New format

[Don Greening]

[Ron Lindeboom] “PS: I am sorry to disappoint you that I had anything to do with it. ;o)”

Ah, but you did have something to do with it: you were smart enough to see and utilize the talent in others. What was it that Franklin used to say? Paraphrasing: “If you want to be great, surround yourself with great people.”

Now there’s a voice I’ve been really missing around here.

– Don

“Please take a moment to fill out your profile, including your computer system and relevant software.”

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Don Greening] “Ah, but you did have something to do with it: you were smart enough to see and utilize the talent in others.”

Andrew Carnegie (founder of US Steel, the Carnegie Libraries, Hall, University, et al), said it best and had the words carved into his gravestone: Here lies a man who gathered about himself, men much greater than himself.

Me, I have always looked for great talent and when I sketched out what I wanted in an interface and went looking through various COW member sites, it was Bret Williams work that most closely matched what I saw in my desire for the COW.

Fortunately, Abraham was able to quickly implement it and did it in record time. Not only that, but he did it in a way that will allow users to eventually set the COW into “prefs-based” subsets that allow them greater control of their COW experience. That was something I had ear-marked for farther down the road but Abe rolled up his sleeves and got it partially implemented in this revision.

In time, I’ll finally get the COW to where I have wanted it to be — even if it kills the guys around me. ;o)

[Don Greening] “Franklin: Now there’s a voice I’ve been really missing around here.”

You can catch Franklin online on his virtual world podcast, Second Life. If you search at the iTunes Store for Franklin McMahon or Second Life, it will show up. He also does Rumor Girls and one about models, I think.

It was a matter of a divergence in directions and also one of simple economics, Don. Quarterly, we could pay to keep Franklin on staff or make an issue of Creative COW Magazine (which in the beginning we did quarterly). The costs were roughly about the same and the benefit to the COW that has come through the magazine has been one of the most successful projects in the COW, second only to the COW itself.

We miss Franklin’s enthusiasm here at the COW, but we are also delighted that the experiment with the magazine has proved to be a better use of the COW’s limited resources than were the costs associated with the COW News podcast. (Franklin was a great host, but podcasts are still quite new and magazines, while old technology, have an acceptance that podcasts won’t likely attain for quite some time. When they do, we have no doubt Franklin will be one of the driving forces in that future success. He’s a great guy and his podcasts are very well done.)

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

[Tim Wilson]

[Ron Lindeboom] “[Don Greening] “Franklin: Now there’s a voice I’ve been really missing around here.””

[Ron Lindeboom] “…we are…delighted that the experiment with the magazine has proved to be a better use of the COW’s limited resources”

My favorite thing about the magazine is the number of new voices it introduces. Yes, we’ve had some of our highest-profile leaders write for us — including Nick Griffin, Walter Biscardi, Bob Zelin and Aharon Rabinowitz among others.

But for each of them, we have a dozen or more Cow members who’ve never written an article before.

These new voices display an astonishing array of creativity. They explored new business models. They provide insights into unexplored realms within our industry.

And yes, thanks to these striking new voices, we’ve boldly gone where no other magazine in our industry has even imagined. There has really, truly never been anything remotely like the Cow Magazine as a showcase for so many different voices.

Seriously, take a look at the rest of them. They feature the same writers again and again. Most of those writers write for other magazines as well, often in the very same month.

One of the most distinctive and important aspects of The Bessie Bovine Experience is how many voices you’ll hear. I can’t even believe how lucky I am to work on a magazine that helps elevate them.

Insert your favorite Hendrix reference here,
Tim

[Don Greening]

I think that the essence of what Creative Cow really is was demonstrated perfectly in Walter’s recent blog article. He could have perhaps hired locally to get his shop re-wired, but instead chose to take advantage of Creative Cow’s attributes and contact Bob Zelin. Walter obviously chose wisely. Here now begins yet another lifelong friendship and collaboration because of what Creative Cow is.

When I first stumbled into this place I couldn’t help thinking about what a unique name the COW has. All other forum-based multimedia web sites have names that hint at what is discussed but then are not easily remembered, nor do they stand out in a crowd. Not like Creative Cow.

Surely, this is one of those instances where the whole is worth much more than the sum if its parts. Call it whatever you want: Spirit of COW or Essence of Cow, but if you were able to bottle it you’d make a Zelin bucks.

– Don

[Ron Lindeboom]

Thanks, Don, for the vote of confidence. After the recent drubbing that Kathlyn and I took online, we were beginning to wonder why we still do this.

Thank you for helping to restore our faith in the masses and for reminding us that — while there are always those who have their own little agendas and are counted in handfuls — the 400,000+ visitors who frequent the COW year-in and year-out, are good people who “get it.”

Ron Lindeboom

[Bob Roberts]

I don’t like that the individual forums are not accessible through the main page anymore.

[Ron Lindeboom]

They aren’t? 🙂

You might want to look a bit harder, there are actually two ways to get to the forums from the front door.

Best,

Ron Lindeboom

Why do people say: “Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too!” Duh. What good is cake if you can’t eat it?

[Bob Roberts]

Well, yes and no…

For example, in the current layout, if I want to get to the Final Cut forum I would go COW >> FORUMS >> FINAL CUT. Whereas in the old layout it would be COW >> FINAL CUT because the entire list was available on the root level along the left.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Cow. But, the new layout actually put an additional barrier between the user and the forums.

Just a bit of friendly feedback. Enjoy.

[Ron Lindeboom]

You are joking, aren’t you? Please don’t tell me that people are unable to click a button to get what they want???

To be honest, it is actua;lly faster in many occasions to click the upper forums link that it would have been to scroll the page down and find the forum in the list of on-going tiny text. For the few occasions that are not faster, we’ll opt for the majority and the new look.

The forum list is gone and it won’t be coming back. There are two ways to get at the forums and if that’s not good enough, then I don’t know what else to say except that if that’s a “barrier,” then you are entitled to your opinion but it doesn’t mean that we are going to change it.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom