For the second consecutive year, I’ve partnered with BlogWorld & New Media Expo to promote the event on the iFroggy Network.

I have attended and spoke at the conference for the last two years and I believe it to be one of the most beneficial blogging, social and new media based conferences that exists today. I’m glad to be back this year to attend and speak once again as the event moves to Mandalay Bay (where I hope to be staying).

South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive is a special conference for those of us in this whole tech, web, social media thing of a space. For me, it’s special because the networking is great. Everyone is there. Well, not everyone. But, most everyone. It’s impossible for me to walk from my hotel to the convention center without seeing someone I know.

This is pretty much the only place in the world where I have ever found this to be true. I live on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and I go about my life, run errands, whatever… and I don’t know anyone. But, at SXSW, I know plenty of people and that is a lot of fun.

photo credit: See-ming Lee 李思明 SML

One thing I’ve learned over time is to make sure I cut a certain class of people out of my life. My label for them is opportunist, though maybe you can think of a better one. Being an “opportunist” by the definition is not a bad thing – one should always be watching for an opportunity to be successful.

But, what I mean when I say it is that I want to surround myself with people who want to be successful and want to help others be successful. People who just want to take and people who will cut in front of you or take an opportunity away from you are not your friends and are not good business partners. And so, I have no time for those people.

This post is borne out of real life experiences (such as the one below) and a conversation I had with my friend Wayne Sutton while I was at WordCamp Raleigh.

As previously announced, I will be speaking at WordCamp Raleigh in Raleigh, North Carolina. The event will be held from May 22 and 23 and I’ll be speaking at 9:30 AM on May 23. On May 22, I’ll be co-hosting a special, first ever live edition of the SitePoint Podcast, in person with prizes and special guests.

I will be leading a session on “Building Community Around Your WordPress Blog.” I see it as a strategy talk with some tools mixed it. We’ll talk about encouraging and stimulation community within the blog and outside of it. Tickets are available now.

On Monday, I detailed and reported on Global Grind’s practice of content scraping. In short, they were copying full articles from an array of online publications, both small and large. They would then display this content on their website without any direct source links. The only link on the page, which was not very prominent, would be an internal link to Global Grind’s own top frame bar.

For those who followed the DiggBar situation, this was the DiggBar – but much worse because not only were they framing content, they were completely lifting content from other sources and competing directly with those original publications for traffic and revenue. They even allowed this content to be indexed by Google News, a highly exclusive news engine that most individual writers or small publishers can only dream of being listed in.

I only have a couple hours left on this day, April 28, but I wanted to write a post to thank everyone for their support of “Managing Online Forums” over the past two years. Today marks two years since it’s official publication date.

Thank you to everyone who has mentioned the book line and everyone who has reviewed it. I really appreciate every mention I receive. It’s like a special gift every time I get a Google Alert. So, thank you.

It’s a wonderful thing to see your knowledge and experience be well received and for it to help others. I care a lot about online community and I hope that comes through whenever I talk about it.

Thank you.

Update: Global Grind has now addressed these concerns. Please read the follow up.

Global Grind is a mix between social news site (like Digg) and blog network. According to the Rush Communications website, they fancy themselves as a sort of curator of information, calling Global Grind “the ultimate source for today’s media that matters to the hip-hop community” and “the hotspot linking you to web content that puts you up on things you need to know.”

According to CrunchBase, they have received $7.1 million in funding and Russell Simmons serves as the company’s chairman. Datwon Thomas, the former editor-in-chief at both King and XXL, is the editor-in-chief and COO.

Unfortunately, Global Grind has adopted a deplorable strategy that includes copying content from other publications in full, submitting said content to Google News and placing links to the original content behind frames.

photo credit: storyvillegirl

In general, I like to encourage experimentation in most things I’m associated with. I like to see people try something new, even if they find it wasn’t as good as what they had before. This is especially true in business and this whole online community and social media thing.

If no one dares to be different, nothing ever changes. Nothing ever gets better. Yes, by experimenting, there is a very good chance that you’ll be displeased with the results, but that’s better than the other way around: which is to never try anything new and to just stay where you are.

photo credit:
butlerphotography

I’m about to head down to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive for the third consecutive year (2009 recap, 2008 recap). It’s a tremendous event for those of us in the tech, web, social media, whatever you want to call it space. So many people are there, which makes it a little surreal, especially when you visit for the first time.

So, for those of you new to the show, here are my 5 quick tips for the event, in an effort to help you to get the most out of it.

1. Use the Hilton Bathrooms

Even if you’re not staying there. Yes, I’m serious. The Hilton bathrooms are nice, clean and smell respectable. The Hilton is also part of the conference as some of the sessions are scheduled within the hotel. The convention center bathrooms do not even compare. Yes, it’s a short walk across the street. It’s worth it.