The Death Of The Old Squidu Forum

Well, the Squidu forum is no more. A few days ago Squidoo HQ pulled the plug on it without any warning. I went one morning to check out on new threads, only to see the forum locked for posting, with a link to the newly created Squidoo forum that is directly on the Squidoo domain.

I'm not going to go into the details of how and why this happened, but right now it looks like we have two main Squidoo forums. The official one, and the one that the Squidoo veterans have started to have a retreat of their own. Personally I'm active in both because I see a value in each of them.

The official forum (at least so far) seems like a very easy way to get newbies introduced to Squidoo. It is a safe and cozy playground that is void of negativity (or so we hope) and of ill will. I love hanging out there for the games, the show and tell, and conversations that are there.

On the other hand the new Yuku forum is more serious in nature. Obviously now at the beginning there is still a bit of bad blood (understandingly so), but once things settle, I see great future for this forum as well. Here the discussions are more serious and the questions are beyond the basics. Here we talk more about Squidoo strategies and what works and what not. In the official forum I love answer questions about how to add an html code or to critique a lens by a new lensmaster.

Plus of course we also have a few Facebook groups for Squidooers, the most active of which is Squidoo Facebook community. Showing off lenses and doing the task of the day and then showing off the results is a fun way to get interactive over there.

All in all I think the situation is not so bad. I do understand the need of HQ to keep things under their own domain and keep discussions strictly on topic and stuff. But I also understand why those who have been for a few years around and know quite a lot about Squidoo need to have a place of their own where they can push the limit a bit beyond the basics. I'm glad to be part of both - or all three of these communities.

Became A Mammoth Squid - Giant Squid 100

Woohoo on July 31st I applied to the next Giant Squid level, 100, and only 3 days later, on August 2 I officially became a Mammoth squid. I'm really happy about it, actually overjoyed. Becoming a giant squid was one of my major goals at Squidoo, but I've never dreamed that I'd once have not 25, but 100 lenses that meet the approval of the Squidoo HQ. I guess I must be doing something right afterall.

This achievement just pushes me to do more lenses, more quality and informative lenses that I can be proud of. It's been already a few days and I'm still feeling the euphoria, although it does start to slowly settle down...