▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Interview #165 - @Maffy ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬  MAL’s Veteran Review Moderator I would like to thank MAL for going down for months just before my interview! And you, reader, for taking time out of your life to read this! Also, ‘Maffy’ does not sound like a man’s name! Interview conducted by: @Skittles Editor: @neekoneko Tell me about yourself Now that is pretty vague! Erm, where am I supposed to start? Well, I am awesome! Other than that, I am Maffy, I am four years old (yes, you read that right), an introvert, have one older brother, and currently studying for my second bachelor's degree on Preschool Education. Ta-dah! I consider myself to be chatty, which is something many who know me on MAL can attest to! Though this is a trait I have in real life as well, I show it only towards my close friends who can put up with me; online, it's just easier to be my annoying self. I would also like to think I am a decent person, but for some reason everyone calls me mean—even my best friend(!) for reasons unknown! I just like teasing them a little! And mayyyyybe, I tend to grumble a lot a bit. Truth is, I had no big dream when it came to my university of choice, so I got into Linguistics since that was closest to my interests (I was supposedly good at studying, but I hated the system so we failed each other). My first choice was English Literature because I was fascinated with the art of language, but now I am pretty thankful I didn’t choose that path. It seemed like a good choice back then, but I later realized I could not do much with it. So yeah, my first degree was on Linguistics! Although I had a lot of fun studying it, I could only do so much with my degree in the future. I had plans for various other things, but then I thought since I was somewhat free at the time, why not study something new? It will be easier to do so since I would be able to cover the core materials directly and not go through some arbitrary exams on random subjects. So what did I like? Children! No strict curriculum and kids are cute. And that is how I decided to study Preschool Education! I studied on my own for 2-3 months and got in 4th out of 110 people! It took me 2.5 years, but hopefully in a few months I will have the degree on my hands and a great GPA! And after that? Who knows, because my desired line of work is pretty swamped with people waiting, so… winning the lotto, when? Currently my brother is working overseas, so who knows, I might follow him! Last but not least, I have Bob in my life, my precious Mauremys sinensis a.k.a the best turtle in the world! I have had him for less than a year, but he’s as cute as he was back in the day I got him. Though it’s still pretty early to ascertain his gender, he will always be my Bob! How did you choose your username? Few know of my original username, Pirate-Princess, which was a tribute to One Piece, my love from my childhood’s past (which is now pretty much dead). I am still a princess, but after a couple of years, I realized it sounded lame, so I wanted a more realistic name. When playing a game, I always want to relate to my own characters, so having a name such as “AnimeGirl1008Xx” won't do it for me. I always create fantasy-sounding names that fit the setting of the game, and this habit applies to me when I am using regular sites as well. I wanted some form of realistic identity, but not too real, such as “Sarah” for example. Back when I was playing my first MMO, Asda Story (I was pretty addicted to it, though no money spent!), I had come up with “Mafierry” for my character's name—a combination of two words, more or less. I loved how it sounded, but naturally my friends shortened it even more in casual chat, usually calling me “Maf” or “Mafi”. So when I decided to change my MAL username, I took my in-game name and shortened it to my moniker; however, I wanted it to sound prettier than just “Mafi”. Thus, “Maffy” was born and became my regular nickname since then! Could you give us your brief history in your time in MAL? I came, I saw, I conquered! It doesn’t get any more brief! But in all seriousness, my beginning in MAL wasn’t because of some innocent motive! Before joining the site, I was a member of a group for another forum, Vegapunk. A friend there introduced us to MAL (which was still fairly new at the time) and said we should sign up and boost One Piece to the top of the rankings (it was around third place, I think). So then, we all made an account and scored the series a 10, haha. Time passed and I used the site more and more. I loved listing things, I played the forum games often, and I met a lot of new people. Long story short, apart from a certain year when I was forced to abandon all my internet hobbies, I was always active on MAL… though not that much on the forums. I observed the moderator team from afar, but I initially didn’t think much about them. However, as I