Allow me to introduce this blog's first interview! Schizerbone and RocksJa sat down to dish dirt on freebie networks, the annual A4F awards, and share their thoughts on A4F/FLR members. Here it is. Enjoy! :)
Wozniack: *pouring coffee for my guests*
Schizerbone: *takes a sip of the coffee*....ARGH, that was hot, are you trying to kill me? I'm suing you for millions.
Wozniack: I can't be sued. :`(
Wozniack: *getting ice cubes for the coffee* ...we need these fast!!
Wozniack: First we will start with RocksJa. RocksJa, you wanted to be nominated last year, but you weren't. How did it feel to see your name for the first time?
RocksJa: It came kinda late since I was more active at my start. Still I was sort of surprised for 2 reasons. First I had forgotten about [i][/i]the whole user of the year thing and second I didn't expect to see myself up there after the whole battlemod fiasco.
Wozniack: It's always a surprise to be nominated because you never know who it will be! On Battlemod, were you surprised as well that things turned out the way they did with people opting out of the game?
RocksJa: Oh wow, I had a feeling it would turn out like that because a few people told me. At first I didn't get why they would opt out. I thought to myself, why not just quit the game? But to each their own, and I guess after you got your stats up there even if you quit it felt funny getting killed. To me it was just a game which I left because it got personal on the other side. But this is all in the past, it was last summer...
Wozniack: I see. In the past is right! I was glad things calmed down a bit after the summer.
Wozniack: Schizerbone, with staunch allies supporting your votes, it's no doubt you prevailed! Did you have a strategy to gain votes outside your inner circle? This is about the User of the Year voting, btw.
Schizerbone: Ah, user of the year. Okay, so at first I didn't have to ask anybody, I was in the lead by a healthy margin. Of course, then the shenanigans started and I had to get more votes. First, of course, I asked friends, and old school A4Fers. Then I asked site owners. There was no way a site owner would say no... they're too into pleasing everyone. The core of my votes were from old schoolers, and site owners/reps.
Wozniack: Ah, I see. Yeah, I agree about asking site owners. I figured you stuck with the old school crowd.
Wozniack: RocksJa, It was an intense competition. How hard was it to stay cool under pressure?
RocksJa: It was but I wasn't under any pressure, lol. I only asked a few people a few days after I found out, and then a few on the last day. I was rarely on during those voting weeks.
Wozniack: Oh. It was a little heated in the lounge though... Do you think it was a more intense for Red even though he wasn't in the competition? I know you both are friends, and he stuck by you.
RocksJa: I can't speak for him. He really wanted to win, he loves A4F just like you do or did. I remember when I told him I almost voted for him. He's a true fighter, he even made himself a campaign.
Wozniack: I made an error... Had a "senior moment." Red WAS in the competition! My bad. Red is a fighter... That's so awesome that he made his own campaign. I would have voted for him myself! But out of all the great members you can only select one per poll.
Wozniack: Schizerbone, you were on a roll, what made you stop contending for "Best Blog"?
Schizerbone: Well, my last blog on A4F was taken down and my blog wasn't going to be on A4F from then on, so it was really pointless to win a best blog that wasn't even going to be on A4F. Also, emoney said people were only going to get one personal tag no matter how many they won, so I figured it would be best to just go for User of the Year.
Wozniack: That's understandable. I'm sorry your last blog was removed. Do you feel your blog has been more of a success since it's departure from A4F?
Schizerbone: For sure. I usually just send my new blog entry links to a few people...and random people end up IMing me about it. It spreads by word of mouth and there are no restrictions (even though a fake lawyer tried to get me to stop). I feel like my blog has vastly improved because I'm expanding my blog writing abilities...plus the influx of FLR members....which has made my life so much better.
Wozniack: Yeah, I saw the comments made by the "fake lawyer", lol. How crazy! To think someone would write that much, pretending to be a lawyer... If you could tell people who are trying to do this "as a job" anything, what would that be? It's not a good idea, IMO. Also, why do you think so many FLRians are migrating to A4F?
Schizerbone: Doing freebie sites as a job is dumb...plain and simple. People are quitting their jobs to do this "full time"...when sites start closing and new users stop coming, they will feel stupid. I try to help, but they are stubborn...all I can do is show how stupid they sound, hoping they stop. I know why they are migrating to A4F...it's because the traffic has all but stopped on FLR. Just a few months ago, they didn't care about A4F and if A4F closed down, they wouldn't even notice, and now they're here as if they didn't think this. People like qmiller and lauryn99 are clearly faking their "love" for A4F just to get a few extra trades.
