1. Introduce yourself please
My name is Jonathan J. Burtenshaw, and I am a 23 year old resident of Ontario, Canada. I am currently employed as a senior Web Designer at ACS Web Group (www.acsweb.org) in Oakville, Ontario.

2. When was your first contact with emulation?
The first emulator I ever used was the Commodore 64 emulator CCS64. I had downloaded it from a local BBS, having only a vague idea what an emulator was. Needless to say, I was blown away by the fact that my PC was capable of running my old C64 favourites.

3. What was your first ROM?
The first emulated game I played was 'Impossible Mission' for the C64. It was a disk image, not a ROM image, however.

4. Why did you open The Dump?
'The Dump' officially started life back in February of 1997 as 'Selected NES ROMs'. Marat Fayzullin had recently released his 'iNES' emulator, and there were very few web sites that carried games in the iNES-compatible ".NES" format. I was frustrated with downloading games only to find out they were in the "split ROM" format (for Pasofami, the other NES emulator at the time), and I decided to compile all the NES ROM images that I had into a web site, so others could find the games more easily. About a month after 'Selected NES ROMs' opened, the NESticle emulator was released. Instantly the number visits to my site increased by a factor of 10, triggering the first site move (of many).

5. Why the name The Dump?
The act of transferring the contents of a ROM image to another source (like a computer hard drive) is called "dumping". The ROM images themselves are often called "dumps". Need further explanation? ;)

6. What do you think of the site to be remembered by its Genesis section?
The Genesis section was by far the most popular division of the Dump. At its peak, it was recieving between 8,000 - 10,000 visits per day. The TurboGrafx and Neo Geo sections of the site are much less popular (as were the systems themselves), but they are all part of the Dump as a whole. I'm particularly proud of the TurboGrafx section, as the TG16 is one of my favourite systems of all time.

7. Where did those tons of ROMs come from?
Over 99% of the games on the Dump were donated by visitors to the site. There were a lot of people out there who owned Genesis cart copiers and had vast collections of games sitting on floppy disks. One kind donator spent about 18 hours backing up all of his floppy disk-based ROM images onto a CD-R to send to me. I've also received games from a number of other sources, including a couple unreleased games direct from game programmers. As many of them still have jobs in the videogame industry, I can't mention any of them by name, but they were all very pleased to be able to finally "release" the games to the public, through my web site.

8. Have you already tested all ROMs which you have received?
I test every single game in the most current emulators before putting them online. This has been site policy ever since the Dump first opened its doors.

9. How and when did you meet Aegis?
Aegis contacted me a few months after the TG16 section of the site went online, asking if I would like a new logo designed for the site. I was familiar with his previous works, so I jumped at the chance and the rest is history.

10. Whose idea was it to open The Dump Xpress?
'The Dump Xpress' was Aegis' idea. The point of Xpress was to provide an alternate location to download the latest additions to the Dump, as our FTP server at classicgaming.com was often busy at that time.

11. The Dump has changed its location many times due hosting problems. Today, most of sites already have conditions to start a site with stable and secure hosting. What do you think about this evolution?
I'm pleased that emulation site operators don't have to face the same hosting problems that I did. It was very frustrating to constantly have to move the site due to excessive bandwidth consumption. I owe Classicgaming.com a huge debt of gratitude for providing a fast, stable location for the Dump. JoseQ (of EmuViews) was one of the first web space providers to cater to the emulation scene.

12. Your site was always busy because its fantastic database. Do you know monthly transfer of the site? (i.e 10Gb)
To be honest, I have absolutely no idea how much traffic my site generates. I figured it's probably best not to ask... ;)

13. Have you received gifts from your visitors? What was the most interesting gift?
The most interesting gift I received was a mint-condition TurboGrafx-CD system, complete with several games and a carrying case. I had owned a TurboGrafx-16 system for years, but I could never afford the CD drive for it. The person who donated the TG-CD was planning on selling it, but he wanted to give it to somebody who would appreciate it instead.

