Interviews: jdb_educator
…. And all the ships at sea
by Wovencroft for CVN
Good evening Mr. and Ms. Cybertown, from colony to colony and hood to hood and all the spaceships in hyperspace. (My apologies to Walter Winchell, may he rest in peace)
There have been hundreds of stories in Cybertown’s CVN about citizen’s and their accomplishments, about colony happenings, parties, even virtual weddings! Yet within CVN there is one person who puts it all together, drives the Jimmy Olsens and Lois Lanes, befriends all who come in contact with him and much more. Yet until now there has not been more than a passing word or two about him. I am of course referring to the managing editor of the Cybertown Virtual News jdb_educator.
In the beginning there was Cybertown (now known as "Old Town"), which beget Colony City, which later became once again Cybertown. And during a large part of all of this a citizen named jdb_educator was there. He immigrated to CT on July 30, 1998 and began a long career helping folks in the city, first as a BL then later as a roving reporter for CVN. He was also on the Old Cybertown side trying to put together the original Cybertown guides, oversee the chat rooms and encourage people to move to the new 3D site. He started there on the Cybertown help site, helping people with the technical and other questions on a Cybertown Help Board. He tells us: "It was all new to me. I found out that many of the guides were gone, there were awesome computer problems especially with those who bought the old Packard Bell computers. Everything I did was new and something I had never done before! " One thing led to another and jdb_educator suddenly found himself posted as the News Chief and began a new series of unknown tasks. At that point, he did not know any HTML! Eventually the CVN titles were created and he became the managing editor and has remained at that post ever since.
A fascinating aspect of our beloved jdb_educator is that his CT nick is an honest reflection on his real life’s work in education. Currently jdb is teaching Level D Special Education in elementary school and from the sounds of it loving every minute of it ! "The kids are fabulous. They have so much to give and yet, so many problems needing solutions."
jdb_educator was kind enough to answer several questions for this reporter which I will provide for your enjoyment here and then follow up with comments from others in CT who know jdb well.
CVN Reporter: CVN has both a daily and weekend edition. Would you explain the differences for our readers?
jdb_educator: "Simply put, the daily is the official news organ of Cybertown. It is updated daily, depending on new writings that are available. The weekend edition came about due to demands on personnel. Official Cybertown staff just could not get to everything, so they had to make the hard choice of "what to do". BUT (cough cough..) Don't forget...We ALSO have The CVN weekly, which is just that. We try to promote weekend events as much as possible to supplement the Daily news and provide a different type of coverage than the Daily News. The weekly is independent of Cybertown and is totally citizen created. Over time AND finally, since we moved to 50megs.com in September of 2001, the weekly HAS finally become a weekly. It has for the first time almost published one calendar year of weekly issues. At this point we have successfully published well over 52 consecutive weekly or near weekly issues going back to September or perhaps October of last year At times over the last three years, lol it was suggested we change the weekly's name to CVN monthly, the quarterly, the semi-annually, etc."
CVN Reporter: What does it take to become a writer for CVN?
jdb_educator: "Writing, creating, supplying or producing content used in CVN for our readers. Anyone can play! No one is rejected. They reject themselves by not writing. It always comes down to what the individual is willing to try! Communication, as we all know, is harder in Cybertown because of the difficulties of lost, missed, unread or not even received e-mails, posts etc. We have Job Applications, which are nice, but sometimes peeps put in an email address that is incorrect or just does not work! Also, titles often come slowly, too slowly for some contributors. Additionally, Too many people just want the title. That is their loss. The Game is the thing! And eventually many lose their title because they quit or just stop providing new writings, images, etc. that we can use. I hate that. Bottom line? It is their right. We are a volunteer group of people who share an interest. The abilities and ages are amazing. This particular problem has led me to create a new freelance group for those "now and then" contributors. Hopefully we will get that going sometime soon."
CVN Reporter: As CVN editor you must have a LOT of stories (excuse the unintended pun):
jdb_educator: " Without a doubt! (weg = Wicked evil grin)"
CVN Reporter: what was the funniest?
jdb_educator: "I'll just be very general: cartoons and fun pages have made me hoot and holler. So have the business pages, as I thought about real businesses and then read about Cybertown businesses."
CVN Reporter: the most heartwarming?
jdb_educator: "Most heartwarming and this happens frequently as new contributors discover skills and abilities they did not believe that they had. They send us thank you notes J )))). Many of our writers approach us, believing they are not "good enough". Most are... no, in fact, all of them are good enough. Although, it is true that some writers do need lots of editing and practice before actually getting published. They too often quit on us, not responding, or following up with "what happened" or "I didn't get a response", their time or life available for CVN changes or for some reason they just DO NOT find an effective way to communicate with us." Another thing that happens is they do not read the edits, suggestions or ideas. (Lmao) Some want whatever they write to be published.
CVN Reporter: the saddest?
jdb_educator: "That one is easy. The loss of too many great writers, friends and many fun people who go off to other things is very sad to me. And without a doubt, that writer who is improving, who then disappears."
CVN Reporter: the scariest? (LOL Halloween was just over)
jdb_educator: "Some of the scary pranks: such as 'your computer is now deleting all files...', e-mails, js scripts sent me, viruses, hacking attacks, DNS, cannot open messages. Lmao the list is long!"
CVN Reporter: As CVN Editor you have had contact with all the major players of Cybertown. Has anyone (or more) of them had a special influence on you?
jdb_educator: "Each and every person I meet has an influence on me. I have been flattered, bossed, amused, irritated, cajoled, chewed out and even gotten angry and upset over the years until I realized I control my emotions. And so I focused on content. Content IS king...grin... I will not even try to list all the many peeps who have strongly influenced my Cybertown and Internet life, because I would miss too many of them. I know you want nick names, so I will give you just seven that seem to me, for today, some major influences: Hawk, Oicu, Flyby, Vialle, Crashdummy, Mr. Phillip, and Rkgbiolgst38..."
CVN Reporter: What is your vision for the CVN? Where do you see it going in the future?
jdb_educator: "Mmm My vision? Nothing too dramatic, really. It does have to happen: updated, regular, and accurate updated News from all colonies, CVN TV, (live reporting on events-we actually have done that a time or two-) Perhaps a CVN Weekly icon next to the daily icon in houses. CVN will continue to improve. (Just to tweak the paranoid in our fair city...let me add: Total site access and control over every living and dead avatar in Cybertown, muahahahaha)
CVN Reporter: Is there anything you would like to add to this? :-)
jdb_educator: "Mmm...well..yes! I want to remind, encourage, and offer my appreciation to every citizen in Cybertown. What you do to support and build Cybertown matters. You are creating the many futures of our own Internet future. You are creating a community. If any reader of this interview is not building, or not even trying to add neat things and conversations to our community, this next message is for them: Cybertown is all about possibility. You make it positive or negative. The question is never "What is wrong with Cybertown, or even why." The question we each should ask is "What can I do to make Cybertown better or more fun for each citizen."’
No story about jdb would be complete without mentioning a few choice moments in his CT life, even though he might have forgotten them or perhaps chooses to forget! At one time Metaverse was preparing to create training pages at the behest of OiCu (then NL of Metaverse), MauveCat undertook the task and jdb was right there to assist him. Another time doctagoz created a maze for Metaverse to have a contest (The Maze is still in the Suburbs, go have a look! And be sure to try and find that Golden Orb as well.) Well it seems jdb was covering the contest for the CVN……… " jdb, the big kid that he is got more personally involved in it than a reporter should. Fifty people running around the maze and judges trying desperately trying to see who found the prize first. jdb quipping around all the time. It was great fun." My thanks to MauveCat for these particular tidbits in this tale. J
I would be remiss if I did not include a special person here. The lovely person known in CT as Divine_Miss_M. (AKA r/l Mrs. Jdb_educator). jdb and Divine immigrated within a couple of weeks of each other having met in real life, dated and finally married in 2001. Looks like a CT wedding might be in the works as well if they can both find the time! Pssst. And we hear they are going to try at the CVN 100 th issue celebration party at jdb_educator's home .
When asked what she considered jdb’s most endearing quality Divine_Miss_M said "Hmmmmmm, it depends on my mood! LOL He's got so many wonderful qualities that I couldn't pick just one!" Not only is she the better half but she has also written several movie reviews and special articles on certain national holidays for CVN.
jdb_educator has touched a lot of people in Cybertown. I spoke with Karyll, CL of Inner Realms and she related to me the following: "jdb is very kind, always polite and chivalrous. His sense of humor is astonishing and he always knows the words to every song. He is also very intelligent and has the gift of the wordsmith."
So there you have it, the managing editor of CVN is real, a good friend to all, a guy with a great sense of humor, supportive……… and human above all. Next time you see jdb in the city say "hi" to him, drop an inbox or even offer to write a story, poem, joke or create a cartoon for CVN. You might be surprised and actually end up enjoying it and writing regularly for CVN!