Schizerbone: Yeah, that lawyer has to be fake, he messed up his e-mail address TWICE...lol, I just wish I knew who made him up.
Wozniack: Do you think the economy has contributed to the influx of people quitting their jobs, hoping to find any kind of work?
Schizerbone: I don't mind people getting money from freebie sites to pay bills or whatever...but people have to realize they cannot rely on this. It is an unstable "business." Plus, I'm sure the advertisers would love it if they saw what FLRers have turned incentive sites into. If advertisers actually saw the way FLRers use these sites, they'd probably never get into incentive marketing.
Wozniack: That's true. Very unstable! I always urge people to seek freebies as a hobby, or to put their earnings towards one or two bills.
Wozniack: Now, a question for you both... RocksJa and Schizerbone, looking back would you change anything about this contest?
Schizerbone: I would have made fun of Texas Tornado Deb earlier in the contest...I waited until after, and that was a mistake on my part.
Wozniack: Why TexasTornadoDeb? What did she do?
Schizerbone: She garnered quite a few votes for RocksJa...Rocks never asked for it, she did it purely to try to defeat me. She went as far as paying people to vote against me.
Wozniack: *nods*
RocksJa: Only one thing, I'd probably would've cast my vote for Twon.
Wozniack: Who did you vote for, RocksJa?
RocksJa: Myself. But in my defense, I voted towards the end since it looks selfish, lol.
Wozniack: lol. I would have voted for myself, too! That's okay... Though last year my vote went to Finsfan instead of me.
RocksJa: Peer pressure?
Wozniack: I wouldn't say peer pressure, I just felt a little selfish voting for myself, haha... He beat me up afterwards for it though.
Wozniack: Schizerbone, How did you find out about TexasTornadoDeb's voting system?
Schizerbone: We'll call her TTD...TTD told me about her voting system.... she basically had no shame about it. Sad, but it didn't work, so it's all good.
Wozniack: Gotcha. TTD is easier to type.
RocksJa: Bone, question? Are you gonna catch the Prison break finale, or did you stop watching it before the last season started? lol.
Schizerbone: No, I actually watched all 16 episodes this season. But it's on break right? Hasn't been back for awhile.
RocksJa: Yeah, they made us wait 2-3 months for the finale.
RocksJa: Its 4/17.
Wozniack: RocksJa, your thread on Youngcannon in trader support helped make A4F a safer place. For this you were a great candidate! What made you reach out and help him given his history of complaints?
RocksJa: You mean, why did I loan him money?
Wozniack: Yes. It was awfully nice of you.
RocksJa: Meh, looking back at that it was a huge risk wasn't it? I thought I could help him out, and he could change. I thought to myself what if I changed the way members on A4F looked at youngcannon. I tried .I failed.
Wozniack: You did your best, and that's really all you could do. He had to make the change himself. It's always sad to lose a member.
Wozniack: Schizerbone, any thoughts on Youngcannon? Did you have any trades or dealing with him, maybe in the "sell/trade" section of A4F?
RocksJa: Sadder to lose money. lol
Wozniack: Yeah, haha... You might be right, RocksJa!
Schizerbone: I don't think I ever traded with him, but youngcannon will have a special place in my heart....he was the first person I ever blogged about. He started the whole thing.
Wozniack: Aww.
Wozniack: You recently celebrated 15,000 posts! Congratulations! Or has it been a good month since you reached the 15K mark? This is directed towards you, btw, Schizerbone.
Schizerbone: Thanks...It's been a little while since 15k. It was fun for sure. I tried to make my 15,000th post epic...not enough people noticed, but it was still fun to type up.
Wozniack: How did you discover A4F? Did you think you would hang around for as long as you have?
Schizerbone: My cousin showed me the site. He knew about both fipg and a4f...luckily he forgot the fipg URL, so I signed up to A4F...and I made like $50 for my first trade and I was hooked. I didn't know how long I'd stay, but the more I traded, the more I got immersed in it...I don't trade as much anymore, but it's still awesome to be there.
Wozniack: Awesome! It's easy to get hooked after your first trade, and you meet cool people who share the same interest, freebies, in the process. What site did your $50.00 prize come from?
