Don't fret, my dear HaloCustomians, I haven't forgotten about our Q&A with the big man in red. I was merely building a little hype! And I think it will be worth the wait - the curtains of HaloCustoms have finally been pulled back as Bigstack reveals the top secret inner workings of this wonderful site that we all call home! Well, not really. Not at all actually - I couldn't get anything more than a "I do a lot of the back-end work." out of him. Nevertheless, we do get to learn a little more about Bigstack himself! Which I for one think is interesting to say the least. Keep reading to find out for yourself!
Dax: Welcome Bigstack! Have a seat. Can I get you anything? Maybe some Kool-Aid or a soda?
Well I don't drink the Kool-Aid, but a root beer will be great. A Long Island would also be nice if you've got a bar.
Dax: I guess you didn't hear... Fuzzle recently joined AA, so we aren't allowed to keep any alcohols in the pantry. Root beer coming right up! So, how are the kids? And the love life?
Kids? Wow, I must come off as a old fart. I don't have kids, still 23 years young! Speaking of the love life... Bigstack has been an eligible bachelor for a long time now, just never found anyone during the college days. But that aside I enjoy my daily routine / running my business and my day job. Ladies, if you'd like to know more I am available for interviewing and questions! I'm an open book and available!
Dax: I didn't realize I was running a dating service here... Well, since we're already talking about you, how would you like to tell us all a little more about yourself by answering some questions we have for you?
Alright, fire away.
Dax: You got it! Let me just prepare my Community Question Cannon here, aaaaand-
Jesus in Malibu:
1. BigStack! On a scale of 1 - 10, how hard did you kick the shit out the DDoS'ers?
2. How come submitting a message in the conversation box is bugged out?
1. 9.8 ... Damn Russian Judges.
2. The latest back-end update has caused some issues, however I did notice that these do not always happen. It's on the to-do list of life.
General Sarbina: How did you get involved with Halo Customs and the group of staff here too?
Well I've been here since the start, Insane and I started this site. He came to me and said, "Want to start a site...?" Two days later I'm making a website and BOOM! I'm here answering this question... I was also here about 5 minutes before Insane
due to the fact that I was making the site.Tomtris: So Bigstack... do you have a... BIG STACK? (hue hue hue)
Well let's go down the list of possible BIG Stacks... Poker chips - yes I usually have a tall tower in front of me and I make sure to build a fort like a 5 year old at the poker table!! Pancakes - YES! Actually pancakes and baseball are the root cause for the Bigstack Nickname, oooh good times.. In reference to other big stacks you will have to talk to my agent.
Fiesty Fedora:
1. BigStack can I have a smiley? Like something that has to do with a fedora?
2. Also you are very muscular right?
3. Do you believe in the term feisty?
4. Last but not least, can I have a cookie and/or a hug?
1. Please send 1337.69 Bit-Coins to my personal Bit-Coin account and I will give you more than a smiley.
2. As a college baseball player that is a requirement.
3. Can it pass the scientific method to prove its existence?
4. I just ate all the cookies. Maybe next time if you can manage to sneak one without me seeing. Hugging you will have to take up with my agent as touching costs more!
Flying Shoe ILR:
1. Do you believe in Leprechauns?
2. If so, how many do you have in your basement?
3. In the event that you do not have a basement, what do you do with your captured Leprechauns?
Answer these truthfully, it may solve our site funding problems.
1. Who doesn't?
2. Twelve I believe. No wait, 13! A baker's dozen.
3. I put them to work in my Lucky Charms division as I need something to eat in the morning. And I do have a basement - where else would I store all
SOLIDSNAKEee:
1) How did you think of such an amazing custom title?It's almost like someone gave you that idea
.2) Can I haz Recon?
1) Like most children I was born. As time went on my head got bigger (no lie my hat size is 8 1/8). Unlike some of the people I went to school with my dome of a head had a large number of brain cells which allowed me to come up with EPIC names and sarcastic responses.
2) Do you haz your halo 3 disk? If you do you may be Capitalistic and Earn your Recon!
ShockBolt21: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
This has been a much pondered question for me also. However, after years of research I have came to the following 2 conclusions.
1) Using the formula: (W + I) * C where W = the constant of wood, which is well known to be 61, as agreed in many scientific circles. I = the variable in this equation, and stands for the word "if" from the original problem. As there are three circumstances, with 0 equaling the chance that the woodchuck cannot chuck wood, 1 being the theory that the woodchuck can chuck wood but chooses not to, and 2 standing for the probability that the woodchuck can and will chuck wood, we clearly must choose 2 for use in this equation. C = the constant of Chuck Norris, whose presence must be known in any problem involving the word chuck, is well known to equal 1.1 of any known being. Therefore, the final part of this calculation is 1.1. As is clear, this appears to give the answer of (61 + 2) * 1.1 = (63) * 1.1 = 69.3. However, Chuck Norris' awesome roundhouse kick declares that all decimal points cannot be used in formulas such as this, and so it must be rounded to the final solution of 69 units of wood.
