Thanks to all of our contributing members, forum moderators and Larwee,
we just hit the big 5,000 member mark. To celebrate the occasion
we have a couple forum additions and announcements to make. (See below.)
But first I'd like to reflect on an important transition our community
has made as it has grown and matured over the past 2 1/2 years.
In our 1st year or so, we attracted more spammers and self promoters than I would like to see.
I think that's normal for a forum, especially a forum that's all about promoting and selling stuff!
However for the past year or so I've seen a trend that I'm thrilled about!
It seems every month we have more QUALITY members join.
The type that join for the right reason - to GIVE, not just to take!
That trend seems to be creating a wonderful snowball effect.
The more people that willingly share their knowledge and support,
the more other members start doing the same.
To me this community has always been about having
a positive mental attitude and giving helpful support.
To me it's never been about QUANTITY - but about QUALITY!
So even though the numbers have grown nicely
and I'm proud to hit the 5,000 member milestone,
the post quality has exploded exponentially!
And that's something I'm extremely proud of!
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU THAT HELP MAKE THIS PLACE a 5 STAR FORUM!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1)
5,000 Member Contest Winner
We had a
contest to see who could guess the time and date the 5,000th member would join
and we're giving away 2 prizes to the 2 closest guesses.
And the lucky winners are... ta da... drum roll please!
Brian AKA bfree74 came in with the #1 guess - 12/17, 5 pm.
Jim AKA jcorkern came in at #2 with 12/16/ 5:00 Pm.
Congrats to the 2 lucky winners. WHEW! It was a close call!
Oh and a big 5 Star welcome goes out to our 5,000th member mischiff!
2)
Brightest New Star Award - New Member of the Month Award
We want to start recognizing
new members that make a positive impact on our community - the very 1st month they join. The goal of this contest is not only to recognize their contribution but also to help attract more of the type of members we are looking for - those that give their knowledge and support to help our members and the community at large.
We already have the MVP contest, to recognize the Most Valuable Poster of the month, which typically goes to an oldie, so this new award is to recognize those "new stars" that join and start off posting with a bang!
I will be posting a Brightest New Star Award thread with complete details about this new award soon.
3)
Forum Expansion - 3 New Forums to be Added
As the forum grows, so does the need to add new forums to accommodate all the great topics that our members want to discuss.
3. a)
2 New Network Forums - DoubleClick Performics & Linkshare
We are getting more topics about Linkshare and Performics. I think especially the interest in Performics merchants and the number of Performics affiliate programs is just going to expand after the Google deal is done. So we'll be adding those 2 forums.
3. b)
General Internet Forum (Hosting, domains, scripts, programming, webmaster issues)
We are getting more and more questions about general Internet stuff that's not really marketing related, but more webmaster type topics - that don't fit well anywhere. We'd had some requests for a separate place to put these topics to help keep the forum more organized and make it easier to find things. So look for that new forum... coming soon.
These new changes will go into affect over the weekend,
so stay tuned to your 5 Star Channel!
Thanks again to all our loyal members.
We appreciate each of you and all you do!