Interview of a JetPunker #31 - Pullasorsa

One hot day of June 2024, on the English JetPunk Discord server...

Poirot, when is the Ravi interview coming?

😭

We've been waiting since september, no pressure.

Well, Pulla and Ravi, I had unironically something to ask to you both.

Oh man! Neo interview, finally.

Ravi, does it disturb you if I send my questions to another interviewee too,just in case they can answer them before you? So that we can delay your interview if you prefer.

RIP, but i completely understand it. If I'm motivated, I may finish them before July. If not, I will not before August.

Spoiler: Not even before October, it seems.

No worry, if you finish before I'll just publish you before. But having two interviews sur le feu could help me to maybe finish one before the end of summer. 🙃

Spoiler again: It didn't help enough.

Now, Pulla, what about you?

It would be great to finally have the Neo interview. I've been waiting for it. It would be a step in the right direction.

😭

But if you're asking me, then sure, I can think of something.

Great, so now I have some work to do. 🙃

One month later...

I guess it's time to make the demand more formal: would you like to be my 31st (or 32nd, I don't know...) interviewee?

Great, so let’s start this interview! First, could you present yourself on JetPunk quickly for our readers who don’t know you?

Hi everyone! I am Pullasorsa (or Pulla), a Finnish university student and JetPunker. I first discovered the website in around 2018 thanks to the Finnish COTW quiz, and I started visiting the site more and more until I finally caved in and created my account in 2020. Since then, I've been using JetPunk whenever I have time, creating and playing quizzes with no sign of stopping. You might most likely know me for my activity on the Finnish section, but I also have done things like the featured San Marino Country Quiz and a few popular blogs.

You are Finnish, good starting point. You are actually the second Finn who I interview after Penguinish. How would you rate the evolution of the Finnish JetPunk section over the past few years? Would you have ideas or projects to help it to grow?

I do try my best when it comes to improving the section. I have around 50 original featured Finnish quizzes and despite trying to be even somewhat active in the English section, I definitely put more time into my Finnish projects. I also try to help Penguinish (who has done an awesome job in being the sole trusted user, nothing but love) in spotting mistakes and making improvements in the section. The biggest problem in the section probably is its inactivity, but that's to be expected from a language this small. I don't really have any good ideas to help it grow, maybe I should hope for the section to go viral online like French or Polish did, hehe.

Haha! Social media definitely helped us and the Poles a lot, you are right.

Let's move to something completely different: your pseudonym may seem weird to some of our readers and has caused troubles to some members of the Discord server in the past (Pullarosa moment). Could you explain us its meaning?

For the longest time, I wasn't really active anywhere online and didn't have a fixed internet pseudonym until I signed up to some random website (which doesn't even exist anymore). I thought "Pullasorsa" sounded funny so I went with that. When I created my JetPunk account, I decided to go with that, and since then, I have used that name pretty much everywhere online.

"Pullasorsa" literally translates to "bun duck" and refers to "a partially domesticated duck that lives in ponds and gets fed by humans". That's pretty much it, as I said, I thought the name sounded funny back then and it still does. Since joining the JetPunk Discord server, people started to call me "Pulla" for short which I also like.

Haha! I would have never guessed, it was definitely worth asking.

You also own the account Cinemasorsa. Why did you create this second account and how do you see its evolution in the next few months?

Cinemasorsa is indeed an account I also own. Watching movies is one of my favorite things and through that, I decided I wanted to show my love for them in JetPunk. I created it in 2022 because at the time, I had a lot of ideas for movie quizzes (which I sadly never actually went ahead and created) and wanted to keep them in a separate account for management and sorting purposes. Since then, it has served as a way for me to publish random, specific quizzes about pop culture and also quizzes that took a bit more time and thought. (And look, one even got featured!)

While it sometimes feels like just a throwaway alt account (even the name sucks, it was originally called "Moviesorsa" which I thought was even worse) I do try to log in and actually create quizzes there at least somewhat actively. I think the evolution of the account will stay the same, I will continue to publish quizzes whenever I get good ideas for them and I doubt my love for movies is going away anytime soon. I also have quizzes about music and video games there, so it has branched out to popular culture as well, not only cinema.

