It's been almost two and a half years since the Member of the Month forum award & interview died a slow and pointless death. There were a few issues that lead to the decline, however with AoM:HD just days away, Yeebaagooon at the wheel of good ship AoMH ship and a few reforms to the format, now is a good time for a Renaissance.

Yeebaagooon will be returning to the team to preform interviews, and provide moderation support, by creating news articles and making me cherub bringing back the fancy custom forum titles!

One of the primary issues I found as MoTM came to an end was a lack of candidates. Many forum staples had won previously, and there was a general agreement that repeating people was bad, and should be avoided at all costs. In retrospect this was foolish. Take Nottud the first winner, who won in January 2007. That's over seven years ago. Since then he's done so many great things, and is definitely worthy of a second innings, as are many of the other previous winners.

So our first change is "If someone does something great, don't be afraid to do them again." We plan to interview a large number of historic designers and contributors who may have won in the past, to see what they think of AoM:HD, if they have any plans for the re-release, and their hopes for the future.

Additionally there is the hope that the release will cause an influx of new members, doing a vast array of new and exciting things! Hopefully in a few months we'll have some fresh blood to interview too.

Secondly more community involvement. If you want to nominate someone for the award, you should do that. Although final executive decisions will lie with us, to weed out joke nominations, if you want to tell us about someone who is doing something awesome, tell us about it and why they should win.

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I'm also proud to announce that the winner of the Award for May is the magnificent Elrich.

Since winning the award origionally back in March 2008, Elrich has gone on to do many great things. A regular host of screenshot contests throughout the years, A level 70 HTML Wizzard, Father of Census Bot, and an all round hoopy frood who even became a cherub.

Elrich accepted the award a week ago, however due to us living in very different time zones, and us both being professional adult people (who have jobs) I've been unable to interview him just yet, however expect to see a fanciful trip down memory lane some time soon.

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Member of the Month for May 2014: Elrich

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Elrich always maintains an air of dignity wherever he goes.


Reach: Since your last interview you became a mod (27th Oct 11) - what do you actually do?

Elrich:Being a mod is something I'm as proud as I'm ashamed of. I took on the job basically because everyone else left, but I never volunteered before because I just don't have the time or even the right mindset to do it well.
That is why I created the Census Bot to help me, so I've been approving files, banning spambots and getting in the middle of the occasional flamewar.
And despite the incredible lack of time, I reached out to Zen to help out Heavengames with tech help. I've actually launched Rome2.heavengames.com, set up FTP access for mods to maintain their sites and fixed many other things, but there's always more to learn and do.

Reach: In the Halls of Valhalla you're known as the father of Census bot - How does it feel like to have created life?

Elrich:Pretty damn good. Why? Because I have created two other life forms. Also the Census Bot, unlike my daughters, has never asked for money.

Reach: Rush Vs DiscWorld - Which is best?

Elrich:I've gotta say Rush here. For a teenager who was not particularly great at anything, finding Rush and being able to play their music well gave me a lot of confidence, but I must say that I've fallen in love with the Discworld and its crazy characters and I have you, Reach, to thank for it.

[Click here for HD Elrichs]
He's got the music in him. We tried to remove the music by force, but the music was very much not having any of it.

Reach: Who are your favorite people from HG?

Elrich:I hate to make a list because I'll forget someone but here goes.
I'll start with my brother from another internet, Baske, who I've shared life with in and out of AoMH and is doing so great in life.
Relic Radar who inspires me with her screenshots and use of color and along with Azure, stuck with my SST story to the end with ideas and amazing pictures.
I have to admit being totally gay for HailToTheOboe as well. He's got it all - a great programmer as well as a great artist in and out of AoMH.
Yeebaagooon - with energy and creativity and inspiration I'll never begin to match.
Reach268 - whose craziness, enthusiasm and insanity my left-side only brain needs so desperately.
There are many artists I admire as well: TheVandhaal,ChaosRobie, Sword of Valor, Eurotool, Sir Thobus (hocus pocus master), Necromancer, EyeCandyofDoom, Kora (fellow pisces), Nano...
Yeah..ok..most people I've met here, I've been impressed with..give yourselves a hand from me..

Reach: What are your best memories from HG over the years?

Elrich:Competing in the CSC against the great artists of my earlier days here. Running the SST with Baske and Hail, becoming tech master of all HG.

Reach: What are your plans for the future?

Elrich:AoMH: let other people who are better than me moderate the site while I move to a more HG tech position.
RL: grow old with my #1 girl as our daughters find their way in the world and always be learning new things...

Reach: What are your hopes for AoM:EE?

Elrich:My hopes are that it brings the AoMH community back to full speed. There is something about AoM that keeps calling people back to it and a higher tech version has brought new designers to create and inspire us with their work.

Reach: Any closing remarks?

Elrich:You're still reading? Damn!, you deserve a TLDR award.


It's all over... At least for this month.

[This message has been edited by Out Reach (edited 05-21-2014 @ 03:40 PM).]