HubPages Office And The New Members Of The Team
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I am writing this Hub IN the HubPages office! How cool is that?
I thought since this is my 100th Hub, I would make it something special, so I flew around the world from Australia to San Francisco to write my 100th Hub about the HubPages team - and as it turns out, to write it in the HubPages office!
I am sitting at Maddie Ruud's desk (I swear, Maddie, I left it just the way I found it ...) with my laptop, and Ryan Hupfer has just emailed me the pictures we took at lunchtime.
That's us all having lunch (Thai) in the photo above.
I have just been in Washington, DC, where I was met at the airport by Misha (who has a gorgeous wife and two adorable little kids). Misha had greetings for me from Sandra Rinck, and sent greetings with me for the HubPages team. All these friendships that would not exist if it wasn't for HubPages!
By the way, if you met on HubPages and you're getting married, or having your first child, Paul and Paul would like to know. We can just call them The Godfathers ...
I thought I'd focus this Hub on the newest members of the HubPages team, since most of us won't even have heard their names, let alone understand what great things they are doing for us.
Here they are.
New HubPages Team Members
Larry Freeman
Larry is the guy who wrote that fantastic broken link finder that we all love so much. (If you are wondering about a strange little icon that has appeared recently next to Hubs in your "My Account" listing, with a link and a yellow bit, it means you need to check that Hub for a broken link and fix it.)
Larry is one of those brilliant minds that we all love to admire (or at least I do). His blog about arcane mathematical proofs attracts about 400 readers a DAY - which means Larry is saying something that really smart people flock to read. And all those smarts are being poured into improving HubPages for you.
Right now, Larry is working on the text capsule, so NOW IS THE TIME to rush to the Problem/Feature forum and pour out your hates, hopes and dreams for the text capsule. Larry is really, really helpful and very keen to know what changes will be the most valuable to Hubbers. Speak now or forever hold your peace ...
(Not really, of course, the team will always listen, but get in now while the work is in progress, and your requrest will be answered faster.)
Ryan Hupfer
Ryan has been at HubPages for just a week now, and he's loving it!
He grilled me at lunch, trying to get inside the heads of us Hubbers and work out what things he can do to make life easier and better for us. Ryan will be taking over producing the newsletter, and he has lots of great ideas for other things that will help new Hubbers get up to speed and help experienced Hubbers to get better results from Hubbing.
Ryan hangs out in the Hubbers Hangout, so stop in there and ask him anything you like. He's especially interested in what information about HubPages and Hubbing you would like to get when you first join, and what parts of the process are the most difficult or poorly explained.
He's really, really keen to improve the user experience at HubPages, and he's an incredibly friendly and helpful guy, so give him a workout!
Fawntia Fowler
This lady is my new favorite person - she made the HubPages widget and she will soon be working on fixing up the RSS capsule!
Paul and Paul have said that the issue with the RSS capsule not following redirects to Feedburner is at the top of her list (if you don't know what that bug is, then you don't need to know, but for those who have been affected, Fawntia is on the case, which means a solution is not far away).
Any issues you are having with the RSS capsules, or any improvements you would like to see - now is the time to let the team know in the Problems/Features forum.
Fawntia is a quiet, modest, retiring person who prefers do let her work speak for her, so you won't find her hanging out in the forums on the site. However, you can let her know how much you appreciate her efforts by leaving a comment on this Hub.
Update: Fawntia is now a forum superstar, giving great advice, not just on technical aspects of the site, but on writing as well! I guess she's settling in and making herself at home. So you can go ahead and praise her in the forums, too, now.
Where To For HubPages?
I had some great conversations with the team about the direction from HubPages in the future. One thing is very clear - they are totally focused on making the site a great user experience for us Hubbers.
There will be some very exciting new capsules coming in the next few months, and we can look forward to more and better income from Hubbing as well.
San Francisco is beautiful, and the HubPages office, while not exactly in a beautiful building, is brimming with the fabulous energy of dedicated people doing what they love to do.
I am really glad I decided to stop over in San Francisco, and I'm sure I'll be back!
The HubPages Team Will Read These Comments - What Do You Want To Say To Them?Loading...
Thank you so much, Jenny, for visiting us! What a great Hub, too. We also thank you for your feedback on bugs/features.
We love to have Hubbers visit us in our natural habitat! :)
And congratulations on your 100th Hub!
I am new to HubPages, but it is nice to see the faces behind the scene. Sounds like you had a fun time. :)
Congrats on your 100th Hub, and thanks for the great behind-the-scenes peek!
