Forums

Just curious - I've noticed that over 5300 members of the MT community registered on just one day: Oct 11, 2006.

Simple randomness is statistically improbable....

John

WillDuke's picture
Training Badge

Just a guess, but probably either a restore or conversion. But then you probably already guessed that and are looking for specific details from Mike. :)

jhack's picture

At the risk of revealing a serious numbers obsession....

Perhaps, but that would not explain the pattern of signups in July, Aug, Sept, and early Oct, which flow at a reasonably steady rate (wouldn't there be a gap?).

John

juliahhavener's picture
Licensee Badge

I suspect this has a lot to do with it. http://www.manager-tools.com/2006/10/changes-brewing/

[quote]If you were both both a registered member (you registered to get the members-only area and/or to be able to post comments on the blog) AND were signed-up on the discussion forums (which, until now, was a separate login and password) AND your usernames and emails were identical, YOUR USERNAME AND PASSWORD IS THAT WHICH YOU USED WHEN SIGNING UP FOR THE REGISTERED MEMBERS PODCASTS (YOUR BLOG/MEMBERS-ONLY AREA USERNAME AND PASSWORD).[/quote]

wendii's picture
Admin Role Badge

Slow week for those of you at work?

:-)

Wendii

juliahhavener's picture
Licensee Badge

Shush, Wendii - it isn't nice to flaunt your holiday-iness.

(And, at least in my case, it much more resembles procrastination.)

jhack's picture

Thanks, Julia, for the explanation!

OK, maybe a little slow today.... :D

John

wendii's picture
Admin Role Badge

I wish Julia... I've been in bed sick for 4 days.. I'm just bored now!

:-)

Wendii

juliahhavener's picture
Licensee Badge

I'm sorry to hear that, Wendii - lots of chicken soup and warm wishes headed your way!

karaikudy's picture
Training Badge

Wendii,
Take care and wish you a speedy recovery. Looks like some bug across UK, Just read Anna Farmery of the Engaging brand is in the hospital, recovering.
[url]http://theengagingbrand.typepad.com/the_engaging_brand_/2007/12/thoughts...
Karthik.

Mark's picture
Admin Role Badge

Mike knows all the technical details, but the changes brewing post addresses this. Mike does a LOT behind the scenes, and sometimes all the web 2.0 stuff, and low barriers to entry mean that we have to make changes that are not invisible.

Sure seems to be working, though. The second rule of the Army is if it's stupid but it works, it's not stupid. (Not saying we're stupid, but rather commenting on the beauty of even inelegant effectiveness.)

This also means Mike is in for another round of kudos. You wouldn't be hearing from me if it weren't from him.

Three cheers for Mike!

Mark

juliahhavener's picture
Licensee Badge

Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!!

While we hear Mike's voice every week, we don't hear as much from him as we do from Mark. Sometimes it's easy to skip over the "quiet one".

Mike, thank you for ALL that you do. You've built this community for all of us, you implement our requests in often record times, and you are always there to take care of the "little" things.

Thank you, again!

jhack's picture

Mike, we cannot thank you enough.

Thank you.

John

tcomeau's picture
Training Badge

[quote="mahorstman"]
Three cheers for Mike!
[/quote]

Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray!

Mike sometimes plays the dumb one on the podcasts, but he is clearly a very talented guy. We are lucky to have him.

tc>

pmoriarty's picture
Training Badge

[quote="tcomeau"][quote="mahorstman"]
Three cheers for Mike!
[/quote]

Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray!

Mike sometimes plays the dumb one on the podcasts, but he is clearly a very talented guy. We are lucky to have him.

tc>[/quote]

I've thought of him more as a "straight man", than dumb. :)

If you ever have the good fortune to meet him in person, "dumb" will be the furthest thing from your mind. Geeky, maybe, but not dumb. :)

tcomeau's picture
Training Badge

[quote="pmoriarty"]
I've thought of him more as a "straight man", than dumb. :)
[/quote]

That's a good way to describe it. He'll interrupt Mark during a 'cast with an implementation of a technique that shows exactly how not to do it.

"So you should give your boss feedback the same way as your directs, right?"

I love those moments. I'll be walking down the aisle in the grocery store, listening on my iPod, and suddenly laugh out loud, startling the other shoppers.

He's dumb just like Columbo -- not even a little bit. :D

tc>

juliahhavener's picture
Licensee Badge

Geeks? Around here? Say it ain't so.

::goes back to doing something geeky::

Mark's picture
Admin Role Badge

Folks, Mike does not play the dumb one.

I know I shouldn't say this, but surely every premium member has figured it out.

The only reason he sounds the way he does is that I'm writing the script, and he's being a great team player and following it.

The dude is brilliant... and brilliant enough to be the one that suggested the very format we use, knowing he would come across the way he does. He doesn't care.

It's funny - for years, people have told me I should be Tony Robbins, or Dr. Phil, and I didn't like it... I finally found my answer in a motivational booklet:

I don't want to be in the spotlight... I want to BE the spotlight.

And then Mike went and did it better than I did!

Does anyone else love the movie the American President, with Michael Douglas, and Annette Bening? There's a scene in it where the President is angry at his chief of staff for giving him advice he didn't like, and he says "It occurs to me that in 25 years I've never seen your name on a ballot. Why have you always been standing a pace behind me?" (This is a common and vulgar insult often used by leaders against their staffs)

And Martin Sheen says, "Because if I hadn't been, you'd still be the most popular history professor at the University of Wisconsin."

Folks, if it weren't for Mike, none of you would have ever heard of either of us, and the forums, the podcasts, the conferences, the interview series... NONE of it would have ever happened. I'd still be the next Dr. Phil.

Never forget: "whom the Gods would destroy, first they call promising."

He's a helluva friend, too.

Mark

terrih's picture

Not straight man so much as Devil's advocate. And Mike does it so well! :D

The episode where Mike and Mark switched roles was a hoot!