Month: January 2009

Last Update For WPTavern On Jeffro2pt0

Hell again, it’s me! Just wanted to publish one last update on this blog regarding WPTavern as after this week, I should be in a position to start utilizing the WPTavern website to publish content.

All of last week was generally spent on the forum. I went through a wacky series of events to get where I am today with regards to the forum. To read these events in detail to see what I’ve learned thus far, I’ve shared my experiences in a blog post on Performancing. For those not in the loop, I ended up choosing to purchase a $180.00 owned license of VBulletin. I’ve been wanting one of these for a long time but don’t get me wrong. I did try some open source alternatives. It’s just that in the end, VBulletin came out the winner.

So during these past seven days, I’ve worked my tail off styling the forum to match the main website, set the forum up (which was a boring, but required process), created a series of guidelines for new users as well as staff members, tinkered with usergroups and permissions, fixed styling issues, fixed weird anomalies, had a ton of help from community members such as Itsananderson and much more.

I must admit, I am shocked to see the forum doing so well so early. I honestly did not think the forum would take off the way it has until about 3 months into the new project. After I opened up registration, I sent the word out on Twitter and guess what? About 26-40 people visited the forum and those who have been following the news at least through Twitter ended up registering their accounts. Thanks to a couple retweets, even more people registered. So far, we’re at 34 Threads, 287 Posts, 37 Members, 37 Active Members. The forum is rocking and it has been a blast to interact with you guys and gals on a one-to-one level. You people make this fun and this is exactly one of the things I was hoping to achieve with the forum. Just wait until I actually launch this sucker to the public!

Speaking of the forum, all of the Moderator positions have been filled. They are in no particular order by real name: Larry Monte, Ryan Hellyer, JD Hartley, and Kit (as in Kit the person, not the computer in KnightRider). I personally extend a huge thank you to these individuals for volunteering their time to helping make the WPTavern forum community a success and to also make sure everything is in line. We really don’t want to throw people out of the Tavern through the double doors but if it’s called for, we’ll do it.

So what’s next? This week, I’ll be spending my time and energy on the actual WPTavern website. I admit though, after seeing the forum take off the way it has, I’ve since questioned whether I should actually have a blog/website for WPTavern. I want to be everywhere on the site contributing where I can but I feel that if I have to spend all of my time cranking out content for the website, I won’t have time to be active in the forum. However, I’ve decided that it would be best to do so as a means of keeping everyone updated on the community as whole, plus I have a thing or two to say about things going on within the world of WordPress as a whole. I originally wanted WPTavern to be the TechCrunch of WordPress information but if I really wanted to do that, I would have to sit in front of my PC night and day publishing articles on WordPress. There are plenty of things going on but not THAT many. Plus, I want to participate and interact with those who choose to spend time in the WPTavern community.

I plan on producing screencasts, written content, audio content, contributing in the forum and so much more. There is only so much Jeffro to go around! I have to be careful though with how I do things. Despite WordPress and the surrounding community being part of my passion, I don’t want to burn myself out.

Only a few people have asked, what will happen to the Jeffro2pt0 domain? My plan is to turn it into my personal blog. Cut back on the WordPress coverage and the various other things I used to write about and takes things to a more personal level. Sharing news articles that peak my interest or have an impact on me, sharing thoughts and perhaps even using that damn Flickr Pro account I always end up buying but never using to its fullest potential.

That should sum things up and bring everyone up to date with regards to the WPTavern project. I’m still on track to do a public beta launch on February first. Again, I extend a huge thanks to everyone who has signed up to the forum already, contacted me through email or other means to offer your help, and for your support and backing on this project. Not to get mushy but seriously, what the community has done thus far has resonated with me. Warm, fuzzy, feeling!

You Interview Me

As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, January 29th will most likely be the last interview I publish for BloggerTalks.com. To go out in style, I thought it would be fun if my last interview was one of myself. However, Andrew Rickmann gave me the great idea to have other people interview me instead. So, I asked people on Twitter to submit a question they would ask me if they had the chance to interview me. Only a few people have participated thus far so I’d like to extend this opportunity to you.

Just leave a comment with your question on this blog post. It does not have to strictly be centered around WordPress. I would prefer it be in the realm of blogging but it doesn’t have to be. On January 29th, I’ll compile the chosen questions and answer them.

WPTavern Design Almost Done

Wow, been a little while since my last post. Here are a couple of updates for you.

Last week, I sent in my letter to relinquish myself from my duties at BloggerTalks, Problogger, BloggingTips, and other duties to give myself more time for WPTavern.

I thought I came across an awesome theme to use for WPTavern. It’s called Arthemia Premium.. Now, the theme still looks great but it was a pain in the ass for me to mess around with. I thought about using the featured post section from that theme and transferring it to a new theme but it’s deeply integrated within Arthemia and so, I wasted $70.00. However, perhaps at some point down the road, I’ll redesign WPTavern.com again and that will be the design I go with.

