| Interview with JD2411 Tell us more about yourself Well this is where I realise how boring I actually am. It feels quite strange doing this actually, because I have never really talked about myself much on MAL. I’m currently 19 years old and was born in Wales, which is a small country to the west of England. However, my family moved to England a few months after my birth and I have lived here ever since. As such, the only traces of my Welsh nationality are my limited knowledge of the language and some customs. My ethnicity is kind of a mystery. I have some kind of foreign ancestry on the paternal side of my family that has caused me to be mistaken for just about every race there is. Moving on, I had the pleasure of growing up in a very rural area, which is something I am very grateful for. This, of course, meant I didn’t have the internet for a large part of my childhood. Instead I would pass the time by playing Pokémon or helping out. I can’t really say I had a particularly happy childhood, in fact it was quite unpleasant. I’m willing to bet I had one of the worst childhoods on MAL and most people would be surprised by some of the things that have happened to me. As for my personality, I have been told I am very kind. I’m sure that is probably hard to believe given my reputation on MAL. I think I am quite a selfless person and I enjoy helping other people. I am also painfully shy and quiet which is probably why I have almost no friends in real life. A few people have noted that I have a feminine personality but I am not too sure if there is much truth to that. I would describe myself as being an optimist at heart even though I think I can be a little depressing to be around at times. I am also quite a funny person, or at least I think I am. Honestly, the way I act on MAL is a very accurate representation of what I am like in real life. Throughout my youth I never really had any friends and this ultimately led me to get involved in the on-line world around the age of 13. I developed a lot of my current interests through this including anime and other similar stuff. I sometimes think I am a little bit detached from reality but posting on MAL and other online activities are too fun for me to actually want to do something about it. I used to play a few musical instruments competitively until I was 16-17, which is when I hit a wall in terms of making improvement. This was because I had a stroke when I was very young and have a mild form of Hemiparesis which, to save you the effort of using Google, is where one side of your body feels weaker than the other. This meant my left hand could never quite keep up with more complex music so I couldn’t really improve. I have been thinking about taking it up again casually but I can never quite find the time nowadays. I also like to draw which is, thankfully, something I doubt I will have to give up sometime soon. I like to read as well but I would never discuss it on MAL since I will be bullied for my pleb taste. Currently, I am a first year university student studying a subject which I am not going to disclose, though I think if you look between the lines you could probably guess. I do not enjoy university very much. I don’t really have anything in common with my classmate so I haven’t made any friends. Looks like MAL will be keeping me company for a few more years. Since coming to university, I feel like I have become a lot worse off mentally speaking. A lot of problems I experienced beforehand seem to have become a lot more serious. That’s probably something I should mention actually, I have a background of mental health issues and in order to maintain a sense of enigma I’ll be keeping them a secret. Anyway, I’m sure some people have noticed that I haven’t been too active on MAL for the past few months and that’s why. I can’t really think of anything else to say. Like I said, I am most likely not as interesting as most people think. Give us a brief history of your time on MAL. Which sections of MAL are you the most active on? As my join date would suggest, I joined MAL in March 2013. I mostly used MAL for its listing feature, since beforehand I was using a word document. I don’t really know why I didn’t use Excel. Anyway, I really started using the forums during the summer of that year. I had just finished secondary school and had around 3 months of doing nothing. I think I was quite a serious poster at this point and I used more emoticons than I would nowadays. It would probably be embarrassing to read those posts. In October, I got into an argument with a user who no longer uses the forums. It was about economics if I remember correctly. I got BTFO and my pride didn’t allow me to admit defeat. Instead I tried something I had never done before; trolling. It was thrilling. Exhilarating. Incredible. Around this time Lupadim and Okazaki were at the height of popularity (or notoriety) so I decided to copy what they were doing for more thrills. I remember a lot of people saying I was either a poor man’s version of Okazaki, or the love-child of Lupadim and Okazaki. Inevitably, I got banned a lot. A few times were legit but honestly most of my bans were for minor things. I stopped making threads and started shitposting. I also joined the Chat Club and was met with some hostility. I think they ended up warming up to me in the end though. I got involved in Skype groups with Mellow and the other old users who used to be popular on MAL. My shitposting continued until April 2014, which is where I was faced with the risk of a permaban. I decided to tone it down a little bit here, since I didn’t want to get permabanned. I adopted strategies such as the “Shitpost + OT: Insert comment” post structure and have avoided any warnings of bans since. I also think I matured a little bit, or at least grew bored of