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My name is Steven Copley. I own and operate a website development business in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. I have been producing websites professionally since 2001 when I first created stevencopley.com for my personal use. I didn't know anything about websites or much about computers in general for that matter as I just began working in the industry in 1998. Coming from steel manufacturing, you can imagine I've come a long way since then.
I started out building a website for myself using notepad by copying code from websites I thought were cool. That's how I taught myself HTML. I then began learning some PHP and was soon building free websites for friends and family. When people began paying me, I decided I was getting pretty good at this web thing; it was great!
Fast forward to today, I'm now married to my wonderful wife Joy. I work all of the time but I really enjoy what I do because I get to help people accomplish their goals and dreams in business...
In 2003ish, I started using PHP-Nuke for a guild website I was building. I really loved it and shortly thereafter was exposed to Postnuke. .723 was the first version I ever used and I have been using it ever since for about 30% of the sites I build. I was fortunate enough in 2006 to get to take over my departmental website at my primary job and, of course, I used Postnuke (.760 I think.) I have been using it and becaoming more and more active the last couple of years while implementing custom stuff into the sites. I have been actively testing $NewName from MS1 - RC4. After the Zikula launch, I must say I have been incredibly active and regret not being so involved as before.
Here is where the part you may consider bitching comes in... I think, as a community, we are not complete. Some people in the community gripe and moan about everything from the modules to the upgrades... Everything. Others defend the software to the bitter end, often never admitting fault or issues. Some people are so rude to newcomers that it is a turnoff and it almost shames me that they are representing us. Most of us are nice, helpful and patient. The community has been through a lot, and from the eyes opf someone who has been standing on the edge not really jumping in until lately, I can tell you that this community has suffered.
I don't think things are so bad that this will all just fold up but I do think we need to change some things about what we do to be more inviting, informative, nice and organized. As with all communities, there is only so much a person can do by themselves. At least that's what we tell ourselves. We say things like "Someone needs to build a really cool blogging module" or "someone will build that module soon." Who will? The core developers? Who? I have a good bet they like to enjoy life and already sacrifice much more than most of us here put together so that there even is a community. It's not the core developers jobs to do everything.
This community needs to rethink the way we think. If we continue to say things like "they need to" or "someone will" , what we want will never come about. Obviously I have several thoughts on this that seem logical and practical, yet go unattended. We need to refrain from assuming it's someone else job. We can't expect to be a great community where the things we want are realized without some modicum of participation.
If you're a module developer, great! Develop modules, and share the with the community - or charge for them, whatever you feel is best for you. But build them if you can! Ask for help if you need testers! You like designing sites? Make a theme! share it! Just a user who's not that good at building themes or module coding, help out! You can still make a difference in this community and make it better. Write some documentation, ask your favorite module developer if they need any help. Test out new modules, try to break them! Thats what developers live for; people using their stuff! Offer to send them some $$, it may not be but $10, but it's a nice gesture for something you love.
We can't expect to grow as a community if we always assume someone else is going to do what needs to be done. I have caught myself saying things like that before and it just won't do. If you care about this project, software, communit, etc.; you will do something about it.
Many of you already do, and I thank you for that. Thanks for the hard work that you have put into this thing for so many years, I really appreciate it.
I am excited about the possibilities of the future. I am excited to see so many new things just around the corner. I hope those of you who care about the future of this community will take some time to examine what you have given to it and see if you can give a little more. I am speaking only for myself here with the hope of the future.
I work full time at a large telecommunications company. I have a ~20hr a week website business. I am in school, part time, over the summer and full time in the fall. I have a wife. ;) I have NO time on my hands. But Postnuke/Zikula has given so much to me over the years, especially recently, it's time I truly started giving something back.
Flip is more than willing to test it for accessibility too. You can e-mail him at 
