Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone.

If it's any consolation, I don't have nearly the responsibilities that running NG must throw out, but I'm in the same boat. Too much going on with too many other things depending on each other and little to show for it in the end. I think it's part of moving into the "professional arena" and heading into our 30s.

I miss the days when I could submit a few movies to NG every year and get excited each time. Checking in repeatedly to read the reviews and see what scores I would receive or if I'd get an award. Making other Flash animator friendsand learning from each other. I haven't had time to make anything for NG in a long time and it's unfortunate. But, I owe a lot to where I am now and where I am headed thanks to the practice I got via NG and the benefits of this community. That being said, I still stop by here a few times a week to at least read the news posts.

You (and everyone who has helped you) have made a great thing and even if much of the media doesn't know it, lots of the people who would really matter to you do.

At 6/14/07 07:57 PM, TomFulp wrote: It started off so fast and loose, making games and launching features in such rapid succession. Then the games got bigger and the features more complex, and nothing could be done quickly anymore. Good ideas can no longer just be tossed into the mix like they once were, they have to wait until the other good ideas are finished, even if it takes months... or years.

Thats the future for ya. Isnt it just grand? (sarcasim)

I always new this day would come....

It's nice to hear that you were relaxed a bit in your honeymoon.

I hope you fulfill your dreams, and keep on moving on.

I enjoy every bit of news about the new redesign. It sounds so good. From the new and improved look and feel of the website, user-pages, to the change of our current reviewing system.

Good luck Tom!

Tom, we will support you :)

At 6/15/07 01:07 AM, gumOnShoe wrote: True story, it was a kitchen. Took untill I was up later than my parents to be able actually come on regularly. Even if it was just a NSFW warning rating system run by users...

Want to know how my parents took Newgrounds? They find the NSFW stuff humorous. In fact, they referred me to some porn sites.

I even showed them Meatspin, and they thought it was so funny that they had to tell their friends.

At 6/15/07 01:56 AM, supyohos123 wrote:

At 6/15/07 01:07 AM, gumOnShoe wrote: True story, it was a kitchen. Took untill I was up later than my parents to be able actually come on regularly. Even if it was just a NSFW warning rating system run by users...

Want to know how my parents took Newgrounds? They find the NSFW stuff humorous. In fact, they referred me to some porn sites.

I even showed them Meatspin, and they thought it was so funny that they had to tell their friends.

Goddammit, my point is that there are those few who can go along with it, but I agree with the NSFW thing.

Wow Tom, you come back from your honeymoon all depressed and such... Hey, cheer up life has a way of taking you through many twists and turns and yeah, you realize that things can't be done as easily as they could back then, but that's life and in the end you'll know that everyone you know and loved. Knew that you pushed yourself to the limit just to satisfy your fan and even if it seemed the hated you on the inside they all still loved you for yourself and what you've created... "Newgrounds"

~Reaperyami

Take a step back and look at what you've accomplished -- not just for yourself or for Newgrounds, but for the entire industry. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people -- artists, musicians, programmers, and even people like me -- now have the ability to follow their dreams in an industry that you pioneered and have contributed tremendously to.

As someone who works at another Flash portal mentioned in that same article, I'd just like to give credit where it is due and say "thank you." You should be proud.

I hope Newgrounds makes bigtime someday...

At 6/15/07 02:13 AM, GregLoire wrote: Take a step back and look at what you've accomplished -- not just for yourself or for Newgrounds, but for the entire industry. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people -- artists, musicians, programmers, and even people like me -- now have the ability to follow their dreams in an industry that you pioneered and have contributed tremendously to.

This is true, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out that a lot of his stress comes from seeing how many dreams he is making into reality for so many other people, and yet this pursuit is keeping him from many of his own. Twelve years of putting everyone before himself is a very long time, even for a selfless person.

Wow. I never post on the forums, yet this made me want to. What you need to remember, and I mean this in the best way possible, is that we don't care. Newgrounds could stay this way forever and we still wouldn't get bored with it. We don't expect much from you, so we entertain ourselves. I assume that we want things epic and great made within any amount of time, no matter how long. Of course, I could be wrong and all we want is pico 2 and any in-house content no-matter how crappy it is. So even if you do feel you have to get everything done as fast as possible no matter the quality I'm sure we'd be fine with that too. My point is, you have nothing to worry about as far as far as letting us down.

At 6/15/07 01:23 AM, someone-else wrote:

At 6/14/07 07:57 PM, TomFulp wrote: It's VERY CLOSE.

FUCK YEAH!!!

Agreed.

Really though Tom, how many people can say they've come anywhere close to doing what you've done? : )

Proper recognition aspects aside, you've made quite a name for yourself. Of the people that actually make it through college, a majority have to work a crappy desk job that has nothing to do with their interests. And to make it worse, there's no attention involved with that. No one cares about Joe Schmo the software programmer. There are thousands others just like him. But you- you've been able to create a fully functioning business from a fan site that you built yourself. A business where you have your own office building and actually get to pay other people to do what they like too. You create video games for millions to play, and travel the country because of it. And sure, sites like youtube and myspace get the buzz attention, but I don't know a single person involved in the flash community that hasn't heard of Tom Fulp.

Of course it's going to become overbearing/frustrating at times, but would you have it any other way? Would you trade it all in for a simple office job? Of course not. That's not challenging or intriguing. ANYONE can do that, but you've navigated a path that few truly can. And you know it's all been worth it.

Oh yeah, and your wife is hot. But that's just what I hear from Stamper ;)

:'( You made me cry.

I'm really excited about all this as I've always been really dedicated to Newgrounds, but I've started losing interrest as last two years went. A lot of things have gotten really repetitive, especially on the BBS. I don't need to tell you how impatient I am about thew re-design and how impatient I am to find out how's Newgrounds going to grow in the next years.

This article is therefore pretty wierd. I like how they quoted a bunch of newcomming website such as Youtube and Myspace, which didn't exist a few years ago, and introduced one of the internet's most important Flash website since 2000 as it just came out. But well, publicity is publicity, hopefully this arcticle by itself gives Newgrounds and all the team behind it a boost.

I also enjoy how Newgrounds' such a big part of your life, Tom, and I'm really glad everything worked so well so far.

Therefore to your says, I'm repeteting myself, but I'M really impatient to see what's going to happen on Newgrounds in the upcomming months, and can only forsee great stuff.

Dont be down on yourself buddy, look back on achievments during these kind of times.
Good Luck.

At 6/14/07 11:55 PM, MindChamber wrote: Sorry to so you're so frustrated Tom.

I think you should starting firing people.

I'd Start with Stamper.

Oh my!

Tom, you know you have Newground's community's full support. Don't quit now.

At 6/14/07 08:28 PM, ZekeySpaceyLizard wrote: Basically: Your website is overflowing with talent whom I'm sure would be more than happy to help you or work for you and all that good shit. While not everyone on this site falls into the "neutral-good" category, I'm willing to bet 90% or more are grateful this place exists. Grateful enough to help you make you dreams come true. </disney moment>

I perfectly agree with ZSL. The amount of "unused" talent on this site is almost a waste. Sure, people contribute to the site while having fun, meaning making flash/audio. But I belive, just like ZSL that there are alot of people who, if given the chanse, gladly would help out with the more administrative parts of the site. What I'm talking about is, to begin with, the mod-team. If it was more clear whom users could turn to when having some sort of problem (i.e. not having to turn to you and Wade in the first place), I think this would clear up alot more time for you guys to actually work with the site. Because that seem to be your issue, not having enough time to do what you feel like doing, since you have to maintain what's already up.
Of course moderators would have to be given more priviledges, but with a proper "chain of command" I think this would help out alot. What these "priviliedges" (read; extra work, but fun work:) would be, only you guys (staff) could and should decide.

I'm sure you guys already have spoken about this, but this is what I remember from when I was rather new to the forums (not the site, been hanging out here since 99, no matter what my sign-up date says:) and had some kind of issue, I didn't know where to turn.

I may be completley wrong here, but try to locate the main problem that steals time, and take care of it! In the long term, I think that could be worth it.

"don't worry be happy" and so on. You seem to have alot of real life friends who support you, a wife, family, and a HUGHE internet community. I hope you get over the whole feeling blue thing, that alone is the biggest creativity-killer and time stealer of all. Reflecting is important, opening up to other people is also an important step of moving forward and maintaining mental balance.

We're here on the site because we love it, we love it's free content, services and the community. NG is a great thing, I'm glad EDGE at least understood this!

I can totally understand how you feel Tom, but I got to say; you're doing an awesome job. Why don't you hire some people to do parts of your job for you? I think you should take some more time for yourself, and for April offcourse.

Must be tough having thousands are possibly more people aching you for something bigger then you can possibly give in one fast scoop. It's been a rough few years with the excitement and promises of something that could truly change this place for the greater good. That little recognition right there was the icing on the cake I believe. You act too happy for your own good Tom, it's nice to see you actually telling people how this big change is making you feel. Having such a big responsibility on your damn shoulders is enough of a reason to tell people what's really going on.

You and your team work rather hard to keep the majority of the site (being mostly kids really) happy. The redesign is gonna be freakin sweet and will be all worth it in the end.

You need a drink or two I say. Sure, a lot of the magazines over here in the states over look Newgrounds and look at other sites like the ones you mentioned and I know it hurts down inside of you when you see another myspace or youtube article instead of one about you or Newgrounds. Maybe it's that you are looking in the wrong places for recognition of others instead of looking back on YOUR site and viewing the flash in the portal that are tributes to you and the site. Look in the forums sometimes and you'll see posts of users, some from other countries in the world, making topics and posts saying how greatful they are that you created Newgrounds and that it exists today, I sure am.

Many magazines and t.v. programs don't shine light on Newgrounds and it is a damn shame. This is a great site with great people who are filled with talent who deserve to become something better with the work they have made. Don't feel down and out Tom because you're a great man who has made one of, if not, the best site on the internet and pretty much has created most of what is on the internet today. I doubt you're like me, not caring if someone recognizes the hard work you've done aslong as you recognize it and say to yourself 'Damn, I've done a good job with what I've done and I just keep getting better at it.', because it does hurt at times when you don't get a 'good job' or a 'thanks' for all the efforts that you've done.