Hi Jenny-- I've been following your progress during your American sojourn with interest. Thanks for hubbing about it--above and beyond IMHO, Great 100th hub and it looks like you all had a great lunch too:-) Amazing how much that small hubteam gets done and nice to watch Hubpages grow--and to be a part of it.
Three cheers for the team :-)
So, so nice to meet you. Sorry I had to take off before you came back in the evening, but glad my desk came in handy!
Jenny it was great to meet you and thank you for stopping by on your vacation. I loved hearing your story about Misha picking you up at the airport. And. Yes. Lots of new good stuff is on the way. Thanks again for stoppin by.
Thanks for the down-low on the HP office! Sounds like you had a great time invading Maddie's desk! Did you get to play Community Manager too? :)
Great hub and Thumbs Up!
ProCW
Oh..... I wanna go too. Great stuff about Misha meeting you. Best hub in a while. I don't know you guys but I sure feel like I do. Peace.
Great job Jenny and look me up in Fort Lauderdale & we'll make a video!
A worthy 100th hub!
This makes hubbing so much more real. Real people, Wow! Thanks Jenny.
First of all, congratulations on your 100th hub Jenny, and what a great hub.
It was nice to see the HP team new faces as well as the "older" ones (I wish I was there). And you of course, it´s always a pleasure to see you ;) . Now the most important thing about this hub which is to know that all of us hubbers have a spy sneaking in the HP headquarters, now there will be no more secrets LOL.
I also want to give thanks to all the team for their great work making this place a wonderful one where people can meet new friends almost every day ;)
Have fun!
Ricardo "funride" Nunes
Congrats on your 100th hub Jenny and for bringing us this very special treat. Looks like you had tons of fun. Thank you everyone at the hub for your dedication to hubpages. This is a fun place to be. ~Dottie~
So great to see you all! Congratulations on your 100th hub and on the great team. I love it here, and it's clear you have all put many hours into making it an easy place to love. Thank you!
HI INSPIREPUB,
GREAT 100TH HUB THX FOR SHARING UR EXPERIENCE BEHIND THE SCENE ( BTS )
What a fabulous way to turn 100! Sounds like it was fun for everyone. And, darn, I was just in DC, and forgot Misha is out there. I sure would have loved to debate with him in person. Thanks for sharing this info Jenny.
When can i expect a nice Lunch with them? Very nice Lunch photos and nice dish..
Thanks for the tour, the pictures really help.
It's nice to know that there are real people behind HubPages.
OK, I already knew that, but seeing them and knowing a little about them gives it a much more personal touch.
Jenny, I'm glad that I'm your new favorite person, but this is the first that I'm hearing about the Feedburner bug. I'm actually working on a new feature that will probably be released pretty soon. (Before that, I was working on the widget.) But once I'm done with the stuff I'm doing now, I'll be happy to look into the problems that you are having with the RSS capsule.
It was great having you in for a visit. I'm sorry I couldn't hang out longer, but it was my wife's birthday yesterday.
Looks like you had a great time with a great bunch of people. Keep up the great work Jenny, and all y'all at the hubpages office!
What a nice Hub and good pictures! Quite the traveling correspondent's journey, and a good one.
Jenny, this hub was a fun surprise when I signed on this aft!
Everyone has already said everything that I would, so I'll just say, thanks for sharing, and congrats on your 100th hub.
Safe trip home!
Jenny, happy 100th Hub! this is a moment in life that you will never, ever forget. Take a deep breath and take it all in...
Ok, maybe that's a *little* overboard, but it was great to hang out with you and to talk your ear off during lunch(sorry about that). I hope that you enjoyed San Francisco and I'm looking forward to staying in touch!
...maybe next time the HubPages crew will come to you? I know that I could use a trip to Australia. :)
Jenny, great hub, as usual, and even better pics! Sorry I'm on the other side of the U.S., or I would have come to meet you myself.
If you need someone to carry your luggage next time you go, give me a call! I have always wanted to visit Australia. Some years back I was ready to go and live there. Other issues kept me from it, though, as I was of military draft age at the time, and we were still drafting young men into the service.
Congratulations on your 100.
I know what an achievement that is when you HIT the 100 in any venture.
Thank you
Well, I just got home from the airport, logged into HubPages (what else do you do when you've just come home after nearly a month away?), and WOW, look at all these comments!
Thanks everyone, and I'm sure I'll be back in the US again soon. Actually, I won a cruise at the conference in Washington, so I will have to come back in the next year or so for that one. Maybe I can do a bit of a "Hubbers Tour" of the USA next time!
