Getting to know FuNEnD3R!

Ochibi · Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 5:38 pm

You all know him. You all have heard of him. You all looooove him to death. But how much do you really know the great FuNEnD3R? We know a little about everyone else except about the person that brought us all together. That, however, will change. I got a chance to have a nice, little interview with him.

1. What inspired you to create the forum?

“Funender.com is mainly a site that deals with all of my hobbies, and the Final Fantasy series is obviously one of them. Before I created Funender.com I searched all over the Internet for an online community with friendly active members, and a site owner who actually cares about the users. Due to all of the flaming, harassment, spam, conspiracies, and webmasters on other sites who ignore all of our simple requests to improve their site, I decided it would be best to create a community of my own. I made this decision nearly four years ago and due to the success of my first forum I decided to branch out and create other forums and sites based on the things that I enjoy. As you know the Internet is capable of bringing people with the same interests together from all around the world to develop friendships, which is a great way to meet others whom you would have never met otherwise.”

2. Did you expect it to become this active with so many members?

“I was confident that the site would grow due to my experience with site promotion, search engine optimization (SEO), and offering free features to people that I would appreciate as a Final Fantasy fan myself. What surprised me was when I had decided to hold off on expanding the FF site since I was busy working on other sites, that it grew on its own due to people finding the site from search engines. The members were so friendly and really enjoyed Final Funender so I decided to change my plans to continue expanding the site. I feel better when I can offer something to others that makes them happy since that was my main goal when I first created Funender.com.”

3. What do you think of the members here?

“I am really amazed at how funny, creative, helpful, and caring the members are. A lot of members volunteer to help out to improve the site and I think that is really amazing. Running active sites is hard work so when the members want to expand on the site that just makes things better for everyone. Imagine if everyone in this world were so helpful and caring, the world would be a better place for sure. It just goes to show that gamers are the best! ”

4. If you could have one thing in the world, what would it be?

“When I was younger I would have probably answered this question with the name of a material item. As I have gotten older I realized that it is true that money cannot buy happiness. One of my goals is to become so successful that I can create more recreational centers since a lot of cities seriously lack nice places to get a good workout and stay healthy. I learned a lot of tough lessons in the real world that were never explained to me in school and it would be great if there were interesting classes in school that really prepared us for life; things that really matter.”

5. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

“I actually wanted to be a scientist. I used to read a lot of advanced books when I was 10 years old about all types of sciences. I would take electronics apart such as stereos and put them back together again. My room was pretty cool since I took Christmas wrapping paper and faced it backward so that the white bottom end of the paper would serve as a large bulletin board for my room. I would then paint images of protons, electrons, neutrons, engine designs, etc. I was also part of the save the environment committee where we did recycling and discussed ways to reduce pollution. Once I was going to be featured in a newspaper about it but after the interview that night, all of the power in the city had cut out. It turned out a snake had gotten into the electrical system and shorted out the power, so my section in the newspaper was replaced with that breaking story, lol. As I got older, hung out with more friends and played sports, I was having so much fun that I wasn't sure if I wanted to do what it takes to become a scientist since it required a lot of sacrifices. “

6. Who's your hero?

“There are so many great people whom I have met or seen on TV that are great at something that I inspire to become good at so I have thousands of heroes. Anyone who is creative, works hard, knows what he or she wants in life, and does what it takes to become successful is my hero.”

7. If you could have anyone come back alive, who and why?

“I have known friends, family, or just famous people in general who had passed away and I believe that things happen for a reason. A similar question would be if I were asked to go back in time would I change anything, and I would probably say no even if the intent was good. Any change we make would inadvertently change the future, and I have learned that the bad things are what made us stronger and better today. In my own experience if the bad things had never happened I wouldn't appreciate the things I have today. Then again it may be because I watched too many sci-fi movies and episodes based on time travel that showed when someone changed something for the better it actually made things worse.”

8. Tell us a little about your interests. (Sports, hobbies, food, etc.)

“I grew up as a military brat so just about every house where I lived had a basketball goal in their yard. Because of this I was influenced by friends to play since I was always the tallest kid. As I had gotten better, gained a lot of respect from my determination on the basketball court, and excellent exercise from playing over eight hours per day, I grew to love basketball. I have been a gamer since I was three years old and playing an Atari 2600. I can still remember eating the dots in Pac man and trying to run away from the ghosts. I like to create music for fun as well. Growing up when I was bored and didn't have access to any electronics I would play melodies in my mind. When I discovered software to create my own music I was really happy that I could make a song sound the way I wanted. I do not consider myself to be a great artist since I only create music for fun and do not plan to go professional.

My favorite food would probably have to be macaroni & cheese since it is so easy to make, and really fills you up, especially after a long day. Man, just the thought of it is making me hungry now, lol. During my teen days I used to love customizing cars and I even had my own car stereo business and car club. That was back when that stuff was cool, I feel that I have outgrown that era. After that I became a model for a few agencies. I used to love modeling since I met so many great people. I had to quit since my car broke down and I couldn't afford to get it fixed at that time since I had spent so much on traveling expenses, but if it wasn't for that I would have never had the time to create Funender.com.”

9. Is there anything you want to say to your members?

“I want to thank everyone for making the community what it is today. Without you there is no way the sites would have ever grown. I am not sure if people realize how much of an impact they make on the site, and it pleases me to see when they help others. Especially thanks to Thoul and his excellent programming skills and the time he dedicates to programming new features for the site. I could name hundreds of members but I do not want to leave anyone out since you have all done so much for the community that I consider all of you great friends. I look forward to the site's growth and how much you guys will like the new features that we have planned on adding in the future.”

Now folks, that’s deep. lol. Honesty, how many admins can you find, out there, that care about their members that much? Not many folks, not many at all. There you have it! The great FuNEnD3R! Tune in for next month's issue where we have an interview with the top poster of the month!

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