(Mini news story: On WebCorp’s website, NewCars (which was previously listed for sale at 500000 USD) is no longer for sale. In addition, the logo for NewCars has changed on the home page.)

For whoever inherits Debate Fans, I want to wish you good luck. It isn’t an easy job managing a site like this, but I hope it will bring you the same joy it did for me while it lasted. Here are some pointers:

1) Don’t delete non-abusive comments. I had to learn this one the hard way. In anger, Josh’s comments were deleted, and, when askbob demanded his I.P, I was unable to give it to him. Subsequently, askbob threatened to hack this site.

2) Do your homework. This means check the WebCorp website daily. Also check other important pages routinely (e.g. Phil’s userpage, the “About” and “Help” pages, et cetera). This will help you get the good juicy details. I should probably reveal now that this article was all done by me.

3) Don’t overextend. Don’t make this fan site what it can’t be. Doing so will mean disaster. Only add a feature if you are absolutely sure it can sustain itself. Remember, the fan site is a supplement to DDO, not a competitor.

4) Don’t be afraid to use quotes. At the same time, don’t overuse quotes. Paraphrase and summarize, too. In short, write well.

5) Remember that this is a fan site. It should be biased for the site. While it may be occasionally OK to write a negative article, try to stay positive. :D

6) A lot of you wondered how I was able to get into contact with Phil so often. All I have to say is be nice and courteous. Don’t bash him all the time, because it’s really not cool. I will expound on this point more once I find out who the main writers will be on the new fan site.

7) Have fun. Writing is creative. It is art.

See you guys later!

Tags: tips — written by PoeJoe @ 11:11 pm

The site will be taken down on 1 August 2009 12:01AM.

In the meantime, I henceforth release all materials on this website to the public domain. Feel free to redistribute, modify, and/or remix these materials for any purpose. Attribution is not required.

Tags: I'll miss you guys — written by PoeJoe @ 9:44 pm

(Mini news story: The user usafkid1121 has announced his resignation from DDO, and has taken credit for the odd type of vote bombing that occurred a few weeks ago.)

In the thread Text Formatting in Debates, prominent user s0m31john announced a third-party script, which allows users to format their text in debates with bold, italics, underline, block-quotes, and colors.

The script runs off the Mozilla Firefox add-on Greasemonkey, which users must have installed in order to convert debate markup (e.g. [b][/b], [quote][quote], [color][/color]) into the desired format.

Many users have applauded s0m31john’s efforts, including Volkov, mongeese, Logical-Master, and patsox834. RoyLantham, for example, raves, “Good idea. I don’t see why everyone has to use it.” Two users have complained who do not use Firefox, and PoeJoe has shunned the use of third-party software, but the response has been generally positive.

Only time will tell if this add-on takes off.

Tags: formatting, markup, s0m31john — written by PoeJoe @ 10:19 pm

(The information presented in this article has been submitted by a source who wishes to remain anonymous. The text has been rewritten to hide the source’s identity.)

I was browsing around the Internet, Googling random words and phrases, when it suddenly struck me to Google for information about Phil, the owner and lead developer of DDO. To my horror, I come across a page that lists one “Cameron Clifford” as a “top executive” of MyCar.com,[1] which is a website Phil once owned but has since sold.

I started to Google information about this Mr Clifford, and found some interesting information. The following are some brief bullet points that summarize the information I obtained through my research.

• Mr Clifford was a fundamental force behind the release of MyCar, and was even listed as “Vice President” (along with Crystal [Phil's wife]) and the head of “Business Operations”.[2]
• On Mr Clifford’s portfolio website, a resume can be downloaded.[3] In this resume, Clifford appears to have been not only crucial in the building of MyCar but also HomeBuying.com, another of Phil’s websites. This is important, because HomeBuying.com is the model to which many of Phil’s new websites are built off of.[4]
• Mysteriously though, Mr Clifford all-of-a-sudden vanishes. Compare the company photo for DateFree (one of Phil’s later sites after MyCar but still before DDO),[5] with the photoshopped company photo for DDO.[6] Something fishy is going on.
• Phil is known for reusing materials on his websites. Compare the DateFree forums with DDO’s.[7] Or look at the little tiny pictures he shares across DDO, DORK, and the Inc websites. Or compare HomeBuying’s layout with the Inc websites.[4]

Conclusion: Why is it that production suddenly slowed down when this Cameron guy left? Could this be why v3 was so delayed and why we no longer get any new features? Could it be that Phil simply does not know how to code? That he is a businessman, and not a website maker?

If you don’t buy this conspiracy, that’s OK. At the very least, you can get a kick out of hearing Phil’s voice,[5] and knowing that Phil doesn’t go to church.[8]

Sources:
[1] http://portfolio.com/…
[2] http://dateauto.com/…
[3] http://cameronclifford.com/resume.doc
[4] Compare the screenshot of HomeBuying found on WebCorp’s website with the layout of Loans-Inc (one of Phil’s new websites).
[5] http://prwebpodcast.com/…
[6] http://debate.com/…
[7] http://web.archive.org/…
[8] http://web.archive.org/…

Tags: Cameron Clifford, code, conspiracy, Phil — written by PoeJoe @ 12:11 pm