My name is Sebastian, and for the first time, in here, I will use an AI for the questions provided for the interview. @Aerodynamic can confirm that I use an AI for this interview. Here is the mock Interview:
Hi, my name is Aerodynamic, also known as Cedric. I'm the owner of Admin Junkies
Q: Great to meet you, Cedric. Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you got started in the webmaster community?
A: My parents had a company with several computers, so I got on them when one was free. I first started going to forums back in 2002 or so. I got into trading card games like Yugioh. And there was a board game manufacturer who had a website and forum with a small section to trade card games. Quickly I made some friends and got redirected on one of those friends who had made a likewise forum on InvisionFree. Browsing on InvisionFree made me create my first forum. As time went by, I started creating forums when they didn't work out because I had no idea what I was doing and had no patience. So I got rolled in the forum service and resource world on InvisionFree after owning several gaming forums. That was around 2004. I still remember a couple of those forums. I think the first webmaster forum was Global Development back in 2005/2006 and then after that I had a pretty successful forum called Revision Reviews. Which had over 900 members and over 120k posts or so. For me that was really successful and we were pretty popular. Because of this, we were also a big target for cracking, which ended our journey. InvisionFree got a new software in 2008 if I recall correctly and went out in 2016 or something. So, for the past 7 years, I think I had 2/3 forums, which ended quickly because I wasn't adapted to the new style of forum management and didn't understand it took a lot of work, patience and luck.
Q:Interesting, so it sounds like you have a lot of experience in the forum world. Can you tell us a bit about Admin Junkies, the webmaster community you currently run?
A: My interest of niche has always been about forums and offering services and resources to other forums. Marketing has always been interesting to me, more than gaming, which is something I also do frequently. I like to create a community of my own, because it satisfies me and because it's a hobby, more than anything else. Admin Junkies is a webmaster forum for other webmasters, creating a peaceful place to gain knowledge and get exposure for your own forum. We act as a centralized forum for all kinds of webmasters from websites, blogs, forums and even social media is welcome to promote. I'd like to offer more and better content, resources and services with time.
Q: That sounds like a great community you've built. Can you talk about some of the challenges you face as the owner of Admin Junkies and how you overcome them?
A: The biggest challenge so far was being attacked through DDoS. It was a very frustrating moment. We got into Cloudflare with the help of @Malcolm l from Codeforum.org - Setting up different security and firewalls improvements. I hope it doesn't happen anymore, but if it would, then it's a chance to improve our security and firewalls even more. So in a way, I'm thankful it happened.
Q: That sounds like a difficult situation to deal with. How do you keep your community engaged and active on the forum?
A: Provide as much of fresh content as I can. Offer incentives to bring a positive return. Advertise wherever I can. Post and interact as much as I can, show interest in their part, and honestly it's not really a challenge as I love getting to know about my community. It's there because of them, so I'm VERY grateful for the interaction and engagement that is happening. I've been very lucky with the progress so far, even though the current state of foruming has declined greatly throughout the years. Like I said, I needed to adapt to it and pour in more work and patience than before.
Q: That's great to hear that you're engaged with your community. Can you talk about any future plans or goals you have for Admin Junkies?
A: Yes. I plan on doing my best and getting the word out more. I'll work on the forum every day, bringing valuable content and increasing our member base. Being consistent is very important, next to content, that are the two key points in having a successful forum. If we get a bit of luck in the game, then that'd be very helpful too. I also plan on bringing a custom theme to Admin Junkies, making our brand more clear and known, as that is also very important. That should be available before the summer. Maybe an add-on if something pops up that is interesting and valuable for the community. Incentives to help other forum owners start up their forum. Bringing webmasters together through contests like our current Battle of the Boards. Incentives for our community, more contests, cash prizes, etc.
Q: Those all sound like great plans for the future of Admin Junkies. Is there anything else you'd like to add about your webmaster community or your experiences as a forum owner?
A: I release some helpful articles on being a webmaster every now and then, and will continue to do so. So they're from research as well as personal experience. I try to get clear articles and no nonsense. So be sure to follow them. More community interviews will also be held, and I'll try to bring in other less known forums to our 'network'. So, if you stay around, it will be one hell of an adventure, I promise!
Thank you for sharing your insights and experiences as a forum owner, and best of luck with Admin Junkies and your future plans.
Welcome to Admin Junkies