Yeah, congrats for this feature awarding all the efforts put into the developpment of this second account!

We now understand that cinema is one of your hobbies. Therefore, could you recommend us three movies which are underrated in your opinion?

Damn, you've put me on the spot! As I already mentioned, watching movies definitely is one of my favorite hobbies. I even have a few blogs about my opinions on movies in JetPunk, although I'm more of a movie enjoyer than a critic, these things are subjective and I'm in no position to judge anyone's opinion. Nevertheless, as for the actual question, I chose three movies which aren't absolute favorites, but are ones I feel like don't get as much love as they deserve. These also are fairly known movies, not any random art house films only around 10 people have seen, sorry if anyone was expecting that.

• Perfect Blue (1997) - As far as psychological thrillers go, this is easily one of my favorites. An anime film focusing on a singer-turned-actor who becomes a victim of stalking, it's brutal, insane, and everything the title says. Shoutout to izra for telling me to watch this.

• Pitkä kuuma kesä (A Long Hot Summer) (1999) - I had to throw in one Finnish movie and this is probably my favorite. A youth film about a group of teenagers forming a rock band, it's funny, campy, and a definite comfort watch. I give all of these films a warm recommendation for anyone who is interested in watching different types of movies and hasn't seen these yet.

Thank you for these recommendations! I'll actually add Perfect Blue to my watchlist, I'm sure I will like it.

You are also known to be a Swedish speaker. This language is one of the unfeatured ones with the most active users on the whole site. Do you hope that it will get featured one day, and would you try to contribute to the development of its section if it was the case?

I indeed can speak Swedish. That's because it is mandatory for everyone to study it at school in some level here in Finland (Tack så mycket, RKP, väldigt roligt). And it would be great if it became a featured language, free features for me! On a more serious note, I most definitely wouldn't be opposed to it, the most obvious obstacles are the lack of activity, community, or a good candidate for a trusted user. While I would help as much as I could and contribute with Swedish quizzes, my skills are definitely not good enough to run the whole section. I'm sure it is possible for the Swedish side of JetPunk to grow enough to warrant it being featured, but only time will tell. I certainly wouldn't mind.

Let's see... And Azerbaijani recently got its own section-page, so I guess everything is possible.

You are well-known on our favourite website for your quizzes but also some of your blogs, especially the JetPunk Iceberg one. How did you achieve to collect that much facts about JetPunk, including some very dark ones? And do you plan to update it or publish a new version of it, considering that the site is in permanent evolution?

I suppose I am! I released my first blog in 2021, called "Pullasorsa's Interesting facts", inspired by Gassu's version. That one got so popular that Dan decided to use a few of my facts in JetPunk's Interesting Facts. Since then, I have released a couple of pretty popular blogs but my biggest one definitely is the JetPunk Iceberg blog that I released in August 2022.

It's hard to explain how long making that blog took because I technically started my research ages (years) ago through finding interesting tidbits by sometimes looking at JetPunk archives in the Wayback Machine and learning stuff in the Discord server. At some point, I decided that there are so many obscure things that I should turn this into an iceberg chart. I have always been fairly interested in internet history and icebergs were still very popular online at that time, so turning all my work into a JetPunk blog seemed like a no-brainer. I did research in my free time, started filling up my chart, and begun writing explanations for the entries. Most of the blog is actually written in HTML, because I wrote it before users were able to post their own images.

I don't know about "dark", but I indeed snooped through countless archives to find some of the entries. Writing the whole thing took probably several months. Thankfully the blog became surprisingly popular, it currently has over 40 likes, and got a really warm reception. Thanks for that! :) The blog isn't perfect, there are some things that make me laugh or feel a bit disappointed when reading through it nowadays, but I'm still proud of it. Releasing a second version has been on my mind at times, and while I won't promise anything, I think it would be sad if I never followed up on the blog in any way.

Pulla answered this question on August 4th. Since, it gained 6 likes and now has 46 in total. How impressive for a blog from 2022 in 2024!