But Tom, you HAVE created an awesome site and you are an awesome admin. You care about your users and answer pretty much every PM and email you get from them. You do what you can to help out other flash artists on the site and you're always coming up with great ideas for it. You just need some time to yourself and share some of the weight of your work with others before you get crushed underneath it, or that's how I view it. I'm sure your current admins and staff members would be more than willing to take on some more weight to make it easier on you.

So don't feel down about other sites getting the spotlight instead of yours. Before you know it people with realize the site of the age they've been over looking and regret it. Just look at your site and the thousands of users who are greatful that this site exists and what it has become today.

Well, what can you expect :)

By not going the corporate route you've suffered the plight of only having so many talented, creative people under your belt and only so much room for production. Perhaps it's time to get recruiting from the NG community? Get some freelancers going and outsource projects? I've had the feeling for the past few years that although I hate big corporations, NG has to make some decisions regarding its expansion if it's going to compete with the kinds of sites that it inspired (like YouTube).

Either way you have maintained the greatest Flash portal on the web, and I never have and never will go anywhere else. I've always had faith in you (since 1999 :) ), and look forward to the future. There's no need to get worried.

Tom I wouldn't worry about it...seriously, newgrounds is going to get insanely huge in the future as youtube and other sites die down...people will get tired of just watching and will want to start creating.

Dude you created newgrounds...do you have any idea how many people grew up and are growing up on this site? This site dominated my childhood... it made me want to start creating things....it made me realize it was OK to not follow the norm.. and it didn't make you a freak if you had a different sense of humor than others..

anyway... can't wait for the site update lol..

NEWGROUNDS NEWGROUNDS NEWGROUNDS

WOOOO WOOOOOO WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

GO NEWGROUNDS ITS YA BIRTHDAY
WE GONNA PARTY LIKE ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY
PLAY FLASH GAMES ON YOU LIKES ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY
AND WE DUNT GIVE A FUCK COS ITS YOUR BIRFDAY

I don't know about you Tom, but I think it's pretty much time to hire some new staff members.

At 6/15/07 06:12 AM, JMartin97 wrote: Tom I wouldn't worry about it...seriously, newgrounds is going to get insanely huge in the future as youtube and other sites die down...people will get tired of just watching and will want to start creating.

the thing about that is that video is a more accessible medium then flash, hence why youtube is so successful..
it is much easier to make a short film then it is a flash cartoon or game.

At 6/14/07 07:57 PM, TomFulp wrote: Underneath the smiles and positive attitude, I'll admit I've been in a bad mood lately.
But anyway, back to my own self-pity. What's especially crushing is all the projects that remain yet unfinished. Newgrounds is like 10 years behind schedule from where it's supposed to be right now. It started off so fast and loose, making games and launching features in such rapid succession. Then the games got bigger and the features more complex, and nothing could be done quickly anymore. Good ideas can no longer just be tossed into the mix like they once were, they have to wait until the other good ideas are finished, even if it takes months... or years. Other console games can't happen until Castle Crashers is done. Other web games can't happen until Pixel Puncher is done. Nothing on the site can happen until the redesign is done. Meanwhile, new ideas keep bubbling up every day. I don't know what to do about it so I just get mad about it and loath myself.

Yeah, but what you have to remember is that there are a thousand and one Flash developers and artists out there, ranging in skills from mediocre to awe-inspiring, who will always be thankful for the attention, feedback, exposure and opportunities opened up for them by NG. And a lot of the core of NG, the Flashers, appreciate that a project, whether it be a game, an animation, or a site feature, can (and usually does) take a lot longer than expected.

I agree with you on the underexposed bit, though. It astonishes me how many people in the gamemaking scene are aware of sites like Miniclip and eBaums, but have never heard of the site that started it all, and is still the most diverse and I'm guessing the biggest (in terms of terabytes) Flash site on the web. I guess it lies in the branding and distribution of games and movies - if you slapped the NG logo on a few of the greatest NG submissions and pumped them out to all the Flash portals/sites on the web, maybe even offered them for download, people might become more aware. Personally, I love NG just as it is, but it does suck that it's not more known.

Hopefully things will come together and NG will get more of the recognition it deserves.

We're gonna make it after aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall.

At 6/15/07 06:23 AM, madknt wrote:

At 6/15/07 06:12 AM, JMartin97 wrote: Tom I wouldn't worry about it...seriously, newgrounds is going to get insanely huge in the future as youtube and other sites die down...people will get tired of just watching and will want to start creating.

the thing about that is that video is a more accessible medium then flash, hence why youtube is so successful..
it is much easier to make a short film then it is a flash cartoon or game.

Which means it's easier to create a crap video and place it on a site with no standards. Any idiot can make a video and post it on YouTube.

It takes a while to get used to flash, and some people, like myself, are never happy with what they make in flash and don't bother submitting it. You have to make something very good to make any impact on the site, it's not good enough to simply submit the first thing that comes into your head, then sketched down as fast as possible. A lot of the videos YouTube are just half-baked stupidity.