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#1-TopTV Presents: TopTV 2013 in Review; OAD: 1/1/2014
Topic Started: Jan 1 2014, 06:57 AM (171 Views)
ebard
Programming Director
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(Mylo, Jacques, Erik and Ali are sitting on the couch in front of the Colliding Hearts title card)
Mylo: This past month I sat down with the founders of TopTV and picked their brains about how TopTV came to be and where it's headed in 2014. This is a cant miss interview and the first of it's kind here on this board. Take a look as TopTV Presents: 2013 In Review.

(Mylo is sitting in the interview chair as Jacques, Erik and Ali are sitting on the couch looking towards him)

Mylo: So lets start from the beginning of how TopTv came to be. Is it safe to say that the hacking of the ONTV board in December 2012, is what ultimately led to fruition of TOPTV?

Erik: Yes, but that wasn't necessarily "the beginning" Jacques, Ali and myself did meet at a different board (DRtv...later ONtv) and actually the summer of 2012 I think it was Jacques and I were both frusturated about different things going on at the board and talked about creating our own board, but I got cold feet and backed out. Then after the hacking in December of 2012 Jacques and myself decided to create our own board and we instantly contacted Ali to join us.

Jacques: I think that ultimately the hacking of ONTV pushed us to create this board. Like Erik said we did discuss it on a previous occasion because we were both frustrated at how things were going.

Alicia: For me, I think it was a bit of a mix of many of different frustrations. I think the lack of admin involvement definitely pushed us out. The hacking of course, also played it’s own tremendous part.


Mylo: So how did you three (Erik, Alicia, and Jacques) get together and decide to create your own forum?

Erik: Ali, Jacques and myself were some of the longest members of ONtv. And the three of us were close. Ali was my co-writer on All My Children and Jacques and I supported each other's projects and had multiple crossovers between our shows. I dont think there would be a different set of people that I'd want to have gone into this venture with!

Jacques: I knew Erik better than Ali. I had worked with Erik on multiple projects and like he said we had some crossovers with our show that I must say was amazing to do. I started getting to know Ali through my show HEAT. Ali liked the show and at one stage when I was deciding to cancel Heat another writer were suppose to take over but didn't. Ali then showed interest in writing for Heat but later couldn't. The people I most came into contact with was Erik and Ali and I think we have a good understanding of one another. Each of us would bring something different to the table. We had a winning team and decided to create TOPtv.

Alicia: I loved being able to work with these two on the few occasions that I had gotten, so when I was approached about the administrative role, I couldn’t refuse! I always thought at the time with ONtv that things could have been worked more efficiently with people like Erik and Jacques. Luckily, we all get what we didn’t get there, effective administrators.



Mylo: What were some problems or issues that you faced as members at ONTV that you didn't want repeated as administrators on TopTv?

Erik: Where do we begin (laughs) there were a lot. Admin presence was I think the biggest one. Administrators HAVE to be around the board. It's that simple. Logging on once a week and taking 2-3 weeks to set up forums is unacceptable. When I was a member at that board, people were messaging ME to set up forums because I was the only one they saw on the board!! I think Jacques, Ali, myself an Mylo, who we brought on later do a really good job of being on consistently and sporatically. We didn't even plan it this way, it's just our natural schedules worked out where as I'm logging on Ali's logging off and as I'm logging off Jacques is logging on, etc, etc. There's almost always SOMEONE on! Now, while that was the biggest issue I think it was immediately followed by board security. When we lost our work in the hacking of the other board Jacques, Ali and myself were devastated. We lost years of work. I was literally sick to my stomach for 3-4 days. A writer should never have to feel that way. We are ALWAYS investigating new members and checking IP addresses and making sure that security levels are correct. We DO NOT want that to repeat on this board.

Jacques: For me it was definitely the lack of Admin participation. I can remember that I sent one of the Admins a PM and after two months never received a reply. I do get that people have their own lives and this is not a paid job. So once TOPtv was up and running I said to myself that I will try to run this board the best I can with the help of my co-admins. Members is what makes the board a success and you have to do everything you can to keep your members happy. As Erik also said security is a huge factor. We try our best to keep our hands on the situation.

Alicia: I think we all agree that the competency level of the administrators there was a big problem. I remember when I wanted to start doing ratings, it took me six months to finally get a forum to place them. I think that you can’t just ignore a request, especially when you message ALL the admins on the board and nothing gets done.


Mylo: Do you guys remember getting started coming up with this idea? The back and forth and the anticaption of finally launching the board almost a year ago today. What was all that like? Do you remember that feeling?

Erik: I was SO excited!! I kept logging on and just looking at the board. I had nothing to read or write or post I was just looking at the board and how it was ours and our community. It was such a great feeling! Jacques, Ali and myself had so many different email threads going back and forth that I think we were all confusing each other but we were all so excited!

Jacques: You know the feeling you had when you were a little boy at Christmas. The excitement and the anticipation of opening gifts. That is how I felt. I couldn't wait to get my hands in and just start. There were just so many things to do. I think all of us was overwhelmed and like Erik said we had multiple e-mail threads back and forth discussing different topics. It was a crazy time getting everything ready. I could never imagine how good our board would turn out. This is why i want to take the opportunity to thank Erik, Ali and Mylo who joined as Admin later on for everything you guys have done to make this a success. It wouldn't have been what it is without you guys and most importantly all of our writers, members and guests who supports our board. a BIG thank you.

