Interview: Roel "lordroel" Hendrikx

Editor's Note: Alexander "SpanishSpy" Wallace is back with another interview for a new alternate history forum administrator. This time we get to see his conversation with Roel "lordroel" Hendrikx, the administrator of the Alternate Timelines Forum. Check it out below:

Alexander Wallace: What made you want to found a new alternate history forum?

Roel Hendrikx: I started the site after seeing that AlternateHistory.com had become so big, when I updated my works, they would on be the second page before the end of the day most of the time.

AW: Your forum used to be mainly for your own works; what made it change to a general alternate history site?

RH: Yes, my forum was originally called the A Different Dutch War forum, named after my first timeline, but feeling that nobody would go to a forum for one timeline I decided to take the step and transform my forum into a general alternate history forum.

AW: What do you plan to do differently from AlternateHistory.com? 

RH: I try to award members with what I call Orders and Grand Orders for numerous things like posting, creating maps and flags; also, I try to give members the ability to like posts, or to criticize posts with a score.

AW: How will you encourage those who might otherwise be primarily on AlternateHistory.com to stay on your site? 

RH: I do not know; I hope that members see that, when they post here, they do not have to worry that their works are swallowed up and that this forum is a fun and nice place to post.

AW: How will you encourage a sense of community on your site distinct from that of AlternateHistory.com?

RH: I think every forum out there tries to be different from each other. It all depends on who is a member of the forum, but for now I think the small size of this forum is an advantage because its members can better communicate with each other than when you are a member of a larger forum.

AW: How will you encourage writers and promote creativity on your site? 

RH: By awarding its members with Orders, and allowing its members to nominate those who have created timelines, flags, or maps with Grand Orders.

AW: What do you think the future of online alternate history will be? Will AlternateHistory.com continue its dominance, or will the community fracture? 

RH: AlternateHistory.com, at its current state, is going to remain among us. The few smaller forums for now are not going to make a difference. Maybe in the future, but for now I think AlternateHisotry.com will be the place where most of the people interested in alternate history will go.

AW: Do you think that the alternate history community will leave forums for other types of sites? 

RH: More people will become members of online Facebook groups, and others will seek new ways to show off their work on blogs, or even creating their own forums.