14. During these 3 years, did you work alone?
Although I was responsible for the design and maintenance of the Dump, there were a large number of contributors along the way. As I mentioned earlier, the vast majority of the games on the Dump were sent to me by visitors. Without those generous people, the Dump would never have reached the size it did. I also have to thank the people who submitted game reviews (Derek "Seconal" Hull in particular).

15. When did you see your site was one of most visited on the net and realize its size?
When the Dump made it to the #1 position on the Nedstat Top 10, I realized that I had hit the "big time", so to speak. By that point, I was also receiving over a hundred email messages a day, most of them extremely positive.

16. Do you think your persistence was valid?
This is a difficult question. I used to spend approximately 4 hours a day working on the Genesis site. I didn't carry any sort of paid banner advertising, so my "reward" for running the site was the positive feedback I received via email. Unfortunately, not all email was so positive. Regular visitors to the Genesis site know that I received a number of downright disturbing emails, including one death threat. There were a number of occasions where I was ready to just take the entire site offline and begin dedicating my time to other projects. Thankfully, the amount of time that I dedicated to the site made me quite web-savvy and helped me land my current job as a web site developer. I have absolutely no regrets, although I do wish that I was able to hassle the IDSA a little more... ;)

17. How do you feel when you see that your site is one of the oldest sites of emu scene?
Surprised, actually. Until the site moved to Classicgaming.com, keeping it online was a constant hassle. It wasn't the copyright issue that caused the problems, it was excessive bandwidth consumption.

18. Was IDSA the reason for ROM's Section on The Dump closure?
The Genesis section, yes. There are still TurboGrafx-16 and Neo Geo ROMs available for download through my site.

19. According IDSA: "Your statements in the disclaimer posted in your Website, that owning a pirated title is legal if it serves as a "backup" to a legitimate copy is false. The fact that a person owns a legitimate copy does not authorize any party to copy and distribute it without permission." So, any kind of disclaimer can be used, ALL commercial ROMs are illegal?
I could offer an answer to this question, but this topic has already been covered ad nauseum in Sam Pettus' "Emulation FAQ". If you haven't already read the Emulation FAQ, I highly recommend that you do. I'd buy a hard-bound, gold-embossed edition if one were available... ;)

20. After The Dump "closure" due IDSA "moves", there was a determination from all to boycott against IDSA members. What do you think about it and its results? Some great corps have asked for their names to be removed from the list.
I think it's a great idea, but it hasn't made the slightest shred of difference as far as software sales are concerned. That wasn't really the point of the boycott, however. It was more of a means for the gaming public to let the IDSA know that we didn't appreciate their strongarm tactics towards emulation.

21. What was the reason to remove NES ROMs?
Two words: Magic Engine. The TurboGrafx-16 is one of my favourite systems of all time, and when Magic Engine was released, I completely lost interest in NES games and decided to focus on the TG16 instead. By that time, there was already a number of other NES ROM sites, and I didn't have the web space to host both NES and TG16, so I gave the NES site the heave-ho.

22. Do you think SEGA has a different opinion about emulation than Nintendo?
Probably not. They likely both see emulation as piracy on a grand scale. I think Sega is a bit more liberal than the "Big N", however. After all, Sega licensed the KGen emulator for its commercial "Smash Hits" package, and they're currently experimenting with TG16 and Genesis emulation on the Dreamcast.

23. Was a surprise for you the SEGA Smash Pack release?
Absolutely. I even bought a copy to help support "legal emulation".

24. ResQ and Wacky Races were games never published by the softwarehouses. Where did they come from?
No comment. ;)

25. Rumors says that sites owners in Classicgaming receives money to keep its site?. Do you confirm it?
I chose not to recieve any money from classicgaming.com. Any potential profit goes towards hosting fees and server maintenance for Classicgaming.com. I think they're most probably losing money hosting the Dump anyway, due to the amount of bandwidth consumption.

26. What was the reason to add file_id.diz in all ROMs zip files?
Link-stealers. There were a number of unscrupulous emulation site owners that figured out that it was easier to link directly to my file collection than to pay for their own web space. Adding a file_id.diz file to each archive ensured that people knew the REAL source of the games.

27. Did you eliminate all sites that were linking your ROMs?
The linking stopped after the site moved to Classicgaming.com, as they were able to implement safeguards against external file linking.

28. Have you had problems with an emu news site?
None whatsoever.

29. Do you are still involved with emulation scene reading news, interviews etc?
Due to my full-time job and other commitments, I'm more of a "silent observer" now. Regardless, emulation is still one of my passions and I visit Zophar's Domain and Retrogames daily to keep on top of things.

30. What are your preferred emulators?
Magic Engine, Genecyst, KGen, NeoRAGE, NESticle, Callus, Raine and (of course) MAME.

31. I know, it's a bit idiot, but there is a chance to back Genesis ROMs and some missing NeoGeo ROMs on NeoGeo section?
There's no chance of the Genesis games returning unless Sega (and its third parties) allows their games to be distributed online. As for the missing Neo Geo ROMs, they likely will NOT be added, as I am currently working a full time job that barely leaves me enough time to scratch my nose.

32. Besides the current ROMs availables for NeoGeo, will you add NeoGeo CD ISOs?
Not likely. See above.

33. What's your opinion about EmuNews episody (Classicgaming VS J. Pragit)? According James, "Fragmaster was the guy who killed EmuNews"
I know nothing about the situation, so I cannot comment on it. My personal dealings with Kevin (Fragmaster) have been extremely positive.

34. As I could see, you have a DreamCast. What do you think about SEGA's idea to add Genesis/Turbo Grafx 16 emulators for their new console?
I don't agree with their cost structure, but I think it's a great idea regardless. In general, I'm 100% in favor of ANY new emulator... ;)

35. Sam Pettus, aka The Scribe (EmuFAQ and another important FAQs creator), has quit emu scene some days ago. Is it the destination for all old guys from emu scene?
I think a lot of "old timers" are a bit fed up with what the scene has become lately. Although I can't speak for Sam Pettus, I understand his motives for wanting to make a break from the scene. For every one person who reveres emulation as a method for "preserving" classic games, there's about five others who consider emulation to be the ultimate piracy tool. Despite that, there are still a great number of well-respected emulation web sites that don't focus on (or even acknowledge) the piracy aspect of emulation.

36. Do you agree with SMS Power policy which asks for money before releases?
Well, I don't DISAGREE with it. Web hosting doesn't come cheap, and they have to pay for it somehow. They're doing the emulation scene a great service by dumping these games, so what's wrong with them asking for a bit of money to cover expenses?

37. What are you expecting for emulation and what's still missing or wrong?
Emulation has come a LONG way in the last couple of years. Emulators exist for almost every game system and home computer, leaving very few systems unemulated. The two systems that I'd most like to see emulated are the Sega CD and the Atari Jaguar. Capcom CPS2 emulation would be nice as well, but it's a pipe dream until the encryption can be cracked.

38. Do we really enjoy emulation or it is just the little pirate inside us flourishing that keeps us here collecting roms ?
Good question. There's no denying that it's very cool to have a complete collection of every game released for a particular system. The piracy aspect is unfortunate, as emulation can be a very positive thing, allowing people to relive memories of classic games or even play rare games for the first time. Instead of visiting endless flea markets and swap meets looking for classic games, they can now be downloaded for free over the Internet. When the Dump first went online, there were very few sites that provided ROM and disk images for download. Now they flourish, even under the watchful eye of the IDSA. Although I'm often regarded as something of a trailblazer in the scene, I simply consider myself an avid video gamer who gets a thrill out of sharing his game collection with the rest of the world.