Inteview with Darkhawk

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[SC1S][SK2S][SF6S] DARKHAWK OF IRIS TALKS...
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    Learn some about Darkhawk - a swapper and an organizer in IRIS. Let's find out what's going on in this huge group.
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WE WON'T START IN THE USUAL WAY THIS TIME. TELL US ABOUT YOUR GROUP - ABOUT IRIS.
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Well, my group.. OK, there has been some drastical changes in Iris lately. In May we were 70 members, but when I write this, in August, we're only 19! Yes, we kicked a lot of members, but some of the most talented from Norway also left and formed a new group called Gods.. Hmm, but in general it's good not to have that many members, because it's quite hard organizing 70 people.. To show the world that we're still alive and healthy we have some productions waiting to be finished.. Our diskmag, called Disc got released the 15th August, and I think that it's really a mag with potential. In some weeks we'll release a 2 disk AGA-Trackmo, coded by our french division, and some weeks after that, we in Denmark will probably release a musikdisk..
The code is finished, so it should not be hard to keep the releasedate. Apart from these productions we run some packs.. Well, we lost 3 packs thanks to the leaving members, but we still have some left, and we'll start a 2-3 packs here in Denmark sooner or later.. 
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WHAT ABOUT COOPERATION IN SUCH A BIG GROUP (ABOUT 70 MEMBERS)?
DOES IT WORK OR MAYBE NOBODY KNOWS WHAT OTHERS DO?
[SK1S]
Hmm, yes we had some problems during our many members, and we also got a bad reputation because of this, but as I said right now we're only 19 members, so we know exactly what's happening. We also have a internal mag. Well, it has not been released for quite a while, but now I'll take care of being editor for it, so I hope it will be ready soon.. 
I just heard that we got some coders and a new BBS in France, so now we're a bit more members.. 
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DO YOU FEEL GOOD IN YOUR GROUP? IS THERE FRIENDSHIP IN IRIS?
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Friendship in Iris? Well, it would not be good if there wasn't, since Iris is founded on friendship! And we still try to keep the friendship as the most important.. Fun and friendship comes first, then fame.. So yes, I feel very happy in Iris, it also helps that I'm now the worldorganizer together with Chris, it's great fun!
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YOU WROTE A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE ABOUT MONEY SUPPORTERS. EXPLAIN WHO MONEY SUPPORTERS ARE AND TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT MONEY SUPPORTING.
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Okay.. Money supporters are guys who pay crackinggroups money, in order to be in their group.. A known group like Fairlight has some members on their long memberlist, who're only there because they pay money to Fairlight.. And what I mean about it? It's totally wrong, I'd say.. Sure, it's cool getting money for nothing, but a thing like that should never ever happen in the scene, where the friendship should be the mainthing! OK, it's not the demo-scene but the cracking-scene, where people join, mostly to get money and importance.. But still, the idea sucks...
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WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT GROUPS WHICH LOOK FOR MONEY SUPPORTERS?
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As long as it's cracking groups, I can see their motive in doing it, but I still think it's totally wrong.. If I ever saw a demo group that would allow moneysupporters to join, I would have a very, very low meaning about that group.. It would be very unethical letting moneysupporters join because the scene is about friendship and fun, not money (the demo-scene, that is)!
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OUR READERS STILL DON'T KNOW YOU EXACTLY SO GIVE SOME INFORMATION ABOUT YOU - YOUR AGE, SCHOOL, HABITS, HOBBIES AND SO ON....
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Right now I'm 17 years old. I attend the Highschool on the first year, and that sure is hard, especially when you also try to have a scenelife. My habits and hobbies? Well, I like roleplaying games, reading fantasybooks and comics, and of course my Amiga is one of my biggest hobbies.. I also have a nasty habbit of getting too drunk sometimes, especially when I'm together with fellow Iris members, hmm... My musictaste is.. Hmm.. I like everything that sounds good, be it classic, heavy metal or techno, but mostly I listen to hardcore techno and my Bjorn A. Lynne CD's..
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HOW AND WHEN DID YOU ENTER THE AMIGA SCENE?
