The Ask Me Anything with Fandom's Vice President of TV/Movies, Anime, and Customer Support, Brandon Rhea, was held on June 25, 2020 in the official Fandom/Gamepedia Discord server. This is a transcript of all of the answered questions.
Questions and Answers
Maxforce99: How did MisterWoodhouse persuade you to become the next AMA victim? Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: How did MisterWoodhouse persuade you to become the next AMA victim?
- Brandon Rhea: He said I was the most requested person and I'm self-centered enough to fall into that trap with no problem. @Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿ same answer :smile:
BritishCynic: Pineapple on Pizza: Yay or Nay?
- Brandon Rhea: Extreme nay
Mendes2: Who was your last victim of your witch actions? Was it @MechQueste ?
- Brandon Rhea: They know who they are.
- Yechezkelb:Why do you work for a coven of witches?
- Brandon Rhea: Where else would a witch go?
Jaime248: Did you ever work with a co-worker?
- Brandon Rhea: All the time.
MechQueste: Hello Brandon. What's was your favourite experience on Fandom?
- Brandon Rhea: I went to Lucasfilm several times with Fandom. As a big Star Wars that was a big deal. Definitely a favorite experience.
justleafy2003: What do you think about the Conspiracy Wiki?
- Brandon Rhea: -5 out of 10
Harrypotterexpert101: First off, I want to say it is an honor to meet you, Mr. Rhea. My question: What is your opinion on the ending of Harry Potter?
- Brandon Rhea: I liked it. Although granted I never read the books, I only saw the movies. So I thought Part 1 of the Deathly Hallows was kind of a drag but really liked Part 2.
Maxforce99: What are your hobbies? apart from being a witch
- Brandon Rhea: I saw a joke at the beginning of quarantine where someone said their only hobbies are bars, restaurants, and non-essential businesses and I relate to that strongly.
Noreplyz: Milk first or cereal first?
- Brandon Rhea: Cereal first.
justleafy2003: What is your honest opinion on featured videos when it was released?
- Brandon Rhea: I felt strongly about the idea that having video meant fewer ads and better page speed. That ended up being the case. I also thought it could be good content. At scale and with the way we did it, that was impossible. So I was wrong about that part. I thought it'd be a win/win but it wasn't. I learned a lot from leading Featured Video.
Harrypotterexpert101: Is this AMA going as well as you thought it would so far?
- Brandon Rhea: Skipping ahead on questions to say this is exactly as terrible as I thought it'd be
TortoiseCat5 Butter on a pop-tart: Yea or nay?
- Brandon Rhea: I didn't know that I was a thing so I'll say neutral in the interest of fairness
Williek + 11 What will happen to the Wikias that are based on a game ran on Adobe Flash Player at the end of this year?
- Brandon Rhea: I may be missing some context here. Is something happening to Adobe Flash Player?
MechQueste: How did you manage to work at wikia (when it was Wikia) right out of RU?
- Brandon Rhea: I was an admin on the Star Wars Fanon wiki and started to get involved on Community Central. Sannse messaged me at one point and asked if I wanted to help answer Support tickets part time. She said she liked my tone. I said yes and the rest was history. And as a matter of fact, I was still a junior at Rutgers when that happened. I started here when I was 21 (I'm 31 now)
TyA: who is your favorite jedi in startrek?
- Brandon Rhea: Commander Potter
AttemptToCallNil: do you know who ate all the donuts?
- Brandon Rhea: No but we should get to the bottom of this
Mendes2: What is your opinion of non-witches?
- Brandon Rhea: They're aight
justleafy2003: Do you think you're hotter than the Minecraft witch?
- Brandon Rhea: Never seen this witch so I couldn't speak to that
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: Brandon, you're the only staff who is golden today. Will you utilise this moment and take it to your advantage for your witchy purposes?
- Brandon Rhea: Always
BabylonAS *Happy Camper*: How UCP things are proceeding so far?
- Brandon Rhea: Pretty good from what I've seen! I haven't been as super involved as I was before but given everyone's working from home and that really changes how people work, I've been impressed with how it keeps coming along.
MechQueste: If you are a witch and lived in near a desert in the US, does that make you a sandwitch?
- Brandon Rhea: I will not dignify this terrible joke with a response
TortoiseCat5: Since Sannse invited you to be a part-time staff to now as TV/movies VP, do you have any regrets or anything you would have done differently?
- Brandon Rhea: I overworked myself with Featured Video. We were doing hundreds of freelance videos per week and all I was doing for awhile, since I didn't have a full team yet, was upload them into our video player and then post them onto the site. It was super tedious. My team members offered to help but I thought the videos we were getting were so bad (and there was nothing I could do about it in order to meet goals) that I wanted to shield them from it since I thought it'd protect their morale. Turns out they knew about the bad videos anyway so I was overworking myself for nothing. I worked every day, including weekends, for 8 hours a day in October 2017. I got so stressed to the point that I yelled at an ATM machine. I put my card in, the machine kept not working, and I literally yelled at it on the street like a crazy person. I walked away and realized I was using my credit card, not by debit card, so of course it didn't work. I thought "Ok I need to chill..." So that's a regret
TyA: do you play any video games?
- Brandon Rhea: Mobile games which I really shouldn't since I keep paying those micro-transactions like an addict
TyA: have you watched any of the animes suggested to you yet?
- Brandon Rhea: I've been slowly making my way through Cowboy Bebop which is consistently the #1 anime recommended to me
Maxforce99: What is your opinion on subs vs dubs in anime? on a related note should in your opinion anime ever be made into live action films?
- Brandon Rhea: I don't think I'm quite qualified to answer this yet :smile:
MechQueste: Who was the most famous person you met while working at fandom?
- Brandon Rhea: Hmm famous is super subjective so to name a few. I've met Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Scott Bakula, Simon Pegg, and most of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Enterprise
UpnCbs06: If you were to import 10 scripts in your global.js, what would they be?
- Brandon Rhea: I've never been much of a custom code person tbh. I think I have Quick Tools and that's probably it.
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: Have you watched Chilling Adventures of Sabrina? If so, does it capture a witch's life well?
- Brandon Rhea: Have you watched Chilling Adventures of Sabrina? If so, does it capture a witch's life well?
Harrypotterexpert101: Cats or dogs?
- Brandon Rhea: I love them both, couldn't choose
Yechezkelb: Do you like King Bob from Minions?
- Brandon Rhea: Never seen Minions tbh
justleafy2003: Have you watched Star Trek: Discovery, the original Netflix series?
- Brandon Rhea: I have. Wasn't a big fan of the first season but I loved the second season. I stan Christopher Pike, captain of the starship Enterprise
Yechezkelb: What is your opinion on Minecraft Witches? Are you better than them?
- Brandon Rhea: Probably
Mendes2: (How) are you balancing with contributing to wikis/SW and staff things
- Brandon Rhea: I'm not tbh. Haven't really contributed in awhile. Don't have time for it, sadly. But I keep up with the users on Wookieepedia as much as possible
Maxforce99: Which witch do you aspire to be the most?
- Brandon Rhea: The Wicked Witch of the East
- Yechezkelb: Are you as evil as they say you are?
- Brandon Rhea: Probably
- BabylonAS *Happy Camper*: They still keep calling you a witch. Have you ever met a witcher?
- Brandon Rhea: I hope I never do
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: (You were put on an island with only a bottle of water, a cow, and a helicopter. Would you:
1) swim back to shore?
2) ride on the cow swimming back to shore?
3) take the helicopter?
4) hydrate yourself with the bottle of water till help comes?
- Brandon Rhea: You ask this question like I don't have a broom I can just fly away on
MechQueste: Where is Brandon Rhea?
Who is Brandon Rhea?
Why is Brandon?
- Brandon Rhea: 42
noreplyz: What is one advice you'd give to your younger self? Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: With all that you've faced within your 31 years of life, what is one advice that you would give to the people of the server, if you can only give one last advice?
- Brandon Rhea: Answering these two together: don't take the internet so seriously. It's fun but it's all made up. The drama just isn't worth it and, if you find yourself in it, one day you're going to look back and think it was stupid and you wasted your time.
Harrypotterexpert101: Opinions on the Community Council?
- Brandon Rhea: Can I revise my answer about regrets?
God D. Sogeflo: Do you like eating Tartiflette ?
- Brandon Rhea: Never had it!
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: Which country would you most likely travel to next, whenever you do, that is
- Brandon Rhea: Ireland
Tupka217: If you could pick anything, what would you prefer to be constantly compared with instead of witches?
- Brandon Rhea: A Jedi. It's a space witch but cooler
MechQueste: Who is your favourite normal editor?
- Brandon Rhea: Me a few years ago
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: Is this destiny?
- Brandon Rhea: Yes
justleafy2003: Favorite Netflix series?
- Brandon Rhea: Stranger Things
Yechezkelb: Favorite witch?
- Brandon Rhea: Me
Maxforce99: what was your dream job when you were a kid? and how does being VP of TV/Movies, Anime and Customer Support of Fandom compared to that dream?
- Brandon Rhea: I wanted to be president of the United States. (Speaking of regrets...) This job is better.
MisterWoodhouse: Favorite Disney park experience outside of Galaxy's Edge?
- Brandon Rhea: There's a dueling piano bar at the Boardwalk that I accidentally'd my way into and that ended up being a super fun night
Mendes2: Do you actually expect us to ask questions about the platform instead of witches?
- Brandon Rhea: This is going exactly as I expected it to
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: Have you ever played any of the Age of Empires games? If so, what would be your opinion on the one you've played?
- Brandon Rhea: I have not. Outside of some Star Wars games I've never been much of a gamer
TyA:do you have any unusual hobbies?
- Brandon Rhea: I'm answering questions on a Discord server from people who spend their time editing wikis. What do you think?
Yechezkelb: Why have you corrupted innocent kids souls?
- Brandon Rhea: The internet did that
Harrypotterexpert101: Has Wikia ever changed its name
- Brandon Rhea: No that's why I'm a VP at Wikicities
Tupka217: If you could pick the next location for Connect, what would it be? Not counting SF, Orlando, Poz or budget.
- Brandon Rhea: Probably Huntsville. We had originally thought about that and bringing everyone to the Rocket Center which I think would be fun
justleafy2003: Favorite YouTuber?
- Brandon Rhea: I don't really follow personalities but I do follow this really cool music channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuoKuTCQ9dmPIgOgyLm9HgQ
God D. Soglefo: Favorites Pokemon ?
- Brandon Rhea: Detective Pikachu
Mendes2: What do you dress up as on halloween?
- Brandon Rhea: I was always the person who thought I was too cool for costumes and everyone else was lame. So now I compromise and wear a nice shirt with a Superman t-shirt underneath and call myself Clark Kent
Maxforce99: so what was your first edit on a wiki?
- Brandon Rhea: I can't remember exactly but I think it was to make a page about my Star Wars fanon character
PyroNacht: Can you tell me a joke?
- Brandon Rhea: "I'm not a witch"
justleafy2003: Do you plan on playing other games?
- Brandon Rhea: Maybe! I can see the future as a witch obviously but I don't want to spoil anything
Harrypotterexpert101: Is managing Discussions or the actual wiki harder in your opinion
- Brandon Rhea: Hmm good question. They both have their challenges. Managing a wiki can be overwhelming with the sheer volume of what admins review and I'd like to find a way to make that easier. Discussions though doesn't have enough moderation tools so I'd probably say Discussions. At least with the wiki you have the tools to manage all that.
God D. Soglefo: Can FANDOM hire me ?:smile:
- Brandon Rhea: Apply for an open role and we'll find out lol
noreplyz: What's something cool that you have on your desk/desk at work?
- Brandon Rhea: I have a Han Solo Funko
Yechezkelb: What do you think of https://itsaconspiracy.fandom.com/wiki/Brandon_Rhea ?
- Brandon Rhea: Woefully out of date. 0/10 poor effort
PyroNacht: What is something you're looking forward to in the future?
- Brandon Rhea: Normalcy
Harrypotterexpert101: Will you someday be CEO
- Brandon Rhea: You don't want me to be CEO because my first and only act will be to shut this hellsite down
- justleafy2003: Would you want to brand the ucp as Rhealand? Or Wikiwitch?
- Brandon Rhea: Not even a little
- Yechezkelb: Is Rhea-branding copyrighted?
- Brandon Rhea: It is now :smile:
Harrypotterexpert101: Is Will an actual wizard
- Brandon Rhea: Not sure but if my history is any indication then if you start a rumor about that and then make jokes for 10 years eventually he's just going to say yes
- Mendes2: what do you mean with rumor
- Brandon Rhea: Fair
Maxforce99: what is your fave food / berverage? least fave?
- Brandon Rhea: Penne alla vodka is my favorite food. Not sure about least favorite
Yechezkelb: Why are you as evil as you are??
- Brandon Rhea: It's fun
justleafy2003: What would you do if you became a witch AND had the same powers as Eleven from Stranger Things?
- Brandon Rhea: Who says I don't?
Yechezkelb: Are you as cool as they say you are?
- Brandon Rhea: Who says I don't?
Harrypotterexpert101: Did you ever meet Tom from MySpace
- Brandon Rhea: He was my first friend (The kids won't get that one)
- Brandon Rhea: Tom, the founder of MySpace, was automatically added as everyone's first friend on their MySpace account: https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1237550450/mstom_400x400.jpg
TyA: where did you go?
- Brandon Rhea: Where did you come from Cotton Eyed Joe?
BabylonAS: Ever walked upside down?
- Brandon Rhea: Only when I was possessed by a demon
Harrypotterexpert101: Is Brandon your real name
- Brandon Rhea: My mom says it is, at least
justleafy2003: Ever walked into The Upside Down?
- Brandon Rhea: Yeah when I was a kid I got into some wild adventures with my friends and the local sheriff
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: Does your mom know that you're being questioned by the server members at the moment?
- Brandon Rhea: My mom never understood what Wikia (or Fandom) was so she just started saying I worked at IKEA
Harrypotterexpert101: Who is the funniest staff member you work with
- Brandon Rhea: Me
Maxforce99: what kind of music do you like?
- Brandon Rhea: Smash Mouth
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: Brandon, what's gona be your last words?
- Brandon Rhea: My tombstone will read "He died doing what he loved: walking into the woods and yelling I HATE BEARS"
Yechezkelb: What do you aspire to be?
- Brandon Rhea: Me
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: do you plan to have more AMAs in the future?
- Brandon Rhea: Me personally? Time will tell. But there will continue to be monthly Fandom AMAs of course
Harrypotterexpert101: Who would you like to see do an AMA in the future
- Brandon Rhea: Good question. I'd definitely like to get some more company leaders in here, like our Chief Product Officer and our Chief Marketing Officer. I also think some other old school folks like Sannse and Bert would be fun. I'd also really like to see a Gamepedia-focused one. And someone from ScreenJunkies since I don't think the community has had much exposure to that part of the business
Reverb frost: If you had to pick a FANDOM staff to be your heir in witchcraft, who would it be?
- Brandon Rhea: I've already conscripted Will into that
- TyA: sweet tea or unsweet tea
- Brandon Rhea: Sweet tea, I'm a witch not a monster
Reverb frost: BRANDON! who looks after the office requirements?
- Brandon Rhea: Office requirements?
- Reverb frost: The needs of working staff
- Brandon Rhea: We have a Facilities team and an IT team who manages that
- Reverb frost: What is the one thing you'd want them to add or remove?
- Brandon Rhea: Can't think of anything tbh. I like the office I work in
- Brandon Rhea: Well, when offices were a thing lol
Maxforce99: what is the strangest food you have tried? did you like it?
- Brandon Rhea: I'm a picky eater so honestly can't think of anything that comes to mind
Harrypotterexpert101: If you could Gblock one person who would it be
- Brandon Rhea: Me
Queste: What was the hardest decision you had to do at fandom?
- Brandon Rhea: Huh. I'd have to give this some thought. This is a good question.
Yechezkelb: What is your favorite cereal?
- Brandon Rhea: Cheerios
Reverb frost: Favourite meme
- Brandon Rhea: Baby Yoda sipping tea
Harrypotterexpert101: What do you think of the anti-brandon rhea videos on YouTube
- Brandon Rhea: I think it's really funny when people make videos or post comments like "he's anti-nazi!!!" not realizing what an incredible self-own that is
Maxforce99: what is the most difficult interview question you have had? and how did you answer it?
- Brandon Rhea: I always struggle with "name a weakness" questions
Yechezkelb: Who is your favorite evil witch (excluding Brandon Rhea)
- Brandon Rhea: I take exception to the idea that witches are evil
- Yechezkelb: What is better, a coven of witches, or Brandon the witch?
- Brandon Rhea: Yes
justleafy2003: Favorite councilor (Pls say everyone)
- Brandon Rhea: None of you
Harrypotterexpert101: Do you do TikTok
- Brandon Rhea: Nope
Maxforce99: whats your fav flavour of ice cream?
- Brandon Rhea: Chocolate
Harrypotterexpert101: What Fandom wiki would you dedicate your time to if you had to? Is there one in particular?
- Brandon Rhea: Not counting Wookieepedia, probably Memory Alpha.
Harrypotterexpert101: Why do you love Fandom? What does it fulfill in your life?
- Brandon Rhea: As a user I liked being in a community about a particular topic and building something. As staff I want everyone to have as good of if not a better experience as I did. So that's what I treat as my kinda guiding light
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: Personally, what are your future plans and ideas for Fandom?
- Brandon Rhea: I have a lot of ideas. The biggest thing I'd want to do is find ways to unlock more value in our wikis beyond just ads. We're too dependent on ads which isn't a great user experience and also not a particularly stable financial situation to be in when the economy is down (hence some of the things we've had to do this year). So revenue diversification will be a big focus for me moving forward.
justleafy2003: What would you want in UCP?
