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How do you get your writing so bright?

At 6/15/07 03:12 PM, Mr-Money wrote: First off, the problem with NG certainly should not be you having too much work to do. Once the redesign comes out, what is there to do? The site, as said, is self sufficient. It runs itself! Your only job should be making in-house content and handig out monthly prizes. I can't actually understand what else there is in your work life.
So just leave NG on its own to rake in the cash, whilst you work on Behemoth games.

I'm not wanting to get into an argument here, and I'll freely admit that I have no business sense, but the reason that NG is loved by the community we have (in particular, the Flashers, but also the BBS users, stat-whores, etc) is because we know that Tom takes the time to listen (although he may not always respond), and he truly cares more about the well-being and fair treatment of the Flash artists and regulars, more than he does about making money. That's where NG differs from pretty much every other big Flash site on the web, and that's what, in my opinion, makes it great. Leaving the site to run itself, as you say, would be easy, but the site's creator wants to make it a better place, not just some faceless Flash portal.

As for becoming dominant on the Internet, you've made mistakes in the past and I'm not sure what you can really do to make a "comeback" now. The biggest reasons why Newgrounds in its current state will not excel is the fact that you only host Flash, and a lot of the content is tailored towards the nerdy part of society - the gaming oriented crowd.

I disagree totally here, there's no reason at all why a solely Flash (although you should probably check out the talent in the Audio Portal sometime) site can't stand alongside some of the big boys in terms of entertainment sites on the web. Hell, the Alexa standings prove that NG is a massively popular site, and unlike some of the Flash sites ranked higher, pretty much all of the content is original.
The biggest reason why Newgrounds is not that well-known, is that the critics (read: failed artists/writers) don't like it - whether for the fact that it's non-PC or NSFW, or whatever, NG doesn NOT get the reviews and recognition, and therefore the publicity, that it deserves.
As for catering to nerds - blah, since when was it only nerds that play games? Internet users who spend more than a couple of hours a day online, do they count as nerds? Also, most of the submissions on the top 50 aren't games, they're animations, and everyone loves watching cartoons on TV, right?

For example, you have a game on the home page that boasts some form of "physics". Even console release games don't talk about the game engine. People are simply going to see the word "physics" and make numerous assumptions about the site, and why it doesn't mean anything to them.

No, but they'll happily boast about 3D environments and real-time rendering, which equates to the same thing. We're not console game developers, on the whole. We've learnt the skills to create a cool game, and Tom, as a game developer himself, appreciates those that have reached a milestone in their development career. The kind of people that judge a site based on a word such as 'physics' in a game description on the front page are few and far between, and if it disturbs them that much, they should probably seek psychiatric help.

With that said, you're going to have to focus on strengths that cannot be copied or immitated on other sites. Right now, you can boast the fact that you have the most Flash content on the web. A site like YouTube SIMPLY CANNOT COPY ALL YOUR CONTENT, since they're a corporation. They have strict copyright restrictions. They're simply not going to be able to get copyright permission from the hundreds of successful Flash designers on this site.

Agreed, if there's one thing that NG definitely excels at, it's original content

And while you're at it, why not hop on the casual game bandwagon. Have daily sudoku, brain training, simple games. Not many people want to play a full length adventure game on the net. They want quick simply stuff to pass time. That content should be pushed to the forefront of the home page. and for God's sake, advertise it in an appealing manner.

Kind of agree with this, there's definitely a place for NG-grown classic, short, play-at-work games. Personally, I can't stand Sudoku in Flash, it only works on paper for me, but there should possibly be more emphasis on/permanent links to addictive viral games

And from a technical standpoint, make the icons on the home page bigger, have more big pictures and less words, use a white background.

WHITE? GTFO

Is it possible that Newgrounds gets overlooked because the media doesn't know that it hosts original content by artists who seek it out, and that it's not another Ebaumsworld.com content-hoarding thief site?

If there's anything Newgrounds needs to make public, it's probably that. The Portal is what sets it apart.

One of the best articles i've read around here compared to some of the spam i've been reading in some BBS posts! Once the redisign hits, its gonna be like you said a hit or miss..it'll change Newgrounds forever or it will stay the same and live in its misery..Good luck to us all!

Yeah, hopefully this "redisgn" will change alot of things including bringing in a larger population of NGrounders. I personally can't wait, Tom youre doin great.

At 6/15/07 07:23 PM, jamesyboy wrote: How do you get your writing so bright?

shutup.

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

<Insert Drama Music Here.>

Tom you're awesome but seriously can you just say what month the update will be available? span of 3 months?

I want to know how much time I have to work on my next submission.

At 6/15/07 10:15 AM, CrimsonEdge wrote:

At 6/15/07 10:12 AM, CaptainBob wrote: {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Tom}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Gayest thing you've ever done.

You're just jealous because I've huggled Tom IRL.