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That was a long time ago.. It also depends.. In 1989 I saw the great RSI megademo and was hooked! I choose my handle and tried to get my hands on all kinds of sceneproductions, while also trying to learn coding.. In 1990 I joined my first demogroup, it was just an unknown group of 4 people, but it was very funny anyway! Since that, I've been a member in 5 other groups, and it seems like I'm going to stay in Iris.
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WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME A SWAPPER? THERE ARE OTHER FUNCTIONS LIKE CODING, GRAPHICS OR MUSIC, SO WHY SWAPPING?
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Yep, there are other functions.. Hm, I also code a little bit, but without practicing I don't get very far, and now I have no time for it anymore, because I have that many contacts.. A swapper also gets very much fun and friendship from his job.. I like to think that I'm a friendship swapper.. I write long letters and care more about the person I swap with, than the stuff he sends.. It's very nice receiving a letter from one of your contacts, I really like it, so I guess that I've choosen the function I like the most.. But I'm also Worldorganizer and Editor, so I also do some other things than swapping..
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YOU HAVE MANY CONTACTS - ABOUT 70. HOW CAN YOU FIND TIME TO ANSWER THEM ALL?
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Well, right now I have about 80 contacts, but I will cut them down to 30-40, because I haven't enough time anymore, if I have to write a long letter to each person I'm swapping with. Before August I had enough time for swapping, because I took a year vacation from school, but now I'm back again, and I can see that I haven't time for all this, especially not after becoming Worldorganizer in Iris.. I have also made some nasty delays to some of my contacts, sorry guys!
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HOW MANY HOURS A DAY YOU SPEND ON ANSWERING LETTERS?
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Hmm, right now I spend 2-3 hours, it depends.
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CAN YOU GIVE A GOOD ADVICE FOR BEGINNERS IN SWAPPING JOB?
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Hmm, let's see.. Start with contacting guys that write 100% answer and are members in some middly famous groups.. Write a nice, personal letter, that fills about 2-3kb. Don't write too much data about yourself, and don't use slang, because generally, people don't like that. Send out to 10 adresses and wait a month.. Now all who wanted to swap with you should have replayed.. And now you just write to 10 or so new guys every month with some hot stuff or an own production (that's the best thing to send).. After a while the only problem you will have is that you haven't time for all your contacts.. It really is easy once you've started.. Unluckily you have to be member in a somewhat known group first, else you won't get many answers.. That's sad, but it's the way it is nowadays.. Anyway, you could always send a letter to me, I'll answer! 
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YOU LIKE WRITING LONG LETTERS SO I THINK THAT MORE IMPORTANT FOR YOU IS GETTING A LETTER FROM YOUR FRIEND THAN GETTING STUFF FROM HIM. DO YOU THINK WE CAN NAME IT AS FRIENDSHIP?
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Yes, I would like to think so.. Friendship is all I care about when swapping.. Of course, the stuff is also interesting sometimes, but I don't care if I get some totally old stuff, if there's a cool letter with..
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BUT IS FRIENDSHIP IMPORTANT FOR THE AMIGA SCENE?
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Yes, without it I don't think there would be a scene.. At least I wouldn't be here if we didn't have friendship, and I guess that most other dudes also feel that way.. It's cool meeting someone and chatting with him at a party, it's cool getting a long and nice letter from one of your contacts... It's friendship! So, without friendship, no scene!
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SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT FRIENDSHIP DISAPPEARS. THINGS LIKE WARS BETWEEN GROUPS OR MONEY SUPPORTING ARE ACTUALLY NORMAL ONES. DO YOU AGREE THAT FRIENDSHIP IS IN DANGER?
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Nah, I don't know.. We have always had things like that.. Some assholes behave stupid and make wars, etc.. But the majority of the scene isn't like that, so the friendship is not in danger or lesser than before..
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WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ABOUT ELITE? WHO ARE THEY?