And your hundredth hub how is that for timing....
If anything has solidified the belief, conviction, commitment, and enthusiasm I have for HubPages, it was reading this hub. Thanks for the inspiration! Congrats on turning one hundred!
*I had no idea the HubPages office was right here in San Francisco! Cool...
You know what would be great is to grab up a bunch of people to take a road trip down to the hubpages headquarters...(hubers of course)..
How about a Hubbers Annual Conference?
And, Congrats on your 100th hub, Jenny!
You could collect all of us as you pass through our cities - the Pied Piper of Hubs and we'd follow you until we got to Headquarters and then...back to Australia?
Jenny, this was a hub worthy of...well...you! Congratulations and looking forward to the next 100!
I can just imagine the faces of the team as they contemplate a horde of Hubbers descending on their modestly-proportioned office space!
If we had a conference at HP HQ we would need to get veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery cosy with one another.
Bags the hanging chair!
Jenny- I am so glad you wrote a hub on this!! When I got the newsletter today, I wasn't sure which one you were (I had you and Faunita confused). What a fabulous trip for you and I so appreciate you sharing the experience! I am only 6 hours north of San Fran, so maybe one of these days I will escape down that way and get a tour too! Steph
Get in while the getting is good, Steph - one of these days, HubPages will be so overwhelmed with Hubbers wanting to visit that they set up designated "tour times" and start charging an entry fee!
Remember that movie forrest gump when tom hanks/gump ran from shore to shore and all those people followed him? I wonder if I started running from sacramento to newyork then back to sanfrancisco how many hubers would fall in behind me hehe... I'll wear a white t-shirt with a big hubpages logo on both sides and the phrase "Going to HP headquarters.. Hubers follow me" on the back :)
I'm only 2 hours away from the centeral office and I have been wanting to go up there to meet the gang but after my first 2 months on hubpages I don't know if they've forgiven me for stirring up the forum (I was a bad bad boy but I've changed my ways :), that's kind of stopped me from going, don't want to show up and not be greeted with open arms and all.. you think they'd want me to come?
What a great way to celebrate your 100th hub and thanks for sharing that with us. The pics were great showing us the people behind the hubbers.
Congrats and I love this Hub. I can now put faces with people--well could before, but not directly in a group fashion. I have problem remembering names and faces so this was great!!
What a really great fun-filled hub!
Great 100th, and great photo! That first pic got me soooooo HUNGRY…Omg! The psychology of food photography, those full plates waiting in HubPager’s anticipation as the aroma draws you in, but keeping you hungry. The topped off beverages eager to be sipped, quenching parched lips, satisfying the Saharaness of the tongue, mmmmmmmmmm! Captured in digital pixelization, the food will never disappear, always a hint of olfactory splendor enticing the growling gastric symphony.
I’m off to my bag of microwave popcorn! Thanks for the delicious Hub!
Well, Jerrico, you can always email the team and ask ...
Hope you enjoyed the popcorn, Paulie!
For those who like to put faces to names, if you hit the "About Us" tab below you can see pictures of everyone I didn't include in the Hub, as well as the new team members.
Congratulations on your 100th post!
It's always a good thing when people involved in an online environment manage to find time to be together offline. It's refreshing, people have lots of fun and sometimes new ideas appear to make things even better for everyone!
It's nice to read about the folks who keep HubPages humming, Inspirehub -- oops, a Freudian slip, I mean Inspirepub. Good photos, too. Congratulations on Hub 100.
Hey, this was a nice surprise! Fun you met Misha and his family and the hubpages team, and gave us a peek. Congrats on Hub 100!
Hi Inspirehub!
I hope you went to Sanfransico with flowers in your hair!! ;)
I am soo happy for you & for your 100th hub and what a lovely topic to hub about! with your fun day out!,,,,,and while im here, i want to say hello to all the hubpage staff and a BIG Helloooo:) to Fawntia Fowler:)
Wow, Fawntia - you're getting popular! ;)
I was pleased/surprised that this Hub is run by real people...of course I should have known that....but seeing the faces (attached to names) made all the difference in the world...a picture tells a thousand words.
I found Hup! Okay, you were never lost. Just hadn't seen where you were hanging these days. Congrats, Communicator of Awesomeness.
Well, Ryan, looks like you can run, but you can't hide ... ;)
Excellent 100th HUB.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Meeting Misha in DC, and then the Hubpage crew in CA is certainly a great subject for the 100th HUB.
Congrats on your centennial milestone and thanks for giving us an inside view of the people behind HubPages!