At 6/15/07 10:27 AM, Maus wrote: pffffffffffffft. HARDLY.

what's that supposed to mean :p

great job best speech of the year i'll be looking forward to castle crashers

Dammit Tom!!! This Site has Come a LOOONG way since I first seen it back in '03, sure as hell sounds like you are suffering from burn out or some damn thing. May be you are planning to many projects at one time. . This site is the best fucking site i have ever been to.Let every one else bitch and complain, you and your crack team of.. whatever they is, are doing a Damn Fine Job. New grounds is the place I come to take the edge off, whether it be a shitty day at work , or an argument with the little lady, or some type of dissappointment, I hop on Newgrounds to cool off. Newgrounds also has a Kick ass Forum Community, sure there is a few wise asses(CrimsonEdge, Zenn444, etc.) here and there but they make it interesting.

NEWGROUNDS OWNS PERIOD

Doug J.
a.k.a. blamurai

Hire some more interns cheaply so that they can work on small projects for you and get experience themselves...

Just don't hire females if stamper is around with his cock jokes or you'll be in court. :p

Good luck on improving Newgrounds, Tom. I'll stay here, you can always ask me for a pat on the back. =]

I also have a Question, who's the dude in charge of the servers, I am learning about that shit right now... And I would like to ask the guy a few questions about managing servers and what not, I am trying to become a Systems Admin.

Don't worry things that spark interest in the UK always hit the US about a year after, its the same with everything, clothes, music, technology

At 6/14/07 07:57 PM, TomFulp wrote:

I just can't express how GOOD it feels to read that in a major publication. I've always hoped WIRED would wake up one day and write something like this, but it's starting to feel like I'll need to hire a PR team to get their attention.

Why would you give a flying fig about WIRED? Judging from the articles i've seen there,
the editorial staff and/or the reporters who write for them take a short bus to work.

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.

Some things take time, Tom. Keep plugging away and it should turn out alright.

You better not release the redesign while I'm in Japan.

At 6/16/07 11:25 AM, RyanKajito wrote: You better not release the redesign while I'm in Japan.

dont worry. japan isnt too ahead of us in electronics. i think they just might still have computers there.

and tom, dont worry bout it. take yur time. relax a little. ng is always awesome

huzzah! NG needs some recognition.

At 6/14/07 07:57 PM, TomFulp wrote: I'm just trying to be uplifting and get everyone excited.

Yeah.... really.... uplifting.....

At 6/16/07 01:36 AM, CaptainBob wrote: You're just jealous because I've huggled Tom IRL.

Just because Stamper has been inside Tom doesn't mean you hugged tom :X

i'm just posting. dunno why

At 6/14/07 08:27 PM, TomFulp wrote: BTW, sorry for being so emo. What can I say... Been feeling emo. I also remind myself that the stuff we're working on wouldn't be so cool if we weren't all so hard on ourselves. I'll get happy now.

To, everybody feels emo sometime, this sounds a little harsh but it works for me.
Just think about other people who have worser problems, that is a little sadectic, but I always feel better if I think about that, you dont have the biggest problems.
And just think about your fans, newgrounds fans.
They all care about you and the site, you are not alone. ( woah, I sound like dr Phil, hooray )

NG has always been and still is number 1 PERIOD
I'm glad that you get some upright attention

At 6/16/07 04:35 AM, blamurai wrote: I also have a Question, who's the dude in charge of the servers, I am learning about that shit right now... And I would like to ask the guy a few questions about managing servers and what not, I am trying to become a Systems Admin.

Tim is the NG Sys Admin. PM him if you have questions.

There was a time before Tom. Before Tom there was no social security, and communism reigned supreme. Nazi's and zombies terrorized children and Hobo's governed the masses. Before Tom there was no such thing as dinosaurs and Green Day was actually a good band. God saw these horrible things happening to his world, so he sent his son to fix them. His name was Tom Brady. Tom Brady used his powers for evil. In the 1930's, the American Liberty League was formed, consisting of the worlds finest including Sean Connery, Gerald Ford, Abraham Lincoln, Batman, and The girl from Lazy Town. Founded on the principal to stop Tom Brady, they were sworn to America to dispatch and destroy not only Tom Brady, but all evil. However, in 1998 a Meteorite hit the Earth off the coast of Japan, and with it created a species so powerful and complex it threatened to destroy humanity. This is known as emergence day, the day Pokemon took over the world. This is when Tom Fulp first appeared. Armed with a Starmie, Tom became the world's first true Pokemon Master. He then defeated Tom Brady and his Snorlax, and as punishment forced him to be the star quarterback for the New England Patriots. The New millennium brought about a new threat. People of different religious and cultural backgrounds then americans. The American Liberty League thought the best way to deal with this new threat was to exterminate them. Tom Fulp lead the charge. He single handily killed Saddam Hussein, Borat, Kim Jong limwhatshisface, Hitler, and Santa Clause. Santa was a mistake.