My 6 Years on NWN - A Dirty Larry Joint


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6 Years Ago Today I Became a Member of Neowin.

It has been one hell of a ride here. I have made many friends over the years, and I am bright enough to know I have probably even made one or two enemies as well. Although I like to think the latter is not the case, I am very well aware people dislike Mods just because they are Mods. I do however know I did my best to avoid that type of view of me, mainly just from believing the best way to set a good example is to lead by example, and from time to time I would stress the fact I was just a member of the site just as everyone else. Only difference being I was asked to help keep it a place where people felt respected even if they shared an opinion that differed from others. In some cases I was able to do this, in some I was not. I did however try.

So I wanted to break down some of the "highlights" of my six years on Neowin. They are as follows;

I Become a Member August 30th, 2003

? A friend of mine helped me build my first custom PC. I built it just for gaming, as I was already working on Macs doing graphic design. He said he knew a site that was a good reference if I had any questions about the PC. It was Neowin.

<I Join The News Team And Leave My Position As A Global Moderatoroderator[/font]

? For those who may not know, I have always written on the side. Although I went to Parsons School Of Design and received a BFA in Illustration, my "minor" (in quotes as we technically did not have minors) was writing. Each year every semat least>at least one writing course. Combine this with the fact I am a pretty good people person, I had already done CES and Seattle, so it just seemed like the natural progression for me on the site itself.

I Am Asked To Lead Up The Gaming News Team. The Gaming News Team Fails Miserably.iserably.[/font]

? In my "real life" jobs, I have actually been a manager of people on a few occasions for different companies. My approach has always been a hands-off one. If you know how to do your job, I simply just let you know what needs to be done, and I trust you to then do it. Apparently this approach was the wrong one for the Gaming News Team, and I take full responsibility for this as I never had a clear discussion to what was truly expected. There are other factors that were involved, but nothing that I believe takes away from the fact I should have done more. Truth is though, I just was not available in a true capacity to do anything more than what I could, so I should have never taken on the position to begin with. I did however feel that since the Gamers Hangout is and has consistently been the second most active forum on the site, that more news should be directed towards and made for those specific members of the gaming community.

[/font]

? I felt I could still serve the site at the time, and as such I asked if I could go back to being a G-Mod.

[/i]the memories.

[/b]memories.

I have no plans of disappearing, but my time on the site will indeed probably continue to be less and less frequent. I have just made some decisions in life recently that hopefully mean I am not going to be on the computer anywhere near as much as I used to be. I plan on painting again, doing some music, and generally just trying to spend my time being more productive with my creative side.

Also, I am not quite sure what compelled me to breakdown my six years in this manner. Ironically I even left some key moments out. As I indicate below I have always felt appreciated by the members, so it has nothing to do with seeking that. I guess more than anything I felt some people may find it interesting to see the ins and outs one takes one they are on staff. Perhaps I am wrong and this was a hu:laugh:e of time. :laugh:

[/font]

[/font]

? It is really you guys that kept me going as long as you did, and I appreciate, really appreciate, the fact that way more often than not you all supported me and accepted me as the Mod of that section.[/font]

?

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Congratulations on 5 great years, DirtyLarry, and thanks for the contributions. Also, thanks for the breakdown of your major events here. It's very informative to a new guy like me. I wish you the best no matter what you do.

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Congrats! :)

I still fondly remember your Valve visit article from last year. I believe that those first pictures of the update's new screen were the first to hit the 'net. Exclusive, anyone? :p

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Congrats DL. You were an excellent mod in the GH and I loved what you did in there. You will be missed from being a mod, but I am glad that you are not going anywhere. Although you are going to spend less time on Neowin, I hope that you do drop by every once in a while and talk in the GH. :yes:

Congrats again! :fun:

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Congrats Larry. As others have said, I think you did a great job with GH and as a mod in general. I can understand you wanting to take time away from the computer for other things. I recently took almost a year away from gaming to focus more on my guitar playing. Back to gaming right now though :p

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5 years and you've made such an impact on Neowin. I can only wish my influence was as far-reaching as yours. It was definitely an interesting read. Good luck on your future endeavours. Be sure to drop by Neowin whenever you can (in the future, of course). :)

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today: august 30th 2009

[/b]

5 years? What? :D

Holy crap you are right. It has been 6 years!!!

Can a mod please edit the title. :blush: :rofl: Nevermind I did.

Guess it just goes to show time flies. I really thought it was 5 years.

Thanks for the replies all. Much appreciated.

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Very thoughtful post, it was great recapping everything. I can easily say you have had an impact on a large part of the Neowin community (gaming or not) throughout your time here. Keep up the good work!

P.S. We need to play some BF1943!!!

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I enjoyed reading that, you're a great guy Larry! Would be good to see you post more about your gaming interests around the forums, but the community isn't going anywhere.

Also, this is sorely missing

So I wanted to break down some of the "highlights" of my five years on Neowin. They are as follows;

Numerous dates: Handing out warnings to Audioboxer

If ony him/Michael and Andy would have given me a break.

:rofl:

Just joking but, the bad past can stay in the past, time for good memories in here!

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I too thought it was 5 years. :pinch:

Like I looked at my member joined date multiple times last night while writing this, as something seemed "off" to me, but I really just I guess in my head thought it was 5 years. LOL Weird how the mind can do that.

Very thoughtful post, it was great recapping everything. I can easily say you have had an impact on a large part of the Neowin community (gaming or not) throughout your time here. Keep up the good work!

P.S. We need to play some BF1943!!!

Well I have not played BF1943 in awhile, but I can definitely make the exception for you!

I enjoyed reading that, you're a great guy Larry! Would be good to see you post more about your gaming interests around the forums, but the community isn't going anywhere.

Also, this is sorely missing

:rofl:

Just joking but, the bad past can stay in the past, time for good memories in here!

Well as I said, I left out A WHOLE LOT.

I actually started writing about some of my more "classic" warnings, etc, but then I knew right away that was not cool for all parties involved. Besides that, as you very well know, I took the time to write PM's when I could and let people know what was wrong and how they can correct it and if they did not then they would get their warning. Over the years I wrote way, way more PM's than handed out actual warnings, and as I said I did some things right and others I did not do right. Still not sure if that was the right approach or not, but it was my personal "style" so to speak.

Thanks again to everyone for the positive replies and especially for those saying it was a good read. I wrote it at around 1 AM in the morning last night, but I definitely had the intent to make it as informative and fun to read as this type of information can be, but also tried to keep it as quality as it could be for that late at night.

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Congrats Larry, here's to the next 6 :fun: :cake: :pint: :present:

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Congratuations Larry (Y)

As I've said numerous times, you are definitely one of my favourite members around here and in my opinion, you did an excellent job as a moderator. You don't see members post with such passion every day, every time I see your name on the "Latest Forum Activity" I have to look, because I know your post is going to be worthwhile reading regardless of the topic.

So despite slowly picking up other hobbies, I truly hope you'll stick around for another 5 6 years!

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Like I looked at my member joined date multiple times last night while writing this, as something seemed "off" to me, but I really just I guess in my head thought it was 5 years. LOL Weird how the mind can do that.

I really started questioning my math skills as no one had said something about it and you seemed certain it had been 5 years :p Had to count it on my fingers to be sure :p

Anyways, on topic, congratulations, time surely flies when you are on neowin :)

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