Hi Jenny, what a nice topic for your 100th hub. Congrats! It sounds so nice when people just connect all over, makes me think of the song "it's a small world after all". LOL
To the wonderful Hubpages team, thanks for always finding ways to make our life easier as a hubber! :)
Thanks for all the congratulations and yes, the world does seem a much smaller place now that I have ben around it a couple of times - at least in terms of connecting with people. The plane flights aren't getting any shorter, unfortunately!
A perfect choice for the 100th hub. Congrats Jenny. Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences at HQ.
BTW, replied to your mail.
Best Regards
Thanks, SunSeven - and I have replied!
Inspirepub, sorry to contact you this way, but I'm too much of a bunny at hubbing to work out how to email you. You mentioned a beta platform you admire to hot dorkage. would you email me further info. As you work for the team, retrieving my address shouldn't present a problem.
Thanks,
Peter.
I don't work for the team, Peter, but if you have a valid email address registered with HubPages I will be able to contact you via your profile.
That is so neat that you got to visit and meet the team. Just brings it all so much closer to home- thanks for taking us there! And congratulations on your 100th. What is that, diamonds in anniversary terms? lol
I think diamond is sixty, actually - I don't kn ow if tradition needed to go as high as 100 ....
Ryan, Tell Fawntina she rocks out! Nicholas here, the video guy at BlogWorld Expo 2008, just a reminder that you offered lunch in SF after BlogWorld, so skip the email, and tweets for a few clock cycles, and help me to make HubPages a focus for my on-line business goals.
I blogged about Hub Pages here:
http://nicholas-thehubpagesblog.blogspot.com/
Lunch? Ryan..must ping Ryan...must Tweet Ryan...Ryan?...
Respectfully,
Nicholas Chase - 'the video guy' at BlogWorld Expo 2008
Congrats on your 100th hub! So totally way cool that you got to be IN tHE HUBPAGES OFFICE to write it. I mean, how cool is that!
Hi Ryan!
And Fawntina, I'm glad you're on the case, because my rss is on the blitz and so is finding me as a hubber! Good luck. I'll be patient. Promice.
Congats Jenny!
Hi just found this hub, nice to get to know you all a little better
I am not a member, but looked at this are, you the same person in the Photo Confused????????? You just don't look the same.
Yes, Lisa - my hair is longer in this photo than in my avatar photo, but I am still me ... professional photographers do a REALLY good job ... ;)
You can see a picture of me on DJ Functual's Hub that joins the dots:
Hi Jenny, just yesterday as we marked the birthday of Paul Deeds, I found your nice hub on the HubPages office and the team. Thanks for making me feel much at home in this great community. I didn't see Paul Edmundson at that lauch table. They're really doing great.
Hi jenny am new to hubpages and today i found this nice hub and i rely love the hubpages works its great ... you people are rock the web with new contents... your efforts worth ... Thanks a lot and i wish i could perform well as every body does...
I am Charley and don't know what the heck I am doing but
I'am trying. This is my very first attempt at writing anything but e-mails. I'am not sure about the language but it would be a help to have a link that tells me what means what. Thanks, Charley Hammonds
Hey!! Joined only today...congratulations on your 100th Jenny!! It was great to get an inside view of Hubpages from you. I've now got a hang of the things going on here!
Hello -- I joined today. A complete newbie to Hub. It's good to know who the creative agents are at Hub. Next time I get to San Francisco, I'll stop by also. But I have a long way to go -- You completed your 100th hub; I'm about to start my first Hub.
What fun! Super cool hub - it's nice to get to know the people behind the scenes. Hope you enjoyed San Fran. It's such an awesome city.
It has been fascinating reading all the preliminary information about hub writing. Now I want to get busy and see if I can perform like the rest of the hubbers.
MM
It is so exciting to see faces behind the keyboard, even if pics are two years old. Im new and will meet more of the team as I wander through HP. Thanks for the post of introduction.
Thanks for the chance given for meeting the hubpages team though it is a two years traveling back in time.
How cool -- awesome hub!
You sound like you had so much fun.You got to see the great team behind the hubPages and what makes it all work.
awesome, fun and helpful hub indeed
Thank you
Kimberly
Jenny ~ I'm brandy new here and got the welcome note along with the link to learn how it all works. Which is what led me here...thanks for sharing your adventure! Sounds like a blast. Next time I'm up that way (my sis lives in Oakland), I'm going to make it a point to drop in on the team too. They sound like a HOOT!
Blessings and giggles~
Camille Olivia
Misha 3 years ago
Hey, you definitely had fun over there :)