spent more time on the site, I started longing for the power to remove some of the troll reviews I kept seeing everyday (and of course, I was always attracted to popular people in places I often frequent! Same thing with games: I was always interested in the best guild, so I was bound to join their ranks sooner or later). Also, there was no Review Moderator position at the time, so it fell upon the Database Moderators to clear up the mess. Soon enough, the announcement came that they were looking for volunteers to moderate the user-submitted reviews and recommendations! IT WAS MY CHANCE! But it worked with a nomination system and I wasn’t active on the forums anymore, so I doubted that anyone would nominate me. That’s where @Cloudy comes in. I met Cloudy on another platform and we often cross paths on a specific anime group on Facebook. One time, I was joking about how it was time to conquer MAL now that they had the Review Moderator position open and asked him to nominate me. I initially thought he would dismiss the idea as a mere joke… but he actually went along with it! I was really happy when they hired me and I was told that Luna had nominated me too (apparently I had made a decent amount of posts and helped enough users, though I honestly don’t remember that, haha). My life as a moderator has been fun, tiring, exciting, and annoying, but I don’t regret it one bit! I have met many wonderful mods, worked in different teams, and got many, many kouhai throughout the years. Even if we had it hard sometimes, I was always happy when users understood me and thanked me for my help. Any users you dislike/like? I like plenty of people, although I don't talk with many of them often. Surprisingly, for a seemingly chatty person like me, I only have a few people I am close with; I think having shallow conversations with others is so much easier. Since I tend to have a tiny circle of friends, this shouldn't come off as a surprise! I'll try to list some of those I like and get along with pretty well! @Kineta - She is someone I have always respected, sometimes argued with, and generally had fun with. We got closer these past few months after one of my rants to her (I try not to overdo it because I know she has lots on her mind) and we started checking up on each other and chat about many things. She is always so mature, but I love when her more innocent side takes over. She's just so cute when fangirling over the things she likes! @neekoneko - I met her when she first joined MAL Rewrite (and became one of the people who made the club into what it is today!) and we started talking about many stuff. Naturally, we started getting closer. Nowadays she hangs around on Discord more, but we often catch up and exchange news with each other. She is a very hardworking and courageous person! @Cloudy - We’re actually not that close, but he's the only person who really goes along with everything I say. He has shit taste, but he's fun to talk with! Did you know he started piano lessons a few months ago just because he was curious? That's cool! He was also good at it. @acajou - We were never that close to be honest, but I really like her and still do! We became mods at the same time and she always seemed so cool! Even if we rarely talk with each other, I always bug her to come back to the team! I don't have any other really special mentions, but the majority of the mods are people I really like. Some of those I often tease talk to are @Ardanaz, @Brandon, @Vindstot, @ImperfectBlue, @Nexu, @Tacas, and all the kouhai in my team of course! Do I have someone other than moderators? Well, I do, but we meet and chat in other platforms, so I don't consider them as MAL friends. Ah, special mention to @_Ghost_ who abandoned us, but I trust him completely! As for users I dislike… do people even declare who those are? I won't lie, there are some I don't like for various reasons, but I don't plan to say! But oh yeah, that @Shymander dude? Horrible! Same with Shittles @Skittles. Skittles: I see, that's how you feel about me. I understand completely /sadface How did you get into anime/manga? My story couldn’t be more cliche, really. I enjoyed cartoons as a kid and my favorite series just happened to be anime (not that I knew what that was back then) such as Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece, Sailor Moon, Shaman King, and Cardcaptor Sakura. I preferred them mostly because they had linear stories unlike serial cartoons such as Looney Tunes. I did love Teen Titans though! After growing up and dabbling in the internet scene like a pro, I randomly stumbled upon a Sailor Moon video on Youtube and realized I could rewatch all my childhood series using the platform, which is how I got back into One Piece. It took me some time to find episodes of the show because we had another name for the series in my country, but I eventually did! After that, I joined that Vegapunk forum I mentioned before and the people I met there recommended me various series to watch. I have never stopped since then! What are your hobbies outside of anime/manga and MAL? My hobbies apart from the obvious ones are… not that many actually. I like watching some live action series (such as Westworld, Game of Thrones, and A Series of Unfortunate Events), reading books and writing whenever I don't feel bored, going to the gym (not a fan of exercise unfortunately, haha), and lowkey playing games (my favorite gaming franchise is Kingdom Hearts). I am usually all over the place with things I like. I rigorously studied Japanese on my own, got to N5, and then lost motivation because I was on my own. I started writing stories, but almost none of them got completed because by then I was already thinking of something else. I love reading books, but I spend more time reading manga on my computer and forgetting said books. Etc. etc! I would try more things if I had the money. For example, I always wanted to try playing tennis, but I need a paid membership to join the only club near where I live. Even the courts are for members only! I would also like to try scuba diving at some point. I guess my hobby is to fantasize about everything that's a possibility! What do you think of MAL as a site being a moderator? Hmm, I honestly never thought about it. I think my opinion is the same as before, except now I know how hard it really is to do some things. Of course, I already knew that being a moderator is never easy since there will always be stupid people that will say whatever they want, but being one, I came to know a bit more about the other positions—especially Kineta's responsibilities. I truly believe MAL would never be the awesome place we all know if it weren't for her, and she always strives to make things work one way or another. I don't agree with her on everything, but I always understand where she's coming from. This site is a fun place that has grown immensely from the time I joined. Despite suffering from a handful of problems and bugs, MAL will always be one of the coolest places for anime or manga fans. I have stayed on this site for more than 10 years, so this opinion comes as no surprise, haha. However, I do think certain aspects still have room for improvement. Most of the time, us moderators don't even make the decisions directly, and no decision will ever be liked by everyone. I can only hope MAL grows even more and caters to its users better, even if some people won't agree to that! Tell us more about your beloved turtle companion Bob from @neekoneko First of all, Bob is the cutest thing to ever exist! My best friend gave him to me for my birthday present because she knew turtles are my favorite animal. Since then, I have been taking good care of him! He has his own aquarium in my room and he’s grown to 12 cm long in less than a year :D Obviously, he makes no noise, but he always notices me and sits obediently when I pet his head! I am trying to control his food intake so he won’t get too big, but he is always in the mood to eat… ALWAYS. His nails have also grown and they tend to stab me whenever I take him out to play (by "play" I mean “let him walk all over the floor or even me!”). Unfortunately, I don’t think I can keep him forever because he will need more living space as he grows bigger. I was planning on handing him over to a natural park, but I heard they don’t handle turtles well so my hopes rest on some random kind stranger I hope to find in the future. But until then... As one of the longest-serving members of the Review Moderator team, what advice would you give to future candidates? First and foremost, REALLY think about it before applying. Unfortunately, we are known as the cursed position because up until the last batch of moderators, almost everyone left right away! Thankfully, our last batch has been the sole exception, but I am still concerned for future mods! Be sure you have enough time to handle the responsibilities and that you really want it! Other than that, you should study the review/recommendation rules and agree with all of our guidelines (obviously). The “job” can get tiring fast, so you need to care about people and what they write as to not burn yourself out! As a side-note, enthusiasm is great, but flexibility is even greater; excessive opinions might not work well when working in a team or when things can’t change (fun fact: it’s usually me that argues the most for change). My final advice would be to not be intimidated by our silent IRC channel! We are all in it together, but often we remain silent. I promise you though we are great people! What are the best and worst things about being a Review Moderator? Two things come to mind as the best things about the job. First, it feels great to be able to remove terrible reviews and recommendations yourself. This is why I initially wanted to apply for the position since troll reviews annoy me to no end. And second, the warm feeling you get after helping