RichardCypher101
03-26-2007, 11:52 PM
EDIT: Was asked to repost here. And this will be its last time posted.
The "Where Are You Now" thread found here:
http://forums.e-mpire.com/showthread.php?t=52927
This is the first time i've logged in here, in what seems to be almost 2 years.
What was going on in my life when I first found PS3Insider?
I had just found a woman that at the time, I thought would satisfy my every need. Life was just finishing up with Highschool, and college was near. That was some 3-4 years ago. I was a member for quite sometime before Andrew and Scott asked me to be part of their staff. I'm not quite sure to this day why they asked me, whether it was for my behavior, or the way I could convey a touch of authority, remaining civil in all cases.
Either way, I was part of their staff writing News articles for a good while next to Andrew, Scott, Matt, and Danji. Then later followed Brandon and a few others. We started to build and grow into an even more ambitious site, with news articles being written with cautious detail, one after the other. I often came home in the evening to sit and type for an average of 3-4 hours a day, nearly everyday but Saturday and Sunday (Because the industry, along with many other industries have weekends of enjoyment too - hence why news articles were seldom seen written on the weekends. There wasn't much news!).
After a period of time we started to amass even more assets, which included cpiasminc, a few other industry insiders, and many other journalists from other big sites. The site started to shape up nicely, and we were even ready to send in our credentials for the E3 that year.
As a matter of fact, Me and Scott were both in contact to get our E3 Budget prepared. I myself was emassing my own camera and digital equipment to go.
Then on that fatefull day when the site seemed to have imploded, we were welcomed to a screen of the death of PS3Insider (Or rather PSINext). Andrew was very wary about letting anyone know about what was going on behind closed doors.
I cannot remember it correctly, whether it was before or after the demise, that Andrew appointed me head Administrator of the site. Either way, I ran PSINext for a period of time, keeping all staff members in check, the site stable, and ready for the merge (Or Buyup, whatever you prefer).
From then on I was head of PSINext in its new form, as part of the E-mpire network. That worked for the period of time that I was working on it. Even if it was on shaky grounds at the time (Many, many staffers and even a few other big guys continuously e-mailed me to not let PSINext fall, to make sure that it remained in it's entirety.
Well, the frontpage was tossed, and a new page was in progress from the E-mpire graphics department. Then came the forum merge (I'm pretty sure it came after), and everything went alien. To me it wasn't the same, but who was I? I controlled the site, but I didn't own it. I spoke for the people, and tried with what I had to see what could be done, but alas to no avail. The site needed to convey a message. It needed to be easily identified as part of the E-mpire Network, and any sort of change in layout or structure could make it look part of its own, and/or specially treated apart from their other sites for the other systems.
I can remember it to this day when all hell broke loose in my life, when I believe it was one of Vipers subordinates, gave me the assignment of which theme would I give PSINext. NintendoNow was already known for their "Watchdog" attitude from the stuff with IGN. So PSINext needed something that gave it attention, a reason to go there and not anywhere else (PSINext did have attention though. Various times PSINext had been cited on Gamespot, IGN and a few other sites, along with cited work in the magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly - which gave us a huge boost in publicity.).
I fell short of that assignment because life fell out from under me. All the hours I spent everyday for a long time writing news started to frustrate the woman I was with. She decided to cause a lot of problems over it, and I virtually had to slow things down, lest I strangle her with a keyboard (In jest). It wasn't soon after that, that I asked her to marry me. We were together for 2 years prior to this engagement, and it lasted only 6 months longer. Apparently some women find it in themselves to be little tramps when they realize they are about to get married. So mere months from getting married, we decided to split up. This was a major blow for me, as I had many major bills to pay off from the whole letdown, and things were just getting harder.
Then after a period of time after that, I had fallen into a slump. A lot of alcohol was consumed, along with a few other minor things. It was one eye opening night that I was in a traffic spot, and charged with a small charge that landed me in handcuffs and a lot of money in court and lawyer fees. Amid all this, im fighting off depression and severe anxiety, prescribed both Zoloft and Xanax.
So life blew for a long time there, and I was simply caught in an uphill battle.
However, I am here now to let it be known that I am not dead, I did not just cease to be out of choice. Stress is an evil thing, one that we all deal with, and I was just at my last straw. PSINext wasn't the only thing I had to push out of my life to make it work as sacrifices usually come in many when you try to turn into a family man.
I hope everyone has been well, and they aren't bothered by this post. I just felt it's been too long and at least a few needed to read it.
