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.
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