out or at least had a civilised conversation with a user. It feels nice explaining to someone when they are willing to listen and understand—with “thank you” being the greatest bonus! The third best thing is that you get to meet a lot of awesome new people in the staff team! The worst part is when people don’t want to understand you at all. I mostly laugh it off, but it really sucks when someone just wants to undermine, insult, blame, or accuse you of abuse when you’re just doing your job. Unfortunately, this will happen often and you’ll expect it to happen, which is a shame. Although those random replies that solely include insults only make my day better! Another bad thing is how the queue is seemingly endless, haha. After working for prolonged periods, you may feel distant to everything you're reading, and that’s when you know a break is required; if you become too desensitized, you’ll more likely be unable to differentiate between what's right or wrong. Adding to that, really looooong reviews with vague report reasons also make you want to run away! Do you have any favorite reviewers in MAL? I have asked myself that question numerous times, but I don’t think I do. There are recurring names I see often and I know I can trust them more, but nothing too definite. I think part of this is because I am so used to reading reviews that I eventually forgot to read them for my own cause (and not because I have to). But if I had to answer, I’d say it’s myself, mwahahaha (I am joking, unfortunately I do know I am mediocre /sadviolin). Which is harder to moderate? Reviews or recommendations? It’s a hard question. I am more used to dealing with reviews, but occasionally there are those hard submissions that I have to stop and think about or ask for help. Recommendations are tricky because sometimes I am not sure how to implement the changes I want despite knowing what to do. So it really depends, but I think reviews are a tad easier to moderate because I am less doubtful of them in general. Share us your experience meeting with Kineta and Cloudy in your home country. What were some of the highlights? Ah yes, the meeting! Kineta was thinking of visiting my country, so I jumped at the opportunity of welcoming her! She was so happy to see a familiar face! This was back when we didn’t talk much to each other, but were always on good terms. To be perfectly honest, I was really nervous because I’ve never been a “guide” to anyone, much less for a place that isn’t my hometown and to someone that isn’t a local. Because of this, I proposed to bring Cloudy along with us. The day she arrived, I planned to go to the airport and greet her, but of course I had to get sick… I was half-sleeping the entire day. Either way, she wanted to know the city better than any other tourist, so Cloudy and I took her around to various places such as my favorite pastry shop! We walked around, visited archaeological places, introduced her to my best friend, and ate delicious food! She also spent some time alone with Cloudy since on the weekend that I wanted to invite her to my home, I suddenly had to work :’( I know Cloudy took her to some more traditional places, so overall she spent some quality time with us! All in all, those few days were perfect! We talked about various stuff, about MAL, about the country, about us, etc. It was all so fun! I had always pictured Kineta as a strict lady, but she was so friendly, calm, and funny! I developed a whole new perspective about her. Also, she gave me biscuits from her place, isn’t that nice? Rumor has it that your hair has a colorful history. Care to elaborate? Haha, I wouldn’t say it has that much of a history, really. I am a natural brunette who believed for the longest time that I would never dye my hair, but one day that all changed! I always found my hair to be plain since most people have the same hair color as I do, so the more I thought about dying my hair, the closer I got to doing it! I dislike blonde because it was equally boring, but I have always loved red! So then, my best friend dyed it for me; the color wasn’t intense, which is how I prefered it back then. As time passed, I wanted my hair to be a brighter red, so I started visiting different hair salons to get what I wanted. Unfortunately, my hair is a bit difficult to work with, so the results are generally underwhelming. From then on I had red hair, but then I wanted it to be something else, which was… fuchsia! Unfortunately, I would have to bleach my hair, and I didn’t want to do that since my hair quality isn’t the greatest. Some hairdressers told me it might be possible without bleaching, but it never happened. So after many disappointments, I finally went through with it! I made an appointment to bleach and dye my hair! I got the fuchsia I wanted and an awesome haircut, but sadly it didn't last long. They had to mix the red and pink dyes together and my hair color became much redder than I anticipated. Well, I