Schizerbone: Oh, it wasn't a site, it was a trade with Kerms...he was paying people $60 for Earthlink...and I think it was $10 a month, so $50 profit...lol
Wozniack: Cool, haha.
Wozniack: RocksJa, You're a gaming guru! Which A4F Arcade game is your favourite and why?
RocksJa: Gaming guru, lol, hardly. I've only gotten some high scores early on, and some other games which people don't play as much. My fav game was Desktop TD. I was the first high score on it.
Wozniack: What was your first high score on Desktop TD, if you can remember?
RocksJa: Not sure, maybe 4-5K. It took a few weeks for people to get the secret formula to score high on that game.
Wozniack: Yeah, it usually takes me a few tries before I score a high number. But once I start playing a game more and more I gradually build up my experience. I was able to beat Red on Butt Scan! You introduced me to that late one night, haha.
Wozniack: Lastly, some questions from my readers. Either of you can answer these.
Wozniack: What are your thoughts on some of the new networks such as CashYowza?
RocksJa: Heh, I haven't tried it since I haven't done any trading for a few months. I've been hearing about them, PrizeFast, and PrizePanda a lot though.
Schizerbone: I have something to say about CashYowza...I've never seen his sites or anything...but I know he spammed a bunch to get his minimum number of posts....I basically can't work on a site like that....
Wozniack: Yeah, PrizePanda and PrizeFast are cool... I remember Mr. Gabriel (PrizeFast owner) when he first joined A4F.
Wozniack: Oh, I never knew he spammed, lol.
Schizerbone: PrizePanda is really cool, as is Innovusnet, but I still stick with the old reliables...mostly Free4me.
Wozniack: CashYowza has a promo going on though, which didn't look bad. I guess that's what caught my eye.
Wozniack: Fondest freebies industry memory?
RocksJa: lol @ CashYowza. ;p
I am Wozniack: lol.
RocksJa: Fondest freebie memory would be receiving that first freepay amazon cert when, and not stressing out about it at all.
RocksJa: Early 08'
Wozniack: Wasn't that a big payment? Over a grand? Or am I thinking about your last Freepay gift?
RocksJa: No, the first one I went for was for $599.
Wozniack: Oh.
RocksJa: I felt I sort of made my own luck going with freepay. No one was actively seeking referrals for them in early 08'.
Wozniack: Wasn't Freepay experiencing a delay in prize fulfillment? You or Harout were happy you finally received a major amazon gift, but the wait was brutal.
RocksJa: Yeah, I felt at risk the first time but I sort of learned how they were doing things. The second time around I was confident and I knew the wait would be anywhere from 4-6 months.
Wozniack, How much was your big amazon gift from Freepay? Wasn't it about $1,300.00?
RocksJa: Was it, I forgot? I think it was 1.2K.
Wozniack: I couldn't imagine waiting 4-6 months... But then again I have been waiting on Brandarama for 2 years.
Schizerbone: My fondest freebie memory was receiving the first paypal payment too...which was the $60 from Kerms... Receiving my plasma TV might have topped that though.
Wozniack: Cool gifts guys! Did you snap a pic of that shiny plasma, Schizerbone?
Schizerbone: I do have a pic of the plasma...it's somewhere on A4F.
Wozniack: Schizerbone, on the plasma, didn't you say you earned it from I-Deal? We talked before, and you told me you completed a MHFG (musthavefreegifts) site, and an I-Deal site as well.
Schizerbone: Actually, the plasma was from somethin4nothin (now swiftrewards)....the I-deal TV I got was an EDTV... two different TVs...I also got $1500 from musthavefreegifts, and a $1200 amazon GC from freepay...those were probably my four biggest prizes.
Wozniack: Wow, Schizerbone! That's amazing. :D
Wozniack: Where do you see the freebies industry headed?
RocksJa: I'm not a freebie pro so I wouldn't be able to take this. S'boner, feel free to take this one...
Wozniack: *brewing more java*
Wozniack: More coffee coming. ;)
RocksJa: At this time?
Wozniack: Probably should have done it sooner.
Schizerbone: lol...
Schizerbone: I see the freebies industry turning into crap for a little while....especially with the economic downturn and the PPD/FLR mentoring and all that. Hopefully the people who turned this into a business end up leaving and then the freebie industry makes a comeback. Either way, I'm optimistic...
