Friday 3 September 2021

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.

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