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Author Topic: Mouser Sabbatical from DC Coding for 3 of months - Your Help Requested Please  (Read 15251 times)

mouser

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I'm not sure this is exactly worthy of an official DC announcement, but most of you know that (due mostly to my need to pay off school loans) I still have to take side programming jobs sometimes that are unrelated to DC.

Well I've accepted one that is going to keep me very busy for the next 3 months or so, and I probably won't have much time to code on DC stuff other than maintenance issues and bugfixes.

I'll still be around every day on the forum, but just in general I have a feeling these next months are going to find me pretty focused on this other job, so i probably won't be as active.

I think it may actually be a good thing in terms of rejuvenating me for DC -- I have a lot of new ideas that have been percolating and it will be fun to be able to jump back into them after a little mercenary work, and I can't wait to come roaring back with renewed energy.



Now here is where you come in.  I know DC will do fine with me somewhat benched on the sidelines, but I was hoping to ask all of you to go a step further, and chip in together to make it so these next 3 months stand out as a renaissance period for DC, rather than a lull.

We have quite a few coders around here, some that talk and participate regularly, and some that have just been reading but not yet jumped into the pool.

What do you think, are you guys and gals all (coders and non-coders alike) willing to pitch in and make the next three months an example of the best that DC can be?



How can you help?
  • Help me/us think of some new ideas we can do in the next 3 months that you are willing to spearhead and supervise.  No one participates on DC because of money, but one thing I can do for this period is funnel all the site donations into any projects we can come up with, which should give us a thousand dollars a month to spend on fun stuff if you guys can think of a way to spend it.  But please keep in mind that we don't want to get into a situation where people who have been participating for the love of it suddenly feel like now it's all about money.  So let's be careful how we use the money.  We could always just give it to people who have already been helping out the site in the past.  This is kind of delicate.
  • I'd love to get more coders involved writing some new programs during the next few months.  How can we encourage that?  I know i want to do this firefox extension programming "contest" here, which i've been wanting to do for a while.  What else?  What about a programming "contest" related to our Getting Organized 2007 experiment?  I put "competition" in quotes because i like to think of it more like everyone who participates gets a prize, etc., rather than a winner-take-all thing.
  • If you're a programmer, whether it's application programming, web service coding, game making, whatever.  Create something cool and share it on DC!
  • Help keep the DC blog alive by writing original content and finding new software and software-related stories to post about
  • Writing mini-reviews
  • What else?

Anyway, I am asking for your help.  I hope you can help me not feel bad about not coding so much for DC in the next few months, and filling in whatever gap may be left by that absence.  Nothing would make me happier than for people to look back on this time and say wow DC really showed how great a community it is.

Thank you,
-mouser (Jesse)

ps.
I shouldn't even think about posting this without first expressing my indescribable appreciation for all of you who contribute to this site and forum every day and make it the place that it is.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
« Last Edit: October 22, 2007, 11:31 PM by mouser »

Josh

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Mouser,

You know you have my full support. I will take whatever actions necessary for you to help keep the site running smooth, including keeping Carol in check ;-)

I am always just a /msg or pm away.

Josh

Ralf Maximus

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Anything to help, just ask.  I'll try to quit slacking off and post more.  :-)

Re: Fun Ideas
Maybe open a new forum area for "cool suggestions"?

zridling

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Thanks for asking and thanks for sharing with us, mouser. A break will be good for you, now if you could only take a break after your side job! Just FYI mouser, every time I take a job, the states of either Missouri or Illinois take 50% off the top by the second paycheck. I don't mind paying for the education; it's the crippling interest that kneecaps me! I'll do my part, besides, I'm rested and in a good [family health] situation once again.

Darwin

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Jesse - I'd like to echo Josh's sentiments - ask and I'm there. Other than that, I too will do whatever is necessary!

Enjoy the reprieve!

mouser

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If anyone has any new idea of something they want to do in conjunction with DC, that they are willing to organize, now would be a great time to go for it.. Let me know how *I* can help you !

mouser

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One way people can help is by playing Blogger for a month or too!

Finding new software-related stuff to write about (tips+tricks, new software discoveries, mini-reviews, deep software thoughts, etc), and post about it so i can promote it to the DC blog page (http://blog.donationcoder.com) and don't have to spend as much time looking for stuff to blog.  The more original and unique the content the better.

ps. as always make sure you attach a picture(!)

superboyac

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You don't need my approval for any kind of break from DC, mouser.  You work your ass off, take the time you want.  In the meantime, I'll try to hold to my promise to provide two more quality blogs before the end of the year.  If I come up with a good idea to somehow merge my jazz projects with DC, I'll let you know about that also, because that's what most of my free time is being spent on these days.

mouser

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Anyone want to resume creating DC podcasts? I think superboyac just volunteered to create some original music for them.  What if each episode was just an interview with a DC member?

Deozaan

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Anyone want to resume creating DC podcasts? I think superboyac just volunteered to create some original music for them.  What if each episode was just an interview with a DC member?

I loved the podcasts!

Lashiec

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I'll do my best providing new content for the blog. I still have some things I found time ago screaming for a opportunity, so sooner or later, I'll give them a topic of their own :)

I'll probably write some reviews as well, but considering the scope, maybe they'll turn into full fledged reviews... :o

Armando

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Thanks for your hard work mouser; yes, a break would certainly be a good idea if that's what you want!

I have no idea how I could contribute to the website though, mouser...  besides posting...

Some mini reviews, maybe? But I don't know if my English is good enough for that. I also have to focus as much as possible on m PhD, so it's hard to promise anything. I could try.  :-\

mouser

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Thanks for your hard work mouser; yes, a break would certainly be a good idea if that's what you want!

Just to make clear -- I don't want to take a break from DC and as you can see I'm still here and will continue to be here -- it's just that i have to work on another project full time for the next few months in order to pay the bills, and so i won't have nearly as much time as normal for working on DC stuff during this period.

So I need to lean on you guys and get some help keeping the site active and interesting and filled to the brim with new stuff.  :Thmbsup:

Armando

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Just to make clear -- I don't want to take a break from DC and as you can see I'm still here and will continue to be here -- it's just that i have to work on another project full time for the next few months in order to pay the bills, and so i won't have nearly as much time as normal for working on DC stuff during this period.

That's what I understood. But thanks for clarifying!  :)

jgpaiva

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I'd like to make a small request too.

Everyone knows that our forum is closely monitored for spam, but with mouser a bit more absent, when the other global mods are a bit more busy some spam can get past the defense lines, like has happened today with 2 or 3 topics that were alive for more time than usual.

Thus, in these situations, i'd like the people who see these posts to press the "report to moderator" link, so that as soon as we get to our e-mail, we can delete those.

Latelly, i haven't had time to follow closely the forum, thus, when i get to read the spammy post, it has already been alive for some time. On the other hand, i check my e-mail several times a day, and read every e-mail immediatelly, thus, if you report the spam, it'll be much more quickly deleted (or moved to the "announce your product" section).

Thanks!

Lashiec

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Yeah, I reported "live" one of those yesterday, but apparently the moderator was sleeping :P

Next time I'll press the button, rest assured ;)

Ralf Maximus

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Latelly, i haven't had time to follow closely the forum, thus, when i get to read the spammy post, it has already been alive for some time. On the other hand, i check my e-mail several times a day, and read every e-mail immediatelly, thus, if you report the spam, it'll be much more quickly deleted (or moved to the "announce your product" section).

No problem!  Actually, it's kind of fun to torment them until you get around to spamination.