| Stooben Rooben | |
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| Favorite Food: | Cinnamon Rolls |
| Favorite Music Genre: | Progressive Rock |
| Favorite non-Mario Game: | Rock Band 3 |
| Favorite Number: | 328 |
| SMW Article you feel proud of: | Super Mario Bros. Deluxe |
Tucayo: Hello amazing readers, I am your special interviewer, Tucayo! And I am interviewing for Issue L none other than one of the most beloved users in the site, the one and only… Stooben Rooben!! Hello Stooby!
Stooby: Hello!
Stooby: *waves handkerchief*
Tucayo: Most of us know your wiki history, how you got here and all that, so I won’t ask that, but in case anyone doesn’t know, could you tell us a little bit about your arrival to the wiki?
Stooby: ...Wait, I'm supposed to do that when saying goodbye...I'm already messing this up. :(
Tucayo: Don't worry, we can cut the handkerchief :)
Stooby: Hooray!
Tucayo: Most of us know your wiki history, how you got here and all that, so I won’t ask that, but in case anyone doesn’t know, could you tell us a little bit about your arrival to the wiki?
Stooby: Well, it was almost four years ago when I first arrived here. It was my first time being on a wiki, so I wasn't entirely sure what to do.
Stooby: I ended up starting off making simple articles about some of the cars/enemies in MKDD.
Stooby: ...And then Wayoshi and Cobold came along and told me I was doing things wrong, lol.
Tucayo: Lol, what was it that you were doing wrong?
Stooby: They weren't mean or anything (and they didn't give me any warnings, thankfully). They certainly did help me get the hang of the wiki, though. Especially Cobold.
Stooby: I wasn't formatting the articles right.
Stooby: I didn't know how to even put an image in an article without it taking up half the page. :P
Stooby: I think there were a few other problems, but I can't really remember what. It was a pretty long time ago.
Tucayo: Yeah, it was a long time ago, you are one of the oldest (wiki-age-wise) active users. When you joined 4 years ago did you ever expect you would be where you are now when you joined the wiki? Did you ever have in mind becoming ‘crat, Forum Admin and ‘Shroom Director, among other?
Stooby: I definitely did not expect to be where I am today. My main goal back then was just to fix up articles on games that I liked, and to make some friends.
Stooby: Of course, the thought of being a Sysop was always exciting to me, but I never really expected to reach that position. I thought I was too...well, noobish.
Stooby: But then lots of people began to say I should be a Sysop, which leveled up my confidence. I eventually started trying harder to improve the wiki and help out the community, and it paid off greatly. :)
Stooby: I have no idea how I ended up being such an important part of The 'Shroom, tho.
Stooby: (that sounded more arrogant that I intended it to...)
Tucayo: Probably it all started with you writing FTMV.
Tucayo: lol
Tucayo: You have mentioned in past times that both Lemonface and Stooben Rooben are nicknames from your childhood. Could you share the story of those nicknames with us?
Stooby: Oh, there's not much of a story, really.
Stooby: My Dad has a completely goofy sense of humor, so, he was the one who came up with the nicknames.
Stooby: "Lemonface" was created within 10 minutes of me being born. Apparently, I was screaming my head off after being born, and my dad thought that my face "looked like a lemon".
Stooby: Have no idea how he made that connection.
Tucayo: Wow, that is an ancient nickname
Stooby: "Stooben Rooben" was something that just came out of nowhere when I was around 4 years old.
Stooby: Hey, I'm not /that/ old. >:(
Tucayo: XD I didn't mean that :)
Stooby: Lol.
Tucayo: Talking about your nicks, I recall you saying that you didn’t like it when someone called you Rooby. Why is that?
Stooby: Because it sounds like "Ruby", which is a girls' name. :P
Stooby: But then Pokemon DP/Black Hole Sun/My Bloody Valentine/whatever his name is now started calling me "Ruby" CONSTANTLY.
Stooby: He did it to annoy me at first, but after a while, it stopped irking me. Now, I don't mind it so much.
Tucayo: Now that you mention it... I have an aunt named Ruby....
Tucayo: Next question! You depict yourself as a blue Yoshi Kid with a guitar, why did you choose that specific character?
Stooby: I absolutely love TTYD as a game. My favorite character from the game is the little Yoshi partner you get in the game. I guess it's his attitude that I like so much.
Stooby: Blue is my favorite color, and it was also the color of Yoshi I got the most in that game.
Stooby: And, I play guitar in real life (among several other instruments), which is why I decided to go with that character combo. :)
Tucayo: A design that has sure become famous in the SMW community. Now, talking about the SMW; You have been a very important piece of the wiki, forum, Shroom, and practically everything related to the MW. I bet you have learnt some things during all the time you have served the wiki, is there anything you have learnt that you want to share with the readers?
Stooby: Oh wow. I've definitely learned a lot of things in my time here.
Stooby: I'm definitely far more adversed with coding than I used to be...but that would be boring to talk about. :P
Stooby: As cheesy as this may sound, I think the most important thing I've learned around here is how silly it is to fight amongst one another.
Stooby: Anyway, I've seen A LOT of people fight with each other around here. Whether it's a petty rivalry with another user, insulting/making fun of another user in order to fit in with "friends", or just general trolling, it always has a bad outcome.