it. I ended up arguing about One Piece in the O/U and Shounen threads for most of the time after that. I remember deliberately posting controversial comments in Casual Discussion and Current Events as well. Nowadays, I am mostly a serious poster. One of the good things about being well-known as a troll is that in serious discussions if I say something stupid people put it down to trolling rather than me being wrong. I feel a lot of nostalgia for the good ol’ days with Okazaki and Lupadim. I suppose I would say I use Anime Discussion (AD) and Casual Discussion (CD) the most. AD is a shadow of its former self. Virtually all of the threads are pointless listing threads or threads we’ve seen countless times before. AD has been going downhill since the mods deleted the O/U thread. When discussing anime I mostly use the O/U club, a lot of the people there have interesting things to say and it’s essentially where the “smart” people from AD have migrated to. CD is okay. It’s a lot less fun than it used to be though. I think the threads are a lot less creative than they used to be. Normally, you see threads like “what’s your favourite brand of bread?” and “does feminism cause autism?” I think the new generation are nowhere near as creative as we were. Thankfully, there are a few posters there that I like. They make it worthwhile. I kind of wish we had some serious discussion though. I remember Lupadim’s threads, despite their intentions, used to produce some interesting debates. I would make threads myself, but given my reputation, people would use them as an excuse to shitpost and whatnot. I do think CD has started to improve a little lately, albeit only a little. How do you think the MAL community sees you? How do you feel about that? I think that MAL’s users have very different opinions towards me. Some people treat as a troll who should never be taken seriously. Some people actually think what I say is worth reading. And some just have no idea who I am. I don’t really mind being treated as a troll too much, though it can be annoying when I am trying to argue with someone. Sometimes, people will disregard everything I have to say due to it. I like the people who appreciate my posts on an intellectual level. I think I’m pretty good at critiquing stuff and not too bad at debates either. I sometimes wish I hadn’t been typecast as a troll/shitposter type but oh well. What do you feel about the board you use the most? What do you feel about the community in general? Hmmm, Casual Discussion is a strange place. Some days it’s full of interesting threads and other days it’s abysmal. It is generally a fun place to post though. Anime Discussion is a little more consistent quality wise. I don’t really post there much since the O/U thread, ATOTD and the Big 3 thread were removed or died, respectively. A lot of the threads are repeat threads and after explaining the same thing countless times you kind of lose interest. I quite like the MAL community. It’s strange because it seems like MAL, as a forum, is almost universally hated on other sites. I personally think MAL is pretty great. We have lots of different characters on the forums, some of whom I dislike, but they all contribute to the place where I will gladly waste hours of my day. I say this a lot, but I really do think MAL is a lot less interesting than it used to be. I suppose all of the interesting and unique users have left. But it could always be that I don’t involve myself in the behind the scenes shenanigans like I used to, so I’m just out of the loop. There are a lot of users that I miss on the forums. Mostly the controversial figures like Lupadim and Immahnoob. They really brought life to MAL. How do you feel about how the site is run? Especially in regards to the moderators and admins. Now this is a good question. On one hand, I enjoy the lax nature of the forums. There is a lot of freedom in terms of what you can say and do. This, of course, makes the forums a breeding ground for degeneracy, shitposting and trolling. This in itself is quite fun, though it really does prevent serious discussions from taking off. On the other hand, the moderation is almost non-existent. Rules are enforced in a highly inconsistent manner so user X could insult people for weeks whereas user Y gets banned for making a slightly off-topic post. I remember getting banned for some really minor stuff that you see other users post every day. I also think a lot of the moderators are terrible. They are seldom seen and often lock threads that shouldn’t be locked. There’s also that club that actively reports anything designated as a shitpost etc. I really dislike that kind of policing nature and that club SHOULD be removed for self-moderation. But of course, the mods at MAL like to play favourites and the last thing I heard that club has moderator support. But now I’m ranting. I also wish the moderation team would be more open-minded to suggestions. On countless occasions I have seen good ideas shot down on the sole basis of certain individual’s refusal to change. There is clearly a moderation issue on MAL which is in and of itself evidence of an issue with the current system. I think this inability to listen to the userbase is an issue which extends far beyond moderation issues. I mean, look at all the people who dislike the profile changes. We almost never hear or see the moderators outside of news announcements either. This kind of behaviour only widens the rift between moderators and users and serves only to create a fragmented, distant community. I also disapprove of locking the O/U thread and ATOTD. Having general threads was one AD’s greatest virtues and we always had interesting discussions there. It’s funny because after locking those threads AD began a downward spiral into the chaos it has become. That