Why hello thar! My name is Matt and I'm the head admin here at Sythe.org! I joined Sythe.org in November 2005 and have been here just over 6 years now. I first joined as a regular member like anyone else but ended up working my way up through the ranks! The first big step I took was becoming an Official Middle Man and from there I went to Global Moderator. Soon after that, I helped Sythe with the phpBB to vBulletin conversion we went through and gained Administrator status. My duties tend to include: fixing technical issues, handling donations, and dealing with higher-level issues other admins can't solve on their own. Anything I can't deal with gets bumped up to Sythe. As of late, I've also been dealing with safeguarding Sythe.org intellectual property and making sure people don't steal our content. I've had a lot of fun being around Sythe.org and it's users over the years and, after surviving a name change and 2 perma-bans, still like hanging around and helping where I can!

During my membership and "reign" here, I've seen a lot of things happen and a lot of people come and go... It's been an interesting experience being a part of such a large, vibrant site with such an interesting mix of people. I've made a lot of friends over the years here who I cherish, notably Finn, Richard (Sythe), Steph, and so on... Just getting to know people, even online, is something I enjoy thoroughly.

In my actual life, I'm a college student working toward a degree in "Applied Networking and Systems Administration." I also have a lot of experience and knowledge in web design and other programming which is why I tend to be so useful around here. I'm not a huge gamer but I do love to play some XBOX when I have the time. I also like to "tinker" with stuff and design various contraptions... Many people have told me I should have been a Mechanical Engineer, but I don't enjoy math enough for that to be a viable profession...

For your viewing pleasure, here is a picture of myself and a good friend of mine from this past summer:


If you have any questions feel free to ask, I'll try and check on this thread every so often.

__________________

You are a rather attractive young man
Do you play on Xbox live?
If so, mind if we add each other?
I appreciate all the time and effort you put into this site, keep up the good fight.

<3

Your friend's hot

__________________

Agreed :P

You're alive? Haha, just kidding. Seriously though, I appreciate the work you do on Sythe. I know most of it is behind-the-scenes stuff. Keep up the great work! I'm guessing you were a part of RuneCMS?

__________________

You look exactly like I pictured you, strangely.

__________________
Always ask for a PM if you're going first.
MSN: [email protected]

I am QUITE curious to hear the story of the two perm ban survivals :P

Nice picture. I know you do a lot behind the scenes and handle donations in an extremely timely fashion. All I can say is keep up the good work and do what you do.

__________________

That's a great picture!

I remember when Richard used to hate you :P

Also lol, when I saw you deleted your old thread that reminded me I really ought to update my own.

Hmm... questions....
1. If you could punch any non-banned, non-deleted Sythe.org member in the face without any consequences, who would it be and why?
2. What's one thing you really want to change about Sythe.org, but can't?
3. If you could go back in time and change one thing about your past, what would it be?

__________________

I've only ever conversed with you twice, on the IRC and via PMs, and both times you were funny and generally a really nice guy, I really hope we get more chances to talk in the foreseeable future.

Questions:
1.)After completing your course at RIT, what are your options/what is your next step?
2.)Considering your position on this site and your relationship with Richard, have you or will you ever meet up?
3.)Why not vBulletin 3.8?!?!

Sorry but I don't give out my gamertag... It's nothing against you personally, I just like to keep stuff like that to myself and my closest friends.

I actually wasn't here for RuneCMS. I think I came somewhat soon after that transition occurred, but I don't honestly know.

Both times Sythe banned me himself and both times people had to work quite hard to get me back. I'm not gonna discuss details, but what I will say is that neither time involved anything really serious... Just kind of ticked Sythe off haha

1. No one comes to mind immediately... There's a bunch of banned people I'd like to punch in the face, but I can't think of anyone not-banned off hand.

2. The biggest thing I'd like to change is our rivalries and issues with botnets/other forums. It's a shame we're on such bad terms with other communities and groups of people... Normally it doesn't matter if you have issues with others, but in our case it is a serious issue in the form of various types of attacks. Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do besides protect ourselves and, thanks to Sythe and his clever systems, we're doing pretty well at the moment.

3. I'd probably change my getting on a skateboard a while back... My brief interest in skateboarding ultimately led to me breaking my two front teeth in half... They got fixed, but it wasn't exactly a fun little adventure. Yay for health insurance! xD

__________________

I'm curious, how many PMs do you get a day/week?

__________________

1. The goal is to get a job. I'm not sure where or doing what yet... I'm doing a co-op this summer for Progressive Insurance in Ohio where I'll get to sample a few different areas of IT. Once I do that, I'll probably have a better understanding of what I want to do when I graduate.

2. Well, Richard is in Australia and I'm in New York... With that said, if we had a chance I'm sure we would meet up. He has toyed with the idea of coming to the US for a visit and if he does I'll definitely try and meet up with him somewhere.

3. vBulletin is actually up to 4+... We haven't upgraded because we don't really need to... We've looked into getting vBulletin 4 and actually had a test copy of it up for a little while to play with, but a lot of people say it takes more resources to run. Given the attacks and other issues we deal with, we don't really have the resources to spare at the moment. It's a shame really because vBulletin 4 is really nice and really inexpensive.

Not nearly as many as you would think... I get a bunch, but I don't get flooded. In all honesty, most of them just get deleted. When people send me PMs with stupid questions (questions which there are answers to in the rules or on the donation center) I just delete them. I also delete a lot of requests for me to review disputes and scammer reports. I used to do that kind of stuff but don't have the time thesedays. There are also other admins/mods who are in charge of handling those sections.

__________________

Isn't it irritating when people post questions faster than you can reply to them?

__________________

Most embarassing moment?

__________________

Your contributions to this site have been phenomenal as I've watched your progress/status through the years nice to finally put a face to the name

__________________
Skype: usa_tribot

Vouches

Can I have the girl on your shoulder?

Err. Are you and sythe really brothers or cousins, or related? lol

__________________

Were the perm-bans before or after you were an administrator? If it was before, have you ever been demoted from a position?

__________________

Maybe

Getting banned probably... Especially since it was ultimately unnecessary and was reversed.

Hahah no... I live in upstate New York, Sythe lives in Australia...

I think they were both while I was an admin. After one of them I came back as an admin but after the other I came back as Global for a bit and then got re-promoted. This was because when I was banned they promoted someone to fill my spot and didn't want too many admins. Keep in mind, both of these bans weren't any longer than a week or so and one of them was only a couple days. Other than those two little situations, I've never been demoted or anything.

__________________