Perspective

Don't expect frequent updates ...

First of all, the required stuff. I'm a moderator in the forums, but I'm not an Opera employee. I don't pretend to speak for the company, as a volunteer I have no authority to do so.

Okay ... what I do. I'm trained as a mathematician, and have a background in programing. That means, I specialize in analyzing problems. I also have a prodigious memory, which makes me good at my real job too (strange as that may be) - but I'll get to that. The reason they chose me to be a moderator (as I understand it anyway) was that I spend so much time in the forums trying to help people anyway, that I'm reasonably professional in the way I handle myself, and that I don't live near the European time zone (they were looking for a few people who were likely to be around when Europeans slept).

My real job has almost nothing to do with all of that though. I deliver newspapers. I can figure out the best way to deliver a particular route in short order, I can memorize even a larger route in just a few days and remember it months later, and I'm also good with people. Yeah, if you figured it out, I'm a professional substitute carrier - when they have no one else to do a route or no time to find someone, they call me. And especially if it is a "motor route" (an out of town route that requires driving), I'm the only person that my real employer has who can take any motor route on short to zero notice.

"You have a Ph.D. in Mathematics, and you deliver newpapers for a living?!!" Yeah, that's me. I'm not enough of a disciplinarian to teach professionally, I can only teach those who are self-motivated.

And if you're asking, no, I'm not bragging about any of that ... well, mostly. I was born with it, I neither take nor desire any special credit for my analytical skills, my memory, or the way I handle myself. It seems like I've always been that way. It is just how I am, it is not a matter of any special pride - indeed it has been a liability at times.

If there is anything which I feel I can take pride in, it is every time someone tells me "Thank you." In my profile I listed my occupation as "Making the world a better place," and that is what I'm all about. I know, it probably sounds "corny", but all I really care about is helping people - well, that and having food on the table.

A couple of "rules" though ... it would take away from my time and from the forums in general to answer Opera questions posted in the comments. If I post something about Opera here, of course feel free to comment on that, but if you want me to help you with some problem then post in the forums. I can't answer every Opera question anyway, in the forums someone who is better with a particular subject can answer your question if I can't. And in the forums someone will probably get back to you faster - even if that someone is me.

Don't expect me to post regular updates. Right now between the new forum software (cleaning up duplicate posts and such) and the high traffic following the release of 8.50, I don't have all that much time to devote to a blog. Of course, things will quiet down eventually, but also I'm just not the sort of person who does this regularly. I'm not about "me", or about chat, I'm about getting things done. Maybe sometimes I'll actually use this as a way of getting things done - some of the other helpful people in the forums seem to do that quite well.

On the other hand, this is a blog, I don't want to turn it into an Opera tutorial either. I'll post what I'm thinking about at the time. I hope that I'll be offering a slightly different perspective - as I said in the description for this blog. No real point in me posting the same thing as everyone else, if I don't have something to say which I think is a little bit different then I won't say it.

(Yeah, in real life I'm not much of a coversationalist. When in a group, I'll add the parts I think people may have missed - the stuff I think might be important - but I feel no need to carry the conversation or just agree with everyone else. So, in the larger scope of the Opera community here, don't expect me to chime in on every single issue that comes along. And of course, in real life it would take you several hours or even days to drag all this out of me. That's who I am.)