wasn’t too sad about it, and my hair at least was still intact. In the end, I was able to do what I wanted, and now I am back to having bright red hair (or at least, bright enough). Any plans to start learning Japanese again? The feeling when everyone knows I’ve been extremely lazy about it. For anyone who doesn’t know me, I am a HUGE procrastinator. I am the type of person who (unless I start and finish something right away) will wait until the final day to complete a task (you should have seen my school days). That means my plans are really vague, because I REALLY want to continue, but I don’t work well under my own free will when it comes to things like these, haha. Learning on my own became a bit boring, and although I want to start again, I keep thinking of the revisions I would have to do. I only have to make the first step to start getting into a rhythm, but you know, it’s very easy to distract myself when I am on my laptop! I have also been recommended sites to meet Japanese speakers and practice the language, but I won’t lie, I am shy as heck! I don’t think I could ever do that. Why is Pandora Hearts the best manga ever and why is it a fact? BECAUSE I SAY SO! And because it just is! Who tries to explain a fact?! A fact is just a fact! But okay, I’ll concede and try to give a suitable answer. Pandora Hearts interested me from the get-go because of its themes and artstyle. The manga has often been compared to Alice in Wonderland because of its mysterious aura and background story. The mangaka put her own spin on the classic tale and managed to create an intriguing world filled with interesting characters. But what kept me reading was how well she handled the mystery: events were unpredictable most of the time and the story flowed effortlessly until the end. To be honest, it has been some time since I finished the series, so I don’t remember every small detail. However, I will always remember how the story tends to leave me thinking about something for so long, only for the tables to turn and reveal a whole new side to it! It’s rare for a series to be able to conceal such a mystery for so many volumes and keep you guessing on how it will really end. Pandora Hearts was truly marvelous to read, and it’s currently the only manga which I own every volume for. This would have been a good time to know Japanese because the Japanese volumes cost WAY less, but I digress. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery and, most of all, appreciates a beautiful Victorian setting! As an avid user of the internet, would you say the medium has positively impacted your life overall? My views on the internet are too biased to be able to answer this objectively. On one hand, I am an introvert so the internet could pretty much give me 24/7 entertainment; I ended up using it a WHOLE LOT while disregarding the other less interesting aspects of my life. On the other hand, maybe if I had less access to it, I could be doing more things I want to do but don’t have the motivation for? I really don’t know. I don’t regret the time I spent online because it allowed me to meet various people, visit various places, learn new things, and have lots of fun. I do think I may be too addicted to it though, haha. Considering I am also a very lazy person, the internet is an eternal trap for me! So... it definitely has some positive impacts, but negative ones too (but I don’t want to admiiiiit it). How do you think the MAL community sees you? Truthfully? They don’t see me, haha. I don’t use the forums much, I am not on Discord, and I am not great at keeping conversations alive. Most people likely don’t even know I exist. I tend to lurk in the shadows for most things too, so yeah… :’( That changed a bit though with our April Fool’s prank this year! I got to be a director for the greatest ANIME ever made and received some fame, although most have probably forgotten me by now, haha. Despite that, I think that everyone in the community that at least knows me by name probably has a neutral or good opinion of me (people complaining about their reviews/recs removed don’t count, okay?!) because I don’t say too much to leave a negative impression. I always try to get along with everyone, so I think they get my good intentions. But hey, there is no such thing as bad publicity! What do you think about the site's community in general? I am a lazy lurker, so I can’t say I have a solid opinion. However, I think our community suffers most from something many people experience online: jumping on the opinions of others way too fast in order to denigrate them. Usually when I check the “Current Events” board (surprisingly, this is a primary source of news for me), I see people getting heated up so fast, which is just sad. Of course, similar things also happen in other boards; sometimes episode/chapter discussions can be very interesting to read, haha. That being said, many people thankfully have the good sense to avoid the bad