It seems to have been a lot of work. Thank you very much for what is without a doubt one of the greatest blogs on the whole website!

As a blogger, you also contributed to save the Finnish blog section from complete death, participating in the 2023 blog project and even providing this section its very first Year in Review blog. Do you plan to continue on this way in the future? And do you have any hopes for this part of the site?

When you reached out to me about joining the Blog Project server and the possibility of making a Finnish blog, there were zero proper JetPunk blogs in that language. Though first hesitant, I figured out I could show off a few interesting Finnish municipalities. The blog turned out very neat and I'm happy that there was a reason to bring a bit of activity to the Finnish blog section. As for the Year in Review blog, I had thought about how it would be great to make one for the Finnish section for a good while and after talking to you about it, I decided to go for it and asked Stewart if it were possible. He gave a positive response and helped me a ton with stats and structuring the blog. I am satisfied with the final result and it was nice to work on a little something for the Finnish section.

I can't say for sure what the future holds for me. I definitely would like to make another review blog for 2024, but we shall see. The section has seen some activity, but I wouldn't count on any huge renaissance on the Finnish RUB. If I'm being honest, I wouldn't stress too much about this. Any activity on the section is a positive, but a lack of blogs isn't that awful or won't make the whole section worse in my opinion. Nevertheless, if you're thinking about making a Finnish blog, go for it! Or any JetPunk blog in general.

Yeah, Year in Review are a lot of work, even with the amazing help of Stewart. Each year, that's a true challenge for me to find time to work on it with Christmas and the end of the year. But overall, these blogs are amazing additions to all the JetPunk sections!

Now let's talk about quiz. What is your own quiz you are the proudest of?

I don't really have a favorite quiz of mine, so I sadly can't name a specific quiz. However, I am very proud of the Finnish Municipalities by Region series, I love the way the design in the quizzes turned out and how popular they've become. I also have a soft spot for the Ocean Currents on the Map quiz, one of my more creative and visually pleasing works. There are a lot of quizzes that I am proud of, but I can't choose a favorite.

I can relate. More quizzes you have and more difficult the choice is. But those are definitely great entries!

Do you have big projects of quizzes or blogs in preparation?

I always have some JetPunk-related plans listed that I either execute or drop after deciding whether I actually should/could do them. Most of them are smaller things or older quizzes that are still incomplete, but I do have some bigger projects in mind as well. I'm currently working on a Finnish quiz series (that might be out by the time this interview is released, we shall see), and I have a large SVG quiz in mind which is still in the "should/could I" stage. I also probably will continue to make blogs in the future, but no promises! It all depends on how busy or lazy I am, since I do have a life outside of JetPunk. We will see what the future holds.

Sure, JetPunk must stay a pleasure!

What is the most important event in your own life of JetPunker?

There are two events that I want to highlight. First one is my Finnish Regions Quiz series that I started working on in February 2021. I was inspired to make a trivia quiz for every region in Finland after every country, followed by U.S. state, got their own featured general knowledge quiz. By that time, I already had a couple of features but didn't think too highly of this series and expected it not to get much success. To my surprise, the quizzes were featured. It was a great feeling and also made me realize the potential of the Finnish section. Since then, I have continued to create several now-featured original Finnish quizzes, most of which have performed better than this series, but I still think highly of it. They are pretty good and liked quizzes, and had a major effect on the JetPunker I am today.

Second one happened in the summer of 2021. During that time, there was a project in the JetPunk Discord server to create a map quiz for every country's first-level and second-level subdivision (shoutout to everyone who took part in that). I was very inactive in the Discord server, but this project got my attention. I already had tried to make SVG quizzes, but those attempts didn't lead anywhere. However, at that point, the SVG Update and more importantly, the SVG Guide had been released and even a dumbass like me could make maps by just following the guide. I started out with simply using a map file I found online, and after that, learned to draw my own SVGs and improved a lot with time. Nowadays, some of my most popular quizzes are the ones with a map. The project also helped me get to know the server members better, which led to me becoming more active and familiar there. The said project has sadly halted ages ago (I still try to update the spreadsheet from time to time), but that was the deciding factor for me to try playing with SVG quizzes and getting more and more active in the JetPunk Discord, both of which are important things for me. Therefore, it is a special milestone in my JetPunk adventure.

