Newsletter for November 2nd, 2010
"MegaLetter"
1. Newsletter Editorial - NANY 2011: The Home StretchDespite my intention to get us back onto a schedule of sending out a DC newsletter every two weeks, it's actually been over 6 weeks since the last newsletter. For that I apologize, and pledge to do better going forward. Grab yourself a soda and settle in for a super-sized newsletter, it's the biggest newsletter we've had in years.
So, let's talk about the big event taking place on the website: NANY 2011. For those who aren't acquainted with it yet, NANY is an acronym for "New Apps for the New Year", and it's where we invite every coder who hangs out at the DonationCoder forum to release some brand new freeware/donationware to the public on the first of the year. It's a non-competitive event, in which coders of all skill levels are invited to submit something, and in which everyone who enters wins a rare and infinitely invaluable DonationCoder coffee mug starring our cute mascot Cody the bird.
In many ways NANY represents the best of DonationCoder -- it brings together professional coders with amateur dabblers and a large community of users filled with encouragement, ideas and feature requests. And it's just plain fun for everyone. But as we enter the final two months of the challenge, we need your help! We don't have an advertising budget and we suck at self-promotion. So we rely on people like you to help spread the word. Please tell your friends about the NANY event; if you have a blog or a website, please tell your readers -- especially if any of them might be coders. Don't just sit there -- the more coders we have participating the better!
Calling All Coders!If you are a coder, stop being so shy! It doesn't matter if you've never posted on our forum before -- just jump in and introduce yourself -- and if you can't think of an idea to code, ask for suggestions!
NANY 2011 has always been a team effort, but DC member Perry Mowbray has been the driving force behind organizing the participants and keeping everyone on track. In the coming weeks you'll be hearing a lot more from him on the forum, where you can read his progress reports and check out his cool graphs of project activity.
NANY Updates:
New NANY Pledges:
2. User-to-User: Your Input RequestedWe welcome everyone to participate on the forum, regardless of their level of computer knowledge or how long they've been a DC member. If you're still waiting to make your first post, see the links below for some good places to get started.
3. DC Community Mini ReviewsWe love it when readers post new mini-reviews.. and are thrilled that quite a few new ones have been posted since the last newsletter:
4. Announce Your Software or ServiceAlthough I don't often highlight it in the newsletter, we do have a section of the DC forum where we are happy to have shareware authors post about their latest creations. While we are always concerned about spam on the forum, unlike many sites we welcome the participation of shareware authors on our forum as long as they clearly identify themselves and their relation to the commercial software that they are discussing.
This last month in particular has seen some of the best and most interesting discussion threads with authors about their software:
5. Coding Snacks, and DC Member Software ThreadsOne of the best areas of our forum is the Coding Snacks section, where people can request small, free, custom-utilities to be written by volunteer coders. For this newsletter I've also put the list of dc software updates here, along with a few other related discussion threads.
6. Website Discoveries, Debates, and DiscussionsWhat's new in cyberspace? What exciting new sites have been discovered by forum members? What's the current hot topic and debate? Read on to find out..
7. Fun, Humour and Amusements on the WebIf you've read the newsletter up to this point, take a break and check out the lighter side of the forum - humour, videos, and games..
8. General Software DiscussionAlmost half the posts on the DC forum take the form of general software discussions, questions, recommendations, etc. These posts wind up in the General Software Discussion section and make it one of the most active sections of the DC forum. This is a great resource if you're trying to solve a software or hardware-related problem. We get so much traffic on this board that we split the recent content into two sections in the newsletter - general software and specific software discussions.
9. Specific Software DiscussionHere you'll find some of the standout discussions about specific programs that have been started since the last newsletter.
10. Discounts and GiveawaysMembers of our forum frequently reach out to shareware companies and arrange software discounts and give-aways. In addition, forum members are always on the lookout for discounts that they find on the web and they love to share with the rest of us.
11. Developer's CornerThe title of this section shouldn't scare you off - there is definitely something of interest for everyone here! It's more than just a section for the discussion of software development, it's also where we discuss web design, entrepreneurial ideas, and general productivity issues. It's great to see that the section has been pretty active recently.
12. Hardware HideoutWe tend to focus on websites and software on the forum, but that doesn't mean that DC forum members aren't always on the lookout for cool new gadgets and information on maximizing their computer's performance.
13. DC Gamer ClubThe hardcore gamers hanging out on our forum have been getting more vocal about discovering and discussing new games. Even for those of us who don't often play computer games, it can be fun to read about them.
