I was thinking about putting together a YouTube series for Vizzed where I interview users who use to be active but no longer are. It'd be either a video or an audio call with the user and I'd basically ask them a series of questions, they could talk about their favorite Vizzed memories and then tell us all what they're up to now.

The video would also show a timeline similar to this one and would highlight that user's site accomplishments. I think each video would be 10-20 minutes long. Maybe 1-4 videos a month.

I wanted to dedicate my time on the site to the community in 2021 and this is the first of a few ideas I have. These former active users had a huge impact on me and the rest of the site and their legacy and posts will be archived on this site hopefully forever. And that's what makes forums so unique, a user's presence never truly leaves since their conversations are always going to remain viewable for future generations to see.

What do you guys think of this idea? Worth doing? I'll also want feedback and ideas. Like when I interview them, do I play a game with that user while I'm interviewing them? Or do we listen to video game music based on that user's selection during the interview? I think something else should be going on to avoid an boring or awkward silence. Perhaps another user could join me in interviewing the user. Of course I'd have to find a way to hunt down these users and set something up but I would make sure to let them know that I'm not asking them to come back to the site and so if they knew there was no obligations, they might be more willing to do it and who knows, maybe a few of them would actually start missing the site after talking about it and stop by.

What users should I do first? I think these would be the requirements of which users would be eligible:
-Have at least 100 posts
-Registered on the site more than 5 years ago
-Have made less than 10 posts in the past 2 years

I could also (or eventually) do a video series that just highlights current users, like a user spotlight thing.

I think this is a great idea I love the history of the site and I think a video series talking to veterans would be great to see because I think a lot of users have probably heard of users over the years but don't really know much about them unless they go searching for old posts they did and such. I think if you play a game or have music based on their preference really depends on the user and is probably just best to ask them which they would prefer when setting it up. I think another user joining to avoid awkward silence could be a good idea and I think making sure they don't feel obligated to return is very important to making the idea successful. I also think a user spotlight series could be good as well when members such as most of the former admins and mods of the past few years don't qualify and important people to the site such as geeo don't either. (No idea if he would be interested in this sort of thing.)

I think a good idea for the first however many would be trying to get staff members from way back to interview such as...

Randy53215
MichaelVash7886
BigBob85
John
Rasenganfan2 (He's only had 10 posts in the past 2 years so close enough if you ask me )
DarkHyren
noelia

I don't really know anything about any of those users so I was just looking at members from way back for some users I actually somewhat remember...

Zircron Swift (Fit's the requirements and held the role of Head Minecraft Admin for a bit)
Jordanv78
Singelli
Uzar
merf (even as a current member of staff he hits the requirements)
Laian
Snowchu

I honestly have no idea how many of these people can be tracked down or interested but I just thought I would suggest some people and give some feedback.

I also think it's a great idea. Old time veterans shall never be forgotten, and this is an opportunity for users who never interacted with them to get to know them better and hear stories of times past.

The requirements to choose the veterans seem good for me, not excessively high but also not excessively low. The user spotlight is also a good idea. It would somehow replace the rotatory AMAs we tried to introduce some years ago.

The list Sonic brought up is quite the good one. I could add a few more names, though the list can go on for miles as there are tons of users having registered at least 5 years ago.

-Lazlo Falconi (former Global who did make a short comeback not long ago)
-KG
-rcarter2
-EideticMemory
-Eirinn (might be out of reach as he cut ties with everybody related to this site)

I think it would be fun to maybe alternate. Do one veteran and then one current user, and repeat that cycle. Requirements seem fine to me.

To the boomer list I'd like to recommend

Elara
play4fun
GuardianZack
BNuge
Mistress

This sounds like a great idea, here are the users that I think would be the most epic to involve.
Jordanv78
Singelli
EideticMemory
play4fun

I think that before I do an interview with a user, I'd make a thread about it first, asking users to give me question ideas. I'd also allow someone to volunteer to join in on the call, that way we have 3 people in there instead of 2. Puts less pressure on me to keep the conversation going and would help avoid an awkward silence. That 3rd person to join in could be someone who was good friends with them on the site.


SonicOlmstead : Good list. Randy53215, MichaelVash7886 and BigBob85 would be great since they were all former admins and both Randy53215 and BigBob85 were former coders and I have them both on Facebook so they'd be easy to get in contact with. John is actually a real life friend who I also have on Facebook and even though I haven't seen in in person in more than 10 years, it'd be a great opportunity to get back into touch with him.


EX Palen : EideticMemory completely disappeared years ago out of nowhere and no one was ever able to get back into contact with him. I think it was lead to believe that he may have been another user on the site due to how strangely he left. Eirinn and rcarter2 would be great since I had a lot of interactions with them on the site in the past. Also, rcarter2 was an RGR legend


Furret : You know, I like that idea of rotating it actually. Good list. Elara was actually one of the active users on the old Vizzed Board so she had been part of this community dating way back.

Davideo7 : I'm just going to say this: I like the idea and I highly recommend SarothCyngus, he is the user who introduced me to this site and I know for a fact that he is still very active on Youtube (his last video was 6 days ago and yes, I'm subsribed to his channel), he also links his Reddit account (''My Reddit!'') and that account is even more active than his Youtube account. It goes without saying that I'm a fan of him (I even ripped off/parodied one of his intros), so, if it's possible, he would be amazing. Man, in the end, this wasn't my shortest post...

Woah, I knew EideticMemory disappeared from the face of Earth, but I ignored it was that drastic. He left by the time I started to get really active, so no surprise I didn't know about this for almost six years.

Still, looks like we could actually (try to) get in touch with several veterans, so while we will surely miss paying him this "tribute" like with Eirinn, we can somewhat balance it out.

I know this is an old thread and I'm technically "breaking the rules" but I would be up to participate in this concept. I lurk these days more than anything, also posting has kind of slowed down all together.

I'm not sure what I would pick as far as video game soundtracks, or which game I'd even want to play. I feel it could also take away from the actual interview.

But I like the concept and would be willing to participate like I said.

Randy53215 : Oh hey the first person I suggest replied wanting to do it himself thanks for that! I was hoping someone would reply to this soon to maybe remind David about it if he has the time to still do it. Posting is really all over the place I feel like sometimes we have months where it picks up a bit and others where nothing's really happening though I will point out it's the month after tdv and that normally means less activity.

How did I miss this thread so long ago?

This sounds like a great way to honor members of the site who have been contributing to it for many years. And I think it's a great idea to have 3 people in the interview. That could make the conversation even more fun and memorable for the vizzed veterans!