Stooby: I get that people are going to fight, and that people are going to troll/flame; there's nothing that will ever change that. But I do think we could all make an effort to not...well, purposely hurt one another.
Stooby: The other majorly important thing I've learned around here is how to prioritize. While I wouldn't recommend piling on the responsibilities like some people around here have a bad tendency to do, I think that it's important to find at least one responsibility around here.
Stooby: Whether it's actively editing, working with The 'Shroom, taking part in a project around the wiki, or something like administrating, I think people can learn a lot about prioritization.
Stooby: Plus, having responsibilities just generally feels cool...it makes you feel important...at least, in my opinion. :P
Stooby: </wall of text>
Tucayo: Yeah, I have the same opinion. It's good to have responsibilities.
Tucayo: Is there anything you would like to see changed in the SMW?
Stooby: Hard to say. Off the top of my head, I can't really think of anything that could use a lot of changing. But I'm always interested in the changes around the site that other people propose (whether it's a proposal, or something going on in the Admin board).
Stooby: Maybe seeing our article quality improve a bit, but that's something that requires steady effort from the entire community.
Tucayo: Yeah, it has been tried some times by the admins but that is something everyone has to cooperate with. How have you seen the wiki change during all this time?
Stooby: I think it's safe to say that most of the changes I've seen around the wiki have been for the better.
Stooby: There's been a lot of changes, so it's hard to remember them all.
Stooby: Then again, my parents are yakking in my ear right now, so that might be why. o_o
Tucayo: XD any particular change you remember? something big?
Stooby: Well, one that sticks out in my head is when Son of Suns proposed changing the titles of game articles to be their first offical English name.
Stooby: I originally wasn't fond of the idea (I found it kind of...confusing), but I think in the long run, it's made the wiki seem less biased and more professional.
Stooby: Also, if it counts, all the changes that have been made to the Mario Awards over the past few years are wonderful, imo.
Tucayo: Yeah, up to this day one of the most important policies on articles naming. And the Mario Award have certainly grown, we'll get to them later on. You have made many decisions and actions for the wiki, forums, Shroom, chat, UP and even NIWA. Is there anything you regret doing?
Stooby: On the wiki and forums, I can't really say that I've done anything I regret.
Stooby: With The 'Shroom, my main regret is that I wasn't more active as a Director. I had a lot of changes and improvements planned, but I never went through with them.
Stooby: On chat, too many to list. Most of all, though, I feel like I contributed to making #mariowiki the "bad channel" everyone seems to feel it is. Mostly because of all the rules and changes I tried to make that failed horribly.
Stooby: On NIWA, I wish I would have been more active when the project initially started.
Tucayo: Earlier on you mentioned the Awards as one of the biggest changes the wiki has had, and they will celebrate its 5th edition this year. You collaborated greatly with them in the past, but there is one question many people ask themselves; after what happened last year, can we hope to see you present an award this year?
Stooby: Yes. Ralph and I are (slowly) working out the details of a nice little event for the Awards. I also plan to do a presentation this year, despite what happened last year.
Tucayo: Great to hear! In the time you have been here many users have come and gone (not trying to make you feel old!), did any of those users leave a mark in you? Who inspired you when you joined the wiki?
Stooby: Xzelion definitely left a huge mark on me when I first came to the wiki, and it was sad to see him leave...and then come back and leave...and then do the same thing again... It's definitely been nice to see him being active again and doing what he does best around here, though.
Stooby: Stumpers and Time Q also inspired me a lot. Their overall attitudes towards everyone in the wiki, their amazing writing capabilities... They were definitely the ones who inspired me to become a better editor.
Tucayo: All three of them great editors and users. And it really is awesome Xz is back! Too bad we can't say the same about Stumpers and Time Q...
Stooby: Glowsquid and Ninji were also pretty inspiring to me, especially when it came to being a firm admin.
Stooby: Yes, it's definitely sad that good ol' Stumps and Time Q aren't around anymore. :(
Tucayo: Glowsquid was too one of my inspirations :)
Tucayo: How do you manage to participate in so many projects online? Because from my own experience I can tell it’s no easy job.
Stooby: Eh, it was fairly easy to keep track of everything when I had lots of free time. Like I said earlier, it just required some prioritization.
Stooby: Although, now that I work two jobs in real life, it would be practically impossible for me to manage everything I used to. It's one reason why I've had to give up a lot of the responsibilities I used to have around here.
Tucayo: Any random facts about you that you would like to share? People love random facts
Stooby: Sure! Here's five random facts for ya:
- One of my hobbies is cartography. I love to create maps of all kinds: road maps, treasure maps, and even maps of places that don't even exist.
- I graduated high school at the age of 16.
- Cooking is one of my favorite things to do in the whole world. I love being in the kitchen, making all sorts of tasty dishes. <3
- I write, compose, and record my own original music. I'm planning to release my debut album sometime this year.
- I like ripping sprites and textures from games. I've even contributed quite a few rips to The Spriters Resource, including the majority of the TTYD rips they have.
Tucayo: Well, that's it for our Special Interview with Stooben Rooben! Thanks a lot Stooby, good night! Well, I don't know if it's night but let's just pretend it is, K?