Fireside Interview #8 xat Jayden
The dark labyrinthine streets of NYC provided the perfect setting for my eighth interview, and this was no ordinary night. This was a night where fresh-faced ghosts and ghoulies roamed the lands, searching not for brains or souls, but for king-sized Snickers bars and M&M’s. This was a night where pumpkins were the vegetable of choice, and every block, nay every apartment added yet another cavity to my sweet tooth. This year, I went dressed as Frankenstein: humongous head, contorted face – and that was before I even put the costume on. It was only after walking to Broadway that my face began to melt, the green makeup dripping down my chin like hot wax. After the final candy bar was claimed, I arrived at Jayden’s apartment, which was guarded by two balding autumnal trees. The leaves crunched loudly underfoot, as I crept closer to the doorbell. Here I waited in anticipation, the porch light humming quietly in the darkness…
Hey Jayden, thank you for agreeing to be my next interviewee! You have always been on xat yet plenty of users don’t know who you are yet, I’m glad to interview you.
What’s your real name, how old are you, where are you living and what are you studying?
Hey I’m Jayden Lewis ! I’m 20 years old and I live in New York City. I’m currently studying Business & Asian Studies. :p
Weren’t you passionate about computer science?
When I was younger, I was always curious and fascinated with technology. My uncle bought me my first laptop when I was 8 and instantly strived to learn more about how things worked. Even though I am currently in university and computer science is not my main focus anymore, it is still something I am still interested in and would like to invest my time in even more if given the opportunity.
What words would you choose if you had to define yourself?
I would like to define myself as a a person that is caring about others and would always be there for anyone that is needing of help whether it be xat or whether it be going through real life struggles. Even though I can’t define myself as perfect, I do try my hardest to be the best I can possibly be.
My passion in life is to help others in any way I can and I am very fortunate for being a volunteer, help owner, trade moderator etc because it gives me the tools to help others here on xat. I’m not the perfect person, and I struggle with things too, but that does not deter me from being able to carry others up.
For how long have you been on xat and how did you discover it?
I’ve been on xat ever since I was 12 years old around early September 2008. I originally found this site in 2007 when it was embed on a website about anime (I forgot the website name sorry) but I discovered it again in September 2008 and started actively going on a chat that talked about many different sports.
I found the Help chat around late November/December 2008 and started going on there since. I got member in early 2009 on Help and moderator in mid 2009 and I have been staff ever since. Currently it is my 8th year on xat (call me crazy lol).
What was your first impression?
My first impression of xat was actually pretty much like everyone else. It was one of a kind and very much something I was curious about. I wasn’t really much of a social person back then and I was always the quiet shy kid so coming online and meeting so many people that were like me just lured me in.
What is your global impression of xat now?
My global impression of xat is that even though it has decreased in population, it has definitely had its fair share of improvements and it still has areas in which there can be more improvements.
What do you think about the xat community?
The xat community in my opinion is awesome in the sense that it’s a tight knit community and things such as the forum are places where people can express their thoughts and opinions which I think is really cool.
What do you think about the xat forum?
I think the xat forum has definitely revamped itself and has more active users contributing to it daily. Even though I am not as active on the forum, I still believe it has definitely improved over the past couple of years.
What is the best year you spent on xat?
The best year I spent on xat was 2010 overall. It was the time I made the most friends, and really just loved communicating with everyone and the powers released during that time were really fun to use. I also helped out with a resource site called xatchats in 2010 and it was really fun and met some awesome people from doing that too.
What would you consider your best memory on xat?
My best memory on xat would have to be the name chains we would use to do on Help back in 2009/2010. Those were always a blast. I have a screenshot of one we did in the past.
Do you have favourite powers?
My favorite powers are sins, aprincess and bump.
How long do you think you’ll stay on xat?
I am really not sure how long I will stay on xat. At first I was planning on quitting as soon as I graduated high school and entered university, but that obviously didn’t happen. I always take short hiatuses but I’m not really sure when I will call it quits. I have met so much people on here that make it hard for me to quit on them.
Let’s talk about your friendship and your different relations with users as you said you were always happy helping others.
Who do you trust a lot on xat?
I have a lot of friends I’ve made over the years on xat but I trust Pink the most I’ve known her since 2008 and have been close friends ever since. I also trust Brandy who I’ve met in 2012 and lots more!
Do you have a role model on xat?
I don’t really have a clear cut role model on xat but in the past I did look up to Spellchecker a lot. He has really worked hard and has definitely implemented a lot into making xat a way better place for its users.
Talking about users, what is your favourite form of support?
My favorite form of Support is the ticket system because I feel like it is a great way to directly help users one on one with their particular issue. I really enjoy answering tickets and making sure peoples issues are solved accordingly.
What do you consider your main role on xat?
I consider my main role on at as a volunteer helping out users with their issues and inquiries as well as helping to run the Help chat ad various other chats on xat.
What’s your favorite chat now?
My favorite chat now is Help but I’m leaning more towards Social because it is a hangout chat whereas Helps purpose is to help users. Don’t get me wrong I love helping but sometimes I just want to chat with people.
When did you become a volunteer?
I became volunteer around January/February 2010. Damn I feel so old lmao!
If you had one user to thank about your nomination, who would it be?
If I had one user to thank, it would be Charlie. Charlie was the one that nominated me for volunteer and saw potential in me to take up the position. I helped a lot with the xatchats resource site too which also helped me gain volunteer.
Was it a goal to reach?
I saw it as a goal to become volunteer but back then I had no clue how I would reach that all so when I did get offered it felt really good knowing that my input could be applied somewhere.
Did becoming a volunteer change your chatting experience on xat?
Becoming a volunteer did change my chatting experience a lot since there a certain sense of responsibility that comes with the role. I just don’t want people to be treating me differently because I am a volunteer, I’m still the same old me haha.
Why weren’t you a volunteer for some years before coming back?
I wasn’t a volunteer for about 2 years due to me being in my senior year of high school, I had to focus on maintaining my grades as well as graduating and getting into university which led me to relinquish volunteer for some time because I was too busy and it was very time consuming. Feels great to be back.
Since you haven’t talked about it yet, could you explain for the new xat users what was the Emo chat?
Haha sure, the Emo chat was kind of what the Social chat is now, just a place for people to hang out, talk, and be free to express themselves. You did not have to be emo, it was a place for anyone to hang out at! Really wish it was back and active again.
Are you planning to revive the Emo chat?
I’m not sure. I definitely wouldn’t have time to run it now If i could but I want to see it revived. Maybe it could be auto promoted like Graphics and Social hopefully.
Do you have any last word to end this interview?
For my last words, I really do give it up for xat for helping me meet a bunch of awesome people throughout the years. I really do appreciate my time on here.
