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Johnny's Ramblings
In the Crosshairs
A Word from Our Sponsor
Forum Watch
Coders Corner
Scumbag of the Week

Issue # 202 (08-12-2003)

Changes Afoot !

We're changing things again here at Jimworld, bringing in some new staffers, and blazing new trails in the forums. Thanks for sticking with us while the dust settles here ... in the end, your JimWorld will be a much better place.

Forum Watch

First off, I just want to say how pumped I am to be on board as an Admin and to let you know that starting with this issue of the Gazette, I'll be writing this column for each issue. What better way to start off my first week in The Gazette than to shake things up a bit. Here goes... ;)

Since Jim Wilson came up with the concept of having moderators in a forum nearly six years ago, things have changed. When Jim started the idea, moderation was an essential (and brilliant) step in managing forums. Today, those of us at JimWorld feel that the concept has run its course and that it's time to move on to bigger and better things. So, just like Jim would have done, we're taking a radical step. By the time you read this article, there won't be a single moderator left in the forums.

Instead, we are introducing a team of individuals to serve as "Forum Guides." Unlike moderators, these folks (we'll be calling them "JimGuides") will not be the forums' police force. They won't be moderating posts, making edits, deleting posts, or sending out warnings to members. Instead of "ruling" the forums, JimGuides exist to help you learn and to guide you through questions, problems, and conversations. They'll be writing articles and how-to guides to get you started, and they'll be out there in the forums to help you come up with unique solutions to any problems you might be having. We've scoured the Web and our own forums for some of the most knowledgeable and personable folks in the business, and we've recruited them for these positions for one of several reasons:

1.) They are a known expert in their field and bring an amazing level of knowledge and experience to their assigned topic.

2.) They have an uncanny ability to explain concepts and ideas to our members in a way that is easy to understand.

3.) They are conversation sparkers. They breathe life into their forums by offering opinions, ideas and perspectives that are unique.

Think of a JimGuide as that friend or member of your family that is a computer nut. You hang out, talk and chat with them just like you would any of your other friends. But when it's time to buy a new computer, or upgrade your system, you know that they're going to give you excellent, unbiased advice about what to buy and where to get it. Every now and then, this person might share some news about a new computer program or piece of hardware. This person isn't going to butt into conversations and pretend to be an expert when they're not. They're also not going to throw out an "I'm the expert and this is how it has to be" speech. Our goal is that JimGuides will be your friends, your mentors, and the reason that you keep coming back to JimWorld. To get great answers to your most important questions. You'll be able to identify JimGuides by the word "JimGuide" next to their name when they post. You'll also see them listed at the top of the forum they've been assigned to.

So now you're wondering... hey, that's great and all, but who's going to do the dirty work? Who'll clean up the spam? Who'll track down the members who keep finding new ways to break the rules? Well, John and I will continue to deal with the major issued as Administrators, but we've also assembled our very own task force, comprised of a few forum members who are willing to scour the forums for these types of issues. The task force will be similar to the old moderating system, but with some notable exceptions:

1.) The task force members will be "regular members" 99.9% of the time. They won't have a special designation to set them apart from the rest of the members.

2.) When they need to edit a post or send a warning, they'll do so under a single, shared username. This protects their identity (so that they can enjoy being "normal" members the rest of the time), and it also gives our members a common username to correspond with when issues do arise.

Many of the new JimGuides are already listed on our Staff List. You can view the list here (http://www.jimworld.com/apps/staff.php). Keep an eye out for an upcoming Forum Watch where we explain how readers and forum members can apply for open JimGuide positions.

Jennifer Laycock (thejenn)
http://www.jimworld.com/apps/webmaster.forums

Read the Forum Watch section from the Last Issue or in the Following Issue

JimWorld Member comments and feedback ...

Posted On: 04/19/2006 04:35
Posted By: alfie1848

Thank you for your review, I will benefit from your suggestions. I have one
question though. You said "In the source, you really need a meta description
for each page just as you do with any web site." How do I do this with blogger?

Posted On: 04/19/2006 04:43
Posted By: alfie1848

Posted On: 04/19/2006 04:57
Posted By: alfie1848

Posted On: 04/19/2006 04:10
Posted By: alfie1848

Posted On: 01/04/2008 08:04
Posted By: boltonuv

This "Scumbag of the Week" article is irresponsible. I had not trouble at all in receiving the following response from SpamArrest:

"Hi James,

Thank you for your email.

James, what you see there is absolutely wrong and is done to misguide our users and our new customers from Spam Arrest. We have over 1.5 million customers with us including you. You have been with us for a very long time, James. You can check with any of your contacts whether they have received any junk emails from us. We never do such a thing and its completely against our ethics! We hate spam as much as you do and so, along with stopping it, we make sure that none of our customer's emails are noted as spam. We warn our customers from sending bulk emails about the fact that their contacts might misunderstand their bulk emails as spam and will turn against them and Spam Arrest. A company following only such healthy practices can never do such a thing like spamming. What we value the most is our customer's trust and we will make all efforts to retain that in the best way possible. We never admit your personal information to any third party under whatsoever circumstances. You will find a whole lot of misleading things like this in Internet, James. We have friends and foes like anyone else in this planet.

I hope you will understand us the best way possible, James. Please do let me know if you need any further clarifications regarding this.

Best Regards,
Peter
Technical Support Specialist
Spam Arrest"

In the 3 years that I have used SpamArrest, I personally have never received one complaint from anyone that has been 'spammed' from any theoretical 'spam list' that SpamArrest may have created. I think that their statement above makes it clear that they would not do this.

I behooves you to publish a retraction.

Jim Bolton

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Changes Afoot !

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