Search KoopaTV!

Translate

Friday, September 23, 2016

Chrom Got Ousted From NSider2 (Updated 9/25/2016)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - A civil war in which neither side is preferable. Seems analogous to something.

You may recall that a lad named YoshiRider123 was once a part of KoopaTV's staff, at our founding. Now he's on our list of traitors. Why? I've explained the relationship between KoopaTV and Chrom in this long story published when we officially fired him. Basically, for one reason or another, he figured his friends (us) were holding him back, as he slowly shifted from the likable YoshiRider123 to this robotic Chrom guy. Possibly as a result of his exposure to Wario: Master of Disguise.

Holding him back from what? A forum called NSider2, the unofficial fan sequel to the Nintendo NSider Forums, which was the official web presence of Nintendo of America from the end of 2003 to September 24, 2007.

...Huh. That'll be nine years ago tomorrow.

Anyway, NSider2 was basically the biggest and most thriving/successful NSider spin-off. Obviously, that title means less today in 2016 than it did in, say, 2009. But the original NSider is where KoopaTV's current staff members all met one another, and where we established a lot of our canon, including the Enlightenment Movement. It's definitely important, at least to us and anyone who was around in the Nintendo fan scene back over a decade ago. Nowadays all of the Nintendo fan base is distributed across hundreds of different places. Back then, it was more-or-less consolidated.

YoshiRider123 became a moderator and then admin of NSider2, after years of NSider2's continuously shifting management from one set of imbeciles (such as SHRIMPKID) to the next. I suppose he was one of the last still standing. Anyway, he saw having controversial friends as a set-back, and banned us all and totally cut off ties with us. And then he became the head admin.

Well, this week, Chrom was banned from NSider2.

NSider2 forums Chrom head admin banned
Update 9/25/2016: I totally forgot to include this screenshot. It's priceless.


Yup, he was banned from the website that HE managed.

It's not... quite a revolt from the people or anything. More like, NSider2 has corporate overlords, CrowdGather, that are very hands-off. That's a really good thing when it comes to letting people shape their own destinies. It's a bad thing when NSider2 was a hotbed of malware (they fixed it by now...supposedly) and CrowdGather was doing nothing about it.

Initial reports suggested that Chrom attempted to buy out NSider2 from CrowdGather. He wanted total control over the forum, to be able to implement his agendas, whatever they were. I found those reports rather hard to believe. Unless going from YoshiRider123 to Chrom means he discovered some treasure, the dude doesn't exactly have much money.

Later, Kodiack, a respectable guy since the original NSider who was also later staff of NSider2, stated that HE was the one with the buy-out offer. That makes a lot more sense. Unfortunately, CrowdGather totally ignored him, like how Chrom ignored my attempts to contact NSider2's support e-mail asking why we got banned.

Kodiack NSider2 CrowdGather reddit post if plays along
Here is Kodiack foreshadowing this two months ago on Reddit.

Chrom apparently snapped earlier this week and declared that NSider2's community would be moving somewhere else, away from CrowdGather. He sabotaged the site through his administrative powers, and him and Kodiack then made a new website, which I won't hyperlink to avoid giving it undue attention. It's tentatively called Ninfora, which is short for “Nintendo Forums-a”. Or something.

This FINALLY got CrowdGather's attention, and they kicked Chrom and his band of traitors out. This... caused a lot of uncertainty about what the forum would do without a manager. (I hear they're still looking for fill-ins.)

KoopaTV staffer Vortexica got an exclusive response from CrowdGather's admin, in an NSider2 thread that was wondering about the future of that forum. Seriously, it's over 80 comments in this thread, and the CrowdGather guy's ONLY response is to Vortexica's post. I'd say that's worth calling this an Interview.

CrowdGather Admin response to NSider2 administration concerns
Vortexica was the only one with a “fair post”.
I'd say he's a great replacement of Chrom KoopaTV staff member, being a paragon of Fair & Balanced!
(CG Admin must HATE his avatar.)

Basically, CrowdGather believes that they never tried to engage in censorship, unlike the Chrom administration and their treatment of KoopaTV content, even in a post dot-org world. CrowdGather is being honest with folks, and I suppose a key quote is:
“Again, anyone can make a forum, and it's everyone's right. Kudos even, to anyone who wants to start a forum in a time where forums aren't as popular anymore as they used to be. It's just not okay to try and destroy another forum in the process.”