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Well, elite guys could be two groups of persons. Firstly all the guys calling themselves elite, and secondly the guys who ARE elite.. The first group are especially swappers who write something like "Only Elite" in their adverts.. They are not elite in my view of the word.. It is OK to call yourself elite if you're Facet, Chaos, Jester or someone as good as they.. We need these kinds of elitepersons so that we have something to strive for.. Other people calling themselves elite, mostly do it because they want to appear cool etc.. And I really don't like that, it spoils friendship!
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DO YOU THINK IT'S GOOD TO DIVIDE THE SCENE INTO ELITE AND THE REST?
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That depends.. It's not good, because everybody on the scene are equal and the friendship would suffer if one did divide the scene like that.. Of course, there are some people that are better than others in coding, drawing, etc, but that doesn't make them better than anybody else, so basically it's not a good idea doing this.
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YOUR OPINION ABOUT POLISH PRODUCTIONS?
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I like them.. Yes, I think that they easily can compete with other countries productions.. You have some talented coders and musicians in your country, and now your graphicians are starting to be real good to! Poland must be my favorite scenecountry, along with my own county, Denmark!
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AND DO YOU LIKE SWAPPING WITH POLISH SWAPPERS?
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Yes, polish swappers are the ones who write longest letters and are the most friendly too..
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WHO IS YOUR BEST CONTACT AND EXPLAIN WHY?
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Isn't that rather personal? Well, no matter, my best contact is polish.. Infact it's Ranger/LBD! He's a very cool guy.. He writes long letters and is very friendly.. He also helps me out when I need something (well mostly, eh Ranger :-) ).. In other words, real friendship!
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HOW CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE SCENE IN YOUR COUNTRY?
[SK1S]
Well, the danish scene. It has been the leading scene for some time, but now it's rather quiet, with not much happening.. Ofcourse that will change, now that Iris DK releases some things! Ehm.. Apart from that, Polka Brothers is the best danish group in my opinion right now.. Then there's Static Bytes with the Euro Chart and Balance with Upstream. Apart from these, no other groups pop into my mind as being the best of the danish groups. Kefrens and The Silents are very silent right now.. But I like the danish scene anyway.. We're a bunch of old friends that have known each other for quite some years...
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NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT DISKMAGAZINES. ARE THEY IMPORTANT IN THE LIFE OF THE SCENE?
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Yes, important they are.. They have very much power in the scene today.. People mostly think that what's written in a diskmagazine is the truth, altough that almost always is far from the truth..  If a diskmagazine states that X is lame, many people will also think that X is lame.. And that's very dangerous indeed.. Anyway, diskmagazine are also very interesting for the reader, and offers many hours of nice articlereading.. I like them!
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WHICH DISKMAGAZINE IS THE BEST ACCORDING TO YOU?
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I'm afraid I can't be objective here.. We in Iris run the diskmag called Disc, and I like it very much indeed.. Maybe I even think that it's the best.. But if we look at all the other diskmags, I especially like Upstream and RAW.. Yes, they are also the 2 top diskmags on all charts.. Upstream has a very interesting way of handling journalism, and the articles are always interesting.. RAW is the mag that invented aggresive journalism, and sometimes they are TOO aggresive, but they have a very good design and support, so I can understand that they are on top, right now.. OK, let's say that I like Upstream the most..
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GIVE US SOME REASONS WHY IT IS THE BEST?
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Wolfman has a very good journalist style, and Upstream is ofcourse blessed with as much support as one could ask for.. The articles are always topquality and interesting.. Some points I regard as negative about Upstream are: They try to copy RAW's style a bit without being as aggresive as RAW, and I think that Upstreams design is a bit bad, I like RAW's better.. 
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WELL THE END OF THIS INTERVIEW IS COMING. MAYBE YOU WANT TO ADD SOMETHING? GREET SOMEBODY?
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Hmm, I would like to thank you for interviewing me, and I would like to say hello to these nice contacts of mine: Ranger/LBD, Zerox/Gods, Mole/Agoa, Bird/Noise and Chris/Iris! To all friendship swappers: Contact me!
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THANK YOU FOR INTERVIEW. MAYBE WE'LL MEET EACH OTHER IN THE FUTURE. WHO KNOWS?
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Interview done by:
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THE KNIGHT/OBS
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