- Brandon Rhea: What UCP will be once everyone's migrated is pretty much what I'd want it to be: a new baseline to build other cool stuff. From there I'd love to have a site that has more personalization. More relevant ads, more ability for you to decide what you see/how you see it, etc. And also there's cool features I hope we build (I'd love to see Maps, for instance)
Yechezkelb: Are there more recent videos of you talking?
- Brandon Rhea: I sure hope not
Maxforce99: where would you like to see fandom in 5 years time? goals achieved etc?
- Brandon Rhea: I would like to see the site be one that we can all look at and say is the best wiki platform in the world, has a better revenue model, has better site features, is consistently updated, and has the tools to make editors lives easier and also providing experiences that engage the audience more. Wiki editing is a very niche experience so for the vast majority of people, if they land on Fandom or even register, there's nothing to do other than read. What else could we have people do? That's an interesting question and one I'd like to explore more. Without it being a case where we're just shoehorning things onto a wiki
DSquirrelGM: What would you say was the worst "technical failure" that ended up being a good site feature, in your opinion?
- Brandon Rhea: The logged out version of the toolbar. It's called the Wikia Bar. Almost everyone who has ever looked at it in the company has been like "this is terrible, let's get rid of it" but is consistently the only thing that has driven meaningful interaction with logged out users to get them to where we want them to go.
🐅Garfield🐅: Brandon, do you like spongebob?
- Brandon Rhea: Haven't seen it in ages but always did
Harrypotterexpert101: Is Fandom your passion, hobby, or delight?
- Brandon Rhea: I'd say a mix of all of those, things. I certainly don't just consider it any regular job.
justleafy2003: what are you a fan of, other than Star Trek & Star Wars?
- Brandon Rhea: I really like the MCU. I'm a huge fan of Superman. I was also a political science major so I'm a politics junkie. And to round out the "Star" franchises I'm also a fan of Stargate
- justleafy2003: What about Star Fox?
- Brandon Rhea: Never played
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: Have you edited on Wikipedia, and how active are you there?
- Brandon Rhea: I've made a few edits here and there but never been active
Maxforce99: what do you do on an average day at work?
- Brandon Rhea: At this point, the average day is a day of meetings
- Brandon Rhea: My role is basically to make sure the trains are running on time, that everyone has the support and tools that they need, that they're not blocked from doing what they need to do, and help make decisios
- Brandon Rhea Someone asked me recently "Brandon, do you still have time to participate in Council?" and I made it clear that I don't have any official role there other than to post memes and cause headaches for Will
- Brandon Rhea He confirmed the accuracy of that statement
Harrypotterexpert101: What is your favorite food to snack on during the work day?
- Brandon Rhea: Mini-pretzels
Harrypotterexpert101: Imagine how much work Brandon could get done if he never talked to us Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: Your thoughts on this, @Brandon Rhea?
- Brandon Rhea: Most people in my position wouldn't really interact with users anymore (mostly due to time constraints) but I do try to make that time to have that connection so I'm not distant/out of touch
- Brandon Rhea: Plus while I've known the Fandom community for over 10 years I've only known the Gamepedia community for a little over a year and still have a lot to learn there, and there's no better way to do that than to just be involved
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: Which part of your life (as you know today) would you cherish the most?
- Brandon Rhea: I have a few very close friends I'd go to war for.
Yechezkelb: Do you have a pet?
- Brandon Rhea: I do not
Yechezkelb: Is your voice the same as it was in that video?
- Brandon Rhea: Probably!
Yechezkelb: Who is the next most evil after you in the Fandom staff team?
- Brandon Rhea: TimQ
Brendan Boman🧼﴾𝓢𝓸𝓪𝓹𝓮﴿: How much did the recent disastrous international events regarding health, impact Fandom?
- Brandon Rhea: We closed our offices, obviously, for the time being. We had to do budget cutbacks. Some of that was easy, like cutting travel budgets. No one's going anywhere anyway. Some of it was hard, as we had to announce a month or so back. Some priorities have shifted as a result of that, as well as working from home just changing how people work with one another.
- Brandon Rhea The ad market was down significantly (another reason why revenue diversification is important). And as Leafy said, the entertainment landscape shifted.
Emitewiki2: What are your opinions on information-focused wikis versus social space wikis? (i.e. wikis that are focused on the encyclopedic side of things vs. wikis that are mainly there for users to chat with each-other and roleplay on their message walls)
- Brandon Rhea: I think they both can have their place. I don't like to say "this is what a wiki should be."