Hello SMR, Ready to get this interview over and done with?
of course
How do you compare your RuneCMS days in respect to Sythe.org now?
I find that I'm much less... enthralled by the idea of a Runescape Cheating forum now. I used to enjoy the thought of being part of an 'underground' cheating/black market community, but now it's lost its glory. That is, to say - aside from the fact that Jagex has effectively crippled the black market with their anti Real World Trading mechanisms, and their macro detection, it's just not fun to undermine them anymore, maybe because I've grown up and have stopped looking for opportunities for mischeivous pleasure everywhere.
You've seen many users come and go, banned and promoted, what is one event that stands out for you?
I particularily remember when Annex, Vic, Unknown and Curt were all promoted to admin around that big hacking on January '07. I found it an insult to myself and other globals (as I had been a global at the time) who had been trying to earn the rank of administrator justly and properly - and I refused to cooperate with them for a very long time. That was immature of me but I still think that my anger was justified
How did it feel getting admin after so long and alot of hard work?
Though I risk sounding immodest, I felt like I had earned it more thoroughly than some of the other administrators we had at the time. I had contributed to the programming section, to Runescape Cheating itself, and to the staff by helping the current admins organize the list of IPs to ban a few times. I was not met with opposition or antagonism on the staff or by the users.
How has being a member of Sythe.org benefited you in the real world?
Well, Sythe.org and Runescape Cheating in general is what got me intersted in programming, something which I am very good at and enjoy doing. Also, dealing with the general Sythe.org public has greatly tested and improved my patience and anger management skills. No joke.
Where does the name "SMR" or "Suck my R2h" originate from?
I remember a cheat from Grand Theft Auto 1 (the old, 16-bit DOS birds-eye-view version) that gave the player infinite weapons or ammo, called "suckmyrocket". When I joined here I applied the humorous name of that cheat to my username choice, and, this being a Runescape forum, replaced "rocket" with "r2h".
http://vgstrategies.about.com/od/pccheatsg/a/GrandTheftAuto.htm to those who want to see it for themselves.
How did you get into programming?
When I was browsing posts on RuneCMS I found sample source code and downloaded Visual Basic 6.0 to try making my own cheats. I found Visual Basic simple and unchallenging, so I set my sights on more difficult languages, particularily C++. I used Visual C++ 6.0 to write a few cheats, many of which I have lost and/or have been deleted from the numerous times we have had database rollbacks' on Sythe. I found that it was possible to use programming to do more than automate Runescape-playing for me, so I applied it to various tasks I needed on my computer, like creating a tool to clear my browser cache periodically, to fix a problem I had where my computer kept setting my clock a year behind, to write my own email client that instead of constantly bothering me, saved my emails into .txt files, without prompting me, so that I was free to work and play games in peace.
What was the most enjoyable thing about making your own Autotalker?
Like most of my autos, it revitalized my feeling that I was helping contribute to the community, and to cheating in general. I may not be immature like I was 3-4 years ago, but I still enjoyed the feeling that I was undermining Jagex.
What tips would you give to curious members who want to get into programming?
Personally, I would advise them to avoid Visual Basic if they are seriously thinking about pursuing programming beyond simple Runescape macros. It is easy to use, but inflexible. I think of VB as Lego in that sense, and C and C++ as a hammer, wood, nails, and paint - it takes more effort to use but you get better results.
Who is one person on Sythe.org you respect and why?
There are many, but I particularily respect Steph. I think that she was the best staff member from the time that I started being truly active on Sythe until the day she was demoted. I know people will think that my choice is based on gender, but to them I simply say: "you're wrong". She involved the whole staff in promotion decisions and other important changes, even when she was very busy IRL, she would pop in and try to help out.
What is one thing you think makes the world corrupt, or a less enjoyable place to live?
One thing that upsets me... Let's start off by establishing that I am a very proud North Indian whose parents are Hindustani. I find it upsetting when we fight with Pakistani people - who are the same race as us. Indian Muslims and Hindus all used to live in the same part of the subcontinent, and they spoke one language. They were seperated by the British who instilled religious nationalism in both groups which ultimately led to seperation. I speak both the Indian language of Hindi and the Pakistani language of Urdu, and it is very easy to tell that the two languages used to be one. I communicate in both languages, as well as English and it would be very upsetting to me if India declared war on Pakistan (though it seems immenent).
If you could change one thing about Sythe.org, what would it be and why?
I would reinstate global moderators. The current staff structure is inefficient as administrators are expected to do the work that had once been delegated to global moderators, and if none are online, it takes forever for a thread to be locked or deleted in another section without a global online to do it for them. Take, for example, the recent spam in the Off Topic forum. A global could have taken care of that with the click of a button.
and if people come spamming advertisements, sectionals can only delete spam in their section, and not in others, making them either having to get an administrator to delete it, or wait for a sectional in EACH section to come online.
Thanks for your time.
Not at all.