OR
2) The woodchuck can't chuck anything because its paws are too small and lacking thumbs, therefore nullifying the ability to pick up and throw (chuck) a stick of wood.
WhiteWolfLegend:
1. What do you think of the site?
2. On a scall of CoD to Master Chief, how much do you like Halo
3. Waffles or pancakes?
And last, but not least,
4. Why BigStack?
1. What site? Oooh your talking about HC - it's a great start, but I would like to see it expand and grow into more things like a site I had in the past did.
2. Master Chief is going to put his nut-sack on CoD's drumset.
3. Can I haz both? I'm thinking a waffle sandwich. With pancakes in the middle.
4. Bigstack is a nickname I earned when I was younger playing baseball and it has stuck ever since.
NinetysBorn:
1. Why are you so awesome, man?
2. Can I have my own smilie now?
(I'll send you cookies *wink *wink)3. What does a BigStack do in his free time?
1. I actually found the end of the number Pi
2. Please reference my reply to Fiesty Fedora as I don't want to alert the others!
3. Where to start... Baseball, traveling (any Florida people here? That's my hot spot), beta testing, experimenting with new technology, working on servers, and baking! I love to bake!
Great Mist 40:
1. Has the Mist ever touched you?
2. Can I have some puppies
3. Have you ever liked bacon?
1. Only the mist of my enemies (if I'm down wind).
2. Take them all. I'm allergic to about everything.
3. Smoked or fried in butter? Either way I'm not much of a bacon fan.
Jl1223 X: How rich are you to be able to pay so much of OUR bills to keep the ads away? And how sexy are you to be able to earn to much of your money?
I literally wipe my ass with 100's.... That is, 100's in monopoly money. The business keeps things steady, however this site is taking up more cash that I initially bargained for. The attacks took costs and made things about 10-15 times more than I wanted it to cost and I greatly appreciate any help as it's all out of my pocket. I refuse to put ads on any of my sites! Also, my night time job of an exotic dancer is able to not only please the ladies but also pad the site's pockets.
Lights:
When I think of Bigstack, this is what comes to mind immediately
"Well, I walk into the room
Passing out hundred dollar bills
And it kills and it thrills like the horns on my Silverado grill
And I buy the bar a double round of crown
And everybody's getting down
An' this town ain't never gonna be the same."
Your response?
Where are you getting these 100's? Can I have one or many?? I only trust a George Foreman and I'm getting down to boogie boogie tonight.
Half Millennium: Bigstack, how long a day, on average, do you work/go on HaloCustoms.com?
When we first were making the site I was doing 4-6 hrs a day. Now I casually go on at work/home (like I am right now) and do updates when needed. I'm lucky to get 30 minutes of free time these days.
Fuzzle: What's exactly the relation between insane and you? Are you friends IRL, what's your story?
Back in the day when HaloTech was at its peak (was larger than what were currently at) I met Insane who was part of another site at the time, and we just became contacts over Skype. We would talk some inside Halo stuff and then one day he came to me and asked if I would be interested in starting a new site with him. As he had a good reputation I said sure and here we are today.
Tedium:
1. Why the name Bigstack?
2. What inspired you to want to go into this line of work?
3. Is this your primary line of work? If not, what do you do for a living?
4. What other websites do you run?
5. How much do you hate websites?
6. How much do you hate hackers?
7. How much do you hate people?
8. How much do you hate website hacking people?
1. As mentioned above it is a long standing nickname
2. I was always interested in computers and networking. Started editing videos when I was in middle school. I got an Xbox and Halo from day one and over time I gradually became more into websites and servers. Hard work, sleepless nights and the will not to give up has lead me where I am now. I guess in a way I have Halo 2 to thank for my network and website knowledge because I was tired of getting cheated so I learned how the games work.
3. Making websites.. No, but it closely relates to what I do which is managing VMware clusters/servers, network connections and securing storage and networks that hold sensitive information.
4. HaloTech was my claim to fame and brought my name into the spotlight (the old days of Halo; I'm trying to earn my status back), HaloClips.net (beta test - take a look), and I have a few surprises I'm working on for Destiny.
5. I hate any site with ads on it (I recommend ad block plus).
6. I have a love/hate relationship with hackers as I have my own connections there
7. I hate most people until I see they're not an idiot, it's just easier for everyone. I don't have much hope for the human race when I look at what the world is coming to.
