Q&A with CWF Admin Philip Part 1

Disclaimer – This Q&A session was held with CWF Administrator, Phlip (Asmodai), on 8/8/06. It has been split into two postings due to its length. In the belief of full disclosure please note that I have known Philip for years. Additionally, Philip worked for/with me at CWF when I ran the forum. Philip also works for CWF Game Discussions and has some articles forthcoming.

  • ^Raven^ = ^Raven^ for CWF
  • = Philip for CWF Forums

^Raven^: What was the Chromiates Wargaming Forums?

Philip: The forums were original intended to focus Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 and offer rumours, new, tips and strategies in the same sort of model as Portent/Warseer or Dakka Dakka.

We were never as big as those places, but we did have a pretty active community. Over time both Raven and I lost interest in GW games so the focus shifted and became more about wargaming in general. The personalities stayed the same, but the focus shifted a little bit.

^Raven^: How did you get involved with CWF?

Philip: I found out about CWF through Dakka Dakka. One of the people I knew on that forum had recently joined CWF and he invited me to come over. I liked the place and was looking for another forum so I decided to stay.

^Raven^: Do you remember what you liked the most on first impression?

Philip: I liked that it was a smaller place and there seemed to be more of a feel of community.

^Raven^: How long were you involved with CWF?

Philip: Almost four years I think. Hard to remember exact dates though.

^Raven^: When did you become part of staff?

Philip: I became a mod in the 40K section about a week after joining. The forum was new at that point and positions were just starting to fill up. I became a general mod after 3 months or so and admin about a year and a bit after joining

^Raven^: What did your duties basically consist of?

Philip: Being a mod or admin really isn’t all that exciting. Mostly it was just trying to keep discussion active. Occassionally it was necessary to clear out spam posts or tell someone to tone it down, but that was only a few minutes each day.

^Raven^: What other online communities are you involved with?

Philip: I’m a member of Dakka Dakka, but I’ve been inactive for the last six months or so. I post on RPG.net occassionally. I’m most active with the JPOP forum jphip.com, where I’m a mod and IRC op.

^Raven^: What do your duties consist of there?

Philip: On the forum I moderate the HiP Joint which is the basically the place where people chat and get to know each other. Everyone is a global mod, so I moderate posts all over. That includes mentioning to people that they have inappropriate signatures or avatars, cleaning up spam or moving threads to the appropriate sections.

^Raven^: What is JPop and why do you enjoy it?

Philip: JPop is Japanese pop music. It varies a huge amount musically, so it’s hard to pin down any one aspect. Like most people, there’s some bands in the genre I like and others that I’m not really interested in.

^Raven^: Getting back to forums, what special abilities or skills do you bring to forums?

Philip: I’m usually fairly active, and constant activity is always a bonus. I also have decent writing skills, which are handy. When staff I try to promote professionalism.

^Raven^: In regards to CWF what do you think made it unique?

Philip: The people. We were fairly small, but we had a nice community and a unique mix of posters. That’s what made the place special.

^Raven^: Now that we covered some history tell me, who is Philip

Philip: That’s a bit of a vague question. I’d like to think I’m a pretty nice guy. I don’t really tend to define myself as being a member of a specific subculture or the like though. I prefer to be myself – which is a little hard to define.

^Raven^: If someone was walking down the street and saw you, what would they see?

Philip: A tall white guy with glasses, probably wearing jeans and a t-shirt. More likely than not I’d be listening to my iPod. I might or might not be carrying my laptop bag with me, depending on where I’m going.

^Raven^: What are your 3 most played songs on your iPod?

Philip: don’t have iTunes on my laptop – I’ll get back to you on that

^Raven^: What’s your favorite food?

Philip: Calamari rings

^Raven^: What’s your favorite film/television show?

Philip: I’m a big fan of wuxia movies – so Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is up there. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was probably my favorite TV show.

^Raven^: How tall are you and about how much do you weigh

Philip: I’ve 6’1″ and just over 200 pounds.

^Raven^: What’s your favorite book/comic?

Philip: My favorite book would be Ovid’s Metamorphoses, it’s very poetic, humorous and has lots of interesting subtexts

^Raven^: Did he write a treatise on love/art of love too? If so, ever read that

Philip: yep

^Raven^: What did you think?

Philip: I never studied it though, so I’m a little less proficient in terms of the intracies of that one. It’s interesting stuff though. Lots of fun little cultural tidbits in it too, like where the good places to go out on dates in ancient Rome were.

^Raven^: Are you classically educated and if so from where?

Philip: I got my BA in Classics from Brock University. It’s a mid-sized university in St. Catherines Ontario

^Raven^: What do you intend to do with your degree?

Philip: I’m in law school now. There wasn’t a huge job market for Classics majors.

^Raven^: Best of luck with law school. I’m heading that way in 3 or so years after I get a MLS. I have a few other “Inside the Actors Studio” type questions for you. What’s your favorite musical genre/artist/album?

Philip: ZONE is a JPOP/Rock band with some really great songs and instrumentals. Their best album was probably “O”. Each of their album’s name is just a single letter.

^Raven^: What’s the best way to get some great JPOP?

Philip: BitTorrent is probably your best bet. jphip.com has it’s own tracker, but Hello! Tracker and JPOPSUKI are also great places to look.

^Raven^: What word or sound do you like least?

Philip: ftw – is there anyone who isn’t sick of that acronym by now?

^Raven^: For those who don’t know, what does ftw stand for?

Philip: for the win

^Raven^: What word or sound do you love?

Philip: I love the sound of a bass guitar riff

^Raven^: What swear or curse do you hate?

Philip: I don’t tend to swear much, but the f word is just overused. You sometimes hear people using it every other word. It doesn’t bother me most of the time though.

^Raven^: What swear or curse do you love to use?

Philip: Hmm, I use damn a lot

Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon.