19 replies to this topic

[cre8pc]

Kim's Note:

Below is the first of many Interviews we're posting through out the month of August as part of our 6th (or 10th) Anniversary Celebration.

Below, Meet Moderator, "iamlost"!



1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?
Of course I remember (at least enough to find the post that pointed me the way): January, 2003.

2002 Pandia Awards

6. Best search engine discussion forum
Look out for...
Look out for newcomer Cre8asite Forums which was launched in August 2002 by SEO expert Kim Krause.

Note: I was already over Kim due to her pic in her ihelpyou.com profile.

2. Do you participate in other forums?
"Who knows where iamlost lurks? The Shadow knows!"
I lurk at several quite regularly and many less frequently.

I am a Senior member at WebMasterWorld although my postings have become infrequent.
I am also a very quiet member at SEOmoz

Sort of a taste of the old and the new.

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?
Yes. Both.

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.

Work: it has been fora, primarily webmasterworld - I lurked in their archives/library for years , that raised the questions I did not know enough to ask. Even answered a few. Fora, especially Cre8, that hauled me into 'standards' and 'best practices', CSS and graceful degradation (now progressive enhancement), et al. Without fora I might well still be working for a living.

It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.

Play: it has been fora which introduced me to brilliant inquisitive thoughtful people interested in things about which my real life neighbours went 'huh?'. For a person working alone those online colleagues were/are priceless. And some became friendly and a few true friends. At the time, working up to 16-hours a day almost every day in front of a computer, they were my lifeline to the human race.

Beware the barrenness of a busy life.

It was the switch from long continuous hours to semi-retirement that encouraged me to join Cre8. More 'family and friends about the kitchen table' discussing subjects of mutual interest than business meeting or conference. And gaining new perspectives. The depth of knowledge, in Cre8's archives and members, is comparable to most other fora but the community is 'nicer', for lack of a better word.

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.
Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

4. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?
1. Anything that does not require design ability beyond stickmen.

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

2. Anything new and shiny.

Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.

5. Be honest. When you first were admitted to the 'BackRoom', what was your first reaction?
*&^%$#@!

The more you see the less you know
The less you find out as you go
I knew much more then than I do now
...
In the city of blinding lights,
The more you know
The less you feel
Some pray for, others steal
Blessings not just for the ones who kneel, luckily
--U2 (Paul Hewison, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen)

6. Was this reaction before or after we released our (sssshhh, don’t tell anyone what we do) and the hazing process?
Being hugged by Kim is hazing? More, please.

In the immortal words of Sergeant Hans Schultz, "I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing, noth--ing!"

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions.
About myself:
All about iamlost.

About my work:
My mom told me to say NO! to four letter words.

About my passions:
They encompass the universe and beyond.
And one woman.

8. What astrological sign are you?
Gemini: curious, feminine, independent, inquisitive, mercurial, versatile, and whimsical.
Air: articulate, idealistic, intellectual, lively, and objective.
Mutable: adaptable, holistic, and resourceful.

I am so bloody marvelous that iamlost.

9.1 What social networking web sites do you find most useful in your work?
*Work (marketing):
Facebook, MySpace, Second Life, YouTube, NOYB.

* Work (knowledge/perspective):
Fora: Cre8asiteforums, Webmasterworld, DevShed, HighRankings, Search Engine Roundtable Forums, SearchEngineWatch, SitePoint.

Collaborative Article sites:
SEOmoz, A List Apart, Digital Web, Search Engine Land.

Mailing Lists:
Document Object Model, XForms, Internationalization, Localization, and Multilingualism, Css-Discuss, Quite a few PostgreSQL related mailing lists :0.

Blogs (with a certain attitude):
John Andrews, Bill Atchison, Bob Massa, Michael Martinez, Aaron Wall.

Blogs (Local - the next new battleground)
Mike Blumenthal, Miriam Ellis, David Mihm, Andrew Shotland.

There be many many more but these are my current primary thought inducers and perspective twisters.

10. What, in your opinion, make a new Cre8tive Member stand out?
They's standing next to me.
Well actually that would just make them lost too.

Probably it's Kim cheering loudly on the sidelines, pointing at each of us shouting, "look at them, aren't they great!"
And us, all doing our best to measure up.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fun Stuff

1. How many towns have you lived in?
I ran out of fingers and toes...

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
The 120-assortment box.

3. What did you want to be when you were little?
An adventurer-author like Richard Halliburton.
Stop snickering.

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?
An anytime person.
If tired an interesting thought or stimulating conversation means I'm good for another several hours. Was once awake (and actually functioning ) for 130.5 hours staright.

5. Where would you retire to?
I'm there. Or is it, I'm here?

[cre8pc]

Next up in our series this month is longtime member, Yuri Filimonov (Yura)!



1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?

I don't exactly recall the moment, but I do know I've been searching for answers on some problem (possibly, hyphens vs underscores) and either arrived to the forums from Google or from another forum or article (there were few blogs at the time, '04), where the forums were mentioned.

2. Do you participate in other forums?

The only other forums I participate are SEO Refugee Forums. They have a vibrant community of professionals (a self-taught expert on local promotion among them) with an easy-going attitude, so it's fun to hang around there. It doesn't have many new members, so signal to noise ratio is pretty high and there aren't many new discussions to follow (which is good, if you have work to do or need to ask a question).

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?

Cre8asite Forums is what actually taught me a lot of things about how the search engines work, how websites are and should be built and promoted. I have to say that the forums was the starting point of my learning process, which has allowed me to become the professional I am today (I've read all the posts in subforums that interested me most, when I started). It was a habit to start reading at the Cre8asite forums and to jump to articles/posts that Bill (bragadocchio) linked to and then jumping to links from those articles and again and again.

At the moment, the forums allow me to stay up to date with most important online quirks and discuss them, as it is nice to stay in a quiet place away from bait, controversies and such.

I can't say that my personal life is affected. I have only met one member in real life and he is the local person I met elsewhere and recommended him the forums smile.gif

4. Please name an example of something Cre8asiteforums helped you with.

Aside from hyphens and underscores, possibly the biggest help was in the form of confidence that I can build sites for humans, not the search engines. Back in '04 the concept wasn't very well formed (at least in my head), so it was of great help. I'd like to thank Ammon Johns for this, because he had always shown simple, but effective ways to get the most results with the most human-focused approach possible.

5. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?

It is not just the topics, but the fact that several expert people share different point of view on a topic. This is what allows a member to see the full picture and make an informed decision. Sometimes, the topic starter gets a piece of advice to fix a problem he didn't ask about.

If you insist, however, it will probably be easy ways to substantially make sites easier to use (and more effective at the same time) and various ways of online promotion. The former allows one to increase conversions immensely, the latter is not so exciting, but a very useful topic for a newcomer like me (yeah, I am still learning, as I didn't have specialized marketing education).

6. Who is your favorite moderator(s)?

Each moderator/admin has his own virtues.

Ammon Johns (Black_Knight) is one of the most notable people on the forums, offering effective and at the same time "But it's obvious! I could've done it!" advice and has played a role in making this place my home (at least in the first several years of my online activity). Garrick Saito (Respree) often offers another perspective from a business owner about taking care of the customers and keeping your back-end safe.

Ron Carnell has plenty of experience and brings unthought of aspects of a topic to threads, often sprinkling them with humor.

Other mods definitely bring spice to the forums, with Kim (cre8pc) successfully managing to bring up important usability topics and get out of the way of other mods and posters, for example.

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions. You can provide up to three links, including your own projects.

As most members know, I live in Russia (the hardest place to get to the conferences from). I like to run, eat vegan food, enjoy outdoors, gardening and woodwork in my summer house (a house with ~700 sq. y. of land: a dacha, as they call it here).

I work in-house as (currently) the one managing an online presence for a company, which includes all kinds of work. The company enables businesses to work smarter using custom Lotus Notes or .NET applications.

I prefer working inhouse to running my own online business, because it isn't that hectic and allows me to think about other things in my life. Besides, not having a side project allows me to bring energy and inspiration to work, which makes it better.


FUN!

1. How many towns have you lived in?

Technically, it's all called Novosibirsk, but we do have a science center called Academgorodok, where more than 40 research institutes are situated. That's where I have been living mostly, but I did live in the city for a couple of years.

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

I don't want to be a crayon, so others could spend me however they wanted. Sorry. Unless you mean a self-controlled crayon, then I'd probably be a sky blue one.

3. What did you want to be when you were little?

I wanted to be many things, but probably a bus driver, a cosmonaut and maybe something else. Certainly not an Internet marketer.

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?

I'm a hardcore morning person. Partly because I need to do 1-3hr runs before work, partly because I really enjoy the morning spirit (did you ever walk/run on a pathway, covered with snow, and you were the first human to leave tracks on it?).

5. Where would you retire to?

A log house somewhere far, far away from the civilization, possibly closer to the north (I like winter).

Yura Filimonov
Web Creator
Effectize

[cre8pc]

Next up is Joe Dolson. Joe is passionate about accessibility, seo and usability. His skills with Wordpress have saved my Cre8pc blog from several near disasters. Joe manages the technical side of our own Cre8tive Flow blog.

One of his most recent blogs offers an excellent example of Joe's expertise - Web Accessibility is not SEO



[quote]
1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?
[/quote]

Covered in my first interview

[quote]
2. Do you participate in other forums? (Okay to link)
[/quote]

Not regularly, but I'm an occasional visitor to AccessifyForums.

[quote]
3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?
[/quote]

"Useful" - I don't know. Participation at Cre8asite has definitely increased my overall visibility in the web development community, and has gotten me a few jobs. I learn things here, and am kept up on current events sometimes which I would have missed otherwise.

[quote]
4. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?
[/quote]

Accessibility & Usability. If only there was more!

[quote]
5. Be honest. When you first were admitted to the “BackRoom”, what was your first reaction?
[/quote]

Don't know that I had one, really. No great surprises!

[quote]
6. Was this reaction before or after we released our (sssshhh, don’t tell anyone what we do) and the hazing process?
[/quote]

Um...I don't know.

[quote]
7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions. You can provide up to three links, including your own projects.
[/quote]

I think that's fairly well covered in my "behind the posts" entry, although it doesn't really address my interest in environmentalism.

[quote]
8. What astrological sign are you?
[/quote]

Scorpio.

[quote]
9. What are your favorite social networking web sites that you find most useful in your work or play?
[/quote]

I don't really have a favorite. I don't make a great deal of use of social network sites, but I guess I prefer Facebook for the social/personal aspects and LinkedIn for professional --- largely because it has a minimally invasive expectation of interaction with your contacts.

I'll be honest: I'm not a big fan of the constant contact method of interaction featured in systems like Twitter.

[quote]
10. What, in your opinion, make a new Cre8tive Member stand out?
[/quote]

Using full sentences, researching past posts before asking a question, demonstrating an interest in issues beyond the bottom line.

[quote]
Fun Stuff (optional – also included in Member Interviews)

1. How many towns have you lived in?
[/quote]

Four: Missoula, MT; Saint Paul, MN; Rochester, NY; Vienna, Austria.

[quote]
2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
[/quote]

With any luck, a well-used one.

[quote]
3. What did you want to be when you were little?
[/quote]

Never had a plan.

[quote]
4. Are you a morning person or a night person?
[/quote]

Night.

[quote]
5. Where would you retire to?
[/quote]

What is this "retire" you speak of? I've never seriously contemplated the idea of retirement. It's distant enough that I'm not really interested in the concept. It's not a priority.

[cre8pc]

As I post this, there's a giant hot air balloon floating over my house. One can't say that Barry Welford is full of hot air, however. He's one of our esteemed moderators, who always has sound, solid advice and is a true pleasure to know.

Meet Barry Welford:

1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?[quote]In March 2003 I became interested in a number of search engine related forums. I was a fairly active participant in three, HighRankings, IHelpYou, and Cre8Asite Forums.[/quote]

2. Do you participate in other forums? (Okay to link)
[quote]I am no longer actively participating in other Forums although I do pop in on several from time to time.[/quote]
3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?
[quote]I think an active forum like Cre8asite is particularly useful in making sure you are aware of what is going on. With RSS news feeds it's fairly easy to cover a great deal of news but sometimes you may not realize the significance of a particular item. Having a few of the right people around to discuss the implications of a significant development is particularly valuable.[/quote]

4. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?
[quote]My favorite keywords are strategy, creativity and marketing. So I am interested in anything related to those items. I also am fascinated by the changes in social structures triggered by the Internet and by the part that Google plays in that.[/quote]

5. Be honest. When you first were admitted to the “BackRoom”, what was your first reaction?
[quote]My first reaction was just how much was going on in the backroom. Having the kind of culture we have out front does not just happen. In some ways it probably is similar to a theater. So much goes on backstage that those in the audience never realize.[/quote]

6. Was this reaction before or after we released our (sssshhh, don’t tell anyone what we do) and the hazing process?
[quote]I refuse to comment on the grounds that it might incriminate myself.
[/quote]
7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions. You can provide up to three links, including your own projects.
[quote]Most of what I feel strongly about gets covered in the various blog posts I write. One passion relates to how poorly so many people are using the Internet. It really is a great liberating infrastructure, provided you know how to use it. In particular there are many big companies that just do not get the change in mindset that is needed. [/quote]

8. What astrological sign are you?
[quote]Virgo.[/quote]

9. What are your favorite social networking web sites that you find most useful in your work or play?
[quote]This is a very tough question since they are all in constant evolution. They are very time consuming and so all I can hope to do is to nip in from time to time. Currently the following are proving most useful: Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg. I currently am watching the new kid on the block, social median, to see how that evolves.[/quote]

10. What, in your opinion, make a new Cre8tive Member stand out?
[quote]It is always good to see someone who has a point of view and is willing to express it.
[/quote]
Fun Stuff

1. How many towns have you lived in?
[quote]I have lived in 8 places. The list runs as follows:
Hartlepool, County Durham, England
Cambridge, England
Alderley Edge, Cheshire, England
London, England
Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England
Wilmslow, Cheshire, England
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Langley, British Columbia, Canada[/quote]

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
[quote]Since I am red-green color-blind this is a tough question. Probably some outdoor, woodsy kind of color.
[/quote]
3. What did you want to be when you were little?
[quote]A forest ranger[/quote]

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?
[quote]Very much an early-morning person. I tend to jump out of bed to get at the day.
[/quote]
5. Where would you retire to?
[quote]Beautiful British Columbia, Canada, is tough to beat.[/quote]

[cre8pc]

As many of you know, Moderators for Cre8asiteforums are typically selected from the Cre8tive Community. As we get to know members, we discover their skills, passions, loyalty to the these forums, ability to communicate well, love for teaching and they often have that "give back with no conditions" gene in their DNA.

One of those finds is our Moderator, Miriam Ellis. She agreed to be subjected to the Moderator interviews, so here you go.

1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?

[quote]Oh, no, I can't remember. I have no idea. Isn't that terrible?[/quote]

2. Do you participate in other forums?

[quote]I swing by SEO Refugee from time to time.[/quote]

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?

[quote]Absolutely! Here I find education, discussion, inspiration, confirmation and camaraderie. Cre8asite has helped me immeasurably and I couldn't do without it.[/quote]

4. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?

[quote]I think Website Hospital is Cre8's greatest offering. I'd like to have more business owners find us and show us their websites.[/quote]

5. Be honest. When you first were admitted to the “BackRoom”, what was your first reaction?

[quote]I was nervous. I didn't know what would be expected of me, but you quickly made me feel very comfortable.[/quote]

6. Was this reaction before or after we released our (sssshhh, don’t tell anyone what we do) and the hazing process?

[quote]You guys!!![/quote]

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions. You can provide up to three links, including your own projects.

[quote]Well, the Local Search stuff is what sets my house afire these days. Over the past few months, I've had the honor of being part of the 2 most groundbreaking Local Search collaborations that have been undertaken. These are David Mihm's Local Search Ranking Factors and Mike Blumenthal's Cracking Google's Local Code.

I am sincerely excited about the data we're discovering and the small Local Search community is full of incredibly smart, nice folks. I'm also pretty excited right now to have just been given the keys to Search Engine Guide's blog by Jen Laycock. I've written for them in the past, but now I'm a full-fledged blogger there. The quality of the subject matter and writing at SEG is so impressive, it's keeping me on my toes trying to keep my posts commensurate with the very high quality I've always so admired there.

On the personal side, I'm zinging right now about my tiny farm I've just rented. Organic veggies are sprouting up all around me. Yay!!!![/quote]

8. What astrological sign are you?

[quote]I believe I'm an aries, but confess that people trying to see into the future freaks me out.[/quote]

9. What are your favorite social networking web sites that you find most useful in your work or play?

[quote]I'd like to say Sphinn, because I've really rooted for them since they launched, but I've had zero luck feeling like a member of a community there. It's not like here. I guess I haven't found an SM site that's quite right for me.[/quote]

10. What, in your opinion, make a new Cre8tive Member stand out?

[quote]A pleasant manner and a clear style of communication are things I tend to take note of in new members. One line questions don't engage me, personally. I like it when new people come and take real time to explain their situation, their challenges and goals.[/quote]

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
[quote]GREEN![/quote]

3. What did you want to be when you were little?

[quote]An author and artist. I started writing and illustrating children's books when I was 6 or 7 years old.[/quote]

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?

[quote]The Great Horned Owl and Barn Owl are my close, personal friends.[/quote]

5. Where would you retire to?

[quote]A small farm that I own outright, near enough to the coast for visiting but not too foggy, and so far from major roads that crickets are all I can hear at night.[/quote]

[cre8pc]

When I become overwhelmed with the duties here, Garrick has stepped in to keep me organized. He's who I lean on whenever we haze torture bring in new Moderators. Garrick guides them to what they need to know in an organized fashion, and takes the lead on welcoming them in, after I've set them up. I've come to call him my Project Manager and am deeply grateful for his devotion and volunteer hours over the many years he's been a Site Admin here.

Get to know Garrick Saito, aka "Respree" -

1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?

Its been a while. Maybe about four years ago. I think I found it through a search query on something I was researching at the time.

2. Do you participate in other forums?

Right about the time I just found Cre8asite, I participated briefly at High Rankings, I Help You and Digital Point. Didn't really feel comfortable there. It wasn't too long before I was calling Cre8a8ste "home." Haven't been to those other forums in years.

I do participate in a non related forum. I began playing the piano about a year ago and joined PianoWorld.com forums. Its my attempt to develop my creative side. Playing the piano is such an isolatory endeavor. Talking with others online helps immensely. Maybe I'll play for you some day (when I don't suck so much).

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?

Yes, I think forums are a great outlet for whatever blows up your skirt, both from an educational as well as an entertainment and friendship standpoint. I have 'friends' whom I've never met.

4. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?

Of course, we have so many excellent forums here. Its hard to pick a favorite. I think the moderator's 'back room' is fascinating place, dealing with all of the issues of managing online communities. I wish we could give you a glimpse (but, unfortunately, we're sworn to secrecy).

5. Be honest. When you first were admitted to the “BackRoom”, what was your first reaction?

I was honored to have been invited and surrounded by such talented, generous and insightful people -- people who, today, I would call friends.

6. Was this reaction before or after we released our (sssshhh, don’t tell anyone what we do) and the hazing process?

I thought it was sophomoric and immediately thought, "I'll fit in just fine."

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions. You can provide up to three links, including your own projects.

I owned and operated an online store for the past nine years, which I've closed recently. Although I had 20 years in the retailing industry, when I launched my website, I had zero experience. I came from the school of hard knocks, making a lot of mistakes along the way, but learned a lot over that time -- a little bit, each day.

Currently, I'm taking a break from the web and doing some consulting work for a small public company in a profession I retired from nine years ago. I'm an accountant by trade. Although I think I'm pretty good at it and can make good money from it, I really have no passion for it (anymore). Its temporary, until the next gig comes along. What that will be, I"m still not sure (at the moment). I'm not opposed to doing another web-based venture, just not an online store again. It gets tiresome after a while (dealing with customers all the time).

8. What astrological sign are you?

When people ask, "What sign I was born under," I usually respond, "Maternity Sign." Sorry, but I don't follow astrology, although I have nothing against people who do. I believe my fate is in my own hands.

9. What are your favorite social networking web sites that you find most useful in your work or play?

I don't participate in any. Does that make me a recluse?

10. What, in your opinion, makes a new Cre8tive Member stand out?

A sincere interest in learning. An understanding that learning is a never-ending process. Being humble. Being appreciative of the generosity of others. Sharing what they know to help others and fostering a spirit of mutual give and take. Admitting when you don't know and not being afraid or embarassed to ask for help.

Fun Stuff

1. How many towns have you lived in?

Not very many. Okinawa (Japan), as an infant. Georgia (can't even remember the town) as a toddler. Ft. Belvoir, Virginia in my youth. Grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii. Now live in Los Angeles. I guess that makes "five."

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

What kind of question is that? I guess, its another way of asking for my favorite color. I don't really have one. Ask me about my favorite food instead.

3. What did you want to be when you were little?

Big. Now that I'm big, I want to be little again. You always want what you don't have.

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?

Morning. I wake up a 6 a.m. everyday. I'm pooped out by 10:00 p.m. If I don't get enough sleep, I get grumpy.

5. Where would you retire to?

Still a ways off, so I haven't given it much thought. I'll probably go back home to Hawaii. The people are so nice there.

[cre8pc]

Next up, I'm switching over to one of our popular, long time members - Graham (aka fisicx)

1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?


I can’t remember exactly but I seem to recall struggling with my first ever website and wanted someone to have a look at it. This was back in 2004 when I hadn’t even learn how to use a search engine properly but I must have carried out a search for website review and found you (hooray).

But I didn’t get a review, I was so dumbfounded by the breadth and depth of the information that I just devoured everything. I remember learning so much is such a short space of time that I went back to the drawing board and started again. Within weeks I was getting traffic and on my way.

2. Do you participate in other forums?

Just two: teneric and ukbusinessforums. I joined these long after Cre8asite and quite happily passed on everything I learnt here.

I do however visit wodges of blogs even making the occasional comment.

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?

Bit of both really. I learn from cre8asite and payback on the other forums – both of which have brought me work (hooray).

But that not why I use forums, I enjoy the interchange, the way topics flow from one place to another and the people I’ve met and got to know. Unlikely that I’ll ever meet you but I've got to know personalities by the way you write.

So it’s personal life rather than work (who wants to talk about work all the time).

4. Please name an example of something Cre8asiteforums helped you with.

People. In the beginning I used to think that websites were important but the forum has taught me that this is not the case. A website could disappear and never be missed, what’s important is people and their needs.

It’s this theme that I see so often in the forum. It’s especially pertinent in hospital when the first post after ‘can you look at my site’ often begins with the question: what’s the site for? The original poster had built the site without considering what they wanted the site to achieve but more importantly what people actually wanted.

For me this was the big turning point, the forum showed me that my ideas were perfect for me but not always suitable for everybody else. I changed they way I approached each project and now spent more time talking to clients than I ever did on the actual coding.

So the lesson from cre8asite is: people matter.
5. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?

Gosh. Anything not too technical. I shy away form the programming and graphic design stuff ‘cos it just confuses me.

I can remember reading the topic on LSI and picking up the links to the theoretical papers and just becoming numb. I’m sure some of the members here have brains the size of planets because I’m in awe at their knowledge.

Back to the question, I suppose my favourite topics are those where there is a discussion, ideas bounced back and forth until some conclusion is hopefully made. Even better if the original poster comes back and tells us ‘it worked!’.

6. Who is your favorite moderator(s)?

I really had to think about this question then go back to the forum to find out who the moderators are. It’s not a lack of appreciation for what they do it’s just that they seem so part of the community so I don’t even think of them as moderators.

Sorry about this, but I like you all. Except for Send2Paul ‘cos I’m still waiting for that invitation to meet up for a pint.

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions. You can provide up to three links, including your own projects.

Ready for this?

Engineering Apprentice, Draughtsman (in the days of paper and pencil), British Army (fixing helicopters), Maths Teacher (help) and now an Engineering Manager in sunny Southend-on-Sea

The website work is what I do for fun, don’t think I’d ever want to do it full time, way too much pressure. Doing it part time means I can pick my friends and stick to what I love best and that’s small ‘brochure’ websites.

I enjoy Tai Chi, travelling and trekking, the theatre, weekends and of course my wife and children.


FUN!

1. How many towns have you lived in?

Hundreds. Longest time in one place was when I was growing up. After that my roots were severed and I wandered the world. Currently in Canvey Island with Lesley.

 graham2.jpg   35.03K   182 downloads


2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

All of them. I have zero colour sense so my favourite colour is the one nearest to me (I have to be helped to get dressed – still can’t get the hang of matching shirt and trousers).


3. What did you want to be when you were little?

I have no idea.

I’m a bit weird in that I don’t have a timeline. Everything is happening now, has happened or will happen. Saying something happened 6 months ago doesn’t mean anything to me as it could have been yesterday for all I know.

So when I was little, I could just about manage to think about tomorrow let alone what was going to happen 10 years on.

But when I grew up a bit I wanted to be a draughtsman – I loved creating engineering drawings on those huge white sheets of paper using just a pencil and rule. I still enjoy this type of thing, but now it's maps for adventure games.

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?

Both. I go to sleep when I’m tired and get up when I wake up.

I enjoy walking in the late evening. There is something very peaceful about a being out when it’s dark and there are few other people about. We will often drive out somewhere just to walk alone for an hour.

Anything better than the dross delivered by the TV.

5. Where would you retire to?

The seaside. Not the UK ‘cos it’s miserable in the winter and all the shops shut for 4 months of the year. Somewhere by the sea where it’s warm and sunny all year round.

Sigh…

And whilst I’m dreaming can I have an Aston Martin as well.


That's all folks

 graham1.jpg   67.83K   177 downloads


Graham
A bloke from Essex
www.aerin.co.uk

[cre8pc]

Next up, is another long timer, Wit! We love having him here, btw. Because he's witty of course :haha:

And a huge help to the entire Cre8tive Community!

1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?

As far as I can recall, I once did a search for major SEO forums and linked out to those. Cre8 was one of them, but I didn't become a member until much later. I was into SEOChat at the time and I didn't really need to post on other forums. But hey the web wanted me to link, so I did.

2. Do you participate in other forums?

Nah.
Apart from being an admin at one of the snootiest SEO forums about today, and also at another SEO forum that is surely one of the darkest and most insulting. Oh and I'm also modding on various forums here and there, some but not all search related. Oh and then there's some nice forums like the ones in my home language that I like to follow. Oh and I occasionally troll at the one that once had me as "the people's mod" -- the one that drove me here after messing with its mods in public.

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?

No comment ;-)

4. Please name an example of something Cre8asiteforums helped you with.

Cre8 helped me see how social networking works outside the regular social media websites. Impressive.

5. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?

I like the blatant lies that need correcting and also the coding questions that need direct advice. Alas there are not a lot of the former on Cre8, but occasionally I come across one of the latter that is right up my alley. But mostly I like to bollock about.

6. Who is your favorite moderator?

Until recently it was (of course) Liz, but I really dig iamlost so I'm glad he's been made a mod as well. So I'm torn. Maybe a bikini contest will sway my vote one way or the other.

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions. You can provide up to three links, including your own projects.

I'm not a web professional at all. Of course I have a number of websites (which I won't spam here), but I'm lucky to have a proper day job (and a wife with an even better day job). Everything I do online - be it 'code', 'design', 'share' or 'spam' - is done because I wanna have fun. Also I'm easily bored so most of my projects are not even half-finished. Slacker, yeah, I know. Sue me.
I also like to attend SEO gigs in the UK now and again, so I can snog all the famous SEO chicks (hehe I'm keeping a sneaky photo diary). Oops did I really say that out loud....?


1. How many towns have you lived in?
Six. I was born in Germany (but no, I'm not a German), and lived there for 3 years until I could sing the Pippi Langstrumpf theme song in the local language. Loved the "Sandmännchen" and also the "Sendung mit der Maus"
Lived in Holland for 6 years after that, then moved to Haacht, Belgium (great beer) to spend my teen years and learn to kiss and to drink. Moved back to Holland at the age of 18 and went to uni and finally ended up in Dordrecht (Holland, not South-Africa).

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
I'd be a 2B soft black one, but with a metallic blue finish on the outside to confuse people.

3. What did you want to be when you were little?
I always wanted to be a truck driver, a BP petrol truck driver to be precise. Needless to say I owned a Matchbox model of such a truck at the time. When I came to my senses (say: at the age of 4 maybe) I wanted to become an inventor like "Willie Wortel" altho I liked his Little Helper ("Lampje") better. I guess my dream came true when I graduated as an Industrial Design Engineer.

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Deffo an early afternoon person. I used to be a night person before I got old and rickety (see also kneezz photo).

[spoiler=wit001]http://api.ning.com/...tar/673501#.jpg[/spoiler]

5. Where would you retire to?
I think I'll check out the next generation of cryo preservers and take a shot at living forever. Hope someone will find the fountain of eternal youth and defrost me to take a sip.

Cheers.

Wit.

Edited by cre8pc, 26 August 2008 - 06:46 PM.

[cre8pc]

Tim Malone came to become a Moderator for Cre8asiteforums early on. He was the youngest I think but that mattered little. His programming skills and dedication to the technical integrity of these forums were outstanding. An experienced traveler, he'd sometimes go off on adventures with his family and tell us about his experiences. No longer a Moderator, I've stayed in touch with Tim through Facebook. I admire his ambition and drive. He's a man with a lot to offer where ever life takes him.

(Note: I gave Tim the freedom to combine two sets of Interview questions: Moderator and Member.)


1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?

I was googling for something about Internet entrepreneuring, and came across a topic at Cre8asite about women entrepreneurs. I read it, checked out some of the other topics and forums, and decided I liked what was being discussed – so I signed up!

2. Do you participate in other forums?

Well, now, I’m no longer in the industry. But while I was, I used to participate a little in a few other SEO/SEM forums – but this was after I started at Cre8site. In fact, before I started at Cre8asite, I was just operating a web design business on my own without any industry links –Cre8 got me into the industry and taught me a lot.

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?

Yes, there certainly were. I didn’t know anything about SEO before I joined, and I was just running my business the way I thought was best. I learnt, and put into practice, best practices for SEO, coding and design, client relationship management, marketing, and a whole lot more.

4. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?

Again I need to put this in the past tense because, given I’m not in the industry anymore, I don’t get to spend much time at Cre8asite nowadays. My favourite topics would have been on marketing, PHP and other coding stuff, and how can I forget the topics in the back room….

5. Be honest. When you first were admitted to the “BackRoom”, what was your first reaction?

I don’t think I can quite remember…. but after accepting Kim’s invitation to be a moderator, I did keep checking the forums over and over again waiting for her to see my acceptance and upgrade my privileges . So I was certainly enthusiastic.

6. Was this reaction before or after we released our (sssshhh, don’t tell anyone what we do) and the hazing process?

Ah, after the XXXXXXXXXXXX were released, I was given another insight into the personalities of the moderators and the culture of the place. And I enjoyed it! We had a lot of fun, as if we were friends IRL.

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions. You can provide up to three links, including your own projects.

Back then, I was the owner, operator, designer, coder, phone monkey, etc. etc. of Focus Web Design, which I started after leaving school early. When a number of opportunities came at once I then sold that business and took up a management position with AussieHQ, one of Australia’s largest web hosting providers. Now, I’ve had a complete career change and am working in radio – I manage a community radio station in Canberra (1WAY FM – www.1wayfm.com.au) which has a lot of potential for growth, and keeps me quite busy.

8. What astrological sign are you?
Capricorn, I think?

9. What social networking web sites do you find most useful in your work or play?
Facebook, by miles. I don’t even log into MySpace anymore.

10. What, in your opinion, make a new Cre8tive Member stand out?

When I was there, I would notice anyone who went beyond the ‘call of duty’, as such, to answer a question as best and as thoroughly as they could. I’d also notice those who participated in the After Hours forum, showing their own personality, and of course those who just seemed to have no life anywhere else.

Fun Stuff

1. How many towns have you lived in?
Just one – Canberra, the capital of Australia.

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Yellow. Because it’s my favourite colour.

3. What did you want to be when you were little?
The owner of Microsoft.

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Both. It really, really does not work very well.

5. Where would you retire to?
Venice, Italy.


1. Please name an example of something Cre8asiteforums helped you with.

One of the tips I remembered, and successfully used many times in my business and still use today when selling radio advertising, is the issue of the client’s budget. Too often a client will have no idea of their budget, which really doesn’t help you work out what solutions you can give them. The question ‘Ok, so is it more like $5,000 or $50,000?’ (obviously adjusted to whatever scale is appropriate for the product or service) nine times of ten produced a response of ‘Oh, it’s more like $2,000!’.

2. Who is your favorite moderator(s)?

Well, this is a hard one. What I might do is say the most memorable for me. And that’d be Bill Slawski – with so many more posts than anyone else, and every single post being something useful (many of his posts were pages long), and always going out of his way to help people, he certainly made a huge difference at the forums!

[cre8pc]

What can we say about Paul Flanagan aka "send2Paul" other than a big ole WE MISS YOU! Paul appeared on our doorstep by way of the Website Hospital and was one of our exceptional examples of someone who comes for help, listens to the advice, applies it, comes back for more, applies that and before long, everyone wants to see his site succeed because he's working so hard on it.

His jolly combination of humor and brilliance made him an easy candidate for Moderatorship and we were thrilled when he came on board to help the Cre8tive Community and the forums in a more official capacity. For awhile, he and Donna Swainzy co-hosted the After Hours and Introduce Yourself forums and they were lots of fun for newcomers to meet.

Paul left not long ago due to work/time constraints and we sorely miss him.


1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?

Best answered from my “Behind the Posts” bit.

2. Do you participate in other forums?

Originally over at the Build-A-Niche-Store after it’s launch back at the end of 2006. More recently over at the Net Audio Ads forums. I sued to be over on the Web Pro World forum as well – but it all got a bit too arsey for me, and I preferred the professional way we went about things here at Cre8asite )

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?

It’s helped me to understand better about how to “communicate remotely”. i.e. how speech in typed text can be misinterpreted if it’s not used correctly.

4. Please name an example of something Cre8asiteforums helped you with.

This first website review I requested was brilliant. (The links no longer work). I learnt a lot form all those who took part, on so many different aspects of web design etc.

5. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?

Website Hospital – it’s always good to see folks helped – and to see them to come back to the forums and help others.

6. Who is your favorite moderator(s)?

Donna – Swainzy of course! We both started around the same time as Moderators and we hand wrestled the “After Hours” and “Introduce Yourself” forums with wit, skill, precision and many, many dancing bananas!

• Ammon – for his no-nonsense approach to many decision making processes “out front” and “behind the scenes”
• Bill – his volume of work alone would make any national library curl it’s corner of every book up with embarrassment! And, of course – he know his stuff as well!

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions.

• Honestly, I’ve had t “withdraw” from the online world quite a bit recently. My new job has me travelling around a lot and takes up a lot of my waking hours. It’s a really interesting occupation – but keeps me off the net as regards “business activities” etc.
• Also, I refer my learned colleagues to my original court transcript at my first trial, (at which I was acquitted) - http://www.cre8asite...showtopic=37009
• As regards “projects” as such, my original http://lasereyesurgeryfacts.com website is still under development, and came about after I had some laser eye surgery myself.
• I shan’t bore you with other affiliate links etc. but if you’re ever bored and did somebody else’s blog to trawl through – have trawl through here: http://www.blogbypass.com/

8. How many towns have you lived in?

Good question. Dozens, on this planet – in England, Belgium, and the USA. Several towns in other galaxies, and one or two in those “reoccurring dreams” following those Government Mind Control experiments I got involved in the ‘70’s.

9. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

• Sorry Kim – that’s COLOUR - and I’d be a grey/white – the colour of my hair. (15 years ago if you’d asked me this question – it would have been BLACK!)

10. What did you want to be when you were little?

Bigger and more sensible. I just got bigger ;O)

11. Are you a morning person or a night person?

Give me some cheese and I’ll tell you… no,wait, that’s the difference between a man or a mouse, right? See! I told you I only got bigger, (see question 10)

12. Where would you retire to?
• Back to the home planet, many, many light years from here…. !

13. Be honest. When you first were admitted to the “BackRoom”, what was your first reaction?
!@#$%$$##@#^&**$#@!????? – and then – “Where can I hang my coat, please”

14. Was this reaction before or after we released our (sssshhh, don’t tell anyone what we do) and the hazing process?

Well before, well before – and well before I had to supply my own cricket bat, sandpaper and bowls of custard for the hazing! ;O)

15. What astrological sign are you?
Pisces – y’know slippery customer, and always something ”fishy” about what I’m up to! ;o)

16. What social networking web sites do you find most useful in your work or play?

I don’t really use them that much. But Stumbleupon can generate a “quick fix” with the right tags to get something noticed and blogged about.

17. What, in your opinion, make a new Cre8tive Member stand out?

A large, bulging manila envelope left in the “BackRoom” – hopefully with currency and not cakes in…. although chocolate cake is acceptable!

[cre8pc]

Risa Borsykowsky of RB3 Web Design and SEO is one of more recent Moderators. She's also our Logo maker, and the one who creates our celebration logos.

I met Risa a few years back at a High Rankings Search Marketing Seminar and she was a standout attendee interested in learning everything she could about how to run a business online and offer services. She's a working mom and we're thrilled she came on board to help her.

Meet Risa!

1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?

I used to visit the Web Design forum at About.com about 6 or 7 years ago, and just as the membership seemed to be fading there, someone linked to Cre8asite forums as a new place to learn and discuss web design issues, and I've been here ever since.

2. Do you participate in other forums?

No

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?

This forum is so important to my work. I've gotten stuck with coding issues or had business questions or web design questions, and I've always gotten my questions answered here. I think Ammon Johns and Bill Slawski were awesome moderators. I was always happy when they would answer my questions. They are very smart and generous people who always gave detailed, clear, patient answers. I've learned a lot from a lot of people here. I remember years ago I mentioned that I give my clients 7-10 web designs to choose from. Diane Vigil was all over that and told me that it was way way too many choices. After that I cut it down to three. Today I submitted a web design proposal for one design and a fee for each additional design. It was a great lesson and greatly affected how I work.

4. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?

Web design, site planning, usability, content creation, monetizing your website.

5. Be honest. When you first were admitted to the “BackRoom”, what was your first reaction?

I didn't know there was a backroom so it was nice to get to know people I've admired a little better. It's a very passionate group and I'm still very humbled to be a moderator here and part of the critical discussions that are determining the direction of Cre8asite Forums.

6. Was this reaction before or after we released our (sssshhh, don’t tell anyone what we do) and the hazing process?

This was after the hazing process.

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions.

Almost 9 years ago I took a few web design classes and learned HTML, Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks. When my 9 year old son turned one, I quit my job and a few months later I got my first paid web design job. It's been awesome ever since! After a few years of designing websites, I realized that my beautiful designs meant nothing if no one could find them, and then I learned about SEO.

I think everything about web design, SEO, and internet marketing is interesting and I love attending conferences. I've been to two SES-NY's, Jill Whalen's High Rankings Seminar, an analytics seminar, and I'm looking forward to Search Camp Philly.

The most exciting thing I'm involved in are my two e-commerce sites and I'm working on my third. It's a convergence of everything I've learned in this industry. From web design, usability, SEO, analytics, programming, marketing, graphic design, product selection, copywriting, customer service, photography, and running a business - an e-commerce involves it all. And nothing is more exciting than waking up to sales in my in-box!

I LOVE working from home. I love being with my 3 beautiful boys (4, 6, and 9) as much as I am and I just celebrated my 18th wedding anniversary in June (after dating for 7 years) with my husband, Michael. I love going camping and being home in my backyard. Any trip that involves a pontoon boat on a lake is awesome. I've always loved arts & crafts and have a house filled with my art. I have a collection of my watercolor paintings on the walls, a set of pottery dishes, and I've made jewelry, handmade picture frames, basket making, sewing, stepping stones - anything handmade that involves color, design, and shape, I love.

I love going to concerts and my favorite concerts of all time are Billy Joel (I saw him at least 5 times), Elton John, Bette Midler, ELO, Styx (one of my first dates with my husband), Melissa Etheridge, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, Donna Summer, Pat Benatar, and I recently saw Stills & Nash in concert.

8. What astrological sign are you?
I'm a Leo

9. What are your favorite social networking web sites that you find most useful in your work or play?

I read the headlines of Sphinn in my RSS reader.

10. What, in your opinion, make a new Cre8tive Member stand out?

Great questions and great answers - the desire to help out where possible.

Fun Stuff

1. How many towns have you lived in?

6 towns throughout Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island.

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

My favorite color is pink.

3. What did you want to be when you were little?

I wanted to be an actress. My parents were so supportive that when I was in the 3rd grade (and the star of the class play), they sent me to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan, where lots of famous people graduated from.

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?

I'm a night person, but I work mostly during the day. I start working after I drop the kids off to school or camp, then work again after they are in bed.

5. Where would you retire to?

I'd love a home on a lake.

[cre8pc]

Michael Motherwell aka "ProjectPHP" is traveling as I post this. Before he left, he took the time to answer the questions below. Michael has been part of the Tech Team here for years and is one of the shared resources we have with High Rankings Forums.

Michael has a keen sense for the obvious, and despite his sense of fun, can be one of the most logical people I've ever known. He's a real joy to have at Cre8.

1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?
O brother, who can remember? It is sucha partb of my life, I can't remember a time before cre8.

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?
Tremendously - without a prod, I get lazy and repetitive. The number of changes to what I do based upon discussions is almost endless, and it allows me to continue to enjoy what I do long after

4. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?
The backroom One can't imagine what life was like before the chance to talk in private to me "notfriends" (a zefrank line for forum friends).

5. Be honest. When you first were admitted to the “BackRoom”, what was your first reaction?
"Boy, do you people spend a LOT of time posting back here"

6. Was this reaction before or after we released our (sssshhh, don’t tell anyone what we do) and the hazing process?
"Boy, do you people spend a LOT of time posting back here"

8. What astrological sign are you?
Pisces, and Donna did some star sign thingey for me that was pretty cool (wonder if I still have it...).

9. What are your favorite social networking web sites that you find most useful in your work or play?
Useful, well, not many, FUN, reddit mostly, although it can be depressing as heck as well.

10. What, in your opinion, make a new Cre8tive Member stand out?
Willingness to ask questiosn that make them look less than god-like in their knowledge. FDar too many people think forums are for showing how much you knopw, not learning to be better. saschaeh always asks questions that maker me wonder why *I* never asked them, because they are things *I* want to know. And I remember when Tim started and asked for a review, and changed his site dramatically, and I was shocked out how much value he got out of the community - it was a real inspiration!

Fun Stuff

1. How many towns have you lived in?
2, and about 15 houses in ten years smile.gif LAst move was up one flight of stairs, so I am pretty move happy.

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
That one that was chewed pon by the dog and you can no longer work out what colour it was, beacuse the colour melded with dog drool and teh other crayons to create a frankenstein like colour.

3. What did you want to be when you were little?
What DIDN'T I want to be! I used to play a little banjo and sing into the handle of the clothes line and pretend I was a rockstar until I was about 6. Then I started to put on headphones and DJ to the record player. Then I wanted to be a profession al rugby player, then a lawyer (but, alas, I have a soul), then a politician (see last brackets), then I wanted to be a movie producer, then I wanted to be a pilot, then I wanted to be in a band, and then I settled on my last goal: retired ASAP (I was 12 at that point hehehehe).

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Night for sure. I have a 30 hour body clock, which messes me up bigtime, and I always think of staying up as a treat.

5. Where would you retire to?
Everywhere I think staying still makes me dull, and I am happiest when I move, so I reckon I'd just keep moving every few months until I keeled over :A)

[cre8pc]

I can't remember how Pierre Far arrived but I can't imagine these forums without him. He's one of those members who joins and adopts us and then starts painting the walls and weeding the gardens - anything to help.

He's great for figuring technical mysteries and his intellectual mind is perfect for our love of "deep thought" discussions.

Meet Pierre, aka "Ekstreme"


1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?
Many moons ago, back when I was young and impressionable, I was strolling in the woods along the information superhighway (I told you it was many moons ago) and came up to the little cottage of SE Roundtable. I knocked gently on the door and to my surprise Guru Schwartz opened the door and greeted me.

"Rankings, you seek, son?" demanded Guru Schwartz, with thundering feeds, blogs, forums, and test tubes labelled "SERPs" going off behind him in a dazziling array of color and light.

"Rankings? What are those? And what's an SE?" I replied, knees shaking.

"Aye. Thought so, I did. Much to learn you have. Will help you, Kim she will. Here Click", replied Guru Schwartz.

So I clicked right where the Guru said I should and was hyperteleported via a linkhole to this magical kingdom.


2. Do you participate in other forums?

Yes I do!

Oh, you mean actually mention them? Mostly SEO Refugee and read many more. If you take a very loose definition of forum (as "an assembly or meeting place") then you must count twitter, friendfeed, and StumbleUpon.

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?

Yes. Lots. It's a fast way to learn new things and keep my finger on the pulse.

4. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?
Cool programming tricks, usually coming as answers to "simple" questions. They're rare but well worth it to keep an eye out for them.

5. Be honest. When you first were admitted to the “BackRoom”, what was your first reaction?
Two reactions:
1. Hey, that's a cool superman icon!
2. Where is that thread they chose me in and what did they say in it?

Mwahahahaha.

My third reaction was "why did they delete it?".

Waaaaaah.

6. Was this reaction before or after we released our (sssshhh, don’t tell anyone what we do) and the hazing process?
Hit me again.

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions. Y

Oh boy. Where to start. I like everything that makes me think. Anything, in any subject, at whatever expertise level.

Right now I'm really interested in how people consume news collectively on the internet. I find it fascinating that a few hundred years ago we used to write tomes condensing eons of history and knowledge and now we boil down everything to 140-character sound bites. I also find it fascinating how we're expanding our social filters to beyond our immediate friends ("Hey, friend, what's a good movie to watch this weekend?") to include recommendations from other people online (strangers, really) and statistical aggregations based on thousands of other people. These two forces are shaping our world and no one is looking at them properly.

I'm trying though. My latest public project, Social Alerter started off as a way to collect a lot of data for my analysis and turned into a service when I realized this real-time data collection system could solve a real problem for webmasters. Most of the blog posts on Social Alerter are exercises in looking at this pile of data to figure out what it's telling us.

And for kicks, I keep a science blog and of course a web dev and SEO blog at my main geekness site ekstreme.com.

8. What astrological sign are you?
Scorpio. Oh be afraid. Be very afraid. (Apparently - it's all voodoo )

9. What are your favorite social networking web sites that you find most useful in your work or play?
Twitter and LinkedIn.


10. What, in your opinion, make a new Cre8tive Member stand out?
A seemingly simple question that hits right at the heart of a very important topic. Usually, the new member has no idea what's s/he is about to set off with that kind of question. Most of the time, new members who ask such great questions are the ones that turn out to be the ones most willing to learn and contribute.


Fun Stuff
1. How many towns have you lived in?
In a very loose definition of "lived": 6.

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Mom would say yellow. My signifcant other would agree. Apparently it's my favorite color.