8. Again I have a love/hate relationship there.
The 0micron: do you like milk?
That's a broad question. If I answer yes does that mean I like goat milk also? To make things clear: I don't like any form of milk unless it's skim milk in my cereal.
Absentduck:
1) What is the reasoning to your name Bigstack? (The Overlord)
2) What gametype do you prefer?
3) Are you any good at halo?
4) How are the fundraising ideas coming on?
5) What do you hate most?
6) What do you enjoy the most?
1) The nickname and tag line have been addressed separately above!
2) So that I don't go on a rampage of how Reach and H4 have been highly disappointing, I will simply state that I only like highly competitive Objective game-types (mainly CTF).
3) I attended plenty of MLG events for Halo 2/3 (mostly 3). my team never got their ass kicked but we would be top 20% of teams usually. I would consider myself part of the high class players, as well as the people I play with. Oger 1/2, if you are reading this - Gatorlaid asks how your face feels with his ball-sack on it (We would beat them in H3 Objective).
4) I have a place to make T-Shirts for cheap but I am missing a logo/content to put on. I can't do it all!
5) Liberals and other people who will not reason even when facts are smacking them in the face.
6) Playing Baseball or being on vacation.
FREEDOM COBRA:
1. Is this your first video game related site?
2. Is TACTICS a real person or a program you created to monitor HaloCustoms?
3. Red or Blue?
4. What percent of the creativity to make this site is yours compared to Insane's?
5. Whats your favorite non-Halo game?
6. How many computer monitors do you have?
7. What is your favorite YouTube Channel?
8. Are we currently getting any trouble from the little bitches(hackers)?
9. Are you afraid of more bills like SOPA?
10. What is your greatest fear in general?
1. Nope! HaloTech and others were before.
2. He's my personal AI, kinda like Jarvis from Iron Man.
3. Bitches love blue, therefore I like blue.
4. Well it's a bit of Insane originally telling us what he wanted and then us making it. Along the way he did some of the graphics and finer detail while we took care of the back-end. It was a shared effort.
5. Battlefield 3, soon 4.
6. Ummmmm I've gotta go count.... Actually a more accurate description would be something like Tony Stark's lab. But 10 if we're counting.
7. Youtube... hmm I don't really follow channels, however I did find a special effect channel called Freddiew or something like that. He makes some cool stuff.
8. No massive attacks as of late, we do get LOTS of spam bots / known bad hosts trying to signup but they get denied.
9. SOPA would KILL the internet and free speech. I am personally not afraid as my home router is directly logged into a 4096 encrypted vpn located outside the USA and all traffic passes through that. The government can gladly waste their time trying to read my packets. As for the rest of the internet, I feel sorry for the people that don't understand that none of their information is private... have you seen the Utah datacenter they're building? Watch Person of Interest (the tv show) and you will see what I'm getting at.
10. None, as long as I have still have ammunition.
Sinogard:
1. How many instances of telnet/SSH/management software do you have open at any given time?
2. How are they arranged in general?
3. Have you received any logos for shirts yet?
4. Whats your preference, Awesome but hidden behind the faces of others, or awesome and not hidden, only to be constantly harassed with film crews?
1. On an average day I'll have 5-6 open to monitor loads. On a day where something's getting attacked or I'm doing backups / recovery - about 15. I have a monitor dedicated to them.
2. They are arranged in a grid in order of server name or function. I am OCD with this and my files.
3. Nope, get on it!
4. Awesome and NOT hidden... But I would be a Tony Stark in a way.. I would probably pull something like this actually.
PandaMan:
1. If you could have one flavour of candy, what would you have?
2. What is your favourite kind of whale?
1. Root Beer
2. Orca
iws27: How long have you been into programming? And what awesome new features are you planning for this site?
I have been programming since about 12 years old. I'm not much of a programmer in terms of sitting down and coding. I know how to program, however I find my time is better spent planning and designing new things and then giving the pseudo code to a programmer.
DirtyyJuicebox: What is your favorite color?
Bitches love blue, therefore I like blue.
Sinogard:
1. Which of you are real? TACTICS or you?
2. Were you programmed to respond that way?
1. I am real.
2. Error 555e
........
Dax: Oh no... I think you broke him, Sino.
Well I guess this is a good enough time to call it a day, huh? It looks like Bigstack isn't capable of answering any more questions at the moment, but it was fun while it lasted! We'll be back with another Q&A soon, so be on the lookout! Now, if you'll excuse me I'm off to go reprogram Bigstack or something. Who's got my wrench?