Alicia: Oh god, my e-mail. I couldn’t honestly keep up, it was such a great thing for us! We have pages of messages back and forth about everything and I think the creative process was the most exciting thing.


Mylo: So when the board was finally launched, there was obviously no slowing down. What was next on the agenda?

Erik: Unfortunately, immediately after the launch of the board we all had to play PR with all of the allegations that we had a hand in the hackings at ONtv. It took a toll on me for sure to where I almost stepped down as Administrator because I thought it was jeopardizing the legitimacy of the board. It was a rough two months kicking things off.

Jacques: Yes, the first two months or so wasn't so blissful as we hoped. As Erik said there were so many allegations thrown our way. People advised other people not to join because of the allegations. At one point I was really geeting frustarted and thought to myself that people is going to think what they want. I knew that I had a clear conscience and thought this is enough. I am done. Now I am just going to concentrate on TOPtv and that is what I did.

Alicia: Dealing with the boards negative PR was a hassle, we were all accused of something with the hacking by many people. Luckily, it is all behind us now. Our concentration is on TOPtv and making is successful, and that’s exactly what we are doing.


Mylo: Lets talk a little bit about your shows. Ali what happened with 'Reflections'?

Erik: Yes, Ali, what did happen with Reflections (laughs) you aired one episode that was one of the highest rated episodes in the boards history and then nothing ever happened after that...until today.

Jacques: Good question. I thought it had such a strong premiere and it was our first show on TOPtv.

Alicia: Well, I had the rough idea for the show back in the DRtv days. At the time, I had One Step at a Time and I didn’t want to run with it. Well, the idea kind of fell on the backburner when I decided that Close to Home was going to be my pride and joy. After the hacking, I thought that I should finally run with the idea. Little did I know, people actually wanted to see more Close to Home, so that’s why Reflections fell behind, and ultimately got shelved.


Mylo: Erik, what was it like to start the original soap of 'Riverview'?

Erik: Riverview was something that I'd been kicking around for the better part of a decade. Nothing was written down, just all in my head. When I saw how quickly and easily Ali and Jacques returned to writing, I decided that I needed to follow suit. I did all fanfics on ONtv, with the exception of my Primetime series, and I wanted to change that. Riverview is my baby and I love writing it. I was nervous and excited. The pilot went over REALLY well which was a relieve. I was so aprehensive about starting the original work that had the pilot not go over well, I might not have continued the series. I really was nervous about doing my original thing.


Mylo: Jacques a lot of your early work were already established shows. Tell us about that difficult transition.

Jacques: It was really hard. At ONTV my shows already established its fanbase. Bringing it over to TOPtv was hard. Some of the shows already had over a hundred episodes. It is where it gets difficult. It has to gain new readers and I think sometimes when a show has already many episodes it is harder to get into it. It is one of the main reasons that I am concluding most of my shows in 2014. I just started a new soap called Sweetwaters that isn't doing too bad.


Mylo: So has there been a particular moment that you have said to yourself that this board is a hit? Or would you say that moment is still to come?

Erik: October we had a huge surge in usage and members and activity that I think the Administration team rode very well. We used that surge to launch some new things (Pilot Season, Top In Depth) and I think that to date that was the "made it" moment so far. I hope that we have a bigger moment later on, but as of right now that, to me was our "made it moment".

Jacques: I think looking at the board and all of the shows and how many there is already tells me that this board is a big hit. I have been on at times where we had so many people viewing the board. It is just amazing. I am sure we will have some bigger moments coming. I think the TOP Awards could be another moment.

Alicia: The moment I really thought “holy shit, we have a board” was when I looked at ratings one day and we had more than seven shows. That in itself showed that we had about the same, if not more activity with daily postings that we had when we were with ONtv. I think it really showed that we were getting in our groove.


Mylo: Going into 2014, are there any types of changes coming that you can talk about?

Erik: Besides a 24 hour marathon, awards ceremony, new board design, new graphics, new slogan and new network names? No. (Laughs) We've been so focused on the marathon and awards show that things will slow down a bit for January but we are always throwing ideas around in the administrators forum, so I'm sure that you'll be seeing some new things coming very soon from all of us. Just nothing to necessarily speak of at the moment.

Jacques: The immediate changes people saw is the new graphics, board design and new network names. We will strive to make the board bigger and better. We constantly think about new ideas to make this a fun place to be. Like Erik said there aren't anything to speak up at the moment but it doesn't mean our brains isn't in over drive. Just keep coming back. I can't wait to see where we will be in 2015

Alicia: These two basically covered it all, I really do think that after today, you will all be wanting more of these changes. Don’t worry, you will all love what we have for y’all in 2015!

Mylo: Thank you to Jacques, Erik and Ali for sitting down with me to discuss where TopTV came from. Dont miss the four of us sitting down later on today to discuss the future of TopTV! Thanks for joining us!
Edited by ebard, Jan 5 2014, 07:43 AM.
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SoapHW
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What a great interview. I really enjoyed reading it. I also love the new board look whomever is responsible for it!
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superstargirl818
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A brilliant interview, I really enjoyed learning about how TOPTV came to be.

I have to admit I agree that lack of admin presence on ONTV was an issue. I think I got more help from Erik on that board than the actual admins haha.

It really shows in and around the board how much you guys really care about it and how much care and love has gone into it while creating it.

You guys should be so proud of what you've created and I for one am proud to be a part of it! :)
Edited by superstargirl818, Jan 1 2014, 09:09 PM.
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Nate
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Loved this.
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