said, I don’t think I dislike the moderators as people. Sometimes, I think people are too harsh towards them. Probably looks a little strange saying that after a wall of text complaining about them. They sometimes have bursts of activity too, which is nice when it happens but it always makes me extra careful when posting. Any users you like? Why? Well, this is the part of the interview that everyone skips to. There are quite a few users that I like on MAL, in fact I’d say I like most people on MAL. Of course, there are some people who really stand-out and as such I will mention them below. Lupadim – Lupadim is, without a doubt, one of the most charismatic users on MAL. The way he would lead all the pseudo-intellectuals on wild goose chases and call them out on every fallacy they used. He was strangely charming. It’s a shame he doesn’t make threads anymore, because they were always a great source of humour and some serious discussions actually arose from them. Ckan – He is the kind of user who is flawless. There isn’t really anything to dislike about him. He takes me seriously in discussions, which is quite nice. He know when to shitpost as well. There’s not much to say about him though since he is shrouded in mystery. Tsudecimo – I have always liked Tsud. I admire the effort he puts into his posts. They are always worth reading. It is quite annoying actually, how someone who argues their point in a logical and coherent manner is titled a narutard. But that’s MAL for you. His personality is great as well. We tend to dislike the same types of people. I think a lot of people are too critical of him really. He is a good user who contributes a lot to the forums. Mayuka – This probably seems a little odd, since most of our exchanges on the forums are a little aggressive. I think she sees me as a shitposter of some kind, and I have a sneaking suspicion she may have ignored me. But oh well. I think she is quite “refreshing” to have on the forums. Normally, our discussions on things like feminism were dominated by MRAs and were generally very anti-feminist. It’s quite nice to see the other side of the argument, so to speak. She actually changed my perception on feminism, to a more middle ground position instead of being against it. We like the same kinds of anime as well, although she dislikes Clannad so that is definitely an issue. There are a few things I dislike about her. Like her attitude can sometimes come across as rude and I think she very much sees the world through a lens of her own values. I can certainly see why so many people dislike her, but I think a lot of people are too harsh. I get the impression she has some personal problems so I always give her the benefit of the doubt. MAL isn’t a place to bully people. Comic_Sans – Comic_Sans is a shitposter of the best kind. She is very unique on MAL, and really stands out as a shitposter among shitposters. Her posts are usually funny, and she has a strange type of wit which I quite enjoy reading. After having read her interview, I think I have seen a more human side to her which is a little peculiar, but it’s shown me we have quite a few things in common. I don’t really like the Tokyo Ghoul bait stuff though. Korrvo – He doesn’t really use the forums anymore and there was a point where I really disliked him, but since he became less active I feel like something is missing from the forums. He always seemed very genuine in discussions, if that makes sense. Like you could tell he wasn’t using an internet persona at all. He is a bit too lewd for me, but I think he’s a good user and I miss his presence quite a bit. Kokko – Of course I have to include Kokko. He has such a quirky, charming personality that it is impossible to dislike him. I remember having a lot of fun discussions with him back in the old days of Chat Club. He is also, what I consider, the definition of good taste and elitism on MAL. Okazaki93 – We used to be really close back in the days of ’13. We would exchange trolling tips and techniques, and complain about the mods. He got in with a bad crowd though, and we’ve slowly drifted apart. Last I heard he sells nude pictures on Skype. Guy’s all kinds of messed up these days. Kaimon – I have barely spoken to him outside of the shounen thread which has since died, but he is probably one of the few rational One Piece fans on MAL. I always enjoyed discussing shounen with him, since he seemed aware that One Piece is not some kind of flawless, godly creation. He also has quite a unique personality and brings a lot of charm to the O/U club. Jal90 – One of the users who you cannot criticise. All of his posts are worth reading, and are usually very informative. His thoughts are always interesting and he knows when to shitpost as well. I like his puns too. I just wish he would post more these days. Rarursu_ - He’s probably one of the only serious posters left in Casual Discussion. I like his way of writing too for some reason, it seems very humble to me. His posts are often worth reading, and I find myself agreeing with him almost all the time. I don’t think he is as well-known as he should be either. Ichii_1 – He is hilarious. His way of posting is so damn obnoxious that you can’t help but like him. He’s surprisingly reasonable in discussions as well. I can’t count the number of times he has made me laugh with his outlandish posts and that doge avatar. There are a lot of other users that I like too, but I don’t see any point in writing a paragraph for them since it wouldn’t be very interesting. Most of these people I know very little about, besides their posts in the forums: Fst, Usagi, RedTie, TripleSRank, JizzyHitler, Infinite, MellowJello, Immahnoob, xbobx, Zergneedsfood, Cookie, PoeticJustice, Mushmallow, Mikasa. Any users you dislike? Why? Hmm, I'm sure a lot of people were looking