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February 15, 2010
February 20, 2010
February 27, 2010
March 6, 2010 <-- New!

The one part of our community that I loved more than anything else was the group learning experience. Someone would have an idea for a project, and maybe they needed to know how to start. Maybe they started and weren't sure how to attack a certain problem. Maybe it worked on the surface, but needed a bit of cleaning up.

If you knew me at all on any of the forums, you knew how long-winded I could be when a programming topic came up. The opportunity to teach things to newcomers and bounce incredibly complex algorithms off of the more advanced folk was what kept me coming back day after day. And there's just not a good environment for that on the internet -- at least that I've found. There are a million sites with guides to do this or that, or user groups to find answers to specific questions, but nowhere where someone can take a look at your project and suggest ways to make it even better.

I might be biased, but one specific area that has a need for this is web development. Very few schools -- colleges included -- teach things like PHP, Web-based Java, UNIX-based environments, Javascript, even CSS/HTML. While you can learn it all online, there's never anyone to tell you when there's a better direction to go in, or get you started with something you're stuck on.

So here's what I want to do. I want to launch a new forum for anyone who wants to learn, is learning, or has already learned any of the above. I want to teach everything I've learned during the course of AppDB and earlier, and I want to learn from people with their own creative ideas. And more than anything I want to do it in a relaxing, fun environment. The one thing every website needs is users, so what better way to start a new site you're working on than in the company of people excited to test it out?

If you're in, then awesome. Send an E-mail to [ Email removed since the site is up! ] and type "I'M IN" in the subject. If I know you from one of the forums, let me know your username :). And definitely include what you know and what you're working on, or looking to learn. It's not like a job application or anything -- I'm just trying to gauge what kind of mix the new site will have. If you're not in or think it's a horrible idea ... then do nothing :). Thanks for your past support and I hope you enjoy the other services out there.

This isn't a promise to start a new site. If I only get a couple responses, I'll call it quits here and say my goodbyes. But with how many folks on Hackulous showed an interest in learning web stuff in the past, I'm hoping we get a good, tight group to start out with :). If it turns into something successful, ultimately what I'd like to do is develop a custom webapp with all of you instead of an out-of-the-box forum. In the end, you guys decide what this ends up as :). So shoot off that E-mail if you're interested, and we'll go from there!

Cheers, everyone :)
Kyek

PS: Don't forget to scroll back up and check out the updates to this article!