It's fun how a corporate forum owner admits forums are going downhill. I believe Chrom sees this, too, which is why he's heavily pushing a Discord channel for his new forum. ...Well, what's the point of that?

According to another respected NSider → NSider2 member whom I interviewed, KEZAY, CrowdGather (or maybe it was Chrom himself?) unbanned everyone (or most of everyone) else on NSider2 when Chrom was removed. I guess to reinvigorate the community?

KEZAY interview NSider2 Ninfora banned users unbanned
Supposedly, all those banned on NSider2 were unbanned, and Ninfora is supposed to be a wonderful new beginning.

Hey, if everyone is unbanned, then... Nope. I'm not everyone. Here's what I get when I try to log-in to NSider2:

NSider2 CrowdGather ban message forum
I contacted 'em, and nothing. I'm not surprised.

Update 9/25/2016: I have been unbanned! I WAS still on the moderator queue and having my private messages restricted, but upon having my totally passive-aggressive “welcome me back” thread approved, I pointed out that issue and they have un-restricted me. Chrom would've never even approved of the topic being made. It's clear this new administration is much more transparent. [End update]

So... The status of Ninfora, right now, is that most of the forum's content is all in one thread (“Chrom Town Square”), the general chat thread, with an off-site Discord chat presumably being the bulk of activity. Meanwhile, NSider2 has seemingly devolved into a porn-sharing site, though I will not personally attempt to confirm that with my eyes.

I don't really want either of these guys to WIN or anything. I still think Miiverse is the ultimate inheritor of NSider's legacy. Makes sense, considering they're both owned by Nintendo itself. You'd know that this type of dumb drama wouldn't happen there.

NSider had its share of cults of personalities among its administrators — and those were a big part of the fun — but this cult of personality around Chrom is dangerous. I mean... a cult of personality around a guy who has gone out of his way to shed his personality?

Adherents to that cult end up making videos like this:



Putting aside that the maker of the video forgot to put a CrowdGather logo on the wall, how does it make sense for Chrom to punch down a WALL to free people from a community that HE was in charge of, to lead them to another community that he is... still in charge of?

Whatever ended up being wrong with NSider2 was Chrom's fault. The difference between NSider2 and Ninfora is that now Chrom will not have any checks against his totalitarian insanity. I don't see it going anywhere, and I actually hope NSider2 outlasts it, though neither site wants me around. Basically, NSider2 is Bashar al-Assad, and Chrom's insurgent forces are ISIS. Though, in this case, the insurgency may actually have more numbers than the original entity, since everyone who was already sick of Chrom had left NSider2 long before this week. (Leaving... not many people left for Syria to have in its ranks, and not many for ISIS to recruit from.)

Again, everything that Chrom has complained about regarding CrowdGather — or anyone else — has been with problems that he has created, or bad behaviour that he himself has done. And he can't even see it. Sad!


Ludwig has over 500 Followers on Miiverse, though if you look through them you'll see a very large number of them are banned people. Regardless, he's a lot more comfortable there than any place ran by someone who treats controversy the way that Chrom does, so Follow Ludwig at NNID PrinceOfKoopas on Miiverse! Ludwig did not just write this article because he's mad at being banned from NSider2, but because it's a valuable case study in leadership and responsibility.


Ludwig is unpleased with a Chrom-led forum being on the side of ORDER. He's much more of a fan of CHAOS.
For a similar scenario where a leader of a bad gaming forum brought the whole thing down, see NeoGAF and Evilore.

24 comments :

  1. I never did learn what the deal with Shrimpkid was. That was during that phase of my life where I actually went outside.

    I'm surprised you're banned from Nsider2. I simply made a new account and started posting again... although I'm sad to say that no one is around anymore.

    In other words, it's not that much different from what it was like last week! I can just post again.

    Anyway, I've already infiltrated Ninfora and am interested in seeing how long it'll take Chrom to ban me again. I am, after all, already getting on his nerves by talking positively about Color Splash.

    Speaking of Ninfora, it's not even a week old and is already dead in the water. Nobody really posts there, I'm not sure what the appeal is. I may have to investigate their discord chat or something, see what they talk about there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shrimpkid was a very bad admin. I don't remember the specifics anymore, but she was very bad.