Take care all.
-Rich
The "Where Are You Now" thread found here:
http://forums.e-mpire.com/showthread.php?t=52927
This is the first time i've logged in here, in what seems to be almost 2 years.
What was going on in my life when I first found PS3Insider?
I had just found a woman that at the time, I thought would satisfy my every need. Life was just finishing up with Highschool, and college was near. That was some 3-4 years ago. I was a member for quite sometime before Andrew and Scott asked me to be part of their staff. I'm not quite sure to this day why they asked me, whether it was for my behavior, or the way I could convey a touch of authority, remaining civil in all cases.
Either way, I was part of their staff writing News articles for a good while next to Andrew, Scott, Matt, and Danji. Then later followed Brandon and a few others. We started to build and grow into an even more ambitious site, with news articles being written with cautious detail, one after the other. I often came home in the evening to sit and type for an average of 3-4 hours a day, nearly everyday but Saturday and Sunday (Because the industry, along with many other industries have weekends of enjoyment too - hence why news articles were seldom seen written on the weekends. There wasn't much news!).
After a period of time we started to amass even more assets, which included cpiasminc, a few other industry insiders, and many other journalists from other big sites. The site started to shape up nicely, and we were even ready to send in our credentials for the E3 that year.
As a matter of fact, Me and Scott were both in contact to get our E3 Budget prepared. I myself was emassing my own camera and digital equipment to go.
Then on that fatefull day when the site seemed to have imploded, we were welcomed to a screen of the death of PS3Insider (Or rather PSINext). Andrew was very wary about letting anyone know about what was going on behind closed doors.
I cannot remember it correctly, whether it was before or after the demise, that Andrew appointed me head Administrator of the site. Either way, I ran PSINext for a period of time, keeping all staff members in check, the site stable, and ready for the merge (Or Buyup, whatever you prefer).
From then on I was head of PSINext in its new form, as part of the E-mpire network. That worked for the period of time that I was working on it. Even if it was on shaky grounds at the time (Many, many staffers and even a few other big guys continuously e-mailed me to not let PSINext fall, to make sure that it remained in it's entirety.
Well, the frontpage was tossed, and a new page was in progress from the E-mpire graphics department. Then came the forum merge (I'm pretty sure it came after), and everything went alien. To me it wasn't the same, but who was I? I controlled the site, but I didn't own it. I spoke for the people, and tried with what I had to see what could be done, but alas to no avail. The site needed to convey a message. It needed to be easily identified as part of the E-mpire Network, and any sort of change in layout or structure could make it look part of its own, and/or specially treated apart from their other sites for the other systems.
I can remember it to this day when all hell broke loose in my life, when I believe it was one of Vipers subordinates, gave me the assignment of which theme would I give PSINext. NintendoNow was already known for their "Watchdog" attitude from the stuff with IGN. So PSINext needed something that gave it attention, a reason to go there and not anywhere else (PSINext did have attention though. Various times PSINext had been cited on Gamespot, IGN and a few other sites, along with cited work in the magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly - which gave us a huge boost in publicity.).
I fell short of that assignment because life fell out from under me. All the hours I spent everyday for a long time writing news started to frustrate the woman I was with. She decided to cause a lot of problems over it, and I virtually had to slow things down, lest I strangle her with a keyboard (In jest). It wasn't soon after that, that I asked her to marry me. We were together for 2 years prior to this engagement, and it lasted only 6 months longer. Apparently some women find it in themselves to be little tramps when they realize they are about to get married. So mere months from getting married, we decided to split up. This was a major blow for me, as I had many major bills to pay off from the whole letdown, and things were just getting harder.
Then after a period of time after that, I had fallen into a slump. A lot of alcohol was consumed, along with a few other minor things. It was one eye opening night that I was in a traffic spot, and charged with a small charge that landed me in handcuffs and a lot of money in court and lawyer fees. Amid all this, im fighting off depression and severe anxiety, prescribed both Zoloft and Xanax.
So life blew for a long time there, and I was simply caught in an uphill battle.
However, I am here now to let it be known that I am not dead, I did not just cease to be out of choice. Stress is an evil thing, one that we all deal with, and I was just at my last straw. PSINext wasn't the only thing I had to push out of my life to make it work as sacrifices usually come in many when you try to turn into a family man.
I hope everyone has been well, and they aren't bothered by this post. I just felt it's been too long and at least a few needed to read it.
Take care all.
-Rich