forward to this part. I don’t usually express hatred towards people on the forums anymore. I would say there is nobody on the forums I actually hate, just certain things they do. I'm sure most people here are nicer than I think, since admittedly I have had very little contact with most of them. Anyway, without further ado… JustAlex – I can never quite tell if he has some severe mental deficiency, or if he’s just really fucking stupid. I have never seen somebody quite as ignorant, asinine and obnoxious before. I sometimes wonder if it is trolling, but I have a hunch he is indeed genuinely retarded. Nilin – I am 99.9% sure this is an alt/troll account. I find it very difficult to believe that someone can be so unreasonable and biased in discussions. She isn't as annoying as some other people on the list, but deserves a mention anyway. Robis798 – I do not particularly hate him, it’s just that he amuses me and sometimes makes me cringe. I get the impression that he is trying really, really hard to fit in the O/U club. He doesn't really have any opinions, he just parrots what other people who are higher on the elitist hierarchy say. His criticisms of anime are usually poorly thought out, or just re-worded versions of what other people say. I recall discussing something with him, and after Ckan said he agreed with me, Robis back pedalled almost immediately. Such is life in the O/U club. Asap_ - He has another username now and he almost never uses the forums, but he always annoyed me. He was a very bad shitposter. He also went absolutely insane in a Skype group and started telling people to kill themselves over something really trivial. That's not cool man. ThrashMatto – I definitely do not hate him and he doesn't use the forums much anymore. But he is such a beta orbiter it is unreal. Wherever women are being bullied in Casual Discussion, he will appear to proudly defend them in his white armour. Fintan – Same reasons as ThrashMatto, but he is also very passionate about protecting the human rights of drawings. Kitten – I've never spoken to her before, but she is undoubtedly the biggest attention whore on MAL with a loyal harem of beta orbiters. I've also heard some interesting rumours from some of MAL’s information brokers. Moog_ - Literally all he does is whine about MAL. I imagine half of his posts are complaints at this point. Introverturtle – It’s not that I dislike him, it’s that I have no idea why other people like him. He is the worst kind of poster; vapid fanboyism and pointless one-liners like “One Piece #1.” Most of his posts were just things he had written before and he just copied and pasted them. Discussing anything with him was futile because he was far too deluded to even argue back, just given some one-liner. It frustrates me a bit that Tsud was called a Narutard while this guy never got any grief, despite literally being the definition of a fanboy. Ravioli_Ravioli – Unfunny and juvenile. He thinks Filthy Frank is funny so that says it all really. Red_Keys – He is a strange case. I think I like him as a person but his presence on the forums has always been marked with straw-men and poor reading comprehension. He seems to see any post that doesn't agree with him as being someone bragging that they are straight. CD 2.0 Club – I’m generalising here, but this whole club is full of people who are trying to be some kind of edgy shitposter and failing horribly. They are completely irrelevant outside of their “sekrit klub xD” but for some reason think they are important. Oh well. I'm sure there are others, but unfortunately I can’t think of them right now. I know I will be annoyed when I remember them, as I missed out on this excellent chance to call them out without any consequences. I just hope I haven’t disappointed anyone with this highly-anticipated section of the interview. What are some MAL members you consider the most influential? You're not allowed to include yourself. Well, historically speaking, there’s obviously Mellow, Immahnoob and Lupadim. These days, I don’t think any one person is particularly influential on the forums. Mayuka was pretty important a few months ago, but I think her influence has really declined lately. I’d say that the position of “most influential user” is up for grabs right now. Is there a MAL member you would want to take on a date or get to know better? Who and why? Sorry, but I don’t think I would take any MAL members on a date. I only date 2D. I suppose it would be interesting to see how certain users act when you remove the anonymity though. As for users I would like to know better, I could probably do with knowing more about every active member. I don’t really know much about today’s users compared to those from a few years ago. Do you see yourself leaving MAL in the near future? Why? Everyone always says they will leave MAL someday during this part of the interview. Honestly, I can’t see myself ever leaving unless I am permabanned or the site disappears. I am too invested in this site and community to leave at this point. I can see myself posting less, which has already happened actually. But I know that I will never stop visiting MAL. It always has and always will be the first tab I open. You declined being interviewed in the past. What made you have a change of heart? Can’t say no to Usagi. The reason I declined was because I didn't really want to associate myself with some of the people who ran this club. The situation seems to have changed now though. What exactly is the deal between you and Filthy Frank? Nothing really. I posted a meme comment, he thought it was serious and put it in a video, I insulted him in the comments and his fanbase went insane. I am still getting messages a year and a half later. Pretty funny stuff. Is there something unasked you would like to talk about? No, not really. Can you recommend us 3 members who we can choose from to interview next and briefly explain why you would love to read their interviews? I have been away from MAL for a while, so I have no idea which users are active right now. Cannot really answer it. Any shameless self-promotions? Perhaps you want more publicity for your club, or a suggestion for the community to see? No shameless self-promoting for me. |
