Tip.It: Today we are Interviewing Das, an Administrator here at Tip.It to get a feel of the future direction of the site. Thanks for accepting the invitation Das!
Das: Thank you very much for the opportunity to be interviewed.
Tip.It: Haha, our pleasure. To begin the interview, let’s get a feel of how long you have been a member of the Tip.It community?
Das: I have been a member of the community since 2001. When I first joined Tip.It, it was on the black forums. Before the current Tip.It forums, they were called "Scapeboard."
Tip.It: That really interesting, it is crazy to imagine 8 years have passed since that time. How has watching and being part of the community over those 8 years affected your Rs gaming?
Das: I would say Tip.it had impacted my gaming more in the older days than currently. In the older days, things such as "logging out in the wilderness is bug abuse" impacted how I thought about pk’ing honor and how I want to play the game. The game then had tough debates on X'ing, teleporting, among other things. Now things are not as exciting, I'm set into my ways and generally the community can’t get behind many things to actually make a movement that would affect how a player played the game.
Tip.It: So, why have you stuck so close to Tip.it over the latter years?
Das: My relationship with Tip.It has been sort of love/hate. I always considered Tip.It my home website. I have not always agreed with the way it has been ran, but I came back because the staff wanted my views on the clan section in a sort of evaluation type thing by the users.
Tip.It: So naturally, as staff received your views you ended up being invited as a moderator. How do you feel clan and Tip.It relations have improved from this point on?
Das: I feel, that is improving slowly, our clan section took a hard hit back in the old days due to bad moderating, and a poor view of clans in general from the administration. I feel we have slowly improved to a point to where we may be in position to be the #1 clan fansite someday soon.
Tip.It: That’s great to hear! I know I am personally loving the clan page found on the main site. Many of the features are very interesting even to those who may not be in a clan at this point in time. Does the clan moderation team have any future plans or surprises for us?
Das: The Tip.it War Rankings (TWR) is a really exciting system we have in place for clan wars. As far as for surprises and new content for the webpage, I have a few ideas in mind that I would love to get coded up, but as of now they are currently in the planning stages.
Tip.It: Sounds sweet! I look forward to seeing some of those features in the future! Now, how long where you a mod before you where invited to become an Administrator?
Das: You know, honestly off of the top of my head, I don’t really know. *goes to look*
Das: I became a Moderator on Jun 26, 2007 I became an administrator officially on Mon Jun 23, 2008. It sure does not seem like I was a clan mod for a year. Time flies.
Tip.It: Ah, it sure does, so you have been an administrator for 10 months now! What are some of the changes you have seen over those 10 months that you would deem notable?
Das: Well, I would say seeing Jagex work with us overshadows anything. I would say the clan section has received a very notable overhaul with it's very talented clan staff. Bigger Avatars and Signatures - I would also like to think we have made some great additions to the staff in that time.
Tip.It: I know all those where received happily! Now, you mentioned the announced Jagex partnership. Would you say staff as a whole is pretty excited about this?
Das: I don’t know anyone who isn’t excited about this. I think some people fear that our forum quality will degrade with the influx of RSOF users, but I don’t think this will happen at all. They are not looking to replace RSOF with other forums, just help out other fansites.
Tip.It: Do you think the forum community will be affected with this partnership when it comes to full realization?
Das: Yes, only in positive ways with more to discuss and talk about.
Tip.It: That’s very promising! How do you think the partnership will affect the main site?
Das: I think it may provide new content, I can’t really say much, Jagex likes surprises! I really don’t, so all I can say is knowing what I know, I can see new content.
Tip.It: Haha, well it is something we are definitely looking forward to! Aiming towards a conclusion, where do you see Tip.It and its community in a year from now?
Das: I see us as a stronger fansite than ever, I see our forums more active and with more new features than Tip.It users have ever had!
Tip.It: More features! Sound cool. Any last comments or advice for the community?
Das: I have had a fun time working for you guys, if you ever have any ideas for features, rule changes or improvements, please PM them to me.
Tip.It: Great! Thanks again Das for taking the time for this interview! I have personally enjoyed it and I am sure the community will as well!