aspects of the forums! In general, I think our community is decent. We certainly have our problems, but that is natural since we are all different people. I mean, we have survived all this time, haven’t we? :D Could you recommend us three members who we can choose from to interview next and briefly explain why they would be interesting candidates? I suppose I can, but I am not entirely sure who has been interviewed since there have been so many already! I’ll say @neekoneko first because she has done a splendid job with MAL Rewrite and being one of those responsible for bringing the club back to life. @Naruleach is next because she is the grammar nazi of our heart! And finally @Ana because she has also done a great deal for MAL Rewrite (and because I don’t really know many people outside of the mods that anyone would care about, so… hehe). End of the interview |
_Ako_Aug 17, 2018 11:21 PM
| @Maffy I-I see how it is... f-f-fine, it's not like I ever liked you either >:((( |
| Giving me the short end of the stick, eh? I see how it is, "buddy". |
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| Don't let her niceness fool you! She's mean ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) |
| Someone like @Maffy has way too many posts. Spammers like her should never be considered as potential interviewees!!1 Maffy said: Unfortunately, my hair is a bit difficult to work with Almost... almost like... your hair.. is part of you..., which is why... it's so difficult... to work with. Huehuehue. Joking aside (for now), this is another really nice interview. We're more alike than you think, Maffy! |
 staff.applications ▼ guidelines.faq ▼ report.abuse ▼ thx.skittles ▼ thx.kina ▼ [H+] ³ ▼ |
| @Shymander and @Skittles <3 You get what you deserve, hohoho! @Ardanaz I'm a lovable person, you are just a pervert! No wonder you think I'm mean! Look, even your post count starts with "69" >:/ @cyruz *coughs violently* ALIKE! ALIIIKE! Pls, grumpy old man! PLS! ( <3 ) Thank you for the opportunity, Skittles <: It was fun! Even though MAL decided to commit suicide and ruin my glorious moment! |
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Maffy said: @Ardanaz I'm a lovable person, you are just a pervert! No wonder you think I'm mean! Look, even your post count starts with "69" >:/ You're the one turning the number 69 into something lewd ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) |
| @Unconcerned D'awww <3 Turtles are the best really. But so high maintenance! And it's funny, cause after the interview (which, as mentioned, was completed before MAL broke down) I finally commited myself to the fact that Bob is Bobette, a girl! She was the greatest turtle <3 I had to give her away around a week ago cause of some circumstances T^T But now she's living in a nice reptile park! And staying unseen does have its perks really :^) But it's sometimes sad when no one ever mentions you, boo. |
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Cybertron said: See Maffy nothing wrong with lurking in the shadows, they will never know when you will be able to strike. Fufufu (¬‿¬) That's true :^) Ehehehe. |
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| Long live Maffy and Bob. Saving MAL reviews since... 2016? 2015? I can't remember when MAL introduced review mods. |
LoneWolf said: @Josh makes me sad to call myself Canadian. |
Josh said: 2014 :3 Though we were recruited since 2013 :D I have 4 years under my belt :^)Long live Maffy and Bob. Saving MAL reviews since... 2016? 2015? I can't remember when MAL introduced review mods. Bobette ftw <3 |
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Maffy said: I can't believe it's been that long. I may need to get a life.Josh said: 2014 :3 Though we were recruited since 2013 :D I have 4 years under my belt :^)Long live Maffy and Bob. Saving MAL reviews since... 2016? 2015? I can't remember when MAL introduced review mods. Bobette ftw <3 |
LoneWolf said: @Josh makes me sad to call myself Canadian. |
Josh said: Maffy said: I can't believe it's been that long. I may need to get a life.2014 :3 Though we were recruited since 2013 :D I have 4 years under my belt :^) Bobette ftw <3 Doesn't MAL provide the BEST life? No need to think much, just let MAL take over~~~ |
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Maffy said: Josh said: I can't believe it's been that long. I may need to get a life. Doesn't MAL provide the BEST life? No need to think much, just let MAL take over~~~ How do you think the MAL community sees you? Truthfully? They don’t see me, haha. I don’t use the forums much, I am not on Discord, and I am not great at keeping conversations alive. Most people likely don’t even know I exist. Irony? |
 If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ Let him be accursed O Lord, Amen! |
| @Johan Ha, it's basically what I meant with wallflower before :P I'm more of a lurker :D |
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