      Once I log into NSider2, I need to clear my cache in order to be able to view the forum again, since I can't log out and every page besides Contact Us says I ain't got permission.

      If I were to make a Ninfora account, I wouldn't post. No use in contributing to a place that I don't want to succeed.

      Chrom made Discord mandatory for being a staff member at Ninfora, sort of like how having AIM access is mandatory for being a KoopaTV staff member. On that note, I know full well that whatever presence Ninfora has on Discord, it is very likely where most of the activity is, not the forum.

      I know this from experience, because that's eventually how Planet Koopa's activity dropped and died. We were just all talking on AIM and not the forum, and saw little use for the forum. After all, if we wanted to talk, we could do so... INSTANTLY.

      Forums still have use (organised storage of material, long-form stuff) and that's why I use Planet Koopa as KoopaTV's Intranet now.
      HOWEVER, you see that over half of the activity on Ninfora is on Chrom Town Square, the chat thread. That basically means Ninfora is already just a general chat forum, which is unnecessary when you already have a chat on Discord or wotever. So since Ninfora's purpose is for chatting, activity will... naturally be on the dedicated chat client, not the forum.

      Delete
  2. The people who use NSider2 or Ninfora are like Myspace users; they can't move on from the past even though there is many better alternatives such as Nintendo Life. Unless they were banned from those sites (which wouldn't surprise me,) what's the point of sticking around on a dead forum?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you look, you'd see NSider2 has totally dwarfed Nintendo Life — and probably every other Nintendo forum — in activity, at least, over its lifespan. Not currently, of course.

      I just looked at NSider2 and I am unbanned. However, I'm still on the MODERATOR QUEUE (moderators must approve of everything I do before it appears publicly) from when Chrom put me there.

      I guess people are now using Ninfora to have a brighter future.

      Delete
  3. It sucks, because NSider's legacy never had a chance with the idiots that succeeded it. You'd think that the official Nintendo community, without Nintendo's involvement, would've provided the opportunity of a truly free haven for expression and opinion about Nintendo and video games, etc with the same beloved users. But that was never, ever the case.
    Instead, the idiots who were given control, made sure to run their own social club with their own idiot friends as moderators. No matter who became admin, it was always an idiot that never understood the concept of community. Instead of letting the forums thrive by and for itself, these literal retards would go and ban hordes of users just because of personal disagreement. The end result was, despite being 8 years separated from NSider's demise, a place that was EVEN MORE RESTRICTED than the official Nintendo Forums. The difference was clear: one place was ran by adults, the other: stupid children. There are many of us that spent years posting on the real Nintendo forum without a problem, only to be banned and restricted from the fake successor site because some noob kid didn't like your opinion.

    Hopefully "ninfora" (what a dumbass name) serves as containment for the wannabe-neogaf circlejerk. There is still hope for NSider to live on, but basically everyone that was alright left long ago anyways. NS2 was killed repeatedly by those in charge, to the point where there was only a handful of users left, who apparently worship some faggot named after Chrom.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Didn't think someone usin' even more hostile language than I do would show up and comment. Welcome!

      Honestly, I don't know how the forum lasted so long when every new round of management got... worse? Or at least, it was just a long line of crappy admins passing it off to crappy admins who have no idea what they're doing.

      It is rather interesting that, besides friend code sharing, NSider2 managed to become more restrictive than NSider was. I dunno how you screw that up — everyone recognised NSider's restrictions, and everyone was in agreement that we wanted less of those for a successor forum. NSider had those restrictions because they wanted an all-ages site, while NSider2 is specifically not for minors, according to CrowdGather, anyway. (Well, NSider was supposed to be for 13 and up, but, uh, everyone knows that wasn't enforced.)
      As you said, people did get away from having an inclusive, open, biggest Nintendo discussion forum to... that exclusive social club. Totally lost their way.

      To be honest, I actually don't have a negative opinion to Ninfora as a name. And I'd probably say that even if Chrom came up with it (Kodiack did).

      I still want to know how the hell exactly Chrom ended up being their leader. We worked with him on this website for a year, and he didn't do a thing.

      Thanks for your comment, Anonymous!

      Delete
    2. Well, then, I'm sure you wouldn't mind on elaborating on it. Let's say, elaborate on:

      "Hopefully "ninfora" (what a dumbass name) serves as containment for the wannabe-neogaf circlejerk. "

      Delete
    3. There's not much to elaborate on. Maybe you can elaborate on this dumb website?

      Delete
    4. I don't think the original anonymous person would say that.

      Delete
  4. Heya, Kodiack here. Stumbled across this article while reading up on some things. Very interesting read, but I'd like to clear up just a few small errors. :)

    CrowdGather didn't ban just Chrom. They ("silently") banned Pelord and me too. We have our privileges restored now, but Chrom wasn't the only one to be on the receiving end of the banhammer. Funnily enough, NSider2 may very well have been the first forum that I've ever been banned from, even temporarily - and I've been on the staff team for nearly nine years!

    CrowdGather has caused all kinds of issues and headaches. The deep-rooted issues with NSider2 didn't stem from Chrom nor from any other body of staff. We ran into countless issues related to CrowdGather's inability and/or unwillingness to resolve numerous problems that long plagued the site. The upgrade process to IPB 4 was a mess, and even once it was finished we still found ourselves dealing with awful site performance and a complete lack of attention on CG's end. There were major security problems that didn't get patched, and outdated versions of plugins and modifications left us working with software riddled with long-solved bugs. Blech.

    I am also the one that chose the name Ninfora, as you seem to have already clarified in the comments. It's a pseudo-acronym for "Nintendo Fora", but I very much want the community to be able to make it their own "thing". It's an otherwise rather hollow and unmeaning name by choice - it's up to its wonderful members to give the name value.

    Ninfora is also a fresh start for anyone and everyone. Moderation is incredibly lax and hands-off. No one has been banned yet, and I'm hopeful that no one will need to be. Anyone and everyone is welcome to (re)join the community and participate. Past history is just that: The past.

    The NSider community is one that I still hold very near and dear, and those members are the ones that Ninfora is primarily catered to. The site can grow (and I admittedly hope that it does), but providing a comfortable "home" for these users is and always will be my top priority. Old members are more than welcome, even if they've been unwelcome by staff on NSider2 or any other website.

    Lastly, I have included a link to a thread that I posted on Ninfora. This thread explains my (and the staff's) point of view on why such a transition from an otherwise dwindling forum was necessary. If this link isn't appropriate, please let me know and I can repost another comment without it.

    Ninfora's activity has honestly been quite impressive, in my opinion. The site has already eclipsed NSider2 in terms of recent activity, and the community has been livelier than I've seen it in a long time. The Discord channels see a healthy amount of activity too, so even if people aren't posting, they're still engaged and participating.

    Also, let me know if you have any questions or would like to discuss things further. Have a good one! :)

    ~Kodiack

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much for your comment, Kodiack.

      “The site has already eclipsed NSider2 in terms of recent activity”
      Well, that's an understatement. NSider2 is really dead now.

      I don't dispute any of what you said in terms of facts, but I will make a few remarks that take some issues with what you've said.

      I fully admit that in terms of security, CrowdGather was quite deficient, and that it's completely their fault. After their post-revolution post that was screenshotted for this article, they never said anything else. So... To my knowledge, CrowdGather has never made a statement as for why they waited SO LONG to fix the security malware issues. That's very bad on their part.

      However, it's a fact that Chrom was (I don't know if it's "is") a terrible moderator at NSider2, based on personal experience. Whether or not that's a "deep-rooted" issue or not is semantics, of course, but until Chrom comes over to us and has an honest conversation with us, I wouldn't trust that Ninfora is as hands-off and fresh as you claim.

      It's very nice (I mean that sincerely) that you, Kodiack, are reaching out to us. However, since Chrom is the head honcho, and he still has KoopaTV/our staffers blocked on every medium imaginable, I take that to mean he still has a grudge against us, or whatever. So we'll keep up a grudge against him until he talks with us.

      It's totally fine you included the link to the thread. I've read it, of course, which is how I came across the knowledge I wrote in the article that YOU tried to buy out NSider2 from CrowdGather, instead of Chrom himself like I initially heard. I just didn't want to hyperlink Ninfora in the article, because, y'know, grudges means I didn't want to send over traffic. But you're fine.

      Thanks again!

      Delete
  5. Does anyone remember that raid I've done on NS2? No?

    Okay...

    ReplyDelete
  6. I forgot how much NSiders loved drama. Lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a hallmark trait of an NSider!

