January 2004: myPaymentPal-ThreadsDev Member Spotlight Contest:
Shroomery.org 
Interview by:
Omegatron Interviewee:
Ythan ThreadsDev opened their second member spotlight contest to it's users to decide whom the winners are. I am pleased to have the privelidge of interviewing our second place winner The Shroomery.
We took wild trip to the other site to find out how the founders at The Shroomery have such a successful site.
The Shroomery be found at:
http://www.shroomery.org. [:"blue"]ThreadsDev:
First off congratulations on winning second place in the ThreadsDev myPaymentPal contest and for having a great community! Tell me about the history of your site and when you got started. [:"red"]Ythan:
In 1997, I became intrigued while reading descriptions of the psychedelic experience. The profound ways in which a certain simple mushroom can affect human perception piqued my interest and inspired me to learn more. I was frustrated by the scarcity of reliable information on the Internet and worried by the dangers posed when uninformed or misinformed individuals experiment with such a powerful substance. I started collecting the few articles I came across into a central location on the Web and soon they grew into a small but comprehensive repository of accurate and useful information. The public response was beyond any of my expectations and soon the site was growing by leaps and bounds. Over the years, many talented and devoted people have offered guidance and lent their abilities to help the Shroomery become what it is today. With their continuing dedication and the support of our community, we hope the site will always remain the leading web-based resource for hallucinogenic mushroom information.
[:"blue"]ThreadsDev:
How did the site name "Shroomery" originate from? [:"red"]Ythan:
The name came to me quickly and without much thought, when I began considering the idea of a mushroom-related web page. At the time I had no expectations for the site and I didn't even bother to check if the domain name was available (fortunately for us down the line, it was). As the Shroomery grew, the name stuck because it's catchy, memorable and sets a friendly, welcoming tone.
[:"blue"]ThreadsDev:
How many members are on your forum/site, both total and regulars? [:"red"]Ythan:
We currently have about 17,000 registered members and get around 40 new members a day. Out of those, roughly 1,000 have logged in during the past 24 hours, 2,000 in the past week, and 3,500 in the past month. More than 150 users on our board have over 2,500 posts.
[:"blue"]ThreadsDev:
Which are the most popular forums on your board? [:"red"]Ythan:
In terms of sheer volume, our most popular forum is "Off-Topic Discussion". Even though it's only viewable to registered users, OTD still receives an average of about 800 posts per day. This forum is leniently moderated and tends to either be loved or hated by our users. It has also caused some serious headaches for our moderators and admins, for a variety of reasons. Abusive posts forced us to create a second, "friendly" off-topic forum with more strictly enforced posting guidelines. Also, the sheer number of posts in the forum (close to 850,000) slows down our board and leaves us struggling to manage the load without deleting posts, a course of action frowned upon by our users. Still, Off-Topic Discussion is a unique, important forum and the main attraction of our bulletin board for some users.
The second most popular is our "Mushroom Cultivation" forum. This is the first forum listed on our board index and it receives about 250 posts each day.
[:"blue"]ThreadsDev:
What kind of threads are typical on your forum? [:"red"]Ythan:
Part of what makes the Shroomery BB so unique is that there is no "typical" thread. Our forums range the gamut from spirituality to politics to art to science. Some of our critics think we should stay more on-topic and it's true that only one third of our forums are mushroom-related. It's tough to find a good balance of forums and it's something we're always struggling with, but the right mix can spark lively conversation and give your board a unique character.
[:"blue"]ThreadsDev:
When Kind of special content is provided to members only? [:"red"]Ythan:
You must be registered to post in any of our forums and five of our 26 forums are viewable only by registered members. Once you register, you can upload up to 400k of images a day using our custom image upload system, rate users with our custom rating system, vote in polls and use our board search.
[:"blue"]ThreadsDev:
What other modifications do you feel have added the most user appeal to your site? [:"red"]Ythan:
The two most popular modifications on our board are probably image uploads and quick reply. Our image upload functionality was written from scratch to meet our needs and is updated as our requirements change. Combined with a server setup which prevents other sites from linking to uploaded images, we are able to provide an easy way for users to post images without them taking a huge toll on our bandwidth. Our quick reply functionality is based on the popular modification. However, in order to preserve threaded discussion, we updated it so users are forced to pick which post they are replying to. This change was initially met with some resistance by our users, so in order to make the system more accessible we added options which allow the user to quickly specify the reply is to the first or last post in a thread. This has been a good compromise and allowed us to preserve thread structure without inconveniencing our users.
[:"blue"]ThreadsDev:
Besides the Forum, what other content do you have on your site? [:"red"]Ythan:
The forums are a large part of our site, but not the only part by far. The Shroomery is powered by a custom content management system which provides access to our almost 7,000 individual resources. We have a huge archive of documents relating to every aspect of hallucinogenic mushrooms, from simple FAQs to scientific papers. Our gallery has thousands of images in six categories and we receive new uploads every day. We have a massive links database, a chat room and more. We are constantly striving to improve our content offerings and the way they are presented to the user.
[:"blue"]ThreadsDev:
How do you promote your site? [:"red"]Ythan:
We do not advertise, but we have very successfully worked to optimize our site's placement in search engine results. Our content management system and bulletin board both generate spider-friendly URLs. We also carefully place relevant keywords in page titles and introductory text. We encourage inbound links from other sites by providing premade banners and text they can use. Most visitors find the Shroomery through search engines or word of mouth.
[:"blue"]ThreadsDev:
Now I have viewed your site several times and it is quite vast and unique. What are some of the things that you think let it stand out and make it unique? [:"red"]Ythan:
The Shroomery has maintained the interest of thousands of web surfers for a multitude of reasons. We tend to keep our staff as tight-knit as possible and foster a sense of community by involving the membership in our decisions and oftentimes making sacrifices to cater to their tastes. Of course we can´t take all the credit, the simple topic of our website is enough to catch the eye of many as it is a topic weighted with a heavy stigma largely due to the negative and oftentimes inaccurate propaganda put forth by non drug-friendly activists. Fortunately for us, the magic mushroom poses no significant health threat to its users and instead can provide a life changing experience which may aid in the personal growth of the individual. We encourage everyone to take a gander at our information database and see for themselves the experiences of thousands of psychedelic users who not only enjoy, but benefit through their use of this sacred substance.
Thank you for giving us the opporunity to present our community,
Ythan 