3. What did you want to be when you were little?
A scientist. When I became one I realized the error of my ways.

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Define morning. Don't know what you're talking about.

5. Where would you retire to?
Haven't thought that far ahead. Probably somewhere with internet access though

[cre8pc]

Sophie Wegat , from Think Prospect has been with us since our beginning days. She's been instrumental in helping us to keep the new moderator hazing process up to date and lively.

She and husband Raoul are expecting a new baby any day now! We're excited as heck for them. We LOVE this couple. They're warm, fun, professional in their business, and we're honored to have them as part of our Cre8tive Family.

They not only have a bub on the way, but are rolling out a newly designed site for Think Prospect soon.

And yes, she's still working and taking on new clients!!! We can't say enough about her talent and expertise. If you're looking for SEO, Usability or web dev help, this is the company to inquire with.


1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?
From Peter Da Vanzo I think. I was a moderator at I help You which focused on SEO and I was thrilled to find a place that took a holistic approach to building websites.


2. Do you participate in other forums? (Okay to link)
Not really. I drop into Webmaster World and High Rankings from time to time but mainly post at Cre8.


3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?
I love the social side of the forums but these days I think being so far away can be a disadvantage at times. Having said that I've found the support at cre8, especially over the last 18 months amazing. From a work perspective it's brilliant. I get to learn and share with others who have the same passions and frustrations.

4. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?
Site Planning and Design, Usability, Business Issues.

5. Be honest. When you first were admitted to the “BackRoom”, what was your first reaction?
OMG. It was so serious and there was so much discussion. But I like that - we treat the place and our members with respect.


6. Was this reaction before or after we released our (sssshhh, don’t tell anyone what we do) and the hazing process?
Hehe I think I helped start the hazing process.


7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions. You can provide up to three links, including your own projects.
My hubby and I run a web design business - we're just about the launch our new site. We've been doing this since 1994 and I still love to help businesses succeed online.

We're also about to have a baby so that's probably where a lot of my focus is right now.

8. What astrological sign are you?
A Leo, can't you tell?


9. What are your favorite social networking web sites that you find most useful in your work or play?
Gosh I don't spend a lot of time on any to be honest. I do Twitter from time to time.


10. What, in your opinion, make a new Cre8tive Member stand out?
Someone who is enthusiastic and wants to learn and share.


Fun Stuff

1. How many towns have you lived in?
4, and that's stretching it.

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Probably red - a bluey red not an orangy red.


3. What did you want to be when you were little?
A Tennis player. Sad but true.


4. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Morning.


5. Where would you retire to?
Hmmm. I love where I am now but could definitely see myself in the country down the track.

[cre8pc]

We're honored that SEO-Scoop owner, Donna Fontenot aka "DazzlinDonna" came to join our Moderating team. She brings years of SEO/SEM expertise, passion for small business and her warm personality to the Community.

Lately, she too has been running an interview series, called "Search Blogger of the Day", with this one being one of her latest.

Here's what DD had to say...


1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?

Dahlin, I celebrate each morning when I remember my name, what day it is, and where I live. Keeping info like where I first learned about this magnificent forum doesn't stick around in the few brain cells I've got left. Sorry.

2. Do you participate in other forums? (

Mostly at SEOrefugee. They are like my crazy cousins or something.

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?

That's like asking if family is useful or if the local pub is useful. Can't do without our friends and our gathering places. We have to have a place to congregate, kvetch, hug, commiserate, share, and ask questions. It's our very nature no matter which realm we are currently in (on or offline).

4. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?

The ones that bring out the long, detailed explanations - so that's usually the techy ones. I'm always fascinated by people who are wordy (and yet never seem to be TOO wordy), because I'm such a "to the point" kinda gal.

5. Be honest. When you first were admitted to the “BackRoom”, what was your first reaction?

"Where's the good stuff?"

6. Was this reaction before or after we released our (sssshhh, don’t tell anyone what we do) and the hazing process?

Before. Afterwards, I realized that I shouldn't have taken the red pill.

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions.

Doesn't everyone already know everything there is to know about our private lives? Haven't we already given up all that information already, and Google has shared it with everyone?

I like to sum myself up this way: I'm an SEO (blah, blah), eBusiness Coach (blah blah), Web Entrepreneur (blah blah), and MawMaw (Cajun version of a Grandma), with MawMaw being my most important and most passionate role. Still, in some ways, my eBusiness Coaching side of the business is sort of like a bridge between the roles. I get to be passionate about this wacky business we are all involved in (in some manner), and yet still fulfill some of the same duties as a MawMaw to my clients - by being encouraging, by challenging them, by helping them strive to be their best, by helping them find the correct paths to wander down.

8. What astrological sign are you?

Capricorn. Double Capricorn even. With Scorpio rising. Makes for an odd combo, if u ask me.

9. What are your favorite social networking web sites that you find most useful in your work or play?

Twitter and Plurk.

10. What, in your opinion, make a new Cre8tive Member stand out?

The new member who proves he or she isn't just a drive-by, never to be seen again, and who gives as well as receives. Kinda like any good community member, ya know?

Fun Stuff

1. How many towns have you lived in?

7 ... I think.

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

Have you seen any of my sites? C'mon, give it a guess. No? Still not sure? Ok, I'll make it easy then. PURPLE.

3. What did you want to be when you were little?

A parachuter, if that's even a word, and if that's even an occupation.

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?

Night. Mornings should be shot.

5. Where would you retire to?

A place that probably doesn't exist in reality. The top of a mountain (in which I owned the entire mountain), but the mountain would need to be warm year round. No cold. No snow.

Short of that...right here where I'm at right now.

[cre8pc]

Meet one of our most devoted members, Yannis Lazarides, from Cyprus!

1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?

I came to Cre8asiteforums via Google, just landed trolled for a few days and then decided to post and stay. One of my early posts was ‘With Apologies to Bragadoccio’
which was followed by a blog post by Elizabeth Able aptly named ‘With Apologies to Yannis . When Bill retired from being a moderator I thought of writing a post ‘With Thanks to Bragadoccio’, but I regret that I never got down to actually writing it.

[Kim's Note: He might enjoy that!]

2. Do you participate in other forums?

I used to be one of the regulars at DP but dropped out because of the noise. I read WebmasterWorld and I visit SitePoint regularly but I am not actively involved with any of them.

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life?

I find them very useful and informative but mostly they help me to unwind and relax.

4. Please name an example of something Cre8asiteforums helped you with.

When I started with the web, I had this idea that a web page was just a page. Here at the forums I slowly came to understand that actually a website is a business first (even an informational website is similar to a non-profit organization). It is easy to sell person to person but if you have to sell something by just a display of words and images is tough. People apply marketing principles from outside the web to the web. I do mostly the opposite. I pick up marketing and usability ideas from the web and try to apply them to off-line businesses. Things like, ‘get your message out clear as a crystal’. The forums here were invaluable in this respect. See this thread.

5. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?
I do not favor a particular topic and I do follow most of the discussions.

6. Who is your favorite moderator(s)?

I enjoy Ammon’s posts tremendously especially when he unleashes his sarcastic humour. Now and then I get lost in iamLost’s diatribes and for solid advise I tend to turn to people like Egol and Barry and Kim. If I get up early my favorite mod is Swainzy and her now irregular ‘Who is this?’ posts. All in all, I think what makes this place great is that people give thought in what they write and the way they respond and interact.

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions.

I have a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and I have been involved in computers one way or another almost as long if not longer than Kim! [HEY! LOL] I have a passion for programming and anything web.

I am involved with web development as an entrepreneur and as a hobby. I have a stable of websites who is steadily growing and one of these days I am sure one of them will become a real winner. I find that web development and coding helps me keep my mind sharp.

I am currently managing a large Electro-mechanical operation in Doha, Qatar. A couple of years back I was in Dubai in a similar position. I am originally from Cyprus and lived for a very long time in South Africa, where my kids still live. In many respects I consider myself more of a South African than a Cypriot.

Current pet projects are the ‘expander’ playing with semantic analysis of web-sites where you provide a topic and it does the opposite of a summarizer. It fetches content from around the world and tries and creates an article out of it.

Fun Stuff

1. How many towns have you lived in?

I lived in Larnaka, Cyprus where I was born and then studied in London. I worked in Athens and Dubai for a while before moving to Johannesburg in South Africa and then to a little mining town called Welkom in the Orange Free State. In between I lived in Tripoli Libya including sometime in the Sahara of all places and Dubai. Currently I am in Doha, Qatar.

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

#dd0000

3. What did you want to be when you were little?
A grown up!

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?

With a website called Latenightengineer.com the answer is obvious. Haven’t slept properly since I discovered the web and that was a long time ago!

5. Where would you retire to?

I am not sure if I will ever retire or that I will make it to retirement, but if I was a ship I would probably end up somewhere in the high seas rather than rust in a port! As the Tao Te Ching says a good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving.

Thanks for giving me this opportunity.

Thanks Yannis!

(See also our Blog post on Yannis

[cre8pc]

This gentleman needs no introduction really. We love John Mueller here! When he went off to work for Google, it was quite like sending a kid off to college, only JohnMu isn't a kid

These forums are fortunate he manages to get away to stop by here. I was happy he had time to ask him some questions!

Meet JohnMu!


1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?

I first learned about Cre8asiteforums because a thread there sent me some visitors regarding a Google Sitemap generator I made :-). The third post was someone asking if it had spyware – hey, don’t you all know that I’m an honest guy? - then Pierre (eKstreme) came in to recommend it, at which point I must have noticed it in my logs and so I came in to say “hi.” I had to try some of the other forums out before settling down, but it didn’t take long to realize that Cre8asiteforums is one of the most civilized placed on the web. Cre8asiteforums is a place which was (and is!) different than many of the other internet forums – users here are genuinely welcome no matter what their questions are. It’s not another anonymous chat with people trying to trump and beat each other up, it’s a friendly get-together with like-minded people who enjoy what they do & like to share some of their experiences with others.

2. Do you participate in other forums?

Yes, I spend a lot of time in the Google Webmaster Help groups. There’s something new and exciting waiting for me over there every day!

3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?

Absolutely! I wouldn’t be working where I am now if it weren’t for forums :-). I think Cre8asiteforums played a large role in that because of the “Googley” spirit here – it’s fun, very friendly and really smart.

4. Please name an example of something Cre8asiteforums helped you with.

To me, the things I remember most actually don’t have that much to do with creating websites directly. It’s the community that makes it special. When I was first contacted by Google, I was pretty excited – I couldn’t really tell many people since I was running my own company and didn’t want to drive everyone else crazy too – so I sent Bill (bragadocchio) a message through the forums, it wasn’t much, but it really helped me to calm down. When I later went to Mountain View for the interviews, I had a chance to meet Donna and relax after an exciting day at Google. I love this community -- the personalities behind the posts.

5. What are your favorite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?
I like all topics that have to do with websites and I love it when small companies make great websites. It’s fascinating to see the creativity some of the webmasters put into their sites.

6. Who is your favorite moderator(s)?

(leaving this one out because I don’t have any “favorites” )

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions. You can provide up to three links, including your own projects.

I’m currently one of three Webmaster Trends Analysts at Google and we have the greatest job at the best company I’ve ever seen. We work hard at connecting everyday webmasters with our engineers, making sure that each side hears about and understands the worries & questions that the other side has, so that we can work better together, making more of the world’s information useful and accessible.


Fun Stuff

1. How many towns have you lived in?

I’ve lived in two in Germany, two in the US & just one in Switzerland. I enjoy living here in Switzerland, so I’m not planning on adding too many more.

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

I don’t want to be a crayon, but if I had to pick, I’d be green – slightly different but not loud like red :-) .

3. What did you want to be when you were little?

I don’t remember – but while deciding what to study, I considered being a priest or studying physics (or both). That would have been a slightly different life :-).

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?

I’m definitely a night person. I worked at being a morning person for a while, I got up and went to work at 5AM, but the night time just seems to work better. Either way, I enjoy the quiet of the night.

5. Where would you retire to?
If retiring is when you stop doing things you have to do and only do things you enjoy then I think I’ve retired already. One thing I have been considering doing is helping non-profits with their websites, helping them to create great websites.

Edited by bwelford, 28 August 2008 - 04:12 PM.

[eKstreme]

Hey don't blame me!

[cre8pc]

It's always your fault! LOL

:haha: :haha:

[cre8pc]

Another longtime member, Lee Messenger, started SE Newslets, and it became so popular I combined it into what is now called Tech News and Lee's SE Newslets. He also may be dropping by our blog as a guest blogger whenever he has time to report on industry news and happenings as well.

Lee is yet another example of what can happen here at Cre8asiteforums. Some members not only sit at our kitchen table, but they bring their ideas to the table and stay for desert!

Meet Lee.n3o!


1. If you can remember, how did you first learn about Cre8asiteforums?
Blimey... Urm... I think it was when I started learning about SEO, I started reading a lot of Ammons stuff and found out he was an administrator in here – So stalked followed him on here and just stayed around. That and I realised I was the token immature Microsoft lover, and every forum needs one of those J


2. Do you participate in other forums?
No not really, I mainly go on the ASP.NET forum but rarely post... I own a largish forum that I administrate, but it's to do with niche Japanese cars and recently I haven't been posting much on that but just reading stuff and moving / deleting posts.


3. Do you think forums are useful in your work or personal life? If so, how?
Hmmmmm.... They are useful for work in the fact that I sometimes see things I have missed, and find some cool sites through other people – And if I am completely stumped I can ask for help and there are usually some clever buggers around that help, its quite rare nowadays that you can't get an answer from someone on a problem.

4. Please name an example of something Cre8asiteforums helped you with.
SEO really... Reading Ammon, Rand, SoftPlus and a few others posts helped me a lot (Like the old reference to John ... lol) and really launched me into the position I am in now. Its also helped me find some really cool sites, like the recent post of the photo site which was awesome (I forget who posted it now, maybe DCRX or whatever his tag is)

5. What are your favourite topics covered at Cre8asiteforums?
Well my favourite topics are all the dev (Not php ... lol) and CSS stuff - But the tide has changed and the forum is mainly pushed towards SEO. That and my time becoming less and less, I don't have so much time to contribute as I did – Although the Dev and CSS stuff has made more of a re-appearance over the last few months.

6. Who is your favourite moderator(s)?
Favourite... Man I can't stand any of them... All high and mighty php lovers ... hehehehe... Only joking! Don't really have a favourite to be honest, I like everyone J

7. Feel free to tell us about yourself, your work, and your passions.

Not much to tell really, I like to keep a low profile these days... I run a small web design company in the UK called n3o (http://www.n3o.co.uk) but also run a few other online businesses/stores. (Fingers in way too many pies). I recently decided to release my own open source link / listing directory, which has proved pretty popular (http://www.n3o.co.uk...ware/aspld.aspx ) and hope to keep improving it.... Oh and LONG LIVE MICROSOFT & ASP.NET...

Fun Stuff


1. How many towns have you lived in?

Approximately 3... I think!

2. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

I’d be white! Hey I am white... How cool is that.

3. What did you want to be when you were little?

I wanted to be (And still want to be) a stuntman, I even looked into taking out a loan just after I left school and coming the US to a stunt school over there – Just never quite had the balls, then met my other half and found breasts spending time with her much more interesting.

4. Are you a morning person or a night person?

Both... I get up at 6am and I’m straight on my laptop... come home, dinner and put my boys to bed and I’m 90% of the time back on my computer until I can’t keep me eyes open.

5. Where would you retire to?

Well I (And my other half) have thought about a lot of places (A little while back was thinking about USA, as Kim and Miriam had to answer my dumb questions) – But most recently we have more or less set our sights on Cyprus. Although I wouldn’t say I’m retiring at 30!! I wish!! We are just going to make a better more relaxed life for ourselves, then I won’t ever retire... I’ll still be on here winding Lyle up about why ASP.NET rocks J and tinkering with web stuff.

Edited by cre8pc, 29 August 2008 - 10:51 AM.