Oh, yeah, this project was very cool! I remember participating in it by creating SLS maps of several random African countries. It was a great project which encouraged several JetPunker to do their first steps with Inkscape.

If you had to resume your JetPunk adventure in one word, what would it be?

Probably "Fun". I've had fun with JetPunk, all things considered.

As I hope we have all had here.

Would you change something in your JetPunk adventure, if it was possible?

Nope. This adventure has been enjoyable and even though there are some things that I've since regretted (mostly during my first months as a JetPunker), they are part of the journey. While you can feel ashamed of your past sometimes, it is something you can't change and the best you can do is grow, move forward, and learn from said past. This applies to things outside of JetPunk as well, obviously.

So true. Something that we shall always keep in mind.

If you had to choose just three JetPunkers for their quizzes, who would they be?

• Jiaozira - One of my absolute favorites. Jiao has been one of the best quizmakers for years, and continues to make consistently great quizzes. He was among the first users to create and pioneer map quizzes during the time users were allowed to publish their own SVGs. I especially like his language map quizzes, they display best how much care and research Jiao puts into his quizzes. Despite being one of the biggest quizmakers, he still has time to create smaller, less popular quizzes and give positive feedback to smaller users. I respect that a lot.

• overtired - Obvious choice, as far as these interviews go, lol. Overtired has created and continues to create insanely good quizzes, I have no idea where he gets his creativity. It seems like everything he does, from casual movie quizzes to complicated SVGs and single-handedly reinventing click quizzes, he manages to make them enjoyable and inspiring every time. It's always a pleasure when he uploads a new quiz, no matter the topic.

• Gassu - Continuing with the theme of impressive map quizzes, next one is Gassu. His quizzes are always a pleasure to play, be it a large map quiz or simple general trivia. He is also known for his work in the German section, which is worth mentioning (since I've played those, too).

Yeah, that's completely understandable! And the choices you made are honestly excellent.

Will it be as difficult with bloggers?

Hmm, definitely you because of the IOAJ series alone, Jiaozira for his interesting informative blogs (even though he hasn't posted any since 2021, quality over quantity!), and probably Stewart, because I like to learn more about JetPunk, and his blogs are great for that. (And because I feel kinda bad for not mentioning him in the last question, hehe)

Haha! It's all about not alienating our dear Stewart.

What are your passions in life, excepting JetPunk?

Hergé and Don Rosa, my two favourite comic authors! We have more common points than what I thought.

“JetPunk actuality question”: Last month, the Daily Trivia quiz made its apparition on the site. Are you a fan of this new game mode? More generally, what do you think about it?

Remember that these questions have been sent in July...

You are on the JetPunk Discord server, and we can say you are a bit active on it. What do you think about this server?

I don't have any massive wishes for JetPunk's future. I obviously hope that the site gets more popular and continues to grow, but other than that, I'm quite content with JetPunk today. I'm counting on QM and Stewart to add new features in the following months, but I wouldn't dare to guess what's coming. Most new things have been total surprises for me, so I predict this theme is going to continue in the future as well.

Yeah, and these surprises are most of the time great except the 100-answers limitation for nominable quizzes, so I have no fear for the future of our favourite website either.

Before reaching the end of this interview, do you have a message to pass to the whole JetPunk community (or at least to the few users reading these blogs…)?

Stay in school and don't do drugs. Also, remember to have fun on and outside of JetPunk. Remember to grow, learn, and never forget what makes you happy. Don't be afraid to change but never lose sight of what makes you you. Live your life to its fullest. And make sure any quizzes you make are dark mode-compatible and have proper type-ins.

Very broad but wise and important message. Thank you for it, we probably don't say it enough on JetPunk. Make sure I'll stop marijuana very soon. 

Alright, that's the end of this interview. Thank you very much for all these brilliant and very interesting answers!

Thanks a lot for the opportunity, of course! Lets hope the next blog wont take as long.

Haha! I can't promise, but let's hope...