So what does WPTavern look like right now? Have a look.

wptavern

Yes, the WPTavern theme should look familiar as it’s a hacked version of the theme I use on this site. As it stands, I really like a lot of the things as well as the layout of this theme on Jeffro2pt0. I don’t want to hack up another theme to add these features so I decided to just hack up a version I could use for WPTavern. I did add two more widget spots near the footer that I plan on using and I also added the 5 featured posts block along with post thumbnails to give it just a little bit of a magazine look.

Right now, this should hold me over until I gain some momentum and get things going. I’ll worry about a proper/unique identity once the time presents itself.

With the majority of the design out of the way, my focus is now on plugins and the forum. I’m still on track to open the site up for public beta on February 1st. Until then, the site will open with very little content.

Because of this, if anyone is open to writing a guest post to be part of the launch of the site, please send the HTML version of the post to my email address or through the contact form on this site. If you have images that go with the post, label them accordingly in the HTML file and I’ll add them in on my end. Don’t forget to email me the images as well.

I’ve been working like mad between the two podcasts I produce and getting things set for WPTavern. However, It’s been exciting and my head is continuously overflowing with ideas for the site once it launches. Stay tuned for more info as I get time to publish it.

WPTavern Updates

Just wanted to pass along a few updates for those wondering about the progression of WPTavern.

The domain is up and running with a fresh install of WordPress 2.7. The first plugin I installed was Maintenance Mode so that I can work on the site in public without the dust getting in everyones eyes. Next up, I tried my best to install PHPBB3 but for whatever reason, I couldn’t get the installation to accept my Database credentials. I tried every combination known to man. After 30 minutes of trying to figure it out, I went and installed Simple Press which was recommend to me via Steve Hodson of WinExtra.com.

The installation was flawless and I’m going to give this a go. Now, I have to go through and configure the WordPress installation to my liking and then the next thing on my list is to work on the design for the site. Once I get the design finished which is going to be a variation of the one used on this site, I will incorporate the site design into the forums. Once that is finished, I will look at installing plugins for the site and getting the functionality I want up to snuff. During this time, I will also be trying to get my hands on OIO Publisher to manage advertising on the site. I’m hoping to have WPTavern publicly launched in *BETA* form by February 1st. Time will tell though if I’ll be able to make that deadline.

Last but not least, I have created a Twitter account for the site. Please follow @wptavern on Twitter as that will my method of communication to fans of the site. I’ll also be setting up the RSS feed to publish to Twitter for all articles published on the site.

Again, I’d like to thank everyone for their continued support. At this time, if anyone feels like they will be able to contribute some of their time to help me manage the WPTavern community via the forum, let me know as I want a few moderators already in place before the site launches.

Always Two Days Behind

What a difference it is to blog for yourself rather than for others. When I look back to when I started Jeffro2pt0.com, one thing that pops out immediately is the satisfaction I felt by writing about the things I was interested in without a deadline. Back then, I could (and did) take hours to write up a comprehensive review or I could spend 15 minutes writing about a news blurb. Getting comments on those articles and being able to move on to the next one is refreshing compared to what I do now. Granted, I didn’t have any blogging related income at the time, I think that being paid to blog is a restriction in and of itself. Although for the longest time, I felt that if someone could just pay me to write on my own blog, on the topics I find interesting with no restrictions, I would be in blogging heaven. That will never happen since understandably, it is a risky investment. Not that I would want that to happen anyways since the purpose of Jeffro2pt0 has changed since then.

I know David Peralty of BrandingDavid.com feels the same way I do and I’m sure many others do as well where we wake up each day feeling like we’re two days behind. A post needs to be written for this site, that site, our own site, and once those are written/published, you start over and do it again. This feeling of always being behind sucks as it takes its toll on the human mind/emotions. After awhile, blogging isn’t fun anymore at least blogging for others. Now, I should make the point that writing for others is not that bad when you are writing about your passion and working with great people but as an individual, when you are spread out amongst 3-5 websites, the quality of writing suffers, it’s not fun anymore, and I feel as if I gain nothing by subjecting myself to that kind of lifestyle on the web.

I made the decision a long time ago to write/work for others instead of myself because I have no interest in the advertising side of things. With WPTavern, that mindset has changed and now I am really looking forward to getting back to writing about my passion along with the things that interest me with the only restrictions being the ones I put on myself. I only hope that this can pay the bills or else I may find myself back at square one.

What about you? Do you ever get that feeling of always being two days behind? Even on days when you “catch up” and do things ahead of time, the feeling of accomplishment appears to be short lived. How do you handle that feeling? Better yet, how do you avoid feeling that way?