The Insane Asylum

2004, the year of the monkey for the Chinese calendar. This year was home to many important and memorable events. Facebook was first founded at Cambridge, Massachussetts, which would go on to be a big factor on the Internet of today. The New England Patriots defeated rivals Carolina Panthers 32-29 at Reliant Stadium to win the Super Bowl. NASA launch MESSENGER, a probe whose purpose is to study the various aspects of Mercury. 2004 was also home to another important event, as it was this year that Kokoro (formerly Rikkulover) deigned to register at the Neoseeker website; a member whose contributions to the website in many forms have been most welcome.

To begin with I feel compelled to discuss the visual style Kokoro comes with, and this can be broken down to several different aspects. First of all is the choice of graphical style Kokoro blesses the site with. It's fair to say that appreciation of the female gender is a common trait shared across much of the male demographic, and so the choice of Misa Campo, a name embedded in the world of modelling, is an inspired choice. The style applied to the images - that of clarity and simplicity - also works very well to enhance the overall impact.



While we are discussing images I think it is only right that his Neo Gallery gets a worthy mention. Alas numerous images have since disappeared from there, possibly due to the amount of awesomeness causing the servers to spontaneously explode, but even without them the gallery is well worth a look for anyone. There are a few lovely ladies for the eyes to gaze upon and we can also gain the satisfaction of seeing the various avatars Kokoro has used over the years.

Post styling is not an uncommon thing these days, but like most things there is both a right and wrong way to manage it. Kokoro falls into the former category, as the simple elegance of applying the purple colouring allows his posts to stand out with raping the neo markup tags that too many people fall victim to. The colour choice itself is a strong one, being both appealing and easy to read on either post coloured background.

Well, enough about looks. Being an amazing member of Neoseeker is more than just looking pretty, so I should move on to the more practical aspects of the review. Kokoro's posts don't just look awesome but contribute a lot to the discussions. If there's one thing you can count on then it is his ability to formulate an opinion about many different matters and a willingness to add to such discussions by sharing his opinions and responding to various comments made. This ability to tackle a wide variety of subjects is a trait to be admired and allows threads across the forums to thrive.

The content of his posts can vary as well based on the type of conversation that is ongoing. Simple lax chatting along the lines of favourite characters or similar topics do not call for twenty paragraph theoretical studies, and thus he is wise enough to approach these matters with a similar attitude, providing another view while refraining from alienating others that would be intimidated from essay-sized responses. On the other hand, deep thoughtful debates or conversations require more than the odd sentence and Kokoro manages to construct suitable responses to match these too. It's a form of adaptability that many members could learn to use if given the time and effort.

Regardless of the length and depth of a post, one can always count on the content being insightful, informative or just plain interesting to read. Well, for such a person I think valuable forum postings was always going to be a given. Kokoro is the kind of person who can acknowledge superior products, like his choice of Firefox over IE, and has such maturity, like questioning the concept of getting drunk and the questionable 'benefits' of it. With a posting rank currently of Crusin' then you can be sure that there is no shortage of valuable posts to read.



Thankfully, Kokoro does not restrict himself to the forums. The addition of the neo blogs have served as another outlet for many members, and it should come as no surprise that Kokoro should also find this a worthwhile place to go. He has a few interesting blog submissions to look through, such as the contemplations of moderatorship, discussion of the appeal of violence in video games and even examining the degradation of Internet humour through the form of memes. The comments made by him in various blogs by other members possess the same element of valuable contribution without being overkill that pervades his forum postings too.

Gamegrep has also benefited greatly from his posting additions. Kokoro has dedicated time to submit no less than 10 news articles to add to the wealth of information provided, and has offered many comments and responses to many articles (and not just his own either) that helps to expand on the original topic of the news offered that allows members to reach ideas and conclusions that might not have been possible otherwise. Alas he is no longer an active force on that area, which is a shame as I am sure that GameGrep would only benefit from his activity there as it once did.

Forum and article comments is not all Kokoro has to offer to Neoseeker though. In fact, his contributions extend far beyond that. He has added a lot of significant data to Neoseeker's database over the years, such as game cheats, release dates and descriptions. He has also been responsible for the addition of several full profiles, helping to greatly expand on what the site offers its visitors and members. Such dedication to acquiring the correct information in sufficient volumes, verifying the accuracy of said data and compiling it all into acceptable submissions is a worthy character trait.

The biggest portion of neopoints earned is through the form of user reviews. Kokoro has an impressive lineup of 82 reviews across a broad range of products that aim to inform and advise on the quality and content of them. By presenting simple concepts and concepts his opinions are expressed directly without wading through mountains of text that can ramble on about meaningless things forever. If an element is bad you find out immediately and if something works then it's acknowledged quickly.

Wiki editing also seems to be a focus of interest for this member. He has worked on no fewer than sixteen different wikis, adding and editing content as is deemed necessary. The information and edits provided are of great value to the informative nature of the wikis that fans from all over will come to and learn about their favourite series. The sheer number of different wikis worked on shows a vast range of knowledge of different subjects and allows his assistance to spread to many different areas.

Kokoro, just a member? Hardly. If anything I do not think Neoseeker would be quite the same today if not for the years of membership that he has provided to the website. With a strong talent for valuable discussions, a desire to contribute to Neoseeker's vast resources and a wonderful visual style to top it off, Kokoro is simply an amazing member that the community cannot do without.