Admin Talk Interview with daniel a.k.a. - ragtek

Let's hear what ragtek is working on these days!

  1. Brandon
    How long have you been running a forum / What inspired you to start?:
    I think it started 2003, as i had to take over a friends community. Nothing inspired me, i "had to take it" because nobody else wanted to take it:D

    And it stopped 20011/2012 as i closed/sold the last project because i had enough of this business.

    What's your Forum Software of choice & why?:
    None, because they all have their pros and cons and i for the long run, i don't want & can't accept the cons anymore.
    Just look at the history!
    vBulletin was great, now it's BS
    XenForo had ~1 year where nothing happened

    IF i would have to start a forum TODAY, i would use xenforo, but i'm not happy with it.
    That's why i can't wait to see IPB4 and Skooppa.
    I really hope that one of them will become my new favorite and bring my passion for communities back...

    Where are you located?:
    Austria

    How often do you work on your forum?:
    I don't have any projects ATM.

    Of all the projects you’ve ever been involved in, which did you enjoy the most?:
    ragtek, because it was my hobby, passion and MY BABY:D

    All the other projects where just jobs... No matter if client boards, or just "my boards to get money for my living". I had never the same passion for them, like for ragtek.org

    What are your biggest strengths as a forum admin? Weaknesses?:
    How do you define the ideal Forum Administrator?:
    Would you ever consider yourself an expert in the field of running a forum?:
    Reply to all 3 questions:
    IT'S depending on the niche and on the target audience!
    IMO there's no perfect forum admin!

    What are your top five technology MUST-HAVE’s in running a forum?:
    It's depending.
    Why would somebody with 0 tech knowledge need dreamweaver, photoshop or an IDE.
    For him, it would be probably the browser to ask for help in the communities, or if it's a commercial community, it would probably be skype, to stay in contact with his tech & admin crew:D

    For me (as developer) it's phpstorm (my favorite IDE) , JIRA on my homeserver, Fortrabbit instance for my demoboard, which will be replaced soon with a own server, because more and more clients need more technologies like elasticsearch, ruby and co and bitbucket/github (depending on client) as remote repository (it's also a perfect backup solution^^). Don't know why, but for several clients i HAD TO USE github. They just know github and didn't trust bitbucket...

    Personally i prefer bitbucket, because it's free:)