Wozniack: Right on. Gotta be optimistic during these tough times.
Wozniack: What's your favourite freebie site? What's your least favourite?
Wozniack: I'm not sure how easy the second one is, lol...
Schizerbone: Favorite freebie site = free4me, no doubt. Least favorite = Git-r-Free.
RocksJa: My favourite would be Trainn. The least favourite would be untitled. I don't think I'll feel comfortable expressing my opinions about someone's freebie site.
Wozniack: I respect that, RocksJa.
Wozniack: Do you like emoney?
RocksJa: ?
Wozniack: A silly question someone asked. It was on my list, haha.
RocksJa: Clarify that, would you?
Schizerbone: Yes, emoney rocks unless emoney himself asked that question....if he did, then he sucks.
Wozniack: To clarify. Is Emoney a cool person or not?
RocksJa: He's half way there...I think he'd consider himself kewl not cool though.
Wozniack: If you had the choice: bacon, hamburger, chicken, or fish.
Schizerbone: Chicken, no doubt.
Wozniack: Chicken for me.
RocksJa: Chicken breast, because hamburger is not really a good choice for beef.
Wozniack: Yeah, I see whatcha mean.
Wozniack: What do you think is your overall best contribution to this forum?
RocksJa: :| @ some of these questions...tell these people this! ;p
Schizerbone: I am the best contribution to the forum.
Wozniack: I will leave your comment in the interview. That way they will know their questions sucked, lol.
RocksJa: I think I have some artistic talent. I draw better then I use PS and Ai, believe it! Shout out to egyptianruin because I've noticed she has it too.
Wozniack: I've always known you and egyptianruin to exhibit colourful artwork! You're both talented.
Wozniack: What is Ai? Adobe Imagestyler or something else? Sorry, lol.
RocksJa: Illustrator?
Wozniack: Oh, right!
Wozniack: Have you created anything interesting lately, RocksJa?
RocksJa: Yes, I like her Tags. First tags I've seen that I've liked.
RocksJa: Um, for myself on A4F? I put together my swagbucks signature banner that's currently under my posts.
Schizerbone: Rocks made my avatar.
Wozniack: Ah, cool. I didn't know you made that... I assumed it came from the "promote" section of swagbucks, lol.
RocksJa: Nah, their banners are wack. And mine offers 2000 A4F points? Can't be from them.
Wozniack: Schizerbone, For the folks at home could you tell us what the fiery display (in your avatar) means?
Schizerbone: Yeah, it's a skull being burned in hell....it represents my enemies, and the ones I've demolished in my blogs....and "vitriolic" is just the adjective I love to use to describe myself.....mostly it's a warning...like "don't mess with me!!"
Wozniack: Cool! Or should I say "hot"? haha. Well, it's nice to know what it represents.
Schizerbone: speaking of "don't mess with me"...the following people are on the "you're next" list...qmiller aka qpaul...she called me a terrorist...the last person that did that was FreebieTeacher, and now he's off somewhere in a padded room! Also, lucky777...and GiftMonster!! *evil eye*
Wozniack: What did you think of Lucky777's bracelets?
Schizerbone: They seemed like really old "bracelets"...used a lot by a whole plethora of people...they seemed like they were trying their hardest to get away, but they couldn't, so all they could do was droop low as a sign of sadness.
Wozniack: lol... I was shocked when I saw that pic, but it was cool.
RocksJa: Woz, did you see Notorious yet?
Wozniack: Not yet, but I might.
RocksJa: Bone, did you, or were you not into him?
Schizerbone: Biggie is one of my favorite rappers ever, but I didnt' see the movie, looked like it sucked.
RocksJa: on that captcha thing it looks like they misspelled calcium
Wozniack: Yeah, I thought it was supposed to say "calcium", too.
Wozniack: From Kyle, "Ask Schiz what his bra size is."
Schizerbone: I stole Kyle's bra...he's mad....I can't tell the size, but he's got huge jugs.
RocksJa: Can't believe the bathroom thread got bumped and is living again
Wozniack: I can't either... What is so interesting about using the bathroom?
RocksJa: It is your thread?
Wozniack: Must be it.
RocksJa: :\
Wozniack: I attract people.
RocksJa: It was bumped with someone saying something about hearing the water make a splash.
The End.
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