Just ask me a question (random or not) I will answer.

Yes, you are right, it was time for me to make a new post and I didn't have so many ideas...

What is the last time you believed you reached something and, after a little, you realised you were close but you missed it?

Lately I often get this feeling...

Do you?

If it is so, please reply providing links to the best and baddest demotivators you saw around the net.

It's just another way to say you ran out of ideas

ENJOY THE SILENCE

Tom Fischbach is a good artist and webcomic maker, take a look at:
http://2kinds.com/
you can see his fantasy-manga developing through years (and you can also see how an artist little by little raises his drawing skill to reach his storytelling talent).

In the past weeks Tom was not updating his story so often as usual and he explained to his fans that was mostly because of his father's illness. Some days ago Tom's father died.

I don't know if he will work on on his webcomic or what he will do, all I know is that you should take a chance to discover his work as a comic artist.

I think that's the closest thing to a big friendly hug you can give him.

-------------------------------

8-26-08 add: Tom is updating his comic once a week and I guess this means that despite his hard times he's keeping alive his wonderful creation.
Well done Tom.

Ok I was very concerned with flagging and whistle blowing lately, it's time for me to have just a relaxing post.
Turning to level 14? Now I have the hammer, fingernails will follow...

Plus: unrelated funny pic

---------------------------------

3/21 add: Happy easter anyone! (original, uh?)

Many users noticed NG is under attack by a wawe of spamming coming from the so called Ronald Raiders (or something).

As far as I know everything started with DestroyerofMan submitting more than 20 reviews saying just "shoeeeeeee shoeeeeeee" (different scores). Mass flagging and deletion of those reviews followed.

Then he tried to submit a flash of a Ronald Mac Donald picture bouncing in a loop, called "Ronald Raiders: Shoeeeeee" http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423581
It was blammed by the users.

The same flash was submitted over and over (probably by some alts) and they all were blammed as many users blew their whistle.
Here is a list as far as I know (author[?], title and link):

TheRonaldRaiders
Ronald Raiders: Shoeeeeee http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423615

Shoeeeeeee Shoeeeeeee (Shoeeeeeee)
RonaldRaiders: Shoeeeeeee http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423736

Shoeeeeeee2
Ronald Raiders: Shoeeeeee http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423740

Shoeeeeeee2
Shoeeeeeee http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423742

Kuro-Risu
Shoe Shoe Shoe Shoeeeeee? http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423745

zsxaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa n****r (TheBibleRocks)
Shoeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423750

Soybean (also ItsAfr0ks and TheFr0ks)
Where's that shoe? http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423751

That's more or less what happened, I just ask myself: if they were all alts, why can't the adms lock this guy finding his IP address?
And if many spammers are involved, how long can we keep them at bay with our whistles alone?

The first battle of Ronald Mac Donald is won, the war against spammers started long ago and it's never ending.
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-
2/7/08 add:
Whistle points for all, Ronald Raiders were back, just links to obituary:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423783
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423786
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423834
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423840

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2/10/2008 add:

Shoeee made it through some days ago, but some users say it was just because of fileswapping (if I understood correctly you submit some flash and then, after it passed, you replace its content).

But this just couldn't be unnoticed and now it has been blammed as usual.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
423879

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2/14/2008 add:

he tried two other times, but our whistle blew.
Ronald Raiders (RonaldRaiders)

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
425053
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
425066

every minute an alt is born (or it was "a sucker is born"? cannot remember.)

--------------------------------------

2/20/2008 add:

are they back? Yes they're back to the obituary:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
426189

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2/24/2008 add:

apparently there wasn't the announced RR attack this friday (or if there was I didn't notice), but rumors say next friday they will make their move.

stay tuned for more blam and whistle points...

+ thanks to Soulpiker some more shoeee blammed the 2/24/08
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
427044
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
427045

--------------------------------------

2/26/2008 add, thanks(?) to butt4 for reporting latest shoeee news (I quote his post):

butt4 says:

Well, that's too bad for all of you. These shoeeeeeee movies passed.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
426989
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
427215
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
427005

Some have been blammed, unfortunately.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
427203
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
427183

+ 2/27/2008 I tried to push the links to the above three RR flashes (the ones that passed) and it seems like they all have been blammed...I still don't know what happened (maybe they were malicious), but I cannot say I'm sad about that...

-----------------------------------

3/4/2008 last add:

Some days passed and after almost a month I guess this battle is over. I wish all wars against spammers could end like this one.
Many crappy flashes were blammed, many malicious multiple submission now lie in the obituary not to mention many abusive reviews now deleted. It was fun, i must admit.
Now I had a deity whistle and this post, to show more or less what this spam attack was.
And how it was stopped.

Rats, I've been involved in the "binary abusive reviews" case and I flagged a lot of 'em.
(see Rage's forum here http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/74 264/952)

Now I turned back to silver but I still think that a fully 01001010100001 review is hard to understand, extremely unhelpful and prevent other users to check what is really written in it.
For example how about a 10/10 review saying "go to hell motherfucker noob" in binary code?

Plus I don't think that Punk-o-matic reviews with tablatures are similiar, because they are fully related to the game and they don't express the comments or the criticism of the reviewer, which is left to words.

What do you think about that?

---------------
1/18/08 add

After Rage's gift thread has been closed, then reopened there's some talking about a new thread about abusive reviews or at least a intervention to give rules and hints about flagging.
My opinion stays the same: binary reviews are totally unhelpful and should be flagged!!

---------------
1/29/08 add

Back to gold, thanks to all the Rage's gift people. For certain rules about flagging seems like the Adms are working on them. Speak out your opinion, in every possible way.

I turned bronze today, well I kept flagging and whistling as usual and that made me green, then normal, then bronze status. I'll keep this way (even if I'll have greener times in the future).

But reviewing and reading what the others said about the flash made me notice something strange:
some people keep giving just 10/10 to all (no matter how crappy) so they never get deleted!

C'mon people, most of the flashes are worth of 0-4/10; don't just give 10 to all spammers just to keep your review statistics high, don't act like cowards and spend a few lines at least to say that writing your review took longer than the making of the flash.
Let's flood spammers with a mass of well motivated zeros instead of insults (to be deleted).

---------------------------

Late afternoon add: back to normal, how do they say? SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI (so glory fades)

---------------------------

12-12 add: back to bronze, break the beat? That's not my shit.