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| We get it, you're straight. |
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| I was disappointed when I heard you declined the interview before. Glad you reconsidered. Nice read. |
| I know you don't like me, but I still think you're nice to have around the forums. I don't think I complain as much as I used to. >: 3 |
Moog said: you are nowhere near as bad as some of the others on the listI know you don't like me, but I still think you're nice to have around the forums. I don't think I complain as much as I used to. >: 3 I also want to note that I wrote most of this in December so some of my opinions have changed since then. |
| Great interview. I disagree with you in some stuff but I can see that you put effort into it and how you fundamented everything in a reasonable way. |
| Eyy got another mention Brb gotta go tweet that shit to my followers |
| Was worth the wait. Really enjoyable interview with some surprises. And you are right JD we do dislike the same users except for the CD ones you mentioned since I don't know them. I don't think I hate somebody in this site more than JustAlex and your description of him is very accurate. I agree about korrvo, I think fundamentally he is a good user, his problem was how he expressed himself in an overeactive way. I share a similar experience with you regarding college, I hate it x_x |
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| That was a fun and honest read. Good stuff! |
| You wrote quite a bit. Your kinda neutral to me as I am not a big fan of trolling but if someone says something noteworthy it kinda cancels the other stuff out. |
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| Phew! For a second there I thought I was liked on MAL.... crisis averted! I don't think we've ever had any contact with each other directly but thanks for the mention, JD. |
 I love Christine "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness." - Henry David Thoreau |
| Don't like Filthy Frank huh? Is it because you were destroyed by him? (4:26) |
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| Welcome back then, since I don't recall any of your comments. @Dokubachi You're supposedly important. Your interviews are paying off even in this stage of the game. |
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| Oh I love reading about favourite/hated users, I hadn't heard Kittens name in awhile but the attention whore part made me lol. I'd love to know what make Mal's "information brokers" |
| I've been here way too long... |
TheConquerer said: Oh I love reading about favourite/hated users, I hadn't heard Kittens name in awhile but the attention whore part made me lol. I'd love to know what make Mal's "information brokers" Someone's been spending too much time on MAL ironically. |
| I'm sensing some deep rooted sarcasm in your liked/disliked users part of the interview or maybe im just reading too much into things, i wont point it out in any case. Overall it was an okay read. Dunno what you mean by this though ... Can’t say no to Usagi. The reason I declined was because I didn't really want to associate myself with some of the people who ran this club. The situation seems to have changed now though. Because the club has been and still is being run and populated by the same users. |
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| oh lol, thanks for the mention. i do have personal problems (although no mental diseases if some of y'all think i do) and i haven't been using MAL as much because i wanted to focus on real life stuff, and of course, manga scanlation. also, i didn't ignore you :^) and wow, that dislike answer was SAVAGE. |
| I thought you disliked me lol Good to see you've changed your opinion on me |
 Nico- said: Conversations with people pinging/quoting me to argue about some old post I wrote years ago will not be entertained@Comic_Sans oh no y arnt ppl dieing i need more ppl dieing rly gud plot avansement jus liek tokyo ghoul if erbudy dies amirite |
| what followers? Anyways, that was quite an interesting interview: good to know that there seems to be a semblance of decent person behind the troll. |
| Proud founder of The Official Anti-Ging Freecss Fan Club Join now! Kellhus said: GuusWayne said: there is a limit to the suspension of disbelief And it's the fan that did it. Not the smoking porn reading rubik cube genius rape ape with a magic boat. |
| Noice. I've been JD's fan since the Filthy Frank roasted JD or vice-versa, whichever way you want to interpret it. Quality trolls are a rarity these days. JD, you were one of them. |
Sapewloth said: what followers? Anyways, that was quite an interesting interview: good to know that there seems to be a semblance of decent person behind the troll. thatsthejoke.gif |
JD2411 said: What exactly is the deal between you and Filthy Frank? Nothing really. I posted a meme comment, he thought it was serious and put it in a video Just for the record: https://youtu.be/Ycym8i7hjcA?t=6m26s xD |
| Great guy. Utter respect for, back in the good days, defending Clannad every single time when bandwagoning turds would bash on it in a daily basis at AD. This and the memorable Sunohara.gif forum avatar (a shame you changed it) makes reading Clannad's VN now impossible without reminding of you. Well done. |
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