PCLinuxOS Magazine: Memories

By Meemaw

Wow, ten years! It doesn't seem like that long -- but then, time seems to go faster when you're older. I am honored to have been with the magazine staff almost that long.

I honestly don't remember any of the discussion that went into the start of the magazine, being a brand-new PCLinuxOS user and trying to learn all I felt I needed to know. I do remember reading the first few issues when they came out, and thinking that they were informative and great for anyone using this distro.

After a few issues came out, Chief Editor Tim Robinson sent out a request in the forum for proofreaders. Since I had been a teacher for twenty years before moving to my current job, I felt that I was qualified to proofread. I was sure I wasn't experienced enough yet to instruct anyone in how to accomplish something, but I was sure I could check articles for spelling and grammar, so I sent him a PM and agreed to proofread. Back then, we received an email with the document attached, and we did the edits and sent it back to Tim for review. I often wondered how hard this was for Tim, having emails zoom in and out all month, and having to keep track of them all.

I did, finally, summon the courage to write and submit an article. It was about creating your own favorite programs menu in KDE, in the April 2007 issue. I use Xfce now, but I still have a favorites menu.

In September 2007, Papawoob became the Chief Editor. He and Tim were both very easy to work for, and unfortunately, both resigned from the position due to health reasons. I always wonder how they are and hope that their situations are improved.

In September 2008, Doug became the new Chief Editor, and while he was very nice to me, I began noticing some things that bothered me. First, I noticed that even though I had edited an article for spelling and grammar, it would be changed back or the original version used in the final assembly. That disturbed me because I couldn't see why I worked so hard on proofreading if the final wasn't going to have the corrections. In January 2009, he announced that we would only be releasing the magazine every quarter. I also was asked to design a cover to go with the next issue, which would include parnote's excellent article about PCLinuxOS And Your Blackberry. I was surprised when it wasn't released until June! By this time there was trouble brewing behind the scenes at the forum (which other articles in this issue can cover better than I can). In my naivety, I just wanted everyone to get back to working together nicely, but that wasn't to be. Doug left, and so did the Unity Linux guys. I decided I would back off from the magazine until things quieted down a bit.

I was off the staff for two months, during which parnote kept asking me to come back. Since July and August are my busiest months at work, I was glad to have the break, but went back to proofreading in time for the September issue. I also found that parnote had changed the editing process over from OpenOffice documents being emailed to Google Docs, where everyone could view the article and make corrections if needed. This seemed to me to be much easier.

I've been on the staff ever since, even accepting the Assistant Editor position in March, 2012 when Stricktoo left to pursue his law degree. Actually, I became one of the co-Assistant Editors in August 2010, since Andrew was so busy with law school. Eventually, I became the only Assistant Editor. I've also been a regular contributor since September 2009, doing several series of articles on various subjects, including photo viewers, financial programs, OpenOffice/LibreOffice, Scribus, and GIMP and Inkscape tutorials. I have even designed many covers and created most of the puzzle pages.

I love working for the magazine, but I think my best place is Assistant Editor, because parnote is a wonderful leader for us all. I don't think I could do even half of the great job he's doing if he ever left! I hope we can continue for many more years!