Welcome to Green Mountain Geek (GMG)!
In an effort to give my readers and any future readers an idea what this site is all about, what it covers and what the limitations are, I will attempt to explain here using a few simple questions and sometimes over-wordy answers that I figure you might think of yourself. Being somewhat twisted of mind I’ll probably have a couple questions and answers you might not have thought of as well and those you can consider as pure entertainment value if you wish.
Onward…
So what’s the site about anyway?
Like the tagline said: A place to vent my technical spleen. In the process of venting I hope that some folks might gain a bit of insight or an answer to a question they might be having. Currently I post about WordPress, using and testing Mozilla software, stuff about Microsoft, open source software and what ever else happens to cross my mind.
And who the heck are you?
My online moniker is Kirk M which just happens to be my actual first name and middle initial. My last name is of no consequence since it’s a rather bland type of name which, for example, I could never use on the cover of a book, should I choose to write one. I guarantee it would squash at least half the potential sales. It’s just that kind of last name.
Suffice it to say that I’m an old geek that started his career in computers back when computers weren’t cool and a good decade before terms like desktop computer were considered terribly expensive toys for rich nerds with greasy hair and black horn rim glasses. I just happened to work for the defense industry during the last decade of the Cold War after my time in the service (also involving computers and peripherals) and guess who had the best toys? Later I got into beta testing new software, a love that I still hold today.
Now I spend most of my time testing open source software, mainly Mozilla’s main two products (Firefox and Thunderbird) and the WordPress blogging/CMS platform and just about anything else I can get my greedy little hands on. I also have two sites powered by WordPress; this one and my old consistently inconsistent, scatter brained blog called Just Thinkin’ (JT). You want to know more? Stop by and read my About page over there.
You stated something about limitations?
Ah, so I did.
There are always limitations that affect how deep one can go when writing for a tech site. Here’s mine:
- This site is geared towards Windows users only but should provide decent info for Mac and Linux users as well. As far as these other OS’s and their respective local directories, file locations, equivalent software’s, installation procedures and other such differences are concerned, I’ll have to trust they know what they’re doing which I’m sure most of them do. In the case of blogging tools and such I’ll do my best to stick with as much cross platform software as possible.
- I will be referring to Firefox in these posts and procedures that involve use of a browser—which will be quite I few of them I’d imagine. And as you might understand I simply don’t have the time to tailor each and every post and procedure for each of the top 3 browsers and/or OS specific browsers currently available especially that [still] non-standards compliant browser called Internet Explorer.
- At the moment I’m running Windows 7 Ultimate RC on my old war horse of a PC and am planning on dual booting with Ubuntu 9.10 when it’s finally released. Just a glutton for punishment aren’t I?
- Last but not least, I’m disabled…simple as that. Although I’m still capable of walking, talking and chewing bubble, gum the frequent flare ups of these disabilities can take me down and out for a day or two or sometimes better. So things will inevitably slow down from time to time which unfortunately can’t be helped. Please bear with me on this.
And ways to subscribe?
When I first started this endeavor I decided to offer more ways to subscribe then you could shake a proverbial stick at. These ways are:
- All my feeds are “burned” using (Google’s) FeedBurner and easily readable. The feed content includes full posts, not excerpts, especially to accommodate those still stuck on dial up. It doesn’t help my revenue from ads but it’s still worth it. My readers come first.
- I place the usual icons to various social sites at the bottom of each single post. Please feel free to use them if you wish.
- And last but not least at the bottom of each comment form there’s the tried and true “Notify me of follow up comments via e-mail” checkbox that, when checked, will notify you of any new comments made to that particular post via the email address you inserted into the comment form.
- Oh yeah, the ever present contact form. I’m sure you can find it.
What about advertisements?
Absolutely there’s going to be advertisements. Unlike my personal site, this site has a specific purpose and will have to pay for itself and the time that I put into it. Right now it’s limited to the usual Google Adsense “Skyscraper” ads in the far right sidebar which I hope the folks who stop by will be good enough to click a few—doesn’t cost you a cent you know. But I’m definitely going to be looking at different types of quality advertisement possibilities and affiliate links so don’t be too surprised if other ads start showing up.
To be clear on this, quality is my foremost concern when considering ads and affiliate links. If the quality of the ad or affiliate turns out to be low or nonexistent then I’ll yank it, no questions asked. Same goes for any type of ads that illicit a majority of negative feedback from my readers—within reason of course.
Any futures goals for the site?
You bet there is but right now the whole thing is just too new to see what they might be with any real clarity so I don’t want to set any goals now that I may not be able to keep later. However, since I never stop thinking about things like this and I always keep my readers in mind, I’m sure I’ll come up with something soon enough. When I do I’ll be sure to write it here.
Hope you find GMG to your liking.
(Note: This page subject to change without notice)
