php <- go read the shit above the crew info. ;)

The Saint:If you could sum up in just one word to describe the state of the Abandonware scene, what would it be?
Jante: quiet

The Saint:What are your views on other big webrings, such as TUOL and APlaces?
Jante: TUOL is just one big list of sites. Some gone, some not updated in a year.. AP is great, and with the new design, im starting to love it even more.

The Saint:​ Your time spent in the scene as up to yet, if there is something/someone/somepeople you would like to see return to the scene, that has been long gone, what/who would it be and why?
Jante: I want Cascade back! Why? Because it was great, and ask others about this, they would agree.

The Saint:Last but not least, do you wreckon we will see Swizzle back at the AR, soon?
Jante: Well.. Yes, maybe he'll start updating again now that we have fixed ourselves a update system..