      Delete
    2. I haven't been on NSider 2 since around 2011, but I was feeling nostalgic. I couldn't believe how dead it was! Thanks to your post though, I now know what happened. Thanks! ��

      Delete
    3. You're welcome.
      Be sure to look at Kodiack's comment right above this one too, for what's probably an even more complete story.

      Delete
  7. I used to run the NSider2 Scoop on NSider2. I ran the show starting in January of 2013 and continued to run it until March of 2015. As the podcaster for NSider2, I felt as if I got the short end of the stick. I wanted to grow and improve myself and I was never given that chance.

    I recall the day I had gotten fired from the team. Chrome messaged me on Skype calling me out for being absent. Criticizing me on something that I knew he didn't' support, watch or listen to. At the time, I had taken an absence from the site to focus on my first and newest job at the time (I still work there.) I had been on hiatus from everything and they all knew. I was fired and told to take all my content off the site as I was "failing to meet up to my promises." I had tried to explain to him but he didn't listen. He had lost someone who, later that year, when on to do some incredible things.

    Just needed to vent that out, but man...

    This is something that doesn't surprise me. He treated things so seriously. I get that running and maintaining a site is hard at times, and it costs money. However, it's not like anyone was getting paid from their jobs. I found out later on that many of my friends that I made from the team left because of being fired and or leaving due to other things happening in their lives or they were sick of being part of NSider2.

    I know very well that, at the time, I was still learning about creating content and time management. I wasn't the greatest asset of the team. It's not like I'm still upset, if anything, I'm happy that it happened because it helped me improve as a content creator. Still, it's not hard to forget that as I had been part of NSider2 for so long. It impacted my life in such a strange, yet unforgettable way.

    I'm still grateful to have been able to do what I did on there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. First of all, thank you for taking the time to tell your story/vent. We appreciate it!

      If it makes you feel any better, as mentioned before, Chrom was a staff member of KoopaTV, and as HIS boss, I can say that he contributed nothing for this site. We only fired him when he chose to outright betray us, and throughout that whole process (before, during, and after) he was never transparent with us at any point. It sounds like you were a much better worker, friend, and person with him than he ever was with us!

      You tried to explain your personal circumstances to him, and had done so before you left, as well. He never did. And technically still hasn't.

      We're glad that you managed to develop as a person and an artist from the whole experience!

      Delete
  8. I'm hearing about this for the first time ever. This kind of shocks me as someone who was there since NS1. I went under the name "Mariobro27" while I was there, but I was only like 12 when I signed up. They're not exactly times I look back on fondly. I was on Nsider for barely a few months before it shut down in 2007, and then jumped between a few forums until I landed with Nsider 2 around 2008. I think I stopped going there around 2011.

    Honestly, there were so many bullshit moments with that site over the years that I'd love to share, but I just don't know where to begin with. I am interested to know though, is there any story behind what happened with Shrimp? She was primarily the reason I left the site, as she banned me on multiple times for very minor things. When I revisited the site after Yoshirider took over, I was told that no one was allowed to share any info on it.

    And on the subject of Yoshirider, I actually spoke to him quite a bit back in the day on AIM. He seemed like a nice enough guy back then, and figured him running the site couldn't have been that bad. Guess I was wrong?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry for the time it took to reply to this. I didn't really know how to respond, 'cause your comment kinda speaks for yourself and is pretty powerful.

      As for Shrimpykid, uh... I don't have the full story of how she was ousted. Well, I think she quit and stuff.

      She had an ASK ME ANYTHING here in early 2016:
      http://nsider2.com/forums/index.php?/topic/608932-i-am-the-former-lead-administrator-of-nsider2-ask-me-anything/&page=1

      Yeah, you were wrong. The Yoshirider123 of back then was a good friend of ours. Now he's basically a totally different person (humourless robot), and that's sort of a universal opinion ranging from people as diverse as myself and RawkHawk2010, to THEULTIMATEMARIOFAN (TUMF).

      Delete

We embrace your comments.
Expect a reply between 1 minute to 24 hours from your comment. We advise you to receive an e-mail notification for when we do reply.
Also, see our Disclaimers.

Spamming is bad, so don't spam. Spam includes random advertisements and obviously being a robot. Our vendor may subject you to CAPTCHAs.

If you comment on an article that is older than 60 days, you will have to wait for a staffer to approve your comment. It will get approved and replied to, don't worry. Unless you're a spambot.