| Newgrounds.com - weblink, 5 stars 
Newgrounds features some of the latest and greatest flash content on the Internet. The site was created by Tom Fulp in 1993, when he was only 13 years old. I don't mean to put your current age out there Tom, sorry. :) You can read more of NG's history in the Literature section.
What makes Newgrounds great is the diversity in entertainment.
The Flash Portal
The flash portal sees hundreds of movies and games go through every day. It's an automated portal where anybody good enough or with enough time to waste submits movies and games. Thousands of people view these games and some choose to vote and leave a review. But you'll have to create an account for that. Don't worry, you can put your credit card away. Newgrounds is a free site. All it takes is a few minutes and you're off to vote and collect your favorite content.
When you sign up and join NG you'll see many options that come with your account. You can add a picture, make a list of favorite artists and movies.
You are also given a level 1 account. You'll notice this from the lollypop in your User Profile. For a list of levels click here. To get higher levels you'll need to vote on at least five movies. You can then deposit your points in the vault and keep doing so every day. Soon your experience will build up and you'll reach a new level! Maybe you'll reach the all-mighty level 30. Who knows...
Another benefit of having high experience is having more say on what makes it into the portal and what doesn't. Wait, you're probably thinking how that works. Well, when a movie is submitted the viewers get to cast a vote. They rate the content from 0 to 5. 5 being the best. If enough viewers vote 0 or 1 on a file then chances are it will be blamed. Or deleted.
If enough viewers vote 2 or higher then the file will be saved. Your NG account also comes equipped with ways of recording your blams and saves. You also get higher levels for these when enough blam and save points have been collected.
Last but not least is the whistle. I wondered, what is the whistle for, calling security? Well, in a way it is. If you see a movie that you think has been stolen or contains inappropriate images you can blow the whistle on it. If enough users blow the whistle the movie/game will be held for administrative review.
But be sure before you blow the whistle. According to the rules your whistle level can diminish and turn to garbage. It's a good way of keeping kids with too much time on their hands from trying to stop every submission.
The Flash portal also has awards, a king of the portal, and sub categories that show you what most of the viewers think is the best content. what are you still doing here? Go now!
The Audio Portal
If the Flash portal wasn't enough encouragement to see Newgrounds and sign up, then the Audio portal is your ticket. Frustrated musicians unite! :)
The Audio Portal is a music maker's paradise. Here you can submit music you've made! The categories are almost limitless. From Electronic to Southern Flavor. That almost sounds dirty I know. But you won't find anything dirty about these tunes. These are 100% home made tracks. Another perk of having a NG account is that you can also vote and review these tracks.
Stuck in your dorm room with tons of papers to write? Check in to the Audio Portal, put the headphones on and let the paperwork fly by.
The Audio Portal also has a weekly list of favorites! If enough listeners like the track chances are it will go gold, platinum and double platinum. Have a listen!
The NG BBS
Let's not forget the NG BBS. If forums had a bible by which they lived it'd be the NG BBS. The BBS is a nice place to burn a few hours talking to users from around the world. You never know who you'll be talking to. Here you'll see a big mix of levels, post count, and sign up dates. You can really tell who's a NG loyal by the date they signed up on. But sometimes the newest members are the ones looking to make the biggest impact.
The BBS is moderated by a great team of qualified users. Some don't agree with their views and conduct, but I can already see why they were made moderators in the first place.
The BBS is divided into six all-access forums and three reply-only forums. The all-access forums include a General section, where you can talk about anything you want, as long as it doesn't break the rules. Don't break the rules or you will be banned from posting for what could be a day, or up to seven days.
You might not think much about being banned from a website forum, but when it's the NG BBS you will miss out on all of the fun there is to be had.
The Where is/How to? forum is dedicated to answering any questions you might have related to NG content or user accounts.
Flash has its own forum. Users gather here to talk about tips and tricks with flash. Many times you'll see collaborations going on between multiple users. If you're new to flash check this forum out and practice your skills. It might be helpful to join a collaboration once you have some experience but are not ready to make a flash movie/game by yourself.
The Politics forum is where intellectual minds meet. It's not to say they don't have any fun in there. you could say it's the grown up version of the General forum. Talk about real, political topics.
Programming is a forum designed to help answer any questions you have about PHP, MySQL, Perl, JavaScript or any other type of programming.
The Clubs and Crews forum is where users with the similar interests gather and share stories or join in a common cause.
The reply-only threads are filled with NG News, Network News and P-bot's Postings. everything you need to keep u to date with the latest happenings on Newgrounds.
In the end, Newgrounds has various ways for you to escape your boring day of watching the kids or doing the taxes. It also has a chat and webcam pages I'll leave for you to explore.
Newgrounds gets 5 stars without a question. No other site offers this much high-quality content without a charge. If you haven't been to Newgrounds you haven't been on the internet. :)
- <3Jennifer |
